No Arms for Israel!

by Marie Lynam

On Friday 30th October 2026 groups of dockworkers, trade unionists, pro-Palestinian and anti-war campaigners gathered at the front gates of Tilbury docks to call on the lorry drivers and the dockers to “Stop Shipping Weapons to Israel”. In the UK, dockworkers and their allies organised protests in Belfast, Tilbury and Liverpool in opposition to the transport of weapons and military equipment to Israel. These actions did not lead to walk-outs at Tilbury but dockers did so in Australia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Morocco, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United States and Uruguay.
More than 25 unions across five continents refused to handle weapons shipments to Israel, staging 24-hour strikes and other actions, including work stoppages and demonstrations of varying durations. Unions in France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Turkey and Morocco issued a joint call for an end to wars in the Middle East, including the war on Gaza, and ‘an end to the militarisation of ports’.
Campaign organisers estimated that the coordinated actions affected approximately 52,000 containers and cargo worth $2.8 billion. Italy witnessed some of the largest mobilisations of the day, as the grass-roots Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) called a 24-hour nationwide strike, linking opposition to war and military spending with demands for higher wages, stronger public services and relief from the rising cost of living. And in France the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) organised a 24-hour stoppage in the ports and docks that, according to union reports, achieved participation exceeding 90 per cent. 
The action marked the 2nd International Day of Global Action by dockworkers around the world, answering the call of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) with strikes and demonstrations at 113 ports across 22 countries. And all this whilst major anti-war and anti-austerity strikes and protests unfolded throughout Europe against austerity, repression, militarisation, rearmament and genocide.
At Tilbury, protestors holding Irish and Palestinian flags held banners saying “Workers Do not Work for War!”, and “Stop Shipping genocide!”. In spite of police restrictions, they managed to distribute leaflets to workers and lorry-drivers, whilst some passing cars and container trucks on the highway nearby hooted in support. 
Drums, megaphone speeches and co-ordinated chants linked the repudiation of genocide in Gaza with the appalling arming of Israel and the war-readiness exhortations of our UK government. The participants, some 150 to 200, demanded loudly an immediate embargo on all arms exports. Their leaflet, specifically addressed to the dockworkers, called on them to refuse to handle any arms shipment to Israel.
Activists from the French and Italian dockworkers’ unions waved large French CGT and Italian USB trade union flags, alongside that of the British RMT. The comrades holding the RMT flag came from the Piccadilly & District West RMT branch, supported by anti-war organisations as well as by Southwark, Brent and Greenwich trades councils. Some members of Unite did take part at one time. There were representatives of Health Workers4Palestine, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), UK Doctors for Palestine and others. One of the activists present had sailed and suffered on the Mavi Marmara flotilla.
This mobilisation included strikes and demonstrations spanning five continents. It brought together tens of thousands of workers to strike or protest against the shipment of arms, the militarisation of ports, the genocide of the Palestinian people, the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, the arms supply to Zelensky in the Ukraine war, and the transformation of ports into hubs of war.
In countries like Italy and Greece, there were large protests directly from dockers. In India, the Forward Seamen’s Union (FSU), reported that the dockworkers and the seafarers had raised their voice across Indian ports; they had walked off the job in Mumbai around slogans like “Ports for Peace” and “Jobs with Dignity”. They published a document explaining how they took action “to link the fight against war with the fight for collective labour agreements, wage increases, stable jobs, shorter working hours and health and safety; against privatisations. subcontracting and temporary work; against automation and AI used to cut jobs and intensify exploitation”. Technology must reduce the working hours, they said, not feed monopoly profits. 
Note that the first international day of action by dockers and port workers was only eight months ago, in February 2026.  That involved 20 ports in seven countries. That action laid the groundwork for this second International Day. There is every reason to expect more and more of such actions. These International Days of Action indicate that the global working class is organising internationally, alongside the general population, in readiness to defeat the war of monopoly capitalism not only over Palestine but on human life and life itself. 
From a world where the Palestinians and their allies have taken the lead, the anti-imperialist and anti-war struggle penetrates insular Britain regardless of frontiers. The general strike in Italy and the global mass movements show that the war of capitalism is hated and opposed – and that the force exists to have it defeated. 
Forward to the greater unification of the World Federation of Trade Unions and the International Transport Workers Federation! Forward with the greater anti-fascist, anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist unification of humanity! 

