Stop Israeli terror now!

by Theo Russell

Over 80,000 joined a London wide protest calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza last Saturday which ended in a mass rally outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, central London.
Millions of people across Britain have been marching every weekend for over six months now, in by far the biggest mass peace movement since the protests to try and prevent the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003. But while our imperialist masters, the global Lords of War, brushed aside those protests, since October 2023 the Palestine protests in Britain and around the world have shaken our ruling class to the core, and put them on the back foot.
Addressing the rally in Parliament Square, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told protesters that people all around the world were marching. "Let us continue and let the people of Gaza and the West Bank, the refugee camps and the diaspora, know that you are not alone. We are here with you, we will give you our support for as long as it takes until there is a free Palestine for the Palestinian people to live in. Our message to parliament over there is, 'we ain't disappearing, we'll be here, watching what you're doing' ".
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said: "Friends, two weeks ago Israel launched its attack on Damascus, killing 16 people. This was a hugely provocative and illegal attack by Israel, but the way the media and the politicians talk about, it you'd think that it's Iran that wants to start a wider war.
“But the truth is it's Israel that wants to start a wider war, not only with Iran but in Lebanon too. Such a conflict would be terrible, how many thousands would be added to the terrible death toll in Gaza?
“But the greatest toll would be if Israel uses its nuclear arsenal, which could kill hundreds of thousands of people, and affect hundreds of thousands more through radiation burns and poisoning,  miscarriages and birth defects.
"It was Britain which in the past made it possible for Israel to develop its nuclear weapons. It was Britain which supplied 20 tons of heavy water to Israel, with no safeguards against military use".
All of those taking part last Saturday would never have believed last October that they would still be marching six months later, with the death toll in the Gaza Strip reaching over 33,000, including almost 12,000 children under 15 and over 8,000 women and girls over 14.
But millions of British citizens, the vast majority of the entire population of the UK, support an immediate, permanent ceasefire. The Tories, Labour and some Unionist parties in the north of Ireland, who call for arming Israel and support Zionist aggression, are the only ones resisting this demand and they are increasingly isolated. But the mass solidarity movement with the people of Gaza and Palestine will continue until Israel's genocide and collective punishment ends. Then the priority will be to demand a just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all, with a genuine state the Palestinians can call their home.

Free all Ukrainian political prisoners!

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other anti-fascist activists protesting in Central London last week in solidarity with the of victims of savage fascist repression by the Zelensky regime in Ukraine, and with the millions of Ukrainians driven into exile since the imperialist-backed coup that overthrew the legitimate government in February 2014. Tens of thousands of opponents of the regime which seized power in 2014, including local elected officials, teachers, political activists, journalists and ordinary citizens have faced summary executions, beatings, torture, imprisonment and seizure of property at the hands of the Nazi gangs who are integrated into the Ukrainian state structures, while the Western mass media have turned a blind eye.
The demonstrators, members and supporters of International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), have campaigned for ten years calling for the British government to end its political, diplomatic, economic and military support for the puppet regime in Kiev. The protestors called for all Ukrainian political prisoners to be freed, for full political and media freedom to be restored in Ukraine, and for a comprehensive investigation into the crimes of the fascist militias over the past ten years. They also called for an end to the British government's support for Israeli genocide in Gaza and an immediate end to the merciless Israeli military operation in Gaza. Several people stopped to show strong support for the protest, after overcoming their astonishment at seeing such a protest against the Banderite junta in Kiev in the heart of the British capital.

. Stop arms sales to Israel!

by Theo Russell

Last Saturday around 80 people marched from Kentish Town to Mornington Crescent in north London in one of many local protests across Britain calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and for Britain to end arms sales to the extreme Zionist government in Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu. Passing close to the famous Camden Market, the protest as usual ended near Sir Keir Starmer's constituency Labour Party office.
Unlike the previous week there was no pro-Israel counter-protest, although strangely there was coincidentally a small anti-vaxx protest at Mornington Crescent.
The spirit of those protestors who have stuck out the protests which have now continued come rain or shine for six months (at one point the local Camden protests drew over 600 people) was still as strong and determined as ever, and as usual many passing cars, buses, lorries and van drivers hooted loudly in support.
At the rally in Mornington Crescent Luca Salice, the co-Chair of Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) , said the protest coincided with the 30th  anniversary of the Rwanda genocide but as he pointed out "the Western countries looked the other way and did nothing while that genocide was taking place. This time the Western countries are actually supporting and assisting Israel as it conducts genocide against the people of Gaza". Luca also said that Britain is also using its bases on sovereign British territory in Cyprus to supply arms to Israel and to launch fighter jets to bomb Yemen, as it did previously in Iraq and Syria.
Sabby Sagall, also co-Chair of Camden PSC, said that Palestinian refugees driven out of Israel for many decades should be compared to the Jews who fled Nazi Germany and many other countries it occupied.
For the protestors in local actions across the country it is hard to believe that the living nightmare in Gaza is still taking place after six months, but they are as determined as ever to force the British government to unequivocally condemn the Israeli military's actions and call for an immediate end to the deliberate targeting of civilians and creating an inhuman collective punishment in Gaza, demands which only 13 per cent of people in Britain oppose. Every other major party in Britain apart from the Tories, Labour and the Unionists in the north of Ireland supports those demands, and the Government must be forced to listen.

