Stop the Genocide!

by Theo Russell

Tens of thousands of people across England, Wales and Scotland took to the streets last Saturday in support of the demands to Stop the Genocide, Hands Off Lebanon and Don't Attack Iran.
Over 30,000 people packed London's Trafalgar Square, carrying Palestinian and Lebanese flags. One of the speakers from the plinth beneath Nelson's Column pointed out that current opinion polls show that only five per cent of British citizens are opposed to an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, highlighting the huge gulf between the British people and the government --or to be specific, between the British people, the Labour and Conservative parties and the Unionist parties in the north of Ireland. All the other parties with members of the UK’s four parliaments have been calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire for many months now.
This is how Britain's ruling class blatantly defies the overwhelming will of the British people and makes a mockery of Britain's much vaunted 'democracy'.
People in Britain and around the world find it incredible that Israel has committed crimes under the Geneva Conventions – the indiscriminate targeting and collective punishment of civilians – for over a year with impunity. Now we see Israel killing thousands of civilians throughout Lebanon, a country not able to defend itself, and issuing diktats to residents ordering them to move or be bombed, with no condemnation from the leading Western countries.
More and more people are seeing the contradictions between Western outrage against actions by the Russian military in Ukraine and the free pass given to Israel to murder and starve civilians and bomb any country in the Middle East with no international mandate whatsoever.
And of course no politician or mainstream Western journalists is ever allowed to say a word about the Banderite Ukrainian junta’s military deliberately targeting civilians with missile attacks.

Which way forward following the election…

by New Worker correspondent

That was the question posed at a seminar in London on Sunday. The 30th anniversary of the  start of the dialogue between the NCP and the RCPB (ML) was appropriately marked by the opening of a discussion that both parties believe needs to be taken throughout the labour movement. NCP leader Andy Brooks, who chaired the meeting at the NCP Centre, welcomed everyone to the seminar at the Sid French library or by video link and the discussion was opened by Michael Chant, the RCPB (ML) leader. 
Michael reviewed the work of both parties over the years and presented views on the tasks and vantage point of the communists at this significant time in history. Other comrades. including supporters of the Consistent Democrats platform and the British Posadists, also spoke on the Tasks of the Communists in the Light of the July 2024 General Election – to look at the meaning of Labour’s immense but essentially hollow victory in July, Jeremy Corbyn’s new Independent bloc in Parliament and the predictable failure of the revisionists and the conventional social-democratic left at the polls. We discussed the mass support for the Palestinians on the street as well as the upsurge of racist violence and the mass anti-fascist response that followed and the need for a renewed fight-back against Starmer-style austerity that must be led by the rank-and-file in the trade unions and the mass movements of the labour movement. Finally it was agreed to broaden the discussion by publishing the contributions in both parties’ journals and to hold other meetings and seminars in the very near future.

Pensioners protest against winter fuel cuts

 Pensioners gathered outside Parliament in London and the Northern Irish legislature in Belfast on Monday to protest the government's plans to scrap winter fuel allowances with banners that read "Defend the winter fuel payment," "Tax the rich," "Don't let us freeze" and "Reinstall the winter fuel pay".
The demonstration, which was organised by Unite the union together with the National Pensioners Convention and the Scottish Pensioners' Forum, called on Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer to not "be cruel — give us back our winter fuel."
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said Unite’s retired members were "furious and making their voice heard" outside Westminster in London and Stormont in Belfast, the seat of the devolved northern Irish parliament.
"They have to reverse the decision, it's really clear. We're the sixth richest economy in the world and we are picking the pocket of pensioners. It's totally and utterly wrong," she said.
Sputnik

End Israeli aggression!

by New Worker correspondent

Activists from International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) joined the National Palestine march in central London on Saturday with placards making the connections between the wars waged by NATO imperialism in Gaza, Ukraine – and now Lebanon, the latest Arab country to be burned by the flames of war with the Israeli war machine insolently issuing diktats to civilians to move or face being killed or maimed.
Over 300,000 people took part in the march through the capital last weekend. It was clearly the largest for many months, almost certainly because the great majority of the British people have been horrified by the indiscriminate Israeli bombing which has so far killed over 1,100 Lebanese civilians and injured far more, including hundreds of women and children.
The IUAFS protest received an overwhelmingly positive response from the protestors, with dozens taking photos, and many showing heart signs and clenched fist salutes.
Increasing numbers of people in Britain, the US and the rest of Europe are finally beginning to see the connections between NATO weapons supplies to Israel and to Ukraine, and are questioning the insane sums being spent on a war which they see as impossible to win, when people at home want more money spent on schools, hospitals, housing and transport.
At the last national protest one speaker from the organisers said "We have a new Labour government in Britain, but they are telling us there's no money to solve the massive problems our country faces. There's no more money for housing, there's no more money for hospitals, there's no more money for schools and no more money for prisons. But there's always enough money for Israel, and there's always enough money for Ukraine".
And now victims of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in the USA are demanding to know why their government has just found $8 billion for Ukraine – on top of the $65 billion already given since 2022 – but can only cough up $750 each for the people who lost their homes.
The impact our small campaign is now making was confirmed recently when the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign (USC) – a pro-NATO group which supports the imperialists’ puppet regime in Kiev – published an article attacking us, and naming some of our activists. We have also discovered that the two men who aggressively harassed our last protest, on 28th September, were also members of the USC. Such attacks simply prove the effectiveness of our solidarity with Ukrainian democrats and anti-fascists, and they will not stop us from continuing our work for as long as it is needed.

