Left challenge in Camden!

By Theo Russell

Tariq Ali speaks

A lively meeting of local activists was held at the Indian YMCA in Central London last Wednesday to mobilise grass roots support in Keir Starmer’s constituency for the Camden People’s Alliance (CPA), which is standing in the May local elections in coordination with Your Party and the Greens.
The CPA is led by Andrew Feinstein, a former South African ANC MP, anti- arms trade and Gaza campaigner, who has played an active part in the creation of Your Party. In July he submitted the motion inviting Zarah Sultana to leave Labour and join Your Party as an "interim co-leader" with Jeremy Corbyn.
The meeting was held to launch the CPA’s local elections campaign, which will be run “in consultation with” the Greens and Your Party, with the Gaza war and affordable housing as key concerns.
Andrew Feinstein stood against Keir Starmer in Holborn & St Pancras as an independent in the July 2024 general election, taking second place with 7,312 votes against Starmer's 18,884. His manifesto included opposing austerity and corruption, increased public spending and an end to NHS privatisation, and opposing the British government’s involvement in the Gaza genocide.
Feinstein told the meeting that the CPA’s creation was due to Britain’s support for Israel, and said “it’s a myth that Israel represents all Jews”. He said Keir Starmer was “actively complicit in the genocide”.
“Starmer does not regard ordinary people – teachers, care and health workers as important, for him only donors to the Labour Party are important. We have the best democracy money can buy.
“We don’t just want Starmer out of power, we want him out of Camden too. And we want whoever replaces him to take him to The Hague to face justice for complicity in genocide”.
He added that "Zhoran Mamdani (the new Democrat New York mayor) would have no chance of being selected as a Labour Party candidate".
Sarah Friday, Camden Trades Council Secretary commented that “it’s a scandal that the British government refused to agree an end to the appalling slaughter in Ukraine”.
And the meeting was also addressed by the veteran left activist, journalist and author Tariq Ali, who said “I think this time we’re going to win – unless Starmer goes first”. Ali has joined Your Party, the first time he has joined a party since 1981, when he was expelled by Haringey Labour Party. He commented that “Reform which has four MPs, is getting far more media coverage than Your Party, which has six MPs”.
Around 40 people joined the meeting including many extremely enthusiastic activists, including a Your Party member from Tottenham who said they would be standing against David Lammy in the next general election and said "we can bring him down". He said that three councillors had been physically removed from a Haringey Council meeting, after they called for withdrawing investments in Israeli companies.

Victory to the Donbas!

by New Worker correspondent

Comrades were back on the streets of London to leaflet the Stop the War march that was part of a national No to War in Ukraine day of action on Sunday. The demonstration in London ended in a rally in Trafalgar Square addressed by Jeremy Corbyn, Lindsey German and Tariq Ali and other stalwarts from the peace movement. But though the speakers recognised the dangers of a nuclear conflict and understood that NATO’s aggressive expansion over the past 30 years had played a role in sparking the current conflict some also called for an unconditional Russian withdrawal from Ukraine – which is also the demand of US imperialism and their lackeys.
     But the call of the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity movement in support of the anti-fascist forces of Donbas and their allies went down well with the protesters. Hundreds of copies of the joint statement signed by the New Communist Party together with the Consistent Democrats, Socialist Fight and Posadists Today were given out on the day. The statement was sent out with every copy of last week’s New Worker and now its been endorsed by the Communist Party of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Stand by Maduro!

Tariq Ali denounces US coup attempt

 by New Worker correspondent

Over 200 people joined a rally at the National Education Union head office near Kings Cross in London last Thursday to build solidarity with the Bolivarian government of Venezuela against the latest assault by US imperialism and its allies.

Tony Burke, chair of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and Assistant General Secretary of Unite, conveyed greetings from Len McCluskey, and from unions in the US and Mexico. He said Washington was planning to declare a sponsor of terrorism, and demanded “let there be no more Pinochets in Latin America”.

