Solidarity with the Kurds

Solidarity with the Kurds   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Paula Mitchell, London Socialist Party secretary

As the Turkish onslaught in the Kurdish area of Syria continued last week, the campaign Solidarity with the People of Turkey (SPOT) organised a protest at the Turkish embassy in London.

A representative of each of the organisations present (including the RMT trade union, Socialist Party, National Shop Stewards Network, Enfield North Labour Party, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, and Stop the War) laid a black wreath on the steps of the embassy.

A SPOT statement calls for the end of the Turkish state attacks on the Kurds, and for the withdrawal of all foreign forces.

Socialist Party stalls on the second London demo against the invasion attracted a number of people who wanted to discuss the situation.

Our leaflets argued for mass united action against the war, and no trust in imperialist powers. How can we rely on governments of the rich, which carry out austerity policies at home and have pursued bloody wars in the Middle East for decades, to act in the interests of Kurds and other oppressed minorities?

We argued that the Kurds and other oppressed people can only rely on their own strength, self-organisation and class solidarity.

Solidarity protests were also organised in a number of cities in Britain. In Hull the Trade Union Council organised a solidarity rally.

Around 150-200 people including people of Kurdish descent and trade unionists marched from Spring Bank into the city centre Victoria Square. 26 copies of the Socialist were bought by protesters.