In July Gwyn Williams, one of our Senedd 2026 candidates took part in a march from Swansea to the Senedd in Cardiff to present a petition to the Welsh Government regarding the atrocities taking place in Gaza. A group from within Plaid Cymru had organised the march and the list of demands was designed to call attention to the ongoing horrific suffering of the Palestinian people, which appears to be losing its formerly prominent position in the UK news cycle, to stop the selling of armaments that continue to deepen the conflict and to officially recognise their country as an equal member of the United Nations to be offered all the dignity and protection that this status offers.

For how this went, our aims and the outcomes, please read on.

As with many people I was utterly shocked when the October 7th attacks by Hamas took place and as with any such shocking event remember where I was when news first came through; in my case sitting in a medical retina session in a large auditorium at Euretina. I became rapidly aware of the weird hidden tensions and fault lines that seem to lurk under the surface of every society that are in some cases thicker and deeper than others. Perhaps it is only bread and circuses that really do keep civil society from collapsing week in week out. As with many things in life horror and shock of one kind then morphs initially to a bewilderment and then downright anger of a different nature at the punishment of an entire people as retribution, with the use of hunger and starvation as a weapon of war. A war that was never ending. That is still ongoing at the time of writing and that is so one sided that it can hardly be called a ‘war’ at all.

So I met outside Swansea Guild Hall at the time indicated along with 60 or so others and after listening to a few short speeches started the long walk. I was under no illusion that my taking part in that event, or it taking part at all, would directly lead to any change but it’s the trying that makes us all feel slightly less impotent. Much like we sometimes treat a central retinal artery occlusion despite such an awful prognosis; people (and ophthalmologists and patients are people both) like to try something at least rather than simply sit aside and do nothing. There were many cheers and whoops along the road with thumbs up and toot tooting of car horns in support as the march progressed, the parade of Welsh and Palestinian flags fluttering together in the summer breeze. A particularly frustrating issue for me was how a sudden gust of wind would lift the lower end of the flag I was carrying just high enough to tangle the cord, which is an issue that only two days of marching with the same flag over different terrain could turn into some form of Chinese water torture. Likewise my feet fell apart as I was wearing the wrong trainers and writing this in late August by big toes still carry handsome bruises that my father would be proud of.

Not everyone was supportive though and there were a not insignificant number of shouts of ‘wan@ers!’ from passing cars. One memorable toothless old crone made an effort to lean out of her passenger side window and do the hand action in addition to the shouting, which was quite dedicated I suppose for someone as elderly as her. Insults were often less explicit in slowly moving traffic, particularly in nearing Cardiff, where I took some sort of delight in a politely uttered ‘idiots!’ and ‘disgusting!’ rather than the fruitier language used further to the west. Was this because of a wealth disparity or perhaps was it because faster moving traffic might feel a bit more like the internet as insults can be shouted with little to no consequences? Whereas in slower moving traffic there is a risk of repeating the ‘bus wan@ers!’ situation from the Inbetweeners.

While support was on the whole twenty to one insult, perhaps mirroring compliments to complaints in the eye department, the insults still stand out more. Why would people be opposed to standing up for a shattered people suffering and starving in Gaza? Do they want their suffering to continue? Can they really believe that this is the proper way civilised countries conduct themselves in the 21st century? Do they agree with the sanctioning of ICC judges and prosecutors? Perhaps they sort of equate standing up for Gaza with support for Hamas and for deranged Facebook narratives about dangerous lefties supporting sex attacks on minors by drug crazed migrants being put up in the best hotels on the taxpayer dollar? Am I underestimating or overestimating their intelligence (or basic human decency) if they do in fact believe the rabid teeth-gnashing conspiracy theories peddled online? Who knows? It would have been interesting to ask them.

A nice moment was the unexpected joining of the march by my registrar as we neared the Senedd. By that point I had difficulty walking without grimacing and I was worried that I had done irreparable harm to my left knee. As far more senior marchers easily passed me by I had to fight to keep up with the pack but the welcome we received was worth the effort as volunteers handed out food, coffee and water. What did I achieve? I don’t really know; perhaps nothing. I can say I stood up against tyranny but so what? The tyrants were nowhere to be seen; the only opposition along the way was a disparate collection of people whose motivation still remains a mystery to me.

I did not come across Benjamin Netanyahu or Donald Trump. What would I have even done if I had? Despite what I like to think the answer is probably ‘rapidly get arrested before I get a chance to do or say anything.’,  besides it would have been very odd to come across either of them randomly standing unexpectedly alone by the side of the A48 somewhere near Cowbridge. But you never know!