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Category: UK

  • Labour MPs need to resign over Starmer’s disgusting position on Gaza

    Labour leader Keir Starmer has reiterated his refusal to back a ceasefire in Israel’s ongoing onslaught against Palestinian people in both Gaza and the Occupied Territories. So far, Labour MPs with a shred of humanity have voiced their opposition to him – but have not resigned. So, is it time for politicians to start stepping down?

    Starmer’s speech sums Labour up

    On 31 October, Starmer gave a speech about Israel’s assault on Gaza and the Occupied Territories at Chatham House – home to think tank the Royal Institute of International Affairs:

    Before the Labour leader had even arrived, people were outside protesting his stance on Israel:

    During his speech, Starmer said that:

    While I understand calls for a ceasefire, at this stage I do not believe that is the correct position now.

    Hamas would be emboldened and start preparing for future violence immediately.

    The Labour leader said that asking Israel for a “humanitarian pause” to let aid into Gaza was:

    the only credible approach that has any chance of achieving what we all want to see in Gaza – the urgent alleviation of Palestinian suffering.

    Starmer also refused to say whether he thought Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza. This was after he previously endorsed Israel cutting off power and water to the territory, and then backtracked – claiming he hadn’t meant that when he blatantly had.

    Labour: a ‘vote for genocide’

    Predictably, Starmer’s comments caused uproar on social media. Meanwhile, in person, Starmer was booed and called a “war criminal” as he left Chatham House:

    As academic Philip Proudfoot highlighted, it’s high time Labour MPs started quitting the party:

    Timid Labour MPs need to resign now

    So far, some Labour MPs have voiced their opposition to Starmer and the party’s position – and stated their support for a ceasefire. As BBC News reported:

    As the Labour leader was defending his position, both Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and London Mayor Sadiq Khan reiterated their calls for a ceasefire.

    Mr Sarwar also said past comments made by Sir Keir had caused hurt to Muslims and “any peace loving citizen”.

    Speaking to BBC London, Mr Khan didn’t directly criticised his party’s leader but said: “I believe in a de-escalation of the violence not escalation, that’s why I’m calling for a ceasefire.”

    Recent YouGov polling shows 76% of people support a ceasefire. Over 60 Labour MPs, including 15 frontbenchers, have called for a ceasefire, too. Moreover, with the party suspending Labour MP Andy McDonald by willfully misrepresenting his comments at a rally, other politicians should be rallying in solidarity with him.

    So far, though, timidity appears to the the order of the day. With Labour now a husk of its former self, and little more than an imitation of the Conservative Party, left-wing Labour MPs should have abandoned the party a long time ago, anyway. Now, with Israel having killed thousands of Palestinian children and no end to its bombardment in sight, if these politicians continue to put their own careers before humanity, then they’re as bad as Starmer is.

    Featured image via PoliticsJOE – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Colonial abuses loom large as King Charles visits Kenya

    Content warning: This article contains mention of sexual assault and abuse. 

    Charles and Camilla began a state visit to Kenya on Tuesday 31 October. It marks the king’s first visit to an African and Commonwealth nation since taking the throne in September 2022.

    The four-day trip has been billed as an opportunity to build on the now-cordial ties between London and Nairobi. However, the legacy of decades of British colonial rule is looming large – accompanied by mounting calls to make an apology over Britain’s bloody colonialism.

    The royal visit comes as pressure mounts in some Commonwealth countries to remove the British monarch as head of state. It also follows anti-monarchy demonstrations in the UK during Charles’ own coronation.

    ‘Painful aspects’

    The British High Commission said the tour will “spotlight the strong and dynamic partnership between the UK and Kenya”. However, it will also “acknowledge the more painful aspects” of Britain’s historic relationship with the country as it prepares to celebrate 60 years of independence in December.

    These “painful aspects” include the 1952-60 ‘Emergency’. Colonial authorities brutally suppressed the Mau Mau uprising, one of the bloodiest insurgencies against British rule. At least 10,000 people – mainly from the Kikuyu tribe – were killed. Additionally, tens of thousands more were detained without trial in concentration camps where reports of executions, torture, and rape were common.

    However, the British authorities made efforts to hide and destroy records of their atrocities, and some historians and rights groups claim the true figure is far higher.

    On 29 October, the Kenya Human Rights Commission urged the king to pay reparations for colonial-era abuses, and make an:

    unequivocal public apology… for the brutal and inhuman treatment inflicted on Kenyan citizens.

    Britain agreed in 2013 to compensate more than 5,000 Kenyans who had suffered abuse during the Mau Mau revolt. The deal was worth nearly GBP £20m. Then foreign secretary William Hague said Britain “sincerely regrets” the abuses, but stopped short of a full apology.

    British soldiers remain in Kenya

    Another lingering source of tension is the fact that the UK has kept around 200 troops stationed in Kenya since its independence. Some of the soldiers have been accused of rape and murder, and civilians have been maimed by munitions.

    On 30 October, Kenyan police blocked the airing of a news conference which would have aired environmental and human rights abuse allegations against British troops. Reuters reported that: 

    Residents of central Kenya’s Lolldaiga area have accused a British army training unit based nearby of causing a 2021 wildfire that destroyed much of a nature reserve, leaving behind ordnance that injured locals, and being involved in the 2012 murder of a woman last seen with British soldiers.

    The woman in question was Agnes Wanjiru. Her body was found stabbed and dumped in a septic tank attached to a hotel near the army base. As Foreign Policy reported:

    British troops had allegedly paid Wanjiru and other local women for sex on a drunken night, which was the last time that Wanjiru was seen before her body was discovered. The Sunday Times said another soldier reported the killing to senior British officers at the time­—but no action was taken. Her body was discovered nearly three months later. Reports in the U.K. media claim soldiers laughed and joked about the murder on Facebook.

    An autopsy found evidence Wanjiru had been beaten and died as a result of stab wounds to her chest and abdomen. A 2019 inquest in Kenya concluded that British soldiers were responsible for her murder and ordered further investigations. Eleven years later, no one has been charged.

    In August 2023, the Kenyan parliament launched an official inquiry into the activities of British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk). The parliamentary defence committee in charge sent out a call for public accounts of the UK soldiers’ crimes. The report marks the first time that the British army’s activities will be reviewed by Kenyan authorities on such a scale.

    Additional reporting via Agence France-Presse

    Featured image via via MSN/ITN/screenshot. 

    By Alex/Rose Cocker

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • An asylum seeker reached desperation point after finding out he was destined for the Bibby Stockholm

    A Nigerian man attempted suicide after finding his name on a list of people being sent to the Bibby Stockholm. The case exposes the traumatic impact that the barge is having on asylum seekers in the UK.

    Bibby Stockholm transfer list

    An asylum seeker attempted to hang himself in a Colchester car park on 26 October. According to a press release by Colchester-based Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Migrant Action (RAMA), the man had just discovered he was being sent to the Bibby Stockholm. Another refugee at the hotel found him and alerted a security guard. They cut the Nigerian man down and an air ambulance later took him to Colchester Hospital, where doctors put him on life support.

    RAMA said this isn’t an isolated case, however:

    Eight other asylum-seekers at the hotel are also due to be transferred to the Bibby Stockholm. Six of them said they would rather kill themselves than be sent there, and RAMA believes that four of them are serious about intending to take their own lives.

    Moreover, one refugee attempted suicide while on the Bibby Stockholm. A letter written by some of those housed on the barge and published by Portland Global Friendship Group on Facebook on 25 August said:

    Also, in a tragic incident, one of the asylum seekers attempted suicide, but we acted promptly and prevented this unfortunate event.

    Some friends even said they wished they had the courage to commit suicide, and our personal belief is that many of these individuals might resort to this foolishness to escape from problems in the future.

    ‘Strongest possible protest against inhumanity’

    The Nigerian man who attempted to hang himself wasn’t a new arrival to the UK. RAMA said he had arrived as an unaccompanied child and lived in foster care until the age of 18. Five years later, the Home Office wanted him moved to the Bibby Stockholm.

    According to Maria Wilby of RAMA, the unnamed man’s reaction reflects anxieties widespread amongst Colchester’s asylum seekers:

    They are grieving the fact that the Home Office is closing the hotel down. While it may not be perfect, it’s been their home for up to a year. They’ve planted trees in Colchester, attended therapy here, volunteered here, made friends here. They are no problem to anyone; local police have confirmed there have been no criminal incidents arising either from the men at the hotel or from other asylum-seekers dispersed in the community. And yet they’ve been treated in a way that is beyond inhumane, and which disregards all the efforts which they have made to find community here. This suicide attempt is the strongest possible protest against that inhumanity, and also shows just how much the Bibby Stockholm is feared.

    Meanwhile, the Guardian said it had confirmed two other suicides of refugees in hotels. Afroze Fatima Zaidi recently reported for the Canary on the “inhumane” conditions that many refugees find themselves in at hotels.

    Cost of racist policies

    The Canary has repeatedly reported on the racism of the Bibby Stockholm and what it represents. This case highlights the deeply personal cost of that racism. Nicola David of refugee support group One Life To Live emphasised this in RAMA’s press release:

    This has been a horrific incident – a tragedy which was entirely preventable. Before COVID, asylum-seekers lived among us in the community. Now, they are ‘othered’: segregated away into ghettoes and deprived of respect and dignity. It never ceases to amaze me that major hotel brands and their franchisees are willing to take the government shilling and turn the other cheek to what goes on in their properties.

    Here is a young man, with his whole life ahead of him, who was treated as a number and not a human being, and for whom the prospect of the Bibby Stockholm was simply too much. The Home Office should feel deep shame – if it knows how.

    The Bibby Stockholm is little more than a prison ship for people that haven’t committed a crime. And its existence alone is enough to drive already vulnerable people to the brink.

    The Guardian said prime minister Rishi Sunak “ignored” a question about the suicide attempt mentioned in the asylum seekers’ letter. No doubt he’d ignore questions about the latest attempt too. And that, of course, about sums up the government’s attitude to the harm it is causing asylum seekers.

    Featured image via The Telegraph/YouTube

    By Glen Black

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Labour’s disgusting stance on Israel’s invasion of Gaza is now ‘wait and see what happens’

    On Sunday 29 October, Peter Kyle (shadow secretary for science, innovation, and technology) appeared on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. He was asked about Israel’s invasion of Gaza, and specifically about whether he supports it. Guest host Victoria Derbyshire asked Kyle:

    do you support, then, Israel’s ground operation as the only way to eliminate Hamas?

    Smirking and looking nervous, Kyle responded:

    You are asking me to make judgements on military operations that are unfolding now.

    That’s correct, yes. You are being asked to make judgements on things which are happening politically. Because you’re a politician. And you’re on a political talk show, being interviewed about the most important political story of the moment.

    The question is this: is ‘wait and see’ Labour’s official stance on all conflict now, or was Kyle out of his depth and simply didn’t know how to justify his party’s terrible position?

    Who is Peter Kyle?

    Given the seriousness of the unfolding situation in Gaza, you may be wondering why Kyle – a guy you’ve likely never heard of – was sent out to answer questions. Could it be that no one else wanted to go out and defend Keir Starmer’s position? Given that he’s a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel, Kyle is one of the MPs who are most likely to agree with Starmer on this matter. According to Kyle himself, Labour is actually very united right now, as he said:

    We are united as a party.

    Derbyshire immediately responded:

    Derbyshire had good reason to be so assertive, as she’d just noted:

    You’ve just seen there the mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the leader of Scottish Labour Anas Sarwar, and your front bench colleague Yasmin Qureshi all calling for a ceasefire: why are they wrong?

    Those of you with a basic grasp of the English language will understand that people who hold the opposite opinions to one another are not to be described as ‘united’. United in their disagreement, maybe, but that’s not what Derbyshire asked.

    Pause for thought

    Kyle waffled on about all the ways in which the Labour Party is allegedly united – none of which answered the question. Largely he talked about Starmer’s call for a ‘humanitarian pause’:

    If you’re not sure what a humanitarian pause is, it’s a brief window in which the world will treat Palestinians humanely, to be followed by more of Israel’s inhumane treatment we’re witnessing right now. It’s unclear what the point of this would be other than to give Palestinians a misleading glimmer of hope between the airstrikes. Arguably the pause would be crueller than simply allowing the horror to continue unchecked. Clearly the only point would be to give the illusion that those calling for it have some shred of humanity:

    Politically vacant

    It’s probably not going to be Labour’s official stance that it will ‘wait and see what happens’ when one country invades another territory, because it already isn’t that. Just look at their criticism of Russia invading Ukraine. Starmer and Co. aren’t waiting to see what happens there, because it’s obviously wrong; much like it’s obviously wrong in Gaza.

    Featured image via BBC – screengrab

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Letters to the Canary: Israel, Gaza, and the Labour Party dominate people’s thoughts

    The Canary is excited to share the latest edition of our letters page. This is where we publish people’s responses to the news and politics, or anything else they want to get off their chest. We’ve now opened the letters page up so anyone can submit a contribution. As always, if you’d like to subscribe to the Canary – starting from just £1 a month – to support truly radical and independent media, then you can do that here:

    Subscribe here

    This week’s letters

    This week we have more people’s thoughts on the situation in Israel, Gaza, and the Occupied Territories, plus the Labour Party. 

    Israel/Gaza has dominated the letters

    The problem is not caused by the people of Israel.

    The problem is not caused by the people of Palestine.

    The problem is Hamas. The problem is Likud – the current government and leadership of Israel. And the people who take both their sides.

    Take the extremists out of the equation and you can begin to have peace.

    Ordinary people in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank should not be made to suffer for the crimes of extremists on both sides.

    There must now be a ceasefire, followed by a suitable settlement resulting in independent states of Israel and Palestine.

    It can and must work, and would have succeeded if Yitzhak Rabin and then Yasser Arafat hadn’t be killed by extremists on both sides.

    E, via email

    I keep hearing Israel was caught off guard. The fence around Gaza is the most sophisticated barrier you could imagine with all types of electronic detectors. Yet the Israeli Defence Forces did not respond to numerous breaches of the barrier for six hours. This also after Egypt had informed Israel and the US several days before of an imminent major attack by Hamas.

    The Israeli government has been under severe domestic pressure for the last nine months. It not only needed a distraction, in Israel an attack on Gaza is the usual choice, but now there are avowed fascists in the government who openly want to wipe Gaza off the map. Was this their game plan?

    Previously the Palestinians have gained a negotiating advantage by taking hostages, Israel considered it of prime importance that they had returned any of their citizens. This time Israel is not responding to this and is simply bombing Gaza back to the ‘stone age’ with little regard to human life including their own citizens held hostage.

    It is frequently said that Hamas stated aim is to destroy Israel. Whereas Israel’s policy over the years has been to create a Jewish state over the whole of Judea and Samaria, ie. the elimination of Palestine and the Palestinians.

    I also wonder if the discovery of oil off the coast of Gaza has contributed to the current rampage to eliminate the Palestinian presence in Gaza.

