Justice for Gaza!

 

by New Worker correspondent

Protesters rallied outside the Egyptian embassy in London last weekend to call on the Sisi government to open up the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip to allow humanitarian aid into the beleaguered Palestinian enclave. Children attempted to post letters by hand, hoping that the Ambassador would read them, but they were stopped by the police guarding the embassy.  
The mass picket was part of an emergency protest in front of Egyptian embassies all around the world called by the Egyptian Revolutionary Council, a Turkish-based movement that supports the Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed in Egypt after its government was overthrown by General Sisi in 2013.
But back in Cairo the Egyptian Foreign Ministry condemned the demonstrations saying that they serve the Israeli occupation and divert public opinion from those truly responsible for the humanitarian crisis. They said the Rafah crossing is ultimately controlled by the Israelis who have closed it as part of their campaign to take over the Gaza Strip and denied allegations that held Egypt responsible for the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.

Stop starving Gaza!

 by New Worker correspondent

Whitehall was absolutely crammed last week with Palestinian supporters, thousands of people furious with our government’s complicity and participation in the crimes against humanity we see every day. Protesters sent a message to Starmer banging pots and pans outside Downing Street in London to denounce Gaza’s urgent hunger crisis. The emergency protest followed reports that over 1,000 Palestinians have been shot by the Israelis and their auxiliaries while queuing for food and 154 people in Israeli occupied Gaza have already died of starvation.
Meanwhile the co-founder of a pro-Palestinian direct action campaign has won her bid to legally challenge the British government’s decision to ban it under “anti-terrorism” laws.
Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, asked London’s High Court to give the go-ahead for a full challenge to the campaign’s proscription, which was made on the grounds that spray-painting RAF jets and vandalising the offices of arms manufacturers operating in the UK that supply weapons to Israel constituted acts of “terrorism”.
The High Court had originally refused Ms Ammori’s application to pause the ban and after an unsuccessful last-ditch appeal Palestine Action’s proscription came into effect on 5th July. Proscription makes it a crime to be a member of the group, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
However Judge Martin Chamberlain has now granted permission for a judicial review, saying Ms Ammori’s case amounted to a disproportionate interference with her and others’ right to freedom of expression and was “reasonably arguable”.

Guardians of Peace

 by New Worker correspondent

Ambassador Zheng welcomes the guests

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined diplomats and politicians at a reception at the Chinese embassy in London last week to celebrate the 98th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA). The Chinese Ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, and Defence Attaché Major-General Feng Min addressed over 300 guests that included government officials, politicians, diplomatic envoys and defence attachés together with Ben Merrick, the Director of International Security at the Ministry of Defence.
During the formal part of the event Ambassador Zheng pointed out that under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, the PLA has braved wind and rain and grown from strength to strength over the past 98 glorious years. It has made remarkable contributions to the liberation of the people, the development of the country, and the security of the motherland, making indelible achievements for the Party and the people. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought the PLA is stepping up efforts towards the goal of building a world-class military by the PLA’s centenary. The PLA will continue to provide strategic support for realising the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and make new contributions to peace and stability in the world.
Ambassador Zheng pointed out that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism in the second world war. The peoples of China and the UK fought valiantly against fascist aggression on the main Eastern Front and the European battlefield, making huge sacrifices for the cause of justice and important contributions to the global victory against fascism. China’s fight was the earliest to begin, and the longest-lasting. The Chinese people suffered the most significant human and material losses before ultimately defeating the Japanese aggressors. Now the current international situation is experiencing transformation and instability. The international community should resolutely defend the outcomes of the victory in 1945, firmly uphold true multilateralism, steadfastly safeguard world peace, stability, fairness and justice, and jointly build a community with a shared future for humanity. 
He also noted that this year also marks the 80th anniversary of the recovery of Taiwan. Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China’s territory since ancient times. The Chinese people and their armed forces will never allow Taiwan to be separated from China. Nor will they allow any external forces to undermine their efforts for complete reunification.
And in her speech, Major-General Feng Min said the PLA had made steady progress in its modernisation and combat capability. The PLA is firmly committed to defending national sovereignty, security and development interests, to putting people first, and to safeguarding peace. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Chinese military's first participation in UN peacekeeping operations. China is the largest troop-contributing country among the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the second-largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping assessments. Over the past 35 years, the Chinese military has undertaken 26 peacekeeping missions, dispatching more than 50,000 peacekeepers in total. Among them, 17 Chinese peacekeepers have made the ultimate sacrifice, dedicating their youth, passion, and lives to the cause of UN peacekeeping.