Kim Il Sung: A hero to remember

Dermot Hudson and Andy Brooks

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other Korean solidarity campaigners at a meeting in central London last weekend to mark the 112th anniversary of the birth of the great Korean leader, Kim Il Sung and celebrate the successes of Korean-style socialism.
Dermot Hudson, the chair of the Korean Friendship Association that called the meeting,  praised Kim Il Sung, the leader of the Korean communist movement that drove out the Japanese colonialists and established a people’s government after the defeat of Japan in the Second World War. The revolutionary path charted by Kim Il Sung led to the establishment of a people’s republic based on the Juche Idea and Korean-style socialism is now being followed by Kim Jong Un, he said.
Juche-based socialism is not a copy of another country but the essence of the experience of generations of Korean revolutionaries. “In today’s People’s Korea there is free health care, free education , virtually free housing , low cost food and no individual taxation. There aren’t any homeless people , beggars or drug addicts in People’s Korea”.
Andy Brooks recalled his first visit to the DPRK and his meeting with President Kim Il Sung as part of a NCP delegation in 1990. He said how impressed the delegation of the New Communist Party was with the development of the DPRK which surpassed their expectations.
The general secretary of the NCP spoke about the victories of Kim Il Sung, who led the Workers’ Party of Korea until his death in 1994, and the outstanding achievements of those who’ve followed in his footsteps. While the people’s government strives for the peaceful re-unification of the Korea peninsula it has to prepare for whatever the American imperialists, who occupy the south, will do next whatever the outcome of the American presidential election in November  We can expect nothing from Biden, a senile old man who barely knows what day it is. Biden is just a pawn of the “deep state” – the most venal and aggressive elements within the American ruling class. But ultimately so is Donald Trump.
Trump did his best meeting Kim Jong Un twice for talks to try to ease tension on the Korean peninsula but he was constantly thwarted by the hidden hand of the American Establishment in Washington.
A lively Q & A session followed with questions about travel to the DPRK, the nature of internal class enemies in the DPRK and the issue of the DPRK’s relations with neighbouring countries and the meeting closed with the adoption of a solidarity message to Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Free, free Palestine!

  by New Worker correspondent

Every year on 30^th March Palestinians observe Land Day recalling the events on that day in 1976, when six unarmed Palestinians were killed and more than 100 injured by Israeli forces during protests against Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian Arab land. This year Palestinian solidarity campaigners remembered their sacrifice as they took to the streets all around the world to support Palestinian rights and demand an end to the slaughter in Gaza. London was no exception. Over 200,000 people marched through central London for a rally on Land Day in Trafalgar Square. Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said “Many thanks to the more than 200k who filled London with us, on Land Day, the day when Palestinians mark the root causes of this current genocide: 76 years of violent colonisation. We do not stop until the genocide is ended and Apartheid is finally dismantled!”

From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free!

by Theo Russell

Protestors marched in solidarity with the people of Gaza last weekend in Camden, North London, and held a rally near Sir Keir Starmer’s constituency office, in one of dozens of local actions across Britain.
For the first time there was a pro-Israel counter protest near the rally on Saturday with some 30 or so Zionists with a loud PA system trying to make as much noise as possible. While the Palestine protest was smaller than previously in Camden, it was still more than twice as many as the Zionists. Over a dozen cars passed by beeping in support, some with Palestinian flags, but of course there were none supporting the ultra-Zionists.
According to activists who were there the ultra-Zionists looked like “English Defence League” (EDL) types. The EDL is known to have been working with the pro-Israel fanatical extremists.
Liz Wheatley from Camden Unison told the rally that “we in the trade union movement support those who are fighting for their liberation, we support our Palestinian brothers and sisters against the absolutely outrageous genocide that's being committed in Gaza.
“We have a lot of discussions about the future of Palestine in our trade union branch, and we decided after a vote that there should be one democratic state where both peoples have equal civil and democratic rights.
“We realise that not every trade unionist and every trade union branch thinks that, but it's important that people know that trade union branches have such debates.”
Paul Rennie from Camden Palestine Solidarity said “there comes a time in history when you're put to the test as a moral person, a person with humanity. It happened during Iraq. This is another time. Camden Friends of Palestine are standing with the oppressed.
“People in Gaza are starving, and young children are dying in hospital corridors because there are no medical supplies. We cannot let this brutality go on!
“It's time for a ceasefire, bring all the hostages home, and all the Palestinian prisoners too!”
There will be a workplace day of action on May Day for people to plan activities on Palestine.