A bit of background
Welcome to the Norfolk Branch of PSC which was launched in April 2024 at the Norwich Quaker Meeting House when about 80 people attended to accept the Constitution and vote in our Officers. An interim committee had been set up in February to get things going and the new county-wide branch was established to provide a forum for all those across the county taking action in solidarity with Palestine (1).
We’re part of the UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign (https://palestinecampaign.org/), and operate under their Constitution and Code of Conduct. Anyone who is a member of National PSC and who lives in Norfolk is automatically a member of the Norfolk Branch. All Committee members are expected to be members of National PSC (2).
We have an Organising Committee of about 9-10 activists. Within that there’s a Core Group which includes the Secretary Claire Collen, Treasurer Caroline Riley, and our new Chair, Andrea Abeyesinghe.
The Committee meets regularly, generally monthly, to discuss issues and agree Branch policies, get feedback and updates on local and other events, make plans for forthcoming actions and deal with business like the finances. In-between times, the Core Group are in regular contact to take forward day-to-day matters.
Finances
We bank with Unity Trust. We don’t receive any funding from National PSC, so our income is from private individual donations, profit from the sale of merchandise, and a proportion of the bucket collection (generally a third, the rest going to registered charities supporting Palestinians such as Medical Aid for Palestinians). We encourage Trade Union and Community affiliations. If you’d like to make a donation, or set up a Standing Order, you can do so here.
What we’ve been doing
We have organised several local actions; most Saturdays we are in the City with our leaflet stall which is often combined with a vigil, local marches though the City – often with a speaker at the start, protests outside Barclays and ‘die-ins’. In conjunction with Stop the War, we’ve run a number of coaches to London for the national PSC marches. We’ve supported and taken part in several fund-raising events – primarily for MAP, such as music gigs, sponsored walk for children. Individual members have also raised funds through runs and cycle rides.
In July we were honoured to welcome Ahmed Alnaouq, a Palestinian journalist living in London whose perspective, born out of direct experience (including the killing of many family members and friends) gave a critical edge to the event. Over a 100 people attended. In November we held a public meeting to launch our Norfolk Divest campaign. We welcomed speakers from Waltham Forest who have run a successful campaign to get their Local Authority to divest from investments held in the Local Government Pension Scheme away from companies complicit in the occupation, war crimes and genocide. See separate Norfolk Divest tab for more.
Where to find out more
We send out Newsletters (through Mailchimp) to our members and supporters on a regular basis. It’s an important source of communication for our members and supporters who don’t like, or use, social media. You can sign up for the Newsletter on the Resources tab.
To join the Facebook Group there’s some simple good conduct rules to agree to: Norfolk PSC Facebook (‘1,000’ followers.)
We also have an Instagram account: Norfolk PSC Instagram
- The previous Norwich Branch was disbanded in late 2023. The Norfolk Branch encompasses the Norwich members, many of whom are active in the county Branch.
- To join PSC visit https://palestinecampaign.org/get-involved/join-renew-membership/
Claire Collen
Links:
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)