By Jody Mcintyre

This week, I travelled through Paris, Lyon and Geneve on my way to Frankfurt in Germany, to meet Hamde, who I lived with for most of my time in Bil’in, Palestine. Six months was a long time, so now he’s more than a brother.

Although most of our three days together were full of happiness, there was a sad element to the trip as it made us remember the months spent together under the endless frustration of occupation. It was surreal to traverse through the streets of Frankfurt together, him riding a bike and me sitting on a wheelchair and holding onto the side. Dark with the night, but not a soldier in sight…

“Jody, how do the people here not understand?” Hamde asked. Sometimes I’m left asking myself the same question.

The seven Smash EDO activists from Brighton certainly understood what’s going on. As bombs rained down on Gaza last January, they broke into a factory building the weapons and caused £300,000 worth of damage. After eighteen months with two of the activists languishing in British jails, and the other five on bail, the trial finally came to an end. All seven were found not guilty on all charges. A victory…

So what are the rest of us waiting for?

A British judge and jury has just set the precedent, taking direct action to prevent war crimes is not illegal in this country. I don’t think we need a second invitation.

Frankfurt wasn’t the only place to bring back memories. In Lyon and Geneve I caught up with Patrice and Nesrine, both of whom I met during the epic trip around South America, and both of whom touched my heart in ways they will never even begin to understand.

As I swam in the lake in Geneve, I realised that not enough travelling was really taking it’s toll.

But the quote of the trip came from Charlie, an old friend from school now living in Paris, and one of the most apathetic unrevolutionary people you would ever meet…

“Oi Jody, if you ever go back out there, can you just tell Aviv to f*** off?”

That’s one way of describing a struggle for freedom and justice.

Hanging out with Hamde also made us remember Haitham, our ultimate “scrumping” partner, who unfortunately couldn’t be out there with us. Luckily, he made us a film to enjoy in his absence…

[The complete ‘Life on wheels’ archive is available at http://jodymcintyre.wordpress.com]