End fascist terror in Ukraine

 

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined activists protesting in the centre of London in support of the anti-fascist resistance in Ukraine. The protest, organised by International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), called for an end to the reign of terror being conducted by the Zelensky regime, by forces on which the British government has spent £12 billion on training and arms supplies. A minute’s silence was held at the protest, opposite the prime minister’s residence in Downing Street, in memory of Chilean-American journalist Gonzalo Lira and all the other victims of the Banderite inquisition in Ukraine.
    IUAFS members have participated in every protest since 7^th October in solidarity with the people of Palestine and the Gaza Strip. The same Western governments who have supported the Ukraine regime with billions in weapons and money have done nothing to stop Israel committing open genocide in Gaza, with hospitals and civilians deliberately targeted and 9,000 children killed. In fact Britain and the US are continuing to send weapons to Israel, and while they and the EU condemned recent Russian missile strikes in Ukraine, they have failed to declare that Israel is committing genocide or to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire. The entire world is witness to Israel’s war crimes, and to the hypocrisy of the Western governments who support, arm and finance both Ukraine and Israel.

Gaza cease-fire now!

 

by New Worker correspondent

 Millions of people took to the streets in cities all over the world in support of the Palestinians on Saturday 13th January and London was no exception. The organisers said over half a million took part in the solidarity demonstration that rocked the heart of the capital. Others, like Arab commentators who add those who lined the streets to support the march from the City of London to Trafalgar Square, put the numbers nearer a million. And on the day London comrades joined the hundreds of thousands of protesters who marched through the capital on Saturday to demand an end to Israeli aggression and justice for the Palestinians. Speakers at Trafalgar Square included former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald. McDonald called for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire”, and said Sinn Fein had spent 25 years building peace, adding: “This can happen. This must happen and we will ensure that it does” The Palestinian ambassador to Britain, Husam Zomlot, accused the British government of being “complicit” with Israel, and congratulated South Africa for bringing a genocide case against Israel at the UN’s International Court of Justice in The Hague. He described the Palestinian people as a “nation of freedom fighters” saying “I stand before you with a broken heart, but not a broken spirit.”

Stop Israeli aggression!

by New Worker correspondent

Around 600 people protested in Camden Town, north London, last Saturday calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel's deliberate targeting of civilians in the Gaza Strip, in just one of many local protests all over Britain last weekend.
Sabby Sagall, the president of the Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told the protesters that Israel's policy has been the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians since 1947. Sagall praised South Africa for initiating the International Criminal Court application against Israel, and accused the British government of “diplomatically covering up genocide”.
Stop the War’s Andrew Murray said "The British and the American governments are ignoring (Israel’s) genocide, our government is arming the genocide” while tetired doctor Jonathan Flaxman said that there was no functioning health service in northern Gaza. with Twenty-three out of 36 hospitals have been destroyed. As a result “people who are injured, who couldn't be saved, will die a slow, painful death. We know that it's part of the ethnic cleansing". He added that health care workers were being intentionally targeted by Israeli forces and over 300 have been killed.
Andrew Feinstein, a Jewish former ANC member of the South African parliament, spoke about the South African Jewish Board of Deputies’ claim that South Africa was “humiliating itself in the international arena” by starting the ICJ case against Israel. He said “the organised Jewish community in South Africa found it extraordinarily difficult to criticise apartheid until the mid-1980s, so we’re not talking about people speaking from a position of moral integrity here”.
Feinstein spoke of the ANC’s long standing support for the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and the growing view that Israel was practising its own brand of apartheid in the occupied territories, adding: “There are certain things that run incredibly deep in the ANC and its support for the Palestinian people is one of them. There’s an affinity for the Palestinian struggle which is seen as very close to the South African struggle”.

