‘Don’t look away’: Why we’re banging pots for Gaza

Every day a 6pm, people meet at Queen’s Park gates to bang pots – a show of solidarity for people who are suffering in Gaza. One local resident writes why he joins, to not stay silent, and to not look away.

By David Carr | Photo by Sadia Sikandar

I am one of the people who have been banging pots at Queen’s Park gates. We are there every night at six o’clock. We bang for six minutes. Our intention is to make sure that the world does not look away from the genocide in Gaza.

Read more: Southside residents join Palestinian call for solidarity by banging pots at 6pm

I feel frustrated. Impotent. Overwhelmed by mute outrage as I read the news each day. Children holding out their empty pots. Emaciated babies. Desperate people shot as they queue for food. Horror upon horror. I have to look away.

I find I’m crying more in this weather. I’m not normally an emotional person but it helps me deal with it. It was with tears in my eyes that I spoke to dear Tallat at the Al-Khair Foundation on Vicky Road last year. The day before, the IDF had stormed their hospital in Khan Younis, killing many and setting fire to the pharmacy. Sometimes tears are the only way to express what needs to be expressed. I tear up at least once a day now as the news gets grimmer and grimmer.

It was my daughter who first told me about the pot banging. She had banged pots on Byres Road and she now bangs them in Maryhill. People are banging pots all over Glasgow, all across Scotland.

It’s a global phenomenon, started by Gazan Bisan Owda (@wizard_bisan on Instagram) who is one of the journalists who have been risking their lives livestreaming the genocide – so that we can’t say we didn’t know.

She wrote:“You are not helpless. This is a call for action. Because the sound of our empty stomachs and the voice of humanity must be louder than their brutality.”

And so I committed to pot banging. It was something. I needed a release.

There are more and more people joining us. I counted fifty last night. It is a positive, dignified space. It feels empowering, enriching to stand with others of a like mind. Others who have said ‘Enough is enough’ and who refuse to be silent during a genocide. 

Standing at the Queen’s Park gates of a hot summer’s evening is an undeniably pleasant thing  to do. The chink-chink of spoons on pots has become the rhythm of Govanhill evenings. Cars toot their horns in support. There are smiles as people pass through us on their way into the park. But the stark contrast with the daily horror of Gazans’ lives does not escape us.

I know that pot banging is a gesture. The concrete contributions we can make include a complete boycott of Israel and Israel funders. Govanhill’s Apartheid Free Zone is a great start. From Sabra hummus to Coke to Marks and Spencer to Barclays – we need to cut the Israeli supply lines. I personally think that direct action is called for, though not, of course – for the purpose of this article – action by any proscribed group.

Read more: Think Before You Buy: Building an Apartheid Free Zone in Govanhill

Where will the pot banging go from here? It can only build. More and more of us are willing to devote our energies to taking a stand. Come and join us. Six O’clock. Six minutes. Until the murder stops. Don’t look away.

For information on where other pot banging events are taking place - follow @mothersagainstgenocide.