Billed as as ‘celebration of the strength of Palestinian Women, in solidarity with women’s freedom everywhere’ , this event held the Saturday before International Women’s day (8th March, this year falling on a Sunday), organised by Parents for Palestine Sussex , Lark and Bloom Library, Women of Hebron, the team at One Church Brighton , their friends and many from the local community, was a brilliant example of what community can look like.

2025 saw the community come together with local Palestinian women and organise International Women’s day at One Church after local pro Israel far right extremists bullied organisers of the wider Women’s day event in 2024 to remove Palestinian women’s representation from the event at the Dome. Since then the community have held their events at One Church, and they’ve both been a roaring success, with live music, this year from Best Foot regulars Dina, Nasreen and Alaa, singing a mixture of Arabic and Ukrainian folk songs, followed by a great performance Brighton Liberation Choir. Market stalls raised funds for people in Palestine, several talks and discussion sessions were held in the back room, including Shahed Ezaydi on “The Othered Woman” , another on ‘Sustaining Hope in a World on Fire” and We Are Still Here, messages from the women of Gaza.

International Women’s Day events are held globally on March 8th each year, dating back as far as 1909. Exact figures for people killed in the Gaza genocide are not known. Israel continues the slaughter whilst withholding humanitarian aid. Figures vary between 75000 and over 110000. Between 80 – 90% are civilians. Bombing also continues in Lebanon and Iran, with large numbers of civilian deaths, destruction of infrastructure & environmental catastrophe.