    Graham, via email

    The media seems focused on vilifying Israel. I have not heard one Gazan interviewed say ‘I understand why Israel is bombing us’. I am sure the majority know what Hamas did in Israel to men, women, children, and babies – but all I hear is they are killing our babies? Decades of Intifadas, terrorist attacks, and how many wars since the beginning all ignored.

    I have not heard one journalist remind the world in every war there are many innocent lives are lost – men and women, young and old, children and babies. Collective punishment? I have not heard any say that Hamas started the war in such an inhuman way that they knew full well the response of Israel would be there no admission to collective hatred of all Israelis.

    I have not heard any remind the world that the Arabs of Palestine have consistently chosen to reject every opportunity to form their own state and live in peace. Has anyone considered Hamas’s agenda is regional war? Media: all I hear read and hear is racist hatred towards Jews & Israel.

    Thank you.

    Margaret Moir, Australia, via email

    The Labour Party: part of the problem?

    I’ve been a Labour Party member for over 30 years. I resigned once during the war on Iraq. I rejoined to support Ed Miliband. I campaigned in the last election walking door to door with Keir Starmer. But I resigned again when I heard Keir, along with the prime minister, condone the cutting off water, electricity, food and medicine from the over two million civilian population of Gaza.

    He has still not condemned the genocide that is taking place there now. The whole place is being flattened. Those who survive the attacks will have lost everything and are likely to live in UN tents for the rest of their lives.

    While the attack by Hamas on 7 October was horrific and rightfully condemned by everyone, Israel’s ongoing cruel revenge is totally disproportionate and breaks international law. Thousands have been killed and injured – over 7,000 people, over 40% of which are children. Many thousands have lost their homes. An aid worker in Israel told me last night she was hearing explosions in Gaza every 30 seconds.

    Since this catastrophe began in Gaza the Israelis have also been discretely killing Palestinians and taking over their homes on the West Bank. This is barely reported in the media.

    Last Saturday I went on the Gaza peace march in London – young and old demonstrators walking alongside many Jewish and Muslim individuals and families. Two Israeli friends accompanied me. One Jewish man I spoke with told me:

    “It is our tradition to side with the oppressed – not the oppressor. That is why I am here.”

    In Israel, more and more people do not want to live in such a cruel apartheid system. Why do western governments support it? Please world leaders, condemn Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and call for a ceasefire before more innocent people are killed.

    Josephine Siedlecka, via email

    I don’t agree with all your articles but hey, I could be wrong. The Labour Party, who I will support at the next election, is probably cock a hoop at the last two election results. However, some of my friends are the kind of troops the party needs to get out and about at election time. Frankly, they are less than enthusiastic about Sir Keir and most of his ministers.

    Personally, I would never vote conservative but might lend my vote to the Lib Dems. These died-in-the-wool Labour voters are so seriously pissed off with Starmer and his relentless fence sitting that they may fail to engage in the next election.

    Labour will probably win, but not with the big landslide they are all gloating about at present. It’s about time they came out with full support for proportional representation and gave us all a chance to have a vote that counted for something.

    I lived on and off in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire for over 12 years. I thought when I moved there I would have a vote that counted. We lived in the only Conservative constituency in Scotland. I then moved back to Usk in Monmouthshire. Dress a monkey in blue and my friends here would vote for it.

    Frank Duffin, via email

    Want to get involved? Email membership(at)thecanary.co and we’ll publish your letters, too! Terms and conditions of publication apply.

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Home Office in hot water once again over its racist asylum accommodation

    A migrant rights group has launched another legal challenge against the Tories’ racist asylum accommodation. This time, the non-profit has targeted the government’s abhorrent and prison-like military housing estate.

    It comes as a parliamentary committee published a report on the Home Office’s abysmal handling of asylum claims.

    Racist and inhumane asylum accommodation

    On 26 October, migrant rights and support group Care4Calais issued legal proceedings against the Home Office. Specifically, the group are bringing the challenge against its asylum accommodation at Wethersfield – a former military base in Essex.

    The asylum scheme at Wethersfield is key to the Home Office’s broader approach to holding refugees. This is designed to host migrants while they await a decision on their claims. In particular, the former military site is part of its bid to shift away from hotel accommodation.

    Hotel accommodation has presented a host of problems and bad press for the government. For one, as the Canary’s Afroze Zaidi explained in September, refugees have experienced:

    cramped living conditions, damp, mould, pest infestations, and broken or missing furniture.

    Moreover, the spiralling costs of the Home Office’s hotel stock have repeatedly hit headlines.

    RAF bases to barges

    So, the Tories have predictably responded to the mounting problems at these hotels with even less humane alternatives. Primarily, this has centred around imprisoning asylum seekers at refurbished former military bases and on repurposed barges.

    Naturally, these sites have posed a number of similar issues. Both the Bibby Stockholm and Wethersfield have been the centre of viral outbreaks. What’s more, criticisms of the poor housing conditions and safety concerns have dogged the government’s flagship asylum housing plans. Much like the use of hotels, local councils have also had little say over these schemes.

    As a result, these asylum accommodation sites have also faced a stream of legal action. Local councils and a resident have launched cases against both RAF Scampton and RAF Wethersfield, both of which hold asylum seekers. Hearings are due to take place on 31 October to 1 November respectively.

    Meanwhile, after a failed judicial review against the Home Office earlier this month, Portland’s town mayor has issued a follow-up challenge against the local authority over the de facto prison barge, the Bibby Stockholm.

    Now, Care4Calais has added its case against the RAF base-turned-asylum accommodation at Wethersfield to this growing list of legal challenges.

    Legal proceedings against racist asylum accommodation

    In a press release, the campaign group announced it had initiated legal proceedings against the Home Office. The group has called out the site’s “quasi-detention” prison-like conditions and said the surveillance, restrictions, and location amounted to “segregating” refugees from the local community. In particular, it underscored that:

    they are segregated from the mainstream population in ways that and stigmatise and degrade them, and eat away at their dignity

    It echoed accusations that Portland’s town mayor levied at the government in a recent failed legal bid over the Bibby Stockholm.

    On top of this, Care4Calais highlighted that the Home Office should not be placing survivors of torture or modern slavery, or those suffering from serious mental health conditions at the site. However, it pointed out that they are “routinely being sent to Wethersfield.”

    Ultimately, the group noted that:

    Falsely imprisoning asylum seekers behind barbed wire fences, placing them under 24/7 surveillance, restricting their liberty and separating them from any semblance of community, is now the chosen policy of this Government.

    Committee calls out government failings

    The new legal challenge comes as a House of Commons parliamentary committee released a new damning report. Specifically, the Public Accounts Committee conducted an inquiry into the government’s progress in processing asylum claims.

    The report said that, by the end of June 2023, the government had a backlog of over 175,000 unprocessed claims. The committee were told that over half of these people (91,000) had waited for at least a year for a decision.

    Notably, the report revealed that the government is failing to find appropriate housing. In particular, it detailed how the government has found less than 10% of its aimed 500 beds a week of ‘dispersal’ accommodation in local communities.

    Given this, the report stated that the government:

    seemingly has no plan for how it will acquire enough accommodation in local areas to end its reliance on hotels.

    Moreover, it criticised the government’s plans to force asylum seekers into room sharing. The committee said that they were:

    not convinced that the Home Office has considered the trauma some people seeking asylum will have faced, or the protections required to ensure it is implementing room-sharing safely.

    On 24 October, the Home Office announced its plans to move refugees out of 50 of these hotels by the end of January. It stated that it would refugees living in the hotels into:

    other parts of the UK’s asylum estate, including the Bibby Stockholm barge.

    Profits over people

    Of course, this is all part of the government’s deliberate efforts to criminalise people seeking asylum. As I previously wrote on the Bibby Stockholm, these types of carceral asylum-holding sites embody:

    the government’s hostile rhetoric, which seeks to sever asylum seekers’ connection with the surrounding community and support groups.

    In other words, the shoddy accommodation is one of the latest incarnations of the Tories ‘hostile environment’. It stems from the ever-colonial pomp that pervades the UK political class. This is exercised through a capitalist system which puts profits over people – and especially racialised communities. Because, of course, there’s big money to be made in caging human beings. Naturally, the Tories’ rancid refugee scapegoating has provided the perfect cover to do just that.

    Under the guise of purportedly sparing the taxpayer the burgeoning hotel bill, the Tories have funnelled cash into company coffers. For example, new analysis by the Labour Party found that the Bibby Stockholm is currently costing £800 per person, per night. Bibby Marine – the company leasing the barge – therefore stands to make stonking profits.

    Crucially then, as the Canary’s Joe Glenton previously explained:

    far from being about saving public cash, the policy of warehousing refugees in terrible accommodation is a function of the Tories‘ brutal anti-refugee ideology.

    Legal challenges mount against immoral asylum plans

    Moreover, alongside its infamous Rwanda policy, these sites are a core pillar of the government’s racist Illegal Migration Act. Yet communities, campaign groups, and councils are foiling both this hostile accommodation and its racist deportation plans. Repeated legal bids have exposed the racist motivations at the heart of these schemes – and sometimes proved them illegal.

    For example, in July, the High Court ruled that the Home Office was unlawfully housing unaccompanied minors in hotels. Also in July, a group of asylum seekers won a separate case against the home secretary and her department. It found that the Home Office had breached its duty to provide adequate housing and financial support to prevent destitution.

    Meanwhile, on 13 October, Right to Remain initiated a challenge against the government’s lack of legal aid for asylum seekers.

    As such, the Tories’ racist carceral asylum accommodation system looks to be rapidly coming undone. It’s high time the UK government put the lives and rights of people seeking safety – wherever they’re from – above corporate greed.

    Feature image via Channel 4 News/Youtube screengrab. 

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Co-ordinated actions shut down three Israel-supplying arms factories in a single day

    More than 150 people blockaded the entrances to an Israel-supporting arms factory in Kent on 26 October. The crowd represented a coalition of trade union members under the name Workers for a Free Palestine. The action came after Palestinian trade unionists called for everywhere unions to “end all complicity” with Israel’s attacks on Palestine. Meanwhile, activists disrupted two other factories complicit in arming Israel.

    Workers for a Free Palestine

    On the morning of 26 October, a group of over 150 people blocked the entrances to Instro Precision Ltd’s factory in Sandwich. Instro is a subsidiary of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems that manufactures targeting and surveillance systems used by the Israeli military. Activists including Palestine Action previously targeted the subsidiary in 2015 and 2021.

    At the front of the blockade was a large banner reading ‘Workers for a free Palestine’. The crowd comprised members of trade unions including Unite, the RMT, and the NEU. Video of the blockade shows the crowd chanting “Free, free, Palestine, Palestine” and “We are all Palestinians”:

    A press release by Palestine Action said the blockade covered both the factory’s entrances, thereby forcing it to shut down for the day.

    Palestinian call for help

    In a press release, Workers for a Free Palestine said:

    On 26th October over one hundred workers picketed an arms factory to disrupt the flow of weapons to Israel. This shows the kind of leverage workers can have when we organise together. We encourage workers to come together across workplaces to organise more protests like the one today to shut down arms factories and immediately stop the flow of arms to Israel.

    It said it had organised the blockade following an international call out by Workers in Palestine, a coalition of Palestinian trade unions. The call-out asked trade unionists worldwide to:

    end all forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes – most urgently halting the arms trade with Israel, as well as all funding and military research.

    We are calling on trade unions in relevant industries:

    1. To refuse to build weapons destined for Israel.
    2. To refuse to transport weapons for Israel.
    3. To pass motions in their trade union to this effect.
    4. To take action against complicit companies involved in implementing Israel’s brutal and illegal siege, especially if they have contacts with your institution.
    5. Pressure governments to stop all military trade with Israel, and in the case of the US, funding to it.

    Subsequently, Workers for a Free Palestine said it is:

    building a network run by workers that will support each other to take this kind of action. We are teachers, university workers, nurses, paramedics, bar staff, and more. We will set up weekly meetings for workers who want to organise around Palestine in their workplace and union.

    The first of these meetings is on 1 November at Pelican House (144 Cambridge Heath Road, London). People looking to attend can sign up here.

    Shutting down more arms factories

    While Workers for a Free Palestine was blockading Instro, Palestine Action took action against two neighbouring arms factories in Leicester. An activist at the Meridian Business Park locked-on to block the entrance to UAV Tactical Systems’ drone manufacturing facility. Meanwhile, nearby, a separate group occupied the factory roof of Howmet, which produces parts for F-35 jets. According to Palestine Action, both supply Israel’s military.

    Alongside its own shutdowns, the group complemented the trade unionists that shut down “death dealers” Instro, and added:

     These actions represent the strength in numbers of those willing and ready to take direct action to shut down the Israeli war machine – while our politicians and media rally behind Israel’s criminality, the grassroots movement against Israel’s war machine sees people power as the only way to stand against genocide.

    Local paper LeicestershireLive said police arrested five people across the two blockades.

    We can help

    News of Israel’s massacres in Gaza and the West Bank can seem overwhelming and impossible to affect. However, these actions show it’s not impossible.

    Palestine Action, already well versed in taking on the UK-Israel military-industrial complex, responded in the only way it knew how. Meanwhile, trade unionists have opened up a new front in showing solidarity. Palestinians themselves have provided guidelines on how they believe people can help, no matter where in the world they are. It’s now up to us to respond.

    Featured image via Ash Sarkar/X

    By Glen Black

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Racists set up a racist crowdfunder for the racist cops sacked over Williams stop and search. Get it, yet?

    The racist cops who stopped international athletes Bianca Williams and Ricardo dos Santos have been sacked – but not for their racism. Meanwhile, someone has set up a crowdfunding page for the sacked racist cops – with ex-cops supporting it openly on X. Yet the UK is not a racist, colonialist endeavour – is it?

    If it walks like a racist cop…

    As the Mirror reported:

    Mr dos Santos, 28, was stopped along with his partner and fellow Team GB star Ms Williams, 29, in their Mercedes with their three-month baby son outside their home in Maida Vale, West London, on July 4, 2020.

    A police disciplinary panel found the officers’ claims of smelling marijuana when they stopped the vehicle were made-up and the pair were dismissed for gross misconduct. Three other officers involved in the arrest, which saw the couple handcuffed and searched for drugs and weapons, were cleared of any wrongdoing.

    So, in case you were in any doubt:

    • Met police officers stopped dos Santos and Williams – because they were Black.
    • They lied about smelling weed – because dos Santos and Williams were Black.
    • Metropolitan Police officers cuffed them for 45 minutes – because they were Black.

    If it walks like a racist cop… etc, etc – as dos Santos himself pointed out on Good Morning Britain (GMB):

    Yet somehow, the police disciplinary panel concluded that racism was not a factor in the cops’ treatment of dos Santos and Williams – despite sacking them.

    Fellow racists, however, thought these cops were harshly treated.

