- Take on Sunak and Starmer
- Build the socialist election stand
Iain Dalton, Yorkshire Socialist Party Secretary
More than 30,000 have died in Gaza since October, with more unable to be counted under the rubble. The Israeli state’s brutal onslaught continues.
As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins, hunger is so widespread that people are unable to fast. 23 people, including several children, have died of dehydration and malnutrition since the beginning of March.
US President Joe Biden hypocritically described the situation in Gaza as “heartbreaking” and is under pressure to increase aid. But he won’t take decisive action, as Israeli capitalism’s biggest backer, to cut off the weapons and finance necessary to sustain the brutal war.
The strategic interests of US capitalism, and the profits of its big businesses weigh far more under this system than the lives of the 2.3 million displaced in Gaza.
Similarly, politicians from the major capitalist parties in Britain continue to oppose an immediate ceasefire and the permanent withdrawal of Israeli troops from the occupied territories.
On this and many other issues, the lives and living standards of ordinary working-class people, in Britain and abroad, are small change to their interests. That’s why, as well as strengthening the opposition to the brutal war on Gaza on the streets, we should challenge Sunak, Starmer and the rest at the ballot box too.
Socialist Party members and other trade unionists and campaigners will be coming together under the banner of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in the local and general election, to offer an alternative to the horrors of war, famine and poverty – fighting for socialist change.
Taking a stand for socialism in the elections is a step to building the mass force capable of ensuring an end to the horror we are seeing in Gaza.