Stop the Slaughter! Stop the War!

by New Worker correspondent

London comrades joined tens of thousands of people who marched through the heart of the capital on Saturday 16 December for another weekend of protests, calling for an immediate end to Israel’s assault on Gaza and condemning the Sunak government for again failing to vote in favour of a ceasefire  at the United Nations.
Over a hundred thousand demonstrators took part in the London protest, the sixth since the war began, to send a clear message to the Establishment that the majority of the population want a ceasefire and that the movement in support of the Palestinians is growing in strength. 
Thousands upon thousands of people in London and throughout the country have shown their opposition to the indiscriminate attacks on civilians which have claimed the lives of at least 17,000 Palestinians, including more than 7,000 children. Thousands more are missing presumed dead under the rubble of their own homes.
This has been one of the largest, sustained political campaigns in British history. The determination to keep protesting for an end to the suffering in Gaza is remarkable and the pressure on British politicians who have sided with Israel will not go away. Ben Jamal from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: “We are witnessing unrelenting horror in Gaza. Palestinians have been bombed, displaced, deprived of food, water, fuel, electricity and health services for 62 days and counting. The amount of destruction has been compared to that of German cities in World War Two, except it’s happened in a far shorter time. The scale of this catastrophe is so great that in a rare move, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, urging the UN Security Council to act.
“A permanent ceasefire must be the starting point to address the underlying causes of the situation, including decades of Israeli military occupation and a system of oppression against the Palestinian people that is considered internationally to meet the legal definition of apartheid. The British government must end its complicity in Israel’s crimes, starting by joining the call for the killing of civilians to stop completely.
“We will continue to march, demonstrate, and organise to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire and justice for the Palestinian people”.

Stop the Slaughter in Gaza!

Marching through Camden

by New Worker correspondent

The first Saturday of December saw the latest round of pro-Palestine solidarity events calling for a ceasefire, with unions joining the protests for the first time. Local protests were held all around the country and all over London. London comrades joined demonstrators at two of them.  

In North London, protesters marched down to a rally outside Camden Town Hall in Bloomsbury sending a vocal message to the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, the local MP who still refuses to back calls for a ceasefire.

RMT President Alex Gordon addressed the rally, speaking of the need for union representation at these events, and pledged his union’s ongoing support and solidarity while Liz Wheatley, from Camden Unison, spoke of the overwhelming support for a ceasefire among the Camden Council workers that her branch represents, and how no Camden Labour councillors have called for a ceasefire.

Sabby Sagall, of Camden PSC, and Sam Weinstein of IJAN (International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network) both spoke of how their Jewishness informed their support for the Palestinian cause and people, and that to them, being Jewish meant always being on the side of the oppressed and not the oppressor, echoing the words of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising leader Marek Edelman.

There were also speakers representing predominantly Bangladeshi Muslim local Community Groups. Among the points they made were opinion polls in Camden suggest 90% local support for a ceasefire, even higher than the 74 per cent national average, and that our local representatives, at local and national level, do not represent the communities they are supposed to serve.

South of the river supporters of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign along with the South East London People’s Assembly gathered outside Lewisham Library to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as well as to mobilise support for the big rally on the 9th of December and to support the boycott of Puma.

Speakers said that the oppression of Palestinians did not start on the 7th of October but existed long before that. The local Labour MP Ms Janet Daby was notable by her absence  and was denounced by one speaker for not supporting the motion in parliament for an immediate ceasefire.

Hospital workers stand for Palestine

NHS workers held a moment of silence in memory of their colleagues killed during the brutal Israeli onslaught against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip at a solidarity picket outside St Thomas’ Hospital in central London on Tuesday. Hospital staff and Palestinian solidarity activists called for an urgent and permanent cease-fire to end the slaughter of defenceless civilians that has already claimed the lives of over 11,000 Palestinian Arabs during the Israeli invasion. 

Lift the siege on Gaza!