    A double whammy: racism AND misogynoir all in one X post

    Someone has set up a crowdfunder for the poor, white, filth. It pleads poverty and ‘think of the children’. But maybe if the sacked cops had thought of their children, they might not have been racist pigs in the first place.

    Ex-cops (but likely current racists) openly admitted to donating to the crowdfunder on X:

    However, aside from cementing the idea that the Met Police is a racist old boys club, this dinosaur branding Williams’ distress as “amateur dramatics” is also misogynoir in action.

    Back in July, Met cops arrested a Black woman with her child for dodging a bus fare – when she actually hadn’t. When the woman rightly challenged the cops, they escalated the situation. Right-wing racists at the time blamed the Black woman for her arrest because she ‘didn’t go quietly’ – much like the ex-cop labelling Williams’ response as “amateur dramatics”. However, as one X user pointed out in July, these:

    responses of ‘she should have stopped,’ ‘just cooperated,’ ‘abusive’ are… unsurprising. Those responses come from those who, from a young age, have not witnessed their loved ones manhandled without dignity, whose body does not stiffen in fear of being accused because of what their skin colour represents to others, who are not adultified… as children, who have to ensure they print a receipt for a bottle of milk to show to a uniformed person in the supermarket…

    Classism: doubling-down on the racism

    Of course, the bigger point here is that the institutionally racist Met Police stops, searches, cuffs, and abuses Black people day in, day out – because they are Black. Yet cops rarely face any consequences for this. It points to the classism that exists within racist, colonialist, UK society. If you’re poor and Black, then you have to suck it up when the cops are abusive and violent towards you. However, if you’re an Olympic athlete – then you have access to recourse.

    That’s not to dismiss the trauma cops inflicted on dos Santos, Williams, and their child – and the trauma that will stay with them. It’s to point out that this kind of outcome – where cops are held to account – is a rarity:

    As I previously wrote for the Canary, the child of the Black woman who cops abused over her bus fare will live with that experience for the rest of his life, likely with no support dealing with it:

    the saddest part of this story is that the young boy was witness to cops’ treatment of his mother – and with institutional change unlikely, society will allow this cycle to repeat itself throughout his life also. If this is how police treat Black adults, how are young Black children supposed to feel safe around them? This child witnessed police brutalising his mother – and then, days later, it was revealed another Black man has died after contact with cops, also in Croydon.

    Further to that, executive director of campaign group StopWatch Habib Kadiri told the Voice:

    StopWatch is disappointed that the intimidatory tactics of the officers who stopped Ricardo and Bianca were not fully recognised in the panel’s decision.

    Although two of the officers have been found guilty of gross misconduct, the entire unit has been let off the hook for discriminatory behaviour obvious to any Black person who has been stopped in a vehicle in London.

    We fear that police officers will feel emboldened to continue to perform vehicle stops in an overtly aggressive manner, especially towards Black people, many of whom know that Driving While Black carries a heightened risk of harassment and abuse from the Met.

    No, the UK’s not racist. Not at all.

    So, it seems that not only did the cops in the dos Santos and Williams case get away with their racism, but the Met will have learned nothing from these events. Meanwhile, racist ex-cops cry on X while others donate thousands to a cop crowdfunder. As one person pointed out:

    Black people should not have to tolerate this any more. Unfortunately, as the dos Santos and Williams case has shown, and continues to show, nothing is changing any time soon. The Met is a mirror of UK society – where systemic and institutional racism dominates, while white people claim otherwise.

    Featured image via Reuters – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Tory MPs private inquisition of BBC boss over Israel shows they want it to be a zombie bride of GB News

    The boss of the BBC privately met with the Tory Party’s 1922 committee to discuss the broadcaster. At the meeting, MPs grilled director general Tim Davie over the BBC‘s coverage of the Hamas attacks on Israel, and Israel’s subsequent war crimes in Gaza. The main topic of this discussion was the broadcaster’s refusal to brand Hamas ‘terrorists’.

    Of course, it’s no surprise Davie attended a private Tory Party meeting – given he was a prominent Conservative himself. However, it appears MPs metaphorically gave him a thrashing in an attempt to turn the BBC into some sort of GB News imitation.

    BBC boss having private meetings with Tory MPs

    As Sky News reported, Davie attended the 1922 Committee on Wednesday 25 October:

    Speaking to journalists before and after the meeting, a BBC spokesperson said Mr Davie visited the committee after it was arranged in July as part of regular discussions with parliamentarians.

    The spokesman said Mr Davie would have “tackled head-on some of the criticisms that he will undoubtedly have had in the room” and stressed “why the institution matters”.

    ‘Regular discussions with parliamentarians’ usually involve going before select committees or ministers. They don’t involve going to private, partisan, party-political old boys’ clubs. This is, however, former Tory Party councillor candidate Tim Davie, who – as Byline Times‘s Adam Bienkov pointed out – also works with another former Tory at the BBC:

    Lee Anderson had a ‘face like thunder’. Is that not his usual face?

    At the meeting, Sky News reported that the BBC‘s coverage of Hamas was discussed. The Sun‘s political editor/gossip columnist and all-round right-wing foghorn Harry Cole noted that, when one minister asked Davie to change the BBC‘s policy on calling the group ‘terrorists’, Davie “rebuffed” him:

    Meanwhile, the Tory deputy chairman Lee ’30p’ Anderson slammed Davie’s appearance after walking out reportedly with a “face like thunder”. We’re not sure how you tell the difference between that and his resting face, mind. Regardless, Anderson told the Express:

    Mr Davie should cancel his TV licence as he obviously does not watch his own channels.

    The BBC is suffering from a cost of confidence crisis.

    Of course, far-right dullard Anderson knows all about journalistic values – given he works for GB News, which currently facing 12 investigations by regulator Ofcom for potential impartiality rule breaches. 30p Lee’s comments were similar to that of other Tory MPs at the meeting. Clearly, right-wing Davie is no longer right wing enough for some Tories.

    Little wonder, then, that he also revealed the BBC is reviewing how it reports on refugees. That is, the Tories think the broadcaster is too sympathetic:

    This point, and the Tories’ outrage at the BBC‘s coverage of Hamas, sum up the problem.

    Pushing Aunty into the shit-drenched abyss of GB News

    Davie is hardly a woke brocialist – nor is the BBC left-leaning. It is a state broadcaster in all but name – serving as a government mouthpiece since its inception. However, for the far-right mob that’s taken over the Tory Party, even this is no longer good enough.

    Clearly, the likes of Anderson think the already-compromised BBC should descend into the immoral, shit-drenched abyss that GB News inhabits – where far-right talking points are passed off as impartial news and Tory MPs interview Tory MPs like that’s a perfectly normal thing for a TV broadcaster to do.

    It comes to something when Davie – an arch-Tory through and through – looks moderately reasonable in the face of the current, talentless dregs of the Conservative Party that now masquerade as MPs. But, here we are.

    The BBC: a withered, zombified corpse of the British empire

    No doubt before Rishi Sunak and the rest of the sewer-pipe detritus we now call the Tories are booted out of office, they’ll make sure the BBC is further under the right-wing thumb than it already is. Then, the new wave of Tories – disguised as the Labour Party – will take over and probably continue this trend.

    But who cares, anyway?

    The BBC died a death years ago. Arguably, its news and current affairs coverage has never actually been truly alive – being more a journalistic Frankenstein’s monster of the British empire.

    However, the Tories are not even hammering the final nail into its coffin. No – they’re trying to turn the BBC into a zombie bride of GB News.

    If these far-right miscreants get their way, the broadcaster’s withered cadaver will wail ‘public service broadcasting’ for the final time. Then, journalistic standards will draw their last breath, Aunty will be damned for all eternity – and Davie will be forced to appoint Anderson as host of Question Time.

    Good riddance, really – but even by the BBC‘s standards, the Tories have taken things too far this time.

    Featured image via BBC News – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Starmer faces backlash for pushing Tory party line on Gaza

    Labour leader Keir Starmer is once again following the Tory Party’s lead. He’s joined PM Rishi Sunak in calling for a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza. However, he appears to be increasingly at odds with his own party.

    Over 250 Muslim Labour councilors have signed a public letter to Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner demanding that the Labour Party back calls for a ceasefire. Meanwhile, amid the backlash, Labour’s share of the Muslim vote has plunged from 71% to just 5%.

    ‘Humanitarian pause’ in Gaza

    Following calls from the UN and Rishi Sunak, Starmer has backed demands for what he called “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid into Gaza. Like the Tory leader, he has failed to call for a full ceasefire. This has done little to inspire confidence in the floundering party leader, who previously faced condemnation for his statement that Israel “has the right” to cut off water and power from Gaza.

    As of 26 October, some 37 Labour MPs have publicly backed calls for an Israeli ceasefire. Likewise, 19 Labour councillors have quit the party over its non-committal stance. The BBC has also reported that four shadow cabinet ministers were similarly “on resignation watch”.

    The Labour Muslim Councillors Network (LMCN) released an open letter on 25 October providing greater detail on its position. It stated that:

    Everyday we fail to call on the government and the international community to push for cessation of hostilities, Gazan children and hundreds of innocent men and women pay the price. As a party that bases it’s principles on fairness and justice, we can not sit idly by as Palestinian’s face collective punishment.

    ‘An end to the bloodshed’

    The letter added that five UN agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), were backing calls for a ceasefire. It also pressed the fact that the aid which Israel had allowed through the Rafah crossing was a “drop in the ocean” compared to what was needed.

    The LMCN further stated that:

    As Labour councillors elected to serve our constituents, the message we have been hearing repeatedly over the past 2 weeks is simple, people just want an end to the bloodshed and the loss of innocent life. No nation, no people or community should
    have to endure collective punishment and the same should be the case for the Palestinian people. We are also clear that hostages held captive must also be returned to their families safely.

    This seems to be an accurate reflection of the feeling among Muslim voters in the UK. On 26 October, Muslim Census released a poll of 30,000 British Muslims. The results were stark, showing an almost complete collapse in support for Labour among its formerly-staunch supporters.

    A collapse in faith

    The snapshot survey was issued on 17 October. It showed a drop of 66% in potential Labour votes, from 71% of Muslim voters to just 5%. Meanwhile, the Conservative vote dropped from 9% to a mere 0.6%.

    Muslim Census stated that:

    The Muslim vote has the potential to swing several seats across the UK… It seems the possibility of the Muslim vote having a deciding impact is now likelier than ever before.

    Both the scale and speed of response to the survey indicates an increasing political  engagement of the British Muslim community. When compared to the shift away from the Labour party following the 2003 Iraq war, our survey suggests a greater change in public mood, indicating that this may be a watershed moment in British Muslim voting history.

    Reflecting this collapse in public support, ex-Labour Councillor Shaista Aziz asked:

    If Starmer can be so reckless with his words and lacking in principle as leader of the opposition, what is going to happen when – as is expected – he becomes prime minister at the next general election?

    This rhetorical question is poignant and important for all of the voting public. Starmer was once a human rights barrister. He must know that Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians citizens in retaliation against Hamas’ attack is illegal under international law. So if the Labour leader won’t speak up now, who else can we expect him to quietly and callously disregard when the time comes?

    . Featured image via Twitter/Misra Andrews

    By Alex/Rose Cocker

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Sunak calls for ‘pauses’ in Gaza – but ignores demands to push for a ceasefire

    On 25 October, PM Rishi Sunak said that “specific pauses” are needed in Israel’s war with Hamas to allow aid into Gaza. However, he again stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

    Sunak has faced strong calls from some opposition members to urge Israel to hold a ceasefire. Whilst Labour leader Keir Starmer failed to mention Gaza entirely during PMQs, the SNP’s Mhairi Black and Labour’s Yasmin Qureshi spoke up where the opposition leader would not.

    ‘Collective punishment’

    Labour MP for Bolton South East Yasmin Qureshi stated at PMQs on 25 October that the people of Gaza are being “massacred”. She said:

    This is collective punishment of the Palestine people in Gaza for crimes they did not commit.

    This wording is significant. International humanitarian law prohibits collective punishment under all circumstances. When a nation carries out collective punishment during an armed conflict, it is committing a war crime.

    However, Sunak reiterated that:

    the first and most important principle is that Israel has the right to defend itself under international law.

    Notably, such a statement completely fails to address the accusations that Israel’s actions go far beyond mere defence. Human Rights Watch, for example, identified Israel’s use of airbursting white phosphorus in Gaza City Port on 10 and 11 October. Likewise, as Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, asserted:

    In their stated intent to use all means to destroy Hamas, Israeli forces have shown a shocking disregard for civilian lives. They have pulverized street after street of residential buildings killing civilians on a mass scale and destroying essential infrastructure, while new restrictions mean Gaza is fast running out of water, medicine, fuel and electricity.

    ‘Pauses as distinct from a ceasefire’

    Sunak said that his government had consistently called for the conditions to allow aid to enter the Gaza Strip and the release of British nationals and hostages taken by Hamas. He told MPs that:

    We recognise for all of that to happen there has to be a safer environment which of course necessitates specific pauses as distinct from a ceasefire.

    The PM said representatives had discussed the pauses “with partners” at the UN on 24 October, and talks were ongoing. A Tory spokesman later told reporters that a ceasefire would “only serve to benefit Hamas”, while:

    humanitarian pauses, which are temporary, which are limited in scope, can be an operational tool.

    This again ignored that a ceasefire would also be of massive benefit to Gaza’s citizens. As of 23 October, the death toll among the people of Gaza had surpassed 5000. Women and children made up 62% of the dead, along with 35 staff members of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

    Blocking the flow of aid

    Sunak visited Egypt last week, where he met Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on 21 October. Following the visit, the PM stated that:

    I recognise that the Palestinian people are suffering terribly. Too many lives have already been lost, and the humanitarian crisis is growing.

    We welcome the limited opening of the Rafah crossing – it is important progress, and testament to the power of diplomacy. But it is not enough.

    These statements are passive – Palestinians are suffering, lives have been lost, the Rafah crossing opening is limited. What they do not acknowledge is the fact that Israel is actively restricting the aid that reaches Gaza. As Human Rights Watch reported:

    As of October 24, the Israeli military has allowed a total of 34 supply truckloads, overseen by UN agencies, to enter via Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza, far fewer than the 100 daily truckloads aid agencies say are the minimum needed. Israeli authorities have also refused to allow fuel, saying Hamas diverts it for its use. Fuel is desperately needed for hospital generators, water and sewage pumping, and aid delivery. While the laws of war allow a warring party to take steps to ensure shipments do not include weapons, deliberately impeding relief supplies is prohibited.

    On 23 October, the UK government announced in a press release that it was sending an additional £20m of aid to help civilians in Gaza. This brings the amount promised to Palestinian territories since Hamas’s attack to £30m, after a £10m pledge last week.

    However, none of this matters if Israel does not allow aid into Gaza in anywhere near sufficient quantities. The UK government is doing all it can to dance around this fact – and until it learns to speak in the active voice, it will remain complicit in the murder of Palestinian civilians.

