A stirring debut for a Chinese epic

by New Worker correspondent

Andy Brooks with Eliana - BITDB Design, Beijing

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined actors, academics and members of London’s Chinese community at the reception and screening of Dongji Rescue at a packed house at the art-deco Odeon Luxe in London’s Leicester Square last week. This Chinese block-buster tells the story of the fishermen of Dongji island who braved Japanese gunfire in 1942 to rescue hundreds of British POWs from the Lisbon Maru.
“Watching Dongji Rescue tonight holds special significance” said Chinese Ambassador Zheng Zeguang. “Eighty-three years have passed since the Lisbon Maru incident, and the world has changed, but we should cherish the memory and carry forward the friendship between the peoples of our two countries”.
The story "is very close to my heart, because my grandfather, Thomas Theodore Jones, was one of the survivors of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru" Anthony Jones, chairman of the Lisbon Maru Memorial Association, told the reception before the screening. And one of the stars, William Franklyn-Miller, said “the bravery of the fishermen who rescued the British soldiers shines through" adding that he personally felt a responsibility to share this part of history more widely. 
In October 1942, the Lisbon Maru, a cargo vessel requisitioned by the Japanese army to carry more than 1,800 British prisoners from Hong Kong to Japan, was hit by an American submarine unaware of the POWs on board. Rather than assist the POWs, the Japanese shot many who were trying to escape. Many more drowned. All in all, 828 lives were lost. However, this amount would have been higher but for the heroic efforts of the local Chinese fishermen who risked their own lives to save 384 British soldiers from the water. 

Stop the slaughter! Stop the war!

By New Worker correspondent

On Saturday over 300,000 of us marched to Whitehall to demand Keir Starmer ends all arms sales to Israel, expels Israeli diplomats and immediately imposes sanctions on the genocidal state. Meanwhile over a thousand other peaceful protesters had gathered in Parliament Square to defy the government's banning of Palestine Action under the “terrorism” laws. They occupied the square and took part in a silent ‘Defend our Juries’ vigil holding placards supporting the direct action solidarity movement. The Metropolitan Police who had warned that anyone taking part would be arrested under anti-terrorism legislation moved to break up the protest. There were 521 arrests, the largest mass arrest by the Metropolitan Police, ever. This marks a pivotal moment in British history. Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign condemned the shameful arrests of those taking part in the Defend our Juries protests, while the Starmer government continues to arm Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Stepping stones to the future

Andy Brooks pays tribute to the NCP

by New Worker correspondent
 
Comrades gathered at the Party Centre in London last weekend to celebrated the founding of the New Communist Party in July 1977. Friends and comrades, old and new, joined NCP leader Andy Brooks and Peter Hendy from the Central Committee in celebrating the anniversary with speeches, food and drink. Sadly our National Chair, Richard Bos, could not join us on this occasion so Peter MC’d the commemoration and welcomed guests that included diplomats from the Chinese and Democratic Korean embassies in London as well as representatives from the labour movement that have long worked alongside us in London and other parts of the country. 
A Korean diplomat read out his greetings at the social followed by solidarity speeches from Marie Lynam of the British Posadist movement, Ian Donovan from the Consistent Democrats, Dermot Hudson from the Korean Friendship Association and Theo Russell from the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity campaign. Other tributes came from a member of the NCP Metropolitan Cell & Supporters group and Peter Hendy who read out Richard Bos’ greetings and a call for a new £10,000 New Worker appeal that starts next month. Peter also called on comrades to dig deep to boost our August fighting fund. They did with a collection that raised £460 for our communist weekly!

Stand with the Ukrainian anti-fascists!

by New Worker correspondent

Activists protested in central London last weekend in solidarity with the millions of Ukrainians resisting the Banderite dictatorship, and the maurading military "headhunter" gangs grabbing men off the streets across the country to send to a war which 70 per cent of Ukrainians no longer support. Dozens of people showed support for the protest, clapped and took photos. Only one person spoke to us opposing our slogans, and engaged in a long, and apparently pointless, discussion. The picket opposite Downing Street in Whitehall was organised by the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity movement that campaigns in support of the people of the Donbas and the Ukrainian resistance fighting the fascist puppet regime in Kiev.

