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”.

Cease-fire in Gaza, Yemen and Ukraine now!

by New Worker correspondent

Some 200,000 people from all over Britain joined the national Palestine Solidarity Campaign march from Westminster to the US Embassy on the other side of the River Thames on Saturday. This reflected the massive support across the country for self-determination for the Palestinian Arabs, a sovereign state of their own, and a secure life free from hunger and ceaseless Israeli military and Zionist settler violence. 
They were joined by anti-fascist activists calling for NATO to end its war in Ukraine and an end to Israel's genocidal wars who received an overwhelming, 100 per cent positive response from supporters of Palestinian liberation last weekend. Their protest was organised by International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), which has campaigned in solidarity with anti-fascists and democrats in Ukraine and in exile since 2017.
Over 100 people, including many media photographers and journalists, filmed or took photos of the IUAFS action, and over 40 joined the campaigners briefly to have their photos taken with the protesters. The enthusiasm for the IUAFS was incredible and many people thanked us for linking NATO’s role in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. 
The protesters were most appreciative of the placards declaring that the Global South, the majority of humanity, oppose Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and Lebanon, NATO’s support for the Banderite gangsters in Kiev, and the ten years long bombing of the people of Yemen.
Members of IUAFS believe that their solidarity actions will still be needed long after an agreement to end the conflict is Ukraine is reached. They point out that Britain and its imperialist allies are already planning networks to conduct terrorism in the future with the eventual goal of destroying and dividing the Russian Federation.

Palestine will never surrender!

outside the US embassy

by New Worker correspondent

In a powerful display of solidarity, hundreds of thousands gathered in London on Saturday to demand justice for the Palestinians and an end to Zionist terror in the Middle East. Demonstrators also staged a “die-in” outside 10 Downing Street and left toys in memory of the Palestinian children butchered by the Israelis in the Gaza Strip. 
At the rally Maysara Ibrahim, representing the Palestinian Forum in Britain, told the protesters “I have run out of words, as we repeat the same agony and the same pain, while the darkness before us threatens the very existence of our values, our principles, and what remains of our humanity. Yet seeing you all today brings hope. We must not stop until we see Palestine free. We will not bow, we will not surrender, and we will continue our fight until our land is free, until Palestine is free from the river to the sea”.
The march stretched from Whitehall to the American embassy in Nine Elms sending a clear message to global leaders about the urgency of addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
There, protesters were still at the peace camp set up some weeks ago to draw attention to the US role in the genocide. The local response was heartening with residents providing supplies, such as chairs, blankets, and food – including hot meals for the camp in the evenings. The camp finally closed this week to allow the local campaigners to “take stock and build up energy” for their next action following the presidential election in the USA.
In a powerful display of solidarity, hundreds of thousands gathered in London on Saturday to demand justice for the Palestinians and an end to Zionist terror in the Middle East. Demonstrators also staged a “die-in” outside 10 Downing Street and left toys in memory of the Palestinian children butchered by the Israelis in the Gaza Strip.

US out of Korea!

by New Worker correspondent

Korean solidarity activists were outside the US embassy in London on Saturday to demand an end to the American occupation of south Korea. London comrades, including NCP leader Andy Brooks, joined in the protest called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) in solidarity with the DPR Korea and all the Korean people campaigning to end the imperialist partition of their country. 
US imperialism and its south Korean lackeys attempted to invade Democratic Korea on 25th June 1950. Millions died in the war that ended with an armistice in 1953. But Korea remains partitioned with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) ringed by the nuclear arsenals of US imperialism and facing tens of thousands of American troops based in the south of the divided peninsula.
Every year the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War is marked by the start of the month of solidarity with the Korean people. In Britain, and throughout the rest of the world, Korean solidarity campaigners meet to demand an end to the American occupation of south Korea and the reunification of the country that has been divided since the end of the Korean War.
“We are here today picketing the US embassy because a few days ago, on Tuesday 25th June, it was the 74th anniversary of the provocation of the Korean War which is known as the Fatherland Liberation War in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said Dermot Hudson, the Chairman of the KFA. 
“The war was not a war between Koreans but between a small country, the DPRK, and the American empire. Indeed it was a war against Korea, against the Korean people.
“The US imperialists, the ringleader of world imperialism and international reactionaries, provoked a war in Korea on the 25th June 1950 by instigating their south Korean puppets to attack the young DPR Korea. The US imperialists were hungry for profits and conquest. The US imperialists fought an unjust, aggressive war against the Korean people. The US imperialists launched a war of conquest against the DPRK , a war to destroy the Juche-based people's democratic system in the DPRK as well as to destroy socialism in Asia and the world.
“We are here to defend the right of the DPRK to exist, to defend its independence, it is time to take a real stand and defend People's Korea from the threat of US aggression. The US is quite openly threatening the DPRK with annihilation, with being "eliminated" from the face of the globe.
“All the time, the US, even as we stand here, the US imperialists are planning regime change in People’s Korea and to overthrow the socialist system”.