No more arms for Ukraine!

Piers Corbyn joins the protest

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined demonstrators in Whitehall demanding an end to British military aid to the fascist regime in Kiev last weekend while Scottish anti-fascists made similar demands in a protest in the heart of Glasgow. The pickets were organised by the International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity campaign to call for an end to British arms supplies to the illegitimate Zelensky regime in Kiev and against British demands for Storm Shadow missile strikes deep into Russia.
The London protest opposite the Prime Minister’s official residence in Downing Street came under sustained abuse from two Zelensky supporters for almost an hour. One of them, who said he was Portuguese, said he visited Kiev last month where he has friends but didn't see a single Nazi, then he claimed to be an anarchist. They were crazed fanatics, just like the Zionists who attack the pro-Palestinian marchers. But many passers by came to give us support including the maverick campaigner Piers Corbyn, the brother of the former Labour leader, then joined the picket along with his friends who had just left a local Palestine solidarity event.
The world is now facing the possibility of two major regional wars: one in Europe, a possible Russia-NATO nuclear war, and another which could engulf the entire Middle East as a result of Israel’s relentless aggression. Both Ukraine and Israel have the support of Britain and the United States, who have designated the enemies of Ukraine and Israel “terrorists”.
Both of these wars are the result of years of aggression and expansion by NATO member states, through their puppet government and Nazi battalions in Ukraine, and through Israel, the war machine they have armed and financed in the heart of the Arab world.
The British government and 'free' media have not told people in Britain that Storm Shadow missile strikes from Ukraine have to be programmed by British military personnel on the ground in Ukraine, making British armed forces de facto at war with Russia. They have not told people in Britain that the only thing stopping Britain from the madness of "going it alone" with missile strikes on Russia is that they need permission from the Americans, who control the satellite data and software used by Storm Shadow missiles.
Every day we hear condemnation of alleged civilian victims of Russian attacks in Ukraine, but for ten years we've heard nothing about civilians being killed in Eastern Ukraine by Ukrainian forces.
Britain and the USA have refused to officially condemn the genocide against civilians in Gaza, and for ten years have almost completely ignored the thousands of victims of the bombing, starvation and disease in Yemen. Now they are silent about the deaths of hundreds of civilians in Lebanon, and have declared the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah a success against “terrorism”. But there have been no open doors and red carpet welcomes for Palestinian or Yemeni refugees!

Gaza – Yemen – Ukraine! Ceasefire Now!

by New Worker correspondent

Activists from the International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity campaign (IUAFS) joined the national Palestine march in Central London on Saturday with placards making the connections between the wars waged by NATO imperialism in Gaza, Ukraine and Yemen. They received a warm welcome from the protesters and dozens of people took photos and videos.
Theo Russell, the IUAFS organiser, said that "only four states in Africa, Asia and Latin America, if we don't include small island territories, support the NATO-led sanctions against Russia or send weapons to the Zelensky regime in Ukraine. It is Britain and its allies from the minority of rich, powerful countries who have dominated the world since 1945, who are out of step with the global majority.
"Far from being an 'isolated pariah', as British mainstream politicians and the BBC love to claim, the Russian Federation enjoys wide support in the 'Global South', and it is the BRICS alliance which is leading a historic transformation towards a multipolar world. That alliance, including the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, is rapidly expanding and pushing for a world based on development and growth rather than never-ending wars, and is firmly behind the cause of justice for the people of Palestine.
"One of the speakers from the protest platform near the Israeli Embassy made the same connections today, saying 'We have a new Labour government in Britain, but they are telling us there's no money to solve the massive problems our country faces. There's no more money for housing, there's no more money for hospitals, there's no more money for schools and no more money for prisons. But there's always enough money for Israel, and there's always enough money for Ukraine'.
"Since February 2022, according to official figures, the UK has promised £12.5 billion in military and economic support for Ukraine. That is roughly equivalent to 1.8 million desperately needed hospital beds.
"We are saying Enough is Enough! No more British weapons for Ukraine! No more economic, military and diplomatic support for Israel! Stop bombing the people of Yemen!"

Stop Banking on Genocide!

by New Worker correspondent

Activists from Palestine Solidarity Campaign branches in Camden and Islington marched from Camden Town to the Sadler's Wells Theatre in Islington, North London, to call on the theatre to stop taking sponsorship from Barclays Bank while a very small counter-demonstration of around ten Zionists was largely ignored by the public. Last weekend’s protest was part of the ongoing Boycott Barclays campaign which has targeted the bank for its major lending, investment and business interests which help to support the Israeli economy and its powerful military machine. The campaign slogans are "Stop Banking on Genocide – Stop Banking on Apartheid". Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign stated "We do not have anything against the theatre, other than their sponsorship from Barclays". The date of the protest was changed at the request of the theatre as many disabled visitors were expected on the original date.

Stop the massacre in Gaza!

Around 800 people joined an emergency protest opposite Downing Street on Monday evening in response to the horrific Israeli triple missile strike on a school in Gaza City which killed at least 80 Palestinian civilians. The attack coincided with morning prayers and started a fire. About 6,000 people were sheltering in Tabeen school, all of whom have already moved several times to different parts of Gaza on the advice of the Israeli forces to avoid military operations. The director of al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, Dr Fadel Naeem, described the situation at the hospital as catastrophic, with a severe shortage of medical supplies and resources. Al-Ahli hospital is managed by the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem  and it is the only Christian hospital in Gaza.