Stop Starving Gaza!

by New Worker correspondent

Last Saturday thousands joined Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) actions at over 50 locations around the country, including eight across London, and laid down pots and pans to demand our politicians take action to end Israel's starvation of Gaza. “We must keep the pressure up,” says the PSC “as we once more lay down pots and pans to represent those starved to death by Israel’s genocidal blockade and demand our politicians take action to end Israel’s starvation of Gaza. We won't stop until our government ends all complicity in Israel's genocidal violence”. 
In south London Vanessa Redgrave, the veteran campaigning actress, joined protesters demonstrating for an hour outside Lambeth town hall in Brixton for an end to the genocide and for Lambeth council to divest its pension fund of enterprises linked to the Zionist entity.  
“Tonight, local people responded powerfully to the national call from PSC to protest the genocide and Israel’s deliberate starvation of Palestinians, a horror we are all witnessing”
said Micki Loebner from the Lambeth and Southwark 4 Palestine campaign. He told the media that “ in Lambeth, we wanted to join the wave of demonstrations happening across the country and also send a clear message to Lambeth Council: stop investing pension funds in Israeli companies complicit in this genocide. They are still refusing to act.The turnout tonight, especially on such short notice, shows that ordinary people are determined to stand up for Palestine. We see the genocide, and we will keep protesting”.

Museum or Crime Scene?

by Ekaterina Blinova

Many visitors to the British Museum in London have no idea that some of the ancient treasures they admire were looted and stolen.
"During the period of British colonial rule in Egypt the largest thefts of ancient Egyptian artifacts in history took place – amounting to a full-scale plundering of the Nile Valley and the tombs of the pharaohs," says Zahi Hawas, an Egyptian archaeologist and former Minister of Antiquities.
One of the most famous examples is the Rosetta Stone – the key to deciphering hieroglyphics – taken from Egypt by Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops. Equally scandalous was the looting of artefacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb by Lord Carnarvon, the sponsor of the excavation.
The English archaeologist Howard Carter gifted part of treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb to Lord Carnarvon and Egyptologist Alan Gardiner, and a Nefertum statue smuggled into the tomb of Ramses II is also now in the museum. The Rosetta Stone, found by French soldiers in Rashid in 1799, was handed to Britain – along with other artifacts – under the 1801 Treaty of Alexandria after Napoleon’s defeat.  But none of the colonial powers had any right to dispose of Egypt’s heritage says Hawas.
The British Museum dedicates seven entire halls to ancient Egyptian exhibits – from statues and mummies to jewellery and medical papyri. British museums now hold more than 100,000 Egyptian artefacts. All of them were taken illegally, Hawas insists. "Scholars and public figures are calling for an end to the silence surrounding this massive cultural theft”.
Sputnik

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”.

Kneecap supporters rally outside court

by New Worker correspondent

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court this week to support a member of an Irish rap group charged under the terrorism laws of displaying a flag of a proscribed Lebanese resistance movement at a gig.
Kneecap founder Mo Chara, the stage name of Liam O’Hanna, appeared in court charged with displaying a Hezbollah flag at a gig at the 02 Forum in north London on 21st November. The Kneecap trio have rejected the charges claiming it is "political policing" and saying that they will "vehemently defend" themselves.  
 Meanwhile, real war criminals get to evade justice with the full backing of the British government, while innocent unarmed men, women, and children are being slaughtered in the name of 'self-defence'. Despite the pandemonium, the large crowd was buoyant and defiant in their support with a range of speakers and music present.  

