Stop the War coalition Newsletter 23/08/24
Posted: 25th August 2024
Upcoming National Marches for Palestine
While Gaza and Ukraine burn the Democratic National Convention seems unable to recognise the fire in its wake. Last night, presidential hopeful Kamala Harris regurgitated the notorious cliche that ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’.
As we all know by now, there is absolutely nothing defensive about killing 14,000+ children, nothing defensive about killing at least 124 journalists and nothing defensive about bombing schools, hospitals or refugee camps. It is an outright fallacy to pretend that Israel’s genocide in Gaza is anything close to a defensive operation.
It is a fallacy that we have often heard repeated by our Prime Minister, Keir Starmer as he seeks to obfuscate the ongoing horrors inflicted on the people of Gaza and it is one we cannot bare to hear any longer. On both sides of the Atlantic the majority of people want an immediate end to the killing and suffering that has now lasted over 300 days. We are left with no choice but to continue standing up and speaking up for the people of Palestine and that is what we will continue to do.
That’s why we have two very important demonstrations coming up. Firstly, on Saturday 7 September we’ll be marching in Central London as part of the End the Genocide – Stop Arming Israel – No Middle East War – No to Islamophobia National Demonstration. It is the latest in a series of demonstrations which has shown Britain to be one of the most important global epicentres of Palestinian solidarity and continue to deeply unnerve the political class in this country. Be there – we cannot relent.
Following that we’ll be marching in Liverpool on Saturday 21 September as the Labour Party Conference gets underway. We’ll be making the direct call to Starmer and Lammy to suspend all arms sales to the apartheid Israeli state and immediately end its support for the genocide. We need to make this the biggest march outside of London so far. We’ll be announcing some travel arrangements soon but in the meantime please start planning your travel to Merseyside as soon as possible. Keep your eyes on the pages below for information updates.
Ukraine War: Where Will It End?
The war in Ukraine is escalating out of control, beyond what many thought imaginable in February 2022. As Andrew Murray wrote in his latest columnon the conflict:
“The Ukrainian invasion of Russia’s Kursk province is a remarkable event. It must be the first time a nuclear-armed power has ever had its territory violated by an enemy.
Since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has sometimes muttered about nuclear weapons, without giving any sign of turning vague threats into concrete preparations. But the longer the Kursk incursion continues, the more the risks of the question being revisited will grow.”
Meanwhile, the jubilant reaction from the Western media belies the cold, hard truth about the war as Lindsey German also NATO and Russia have been dramatically heightened in the last two weeks.”
As an anti-war movement we have to step up our activity around Ukraine before it is too late. We’ll be announcing a series of events on the war with our partners at CND very soon.
TUC Fringe: Why War, Peace & Palestine are Trade Union Issues
Stop the War TUC Fringe Meeting
Why War, Peace & Palestine are Trade Union Issues
Mon 9th Sept – 6.30pm
Friends House, Ship St, Brighton, BN1 1AF
This Week’s Anti-War Briefing
