Giorgio Rigali

"Mo Chara’s real problem is that the message he put out landed. Working-class people aren’t meant to speak like this, organise like this, or connect struggles across borders like this. That’s what scares them. While Mo Chara stands in the dock for allegedly waving a flag, those complicit in a genocide walk the streets untouched. Since October 2023, over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza – entire families erased, journalists targeted, children bombed in their beds. More than 300 officials at the Foreign Office raised their concerns about Israel’s “stark … disregard for international law”. And yet, the UK government continues to greenlight arms deals and offer diplomatic cover. That’s not a performance. That’s a conscious policy decision. Made in Westminster, paid for by the taxpayer, and buried beneath silence. They’ve tried this before. Give Ireland Back to the Irish – banned. Christy Moore – detained. The Pogues’ Streets of Sorrow – silenced for decades. And now, it seems to be Mo Chara – for turning protest into poetry, politics into art. So here’s the question – the same one Pete Seeger asked, the same one Mo Chara asks now: Which side are you on? 👉express.co.uk/news/uk/207047…