Leah Levane remembers her friend, Gil Knight, who was a tireless stalwart and leader in the movements for Palestine, women’s liberation and socialism

Gill Knight, a true warrior woman, has died in Hastings after a severe second stroke early in 2024. Gill was based in Hastings for many years, and tributes are pouring in from the local Palestine Solidarity Campaign, of which she was a founder member, from Women’s Voice and from colleagues in the Sussex South Coast branch of Unite the Community Union. These tributes are bringing a great deal of comfort to her family and she was able to be at home thanks to the support of her daughter.

After her retirement, she devoted almost all her energies to campaigning for Palestine, for women and for socialism. Like me, she joined the Labour Party when Corbyn was elected and was the Constituency’s Women’s Officer for some years. She left in disgust when Starmer got busy purging her friends and comrades from the Party.

Gill was a real leader, for example, always making sure that Women’s Voice and Unite the Community worked on the estates and in the streets, to break out of the bubble of those who already agree and who can already access the support they need. For several years, she helped to organise ‘alternative Christmas Carol’  singing in the town centre to remind people of what was happening in Palestine and also what austerity was doing to us so that the rich could stay rich.

As noted in the Hastings & District PSC’s tribute, ‘She visited Palestine several times – sometimes volunteering for months at a time – where she made friends and important connections which allowed her to communicate to those back home the conditions of people living there.’ I was glad to be able to introduce her to friends in Balata Refugee Camp, with whom she stayed and then remained in contact over several years.

PSC went on to say: ‘… she played a pivotal role in raising funds and awareness about the struggles of Palestinians living in Shu’fat Refugee camp, and in September 2023, with her union Unite, she helped bring a delegation from Shu’fat in East Jerusalem to the UK to ensure the voices of community leaders surviving apartheid and ethnic cleansing, were heard in this country.’

She was also a member of Counterfire and, as she became less physically able, she would, nonetheless, make her way to London and help out on the Counterfire stall. She was a passionate advocate for Palestine, for women, for workers’ rights and was a solid internationalist.

She was also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and pleased, after many months in hospital following her double stroke, that she was able to spend Christmas 2024 in her own home, surrounded by some from those many generations. She was a truly independent spirit, who exuded warmth and was a passionate and committed lifelong advocate for justice.

As one of her friends, I will miss her greatly. But even though we do not believe in life after death, Gill’s legacy (legacies) will live on: Women’s Voice is thriving and the local Palestine Solidarity Campaign branch is one of the strongest and most active in the country. Gill made a huge contribution to that, which can never be taken away. Let us also remember that we are always standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before. Her funeral will certainly be a celebration of this magnificent contribution.