Shouts for justice at Grenfell protest

by New Worker correspondent

Demonstrators called for justice outside the  draped ruins of the Grenfell Tower block which will be demolished in the autumn. They had walked in silence to the site of the tragedy in West London to hear the names of the 72 victims of the fire that ripped through the building in June 2017 and take part in a memorial rally by the tower.
Fire fighters stood to attention on each side of the road outside Ladbroke Grove station, facing the passing crowd with their helmets at their feet. Passing protestors hugged them and shook their hands.
Vice-chair of Grenfell United, Karim Mussilhy, who lost his uncle in the blaze, told the crowd: “Eight years have passed, eight years since the fire – lit by negligence, greed and institutional failure – tore through our homes, our families and our hearts.
“And still no justice has come. The truth is, there’s almost nothing new to say because nothing has changed. As we stand here eight years on, the only decision this Government has made is to tear down the tower – our home.
“Not because justice has been delivered, but despite the fact it hasn’t – before a single person has been held accountable, to make what happened disappear.
“The tower has stood not just as a reminder of what happened, but of what must change – a symbol and a truth in the face of denial, of dignity in the face of power, of our resistance, of our 72 loved ones who can’t fight for their own justice.
“And now they want it gone, out of sight out of mind, a clear skyline and a forgotten scandal”.
The crowd faced the tower and chanted: “Justice, justice”.
At the end of the rally the demonstrators filed through the gates, which are rarely opened, to pay their respects at the base of the tower to the victims of the blaze that destroyed the 24 storey residential tower.
The final Grenfell Tower Inquiry report, published in September 2024, concluded that victims, bereaved and survivors were “badly failed” through incompetence, dishonesty and greed.
The tower block was covered in combustible products because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said.

Nepalese communists at the Centre

Andy Brooks and Shankar Pokharel at the Centre 

by Theo Russell

NCP leader Andy Brooks met a large delegation from the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) who visited the New Communist Party centre in London on 13th  June, led by general secretary Shankar Pokharel. It included leading members from Nepal and Germany who were visiting the UK for a CPN (UML) event in Britain.
Comrade Pokharel spoke about the years of underground struggle under the feudal Panchayat system under which all political parties were banned, and the Council of Ministers and the Federal Parliament were appointed  by the king. That system ended in 1990, and the monarchy was abolished in May 2008 .
Today the CPN(UML) has the largest share of the popular vote, and its chairman, K P Sharma Oli has been prime minister since July 2024 in coalition with the Nepali Congress and three other parties.
Pokharel said that if the CPN(UML) wins the 2027 elections it plans to start laying the basis for socialism and prioritising the needs of farmers and workers. he said that since 1990 the gap between rich and poor has reduced and the percentage living below the World Bank poverty line has fallen from 55 per cent to just two per cent.
The number of girls in school has advanced from very few to equal numbers today and it is now mandatory for a third of parliament members to be women. Many more women are now in positions of political influence.
Pokharel said that Nepal has a number of current border disputes with India, but none with China. The current government aims to maintain good relations with both countries without favouring one over the other.
NCP general secretary Andy Brooks said the party would strengthen solidarity with the CPN(UML), with the people of Nepal and the Nepali community in Britain. The bonds of friendship between the NCP and the CPN (UML) goes back many years and this meeting has been an excellent opportunity to renew and develop ties with our two parties.

Draw the line on Palestine!

by New Worker correspondent

On Wednesday 4 June thousands of protesters formed a red human chain around Parliament to demand sanctions on Israel and an end to using starvation as a weapon of war. Several MPs joined the “Red Line for Palestine” around the building during Prime Minister's Question Time was underway at the House of Commons. Others listened to Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Independent Alliance who was presenting a bill to call for an official inquiry into the British state’s role in Israel’s genocide. 
Early that day the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, had labelled the recent Israeli offensive as "appalling, counterproductive, and intolerable". But Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) – one of the organisers of the protest, said "you cannot say 'what Israel is doing is unacceptable' while you continue to provide it with weapons. The words themselves are not enough".  The protesters were demanding that  "our government sanction Israel for its crimes against the Palestinian people".

Free the Kononovich brothers!

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other anti-fascist campaigners protesting outside the Ukrainian embassy on Monday 26th May against the continued detention of two communist activists who are now being press-ganged into the Ukrainian army.

International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), which called the picket, has long campaigned in defence of Mikhail Kononovich and his brother Alexander, leading activists of the Leninist Communist Youth of Ukraine, the youth wing of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
The Kononovich brothers were arrested on 2nd March 2022 on trumped up charges of being “propagandists” aiming to “destabilise” the internal situation in Ukraine. They were then
subjected to months of beatings, torture, abuse and sleep deprivation in solitary confinement in the dungeons of the secret police. International pressure eventually forced the Kiev regime to release them. They have only appeared in court for initial processing. They have never had the opportunity of a full trial for the political charges against them. Now the brothers are back in jail.
On 22nd May Mikhail and Alexander were held by the police while on their way to a hospital. They were then taken to a military recruitment centre for allegedly evading military service. When they called their lawyer he too was arrested and taken to another military recruitment centre.
The brothers have issued this statement: "Comrades, we officially declare: Zelensky's regime wants to kill us! They want to send us to the front and then nothing needs to be proven, whether we are guilty or not, no one will care. They will kill us, no problem!
"The regime will now decide how to deliver us to the Volyn region, where we are registered and are on military registration. This is what is happening, comrades! They will not leave us alone, they have planned our murder".

