Stop Israeli terror now!

by Theo Russell

Over 80,000 joined a London wide protest calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza last Saturday which ended in a mass rally outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, central London.
Millions of people across Britain have been marching every weekend for over six months now, in by far the biggest mass peace movement since the protests to try and prevent the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003. But while our imperialist masters, the global Lords of War, brushed aside those protests, since October 2023 the Palestine protests in Britain and around the world have shaken our ruling class to the core, and put them on the back foot.
Addressing the rally in Parliament Square, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told protesters that people all around the world were marching. "Let us continue and let the people of Gaza and the West Bank, the refugee camps and the diaspora, know that you are not alone. We are here with you, we will give you our support for as long as it takes until there is a free Palestine for the Palestinian people to live in. Our message to parliament over there is, 'we ain't disappearing, we'll be here, watching what you're doing' ".
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said: "Friends, two weeks ago Israel launched its attack on Damascus, killing 16 people. This was a hugely provocative and illegal attack by Israel, but the way the media and the politicians talk about, it you'd think that it's Iran that wants to start a wider war.
“But the truth is it's Israel that wants to start a wider war, not only with Iran but in Lebanon too. Such a conflict would be terrible, how many thousands would be added to the terrible death toll in Gaza?
“But the greatest toll would be if Israel uses its nuclear arsenal, which could kill hundreds of thousands of people, and affect hundreds of thousands more through radiation burns and poisoning,  miscarriages and birth defects.
"It was Britain which in the past made it possible for Israel to develop its nuclear weapons. It was Britain which supplied 20 tons of heavy water to Israel, with no safeguards against military use".
All of those taking part last Saturday would never have believed last October that they would still be marching six months later, with the death toll in the Gaza Strip reaching over 33,000, including almost 12,000 children under 15 and over 8,000 women and girls over 14.
But millions of British citizens, the vast majority of the entire population of the UK, support an immediate, permanent ceasefire. The Tories, Labour and some Unionist parties in the north of Ireland, who call for arming Israel and support Zionist aggression, are the only ones resisting this demand and they are increasingly isolated. But the mass solidarity movement with the people of Gaza and Palestine will continue until Israel's genocide and collective punishment ends. Then the priority will be to demand a just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all, with a genuine state the Palestinians can call their home.

Free all Ukrainian political prisoners!

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other anti-fascist activists protesting in Central London last week in solidarity with the of victims of savage fascist repression by the Zelensky regime in Ukraine, and with the millions of Ukrainians driven into exile since the imperialist-backed coup that overthrew the legitimate government in February 2014. Tens of thousands of opponents of the regime which seized power in 2014, including local elected officials, teachers, political activists, journalists and ordinary citizens have faced summary executions, beatings, torture, imprisonment and seizure of property at the hands of the Nazi gangs who are integrated into the Ukrainian state structures, while the Western mass media have turned a blind eye.
The demonstrators, members and supporters of International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), have campaigned for ten years calling for the British government to end its political, diplomatic, economic and military support for the puppet regime in Kiev. The protestors called for all Ukrainian political prisoners to be freed, for full political and media freedom to be restored in Ukraine, and for a comprehensive investigation into the crimes of the fascist militias over the past ten years. They also called for an end to the British government's support for Israeli genocide in Gaza and an immediate end to the merciless Israeli military operation in Gaza. Several people stopped to show strong support for the protest, after overcoming their astonishment at seeing such a protest against the Banderite junta in Kiev in the heart of the British capital.

. Stop arms sales to Israel!

by Theo Russell

Last Saturday around 80 people marched from Kentish Town to Mornington Crescent in north London in one of many local protests across Britain calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and for Britain to end arms sales to the extreme Zionist government in Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu. Passing close to the famous Camden Market, the protest as usual ended near Sir Keir Starmer's constituency Labour Party office.
Unlike the previous week there was no pro-Israel counter-protest, although strangely there was coincidentally a small anti-vaxx protest at Mornington Crescent.
The spirit of those protestors who have stuck out the protests which have now continued come rain or shine for six months (at one point the local Camden protests drew over 600 people) was still as strong and determined as ever, and as usual many passing cars, buses, lorries and van drivers hooted loudly in support.
At the rally in Mornington Crescent Luca Salice, the co-Chair of Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) , said the protest coincided with the 30th  anniversary of the Rwanda genocide but as he pointed out "the Western countries looked the other way and did nothing while that genocide was taking place. This time the Western countries are actually supporting and assisting Israel as it conducts genocide against the people of Gaza". Luca also said that Britain is also using its bases on sovereign British territory in Cyprus to supply arms to Israel and to launch fighter jets to bomb Yemen, as it did previously in Iraq and Syria.
Sabby Sagall, also co-Chair of Camden PSC, said that Palestinian refugees driven out of Israel for many decades should be compared to the Jews who fled Nazi Germany and many other countries it occupied.
For the protestors in local actions across the country it is hard to believe that the living nightmare in Gaza is still taking place after six months, but they are as determined as ever to force the British government to unequivocally condemn the Israeli military's actions and call for an immediate end to the deliberate targeting of civilians and creating an inhuman collective punishment in Gaza, demands which only 13 per cent of people in Britain oppose. Every other major party in Britain apart from the Tories, Labour and the Unionists in the north of Ireland supports those demands, and the Government must be forced to listen.