    Additional reporting via Agence France-Presse

    Featured image via Youtube/Channel 4 News

    By Alex/Rose Cocker

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The CWU may be taking strike action against Royal Mail again – but in one very specific place

    Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have voted for strike action in the Wirral. It’s over Royal Mail’s decision to sack four of their colleagues – for having a cup of tea in a pub while on an authorised break. It seems that local politicians and the public are behind the workers, too – the company once again looking red-faced.

    Royal Mail: sacking staff for drinking tea

    In July, Royal Mail suspended 11 workers for drinking tea and coffee in two different pubs while on their breaks. In August, bosses fired six of them over the incidents – however it appears they have since reinstated two workers. The CWU said in a press release that:

    The decision was met with anger by an already demoralised workforce of around 30 employees – as well as in the wider community, which has been subject to persistent postal delays due to under-recruitment and management cuts.

    Moreover, it seems the reason Royal Mail could sack the workers in the first place was because it was using a controversial system to track them:

    Back in February, the Canary reported on Royal Mail’s use of Postal Digital Assistants (PDAs). At the time, then-boss Simon Thompson lied to parliament saying Royal Mail did not use PDAs to track workers’ whereabouts and make sure they’re delivering quickly enough. It quickly came to light that Royal Mail bosses did do this, though.

    Parliament asked the data regulator to investigate Royal Mail’s use of PDAs against staff – as it may breach the law. Yet still, bosses in the Wirral have done explicitly what Thompson previously denied was happening.

    The suspensions, then sackings, have caused chaos. As the WirralGlobe reported in August:

    The suspensions… led to widespread disruption of postal services since July across Prenton and Oxton with mail not arriving and some people missing hospital appointments as a result.

    Now, the CWU has taken action.

    CWU: everybody out?

    The union balloted workers at the Prenton Delivery Office in Wirral over strike action in solidarity with the sacked staff members. The CWU said on 24 October that members voted by 95.8% on a 70.6% turnout to take strike action.

    Before workers take strike action, however, the CWU is “demanding” that bosses negotiate with it. The union wants management to reinstate all the sacked workers.

    Local Liberal Democrat councillor Allan Brame previously told HR Magazine:

    Postal deliveries in Oxton and Prenton have been totally chaotic since the management at the Prenton delivery office suspended 11 posties.

    It seems their ‘offence’ was to park up at the Caernarvon Castle for a coffee during their break time.

    The reaction of the management was completely disproportionate to the perceived offence and has left people waiting for urgent mail and missing medical appointments.

    Members of the public have been equally unimpressed. As the Wirral Globe reported, one person said:

    he thought the suspension was “such an overblown reaction,” adding: “It’s such a solitary job being a postie being out all day so why not meet up with your colleagues?”

    A bigger problem than just tea and sackings in the Wirral

    A CWU spokesperson said:

    The result is a clear demonstration of the anger workers feel about this petty, vindictive attack on their respected colleagues.

    It is a clear rejection of a culture of bullying and mismanagement in the workplace.

    This situation won’t be solved by management doubling down on poorly-handled decisions, but with a decent compromise that sees these workers reinstated and the workforce treated with the respect they deserve.

    Clearly, Royal Mail bosses sacking workers for doing nothing wrong during their legitimate breaks is preposterous. However, the real issue here is the company’s snooping on its staff at every turn. It’s something the nationwide CWU deal with Royal Mail, in the wake of its protracted industrial dispute, failed to address.

    So, once the CWU has forced the hand of bosses in Wirral, it needs to urgently address the use of PDAs across the business. Spying on staff on their lawful breaks, and tracking them generally, is dystopian and unethical. Royal Mail should halt the practice immediately.

    Featured image via the Times and the Sunday Times – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • ‘Brutal and arrogant’ Tories lifting the bankers’ bonus cap has nothing to do with the economy

    Rishi Sunak’s Tory government has approved the lifting of the cap on bankers’ bonuses. This means that the rule which saw firms limiting bonuses to a maximum of twice a person’s salary is being scrapped. Predictably, there’s been uproar – not least because the decision looks like a political one.

    Bankers’ bonuses: unfettered, once more

    As Sky News reported:

    The policy change was initially announced by former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in the infamous September 2022 mini-budget of the Liz Truss premiership.

    Current chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Sunak have kept the policy. Or rather, the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority have said they will lift the cap – and the Tories have greenlighted it. It will come into effect on 31 October – and also hit this financial year’s pay packets for bankers.

    As the Financial Times (FT) reported, government thinking is that it will make the UK more competitive and give firms greater flexibility. Without a shred of irony – considering the government brought the cap in to try and stop rogue bankers from taking financial risks – the PRA also said it would give firms more financial stability.

    Predictably, non-bankers have hit back.

    ‘Obscene’ Tory move

    Luke Hildyard, executive director of thinktank High Pay Centre, told Sky News:

    The UK already has more millionaire bankers than the whole of the EU put together yet our economy is stagnant and our public services are in crisis.

    Whether or not the bonus cap was an effective policy measure, we can’t rely on the outsized incomes of a handful of super-rich bankers trickling down to lift slumping living standards for the wider population.

    Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Paul Nowak said:

    This is an obscene decision.

    City financiers are already enjoying bumper bonuses. They don’t need another helping hand from the Conservatives.

    At a time when millions up and down the country are struggling to make ends meet – this is an insult to working people. Rishi Sunak has shown once again that he is more interested in feather-nesting the super-wealthy than helping struggling families. Rampant inequality will do nothing to boost growth or competitiveness – it will just hold our economy back.

    This is why we need to have a national conversation about taxing wealth properly in this country. It is time for those at the top to pay their fair share.

    And others have hit out, too. Lawyer and campaigner Peter Stefanovic blasted the Tories on Twitter, pointing to newly-released destitution figures:

    As the Canary previously reported, since 2017 governments have presided over a 148% increase in destitution. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found that, in 2022, 3.8 million people were destitute at some point, up 61% since 2019. This figure includes around one million children – up a whopping 88% since 2019.

    However, most shockingly, these figures represent a 186% increase in destitution for children. Looking at the detail, the JRF found that it was marginalised communities that successive governments had been failing the most. For example, 62% of people who were destitute were chronically ill or disabled.

    ‘Brutal and arrogant’

    So, when the rest of us are on our knees, the Tories decide to reward millionaires. Journalist Dave Sumner Smith summed it up – calling the Tories’ move “brutal and arrogant”:

    Of course, speculation is rife as to why Sunak has kept this policy which was formed under Truss. Some pointed out it might be to “appease” her wing of the Conservative Party. Others noted the Tories were running the country for the “benefit of bankers”. What’s also likely is that Sunak is eyeing support for the Tories from the financial services sector in the next general election.

    Let’s not forget that it’s the Tories’ fault the economy is failing in the first place – and by giving bankers a free-for-all, Sunak has done nothing to appease the notion that he serves only the interests of the rich.

    Featured image via David Iliff – Wikimedia, resized to 770×403 under license CC BY-SA 3.0

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The DWP’s head office is facing a protest over its ‘despicable’ plans for the WCA

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is facing a backlash over its plans to change the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). The uproar over its changes – which will force many chronically ill and disabled people to work from home – is such that people will be protesting outside the department’s main office on Monday 30 October. The campaign group behind the protest has branded the DWP and its plans “despicable”.

    The DWP’s latest changes to the WCA

    As the Canary previously reported, the DWP is planning to change the WCA. Specifically, it thinks that the following factors – currently considered in the assessment – are no longer barriers to work:

    • Factoring in people’s mobility.
    • Bladder or bowel incontinence.
    • The inability to cope in social situations.
    • People’s ability to leave their homes.
    • Work being a risk to claimants or others – a clause which means that an individual is “treated as having limited capability for work and work related activity “

    That is, the DWP thinks anyone who would currently be exempt due to those descriptors should instead have to work from home. Reading between the lines, the DWP is trying to reduce the benefits bill by forcing more chronically ill and disabled people into work. As the charity Disability Rights told Disability News Service (DNS):

    The government’s proposed changes to the work capability assessment are less to do with helping disabled people into work than a cynical attempt to impose conditionality and to reduce benefit payments.

    In reality, these changes could be terrible for people affected. They could mean that more people would lose the health-related elements of benefits like Universal Credit. In turn, this could mean the DWP could subject them to sanctions.

    However, chronically ill and disabled people are not taking the DWP’s actions lying down.

    DPAC: fighting back

    Campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) has organised a protest outside the DWP’s Caxton House office in Westminster. On 30 October at 12pm, the group and its allies will gather. This is the last day for the DWP’s public consultation on proposed WCA changes. You can read about the consultation, and find out how to submit evidence to it, here.

    DPAC will be letting the DWP know how dangerous its plans are. The group said in a statement:

    These proposals threaten to remove essential income from Deaf and disabled people and to subject many more of us to distressing and punitive work search activities and benefit sanctions.

    Their argument is that Deaf and disabled people can work from home now. They want to remove assessment points for social anxiety, communication difficulties, mobility issues and bladder/bowel incontinence.

    We know that working from home does not overcome these barriers.

    Research has shown that disabled people benefit less from home working than non-disabled people, because we are less likely to be in the kind of jobs that can be done from home.

    Of course, the DWP’s plans for the WCA are part of a wider but equally toxic plan to further target chronically ill and disabled people reliant on social security.

    ‘Despicable’ plans from the DWP

    As the Canary has been documenting, the current Conservative government appears hell-bent on further persecuting chronically ill and disabled people. It is currently:

    • Planning on scrapping the WCA altogether. This will mean Personal Independence Payment (PIP) health assessments will be used for all benefits. The change could see the DWP strip over 600,000 chronically ill and disabled people of some benefits.
    • Looking at not increasing benefits next April in line with inflation – even though previous increases have not kept pace with rising prices.
    • Planning on getting chronically ill and disabled people’s GPs to refer them to “employment support” if they fit certain criteria.

    Overall, DPAC said of the planned changes to, and potential scrapping of, the WCA:

    These plans will be a disaster for anyone who faces barriers to paid work. They will unquestionably lead to a considerable increase in avoidable harm and more benefit deaths. And we cannot trust Labour not to keep any changes to tighten the WCA if elected.

    Please support the protest however you can and let people know about the consultation and the government’s despicable plans.

    So, anyone affected by the WCA, plus anyone who cares about how the DWP treats chronically ill and disabled people, should get themselves to Caxton House at 12pm on 30 October. DPAC will be making some noise – and the more people there to support it, the better. Those who cannot physically attend can get involved online using #NoMoreBenefitDeaths. The DWP cannot be allowed to get away with this.

    Featured image via the Canary and Wikimedia

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The Tories have presided over a 148% increase in destitution – with the DWP being the main problem

    Successive Conservative governments have presided over a 148% increase in destitution since 2017. Destitution is classed as the most severe form of poverty – in which one can’t afford even life’s essentials like food, heating, and the ability to keep clean. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), which conducted the research, has slammed the findings as “shameful“. It’s also clear what one of the biggest problems is: the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

    Destitution: a staggering increase

    The JRF describes destitution as being one of two things:

    1. Lack of access to at least two of six items needed to meet your most basic physical needs to stay warm, dry, clean and fed (shelter, food, heating, lighting, clothing and footwear, and basic toiletries) because you cannot afford them.

    2. Extremely low or no income indicating that you cannot afford the items described above.

    Since the JRF’s last report, the situation has worsened. The think tank found that, in 2022, 3.8 million people were destitute at some point – up 61% since 2019. This figure includes around one million children, up 88% since 2019.

    However, most shockingly, these figures represent a 148% increase in overall destitution since 2017, and a 186% increase for children. Looking at the detail, the JRF found that it was marginalised communities that successive governments had been failing the most.

    Marginalised communities suffering the most

    The JRF found that 62% of people who were destitute were chronically ill or disabled. This is an increase of nearly 15% since 2019. It also noted that:

    The rate of destitution among black, black British, Caribbean or African-led households in the UK is three times their population share. White-led households are underrepresented in the destitute population.

    There appears to be a strong interaction between ethnicity and migration. For black, Asian and other ethnicities, a clear majority of destitute respondents were also migrants (74%, 84% and 80% respectively).

    The JRF also found that 72% of destitute people were reliant on benefits for their main source of income. 35% had been reliant on foodbanks in the month before the JRF performed its survey.

    The DWP: the main driver of destitution

    The JRF was very clear what the issues were with the DWP and benefits.

    The think tank noted that:

    The basic rate of social security is now so low it fails to clear the extremely low-income cash threshold set for destitution. While Universal Credit payments rose in line with inflation in April 2023, most interviewees felt that it had made little difference to them because it was ‘swallowed up’ by the rapidly increasing costs of basic necessities. Similarly, the special ‘Cost of Living Payments’ aimed at people on means-tested benefits, who were disabled or pensioners, were also viewed as welcome but limited by their short-term nature.

    As the Canary previously reported, the DWP’s Universal Credit increases in recent years were barely increases at all. In fact, they haven’t even taken the benefit back to its real-terms 2019 value.

    All of this is unlikely to improve any time soon. The DWP is already considering a real-terms cut to benefits next April. It’s failing to properly tackle the rising price of everything (inflation). So, the next time the JRF reports on destitution, the government will have likely made it worse again.

    Featured image via pixabay and Wikimedia

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Ofcom lets Lee Anderson off the hook over his GB News interview with Suella Braverman

    The communications/broadcasting regulator Ofcom has delivered its verdict on two controversial GB News programmes. First up, it ruled against a show presented by former Brexit Party MEP Martin Daubney, standing in for Laurence Fox.

    However, it may as well have not bothered, given that it keeps letting the broadcaster off the hook over its penchant for Tory-on-Tory programming. In GB News’ most recent example, Tory MP Lee Anderson interviewed fellow Tory MP Suella Braverman. The regulator’s verdict? ‘Nothing to see here, guv!’

    GB News: breaking impartiality rules once again

    Ofcom once again ruled against GB News after looking into a show presented by ex-MEP Martin Daubney. He was interviewing the far-right Reform Party leader Richard Tice. They were (predictably) discussing immigration. The regulator classed the programme as ‘current affairs’. However, it found that:

    Tice presented his views on immigration and asylum policy with insufficient challenge, and the limited alternative views presented in the programme were dismissed. The programme therefore did not include and give due weight to an appropriately wide range of significant views, as required by the Code.

    According to Press Gazette, GB News has promised it will deliver more “training” to its staff. The broadcaster also claimed that such a lack of impartiality was contrary to its “policy and practice” – and it’s certainly had the practice. The ruling comes as Ofcom is still investigating 12 other complaints against GB News.

    However, the regulator is still failing to address the issue of Tory MPs interviewing Tory MPs.