A traditional Dulong blanket at Craft Week

 by New Worker correspondent

David Francis and the blanket

A traditional Dulong blanket from China's least populous ethnic minority made its debut at the opening of the China National Pavilion during the 2025 London Craft Week which ran until 18th May. The China Pavilion is themed "Tian Gong Kai Wu" after a renowned 17th-century Chinese encyclopedia widely regarded as the world's first systematic record of Chinese craftsmanship and agricultural knowledge. 
The Dulong primarily reside in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in south-west China. The Dulong blanket, woven by Dulong women, is a cultural symbol of their community.
The Dulong display was supported by the Mothers' Needlework initiative, launched by the China Ping An Group and the Art and Design Press. The programme aims to promote women's employment and alleviate poverty.
At the opening Zhao Fei, from the Chinese embassy, highlighted the shared heritage of craftsmanship in both China and Britain. He noted that both countries have splendid craft traditions, and expressed hope that this year's London Craft Week would deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the two nations.
Qian Zhu, president and editor-in-chief of Art and Design magazine, said that Dulong blankets and its related textiles generate annual sales of approximately 500,000 yuan (£51,600) in the UK. For an ethnic group with a population of just 7,000, the growing domestic and international recognition of Dulong textiles is a significant achievement.
David Francis, a lecturer in Curating Asian Art at SOAS, University of London, whose research includes ethnic minority communities in China said he was excited to see textiles he had encountered in China now being exhibited in London. He emphasised the importance of integrating traditional craft with contemporary design to resonate with modern audiences.

A Day to Remember

by New Worker correspondent

Do Minh Hung welcomes the guests

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other communists at the Vietnamese embassy in London this week to commemorate the liberation of south Vietnam on 30th April 1975. The Ambassador, Do Minh Hung, spoke about those heady days which saw the defeat of US imperialism and the re-unification of the country and the giant steps that the new Socialist Republic of Vietnam has taken in the years since re-unification. This was followed by the screening of a documentary about the liberation struggle and the global campaign to stop imperialist aggression that played an important part in moulding public opinion and ending the American occupation.
Tens of thousands of Vietnamese turned out to see the parade in Ho Chi Minh City, the former capital of the puppet regime, as part of the ceremony marking the 50th  anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification  on 30th April.
The fly-past and military parade was followed by communist and national banners symbolising the victorious ideals and firm belief in the leadership, wisdom and bravery of the Communist Party of Vietnam, as well as the strength of national unity – drawn from history, igniting the present, and illuminating the future. With them came a vehicle bearing a portrait of President Hồ Chí Minh, the communist leader who led the resistance to victory over the Japanese occupiers during the Second World War to build the first people’s government – the Democratic Republic of Vietnam – in the north of the country after US imperialism partitioned in the former French colony in 1954.
But communist-led resistance soon grew. The Americans, who started sending “military advisers” to prop up the puppet regime in the south in 1960.The imperialists believed that they could crush the Vietnamese people with  air terror but when that failed they poured hundreds of thousands of troops into the country to try and quell the mounting resistance to their neo-colonial rule.
By 1969 the Americans had had enough.The Nixon administration began to withdraw US troops from Vietnam from its peak of 540,000 to once again turn to air power in a renewed attempt to crush the National Liberation Front (NLF)that the Americans called the Viet Cong and bring the communist government in the north to its knees. But that didn’t work either. The NLF now controlled most of the countryside in south Vietnam. Resistance to the corrupt southern puppet leaders and their US masters was spreading inside the towns and cities still held by the Americans. Even units of the south Vietnamese armed forces were moving to change sides – which many eventually did in the final liberation offensive in 1975.
 Led the NLF guerrillas and the northern people’s army defeated the might of US imperialism and freed their country. Though he never lived to see the final liberation of the south Hồ Chí Minh charted the revolutionary path to a series of historic victories, including the great Spring Victory of 1975 that ended partition and reunified Vietnam.

