IT SEEMS strange to routinely wish everyone a happy new year while there is so much pain and suffering in the world. 

For many of us, Christmas was a time of celebration. For those enduring the horrors of war, the past week has been a time of mourning and loss. For refugees feeling conflict and human rights abuses, it has been a time of desperation. And for millions of people in this country, it has been a time of immense stress as they struggle to put food on the table, heat their homes and pay their rent. 

None of this should be normal, necessary or acceptable. Over the past decade and a half, we have witnessed a huge drop in living standards, manifesting itself in debt, mental ill-health, foodbanks and thousands of rough sleepers on the streets just to trying to survive. Meanwhile, private corporations are taking home more profit than ever before, hiking up their bills to satisfy the needs of a few over the needs of the many. This is not a cost-of-living crisis. It is a cost-of-greed crisis.

The unprecedented strikes last year were an attempt to redress the inequality and injustice in our society. It is low wages that create poverty and insecurity (many who claim universal credit are in work) — and striking workers are demanding that wages catch up with rising inflation and living costs, which have people worse off in real terms. Raising the living wage is one thing, but real wage rises are needed to combat poverty. 

These workers have been striking not just for fair pay, but for the future of our public services. Our NHS is a crucial element of our lives. However, our health service is being destroyed before our very eyes. GP contracts are being handed over to US healthcare companies, hospital services are being farmed out, and the private finance initiatives of the 1990s and 2000s continue to enrich the finance houses at the expense of patient care.

Meanwhile, thousands and thousands of people find themselves unable to afford the care they need when they grow old. We need a fully public and fully funded NHS for the same reason we need a national care service: healthcare is a fundamental human right that should be guaranteed for all. 

The housing crisis is affecting more people than ever before; when housing is treated as an investment, rather than a human right, the consequences are obvious: huge increases in homelessness and sky-high private-sector rents.

We need more council housing alongside rent controls — and local authorities need the power and resources to implement these changes to fulfil their duty to house their residents. 

The latest Cop climate conference was more an exercise in greenwashing than taking seriously the issues that face the whole planet, including pollution and loss of biodiversity. The free market will not protect our natural world. It will not guarantee clean air and water. And it will not solve the climate crisis. Only public investment and an economy based on human needs rather than corporate greed will bring us closer to a more sustainable world. 

These are the issues that are facing people in this country — and these are the issues we should be addressing in the run-up to a 2024 general election. The Tories will try to defend an appalling record of division, and scapegoat the most vulnerable in our society to distract from their own corruption.

We cannot let them get away with it. Make no mistake: defeating the Tories is not enough, and allowing the most right-wing media and biggest businesses to dictate the manifesto is no way to inspire people to achieve change.

There has to be an alternative which refuses to accept Tory tax policies that favour the better-off. An alternative that ends the scandal of the two-child benefit policy. An alternative that builds council housing. An alternative that takes energy, water, rail and mail into democratic public ownership. 

An alternative that challenges the dehumanisation of human beings seeking asylum. The rhetoric against the so-called “boat people” is appalling, racist and fuels the most dangerous forces in our society. Their heart-rending tales should shame anybody who seeks to outsource their responsibilities to fellow human beings trying to survive.

There are more refugees than ever in this world, more desperate people who want to survive, and more people who want to live and contribute to our collective good. It requires political leadership and vision to stand up and say: refugees are human beings, and we need an immigration system that treats everybody with dignity, care and respect. 

Refugees are victims of environmental disaster. They are victims of persecution. They are victims of war. We know this because we can see it live on our TV screens.

Over 20,000 people have already been killed by the Israeli assault on Gaza, in response to the 1,200 killed on October 7 by Hamas. Meanwhile, there has been a horrifying increase in settler violence on the West Bank, as the Israeli Defence Force supports a system of oppression and apartheid. 

Only an immediate ceasefire can bring about a halt to the killings. That should be the first step to an international demand for the end to the occupation, and justice for the Palestinian refugees in camps in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

The global reaction has been immense. Massive demonstrations all over the world have united people of all ages and backgrounds, appalled at the way the United States, Britain and many EU countries continue to supply military and political support to the massacre of human beings.

Most recently, Joe Biden bypassed Congress (for the second time in a month) to authorise $147.5 million worth of equipment to Israel. We are witnessing the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people — and we must do everything we possibly can to put an end to our government’s complicity. Please, join us on January 13. Let us make this a Global Day of Action for Palestine — a historic act of solidarity that mobilises millions of people around the world in the name of peace, justice and humanity.

As we march together, let us remember that, sadly, this is not the only war going on. We must continue demanding a ceasefire to bring about a diplomatic and peaceful end to the war in Ukraine. And we must keep speaking out for victims of wars that our media conveniently ignore: in Sudan, West Papua, the Congo and Yemen. 

In the face of the enormity of the issues that confront us, it is easy — but unforgivable — to retreat from even the most basic demands for sustainability, peace and justice.

There is a reason why hundreds of thousands of people have marched for peace and justice for the Palestinian people. There is a reason why huge numbers have taken strike action. There is a reason why thousands are taking to the streets to demand we put our energy, water, rail and mail into public hands. There is huge demand for transformative change — we cannot waste this opportunity to bring it about.  

While it may feel strange to celebrate the new year in the face of global injustice, we should recognise that New Year’s Day has a certain spirit. It is wonderful when people come together to wish each other the best, and express their positive hopes for each other. Let us work on that spirit!

We need confidence that we can be empowered to change. Our movement grew from the most desperate circumstances, but it is by recognising that we are all one community that provides us with the strength to campaign, fight for, and build a world of peace and justice.

Jeremy Corbyn is MP for Islington North.