    Tory-on-Tory propaganda

    On 29 September, Tory Party deputy chairman Anderson interviewed Tory home secretary Braverman. Before the show even aired, people were complaining:

    Predictably, people formally complained to Ofcom. However, the regulator has said that it’s not even going to investigate the programme. It stated that:

    Having assessed the nature and format of the programme – which included the combination of a pre-recorded interview, in-depth studio analysis and panel discussion – we were satisfied it was a current affairs programme.

    That is, because Anderson’s show wasn’t ‘news’, and it had pre-written statements and guests on it with opposing views, Ofcom says there’s no case to answer.

    However, the guests GB News had on what Ofcom called a “panel discussion” were not challenging Braverman in person. It was a pre-recorded segment that came after her interview with Anderson. Moreover, throughout the show Anderson barely challenged Braverman – but did challenge his two other guests, who didn’t share his and the home secretary’s far-right views.

    The regulator also addressed the issue of Tory-on-Tory interviews. It noted that:

    Politicians are allowed to present current affairs programmes under our rules, providing they aren’t standing for election and that due impartiality is preserved.

    Ofcom delivered a similar verdict in the case of Tory MPs Esther McVey and Philip Davies interviewing Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt. It did find that GB News had not presented a wide range of opinions on the episode – but it did nothing about the show being made up of three serving Tory politicians.

    Ofcom: toothless and timid

    All of this is a cop out. As the Canary previously wrote, GB News:

    exists to act as a PR service for the hard-right wing of the Tory Party. The things it presents as current affairs are simply Conservative Party political broadcasts. Yet due to Ofcom’s own preposterously complex rules, the channel can get away with it.

    So, Anderson and Braverman got off scot free because they presented other viewpoints on the show. However, this still doesn’t detract from the fact that when you have a Tory MP as a host, and a Tory minister as a main guest – the thrust of the programme is undoubtedly the right-wing worldview they wish to present. Moreover, what does it say about Ofcom that serving MPs are allowed to host news programmes – regardless of whether Ofcom calls them current affairs?

    The regulator is failing to regulate this practice at all. It is allowing GB News to give Tory MPs unfettered access to broadcast TV, where they can present their worldviews as gospel – with only meekest of challenges. It stinks, and Ofcom needs to get a grip of the situation.

    Featured image via GB News – YouTube 

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • British Steel plans to cut 2000 jobs – and claims it’s to help the climate

    On 21 October, the Times reported that British Steel has threatened to cut up to 2000 jobs from its workforce. The paper said the move is a key part of the company’s plans to replace its coal-powered blast furnaces with electric arc furnace technology, which produced “greener” steel.

    The switch could unlock new funding for Chinese group Jingye, which has owned British Steel since 2020. That includes up to £300m of taxpayer funding, according to the Times report.

    ‘Green steel’

    A spokesman for British Steel said the firm was committed to:

    providing long-term, skilled and well-paid careers for thousands of employees and many more in our supply chains.

    However, he added that the company was “continuing to assess our options”, and that:

    As part of our journey to net zero, it is prudent to evaluate different operational scenarios to help us achieve our ambitious goals

    The Times noted that no final decision had been made over the possible job losses.

    GMB, one of the three unions representing steelworkers in the UK, told Agence France-Presse it doesn’t accept that:

    mass job losses are the way to decarbonise the steel industry.

    There are a myriad of options available and a fair, just transition for workers must be at the centre of any plan

    Meanwhile, a representative for Unite told BBC Radio Tees that the demand for ‘green steel’ should provide an opportunity for a “brighter future” with up to 8000 jobs.

    Jingye itself declined to comment.

    Steel industry facing further cuts

    British Steel is battling losses believed to be running at £30m a month, according to the Mail on Sunday. The cuts would decimate its 4500-strong workforce at its Scunthorpe plant and headquarters in northeast England.

    The government has stated that its “commitment to the UK steel sector is clear”. It noted a £500m funding boost to facilitate greener steel production by Tata Steel at its Port Talbot site in South Wales. A spokesperson added:

    We continue to work closely with industry, including British Steel, to secure a sustainable and competitive future for the UK steel industry

    Despite this, the plant’s owner is still planning to cut around 3000 jobs.

    During a visit to Port Talbot on 23 October, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said he’d had “productive” talks with union leaders about the transition to green steel.

    For the benefit of profits

    The situation at both British Steel and Tata Steel reflects growing criticism about climate concerns being used to greenwash job cuts. Critics fear that climatological arguments provide a convenient cover for profit-motivated layoffs.

    Showing that a green economy could be better for jobs has become an integral part of the campaign against fracking in the UK. The Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union group (CACCTU) produced two extensive reports detailing just such an argument.

    As British industries shift to more environmentally friendly methods of production, we must remain vigilant that this doesn’t become simply another excuse to harm workers in the pursuit of corporate greed. When a company chooses to sacrifice its bottom line before its employees in the name of the climate, then we’ll know they’re serious – but don’t go holding your breath.

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    Featured image via Gareth James/Geograph

    By Glen Black

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Independent review highlights the ‘insanitary and unacceptable’ conditions of Kent’s refugee holding centres

    A report by detention centre monitoring body the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) has underscored the inhumane treatment refugees faced at facilities in Kent. It described conditions at the Manston location as “insanitary and unacceptable”, and criticised a lack of provisions across all three of the county’s sites.

    Manston centre: ‘insanitary and unacceptable’ conditions

    The IMB published its report on three of Kent’s short-term holding facilities on 23 October. These locations hold asylum seekers for up to 24 hours after they reach the UK, though this can be lengthened by the secretary of state. The IMB’s report covered inspections made during 2022 in the Kent Intake Unit, Western Jet Foil, and Manston.

    All three facilities have faced numerous condemnations and controversies. Manston in particular faced high-profile public condemnation in the latter half of 2022. This included a series of protests outside the facility. The outrage came after government decisions led to Manston housing more than 4000 people at one time. This is despite the facility being designed for a capacity of 1000-1600 individuals.

    The IMB’s new report said that accommodation at Manston was unfit for those held there:

    detained individuals were accommodated in marquees which we would describe as at best basic, at worst insanitary and unacceptable.

    It went on the state that:

    there were no proper sleeping facilities: there were no sleeping mats, and during monitoring visits in November we noted that some individuals were sleeping on flattened cardboard boxes, whilst others simply had a blanket…. During one monitoring visit, one set of these portaloos had overflowed and, due to torrential rain, the overflow had seeped under the wooden flooring of one of the marquees. On other occasions, the toilet and shower areas were wet underfoot and smelt.

    Moreover, refugees in Manston had to share clothing such as coats. This practice led the IMB to raise concerns over the “spread of infections such as scabies”.

    The Guardian also reported in February that local authorities had also warned the Home Office of a series of public health incidents at Manston from September to November 2022. The IMB noted that even some staff at the facilities expressed such concerns.

    However, the government’s slow response led to a public health crisis. Increasing cases of diseases led to an outbreak of diphtheria, with 50 cases recorded at Manston by the end of November. The disease appeared to have led to the death of detainee Hussein Haseeb Ahmed on 19 November that year.

    ‘Stale, unpleasant atmosphere’

    Manston wasn’t the only facility that the IMB criticised, either. The body said refugees at Western Jet Foil and Kent Intake Unit also faced difficult conditions.

    For example, some detainees at the Kent Intake Unit had to sleep on blankets on cold floors and benches. This was the result of the Home Office ordering the removal of the facility’s sleeping mats because they weren’t fire retardant. The IMB also said that some areas of the centre had a “stale, unpleasant atmosphere” due to a lack working shower facilities.

    Meanwhile, IMB inspectors noted that Western Jet Foil also had “seemed to lack fresh air” for similar reasons. Significantly, it described this facility as the “least safe” of the three. The judgement was based on the high-profile racist petrol bomb attack on Western Jet Foil in October 2022. The attack also led to the evacuation of around 1000 refugees from Western Jet Foil to Manston. This exacerbated the latter’s existing problems.

    The report also noted that, despite some attempts by staff, there were problems in providing those held at all three facilities with stimulation:

    the IMB felt that the lack of stimulation for those being detained in marquees for extended periods led to frustration and in-fighting.

    Part and parcel of our colonial outlook

    Even whilst it was aware of the increasing problems at Manston, the government claimed the facility was “resourced and equipped” to process people. However, an HM Inspectorate of Prisons report on a visit way back in July 2022 – just 6 months after the centre opened – highlighted similar problems at Manston. Problems like people sleeping on benches and overcrowded facilities were present from the very beginning.

    This isn’t a failure of the system, though – it’s working precisely as intended. Clare Moseley, who set up refugee aid group Care4Calais, wrote in October 2022 that the government chose to designate people arriving as ‘illegal immigrants’. In doing so, it intentionally fostered division and raised tensions. This political handwaving then let the government turn a blind eye to rapidly deteriorating living conditions.

    The IMB’s report clearly underlined the government’s racist and colonial attitude towards refugees. This has only gotten worse since the period of the IMB’s report. Home secretary Suella Braverman went so far as to claim in September 2023 that “nobody” crossing the Channel is a refugee. But the fact is that shouldn’t even matter – all people are deserving of basic dignity and respect, no matter how they arrived on UK shores. 

    Featured image via Sky News/YouTube

    By Glen Black

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • There’s only days left to tell the DWP what you think about its Work Capability Assessment changes

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is running a consultation on changes to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). Its plans have already provoked uproar among chronically ill and disabled people. So, the more people that tell the DWP what they think of its planned WCA changes the better – but there’s only a matter of days left to submit your views to the consultation.

    DWP: controversial changes to the WCA

    As the Canary previously reported, the DWP is planning to change the WCA. Specifically, it’s planning on taking out or changing the following features:

    • Factoring in people’s mobility.
    • Bladder or bowel incontinence.
    • The inability to cope in social situations.
    • People’s ability to leave their homes.
    • Work being a risk to claimants or others – a clause which means that an individual is “treated as having limited capability for work and work related activity “

    That is, the DWP thinks anyone who would currently be exempt due to those descriptors should instead have to work from home. The department has been quite clear on its reasoning, too. It says it wants to remove these aspects:

    so that assessments reflect greater flexibility and availability of reasonable adjustments in work, particularly home working.

    Reading between the lines, the DWP is trying to reduce the benefits bill by forcing more chronically ill and disabled people into work. As the charity Disability Rights told Disability News Service (DNS):

    The government’s proposed changes to the work capability assessment are less to do with helping disabled people into work than a cynical attempt to impose conditionality and to reduce benefit payments.

    In reality, these changes could be terrible for people affected. They could mean that more people would lose the health-related elements of benefits like Universal Credit. In turn, this could mean the DWP could subject them to sanctions.

    The DWP is currently running a consultation on the changes. However, time is running out for people to take part in it.

    The consultation is closing

    The DWP tweeted on Monday 23 October that:

    The full details of the consultation can be found here.

    People have criticised the DWP for its planned changes. For example, welfare rights adviser Ayaz Manji said on X that:

    I don’t think it’s possible to design a more dangerous reform to the benefits system.

    The clients I work with who meet this criteria are people who are facing real harm. Often with a history of suicidal thoughts and attempts, and complex mental health problems. This would target a benefit cut towards people who the DWP knows are in extremely precarious situations…

    The consequences of this are entirely predictable. Really hope that everyone invested in us having a safe and fit-for-purpose social security system can mobilise around this.

    We must stop these ‘horrendously dangerous’ plans

    Ellen Clifford, from campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), told DNS that the DWP is:

    effectively getting rid of out-of-work benefits for disabled people and denying the realities and prevalence of disability to do it, at the same time ramping up sanctions which are proven to discriminate against disabled job-seekers.

    It is horrendously dangerous.

    So, as many people as possible should complete the DWP’s consultation before the 30 October deadline. These regressive, punitive, and dangerous changes must be stopped in their tracks.

    Moreover, people need to apply pressure to Labour to make sure it doesn’t bring these sweeping and horrific reforms to the WCA if it’s elected. Currently, its stance on social security is weak, at best – so there’s no guarantee the party would be any better than the Tories are.

    You can write to your MP here to tell them to urge them not to implement the DWP’s changes.

    Featured image via the DWP – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • South West England is uniting to take action and organise against the triple threats to the planet

    Groups from across the South West are coming together on Saturday 28 October –  not only to protest but also to organise. They’ll be demonstrating against the triple threat of the crises that we now face: nature, climate, and social justice. The organisers say that the only way we can address these multiple issues is to come together – and leading the charge is Extinction Rebellion (XR).

    XR: uniting to survive

    The XR South West-led event on 28 October is called ‘Unite to Survive’. The group will be there to demand action, and also to foster what they describe as “community resilience”.

    The day will consist of various parts. A press release from the organisers said:

    The protest rally will begin at 10am at the top of Cow Lane in Victoria Park (BA1 2LZ) in Bath, with stalls, workshops, speeches and performers – plus satellite actions nearby – with a march through the city centre starting at 12.30, a ‘Discobedience’ mass dance afterwards and then a Community Assembly at 2.30pm.

    The list of groups involved in the day of action is huge. Joining XR South West will be:

    Surfers Against Sewage, Greenpeace, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Climate Choir Movement, Friends of the Earth Bristol, Christian Climate Action, Frome Families for the Future, Parents For Future Bath/Bristol, Shift Bristol, Kidical Mass Bath, Stop Rosebank, Mogg Watch, Bath Stop War Coalition, BAAN (Bristol Airport Action Network), Sacred Earth Activism

    The organisers have noted that the Labour and Green parties are also supporting the action – presumably in the form of their local groups.

    The climate crisis: from Bristol to the world

    XR South West and its fellow organisers’ objectives apply to the South West, but also the UK and globally. For example, in Bristol the government has given the go ahead for an expansion of Bristol airport. It will increase the site’s capacity by two million passengers a year.

    The airport has said that it aims to be carbon net-zero by 2030. However, as euronews reported, this commitment excludes all of the CO² caused by flights. Moreover, the additional capacity will emit another 484,000 tones of equivalent CO² every single year. So actually, the net-zero claim is classic greenwashing.

    Of course, this is in line with the government’s broader climate-wrecking policies. It’s already issued another 100 new North Sea oil and gas licenses. This includes the Rosebank field. Over its lifetime, exploration of this could produce 500m barrels of oil. This is equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of the world’s 28 lowest-income countries.

    Globally, it’s a similar story. As the Canary previously reported, a new study project has estimated that global emissions of CO² will rise to record levels in 2023. The CICERO climate research institute in Norway has estimated that the world is on track for a 1% rise in global emissions next year, as well.

    Everything’s linked

    But the climate crisis is far from the only problem that our society is facing right now. The organisers of Unite to Survive said in a press release that:

    The cost of living crisis, social injustice, the climate crisis and nature emergencies are all linked. We cannot thrive – or survive – on a planet that is overheating and suffering severe species loss, and habitat destruction. We must all come together to demand clean jobs, fair pay for all and environmental protection. Together we can create change. Join us!

