Socialist Sunday school accused of making ‘anti-Israel propaganda’ magazine with children

Attendees as young as eight contributed to publication with the controversial ‘from the river to the sea’ slogan

A “socialist Sunday school” in Scotland has been accused of producing an anti-Israel magazine featuring the controversial “from the river to the sea” slogan.
The magazine from the Red Sunday School in Glasgow argues that it is impossible to be “neutral” on the subject of Palestine because this means “siding with the oppressor”.
The Red Sunday School is a voluntary organisation that describes itself as a “space for children and young people to think for themselves, play with freedom, question the world around them and change it”.
Meeting monthly, the school’s website says it is “organised on the principles of socialism and solidarity” and “encourages active participation in the great struggles of our day: anti-racism, the climate crisis, feminism and the revolutionary transformation of capitalism”.
It is run by a group of “activists, educators, parents, carers and cultural workers” and takes inspiration from the Socialist Sunday School movement which developed in Glasgow in the late 19th century.
In October, it produced a self-published “zine” which it claimed was “by the children of Glasgow Red Sunday School” and would serve as a “resource to help people understand what is happening in Palestine”.
The magazine opens by posing the question “what actually is the fighting all about?”.
It goes on: “When a state decides to take land from another state and say that it’s now theirs, this is called an occupation. Palestine has been an occupied state for nearly 100 years.
“Oppression means being treated badly or without justice. An oppressor is someone who treats someone else badly or unjustly.
“Children do not get to choose when an oppressor occupies a land. They do not get to choose how the oppressed try to take their land back from the occupiers and gain their liberation. 
“These children are forced to live either in occupied land or as the occupiers of someone else’s land. Children from both sides are being harmed by the occupation. The occupier is putting all children’s lives at risk because if they weren’t occupying someone else’s land there would be no reason to fight.”
The magazine notes that “we often hear people on the news saying that they are ‘neutral’ on Palestine”, but questions whether this is possible.
“Liberation means becoming free of violence… if we say we believe that all children have the right to live free from violence, but also say we are staying neutral on Palestine, then we are not actually being neutral, we are siding with the oppressor.”
It adds: “The end of the occupation means the liberation of both Palestinian and Israeli children.
“From the river to the sea, all the children will be free.”
The phrase “from the river to the sea” features in a chant commonly heard at pro-Palestine demonstrations and refers to the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean.
Its use has become controversial because some people interpret it as a call for the destruction of Israel as a state.
The magazine also includes letters written by children addressed to workers in defence industry sites in Glasgow, with one signed by a child aged eight.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism criticised the publication. 
A spokesman said: “This is propaganda, pure and simple. But it is all the more alarming because it is directed at children.
“For a school that seeks to encourage ‘anti-racism’, it is surprisingly comfortable using rhetoric that plays on genocidal language and implicitly denies a right to Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel. This material is borne of the socialism of fools and has no place in a British classroom.”
In November, the Red Sunday School called on pupils and teachers to join a National School Strike for Palestine in Glasgow.
The school also recently posted a flyer on its Instagram account advertising a “parachute banner making session” organised by Art workers for Palestine, where participants will make a circular banner to “occupy space with children at demos and future actions”. 
On its own Instagram account, Art workers for Palestine have accused Israel of “genocide” and “military efforts to extinguish the people of Palestine”.
According to a news article by Gal Dem, the Red Sunday School has held a fancy dress day with the theme “socialist heroes vs capitalist villains” and uses a variant of the “duck, duck, goose” children’s game called “rent, rent, strike”.
The Red Sunday School was contacted for comment.