Stop the War coalition Newsletter 07/03/25

Newsletter – 07/03/25

Starmer’s New Militarism

Call to Action 

Starmer is leading the charge in Europe for a massive ramping up of military spending. The anti-war war movement must take action.

‘Spend, spend, spend on defence and deterrence,’ said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at Thursday’s EU emergency summit. The summit’s goal was to provide support for Ukraine, following the very public row between Zelensky and Trump, and to firm up an €800 billion militarisation of Europe.

It is urgent all our groups start organising meetings on this move to militarism. Feel free to choose your own title on the themes Welfare not Warfare – No troops to Ukraine – Stop arming Israel – No to Starmer’s Military Spending. Contact the office for assistance with speakers. It’s urgent we organise and continue to build the movement. To find a local meeting near you click here.

We also urge all our supporters and groups to hold street stalls to set out the case against this dangerous militarism. We have produced a petition ‘No troops to Ukraine: Welfare not Warfare’ which you can download here. Please use in workplaces, colleges, communities and on the streets.

Unions and workers must reject Labour’s military surge – profit for arms companies is not money in workers’ pockets. Propose our new model resolution Oppose Starmer’s Military Spending – Welfare not Warfareat your local trade union branch and demand a policy of peace through security for all.

Europe has convinced itself that Putin is the new Hitler and an existential threat, but as Lindsey German points out Russia ‘is quite incapable of managing a Hitler-like invasion of Europe,’ but it has made clear that any European ‘peacekeeping’ troops in Ukraine would be seen as a declaration of war by NATO. 

Nevertheless Starmer continues his call to arms and Rachel Reeves is helping prepare the way. Ramping up military spending at a time when the chancellor is already proposing swathes of cuts will hurt us all and will be a rallying cry for the far right here and across Europe. Starmer and his EU allies are playing with fire. It’s time to get organised.

National Palestine Demonstration – Saturday 15 March

We have reached the de-facto end of the ceasefire and Netanyahu and Trump are preparing the ground for the resumption of full-scale war.

Trump has issued a final warning to Hamas and the people of Gaza, threatening that if all remaining captives (and the bodies of those dead) are not immediately released, ‘you are dead’, adding ‘Make a smart decision. Release the hostages now, or there will be hell to pay later!’

Meanwhile Israel continues its genocidal war in all but name. Using food and other aid as weapons of war in Gaza, and rapidly escalating attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. 

This is why we must march on 15 March. But the British establishment is pulling out all the stops to prevent us. The Met Police are creating obstacles to our planning of the route and refusing to let us know what conditions they will impose.

As we watch and listen in horror to Trump and Netanyahu’s barbaric comments our government continues to sell arms to Israel and tries to intimidate our movement. Not content with charging StW vice-chair Chris Nineham and PSC’s Director following the 18 January protest, the Met Police have now formally requested interviews with other leaders of the movement. Stop the War officers Lindsey German, Alex Kenny and Andrew Murray have been called in for questioning along with Stephen Kapos, 87 year old Jewish Holocaust survivor, actor Khalid Abdalla and the chairs of CND and Friends of Al-Aqsa. See our statement here. 

The response to these attacks has been defiant – there’s been an outpouring of messages of solidarity to those targeted and our Defend the Right to Protest meetings have been hugely popular. It is clear the government attacks cannot dampen the resilience of the movement.  

Please do what you can to build next week’s national demonstration. It is imperative as many as possible join the protest on 15 March. 

Leaflets are available from the StW office, email us and let us know if you wish to collect or have some delivered.

Save the Dates

Saturday 29 March – Summit of Resistance

Saturday 7 June – No More Austerity March & Rally

We are excited that Lindsey German will be speaking among an amazing line up at the We Demand Change conference on 29 March. Do book your tickets asap before they go!

Rachel Reeves will be the ‘austerity chancellor’ if she follows through on the expected billions of pounds in cuts to welfare spending. At the same time she has supported Starmer in his bid to massively increase military spending. Save the date – 7 June – and join our Welfare not Warfare anti-war bloc on the No More Austerity march.

This week’s anti-war briefing