SINCE the Hamas attack on October 7 and Israel’s response of an all-out assault on Gaza, there has been an unparalleled rise in the scale and strength of worldwide solidarity actions demanding a ceasefire.

In Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and other organisations have organised 10 national marches so far. There have been pro-Palestine vigils, marches, rallies, sit-ins, petitions and protests in towns and cities up and down the three nations. This broad movement includes people from all age groups, from different religious communities and cultural backgrounds and from every section of society. 

We have seen a huge demonstration of unity in action seeking justice for the Palestinian people in their long struggle against occupation and oppression.

Official statements from healthcare workers, lawyers and trade unions have demanded a ceasefire; charities have called for humanitarian aid to be allowed in as a starvation crisis grows. 

There has been direct action aimed at companies supplying Israel with weapons or other assistance, alongside growing demands for a boycott of Israeli goods and divestment from Israeli companies; cultural figures and religious leaders have joined the call for a ceasefire as students have walked out of schools and colleges in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Westminster MPs who uncritically defend Israel’s onslaught have rightly been targeted by humanitarian protesters; front-bench Labour MPs and dozens of Labour councillors have resigned in protest against Keir Starmer’s failure to call an unconditional halt to genocide. 

The speed and scale of this outpouring of solidarity has shaken the state and capitalist mass media, including the BBC, and Britain’s two main political parties, all of whom seek to represent and protect the interests of British imperialism. Stunned, they initially tried to slander the protest and solidarity movement as “hateful” and “anti-semitic.” 

This tactic quickly proved to be unsupportable. Now the objective is to constrain protesters with the force of the law, as is done with anyone who takes action against climate change, militarism, Nato or war.

‘Extremism’

Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove has been given the unscrupulous job of bringing forward a new definition of “extremism.”

This follows Rishi Sunak’s unprecedented press conference outside 10 Downing Street after George Galloway’s by-election victory in Rochdale on February 29, which represented a stunning win for the Gaza ceasefire campaign.

The Prime Minister said that “extremist groups are a growing threat to British democracy” and called Galloway’s triumph “beyond alarming.” However, Sunak’s own acceptance of donors to his party who flaunt their racist and sexist views has diminished any claim he can make about protecting democracy.

The new definition of “extremism” applies to groups promoting an ideology based on “violence, hatred or intolerance” that aims to destroy democratic rights and freedoms and undermine or overturn parliamentary democracy. 

Gove has named five groups so far, two on the far right and three with “Islamist orientation”; others will be named in the coming weeks. The main targets at the moment are organisations such as the Muslim Association of Britain, involved as it is in the mass mobilisations for a ceasefire and peace with justice in Palestine.

The Conservative government is powerless to stop this solidarity movement — which poses a direct political challenge to the ruling-class Establishment — without actually banning the forces within it. 

The Communist Party rejects the British government’s new definition of extremism. Many people and their organisations reject right-wing notions of rights, freedoms and democracy and ask: “Whose rights? Whose democracy? Freedom to do what?” They want radical changes to our society and its institutions.

Because socialists and communists recognise that wealth and power lies in the hands of a class of monopoly capitalists and their state apparatus, we want to overthrow that power and return that wealth to the workers who create it. (The pre-tax profits of the Big Four banks in Britain almost doubled last year to £44bn).

That makes us “extremists,” which is precisely how those who favour this new definition — including the Labour Party leadership — regard us. 

Whereas Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner endorse this lurch towards authoritarianism, the Communist Party calls for a common united front of trade unions, community and anti-war campaigns, the left and all genuine democrats to come out fighting in defence of democratic freedoms. 

A ‘do nothing’ Budget

Time is running out for a government making excuses for Britain’s dismal economic state. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, following Jeremy Hunt’s recent Budget, “On average, households will be worse off at the time of the next election than they were at the last, following nugatory real earnings growth.” 

The Chancellor offered nothing to combat high rents, homelessness or the shortage of affordable homes and so help solve Britain’s housing crisis. The situation will worsen as the scheme allowing councils to keep 100 per cent of right to buy sales revenues is wound down. 

There was nothing in the Budget to end fuel poverty for the five million households trapped in debt according to Citizens Advice; nothing, either, for pensioners having to pay tax because income tax bands have been frozen until 2028.

There was no commitment to end cuts in public services and give vital support to the many local councils facing bankruptcy. Neither Tory nor Labour supporters of Tory spending plans will reveal where the proposed 3.3 per cent cuts to unprotected services will come after the general election.

Meanwhile, the crisis deepens in our overburdened, underfunded NHS. 

Increasingly, people are turning to private healthcare for elective surgery as private providers enjoy a surge in profits. Doctors and nurses are siphoned off from NHS hospitals to service this sector, lengthening waiting times and widening health inequalities for those in deprived areas.

The additional reduction in most main-rate National Insurance contributions from 10 to 8 per cent from April effectively ends any plans to address government funding of social care. 

The King’s Fund reports: “Requests for adult services have hit a record high of two million, with all signs pointing to the fact that the social care system is under intense pressure. Despite this, financial thresholds for help with care costs have not changed since 2010/11, whilst the cost for local authorities to purchase care is increasing faster than inflation … the social care workforce vacancy rate is still at its second highest ever level, despite approximately 70,000 overseas workers arriving.”

It needs to be understood that Sunak’s wish to abolish National Insurance is a threat to the very existence of the state retirement pension and social benefits.

Anti-strike action

Over the past 12 months, NHS junior doctors in England and Wales have taken 44 days of strike action in order to restore their real-terms loss of pay since 2008. A new ballot for another six months of action closes on March 20.

The government’s chief response to the recent multi-sector strike wave is the new Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, a heavy-handed attack on workers’ rights to organise.

Workers who vote for strike action can be ordered to cross picket lines as government ministers impose minimum levels of service in the nuclear industry, border security and in the health, fire and rescue, education and transport services.

A united response of defiance and non-compliance is now required from the trade union movement, including support for the Defend the Right to Strike campaign organised by StrikeMap and national trade unions. 

No reliance can be placed on Keir Starmer’s promise in January 2023 to repeal the Act within the first 100 days of an incoming Labour government.

For the working class, the coming general election offers no relief from the austerity and decline of the past 15 years. Both major political parties are wedded to the same neoliberal economic policies. 

Whether the Tories or Labour are in government, the drums will keep beating for more money for militarism and war, privatisation of public services will continue and the demonisation of asylum-seekers will not end. 

The foremost task of our movement is to continue building the fightback in our unions and local communities, raising the level of understanding that this onslaught on many fronts represents existential crises in the capitalist system itself; crises which the ruling class cannot solve.

In the struggle for revolutionary, systemic change, the Communist Party and the Morning Star have essential parts to play.