Kim Il Sung: A hero to remember

Dermot Hudson and Andy Brooks

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other Korean solidarity campaigners at a meeting in central London last weekend to mark the 112th anniversary of the birth of the great Korean leader, Kim Il Sung and celebrate the successes of Korean-style socialism.
Dermot Hudson, the chair of the Korean Friendship Association that called the meeting,  praised Kim Il Sung, the leader of the Korean communist movement that drove out the Japanese colonialists and established a people’s government after the defeat of Japan in the Second World War. The revolutionary path charted by Kim Il Sung led to the establishment of a people’s republic based on the Juche Idea and Korean-style socialism is now being followed by Kim Jong Un, he said.
Juche-based socialism is not a copy of another country but the essence of the experience of generations of Korean revolutionaries. “In today’s People’s Korea there is free health care, free education , virtually free housing , low cost food and no individual taxation. There aren’t any homeless people , beggars or drug addicts in People’s Korea”.
Andy Brooks recalled his first visit to the DPRK and his meeting with President Kim Il Sung as part of a NCP delegation in 1990. He said how impressed the delegation of the New Communist Party was with the development of the DPRK which surpassed their expectations.
The general secretary of the NCP spoke about the victories of Kim Il Sung, who led the Workers’ Party of Korea until his death in 1994, and the outstanding achievements of those who’ve followed in his footsteps. While the people’s government strives for the peaceful re-unification of the Korea peninsula it has to prepare for whatever the American imperialists, who occupy the south, will do next whatever the outcome of the American presidential election in November  We can expect nothing from Biden, a senile old man who barely knows what day it is. Biden is just a pawn of the “deep state” – the most venal and aggressive elements within the American ruling class. But ultimately so is Donald Trump.
Trump did his best meeting Kim Jong Un twice for talks to try to ease tension on the Korean peninsula but he was constantly thwarted by the hidden hand of the American Establishment in Washington.
A lively Q & A session followed with questions about travel to the DPRK, the nature of internal class enemies in the DPRK and the issue of the DPRK’s relations with neighbouring countries and the meeting closed with the adoption of a solidarity message to Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Free, free Palestine!

  by New Worker correspondent

Every year on 30^th March Palestinians observe Land Day recalling the events on that day in 1976, when six unarmed Palestinians were killed and more than 100 injured by Israeli forces during protests against Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian Arab land. This year Palestinian solidarity campaigners remembered their sacrifice as they took to the streets all around the world to support Palestinian rights and demand an end to the slaughter in Gaza. London was no exception. Over 200,000 people marched through central London for a rally on Land Day in Trafalgar Square. Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said “Many thanks to the more than 200k who filled London with us, on Land Day, the day when Palestinians mark the root causes of this current genocide: 76 years of violent colonisation. We do not stop until the genocide is ended and Apartheid is finally dismantled!”

From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free!

by Theo Russell

Protestors marched in solidarity with the people of Gaza last weekend in Camden, North London, and held a rally near Sir Keir Starmer’s constituency office, in one of dozens of local actions across Britain.
For the first time there was a pro-Israel counter protest near the rally on Saturday with some 30 or so Zionists with a loud PA system trying to make as much noise as possible. While the Palestine protest was smaller than previously in Camden, it was still more than twice as many as the Zionists. Over a dozen cars passed by beeping in support, some with Palestinian flags, but of course there were none supporting the ultra-Zionists.
According to activists who were there the ultra-Zionists looked like “English Defence League” (EDL) types. The EDL is known to have been working with the pro-Israel fanatical extremists.
Liz Wheatley from Camden Unison told the rally that “we in the trade union movement support those who are fighting for their liberation, we support our Palestinian brothers and sisters against the absolutely outrageous genocide that's being committed in Gaza.
“We have a lot of discussions about the future of Palestine in our trade union branch, and we decided after a vote that there should be one democratic state where both peoples have equal civil and democratic rights.
“We realise that not every trade unionist and every trade union branch thinks that, but it's important that people know that trade union branches have such debates.”
Paul Rennie from Camden Palestine Solidarity said “there comes a time in history when you're put to the test as a moral person, a person with humanity. It happened during Iraq. This is another time. Camden Friends of Palestine are standing with the oppressed.
“People in Gaza are starving, and young children are dying in hospital corridors because there are no medical supplies. We cannot let this brutality go on!
“It's time for a ceasefire, bring all the hostages home, and all the Palestinian prisoners too!”
There will be a workplace day of action on May Day for people to plan activities on Palestine.