A taste of China!

 

by New Worker correspondent

London Craft Week kicked off on 12^th May with events featuring the very best in the craft and design world taking place across the heart of the capital.Now in its eleventh year, 400 events, exhibitions, creative classes, and around a thousand international artisans demonstrated their skills via a very impressive programme of master-classes, demonstrations, workshop tours, talks and exhibitions. And during the festival NCP leader Andy Brooks joined academics and leaders in the tea trade for a Chinese cultural event at the historic former Royal Mint complex near the Tower of London.
China has participated in the London Craft Week since 2015 continuously promoting cultural exchanges and cooperation with the UK and others.
The Anxi Tieguanyin: Tea from the East presentation show-cased the contemporary development of Chinese tea and its culture as well as a performance of the traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Anxi Tieguanyin tea goes back back fourteen hundred years to the days of the Tang Dynasty. Favoured by the imperial court its fame later spread throughout China and even across the globe.
This was followed by launch of a new childrens’ book set in the tea plantations of China. The author, Daishu Ma, is a Chinese illustrator and graphic artist working in East London. Her first graphic novel Leaf was published in 2014. Her latest, Tiger Don’t Worry, tells the story of a little girl and her Tiger friend trying, against all odds, to make good tea. Published by Post Wave it’s available in most London bookshops for only £12.99.

Remember Odessa 2014!

by New Worker correspondent
 
On Saturday 3rd May members of International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity and several other organisations held a vigil in solidarity with the families of those who died in the Odessa massacre of 2014 outside the Ukrainian embassy in London.
They carried signs saying "Remember Odessa 02.02.2014" in English, Russian and Ukrainian. After the vigil they laid flowers at the gate of the embassy, and a letter addressed to ambassador Valery Zaluzhnyi was left by New Communist Party of Britain general secretary Andy Brooks.
Eleven years after the tragic events of 2nd May 2014 no-one has been brought to justice for these crimes, and no independent, local or international inquiry has ever been held. And according to the European Council an investigation by Ukrainian authorities in November 2015 “had lacked "institutional and practical independence".
On 13th March 2025 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Ukrainian authorities had failed to prevent or end the violence on that day or to “ensure timely rescue measures for those trapped in the fire,” and said that since 2014 the Ukrainian authorities had “failed to institute and conduct an effective investigation into the events”.
The court ruled that these failures were in violation of Article 2 (right to life/investigation) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
While the ruling was widely covered by the Russian and Ukrainian media it appears to have been totally ignored by leading Western media outlets, including the BBC, Reuters and CNN.
However the virulently pro-Ukrainian website EUvsDisinfo dismissed the ruling as "recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about the Odessa tragedy and about Nazi Ukraine". EUvsDisinfo is run by "a team of experts" called the "East Stratcom Task Force", which operates under the EU High Representative. Kaja Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister.

Boycott Barclays Now!

by New Worker correspondent

Palestinian solidarity campaigners were outside Barclays Bank’s Annual General Meeting in London this week to call out their complicity with Israel's genocide in Gaza while others, inside the hall, disrupted the meeting to protest against the bankrolling of Israeli terror in Palestine.   
Barclays holds over two billion pounds-worth of shares and provides £6.1 billion in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology are being used by Israel in its attacks on Palestinians.
This week, Israel has committed to intensifying its genocide in Gaza by sending yet more troops into the Palestinian enclave. An Israeli government minister has said Gaza is "to be entirely destroyed". We must respond by escalating our campaigning against corporations that enable Israel's atrocities. 
Barclays has an agreement with Israel to act as a 'primary dealer' for its government bonds. This means it directly helps Israel sell bonds to raise money to fund its genocide against the Palestinians. Barclays has underwritten at least £500 million of Israel government bonds since October 2023. 
In addition, Barclays provides investment and loans worth billions to arms companies supplying Israel with the weapons and military technology it uses in its crimes against Palestinians. There must be no business-as-usual for companies like Barclays while they enable Israel's genocide.  