Hands off the West Bank!

by New Worker correspondent

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in the heart of London on Monday evening, demanding that the Burnham government stop supporting Israel’s genocide in occupied Palestine. The Palestinian Forum in Britain and its partners in the Palestine support coalition called the protest outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Downing Street in response to Israeli threats to launch a major military operation in the occupied West 
The protest followed the draconian reprisals taken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a resistance attack on a military checkpoint near Hebron in which two Israeli soldiers were killed and three others were injured. Israeli forces imposed a cordon around Hebron and announced preparations for a comprehensive closure of the occupied West Bank. Around 250 Palestinian families have been forced out of their homes in Hebron. Netanyahu also announced plans to build and legalise more than 100 new Zionist settlements and more than 100 settlement farms, alongside the demolition of Palestinian homes along roads that he said posed a threat to Israeli forces. 

No more British arms for Zelensky!

by New Worker correspondent

London comrades were back in Whitehall last Saturday demanding a halt to British supplies of missiles and drones to the puppet regime in Kiev. The protest opposite Downing Street in central London was called by the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity movement as part of their campaign against the UK’s increasing involvement in the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
British missiles and drones, paid for by British taxpayers, are being used to deliberately target civilians in Russia, the Donbas and the liberated areas of southern Ukraine. Our media has openly celebrated the deaths of Russian civilians in Ukrainian strikes using Western weapons, but they don't report that hundreds have died in one Russian city of Belgorod alone. And when Russian civilians die in these strikes, there are no weeping relatives or distraught emergency workers on our screens or radios. How convenient! As usual, Russian civilians have no value for our media apparatchiks who are whipping up hatred and war hysteria.

Solidarity with Ukrainian anti-fascists!

by New Worker correspondent

The Anti-Imperialist Front picketed the Ukrainian Embassy in London last week in solidarity with political prisoners on hunger strike in Ukraine. Last month 162 prisoners at four prisons in Ukraine itself staged a one day hunger strike. They were joined by 263 people on 15 other countries, and protests were held at many Ukrainian embassies including in London.

Spotlight on art at the Croydon museum

by New Worker correspondent

 Therapeutic production’s exhibition kicked off in Croydon last week. A spectacular day bringing definition to the term participatory art. On opening day some 60 artists, funders and partners joined a tour led by Michelle Lopez who guided them through a showcase of Therapeutic’s flagship projects: Dark thoughts, Prodigal monster and Burning breath. Projects that combine cultural heritage and mental health with artistic creation. During the journey she took our guests down she highlighted displays that include over 30 paintings, illustrations, photos and creations formed by artists over years. And at each stage of the tour guest speakers including a number of partners spoke about their work on the project. It wrapped up with a screening of productions, animations and music. The speakers included Jaspal Nangla  and Jasbir Nangla from Two Side Studios, author Mase Okor, animator Demari Joseph-Lawrence and musician Styler Rymes. 
The weeks leading up to this were long and hard, some of the team were pulling 20 hour days bringing this to life. The project began when months ago nine artists took part in design sessions to form ideas for the exhibition and then into following weeks a group of room designers, installation teams and graphic designers pooled from the Therapeutic team breathed live into the vision brought the exhibition at the Museum of Croydon into fruition. 
Therapeutic productions is an initiative led by a team of artists, project managers and social entrepreneurs who have chosen to use their artistic skills to raise awareness of and highlight social issues through film, music and art whilst using the process of creating art to assist those from under-represented groups. 
The exhibition was supported by Therapeutic’s funders, the Maudsley charity, Croydon voluntary action and the MSN fund, representatives from Asylum magazine, heads of the South London and Maudsley foundation, Forensic campus recovery college, the Involvement register and many other artists. from among the 200 we have worked with over the years. 
The exhibition opened on 7th October and it runs until February 2027 at the Museum of Croydon which is located within the Croydon Clocktower arts facility, Katharine Street, Croydon CR9 1ET. The museum is open from Wednesday to Saturdays from 10 am excluding Bank Holidays and entry is free.

