“71% of the British people want a #CeasefireNow. In the face of this, the UK Government’s silence, complicity & aggression is unacceptable.”
Apsana Begum
Apsana Begum MP
As we enter 2024, I still ask the question: how many more people must be killed before our government will call for a ceasefire?
It has been more than three months of us coming together in protest, demanding that the UK Government use their influence to stop the carnage that we are continuing to witness in Gaza.
More than three months of us calling for a ceasefire, now!
Around the world, the cries for a ceasefire grow louder. On Saturday 13 January, a Global Day of Action was held with movements in at least 45 countries, participating in calls for a ceasefire.
New polling shows that 71% of the British people want a ceasefire[1].
In the face of this, the UK Government’s silence, complicity and aggression – is unacceptable.
At this time when de-escalation is needed more than ever, the UK government’s launching of airstrikes in the Red Sea with the US, is nothing short of horrifying.
It is shameful. It is deplorable. It is beyond unacceptable.
Rishi Sunak’s move to attack Yemen without even as much as a recall of Parliament, is beyond unacceptable.
Further violence will not achieve peace.
And it is not like we haven’t warned of this before.
In 2003, we warned that the invasion of Iraq would set off a spiral of conflict, that would fuel the conflict and the misery of future generations. We warn again, now.
Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world. Civilians there have been striving for an end to the almost decade-long war, that they have endured.
Before now, the situation over there had already been labelled as being one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time[2]. So many are enduring starvation.
That’s why we say to this Government: not in our name.
It’s disgraceful that the UK government appears to be putting profit before people. Not calling for a ceasefire when thousands and thousands have been killed by Israel’s genocidal actions, but appearing to act with aggression in the interests of international trade, risking the prospect of even further escalation in a region where they have already, according to UN reports, been complicit in “aiding and assisting”[3] war crimes through the sales of arms.
How many children are lying under the rubble in Gaza because of UK traded weapons?
Why won’t our government stop sending arms to countries that UN experts have said may be used to committing war crime?
It is also disgusting that arms companies in the UK are being allowed to profit from the misery being inflicted in the region[4].
But this is not just about profit and trade, it is an exercise in imperial power.
Our government may refuse to stand on the right side of history. They may not believe that the lives of Palestinians matter.
But we will call them out, for their double standards, and we will continue to confront the threads of imperialism that Britain continues to pursue around the world.
Arms sales to Israel and Saudi Arabia must stop immediately.
The increasing death toll of innocent lives everywhere must end.
We will continue to demand nothing short of an immediate and global ceasefire – and that is just the beginning.
A ceasefire is not peace, and a ceasefire is not freedom. Yemenis and Palestinians deserve both peace and freedom.
Just as post-apartheid South Africa laid out to the world last week, the oppressed people of the world need a lasting peace, based on human rights and justice for all.
That means:
- An end to the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.
- An end to illegal settlements in the West Bank.
- An end to the 17-year blockade of Gaza.
- An end to the forced evictions of Palestinian families.
- An end to indiscriminate settler violence.
- An end to the “aiding and assisting” of attacks on Yemen.
- An end to the starvation of innocent Yemeni people.
We have been coming together in protest for more than three months and we will not stop until there is a lasting peace – until in Palestine, Yemen and beyond, the oppressed people of the world are free.
- This article is based on the speech Apsana Begum gave at the National Demonstration for Palestine on January 13 2024. Apsana is the MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow Apsana on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles in the UK and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.
Footnotes:
[1] Survey Report (yougov.net) |YouGov / MAP Survey Results Sample Size: 2085 adults in GB Fieldwork: 20th – 21st December 2023.
[2] WHO Global Health Emergency Appeal: Yemen | WHO Global Health Emergency Appeal, March 2022.
[3] Yemen: Collective failure, collective responsibility – UN expert report | OHCHR | Yemen: Collective failure, collective responsibility, UN expert report, 3 September 2019.
[4] Apsana Begum – We have a right to know how many Palestinians were slaughtered using UK weapons – Labour Outlook, Apsana Begum MP speaking at Westminster Hall debate, 12 December 2023.
