Best Foot Music

Sound recording of the conversation chaired by Associate Professor Dr Laila Kadiwal, with Jeremy Corbyn MP, Rhona Michie, Carmen Wilson. Palestinian author and activist Ahmed Alnaouq was also meant to be in attendance, but further members of his family had been murdered earlier in the day of the event, in the ongoing Genocide in Gaza. Andrew Feinstein had also been originally booked, but was unable to attend due to  other commitments.

Thanks to Laila, Asma, Laura and all the team for organising this important conversation. 

Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist from Gaza and the co-founder of We Are Not Numbers, a collective that trains the next generation of Palestinian writers to publish their stories in English. Ahmed is also is a co-founder of Across the Wall, a media platform that tells Palestinian stories in Hebrew. Ahmed obtained a Chevening Scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in international journalism from Leeds University before serving as an advocacy and outreach officer for the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. His writings have been published in many publications, including The Washington Post, The New Arab and Arab News. He has appeared live in interviews across the Western media, speaking on channels such as Sky News, the BBC and MSNBC. During an air raid by Israel’s military on the home of his family and relatives in the south of the Gaza Strip on October 22 2023, 21 of Ahmed’s relatives were killed: his father, two brothers, three sisters and 14 nieces and nephews.

https://wearenotnumbers.org/

Carmen Wilson is Director of Operations at Demilitarise Education, a community and nonprofit organisation that envisions a world where universities champion peace.

https://ded1.co/

Rhona Michie is the Director of Projects and Planning at Shadow World Investigations. She is a co-editor (with Andrew Feinstein, Professor Paul Rogers and Jeremy Corbyn) of Monstrous Anger of the Guns: How the Global Arms Trade is Ruining the World and What We Can Do About It. She is a co-founder and coordinator of the Corruption Tracker and was listed as an Emerging Expert by the Forum on the Arms Trade in 2022.

https://shadowworldinvestigations.org/team_member/rhona-michie/

Jeremy Corbyn is Director or the Peace and Justice Project and has been the Member of Parliament for Islington North since 1983. He is the 6th longest serving MP in Parliament. In the 2024 General Election he stood as an Independent and won by a clear majority of over 24000, compared to the Labour candidate of 16800. He has a long track record of community involvement and campaigning for justice, often using his position to fight for marginalised people and taking a stand against corruption. 

https://thecorbynproject.com/

Also speaking is DR Rodrigo Martinez Lecturer in Economics and Finance of Real Estate at University College London and member of BDS at UCL.

https://bdsatucl.com/

Recorded at the London Palestine march, on 5th October 2024.

Talk by Professor Haim Bresheeth, discussing the origins of Zionism, the decline of the British Empire, Antisemitism and Islamophobia.

As he says at the start, this is an overview, please see Haim's website for further reading.

"Professor Haim Bresheeth is a filmmaker, photographer and a film studies scholar, retired from the University of East London, where he worked since since early 2002. He now teaches at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

His books include the best-selling Introduction to the Holocaust (with Stuart Hood, 2 reprints since 1997), the first version was titled Holocaust for Beginners (1993) and was also reprinted a number of times; This title was also published in Turkish, Croatian and Japanese translations, and is being translated into other languages."

https://www.haimbresheeth.com/

The discussion is approx 27 minutes, followed by 3 minutes of soundscapes from the protest on the day.

https://palestinecampaign.org/

https://www.stopwar.org.uk/

00 Sighisoara

23.16 Cluj to Budapest Train

24.20 Budapest to Munich Train

27.00 Munich

00 Munich pigeons

0.12 Munich train to Salzburg

0.50 Romanian cafe opposite Salzburg station

1.47 Train to Ljublijana

2.02 Ljubljana

6.26 Ljubljana to Budapest Train

9.00 Budapest

16.08 Budapest to Cluj Train

16.44 Cluj Napoca

25.26 Cluj to Sighișoara Train

A soundscape of chants, music and some street speakers (as in those not on the stage) and incidental sounds from the National March for Palestine on 18th May 2024, to commemorate the Nakba. The demonstration finished in Whitehall, although many sat in Trafalgar Square, where there was an event by the Sri Lankan Tamil community, commemorating 15 years since the end of the civil war and also the genocide committed there. Coincidentally as with the Palestine situation, there are also connections to the British Empire.

As always the march was hugely diverse, with a sizeable Jewish Bloc.

Photographs and more in the link here

https://www.bestfootmusic.net/post/voices-from-the-protests

Nakba info;

https://nakba.amnesty.org/en/

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/israelopt-current-scenes-forced-displacement-gaza-reminiscent-nakba

https://press.un.org/en/2024/gapal1467.doc.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba

A soundscape of chants, music and some street speakers (as in those not on the stage) from the National March for Palestine on 18th May 2024, to commemorate the Nakba. The demonstration finished in Whitehall, although many sat in Trafalgar Square, where there was an event by the Sri Lankan Tamil community, commemorating 15 years since the end of the civil war and also the genocide committed there. Coincidentally as with the Palestine situation, there are also connections to the British Empire.

As always the march was hugely diverse, with a sizeable Jewish Bloc.