By New Worker correspondent

Hundreds of thousands of protesters returned to London on Saturday 26th November to march through the heart of the capital demanding the lifting of the Israeli siege of Gaza.
The national demonstration was called by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and a number of other anti-war movements including Stop the War and CND to demand that the four-day prisoner exchange cease-fire is made permanent, that the cruel siege on the Gaza Strip is completely lifted and the root causes of the crisis in Palestine are addressed.
These huge demonstrations, five in London since the upsurge of fighting began on 7th October, are repeatedly smeared as hate marches by right wing politicians and their media. Nothing could be further from the truth – they are mass peaceful protests attended by all races and religions, including many Jewish people. 
Saturday’s march for Palestine was, yet again, an impressive event with a large, coherent Jewish Bloc participating. The Jewish Bloc was prominent on the march and there a number significant contributions from Jewish speakers on the platform. The Bloc is a coalition of Jewish groups joining together as a collective voice in opposition to Israel’s war on Palestinians, the ensuing genocide in Gaza, and the UK Government’s complicity in war crimes.
The demonstrators march on clear anti-racist foundations believing that the struggles against all forms of racism including anti-semitism, Islamophobia and Israel’s system of apartheid are indivisible. They reject all attempts to conflate anti-semitism with legitimate advocacy for Palestinian rights and criticism of the actions of the Israeli State. 
PSC Director Ben Jamal said “this 4-day truce will allow some desperately needed aid to enter the Gaza Strip. This, however, will not be sufficient to even address the most urgent need. The illegal siege on Gaza must be completely lifted to allow unfettered access for food, water, fuel, and medical supplies.
“A permanent ceasefire must be the starting point to address the underlying causes of the situation, including decades of military occupation and a system of oppression against the Palestinian people that is considered internationally to meet the legal definition of apartheid. The British government must end its complicity in Israel’s crimes, starting by joining the call for the killing of civilians to stop completely.
“We will redouble our efforts to ensure that there is no return to violence. We will continue to march, demonstrate, and organise to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire and justice for the Palestinian people”.

Yoon not welcome here!

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined Korean solidarity campaigners protesting outside the south Korean embassy in London on Tuesday. Called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) the picketers were protesting at the presence of puppet south Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol who landed in Britain on Monday for talks with the British government.
Addressing the picket KFA Chairman Dermot Hudson said “Yoon is a cringeworthy puppet of the US who even sang the song American Pie to the senile US President 'Sleepy Joe' Biden!
“South Korea itself is not a real country but a puppet regime created by US bayonets in 1945 .Since the 1940s south Korea has been ruled by successive fascist dictators such as Syngham Rhee , Park Chung Hee , Chun Do Hwan and now Yoon Suk Yeol. Many massacres were carried out such as the Jeju Island massacre (1948) which saw the deaths of 70,000 or 80,000 , the Bodo League massacre 1950 in which 200,000 people were killed and the Kwangju massacre of 1980 which saw 5,000 people slaughtered.
“Today , south Korea has the longest working hours in the world and and one of the highest suicide rates . This is the grim reality of the so-called 'human rights paradise' praised by the Western mainstream media”.

Stop the war in Gaza!

marching on Starmer's office

by New Worker correspondent

Palestinian solidarity campaigners took a break from marching through London to call for local protests up and down the country. Over a hundred rallies and marches were held across the UK and London was no exception.

 On  Saturday 18th November hundreds of protesters marched through Camden to gather outside Sir Keir Starmer’s office to demand a cease-fire in Gaza. Demonstrators held up posters saying “Stop the war on Gaza” jeering the Labour leader, who is the local MP, calling him a ‘wasteman’ and waving Palestinian flags. Others joined rallies  in Islington, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets or joined sit-down protests at Waterloo and London Bridge mainline rail stations.

In  Scotland hundreds of school students walked-out in support of the Palestinian Arabs and thousands more took to the streets of Glasgow last weekend to demand an end to the fighting, On Glasgow Green SNP, Scottish Labour and Scottish Green leaders addressed a crowd of some 18,000 people at a rally arranged by a coalition of groups called the Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee.

Struggling for the future of Ukraine!

John Maxted speaking

by New Worker correspondent

A successful 'hybrid' meeting took place in central London and on Zoom on Sunday 12 November on the topic 'The struggle against Banderite fascism and the future of Ukraine', with speakers from Britain, Ireland, Ukraine, the Russian Federation and Poland. The event was organised by International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity.
The speakers taking part were Bill O'Brien of the Truth and Neutrality Alliance (Ireland), Larissa Schessler from the Union of Ukrainian Political Emigrants and Political Prisoners, Dmitry Vasilets, Chair of Representative Office of the Ukrainian People and leader of the Ukrainian Derzhava Party, Boris Litvinov of the Donetsk District Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), Denis Zomer of the United Communist Party of Russia, Tatiana Desyatova – CPRF Moscow Region, John Maxted from No2Nato-No2war (Britain), Paul Atkin, a UK blogger and political commentator, and Konrad Rekas, a Polish journalist and political commentator.
Messages of support were received from Alexey Albu, the Borotba (Struggle) representative (the leading Ukrainian anti-fascist organisation), together with Tony Greenstein from the Socialist Labour Network, Gedrus Grabauskas, the leader of the Communist Party of Lithuania, Urij Khokhlov from the Russian Communist Workers Party, Chris Helali (PCUSA)  and Dave Clennon from Struggle-La Lucha (USA).
The speakers and discussion covered the background to the tragic conflict in Ukraine since 2014, the countless crimes and brutal repression meted out by the Banderite Hitler-admiring armed gangs, and how the imperialist countries will approach a future democratic Ukraine - with continued support for Banderite terrorism, subversion attempts and outrageous lies. The speakers also drew parallels and connections between Ukraine and Gaza, and the common roles of NATO and US-led Western colonialism-imperialism in both of these tragic conflicts.