Stop the Genocide! Stop the War!

by New Worker correspondent

Tens of thousands of protesters defied sudden downpours on Saturday to march through the heart of London to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza. The Israeli terror campaign is reaching new heights as the Zionist army tries to starve the Palestinians into submission and exile. More than 900 Palestinians have been gunned down by the Israeli army and their US proxies just trying to get something to eat. These “aid sites” are death traps – and were designed to be such.
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who now heads the Independent Alliance bloc in parliament called for the halt of all British arms sales to Israel.
He later said “The UK government says it is doing everything it can to alleviate suffering in Gaza. The UK government won’t suspend the sale of F-35 parts to Israel.
The UK government won’t stop the use of RAF Akrotiri or end military cooperation.
The UK government won’t accept the ICJ ruling that the occupation of Palestine is illegal.
The UK government won’t recognise a Palestinian state. The UK government won’t impose comprehensive economic sanctions. The UK government won’t conduct an assessment of genocide, let alone fulfil its legal obligations to prevent it. The UK government won’t even say that war crimes have been committed.
“Empty words cannot hide the truth: the UK government is complicit in crimes against humanity”.

In the footsteps of George Hogg

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other communists, academics and friends of China to recall the life of George Hogg who went to China in 1938 to help the Chinese people in their struggle against Japanese imperialism. George was a young man, a teacher and a journalist, who told the West about the Japanese army’s atrocities while setting up schools for communist-led co-operatives and helped orphans who lost their parents and relatives during the war. He joined the communist resistance to the invaders but he never lived to see the defeat of Japan let alone the Chinese people’s victory in 1949 which led to the establishment of the people’s republic in 1949. He died from an infection in July 1945 only weeks before the surrender of the Japan.  
In London on Saturday the memorial event brought together family members, scholars and representatives from both Chinese and English organisations gathering to mark his contribution – not only to the Chinese people's war of resistance, but also to the mutual understanding of the two nations.
The event was jointly held by the Chinese Embassy, the  China Global TV network (CGTN Europe) and the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU). Earlier this year, a SACU delegation, including members of the Hogg family travelled across China, following George Hogg's footsteps eight decades ago. The delegation shared their memories of the visit and spoke of the warm welcome and hospitality they received from everyone they met.
CGTN Europe journalists also shared their experience of producing a documentary about Hogg. Their digital team members talked about the filming and editing of the production. Without much archive video of Hogg, it is mainly through his writing that readers today can imagine his life and work in China – so applying AI-generated content helped to fill in the gaps.
Based on Hogg's writings, alongside a biography authored by his nephew Mark Thomas, the AI technology recreated scenes of Hogg's tour, work and life among the Chinese people back in the 1930s and 1940s, providing an immersive experience for the audience, especially the younger generation.
Also premiered at the event was a trailer for Witness to War: George Hogg in China, a documentary which is expected to be released in August. Michael Wood, the well-known historian who is president of SACU, said it brought war-torn Shanghai to life.

Prof Wood pays tribute to George Hogg

It reminded him of a poem by Chinese poet Du Fu. "I can remember a Chinese guy who belonged to a book club in America, he'd lived through that Japanese destruction of Shanghai," Wood said. "And 'I remember when I was a child, the buildings were all burning, and the great factories were burning, and across the wall somebody had painted the state is destroyed, but the people remain which is a line from Du Fu. 
"And I'll never forget that. You just watch those pictures in that film and that's exactly what I saw. I saw the Du Fu poem come alive again. So I'm very impressed."
He said Hogg's story provides Western audiences with a good angle of China's role in the Second World War. "You can tell people that China was so important in World War II, and you can give them facts and figures, but this is a real personal story of somebody who was so moved by the sufferings of the Chinese people," he said. 
"He could have gone home at any time, but he decided to stay and help the Chinese people, and in the end he died. So that's a very human story, a very powerful story".
In the final segment of the programme Andy Brooks and Peter Higgins from the Workers Party of Britain discussed George Hogg’s Legacy. The NCP leader said George Hogg,  an outstanding man who left our shores to help the people of China in the 1930s is, naturally, remembered in books, films and commemorations in China for his dedication and sacrifice but he is not so well known in his home country. That is sadly often the case where genuine heroes are routinely ignored by bourgeois scholars and the mass media alike in a country  where corruption is flaunted like a badge of honour by those who claim to lead us and whose highest virtue is greed and selfishness. But all of us here believe in what we are doing – we wouldn’t be here otherwise. Let us hope that when the time comes we can show the courage and determination of a man like George Hogg who dedicated his life to serving the people.