Photographs and more in the link here

https://www.bestfootmusic.net/post/voices-from-the-protests

Nakba info;

https://nakba.amnesty.org/en/

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/israelopt-current-scenes-forced-displacement-gaza-reminiscent-nakba

https://press.un.org/en/2024/gapal1467.doc.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba

A week after the Gideon Falter 'openly Jewish' incident, which gained wide press coverage and further attempts by him, some in the UK Gov and media to demonise the demonstrations, we attended the National March for Palestine from Parliament Square to Hyde Park. On this occasion we were near the front of the march, for a while with the Jewish Bloc. Following the previous weeks events, numerous people carried 'Openly Jewish' placards.

There were lots of groups with drums and percussion, leading chants along the way. As always the march was hugely diverse, with people from a wide range of religious and ethnic backgrounds, age and where they'd travelled from around the UK. We met people from North Wales, Cardiff, Leeds, Nottingham, Bristol across the UK, and fair few people who were visiting London and decided to join for a while.

As the march neared Hyde Park, some people unfolded banners over the statue of Achilles, memorial to the Duke of Wellington, a huge symbol of colonialism. A group of police asked them to remove the banners, but after a few chants of 'show your human side' decided to leave them alone. Later in the day, after the main event had finished, a group gathered in Hyde Park, singing and chanting, for a while the police surrounded the group, mostly just observing and eventually deciding to step back. I made soundscape recordings of the day, this time as we were in the noisier front section of the march, it's mostly chants and atmosphere, with one guy from the Jewish Bloc speaking around 5 minutes in.

Some of the groups on the Jewish Bloc

Black Jewish Alliance

Jewish Socialists Group

Jews For Justice For Palestinians

Jewish Voice For Labour

Na'amod

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

We visited Istanbul for a holiday from 3rd to 11th April 2024. These recordings were made whilst walking around the city, predominantly in the Fatih district, which includes the historic peninsula . We also visited Kadıköy & Büyükada. Recordings are made with a Zoom H6 recorder with the XYH-6 X/Y MIC.

All recordings made in public spaces.

Istanbul has an estimated population of 15.46 million and covers 5461 square km², compared to London’s population of 8.9 million and size of 1573 km². Considering its size and population, it’ve very easy to find peaceful quiet spaces. This episode includes street musicians, nature sounds, cafes and memories of life in the city.

The call to prayer (Adhan) is recited 5 times a day and so is a regular part of the soundscape of Istanbul. Our flight arrived in Istanbul early morning on the 3rd April, we arrived at our hotel around 5 in the morning, coincidentally Fajr, the first of the day happened just as we stepped out of our taxi. The street we stayed on was narrow, with high buildings, near several large mosques, causing the sound to reverberate, not dissimilar to being in a canyon. In other places, its a quiet background sound.

We were visiting during the last few days of Ramadan, including Eid, with a major public holiday the following three days (Bayram)

00 - 7.10 April 3rd

Arriving at our hotel, near küçükpazar, early morning call to prayer (Fajr) then Beyoğlu, near Galata bridge.

7.15 - 10.50 April 4th

Balat and Fena.

10.50 - 14.40 April 5th

Near küçükpazar, walking to Beyoğlu, then walking to Suleymaniye Mosque, Eminönü.
14.40 -  18.10 April 6th

Ferry to Kadıköy, then Fener in the evening, including drummer. His family have been drumming for generations, he collects money during Ramadan, wishing people happy holidays.
18.10 - 27.00 April 7th 

Venerable Patriarchal Church of Saint George, Fener. Street sounds Balat and Fener, including drummer.
27.00 - 31.00 April 8th

Early morning bakery in küçükpazar, then Büyükada, Princes' Islands.
32.00 - 53.42 April 9th

The last day of Ramadan, we spent the whole day around Sultanahmet, visiting the Sultanahmet Camii (Blue Mosque), Hagia Sophia and sitting in the Sultan Ahmet park with 1000’s of people as they waited for the final Iftar meal of this Ramadan. It was really beautiful.
53.42 - 1.07.20 April 10th 

Beyoğlu
1.07.20 - end April 11th

Early morning call to prayer from our hotel window,  with Simit bakery in background, walking through the neighbourhood early morning and Basilica Cistern sounds.

There are a few bits of recognisable music being played from passing cars, restaurants etc.

27.15: Başkentli Resul - Sabir Ver

1.03: Aynur Doğan - Keçê Kurdan

These are just the ones I recognise, if you know more, please message.

A conversation and poetry reading between Vladyslava Bondar and Naomi Foyle, recorded at Razom ~ Together on the 17th March 2024, at the Rose Hill Brighton

Razom ~ Together is a series of collaborative social events organised by the Ukrainian community and their friends in Brighton, focusing on sharing food, music and a safe space to form friendships.

Naomi worked for Waterloo Press and has a history of publishing Ukrainian literature in the UK. She is Reader in Critical Imaginative Writing at the University of Chichester'.

Further information on Naomi's work on Ukraine can be seen in the links below.

https://pulsemedia.org/2015/01/21/writing-with-foreign-blood-a-visit-to-ukraine/

https://www.naomifoyle.com/category/ukraine/

Vladyslava is originally from Ukraine currently living in Brighton. She is community organiser, activist, founder member of Kupala Brighton and member of the Razom organising team.

Thanks to Marek Kohn for suggesting the idea of a Ukrainian literature reading as part of Razom and introducing us to Naomi. Marek is also a member of the Razom team.

Saturday the 9th of March. A short episode, capturing some of the protest for Palestine. Set against the backdrop of the UK Gov and some of the media calling the marches 'Hate marches'. Also includes the thoughts of some Jewish activists and academics we met on the march.