    Overall, the groups aim to:

    build unity amongst similar groups, raise continued public awareness and increase pressure on governments at all levels to listen to the public and scientists, and act now to hold a binding Citizens Assembly to create the changes we need to tackle the crises we face.

    Some of the groups involved involved have commented ahead of the day of action.

    Bringing climate, Nature, and social justice together

    Karen Grattage from Parents for Future said:

    Parents for the Future is joining Unite to Survive because as parents we feel our place is to protect our children by acting on the climate and nature crises. Research shows that if 25 per cent of people engage with the emergency, we can reach a social tipping point to help secure a safer, fairer world for children everywhere

    Sara Venn from Edible Bristol said:

    The reason we are keen to be involved in Unite To Survive is that Edible Bristol and community gardens are places of connection and community where we work to create resilient futures for people and to bring them together using food and growing as a mechanism for that, whilst growing in a way that challenges both climate and biodiversity crises. Bring climate and social justice together.

    As the organisers summed up:

    The impacts of the climate and nature crisis are likely to hit the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest. Let’s show we care and stand together in the name of equality and humanity.

    The groups’ approach is to be commended – tackling the triple threat of nature, climate, and social justice crises is the only way we can solve any of them. Moreover, strengthening unity between groups is also important – so, the day looks set to be a promising start to XR’s Unite to Survive organising.

    Featured image via XR 

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Palestinian politician explains the media’s ‘double standards’ to BBC presenter

    The UN has described the Israeli occupation of Palestinians as “apartheid”, and likened the situation in Gaza to an “open-air prison”. Israeli forces have killed thousands of Palestinian civilians. And yet the media is almost always more favourable towards Israeli politicians than it is towards Palestinian ones.

    On Sunday 22 October, veteran Palestinian politician Dr Hanan Ashrawi laid out the issue in an interview with the BBC‘s Victoria Derbyshire:

    Double standards

    In the interview, Derbyshire said:

    I wonder if you do have to acknowledge the barbarity – the brutality – of the attack on Israelis in Southern Israel by Hamas before this can move forwards?

    Ashrawi responded:

    Oh god [shakes head]. I mean I can’t believe I’m hearing this same thing over and over again. This is a preoccupation with the Western media because something happened to Israel for the first time in its history everybody’s up in arms, and its [Palestinian] victims have to condemn themselves.

    While it’s hardly the “first time” something has happened to Israelis, the attack did result in Hamas killing an unprecedented number of Israelis – 1,405. On the Palestinian side, of course, high casualty counts are the norm. The following chart – provided by Statista – shows the unbalanced nature of the situation over a 12-year period:

    Ashrawi continued [0:29]:

    Israel has been doing this to us for decades. Piecemeal, day in, day out, people killed, homes demolished. And we’re telling you how many Palestinians have been killed by a brutal Israeli occupation. Total siege on Gaza; total destruction and land theft in the West Bank. Nobody brings… Israeli spokespeople and says ‘do you condemn this? Isn’t this brutal? Isn’t this genocide?’ No. But the moment people under siege look at Gaza – it’s an area where people haven’t had a day of normal life – and then, when they lash out; when they break out, immediately all sorts of horrific labels are used.

    Ignoring all that, Derbyshire asked:

    Were the Israeli citizens legitimate targets?

    After a short exchange, Ashrawi answered:

    No, I don’t believe in civilians being legitimate targets at all – at all. In the same way as we are not legitimate targets of Israel. Our homes, our lands are not at [Israel’s] disposal; our freedom, our rights have been denied. No, don’t put words in my mouth.

    “Okay” Derbyshire responded quietly before Ashrawi continued:

    Civilians are never legitimate targets, but what I’m talking about is the double standard. Israel is an occupying power. This has to be acknowledged. Israel has been torturing the Palestinians since 1947. It is time this stops, without constantly looking for excuses and blaming the victim.

    The future

    The ideal situation for all is one in which Palestinians do not have to live in “apartheid” conditions. It’s a situation which will be impossible to realise unless the oppressive conditions that Israel is subjecting Palestinians to are openly acknowledged.

    Featured image via BBC – screengrab

    By John Shafthauer

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Even the BBC isn’t taking the Tories seriously on the economy now

    The Tories have managed the British economy since 2010 – more than 13 years. Unless you’re a seller of defective PPE or a slumlord, you’re probably not of the opinion that things have improved over that period. We’ve witnessed the death of high streets; multiple cost of living crises; the rise of precarious work; ever lower wages; overall increases to poverty, and a massive increase in the need for foodbanks – all of which demonstrate a country in serious economic decline.

    Given that, you’d think the Tories would frame their abilities on something other than their (always dubious) economic credentials. Or – to be more accurate – you’d think that if you didn’t understand the Tories are all shameless weasels:

    Perhaps the only surprising thing is that even the British media can’t ignore the Tories’ failures anymore – including the BBC, when a Tory minister appeared on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

    Trust in them?

    In the interview, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said:

    You can trust the Conservatives to make sensible, prudent decisions on the future of the economy

    A surprised host Victoria Derbyshire interjected:

    Can we? Have you forgotten about Liz Truss a year ago?

    Jenrick continued:

    Well look at the difference that we’ve seen in the last 12 months under Rishi Sunak

    Ah yes, everything is famously going very well now. Jenrick claimed this is all down to:

    the fact that we have stabilised the economy; that it’s growing; that inflation is falling

    Inflation is more stable than in 2022, certainly. However, it hit a 41-year high of 11.1% in 2022. So, ‘stable’ isn’t really saying much. It was 6.7% this past month, which would still have been a 23-year high. That is, it’s still very, very bad. When it comes to the economy, the Canary wrote the following in a recent piece:

    If you watch, read, or listen to the news, you’ll know that ‘gross domestic product’ (GDP) is used as a measure of how well the country is doing. But does it measure how well the country is doing, or does it actually show how well the rich are doing?

    To sum up, the Tories have done a bad job historically; they’re doing a bad job right now, and they’ll continue doing a bad job until they’re booted out of office. If you watched this interview, however, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Tories’ problems with the economy began and ended with Truss.

    Trussonomics

    It could be that Derbyshire has a more rounded opinion on Tory economic prowess (or lack thereof). However, the example she used was the Truss PM speed run rather than the Tories’ overall record in office. It’s arguably the latter which is more important. Truss was never at odds with Tory ideology; she simply tried to do the same stuff but faster.

    Other leaders have been smart enough to recognise that the UK is a Jenga tower, and the aim is to carefully pinch as many blocks as you can. Truss approached the same Jenga tower as if it were a game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos, and of course this led to an economic collapse that even the UK’s freakish media couldn’t ignore.

    Hope on the horizon?

    The Tories have been terrible for Britain, but would Labour be any different under Keir Starmer? According to Starmer, the answer is no. Labour isn’t proposing to do anything differently; the plan is to do all the stuff we know doesn’t work, but to do it so efficiently that it works somehow. Good luck with that! Although, to be fair, Labour could literally have 13 years of failure before a British journalist notices something amiss.

    Featured image via BBC – screengrab

    By John Shafthauer

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • ‘Our hearts are with the people in Gaza’: Demonstrators in London call to end Israeli Occupation

    As the war between Israel and occupied Palestine escalates to terrifying heights, thousands of demonstrators swarmed central London earlier this week to show solidarity with Palestinians, to call for an end to the Israeli Occupation, and to demand that the Israeli military cease its relentless bombing of civilians in Gaza. “We only know what we see on television,” Sarah Callaway told TRNN during the demonstration, “but it looks like the Second World War, it looks catastrophic, and it really looks like the Israeli government is trying to do a genocide on Palestinian people.” Nadia Péridot reports on the ground from London.

    Produced, edited, and filmed by Ross Domoney
    Research, writing, and presenting by Nadia Péridot

    Transcript

    Protester

    “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”

    Narrator

    As hundreds of thousands of people across Britain, Ireland and the world take to the streets, we are here in central London talking to individuals about Palestine and Israel.

    Protester

    “Free Free – Palestine!”

    Narrator

    On Saturday the 7th of October a steady escalation of violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories culminated in Hamas, an armed Palestinian group with its own agenda, infiltrating Israeli territory and carrying out brutal attacks on civilians. What followed was the beginning of Israel’s heavy bombing, concentrated on the enclave known as Gaza.

    Nazira bibi

    Any normal thinking human being can see you have 2 million innocent people that have not done or condoned anything Hamas have done. They’re just there and they are living their lives – under occupation – and we’re going in and we’re bombing them. And it’s none of our responsibility…? Like – ? 

    Sarah Callaway

    Just our hearts are with the people in Gaza and all the people who are standing against the war and all the people who are standing against the bombing. We’re with you. We are with you.

    Protester

    “1,2,3,4 – occupation no more”

    Narrator

    This demonstration began outside BBC offices in a direct criticism of the role of mainstream media in the continued dehumanization of Palestinians. What is clear is that people are dying and what’s fuelling the anger is that whilst much of the media and Western governments are deafeningly silent, a horrifying reality is unfolding before our eyes.

    Sarah Callaway

    We only know what we see on television, but it’s looks like the Second World War. It looks catastrophic, and it looks like…it really looks like the Israeli government is trying to do a genocide on Palestinian people.

    I’m African American and, you know, my family we’ve lived through racism and Apartheid. And what we see happening to Palestinians is what happened to us, you know, as people of color.

    Narrator

    This isn’t the first time that thousands of people have taken to the streets in London to show their support for the Palestinian people. 

    Today they are marching to Downing Street where the Israeli flag has been plastered on the front of the building. Many feel that this is the UK giving Israel the green light to carry out its bombardment of Gaza.

    Protester

    “Takbir Allahu Akbar”

    Sarah Callaway

    I’m not surprised, frankly, because they’re always on the wrong side. You know, they never stand with the people. They’re always with the wealthy, the ‘one percent’, the racists. So I’m not surprised. But I am furious that this government is backing up what Israel is doing, because it’s catastrophic.

    Protestors

    “Gaza, Gaza don’t you cry, we will never let you die”

    Narrator

    Gaza is home to over 2 million people, and Israel has dropped more bombs there in one week than the US did in Afghanistan over its entire deployment there. 

    Protester

    Well, I have children myself, and when I see some other family’s children killed, and they have no bodies even, they are burned, they are just all cut to pieces. If you’re fighting even in war – there is rules. 

    Basically, it’s a massacre that they are doing in Gaza, which nobody can accept. 

    Even Israeli people, civilians, that have some sense, they would be against it. 

    And that’s why we are here today.

    Carmel Cadden

    I saw something that encouraged me and there was a demonstration, before the attack by Hamas, and it was in Jerusalem, and it was Women for Peace and it was an Israeli group of women an Israeli group of women called “Women wage peace” and a Palestinian group of women called “Women of the Sun” and they came together and they said, whatever happens – and this is before the Hamas invasion – just talking about the ongoing atrocities and the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people, and they said we must come together and we must have women at the negotiating table to talk about how we can go forward from this, because things were already -before this ever happened – terrible for Palestinian people. 

    Narrator

    And as UK government policies gradually infringe on the British public’s right to freedom of speech and right to protest. These people are defiant: they will stand up for human rights and they will not be silenced.

    Carmel Cadden

    Well, I knew it was probably the only thing I could do that would make some sort of impact on the British government and give encouragement to Palestinians who might hear that there was a massive rally,a massive march in London, and it would have some force also I think the U.N. negotiators are trying to push for a ceasefire and it might encourage them to push harder. This is a fight where everybody is together. 

    Nazira bibi

    It doesn’t matter whether you’re Muslim, whether you’re Christian, whether you’re Jew. Whether you’re Black, White, Asian, whether you’re Atheist, whether you’re Buddhist, it doesn’t matter. Right and wrong are very clear. There’s an absolute clear understanding that innocent civilians by law are protected. Right? 

    You cannot bomb phosphorous bombs onto them. You cannot corral them into a tiny space. You cannot drop bombs indiscriminately on hospitals. You can’t have a civilian population in an enclosed space, which you have control over everything for and expect that not to be called a genocide.

    Protester

    The problem is that at the moment, we have in Israel there is the most extreme right-wing ever government that we have there. Which is controlled by settlers, by people which – they benefit from war and they benefit from killing. Because that’s what feeds them. 

    Narrator

    This was an anti-Zionist, anti-war demonstration, where protesters called for an end to the siege on Gaza, an end to the occupation of Palestine, and an end to the killing of all innocent civilians. 

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • Bibby Stockholm protest was Just Stop Oil’s best action yet – because climate justice is inextricably intersectional

    On 18 October climate activists from Just Stop Oil (JSO) halted the coach driving 23 asylum seekers to the Bibby Stockholm.

    Activists sporting bright orange tabards emblazoned with the JSO logo blocked the sole road into Portland, where the government have docked the floating monstrosity. An extremely irresponsible coach driver appeared to push through the protesters that lined the coach’s path:

    Ultimately, the activists failed to prevent the Home Office returning the migrants to the barge. However, this was still the singular most powerful and important action in the group’s history – and here’s why.

    Just Stop Oil’s Pride problems

    For one, the action was a laudable example of solidarity in practice. Historically, JSO hasn’t always been good at this.

    For instance, JSO’s action against Pride in June laid bare some of the group’s failings on this front. It sent a letter to the organisers of Pride, calling out its corporate sponsorship. However, the letter also issued an ‘ultimatum’. It demanded that Pride must set a public meeting to galvanise its volunteers to take direct action against new oil and gas projects. The group threatened to take action at Pride if organisers failed to respond.

    As the Canary’s Alex/Rose Cocker expressed, this ultimatum had the effect of, unintentionally of otherwise, acting in a way to:

    co-opt what should be a queer protest space.

    Moreover, Cocker highlighted the ignorance in demanding that a marginalised community take direct action:

    ‘Help us make your activists into our activists… or else’ is not a way to foster community – which isn’t even to mention the greater threat to queer people that accompanies being arrested as part of a climate protest or elsewhere.

    Bibby Stockholm action was on the right track

    This time however, the group seems to have somewhat hit the mark. JSO said that they were taking action in response to a call for support by the asylum seekers facing imprisonment on the barge. Essentially then, it listened to an oppressed community and responded to its asks.

    This distinction was important. In its Pride ultimatum, JSO forced its fears about the climate crisis onto a minoritised group already facing arguably more pressing and targeted existential threats.

    Rather than acknowledging climate as a threat multiplier, which exacerbates underlying inequality and injustice, JSO set out a hierarchy of crises and put climate at the very top – disregarding peoples very real experiences of discrimination and injustice. Instead, for its Bibby action JSO stood alongside a community in its fight for justice.

    In addition, it appears the group is beginning to build this solidarity into its broader work. The Bibby Stockholm action in Portland wasn’t the first time JSO had turned up to fight the barge. At a recent protest in Liverpool, JSO activists stood shoulder to shoulder with migrant rights groups calling out the profiteering company leasing the vessel.