Gaza: Stop the Genocide!

by New Worker correspondent

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched on the American embassy in London last weekend to demand justice for the Palestinian Arabs and an immediate end to Israeli aggression in Gaza. Jeremy Corbyn and the singer Charlotte Church joined over 400,000 thousand protesters in London to demand an end to the fighting in the Strip days after an official said the capital's streets have become a "no-go zone for Jews". But 13 different Jewish organisations took part in the National March for Palestine on Saturday giving the lie to the Government’s commissioner for countering extremism who says the protests had turned London into a “no-go zone for Jews every weekend”.
Jeremy Corbyn said: “we’re here because we’re appalled at the bombing that’s still going on in Gaza. We’re also demonstrating our right to demonstrate, there’s so much talk about people shouldn’t be on demonstrations, well today there’s a lot of us here, all faiths, all ethnic groups, men and women, led by women. No problem, no trouble, it’s a march of love.”
The former Labour leader said "there will be as many of them as it takes. It's all very well for Joe Biden to say they're going to build a port to deliver aid. "(It would) be far better if they stopped delivering arms to Israel and made sure there was a ceasefire".
This was echoed by Charlotte Church, the famed Welsh singer and song-writer, who said “there's been singing, there's been drumming, yes, there's been emotion but, in the majority, that emotion has been love, has been compassion, because that's why we're all here. We're all here because we cannot bear what we're witnessing. We cannot bear to see civilians, children, women slaughtered...we're also showing that we are absolutely not going to tolerate our government being a part of propping up an apartheid regime”.

Gaza ceasefire now!

by New Worker correspondent

London comrades joined hundreds of thousands of protesters who marched through the heart of the capital on Saturday 11 November to demand a halt to the savage Israeli onslaught on Gaza. Some comrades took the NCP banner to the start of the demonstration at Marble Arch in Mayfair. Others joined it in Victoria as it proceeded to the American embassy across the Thames at Nine Elms.
The organisers reckon over 800,000 people took part in last weekend’s protest. Others say it was easily over a million-strong. Nobody knows. But what we can say for certain is that the three-mile march through London was clearly the biggest since the Gulf War protests in 2003. 
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the others in the consortium that organised the protest that included the Stop the War movement, CND and the Muslim Association of Britain had agreed the three mile route with the police to avoid any possible clashes with racist gangs who were gathering in Whitehall to “defend” the Cenotaph on Armistice Day.
Reactionary politicians had called for the march to be banned while Home Secretary “Cruella” Braverman stoked the flames of Islamophobia by calling it a “hate march” and accusing the police of “playing favourites” with pro-Palestinian protesters while targeting the far-right. But on the day the only clashes were between the “football lads” and the police around the Cenotaph.
Nine officers were injured trying to stop the racist mob getting to the Cenotaph and many detained on breaches of the peace charges or possession of Class A drugs.
Ms Braverman who thinks she’s the darling of the right of the Tory party clearly sees herself as a future Tory leader – and that’s no doubt why Rishi Sunak sacked her on Monday.
“There is no doubt that the violent fascist and  far right thugs out on the streets in London on Saturday were emboldened by Suella Braverman’s reckless and racist interventions last week,” says Sabby Dhalu, the Co-Convenor of the Stand up to Racism campaign. “That’s why she was sacked. Braverman will forever be remembered as the Home Secretary that built the far right. However her sacking will not solve the problem of “stop the boats” racism – that has built the far right. These groups have been demonstrating consistently since Rishi Sunak has been Prime Minister, for which he is responsible”.

US out of Korea!

