Palestine and West Asia

Union Chapel stands with Palestinians, and all people in West Asia struggling for self determination and liberation. We have organized and co-organized many events to give a platform to Palestinian voices, and to raise money for people who're suffering in Gaza through fundraiser events. Our main collaborators on events exploring Palestinian liberation have been the Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association and Amos Trust. We have also explored collaboration opportunities with MEWSO, Islington Council, and Rukshana Media to help bring attention to ongoing attrocities against women in Iran and Afghanistan by the Islamic Republic and by the Taliban.

Women from Palestine - an opportunity to listen and learn 

The first event we held in recent years about Palestine was on 24th July 2023, where we invited two women from Palestine to come and speak on their experiences, through CADFA. They talked about being stopped by Israeli soldiers, going through checkpoints, and the daily violence and aggression they have faced as Palestinian women.

For a more detailed report on what was spoken at the event, please see our blog post here.

Women from Palestine, Iran, and Afghanistan

As a follow up to our first discussion event, we expanded the formula to include the voices of women struggling for self determination across West Asia, specifically from Iran and Afghanistan. Our speakers discussed the problems they face from Israel, the Islamic Republic, and the Taliban respectively. One of our speakers from Afghanistan also had experiences as a refugee, which she also spoke to us about. This event was a great way to expand people's knowledge of human rights struggles in West Asia, and to build ties of solidarity.

One of our speakers, Halaleh Taheri, is an ex-freedom fighter from Iran, who took part in the 1979 revolution against the Shah, and later against the Islamic Republic. She later moved to the UK and founded MEWSO, of which she is now the Executive Director, a UK based organisation exclusively for Middle Eastern women. She talked about the Women Life Freedom movement which is taking place in Iran, and how the Iranian anti-theocratic freedom movement is women and feminist led.

We had two speakers from Afghanistan through Islington Council's Islington Together scheme, one of whom, Fakhira, came representing Rukhshana Media, an organization raising awareness of the Taliban's continued violence against women. The two women talked of their experiences and cleared up confusion around Islam, which have arose due to poor reporting on the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. They asserted that the issues in Afghanistan do not result from Islam but from the Taliban, and that Afghanistan has always been an Islamic country before they started facing problems.

Our speaker from the Al Walajeh village in Palestine was introduced to us through CADFA. She spoke about the continued issues she and other Palestinian women face from Israel's regime, how the detruction of homes and murder of young boys by the IDF breaks up Palestinian families, and how in spite of the violence against her and her people, a great deal of Palestinians are still refusing to leave their land.

Beyond the Checkpoints: Final Event of CADFA’s Palestinian Youth

Our gospel choir, Union Chapel Voices, sang at this event which was organized by CADFA at the  Holy Cross Church in St. Pancras to end their Palestinian Youth Visit. CADFA's Palestinian Youth Visit allows young Palestinians to come and see what life is like in London, where they don't have to pass through constant checkpoints and face aggression from Israeli soldiers.

The Devil's Passion

This play written, directed by and starring Justin Butcher tells the gospel story from Satan's perspective in modern-day occupied Palestine. It imagines Satan as a kind of imperialist operative sent by a foreign agent to execute a resistance leader: Jesus.

For this special Palm Sunday (24th March 2024) performance of Justin's critically aclaimed play, half of all proceeds were given to Amos Trust's Gaza Emergency Appeal to help those suffering under Israel's bombardment and occupation of the Gaza strip.

SUMUD 

This Amos Trust emergency appeal fundraising event brought together many talented artists for Gaza, including Foy Vance, David Holmes, Nadine Shah, Beth Rowley, Brian Eno, and Shabaka Hutchings. The event also gave a platform to Palestinian journalist Ahmed Alnaouq, and to the Head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, Husam Said Zumlot. 

Secret Believers: How People of Faith Survive Under Oppression in Iran

For this event, we invited Mansour Bourji and Rev. Robert Aserian to discuss the ongoing persecution of Christians in Iran by the Islamic Republic. In Iran, the majority Persian population are not allowed to convert to Christianity, and the Christian faith is only allowed to be practiced by a minority of ethnic groups.

Mansour Borji is a world expert on the persecution of Christians in Iran. He is the advocacy director of Article 18, which aims to support Iran’s persecuted Christians through documentation, advocacy, research, training, and support.

Rev. Robert Aserian is director of formation at Pars Theological Centre. He knows the church of Iran well, being a reverend and working on training pastors to serve in the church of Iran.