    Direct action against the UK’s violent border regime

    Next up, for this action JSO actually had a tangible goal in mind. Specifically, it aimed to stop the Home Office from forcing 23 migrants onto the shoddy prison on floats. That’s a goal I can unreservedly get behind.

    Ordinarily, JSO’s protests centre round engendering public “awareness”. From slinging soup at famous works of art, to disrupting sports events and West End shows, the group’s ostensible aim veers towards maximising media attention and reaction. It’s indisputable that their tactics hit the headlines – if only because they boil the blood of the vitriolic right-wing rags.

    In so doing, the climate crisis has been all the rage in the corporate media, in more ways than one. So, even the readers of the most vile tabloid tirades have heard that we’re in a climate emergency.

    Yet, as the Canary’s John Shafthauer has pointed out: “a lack of awareness isn’t the problem.” Shafthauer argued that (and I agree):

    people are actually very informed about climate change, and the issue is they simply feel powerless to enact change.

    By contrast, in the Bibby Stockholm’s case activists took a direct stand against a violent instrument of the UK Home Office. They married JSO’s classic traffic tactics with a specific step for migrant justice.

    To some extent, I saw parallels with communities disrupting immigration raids – in a similar way, JSO were trying to halt a callous gear in the UK ‘hostile environment’. Specifically here, this is a vehicle of violence which forces people seeking safety and a new life in this country into a dilapidated and unsafe de facto floating prison, while they wait despicably long months and sometimes years for the shithole Home Office to process their asylum claims.

    Climate crisis and displacement

    For once however, I’m also prepared to eat my earlier words. Building “awareness” was actually a solid strategy in this instance. Specifically, the action drew vital attention to the significant intersections between the climate crisis and displacement.

    In particular, the climate crisis itself is a major cause of displacement. JSO noted this in its press release on the action:

    We know that our government’s plan for new oil and gas is going to lead to more people being displaced from their homes. Forced from where they have lived for generations due to the actions of our failing politicians.

    In other words, the UK government greenlighting new oil and gas will generate more planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, this will intensify the climate crisis and its extreme weather impacts, particularly on those in the Global South. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 80% of refugees and internally displaced people in 2022 came from:

    countries vulnerable to climate change and live in dangerous conflict situations exacerbated by droughts, monsoon rains and floods.

    In this way then, the Tories’ energy nationalism – which is invariably centred round more fossil fuels – is yet another example of where it couldn’t give a shit about racialised communities, here or otherwise. JSO were therefore right to draw the connections.

    More than stopping oil and gas

    Evidently, JSO has taken a step in the right direction. In spite of this, I still feel it’s missing a crucial point. Its press release ended on the notion that:

    The first step is stopping new oil and gas

    Clearly, ending new oil and gas is an important goal. The newly licensed Rosebank is testament to the stark hypocrisy of the UK continuing its business-as-usual extraction in the midst of a global climate emergency.

    Ultimately however, it isn’t only about oil and gas. JSO’s protest should have illustrated to the group exactly why that is.

    The fossil fuel economy is intrinsically wrapped up in racial capitalism. Therefore, to end one you inevitably have to dismantle the other. As assistant professors Julius Alexander McGee at Portland State University and Patrick Trent Greiner of  Vanderbilt University have articulated:

    Fossil fuels are the loom that weaves the tapestry of oppression into a functioning whole, systematically influencing the lives of the enslaved, imperialized, colonized, and exploited. Fossil fuels have become the bedrock of economic growth and the basis of most social reproduction.

    Moreover, the racialised border system and racial capitalism intersect to deny the movement of people. Simultaneously, both buttress the process of colonial resource extraction and accumulation by the Global North. In turn, this process destroys the lands and livelihoods of people in the Global South. All the while of course, this continues to fuel the climate crisis.

    Given this, the deadly cycle of dehumanisation – where bordered nations render Black and Brown lives expendable – is part and parcel of this very capitalist architecture. The Bibby Stockholm is one such example of this violent apparatus in action. Naturally, this system is underpinned by, and underpins, fossil fuels at every turn.

    In short: it was never enough to just stop oil, we need to do away with the whole damn system. JSO’s action against the Bibby Stockholm should be just the start. There can be no climate justice without dismantling racial capitalism in all its callous forms.

    Feature image via the Telegraph/YouTube

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • A Tory council has forced a woman with MS into a care home against her will

    A Tory-run Norfolk council has forced a disabled woman living with multiple sclerosis (MS) into a care home against her will. Now, her daughter is campaigning for her to be released and let home. However, they need your help with a ‘Twitter storm’ to try and make the council listen. 

    Living with MS, but forced into a care home

    Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) is supporting Linda, whose mum Christine lives with MS. Tory-run Norfolk County Council and its adult social care services forced Christine into a care home – against her will. So, Linda, and her daughter Amelia (pictured) is campaigning to get her mum home. There’s a X (formerly Twitter) storm on Friday 20 October from 7:30-9pm.

    DPAC put a statement from Christine on its website. The Canary is reprinting it in full below:

    My Mum, Christine Lee, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 25 years ago and has been a full time wheelchair user for several years. She was forced into residential care by Norfolk County Council (NCC) over a year ago following a stay in hospital due to a medication issue. Her care needs had not changed.

    Before this she had been living happily in her flat for which she had (and still has) an assured tenancy. Her flat has been fully adapted for her needs (hoists, wet room etc.) and she has lived there for over a decade. Care is provided by on site care provider Norse Care who are owned by NCC. They provide care 24/7and it is claimed they meet low, medium and high care needs.

    She was told she would only be in the residential home for a maximum of 28 days for assessment. NCC put her in a care home owned by Norse which was miles from her friends, sister and town she had lived all her life. She was completely isolated and not taken out once, her independence completely destroyed.

    The reality is that because my Mum needs more than 13 hours care per week NCC have forced her into residential and have refused care in her home. Mum needs basic personal care only and has full capacity.

    In August Mum was evicted from the Norse care home because I spoke out. She is now in another care home despite telling many NCC staff constantly over the last year that she wants to go home.

    The last year has been horrific. Getting any information has taken months and the dishonesty has been staggering.

    Mum has not been listened to in any way.

    ‘Bullied and distressed’

    Linda continued:

    Other issues are:

    1. Waited 11 months for NCC OT [occupational therapy] assessment. OT refused to visit Mum’s flat to review equipment.
    2. SW ignored Mum’s requests and signed authority to act form for advocacy to be present at all meetings. She visited Mum when on her own and was dishonest and manipulative.
    3. Mum not involved with Care Plan.
    4. Mum had no idea what the SW was taking to panel and when. We were told after the event that she had taken options of staying at the residential in which Mum was isolated or returning home with an over inflated care package which was not as per her assessment (the cost would have been £3500 per week!). Residential was chosen.
    5. The new care home is cheaper than the one they owned but they now want top ups. This was not mentioned before Mum moved. NCC claim they didn’t know costs before the moving date. I have emails from the care home sent to NCC that they did. Mum could face another eviction.
    6. NCC have spent 5 months avoiding and refusing a subject access request.
    7. They have agreed an independent SW, but he is an ex-employee of NCC and is again ignoring Mum’s requests for advocacy.
    8. NCC management have refused to meet with Mum and family.

    There have been many more incidents when we have felt totally bullied and distressed. They are relentless.

    Mum just wants to go home and feels she shouldn’t be in a residential home just because she has a disability. She misses her independence, home, friends and sister.

    Support the Twitter storm

    Linda concluded:

    The issue is being covered by the BBC on Friday 20th October. Doing all of this is definitely outside my comfort zone, but I know it supports Mum and all those who have been treated so unfairly.

    Please can I ask for your support with a Twitter storm to @NorfolkCC and @NorfolkTories between 7.30-9pm on Friday 20th October.

    Hashtag tweets of:

    #Care4Christine

    #ShameonNCC

    #FreeChristineLee

    If you can get involved, please do. You can read more on Christine’s story here.

    Featured image via Christine Lee’s family

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Keir Starmer’s in a delusional rabbit hole over Labour’s Mid Beds and Tamworth by-election ‘victories’

    The Labour Party won both by-elections on Thursday 19 October, overturning Tory majorities in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire. Leader Keir Starmer has been celebrating, hailing the results as a “phenomenal”. Of course, Labour’s by-election results were a millions miles away from that. In fact, they show the public has all but given up on politics. Not that Starmer seemed to have noticed – as Labour slipped further down the rabbit hole of delusion and preposterous PR.

    ‘Phenomenal’ by-elections – according to Starmer

    First, to Mid Bedfordshire. As BBC News reported:

    Labour has made history by winning a by-election in the Mid Bedfordshire parliamentary seat which has been held by the Tories since 1931.

    It was triggered by the resignation of former Conservative cabinet minister and MP Nadine Dorries.

    Labour’s Alistair Strathern won the seat with a 1,192 majority, overturning Ms Dorries’s 2019 majority of 24,664.

    The win is the largest Conservative majority overturned by Labour at a by-election since 1945.

    Next, to Tamworth. As BBC News also reported:

    Labour have won the Tamworth by-election overturning a Conservative majority of more than 19,000 votes.

    Sarah Edwards’ margin of victory over her Conservative rival, Andrew Cooper, was 1,316 votes…

    She said the people of Tamworth had “voted for Labour’s positive vision” and sent a clear message to Rishi Sunak and the government that it was “time for change”.

    The by-election was held after the resignation of MP Chris Pincher.

    Reacting to the results, Starmer said:

    These are phenomenal results that show Labour is back in the service of working people and redrawing the political map. Winning in these Tory strongholds shows that people overwhelmingly want change and they’re ready to put their faith in our changed Labour Party to deliver it.

    If you believe the results were “phenomenal”, then you’ll believe anything.

    Labour: no-one cares about you

    Turnout in both by-elections was pretty dire:

    The latter was one of the lowest turnouts in recent by-elections. Yet still, the winner – the now-Labour MP Sarah Edwards – clearly couldn’t bring herself to admit that her party inspired nothing but apathy among voters. As BBC News reported:

    Ms Edwards said the low turnout had not led to her winning by default, because Conservatives had stayed at home. “I think what it actually demonstrates is Conservative voters have voted Labour – I have spoken to many of them,” she said.

    Her statement would be hilarious if it wasn’t so pathetic and insulting to her constituents. This is because, when you look at what percentage of the total electorate voted for Labour, these two by-election results look very different:

    • In Mid Bedfordshire, 14.98% of the electorate voted for Labour.
    • In Tamworth, 16.44% of the electorate voted for Labour.

    To be fair to Edwards, she did inspire more of the electorate to vote for her than her Mid Bedfordshire colleague Alistair Strathern did. Yet browsing X, you’d think that these guys had performed some kind of miracle:

    In reality, both results show that politicians and the state have now utterly disenfranchised huge swathes of the public from our so-called ‘democracy’. However, this has been building for some time.

    Starmer: helping to disenfranchise the poorest people from our sham democracy

    It was a similar story in the Hartlepool by-election in 2021. Labour lost it, but most people didn’t bother voting, anyway: the turnout was 42.6%. It was the same in Wakefield in 2022, where Labour won but turnout was a dire 39.5%. Tamworth is particularly reflective of both these other results – as the three constituencies all have higher rates of poverty than the England average. That is, Labour (and politics generally) are failing to convince the poorest people it’s worth voting at all.

    As the Canary wrote of 2022’s Wakefield by-election result:

    Ultimately the Wakefield by-election is useless as a public opinion gauge. Because the turnout was just 39.5% – way down on the general election. This is much like 2021’s Batley and Spen by-election, where Labour spun-it as some sort of victory when turnout was less than 50%. Both constituencies have higher rates of poverty than other parts of England. Hartlepool was a similar story: poverty met a by-election and the result was a turnout of less than 50%.

    Our systems of politics and democracy, and their proponents, disenfranchise the poorest people. So much so, that they rightly feel voting will change nothing. The difference in a richer area, like Tiverton and Honiton, is clear. Its by-election saw a 52% turnout and the Lib Dems got in – while the constituency has much lower rates of deprivation.

    So, no – the Wakefield election wasn’t a victory for Labour. It was a victory for the political and media class, who’ve maintained the status quo. And it’s all thanks to their disenfranchisement of the poorest people.

    Labour’s Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth by-election victories haven’t changed any of that – in fact, they’ve likely compounded the issues. If Starmer and his cronies weren’t such careerist charlatans, they’d admit this and try to engage with missing voters. Instead, they’ve sunk further into a centre-right, delusional abyss – while the rest of us suffer.

    Featured image via GB News – YouTube 

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • RMT slams the sale of bus and train operator Arriva to a Cayman Islands-registered company

    The National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) has hit out over the sale of Arriva transport company. It’s owners are selling it to a corporate entity registered in the Cayman Islands. Of course, that location is a hive for tax avoidance.

    Arriva: funneling profits to Germany

    Arriva runs CrossCountry, Chiltern, Grand Central, and London Overground rail services in the UK. It also runs buses. However, it is actually owned by Deutsche Bahn – Germany’s state-run train operator. Cleary, public railways are good enough for Germany – but not good enough for the UK, where Deutsche Bahn has made a tidy profit running Arriva.

    For example, Deutsche Bank loaned Arriva’s parent company £827m for a year in 2021, with an interest rate of 1.1%. This means Deutsche Bank will make over £9.1m – just through moving money around its companies. Moreover, Arriva’s parent company also runs buses in the UK. As Unite the Union discovered, these operations paid Deutsche Bank £560m in dividends in 10 years.

    So, if Arriva wasn’t a scam enough by Deutsche Bahn in the first place – it’s now about to become a bigger one.

    €1.6bn to a tax avoider in the Cayman Islands

    Deutsche Bahn has now sold Arriva to I Squared Capital. As the Guardian reported:

    Arriva was put up for sale in 2019 by its German owner, Deutsche Bahn, which had originally sought to offload the company to reduce its own debts.

    While the terms were not disclosed, Deutsche Bahn is understood to have sold Arriva for about €1.6bn, including debt…

    The value of the deal suggests Deutsche Bahn – which has been described as being in a state of “permanent crisis” by Germany’s national audit office – made a loss on the sale, having paid €2.7bn for Arriva in 2010. The transaction is expected to be completed next year.

    So, even while Arriva was sending Deutsche Bahn millions in dividends and loan interest – it was still in a mess. Meanwhile, UK workers struggled with the cost of living crisis but Arriva refused to give them fair pay rises.

    However, what the Guardian failed to report was that I Squared Capital is registered in the Cayman Islands. The location is notorious for tax avoidance.

    “Ill-gotten gains” from privatisation

    The RMT has hit back. Its general secretary Mick Lynch said:

    This sale of Arriva by German state railway to a tax haven-registered company underscores what a perverse and corrupt system rail privatisation is in this country. Our members have not had a pay rise in over three years despite huge profits and dividends generated for shareholders. And now we have the prospect of these ill-gotten gains ending up in a tax haven where there is even less scrutiny and even more wealth to be extracted from our railways.