Shenzhen orchestra wows London

by New Worker correspondent

One of Asia’s leading orchestras came to town last week when the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra arrived in Chelsea for the London leg of a debut tour of Britain that includes London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. Over 100 musicians performed an impressive programme of film scores and orchestral pieces at the Cadogan Hall on 13 March that included excerpts from the award-winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that was composed by the orchestra's principal honorary conductor, Tan Dun.
Honoured guests included the Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, who congratulated the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and expressed his appreciation to all the individuals and organisations from China and the UK who helped make this debut tour of the UK such a success. 
Ambassador Zheng stressed that China will stay the course of high-quality development, and advance the building of a strong country and national rejuvenation through the Chinese path to modernisation. This will surely generate more opportunities for practical cooperation and cultural and artistic exchanges between China and the UK. It is hoped that the cultural and artistic communities of both countries will enhance engagement and cooperation and inject new vitality into the friendship between the Chinese and British people.
The concert at Cadogan Hall was the second leg of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra's tour of eight cities in the UK. Under the baton of Lin Daye, the orchestra's music director, the orchestra worked with Chinese cellist Nie Jiapeng and British violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen to perform Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Chausson’s Poème, Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso as well as Respighi’s Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome and other masterpieces from the Chinese and Western repertoire. 
Lin said "it has been a dream for a long time to bring the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra to the UK. We hope to welcome orchestral audiences new and old with a programme that includes exciting drama, serene beauty, and virtuosic brilliance."
The musicians received enthusiastic applause and cheers from the audience and returned to the stage to perform encores presenting the audience with a musical feast blending both Chinese and Western cultural elements.

Stand with Diane!

by Theo Russell

Diane Abbott received a rapturous welcome from around 900 people at a rally outside Hackney Town Hall in east London last week to protest against the vile attack on the MP by multi-millionaire Tory donor Frank Hester. The chant repeated again and again was "We stand with Diane!".
A speaker from the local black women's group, Sistah Space, told the crowd that Diane's parents endured the racism of the Windrush generation. “Diane was the first black woman elected to parliament and is the longest serving black MP. She's a living legend...we are under attack and we have to be vigilant!”
Criticising Labour leader Keir Starmer's suspension of Diane Abbott from the Parliamentary Labour Party, the singer and rapper Lowkey said “the Labour Party has come to power in the past with the support of black voters, and we want our money's worth!” and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose parliamentary seat is in neighbouring Islington, said “I'm proud to be here. We are here to celebrate Diane. We ain't disappearing and we ain't going nowhere!”
Diane Abbott herself said “it is the people of Hackney who selected me, who worked hard to get me elected, and who have stood by me for so many years. We need to stand up for the young generation so that they don't have to go through what our parents experienced. Thank you for your support and help. Now we need to go forward”.
Diane Abbott is immensely popular in Hackney and enjoys massive respect from the local community as their representative, but she also has a magnificent track record of anti-colonialism and opposing imperialist wars from Ireland to Africa and Palestine to Afghanistan.
While some MPs have been given police protection against threats and Rishi Sunak warns that extremists are “threatening our democracy” Tory business minister Kemi Badenoch has dismissed Hester's comment that Diane Abbott should be shot as "trivia" while the black community feel that the Labour leadership has also failed to stand up for Dianne.
While parliament debated the very subject of Hester's outright racism, the Speaker –  a Labour MP –  disgracefully failed to call Diane Abbott to speak even though she stood to be called 49 times.
After Rishi Sunak's shameful failure to return Hester's millions his popularity has sunk to new lows, but Labour also has to realise that the feelings of black British voters can't be trampled on, that they need to feel fully respected, and that includes bringing Diane Abbott back into Labour’s parliamentary party.

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”.

Boycott Israel!

 

by New Worker correspondent

Around 120 people turned out despite the cold, wind and rain last Saturday in Camden, north London, in solidarity with the people of Gaza and all Palestinians. This was just one of dozens of local protests across Britain with the focus on Barclays Bank as a major financial supporter of the Zionist state. These protests took place against the background of a reactionary campaign, to which prime minister Rishi Sunak has now given his backing, to claim that the pro-Palestinian protestors were seeking “mob rule” and threatening the “democratic” system in Britain. The Government, deeply embarrassed at the growing opposition to Israeli aggression that has swept the country, is now putting pressure on the police to crack down on protesters. On this occasion there was a brief standoff when police asked everyone to move to the other side of the road but eventually the stewards agreed and the situation remained calm.