Down the Rabbit Hole

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks was in northern Kent this week talking to Jaz and Ric, the hosts of the ‘Rabbit Hole Arms’ podcast based in Wilmington, a couple of miles south of Dartford. New kids on the block, Jaz and Ric launched their online broadcasts a couple of months ago “with the spirit of your favourite pub: relaxed company, curious minds and conversations that rarely take the straight road home”. They record from The Plough, a traditional pub in the heart of Wilmington. And over a beer or two Andy spent a couple of hours talking about the history of the NCP since 1977, communism in Britain and some of the Cold War history their listeners are interested in. The Rabbit Hole Arms are members of the Kent film-makers group. Jaz and Ric have a dedicated Facebook page and their podcasts are on Spotify and YouTube – check out the website on https://www.therabbitholearms.com

Friendship with Vietnam

Andy Brooks and Le Hai Binh

By New Worker correspondent

Andy Brooks held talks with a visiting Vietnamese delegation in London last week. The NCP leader met a delegation from the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics (HCMA)
at the Vietnamese embassy in Kensington on Wednesday 30th September. The delegation was led by Le Hai Binh, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and the two sides the current situation in Vietnam and the United Kingdom as well the challenges facing the contemporary communist movement around the world.
The Vietnamese delegation met political leaders, academics and representatives of the British government during their week-long stay in Britain. The delegation held talks with the Communist Party of Britain Chairwoman Lorraine Douglas and dons at the University of Oxford including Professor Rebecca Kitteridge, Professor of Practice in Public Policy and Co-Director of the Leadership Programmes at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.
Prof Binh outlined the HCMA’s key functions in research, strategic and policy advice, and training high- and mid-level Party officials, linked to Vietnam’s centenary development goals. He proposed jointly designing certified courses and programmes for Vietnamese officials as well as international learners at the academy.
At a meeting with Oxford University leaders, Professor Alex Betts, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for External Engagement, Sport and Community, expressed readiness to help connect the HCMA with relevant academic units. The delegation proposed joint research, scholar exchanges and visits by Oxford experts to the academy, particularly as Vietnam works towards becoming a developed country by 2045 and prepares to host the APEC economic forum next year.
At the Oxford University Press, Georgina Hoare, the senior manager for Academic Rights and Licensing, discussed opportunities to publish HCMA works, helping bring Vietnamese theoretical research to international readers.
At London’s Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the delegation met
Ben Bland, the Director of the Asia-Pacific Programme, and held discussions on ASEAN’s role, shifts in the global order and development models.
Working sessions with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the FCDO Diplomatic Academy and the Vietnam-UK Network also contributed to greater mutual understanding and provided additional reference material for the HCMA’s research.
The visit identified a number of concrete areas for co-operation, laying a foundation for the HCMA to develop specific programmes and plans in the coming period and contribute to improving the quality of Vietnam’s cadre workforce to meet the country’s development requirements.

You shall not pass!

Foto: Karl Weiss

by New Worker correspondent

Comrades joined thousands of anti-fascists marching through London on Sunday to commemorate the Battle of Cable Street that stopped Mosley’s Blackshirts in 1936.Demonstrators rallied outside the 18th century facade of the old London Hospital, now part of the new Tower Hamlets Town Hall, for a march to Cable Street to honour those who battled with the police to force Sir Oswald Mosley to call off his fascist march through what was then a predominantly Jewish part of London’s East End. On that day, thousands of working people, led by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Independent Labour Party (ILP) rose early from their beds to occupy four key places along the route of a planned march by Mosley and his British Union of Fascists, in order to block its path. Throughout the day they stood firm, despite mounted police baton charges and numerous arrests.
By noon, Gardiner’s Corner was impassable due to the number of anti-fascist demonstrators. Police tried to clear a route through Leman Street – but this was blocked by a tram, deliberately abandoned by its driver.Police tried to reroute the march through Cable Street. Anti-fascist demonstrators, the vast majority local residents, blocked Cable Street with barricades in three different places. Police fought their way through one barricade, only to be confronted by the second. Eventually the police gave up and ordered Mosley to abandon his march. They escorted him to the Embankment where his followers dispersed.
This was a humiliating defeat for Mosley and it eventually led to a cutting off of vital funds from his main financial backer, the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The Battle of Cable Street marked a significant turning point in the struggle to prevent fascism becoming a truly mass movement in Britain, as it had done in some other European countries.
Many of the protesters carried banners bearing the slogan "They shall not pass" or "No pasarán" the watchword of the Spanish communists during the fight against Franco’s fascist legions in the 1930s.
In 2026, the politics of division and hate is on the march again. Lessons and inspiration from the past help us in the fight for a fair society in the future.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who now leads the Independent Alliance bloc in the House of Commons said he was “proud to join today’s huge march celebrating the 90th anniversary of the battle of Cable Street. On this day in 1936, thousands stood alongside the East-end Jewish community to defeat Mosley’s fascists. Their bravery is an eternal reminder: never give in to the far-right”.
Rajan Uddin Jalal, a leading figure in the Bangladesh Youth Movement's fight against racism in the 1980s and 90s said "The racists are active again. There is a new form of racism now, there is a new form of fascism which includes Islamophobia. We are here today to campaign against racism, fascism and division within our communities. We want peace for all people, we want to live peacefully, in harmony, in our multicultural communities". And Lutfur Rahman, the mayor of Tower Hamlets and leader of the local Aspire party that runs the borough, said the anniversary was an opportunity to remember those who opposed fascism in the 1930s. "Our forefathers said, 'No, you're not coming here. You shall not pass'. And we say that again now: the fascists, the far right, will never run riot in Tower Hamlets!”
Unite the union, one of the sponsors of the event, has published a book to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. Working with trade unionists, artists, poets and singers the book, Cable Street 1936-2026: Not Then Not Now, brings together trade unionists, historians, artists, poets and singers to reflect on the Battle of Cable Street, the fight against fascism elsewhere in the country, and the struggles in the decades since. An A4 gatefold softback with holographic foil to the cover it includes a special Battle of Cable Street 90th anniversary A2 poster by Cold War Steve and copies are available on the Unite national website for £19.36.