Corbyn censures court over arms exports to Israel

protest outside Redbridge town hall in Ilford

by Ed Newman

Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the Labour Party who now heads the Independent Alliance in the House of Commons, has strongly censured the High Court for rejecting the challenge brought by rights groups, which sought to halt the export of British-made F-35 warplane parts to Israel. 
“A truly shameful decision. It remains a moral disgrace that this government allows the supply of parts to F-35 jets, used to kill Palestinian men, women and children. This isn’t over.  We will not give up until we have ended the UK’s complicity in genocide" Corbyn said.
London’s high court ruled on Monday that Britain’s decision to allow the export of the F-35 components to Israel, despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, was lawful.
"Under our constitution that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive which is democratically accountable to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts," the ruling said.
Oxfam presented powerful evidence linking the transfer of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel to the vast death and destruction in Gaza, a lawyer for the charity said.
“The evidence that Oxfam submitted demonstrated an obvious and worsening pattern of attacks by Israel on objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including critical water and sanitation infrastructure,” said Carolin Ott, a solicitor at the law firm Leigh Day, which represented the charity.
“Coupled with the severe restrictions on humanitarian aid into Gaza, this has worsened the already dire humanitarian situation, and Oxfam provided powerful evidence to the court on the significant civilian harm that has resulted. My client is disappointed that the court has not properly grappled with these matters.”
Labour MP Richard Burgon said the ruling had made it "very clear" that the matter was one for the government and parliament, and called for an immediate vote in parliament if the government continued to export the parts.
"Let's end the passing of the buck. Let's end the saying it's for the courts to decide. The government needs to take moral responsibility now and decide whether or not it wants to continue complicity in genocide," Burgon said.
"If it makes the wrong decision, it won't necessarily be the courts that they need to be scared of in terms of judgment. It will be the judgment of people, the judgment of history, but mostly importantly, the judgment of the Palestinian people who deserve self-determination."
Glan and Al-Haq, and the three British human rights campaigns which are parties to the case, argued that under the Arms Trade Treaty and the Genocide Convention, the UK, as a state party to both, is obligated to stop sending the parts and that, by failing to follow its obligations, is threatening the rule of law globally.
Al Haq, the Palestinian human rights group which brought the legal challenge along with the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan), said on Monday that the court had failed to meet its demands, but that the groups had "achieved a partial suspension of UK arms to Israel, exposed [government] complicity in war crimes and rallied public support. This is a breakthrough & just a start. We fight on for justice".
Yasmine Ahmed, the director of Human Rights Watch, one of three British human rights groups which intervened in the case, said she and others were "incredibly disappointed" by the ruling.
“Judicial deference to the executive in this case has left the Palestinians in Gaza without access to the protections of international law, despite the government and the court acknowledging that there is a serious risk that UK equipment might be used to facilitate or carry out atrocities against them," Ahmed said.
“The atrocities we are witnessing in Gaza are precisely because governments don’t think the rules should apply to them. This perception of impunity, which has been reinforced by the government’s unwillingness to suspend arms licensing, has led to unimaginable horrors and atrocities being carried out on Palestinians”.
The UK-made F-35 components make up 15 per cent of every F-35, one of the world's most sophisticated warplanes Israel has used extensively in its campaign of genocide in Gaza and its aggression against Lebanon. Israel has massacred more than 56,500 people in Gaza since October 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Radio Havana Cuba

Say no to Palestine Action Ban!