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”.

An evening with Lang Lang

 

By New Worker correspondent
The internationally acclaimed Chinese pianist, Lang Lang, toured England last month giving concerts in Birmingham and Manchester as well as a musical soiree at the Chinese embassy in London hosted by the ambassador, Zheng Zeguang.

   Ambassador Zheng pointed out that cultural exchanges between China and the UK have become increasingly vibrant this year, with a growing number of artists and cultural groups flowing both ways. The Chinese Embassy in the UK is willing to work with people from all walks of life in the UK to further advance cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

    Lang Lang performed live renditions of renowned melodies from both China and other countries, including Autumn Moon on a Calm Lake and Chopin's Mazurka which was warmly received by the guests. The piano virtuoso returns to the Albert Hall in London on 21^st November. The internationally acclaimed Chinese pianist, Lang Lang, toured England last month giving concerts in Birmingham and Manchester as well as a musical soiree at the Chinese embassy in London hosted by the ambassador, Zheng Zeguang.

We are all Palestinians!

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks and other London comrades joined the huge crowd at Trafalgar Square on Saturday demanding an immediate end to the Israeli offensive on Gaza. And all over the world millions of other protesters were also taking to the street to stand by the Palestinians defiantly resisting the merciless onslaught of the Zionist aggressors.
Chanting “ceasefire now” and “in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians” demonstrators held sit-down protests in Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus before moving on for a rally that overflowed into the many side-streets around Trafalgar Square. Hundreds more took over the concourse of Charing Cross station in the afternoon shutting down the nearby mainline railway station for several hours.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is now calling for a million-strong march through London on Armistice Day, Saturday 11th November Though the solemn ceremony at the Cenotaph will be held, as usual, on the following Sunday the Tories are still trying to stop the Palestinian demonstration in a drive to stifle the solidarity movement that is sweeping the county.
Rishi Sunak says the solidarity march would be “provocative and disrespectful” and warned that the Cenotaph could be “desecrated”. His Home Secretary, “Cruella” Braverman,  has gone even further  calling the demonstration a “hate march” that poised “an obvious risk of serious public disorder, violence and damage”. Both the march organisers and the police have said the protest will avoid Whitehall, where the war memorial is located.
Ben Jamal from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign told the media that “the attempts to frame the planned national demonstration on Saturday, November 11th , part of a cycle of weekly marches calling for a ceasefire, as disrespectful to Remembrance Day commemorations is at best misinformed and at worse an incitement to public disorder. This is a march calling for a ceasefire in order to stop the current slaughter in Gaza. To highlight this democratic action taking place on November 11th , well away from Whitehall, as disrespectful is dangerous and disingenuous politicking that defames many hundreds of thousands of people who want the current violence to stop.”
The Labour mayor of London Sadiq Khan says the Government is playing politics over the “terrible tragedy” unfolding in Gaza, and the solidarity campaigns say they have no plans to disrupt Remembrance weekend events. Now Gary Lineker has joined in the fray. The outspoken sports commentator and former England footballer weighed into the row to defending the planned protests saying “marching and calling for a ceasefire and peace so that more innocent children don’t get killed is not really the definition of a hate march”.

