Socialist Party and Committee for a Workers’ International members were invited to a conference of the UK branch of the left nationalist Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party. Around a hundred and fifty attended the meeting in Luton, Bedfordshire, on Sunday 12 February.
Among a long list of invited speakers addressing the meeting, mostly about the struggle for democratic, social and economic justice in Kashmir, was Mark Pickersgill from the Stevenage branch of the Socialist Party. He briefly described the strike wave taking place in Britain over the ever-rising cost of living.
But, looking in the direction of the Kashmiri Labour representatives present, he made the point that, a future government under Keir Starmer’s leadership would still operate in the interests of the bosses, just as the Tories have been doing for the last thirteen years. Building a socialist alternative is as vital in Britain as everywhere else in the world, he insisted.
Clare Doyle, speaking on behalf of the Committee for a Workers’ International, to which the Socialist Party belongs, spoke of the long-running tragedy of the struggles and sacrifices of the Kashmiri people. She underlined the inalienable democratic right of any nation to self-determination and the importance of the workers and poor people of all countries fighting landlordism and capitalism.
Her emphasis on the need for international socialism was warmly appreciated after warnings against capitalism of all varieties. “We are democratic socialists,” she emphasised, “not social democrats!” Referring to ongoing struggles in other parts of Asia and the world, Clare emphasised the importance of building struggle movements that link up on a local and national level, and even an international level in a united struggle for socialism.