Christine Blower of the National Education Union quoted the new Brazilian preisdent Jair Bolsonaro as saying that “Pinochet didn’t kill enough people”.

Kate Hudson for CND pointed out that the US has 76 bases in Latin America and the Caribbean, and that in May last year Colombia became NATO's first Latin American global partner, as NATO evolves into a global rather than trans-Atlantic military bloc.

Colin Burgon of Labour Friends of Progressive Latin America said that Venezuela was under attack “because it is a cornerstone of progressive Latin America”.

He pointed out that shortly after tragic the death of Hugo Chavez, oil prices had dropped from $100 to $30 a barrel, hitting the Venezuelan economy.

Burgon quoted John Bolton, Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser telling Fox News last week: “We are in conversations with major oil companies to produce Venezuelan, oil which is good for Venezuela and good for the US”.

Many other speakers, including the writer and film-maker Tariq Ali, also spoke at a time when major solidarity actions are being mobilised in Britain.

Anger was also expressed at the Bank of England joining the seizure of Venezuelan assets in Britain at Washington’s behest, in response to which a protest at the bank has been organised.

Defend Corbyn: Time to Fightback

 

Christine Blower opening the meeting

By New Worker correspondent

 

The Conway Hall was packed to the rafters this week to condemn the vicious efforts of the Blairites and Zionists  to undermine Jeremy Corbyn. Hundreds faced a barrage of abuse from a Zionist gang as they piled into the meeting in central London on Tuesday while a hundred more late-comers were turned away on safety grounds.

            Inside, the 400-strong audience heard speaker after speaker uphold the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and  slam the smears that brand Corbyn and the Labour left as “anti-semitic”. Called by the Corbyn, Antisemitism & Justice for Palestine campaign, the meeting was chaired by Christine Blower, a former teaching union leader and the panel included a number of well-known Palestinian and Jewish socialists as well as the author Tariq Ali.

Campaigners, including Lindsey German of the Stop the War coalition and Tariq Ali, called on the left to close ranks around Corbyn and defeat attempts to define any criticism of Israel as “anti-semitic”.

Richard Kuper of Jewish Voice for Labour said: “That the Corbyn project is under attack is in no doubt — from a large proportion of Labour’s MPS and a large proportion still of Labour’s bureaucracy…Labour is also under assault from the pro-Israel lobby which has been alarmed for some time about the prospect of a leader who is in favour of Palestinian rights”.

Huda Elmi,  who is running on the Corbyn slate in this year’s Labour NEC elections, said the mainstream media focus on ‘anti-semitism’ deliberately ignores the Palestinians. “The problem is Palestinians have been completely erased from it. They’re trying to subvert our ability to be loud and unapologetic about being anti-colonial”.

 “Talk about the human rights abuses against the Palestinians. We have to turn it back to that. We have stood consistently shoulder to shoulder with Palestinian people. We can’t take steps back from that.”

No War in Korea!

Tariq Ali speaking

by Theo Russell

 About 90 people attended a meeting at Friends House in central London last Tuesday called by the Stop the War Coalition, with writer and film-maker Tariq Ali, CND General Secretary Kate Hudson, Stop the War convenor Lindsey German, and Owen Miller, a Lecturer in Korean Studies at the School of African and Oriental Studies, on the panel.

All of the speakers condemned the warmongering history and recent actions by the USA and NATO, and recalled in great detail the crimes committed by the US-led forces in the Korean War. The platform also showed how the history of the introduction of nuclear weapons into the Korean peninsula, the failure of attempts to negotiate any agreements because of US sabotage, and the recent history of wars and regime change, all explained why the DPRK had embarked on its nuclear and missile development programmes. The peace and anti-THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defence; an American anti-ballistic missile defence system] movements in south Korea, and solidarity with them and with the DPRK, were also discussed. Tariq Ali summed up the feeling of the meeting when he said that thanks to its strong defences “North Korea is one of very few  genuinely sovereign states left in the world.”