Solidarity with Palestine grips London!

 by Dermot Hudson

On Saturday 28 October over 500,000 people marched through London in support of the Palestinian people and to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It was an amazing event that showed that Londoners are not fooled by the constant flood of Zionist and anti-Palestinian propaganda from the mainstream media including the tabloids and TV talk shows. It was undoubtedly the biggest demonstration in London since the 2003 protest against the Iraq War.The centre of London turned into a veritable sea of red , black ,white and green !
    It was also a good turnout given the fact that the march was heavily policed with 'cop copters' noisily whirling overhead and riot police in paramilitary style clothes as well as police horsemen hanging around. The police imposed a 'Section 60' order giving them powers of stop and search.
Some media outlets tried to say that there were only 100,000 on the demonstration but it took over twp hours for the marchers to just cover a short distance. People were still arriving at Parliament square at 3pm. Afterwards trains , tubes and buses were packed with people who had been on the march , all talking about the need for a ceasefire.
    Parliament Square was packed to the brim with marchers who attended a rally which was addressed by Jeremy Corbyn , Mick Lynch of the RMT, Zarah Sultana MP and others. The speakers brought home the horrific nature of the Israeli offensive in Gaza and the oppression of the innocent Palestinian people by the Zionist Israelis . Mick Lynch brought solidarity of the trade union movement to the rally and added his voice to the calls for a ceasefire.

Stand by the people of Gaza!

by New Worker correspondent

Over 300,000 people marched in solidarity with Gaza on the  streets of  London on Saturday 21 October  – making it by far the biggest ever demonstration for Palestine in British history. In fact according to police estimates it was the tenth largest march in British history on any issue.
The demonstrators marched through the heart of the capital down Park Lane, via Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly and Trafalgar Square to reach Whitehall and Parliament Square. 
Labour Party branches have been banned from discussing the conflict and elected representatives "strongly advised" not to attend pro-Palestine demonstrations. But many Labour supporters ignored the call and joined the protest.
Sir Keir Starmer seemed to suggest that Israel had “the right” to withhold energy and water from Gaza when speaking on LBC London radio last week. But angry voices from Labour’s rank-and-file have provoked a back-lash against the Zionists, especially amongst the Muslim community,. 
A number of Labour councillors have resigned over what they described as Starmer’s “horrifying” comments that were “endorsing a war crime”. Labour has now lost control of Oxford City Council after the eight Labour councillors resigned the whip in protest. Twenty councillors more across the country have followed threatening to bring down Labour administrations of two more councils.
Starmer now claims what he meant to say was that Israel has the right to defend itself and retrieve the around 200 hostages being held “within international law”.
Meanwhile Palestine Action campaigners chanted “Labour Party, blood on your hands” and “no more money for Israel’s crimes” during a protest outside the party’s London headquarters over its stance on Israel and Gaza while other targetted Labour MP’s offices throughout the country.
London Palestine Action activist, Alia Malak, told the media that “the atrocities in Gaza are taking place with the direct support of the UK government, a position which Labour has supported.
“It is absolutely urgent that Labour changes its position and joins calls for an immediate ceasefire now and an end to the arms trade with Israel.”
“Both the UK Government and the Labour opposition have offered unwavering support for Israel’s bombing campaign in the name of ‘Israel’s right to self-defence’”.
Now a petition has been launched in support of a London a London Tube driver who has been suspended for leading a Palestine chant over the train’s speaker system during the big demo in London. Over 760,000 people have signed the petition calling on Transport for London (TfL) to reconsider disciplinary action. 
The driver chanted ‘free, free’ several times over the system while Tube passengers shouted back ‘Palestine!’. He then told passengers to “keep all those people in your prayers”
 and “hope you all have a pleasant day, look after yourselves” to the cheers and applause of the passengers – mostly demonstrators getting out at Marble Arch.
The petition says “[The driver’s] actions were an expression of his personal feelings about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and a plea for peace.
“Unfortunately, this act of empathy and solidarity has put his job at risk, as it has allegedly violated company guidelines or policies.
“It is vital to uphold the principles of freedom of expression, compassion, and empathy for people enduring conflict, irrespective of personal beliefs or affiliations.”
An Israeli embassy official said "it is deeply troubling to see such intolerance on London's tubes. Transport for London’s public transport should be a place of safety and inclusivity for all". But as maverick London Labour MP  Diane Abbott put it “would this have happened if he was chanting ‘Free Ukraine’?”

Free Palestine echoes across London!