Remembering Neil Harris

by New Worker correspondent

Neil Harris, a leading member of the New Communist Party, sadly passed away in March 2018 following a long battle against cancer. Neil always wanted his ashes scattered at the Kremlin where Lenin’s tomb and Stalin’s ashes, together with hundreds of other honoured citizens from Soviet times, remain. This was raised by Theo Russell, the NCP delegate to the international anti-fascist forum in Moscow, last week only to be told that the scattering of ashes anywhere near the Lenin Mausoleum is, in fact,  strictly forbidden by the Kremlin authorities. But he asked our comrades in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for advice and with their help Theo scattered Neil’s ashes into the Moskva river from a boat as it passed the Kremlin. Many comrades who have fond memories of Neil Harris  will be pleased to hear that his last wish has now been granted.

May Day in London

by New Worker correspondent

London comrades and other activists from the International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity campaign joined the May Day march through central London this week with banners calling for justice for the families of those murdered at the Odessa Trade Union House on 2nd May 2014, and for solidarity with the many thousands of political prisoners in Ukraine, many of whom have been beaten, tortured, or murdered. Many organisations at the march expressed their support for the banners. Many photographers also took pictures, some of which have already appeared on British social media channels. 

No to Endless War!

by New Worker correspondent

Activists from International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity were out over the Easter weekend holding a protest picket in the East End of London calling for Britain to stop sending weapons and money to the Zelensky regime in Kiev.
They also held placards opposing Prime Minister Starmer's plans for huge increases in military spending, at a time when millions in Britain are struggling to survive and public services are desperate for money.
The protest organisers said that Britain and its European allies, while calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine, actually want to see an endless war with the aim of weakening the Russian Federation, starting with sending troops masquerading as “peacekeepers” into Ukraine, regardless of the cost to the people of Ukraine or the danger of war with Russia. But most countries in the EU have already refused to send troops to Ukraine – even Poland. And the organisers say that the people of Europe won’t support these insane plans, after three years of high inflation and seeing billions spent on Ukraine instead of desperately needed housing.
The protest was held in Whitechapel, a working class area in Tower Hamlets with a long history of migration that once had substantial minorities from the Irish and Jewish community. These days over 30 per cent of the population are Bangladeshi. Bangladesh-born Lutfur Rahman, who grew-up in the borough, is the elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets and the borough is led by his Aspire party, composed largely of former Labour supporters, that won control of the council in 2022.

Stop arming Israel!

Youth Demand protesters laid “body bags” outside Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s door and blocked roads in central London on Tuesday to demand an end to British arms to Israel. Later they joined other Palestinian solidarity movements to picket the Ministry of Defence HQ in Whitehall.

Spotlight on China

by Andy Brooks

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other communists, academics and businessmen at a symposium at the Chinese embassy last month that looked to the future following the conclusion of China’s recent parliamentary ‘two sessions’. This is his contribution to the discussion.

