Stop the War coalition Newsletter 17.10.25

Newsletter 17/10/25

Last Saturday was one of our largest Palestine marches ever. Over 600,000 people took part in what was a moving day where protestors marched with a sense of hope and determination.

Stop the War played a huge part in mobilising for the demonstration and would like to thank all those who helped us build such a fantastic show of solidarity.

In the run up to the demo we issued over 80,000 leaflets, organised a host of coaches from the length and breadth of the country and on the day we handed out over a thousand placards. We asked our supporters to help us fund our intervention and have now launched a winter appeal to support our work going forward. So whether you took part on Saturday or not please consider donating.

The mood on the march was simultaneously upbeat and defiant. Quite rightly there is little trust for either Israel or Trump. Palestinians are still being killed, the IDF has not left Gaza, and the ceasefire is shaky. Israel continues to limit the flow of aid, and although it has withdrawn to the ‘yellow line’ it still holds 58% of Gaza. But for the moment the skies over the strip are quiet and children can sleep less afraid.

Lindsey German, StW Convenor, gave a rousing speech. “This is what a large demonstration looks like,” she said at the rally on Saturday, comparing the size of the crowd to that at the recent Tommy Robinson demonstration. Lindsey then went on to highlight out how important our protests have been in bringing the plight of the Palestinians to the attention of the world. 

The sycophantic ‘Trump peace summit’ held on Monday in Egypt was a cringe inducing spectacle. Trump humiliated as many world leaders as possible while the rest of us watched in disbelief at the revolting spectacle of those responsible for funding, excusing and providing the means for genocide congratulating one another for bringing ‘peace’.

But there will be no lasting peace without justice, and what peace there is is limited – just last night Israel bombed Lebanon in breach of its ceasefire agreement.

In the coming weeks our groups around the country will be organising public meetings to examine what Trump’s deal means for Gaza, for Palestine and more widely for peace in the Middle East. We must continue to pressure our government to stop arming Israel, to end all diplomatic and trading relations and to hold the genocide state to account. Do get involved. In the next few days the Palestine coalition will also be announcing further protests.  

Defend the Right to Protest

The attacks on the right to protest are accelerating. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood wants to hand police new powers to ban protests deemed repetitive and to outlaw chants and slogans. Keir Starmer called the slogan ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ antisemitic.

Such attacks may be aimed at the Palestine protests, and show how spooked the government has become by the sheer size of the solidarity movement, but they impact more generally on our hard-won democratic rights.

However, the new powers do not seem to have the same impact on far-right protestors who, apparently, are exempt. The football hooligans allied to Maccabi Tel Aviv have such a serious record of racist violence that they have been banned from Amsterdam, but are being defended by Starmer and many in the media. It is an absolute disgrace that Starmer is calling the Birmingham ban of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans antisemitic.

Unity Demo Against Racism, Islamophobia and the Far-Right 

On 25 October StW will be supporting the Unity Demo Against the Far-Right and Islamophobia in Tower Hamlets, London. We will be gathering at 12 noon opposite Whitechapel Station. Please share widely and, if you can, join on the day.

We have had an incredibly busy year of campaigning, but our work is far from over. We must not only continue to oppose our government’s complicity in genocide but must also campaign against the massive hikes in military spending and the proposed development of a war economy.

We must ramp up our campaign against the authoritarian attacks on our right to protest – for without maintaining this crucial democratic right we will be unable to stand in solidarity with Palestine and be unable to take a stand for wages not weapons, welfare not warfare. 

To do all this we need your help. Our winter appeal is our main fundraising activity of the year. We need to reach our target of £75,000 if we are to continue to build an effective anti-war movement across Britain. Please help!

This week’s anti-war briefing