The Chinese people have stood up…

by New Worker correspondent

These were the words spoken by Mao Zedong at the foundation of the People’s Republic of China on 1st October 1949. And last week NCP leader Andy Brooks joined diplomats, politicians, solidarity workers, business leaders and members of the overseas Chinese community at a reception in London to mark the 77th anniversary of that momentous day.
The Chinese Ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, welcomed over 500 guests at the reception at the Peninsula hotel in Belgravia and Baroness Winterton, a veteran Labour peer in the Burnham government delivered greetings on behalf of the United Kingdom for the celebration and China’s traditional Mid-Autumn festival.
Ambassador Zheng outlined China’s domestic progress and its significant contributions to global development over the past 77 years. Chinese modernisation, he said, has created unprecedented opportunities for the world, advancing global development and prosperity through opening-up and international cooperation. It has also opened new prospects for the development of China-UK relations.
Zheng recalled that the UK was the first major Western country to recognise New China. He emphasised that the partnership serves the interests of both nations and contributes to world peace, stability and development. Since the beginning of this year, new progress has been made in China-UK relations. China stands ready to work closely with the UK to follow through on the common understandings reached by the two countries’ leaders and to achieve further progress. 
Rosie Winterton, who has served as the UK's minister responsible for what London calls the "Asia-Pacific region", highlighted China's development over recent decades and the importance of the UK-China relationship. This "engagement does not mean avoiding difficult issues. It means creating the conditions to discuss them openly and directly" she said stressing the value of co-operation in areas such as climate change as well as in exchanges among students, businesses and people from both countries.
This was followed by an artistic performance by Chinese and British artists that included the dance Held by Love, a piano rendition of A Moonlit Night on the Spring River, and the choir piece Love My China.

The way forward under Burnham

by New Worker correspondent

Comrades and friends spent the best part of the day pondering on the problems of the labour movement at the NCP Party Centre last weekend. Which way forward for the labour movement was the topic for discussion at the seminar opened by NCP National Chair Richard Bos on Sunday morning. Not an easy question to answer was the response from NCP leader Andy Brooks, who followed with a summary of the Party’s electoral policy since its foundation in 1977 and its current position of backing Labour or independent Labour candidates with mass support that was adopted in 2000 to support Ken Livingstone’s successful bid to become Mayor of London. 
Keynote contributions from British Posadist Marie Lynam and Ian Donovan of the Consistent Democrats sparked off a discussion that continued for the rest of the day. Participants, which included online comrades from East Anglia and Scotland, looked at where did the Corbynistas lose their way, the merits or otherwise of George Galloway’s Workers’ Party of Britain and the current position of the new Labour leadership under Andy Burnham,
Needless to say there was no conclusion apart from the general consensus that these forums should continue with the focus again on the problems and challenges that the working class face today in Burnham’s Britain. The New Worker plays its part in that struggle and after a rousing appeal from Richard Bos £117 was collected for the fighting fund!