The world spotlight was on China in March. There, in Beijing, the annual legislative sessions of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People's Congress (NPC) was the focus of discussions on the way forward for the people’s government and the 1.4 billion people it represents.  
The ‘two sessions’ are always a significant event in Chinese people's political life, bringing together thousands of deputies and delegates from every corner of the country and all walks of life. Their proposals are aimed at solving everyday issues to build a better life for the people. 
The government’s economic targets and policy priorities for 2025; green issues and artificial intelligence; the digital economy; boosting consumer demand, ramping up investment and enlisting the private sector were all on this year’s agenda. But the debate takes place against a backdrop of domestic pressures and global uncertainty due to Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian Arabs and the continuing conflict in Ukraine.
On climate change the people’s government pledges to reduce energy intensity – a measure of energy consumption per unit of GDP – by three per cent in 2025 while many in the Global South fear the new Trump administration will seriously undermine international efforts to deal with the ecological crisis.
Donald Trump is a climate change denier who serves the interests of the big American oil and gas corporations. “We have more liquid gold than any country in the world,” Trump said during his victory speech, a statement backed by the CEO of the American Petroleum Institute who said that “energy was on the ballot, and voters sent a clear signal that they want choices, not mandates”.
During his first presidential term Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, the 2015 international climate accord that guides the actions of more than 195 countries; rolled back 100-plus environmental rules and opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The Biden administration reversed some of these measures but Trump has pledged to restore them during his second term. Climate change campaigners believe that this could lead to a rise of an additional four billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – equalling the combined annual emissions of the European Union and Japan.
But while the Trump team turns its back on scientific opinion People’s China leads the way with its carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of its economy and society.
China is now an indispensable nation for global climate efforts, says former UN Under-Secretary-General Erik Solheim adding that it is essentially "impossible for the world to go green without China”.
China plays an important role in the global green energy transition, accounting for 60 per cent or more of global production in key green sectors, including solar, wind, and hydropower, as well as electric cars and batteries. The former UN official stressed the need for more investment to tackle climate challenges, saying multilateral platforms, like BRICS, are increasingly significant for addressing climate change.
"BRICS has become very important since that's an avenue for the Global South to come together and lead the world," he said, adding that the initiative will move to countries of the Global South. "The Belt & Road Initiative has recently turned into a major vehicle for green investment in the world, in solar, wind, hydropower and green corridors".
The Chinese communists are striving to achieve lasting world peace, so that all countries can enjoy a peaceful and stable external environment and their people can live a happy life with their rights fully guaranteed to build a world that is free from fear and enjoys universal security. 
This is, of course, a quantum jump from the post-war Soviet policies of “peaceful co-existence” and “detente” that failed to end the Cold War and accelerated the collapse of the USSR. Peaceful co-existence mistakenly believed that the capitalists could be economically beaten at their own game while detente was, in essence, a futile Soviet attempt at achieving nuclear parity with the Americans to divide the world into Soviet and American spheres of influence.
The Biden administration that stoked the flames of war in the Middle East took its last bow by orchestrating regime change in Syria and fermenting unrest in a number of countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. 
The new Trump administration has changed tack in a bid to end Biden’s proxy war against Russia and establish a new detente with the Kremlin. This decision reflects the needs and demands of the wing of the American ruling class that wants to cut its losses in Ukraine to enable them to strengthen their grip over the Middle East in their efforts to control the entire global energy market. 
Spurning the United Nations some of the Trump team talk a “new Yalta” that would redefine the world into spheres of influence while retaining the lion’s share for American imperialism. At the same time the Trump administration seeks to “Make America Great Again”, largely at the expense of its own allies, and boost American manufacturing through tariffs and protectionism while using secret diplomacy and economic blackmail to achieve its goals.
Both the Russian and American sides are clearly working towards a win-win agreement over Ukraine. If that ends the war with a peace settlement that recognises the rights of the Crimeans, southern Ukrainians and the people of the Donbas to live in the Russian Federation well and good. But secret diplomacy is rarely the best pathway to peace. 
In these turbulent times China is a stabilising force ready to defend world peace. People’s China has taken the lead in helping to build the economies of the Global South while working for peace and harmony throughout the world.
Imperialism fans the flames of war in the Middle East, blocks the return of Taiwan to its Chinese homeland and prolongs the unhappy partition of many countries including Cyprus, Ireland, Kashmir and Korea. China’s perspective, on the other hand, is based on the concept of ‘one country, two systems’ and the principle that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’.
The Chinese revolution that established the people’s government in 1949 has transformed the country that was then the poorest in the world. Since then China has risen from being a weak semi-feudal, semi-colonial country to become a force for peace in the global arena with the second largest economy in the world.
People’s China, the fifth permanent member on the UN Security Council, is the only veto-power actively supporting proposals for multilateral nuclear disarmament. Pledging never to be the first to use nuclear weapons in any conflict, China stands for the complete prohibition and total destruction of all atomic weapons.
China, backed by many other countries, has repeatedly challenged the West to implement the entire non-proliferation treaty, signed in 1968, that not only called a halt to nuclear proliferation but also committed the signatories to work towards universal nuclear disarmament.
The struggle to abolish nuclear weapons is crucial for the survival of humanity. But central to averting a Third World War is the need to eliminate the causes of war. And that is why communists have always understood that the struggles for peace and socialism are indivisible. The Chinese communists are striving to achieve lasting world peace, so that all countries can enjoy a peaceful and stable external environment and their people can live a happy life with their rights fully guaranteed to build a world that is free from fear and enjoys universal security.