The assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani is an act of war by Donald Trump. The act was carried out in Baghdad, violating all agreements with the Iraqi government. Trump has further threatened attacks on 52 Iranian targets, including cultural sites. Iran has said it will retaliate, and there is huge opposition to this action both in Iran and Iraq, where the parliament has voted for US troops to leave.

Trump has been heading for war since tearing up the nuclear deal with Iran and if he succeeds will create a bigger war than we have seen in the Middle East. It will draw in major players across the region including Israel, Saudi Arabia and possibly Russia.

We must do everything we can to oppose war with Iran and attacks on Iraq. This begins with a public meeting in London on Wednesday and a demonstration on Saturday. Other protests and events will be taking place across the country and you can stay notified of them on our events page here.

It is exactly two weeks until Donald Trump descends on Buckingham Palace in the middle of one of the most important General Elections in British history. It’s an unprecedented moment and one our movement must capitalise on.

The Metropolitan Police are trying to the restrict the route for the demonstration organised by a wide coalition of campaign groups who are planning to protest outside Buckingham Palace during a reception for NATO leaders on December 3rd. We must be allowed to make a stand outside Buckingham Palace for everything Trump can’t stand – peace, human rights, climate justice, equality, tolerance & diversity.

Join the protest: https://bit.ly/356wXAI

As the de facto leader of NATO, the largest military alliance on earth, Trump will be pushing his fellow NATO heads of state to increase military spending whilst reasserting US priorities for the organisation. Over the past couple of decades NATO has been central to the so-called War on Terror, particularly in Afghanistan and the bombardment of Libya.

Trump’s seemingly critical attitude towards NATO is designed to pass the burden of funding for the alliance onto European nations in order to strengthen its power, not lessen it. Any notion that Trump wants to pull out of NATO is absurd. NATO is a crucial arm of violent US foreign policy power and must be opposed.

The workers of Brazil knew what was coming long before the rest of the country. A concerted assault on the labour movement and the rights of workers paved the way for the election as President of the far right demagogue Jair Bolsonaro, who has used his position rewrite the history of Brazil’s military dictatorship, and to fuel hate crime with his racism, homophobia and misogyny.

But the trade union movement remains at the core of resistance, with 45 million workers striking in June against Bolsonaro’s policies and unions building resistance on the streets, in workplaces and in Congress.

We will hear from Antonio Lisboa, the international secretary of Brazil’s biggest union organisation, the Central Workers’ Union (CUT), who will tell us of how workers and their allies are fighting not only for democracy, but “for civilisation”.

Danielle Rowley MP, the Shadow Minister for Climate Justice and Green Jobs, will talk about how the far right poses a threat to planet as well as people, as shown by the rampant deforestation revealed in Brazil this summer.

Baroness Christine Blower, Vice Chair of the Brazil Solidarity Initiative, and other speakers TBC, will speak of the international solidarity needed to defend the Brazilian people’s rights and challenge the international growth of the far right.

Turkey’s invasion of Syria continues, with serious attacks on the Kurds and their semi autonomous areas of Kobane. Turkey is a NATO member – and an absolutely central one both militarily and geographically. The other major NATO powers have done little to stop this onslaught. We will be protesting over the NATO summit on December 3rd in London where Donald Trump is again in town.

We will also be supporting the demonstration against the invasion and attacks on the Kurds which is taking place on Sunday at the BBC, Oxford Circus at 1pm. Our position is clear: we are against all bombing of Syria, from whichever power it comes. We call for immediate Turkish withdrawal, support for the rights of the Kurds, and no to war in the Middle East. We oppose a US/UK no fly zone, which is another form of western intervention. 

UNISON would like to invite all to a public meeting and reception to celebrate 60 years of Cuban revolution on Tuesday 5 November 2019 between 6.30 and 8.00pm at St Pauls Cambridge in the Lower Hall.

Two leading Cuban trade unionists, Santiago Badia Gonzales General secretary of health union SNTS and Neisy Pina Lago of public administration union SNTAP will be speaking at the meeting.

Solidarity with the People of Turkey (SPOT) calls for an immediate end to the invasion of Northern Syria (Rojava) by the Turkish government. Turkey and all other foreign forces in the region must immediately withdraw from the region.

After a phone call between Donald Trump and Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, the American president announced that the US military would withdraw from the region. Turkey has invaded northern Syria despite being condemned by political leaders from around the world.

The Kurdish forces in the region have until now been the only force keeping ISIS behind lock and key and have been protecting the area from ISIS. There is no doubt that this invasion will cause the deaths of thousands of civilians.  There is also a significant risk that this unprovoked invasion of northern Syria will further ignite regional tensions and lead to the release of thousands of ISIS militants – a situation that prevents peace in the region and ultimately around the world.

The price of the war will yet again be paid by the people living in the region, including Turks, Kurds, and Arabs. Turkey and all imperialist powers have no interest in the security or safety of the people in the region and their goal of expanding their power in the region is costing the lives of innocent people.

Turkey is currently facing economic crises, the ruling party AKP is losing power and suffered major losses in the last local elections. The president of Turkey is trying to provoke nationalism as a means to divide the opposition and hold onto power. The invasion by Turkey is not in the interest of the working people of Turkey and should be stopped immediately.
As Solidarity with the People of Turkey (SPOT) we stand against Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria and call on all foreign forces to withdraw from the region.

We call on Britain to end selling weapons to Turkey which are being used to kill and displace thousands of innocent people in the region, and may indeed be used in the latest invasion.

Finally, we call on our friends in Britain to oppose this invasion by foreign forces and ask you to stand with the people in northern Syria to call for peace.

Latin America Conference 2019. Saturday 23 November 2019, Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ

www.latinamericaconference.co.uk

US warmonger John Bolton has called Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua a ‘Troika of tyranny’ and is making increasingly dangerous threats of intervention against these countries.

The Trump administration is using military aggression, ‘lawfare’ and economic sanctions to try and force a broader reactionary agenda from Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, to Honduras, Ecuador and Mexico.

Yet people across the region continue to organise and fight back, developing progressive mass movements to struggle for independence, sovereignty and resistance to the vicious US onslaught and attempts to dominate national resources and economies for the benefit of the multinationals.

Features films, stalls, music and discussion on:
– No to Trump’s ‘regime change’ agenda in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua
– 20 years since Chávez’s election – a spark for 21st century socialism
– Cuba 60 – standing firm under the eye of the empire
– Art, Protest and Change
– Populism and stopping the far right
Fighting back: Honduras, Brazil, Argentina