    The public through subsidies is helping to fund privatisation and potentially the closure of 1,000 ticket offices across the network, going against the best interests of the travelling public and railway workers.

    It is vital to end the racket of privatisation and put the railways into public ownership as a matter of urgency.

    As Lynch says, privatisation is a racket. When a German publicly-owned railway can run a privatised UK train operator, and then flog it to a tax-avoiding multinational – rail travel in Britain is a mess. It needs nationalising, and quickly.

    Featured image via Chinabus – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Labour’s DWP approach looks like more of the same as the Tories – little wonder when it’s Liz Kendall at the helm

    In recent weeks, the Labour Party has been revealing some of its plans for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – or rather, its revealed what little plans it actually has. This particularly applies to chronically ill and disabled people, as Labour is already showing that they’re low on its list of priorities. This isn’t a surprise though, as the party has put right-winger Liz Kendall in charge of the DWP brief.

    Labour and the UNCRPD: not happening

    First, Labour will not be implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into domestic law. The UK has ratified the UNCRPD – meaning it agrees with its covenants and has said it will adhere to them. However, as the Canary has documented, successive governments haven’t been sticking to the UNCRPD at all.

    In 2016, the committee in charge of the UNCRPD found that Conservative-led administrations had committed “grave” and “systematic” violations of chronically ill and disabled people’s human rights. The chair of the committee went as far as to say governments had created a “human catastrophe“. Currently, the UN committee responsible for the CRPD is investigating the UK again.

    So, you might think it would be a priority for Labour to put the entire UNCRPD into domestic legislation. However, the party’s shadow minister for disabled people – Vicky Foxcroft – has said it won’t be.

    Labour’s policy document on this states:

    We will honour our commitments to the United Nations’ Convention for the Rights of Disabled People and ensure its principles are reflected across government to create policies which remove barriers to equality and focus on disabled people’s representation at all levels of government.

    That’s not the same as making it law – which Foxcroft has admitted. She told Disability News Service (DNS) that ““the wording in [the document] is the wording at the moment”. Foxcroft added:

    We’ve still got time until the next [election].

    I think it’s one of those where in government you have to hold us to account in terms of whether we are actually committed to it.

    This attitude shows that Labour has little concern for chronically ill and disabled people’s rights in terms of the UNCRPD. However, the UNCRPD isn’t the only area where the party has let down chronically ill and disabled people down.

    Vacuous word soup – and not a lot else

    As DNS also reported, the DWP is planning to change the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). Specifically, the DWP is planning on taking out the following features:

    • Factoring in people’s mobility.
    • Bladder or bowel incontinence.
    • The inability to cope in social situations.
    • People’s ability to leave their homes.

    That is – the DWP thinks anyone who those descriptors apply to should have to work from home. Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) have already condemned the plans as “dangerous”.

    So, Labour has said it will not be carrying out these changes if they’re elected. However, that’s about as good as it gets. As DNS also reported, new shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall’s:

    speech to the annual conference contained almost no social security policy detail, with vague pledges to “transform employment support so it’s tailored to individual and local needs”, make “sweeping changes to jobcentres”, “reform universal credit” and “champion equality for disabled people”.

    Foxcroft defended the lack of policy detail in her new boss’s speech, saying she “didn’t have very long to speak”.

    Kendall’s vacuous word-soup of buzz phrases isn’t surprising. Historically, she’s made it clear she is on the right when it comes to social security. As the Big Issue reported, when Kendall ran for the Labour leadership in 2015:

    She was the only candidate to back acting leader Harriet Harman’s decision not to oppose welfare cuts made by the Conservative government.

    She said she would not oppose the bill “unless we show how we can pay for the alternative” and supported a benefit cap set by the government. This was seven years ago, but it remains an insight into Kendall’s politics and has roused worry among some campaigners.

    Throughout 2022, Kendall was absent for a number of votes on welfare benefits – but in previous years she has voted for increasing benefits and against cuts alongside her Labour colleagues.

    Kendall’s predecessor, Jonathan Ashworth, was no better – tabling policies which, as the Canary previously wrote, were:

    peddling the right-wing idea that there are chronically ill, sick and disabled people who should be working but aren’t – ‘benefit scroungers’, but without explicitly saying it.

    However, even if Labour’s policies for chronically ill and disabled people weren’t lacking – it may not make a difference, anyway.

    Can Labour really change the DWP, anyway?

    Much of the DWP’s decision making is extra-governmental. That is, civil servants, not politicians, drive and implement policy.

    For example, the department’s current reforms to the WCA – scrapping it, and using Personal Independence Payment assessments for everything – are not a current government policy. The DWP originally announced it when Amber Rudd was work and pensions secretary in 2019. There have been three different governments, and three work and pensions secretaries, since then. Yet, the DWP is still implementing the policy.

    It’s a similar story with Universal Credit. It’s a system the Tories originally created when they weren’t even in government. However, the DWP has pushed it ever since, regardless of who has been in power. Part of the problem has been work and pensions secretaries’ unwillingness to force reform at the DWP, challenge bad policy making – or introduce good ones in the first place.

    So, Labour’s stance on chronically ill and disabled people, while vague at best, may not matter that much anyway. Without significant reform to the DWP as an institution, little is likely to change.

    Featured image via Good Morning Britain – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Met Police arrest Greta Thunberg for protest at fossil fuel conference teeming with corporate climate criminals

    On Tuesday 17 October, hundreds of international protesters gathered in London to shut down a major fossil fuel conference where some of the world’s largest corporate climate criminals were set to convene. Of course, the Met police turned up to escort fossil fuel executives through the throng of protesters – and to arrest the activists blocking the entrance – including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

    Protest at major fossil fuel conference

    On Tuesday, activists from across Europe travelled to London to join protests outside a major fossil fuel conference. Protesters demonstrated in streets outside the Intercontinental Hotel, where fossil fuel companies and their financiers were meeting for the Energy Intelligence Forum. The event runs between 17 to 19 October.

    Climate activists including Fossil Free London disrupt the Energy Intelligence Forum, London, UK

    Climate activists including Fossil Free London disrupt the Energy Intelligence Forum, London, UK

    As the Canary’s Steve Topple previously highlighted, the forum is “the world’s largest annual gathering of energy companies.” Moreover, Topple noted that guests included “bosses from notorious fossil fuel companies”.

    In fact, the conference is brimming with speakers from the likes of major climate-wrecking corporations including BP, Chevron, and Exxonmobil.

    So, as profiteering bosses from infamous ecocidal corporations sidled up, activists blocked the doors to the conference. Naturally then, the Met police arrived to arrest the protesters taking direct action against these environmental vandals.

    Police arrest Greta Thunberg

    Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg took part in the action. On Twitter, Fossil Free London announced her arrest alongside that of 26 fellow activists:

    In a press release on Wednesday, the organisation said it believed that all arrestees have now been released. It stated that the police had charged a number of protesters with breaching the Section 14 order which the force had put in place during the demo.

    Speaking to the crowd before joining the action, Thunberg said:

    Behind these closed doors at the oil and money conference, spineless politicians are making deals and compromises with lobbyists from destructive industries, the fossil fuel industry.

    People all over the world are suffering and dying from the consequences of the climate crisis caused by these industries who we allow to meet with our politicians and have privileged access to.

    Echoing this, in a press release before the protest, Fossil Free London organiser Nuri Syed Corser said that the activists were staging the action to:

    get oily money out of our politics

    Conflicts of interest

    Activists therefore highlighted the hypocrisy of politicians attending the conference, which was ostensibly advertised as a “high-level networking” opportunity.

    The COP28 climate summit’s president Sultan Al Jaber was originally due to speak.

    Climate groups and campaigners have fiercely criticised his role as COP28 president. Specifically, they’ve highlighted his conflict of interest as head of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) state oil and gas firm. As such, him speaking at the high-profile fossil fuel conference would have added fuel to the fire.

    On 11 October, Fossil Free London rejoiced in a tweet that their protests had forced the COP28 president to withdraw from speaking at the forum:

    The conference website no longer lists Al Jaber among its speakers.

    Big polluter elite in politics

    However, protests haven’t stopped other policymakers from mingling with fossil fuel bosses and their backers. As Topple previously remarked for the Canary, energy minister Graham Stuart MP is attending on behalf of the UK government.

    In September, the government greenlit the disastrous Rosebank oil and gas field. The project will generate enormous emissions over its lifetime and jeopardise the UK reaching its 2050 net zero target. Of course, this is the same target which Rishi Sunak also threw under the bus with a series of green policy rollbacks earlier that same month.

    As the Canary pointed out at the time, these moves are invariably “a boon for the big polluter elite”. Naturally, British politicians happen to be among them – none more notable than the prime minister himself. It’s also worth mentioning that conference attendees Shell and BP have both signed major deals with Sunak’s father-in-law’s IT firm Infosys.

    Moreover, fossil fuel companies have their hooks in UK politics through generous political donations. In 2022 alone, Desmog revealed that the industry had given over £3.5m in donations to the Conservative Party.

    The Canary’s Tracy Keeling previously wrote on politicians’ cosy relationship with big polluters that:

    Decision makers too often appear aligned – in thought and deed – with interests that are not only responsible for the crises, but actively pushing against the reforms necessary to tackle them. Until this changes, meaningful action will remain out of reach.

    Networking bonanza and bogus transition claims

    The agenda itself is packed with a bonanza of networking events, including a “luncheon” hosted by harbinger of climate and environmental destruction, Saudi Aramco.

    Unsurprisingly, the conference includes a number of discussions on some of the fossil fuel industry’s favoured climate ‘solutions’. For instance, attendees can join the conversation on carbon capture and storage entitled “How Can CCUS Fulfill Its Promise Profitably”. Meanwhile, the conference will also play host to talks on the “Future of Hydrogen”.

    Of course, as the Canary has consistently highlighted, these low carbon ‘solutions’ are riddled with problems – not least that they throw a lifeline to extend the industry’s extractive operations. Yet politicians from across the divide are buying into these business-as-usual technologies. These same ‘solutions’ were front and centre at both the recent Conservative, and Labour Party conferences.

    In a press release, Thunberg underscored the danger in allowing the fossil fuel industry to steer the conversation:

    The elite of the oil and money conference have no intention of transition. Their plan is to continue this destructive surge of profits.

    Indeed, campaign groups have repeatedly exposed fossil fuel companies’ bogus transition claims. Recently for instance, Reclaim Finance demolished French fossil fuel major TotalEnergies claim that it was “the most committed to the energy transition.”

    Instead, the group found that the company in fact:

    intends to increase its fossil gas business in both relative and absolute terms

    Keeping up the pressure as industry turns up the heat

    After the arrests, activists have continued protests undeterred. On Wednesday morning, they gathered again outside the conference. This time, protesters turned out to challenge Equinor boss Anders Opedal. The Norwegian energy giant is developing the controversial Rosebank project off the Scottish coast.

    Activists intend to continue to disrupt the forum throughout its three-day conference – showing that they will not back down in calling out the profiteers hell-bent on destroying the planet.

    Featured image and additional images via Fossil Free London

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • BBC News issues damning correction after pushing pro-Israel lies about Palestinian supporters

    BBC News had to issue an on-air correction after it branded pro-Palestine marches in the UK as being ‘pro-Hamas’ – twice. However, it was just that – a correction; in no way was it an apology. Moreover, it came against a backdrop of ongoing BBC bias towards Israel and against Gaza and the Palestinians.

    When are pro-Palestine supporters pro-Hamas? When the BBC says so

    During a live broadcast on Monday 16 October, BBC anchor Samantha Simmonds said:

    Here in the UK, the prime minister Rishi Sunak… visited a Jewish school in London to underline his support for the community. The visit followed several demonstrations across Britain during which people voiced their backing for Hamas, which many countries including the UK and US consider a terrorist organisation.

    The demonstrations Simmonds was referring to were, of course, pro-Palestinian ones. As the Canary previously reported:

    Tens of thousands of people across the UK took to the streets in support of Palestine. Whilst many of the rallies successfully provided space for Palestinian voices, some were marred by antagonistic policing…

    As Israel continued bombing Gaza, Palestinian solidarity groups across the country called for rallies on 14 October. The biggest and most significant of these was in London, where an estimated more than 100,000 people turned out.

    However, not to let facts get in the way of some well-placed propaganda – BBC News host Maryam Moshiri repeated the broadcaster’s claim later on 16 October:

    People on X were immediately furious:

    Clearly, the BBC noticed the uproar. Later on 16 October it issued a retraction:

    We accept that this was poorly-phrased and was a misleading description of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Now, here’s the weather…

    Not an apology for tacitly labelling tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people as Hamas supporters, which under UK law may make you a criminal. No – the BBC issued a correction. Despite this, Moshiri’s sister – a former corporate journalist – told people not to place blame:

    A “mistake” is getting your maths homework wrong, or making a grammatical error in an article. A “mistake” is not the BBC writing an autocue, which must have had editorial oversight, and then allowing it to be read out not once but twice.

    However, given the BBC‘s track record during Israel’s assault on Gaza, as well as historically, it’s of little surprise the BBC would present these lies which favour Israel.

    The BBC: a history of being a colonialist state mouthpiece

    Not long before it issued its retraction, the BBC was still spreading what people considered to be propaganda:

    As the Canary previously reported, the BBC uses the passive voice when referring to Israel’s killing of Palestinians. People mysteriously “died” in Gaza – but in Israel they’re “killed”:

    The BBC has been enacting this kind of bias for years. As the Canary reported in December 2015, BBC Radio 4‘s Today programme misled listeners about deaths in the Occupied Territories and Gaza:

    a Today broadcast on 19 October saw John Humphrys and Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly imply that all of those who had been killed in that month’s violence had been Israeli – a suggestion that was untrue.

    In fact, Israel had killed more than 40 Palestinians, while Palestinians had killed less than 10 Israelis.

    On top of all this, the BBC‘s bias extends well beyond laying cover for Israeli war crimes. As the Canary previously wrote:

    during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic the BBC went onto a war footing. It was a similar MO to the one it had during WWII. It’s also the same one that led it to it being directly involved in espionage during the 1953 Iranian coup. It’s the same MO that led Marr to stand outside Downing Street at the end of the Iraq invasion in 2003 and say:

    “it would be entirely ungracious, even for [Tony Blair’s] critics, not to acknowledge that tonight he stands as a larger man and a stronger prime minister as a result”.

    And it’s the same MO that saw the government fund the BBC to push Western propaganda in North Korea. The point being, the BBC has often worked as a propaganda arm of government; regardless of whether that government is Tory or Labour.

    The BBC will defend the colonialist state, and the system, at any costs – whether that be propping up the UK political narrative about Israel, or pushing Tory coronavirus policy. In the context of Gaza, though, it participates in the sickening villainisation of the Palestinian people Israel is currently killing.

    Featured image via Saul Staniworth – screengrab

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.