By Dermot Hudson

On Saturday 14 October at least 150,000 people marched through the heart of London in support of the rights of Palestinian people and for an end to Israel’s war on the people of Gaza. The demo was massive. It was the biggest march seen in the capital since the US-led invasion of Iraq. It took over two hours for the march to travel the short distance from Portland Place to Whitehall for a rally addressed by a number of speakers including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
When you consider that the march was called at comparatively short notice the turnout seems even more impressive and shows that people are not fooled by the 24/7 Zionist propaganda of the mainstream media .
There was a sea of red ,black , green and white Palestine flags . Also to be seen were some Turkish and Pakistani flags. Regrettably one “Free Syria “ flag and one ISIS banner were also to be seen. Of course Korean solidarity campaigners carried  a DPR Korea flag and a Cuban flag was also spotted. It was good that there were no Ukraine flags to be seen!
The marchers, who chanted ‘Free Palestine ‘ and ‘ From the rivers to the sea Palestine shall be free’ along the way were subjected to massive police surveillance with police helicopters whirling noisily overhead and police camera teams photographing and videoing people. We noticed a police horse transporter and units of the police Territorial Support Group ( a successor to the discredited ‘Special Patrol Group )on standby . However there was none of the violence or rioting that the right-wing twitterati and some in the mainstream media predicted.

Blood on their hands!

 By New Worker correspondent

Palestinian solidarity activists sprayed Broadcasting House in central London with red paint last week in protest at the BBC’s consistent and long-term bias towards Israel.
    Palestine Action sprayed the BBC’s Headquarters with blood red paint, in response to its recent coverage of Palestine, which has been complicit in manufacturing consent for the occupation’s genocide of Palestinians. The action occurred before a protest for Palestine was due to begin at the BBC HQ.

     Since 7^th October the BBC has given biased and inaccurate reporting on the Israeli massacre of the Palestinian people. It has only ever invited Palestinians to comment when Israelis are killed, with little regard for Palestinians killed by Israel, such as in the case of Palestinian ambassador Husam Zomlot who was expected to condemn Israeli deaths immediately after informing the BBC he had lost 6 family members.
    The BBC has not reported on the racist lies spouted by international media, including claims of mass rape and decapitated babies, all of which have either gone unconfirmed or been retracted once the damage has been done. Its “guides” to the “conflict” do not mention the 75 year long occupation    and oppression of Palestine by the Zionist entity.
    These guides make Al Nakba (which translates as ‘The Catastrophe’ in English) sound like an unfortunate tribal conflict during the first Arab-Israeli war (1948 to 1949) which accidentally resulted in Palestinians fleeing, and not the deliberate and carefully planned campaign of ethnic cleansing carried out by Zionist militias.
    Words upon words are dedicated to the Zionist settler colony’s declarations of genocide, the support given by imperialists and the feelings of Zionists whilst large scale loss of Palestinian life is treated almost like a footnote. These actions come at a time when Palestine Action has expanded its reach, starting what it calls Palestine Action Underground, which targets any and all partners of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms suppliers.
    Providing a guide and a map of over 50 Elbit sites, Palestine Action asks those who want to do something about the Israeli arms trade to form autonomous groups able to independently strike at the facilitators of Israel’s systemic and military violence. This action follows that principle, holding the media accountable for facilitating Israeli terror. A Palestine Action spokesperson: ‘We at Palestine Action cannot stand by and let Western media justify and manufacture consent for genocide through racist, callous coverage. The media has long been an insidious weapon of Western imperialism against Palestine and other Arab countries, with the use of colonial myths and orientalist tropes laying the ground for millions of people to be murdered. As the Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd said, “This is the Iraq war all over again. The media has the bloodiest hands in all of this”.

As ye sow…

...so shall ye reap was what Paul told the followers of Jesus of Nazareth two thousand years ago. Sadly this lesson is still not understood by many of those who now live in the land that the Apostle knew so well.
The deadly Hamas raid into Israel last weekend that killed over a thousand Israelis and wounded thousands more reflected the pent-up fury of the Palestinian masses in the Gaza Strip who have endured a brutal and often bloody Israeli siege for years. Ignored by the West which has armed Israel to the teeth and betrayed by the feudal Arab oil princes who crawl to the imperialists whose guns prop up their thrones the Palestinians in Gaza have closed ranks behind the Hamas leadership and the other resistance movements that believe that confrontation is the only way forward.
While the Israelis pound the densely populated settlements in the Gaza Strip they are  amassing their forces for a new onslaught. Many thousands of Palestinians will die in the carnage that will inevitably follow.
Assured of blanket Western support the Israelis are clearly out to crush all Palestinian resistance to their occupation. But they never learn.
This seemingly endless cycle of violence started when the first Arab-Israeli war began in 1948. The Palestinians were driven from their homes and robbed of their land. But wherever there is oppression, there is resistance.
The refugees have the right to return or receive compensation, if they so want it, for their stolen land. The Palestinians have the right to self-determination; to establish their own independent state as was envisaged by the same United Nations that created the State of Israel in the first place. 
The Palestinians remained determined to fight. They still are and they still will be no matter what the Israelis throw at them.
Russian and Chinese calls at the United Nations for a cease-fire and genuine peace talks to end the conflict were, of course, routinely ignored by the Americans and their lackeys. They still think that victory comes through air-superiority and hi-tech weapons. Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan proved them wrong. And they’ve been taught no end of a lesson in Palestine...  