 By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined a Korean solidarity protest picket outside the American embassy in London last Saturday to mark 73rd anniversary of the Korean war and to call for the end of the American occupation of south Korea.
    On 25th June 1950 the US imperialists and their south Korean puppets launched an attack on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that devastated the entire peninsula. The Americans and their lackeys, flying the false flag of the United Nations, were beaten to a standstill and were forced to sign an armistice in 1953. They promised to hold free elections in south Korea to lead to the reunification of the country. Seventy years later the Americans still occupy south Korea, propping up a puppet regime that rejects all DPRK proposals to ease tension on the divided peninsula.
    Dermot Hudson, the chair of the Korean Friendship Association that called the protest, said that US imperialism had not abandoned its dreams of conquest. “This year reactionary warmonger Biden threatened People's Korea with nuclear annihilation saying it would be the 'end of whatever regime'. The US imperialists and south Korean puppets are stepping up their war moves plus the US is openly deploying strategic nuclear assets,” Dermot said. “The US and south Korea have this year carried out massive war exercises that were suspended by Trump . US troops and nuclear assets should be withdrawn from south Korea and a permanent peace treaty signed”.
    Messages of support were received from KFA Germany, KFA Switzerland, the International Central Committee for Songun Study, the Bangladesh Songun Politics Study Group and the People's Korea Initiative of Poland.

Defending Cuba!

Outside the embassy

by New Worker correspondent

Cuba solidarity activists were on the streets of London last weekend to protest against the American blockade and confront provocations by Cuban émigrés and other agents of imperialism calling for increased sanctions and US action, including direct intervention.
    Rabid anti-communist US politicians and far-right Cuban-American émigré groups based in Florida had called for a global weekend of action against the socialist island. But in London they had little to show for it apart from a handful who turned up outside the Cuban embassy on Sunday only to find it surrounded by over a hundred supporters of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.
    Meanwhile, the new US embassy in Nine Elms was picketed by the Consistent Democrats, a left split from Socialist Fight, The demonstration was in defence of the Cuban revolution and a show of solidarity with the Cuban people against the “Gusano” or “worms”, as they’re known in Cuba, mobilisation.

Anger outside the American Embassy

    by Siobhan Kelly

In the wake of the killing of George Floyd there have been protests all around the world. London was no exception. The protest at the United States embassy in Nine Elms on Sunday was scheduled to start at 2 pm but it was already in progress by 1:30. The crowd was diverse and outraged; all standing (and kneeling) in unity to oppose the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, police killings of people from minority ethnic groups and the violent reaction of police to the mostly peaceful protests that continue across the United States.

We chanted “Black Lives Matter”, “We Can’t Breathe”, “Teach Black History”, “No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Police”, “Say their name” which was followed by the names of victims that were killed by police including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. There were even a brief chants of “Boris Johnson is a wanker” and “Fuck Trump” although the chants of “Fuck White Privilege” quickly died out.

The crowd stood outside the US embassy for about 90 minutes, then people started to turn around and walked back up Nine Elms lane to Vauxhall Bridge. A man was walked through the crowd saying “walk with me to the New Scotland Yard”. The crowd then walked over the bridge, disrupting traffic for about a mile in its wake for nearly an hour.

The atmosphere was angry and yet peaceful. There were very few people who were not wearing face masks, and at least where I stood people kept about a metre distance between themselves and those not in their group. The cautious protestors came out in droves despite the urging by Health Secretary Matt Hancock not to attend the protests while we are still in the midst of a pandemic. There were volunteers giving out masks, gloves and squirting hand sanitiser.

Once the crowd left the street, apart from a few stragglers like myself, the police walked down the street along with “Legal Observers”. The police weren’t intimidating and didn’t even clear the street of all the protesters. Behind the line of police walking and their vans there was another smaller group of protesters.

It is astonishing that even with cameras recording police brutality in America it still continues. They don’t care that you film them attacking civilians and the press – especially civilians that are non-violent and only exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest.

But is encouraging to see such support for the victims of these racist cops, all over the UK and the world, as a result of the killing of George Floyd and the protests in America.

Day of Action for Korea

outside the embassy

By New Worker correspondent

London communists took part in a Day of Action for Korea last weekend, which included a picket of the new American embassy in Nine Elms and a film show in the evening at the Marchmont Centre.

NCP London Organiser Theo Russell joined the afternoon protest outside the embassy that called for an end to US imperialism’s hostile policy towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and for the USA to finally end the Korean War and sign a peace treaty with the Democratic Korean government.

The picket was called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA). and NCP leader Andy Brooks called for even greater efforts in the year to come at the KFA AGM that took place later that evening.