by New Worker correspondent

A peaceful protest in central London last week ended with clashes with the police in Trafalgar Square following the arrest of demonstrators protesting against the Government’s decision to ban Palestine Action as a “terrorist organisation”.
The draconian move to outlaw the direct action solidarity campaign followed the damage to two military planes at RAF Brize Norton, where flights leave daily for RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, a base used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East. Two Palestine Action activists broke into base using electric scooters to swiftly manoeuvre towards the planes. They used repurposed fire extinguishers to spray red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyagers and caused further damage using crowbars. Red paint, symbolising Palestinian bloodshed, was also sprayed across the runway and a Palestine flag was left on the scene. Both activists managed to evade security and arrest.
By putting the planes out of service, these activists have interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East. From Akrotiri the RAF have flown hundreds of surveillance missions in support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and the base is also used for UK and US military cargo transports to the Israeli military.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now heads the Independent Alliance in parliament, called the proscription of Palestine Action “an absurd and authoritarian crackdown on the right to oppose genocide”.
Writing in Tribune the former Labour leader said “the latest proposals to proscribe Palestine Action represent the desperate cries of a draconian government trying to shield itself from accountability. They are as absurd as they are authoritarian – and expose the government’s attempts to disguise what violence really looks like: the mass murder of Palestinians that these protestors have the audacity to oppose...
“Home by home, hospital by hospital and generation by generation, we are not just witnessing a war; we are witnessing a genocide – one being livestreamed all over the world. Today, the death toll in Gaza exceeds 61,000, and at least 110,000 people – one in 20 of the entire population – have been severely injured. It is those who have aided and abetted these crimes who should face justice, not those who have the humanity to try and stop them.
“Crushing dissent is not an act of strength. It is a sign of weakness. In the words of the human rights group Liberty, the Prime Minister’s former workplace, ‘protest isn’t a gift from the State – it’s our fundamental right’. If you believe in women’s suffrage, you believe in the right to protest. If you think our children deserve a liveable future, you believe in the right to protest. If you believe that LGBT+ people deserve to live in freedom, you believe in the right to protest.
“Government ministers may pay lip service to the freedoms we now enjoy, but they should ask themselves whether the protestors of the past would be thrown in jail if they were alive today. They should remind themselves that it was protestors who laid the foundations of our democracy. And, as they throw their support behind this authoritarian assault on the right to protest, they should ask themselves: where would they be today without it?”

Standing up for refugees!

by Carole Barclay

London comrades joined hundreds of comedy fans last week for a refugee appeal just round the corner from the Party Centre. The show saw a fantastic line up  on the bill at the Clapham Grand for a Stand Up for Refugees comedy gig in aid of Refugee Action. Those performing included Mark Watson of Taskmaster fame, Olga Koch, Ali Woods, Esther Manito, Milo Edwards, Sikisa, Tadiwa Mahlunge and Rajiv Karia. The evening was hosted by the excellent Kiri Pritchard-McLean and every penny raised from this event will support Refugee Action’s work in welcoming refugees, campaigning for their rights, and offering support and advice to people who have had to flee their homes. 

US out of Korea!

 

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other Korean solidarity activists outside the US embassy in London on Friday 20th June to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War and call for an end to the American occupation of south Korea.
The Friday evening protest was called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) whose chair, Dermot Hudson, said “we are here today in front of the US Embassy , the embassy of the American empire , the empire of evil, because on the 25th June it will be the 75th  anniversary of the provocation of the Korean War by the US imperialists and their puppets .The Korean War never really ended because no peace treaty was ever concluded only an armistice”. Dermot Hudson also said that the US imperialists wanted to invade the DPR Korea not only to destroy the socialist system but  also to seize the valuable rare earth deposits of the DPRK .
A message of support was received from KFA Germany which was read out . In part the message said “ Until this day 30,000 US-soldiers occupy the southern part of the Korean peninsula. Until today the US have nuclear weapons stationed in South Korea and they still continue their aggressive military manoeuvres against the DPRK. That is why it is so important to show solidarity with socialist Korea and openly fight against the US-aggression. Your picket here in front of the US embassy in London today is an important part in the fight against the US imperialist aggression”.

No War with Iran!

 

Corbyn speaks

by New Worker correspondent

More than 350,000 people marched through the heart of the capital on Saturday 21st June to demand an end to the fighting in Gaza and Iran. Demanding no war with Iran and an end to the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians the protesters marched from Russell Square to a rally in Whitehall on Saturday in a massive show of solidarity with the Arabs and Iranians confronting imperialism and Zionism in the Middle East.
Jeremy Corbyn condemned the normalisation of atrocities carried out by Israeli forces. And
Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal said “for over 20 months now we have all seen the world turned upside down. We have seen our political leaders try to convince us that what we know is right is actually wrong. That what we see with our own eyes is not really what it seems. That a state slaughtering over 55,000 people and forcibly starving children is not a genocidal state, but a ‘democratic ally’ we should still sell arms to and trade with normally.
“That the people who should be regarded as terrorists and treated accordingly are not the perpetrators of those barbaric crimes, but those who protest against them”.