Corbyn honoured in Islington

 by Theo Russell

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn received an ecstatic welcome in a packed Islington Town Hall committee room in London last week, as he was appointed honorary president of Islington Trades Council. Local trade unionists and labour movement activists spoke about Corbyn's unparalleled commitment to the working class, peace and anti-imperialist struggles, on picket lines, election canvassing, and countless campaign meetings.
Ken Muller from the NUE said "our ruling class can live with reactionary nationalists around the world, but it can't live with Jeremy's support for the Palestinians and the Chagos Islanders against imperialism".
Lord John Hendy KC, a Labour peer, said Corbyn was the “greatest leader Labour ever had", and that "Jewish people in Islington have always felt fully supported by Jeremy".
Una Doyle from Islington Trades Council referred to the current Labour leader as "Sir Kid Starmer", and said the problems faced by local food banks were getting worse and worse, many local people were struggling to make ends meet and had lost all hope. She recalled that when the first four black MPs were elected, they used to call Corbyn "the fifth black MP" because he gave them so much support.
Labour councillor and veteran trade unionist Mick Gilgunn pointed out that "Jeremy was one of the few Labour MPs who spoke out against the 2003 Iraq war, and helped organise the Stop the War Coalition" while Councillor Saiqa Pandore expressed her gratitude for Corbyn's support for the Muslim community in Islington, saying that Corbyn "stood by us and gave us the confidence to come into politics". And Andrew Murray from the Morning Star said that "those who take the Guardian view of politics do everything for the poor, but do nothing when the poor start helping themselves".
Several speakers, including  Phil Graham from ASLEF, urged Corbyn to stand again as an MP for the constituency, as he grapples with the dilemma of being blocked as a candidate by Starmer's Labour Party.
In his acceptance speech, Corbyn spoke of the long history of working class struggle in Islington, recalling that the largest peace demonstration in August 1914 took place in the borough. Turning to current issues, he pointed out that "the pay increases won by teachers are being taken out of school budgets".
Corbyn spoke of the many in the labour movement who feel  is empowered, saying that "most people in Britain support public ownership of services”. But he said this was not possible "in a grotesquely unequal society where the billionaires’ wealth is growing by the minute, while the food bank queues are growing by the metre every week”. He said the political alternative must be more than an offer to manage the economy as it is at the moment, “it requires fundamental transformation”.
The event showed Corbyn in fine fighting spirit, a man enjoying mass support across all the communities in Islington, and who has lost none of his ability to lead and inspire all those fighting for a better and more just future for the working class in Britain.

74 years of victory!

Chinese artists entertaining the guests

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined diplomats, academics, businessmen and solidarity workers at a reception to mark the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China last week.
The ball-room of the Landmark Hotel in central London was packed with hundreds of guests celebrating the establishment of the people’s government on 1st October 1949. Chinese diplomat Yang Xiaoguang warmly welcomed the guests in an opening address in which he outlined the extraordinary achievements of China's economic and social development in the 74 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. He pointed out that the fundamentals of the Chinese economy, characterised by strong resilience, enormous potential, great vitality and long-term sustainability, remain unchanged and that there is a bright future for China’s economic prospects.
China will solidly promote high-quality development with a people-centred approach, commit to high-level opening up and keep to the path of peaceful development. Recently exchanges between China and the UK, at various levels, have increased. 
On behalf of the British government Lord Johnson, the Minister of State for International Trade, spoke highly of China’s  economic miracle. He said that UK-China relations are crucial  and expressed readiness to strengthen engagement with China and jointly deal with major global issues.
During the reception a short film was screened showcasing China's economic and social achievements and artistic troupes from the Guangzhou province in southern China staged a wonderful cultural performance.