The election of a Labour government on 4 July, with a huge majority, has failed to raise much hope about a more secure and peaceful world.
All available reliable studies indicate that world peace has been seriously undermined and imperilled in the three decades since the end of the Cold War. Wars in Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza, continue to rage uncontrollably, as does the unresolved crisis in Haiti, while the threat of other major subregional conflicts in the Caucasus and the Horn of Africa is also becoming more real and urgent.
The policies and stance of the UK government in relation to these crises, despite the recent change in administration, remain opposite to what they should be. They are seriously flawed and only shades removed, if that, from those followed by the Johnson and Sunak administrations.
The war in Ukraine has been going on for more than 30 months and threatens to become more intense. Yet rather than supporting a de-escalation or negotiated settlement of the conflict, the UK government instead greenlights the provision of deadlier offensive weapons and more of them.
The statements and belligerent stances by UK ministers could be interpreted as encouraging the government in Ukraine to widen the conflict, thus threatening to ignite a much more dangerous direct military conflict between NATO and the Russian Federation.
The Israeli government has perpetrated a campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza for almost a year now… A truly horrendous anniversary!
Millions have demonstrated in London and all over Britain for an immediate ceasefire and implementation of the UN resolutions on Palestine.
The ICJ has issued rulings against the Israeli government for its genocidal war in Gaza, while the UN has voted decisively for an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of an independent state of Palestine.
Palestine and its people have for months endured the murderous designs of Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government. The world public, including a significant majority in Britain, are standing in resolute solidarity with the people of Palestine and their just cause, demanding peace and justice.
On Saturday 14 September, at the Fête de l’Humanité in Paris, Ms. Hala Abou Hassira, the Palestinian ambassador to France, neatly encapsulated the unwavering spirit of all Palestinians, in Palestine and around the world, when she stated: “We will never give up our battle for our right to self-determination, and we are counting on the world’s public at a time when Israel is attacking the very existence of our people.”
The policy of this Israeli government is ‘forever war’. The destruction of Gaza and annexation of the West Bank is key to this vision as well as to the Netanyahu administration’s political survival.
Netanyahu’s strategic aim is to draw Iran and the US into a wider regional military conflict that will put paid to any hope for Palestinian national self-determination, while simultaneously inflicting massive, possibly lethal, damage upon Iran’s infrastructure and military. So far, both the US and the ruling regime in Iran have avoided this rouse. However, the situation is volatile and may rapidly change, especially if ultra-right forces led by Trump manage to retake power after the US election in November.
It is for this reason that we believe the global solidarity movement should be encouraged to galvanise and expand upon its protest demonstrations in the capitals of imperialist powers calling for an immediate and comprehensive end to military supplies to Israel.
For this represents the only hope of a lasting peace and just settlement in the Middle East as well as a definitive end to the cruelty and suffering continually inflicted upon the Palestinian people, once and for all.
Editorial, Liberation Journal, September 2024, Jamshid Ahmadi, Editor
Read the journal here: https://liberationorg.co.uk/journal-2/
