The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 7th June 2019
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 7th June 2019
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 7th June 2019
THOUSANDS of protesters took over the streets of Westminster on Tuesday to jeer Donald Trump on his state visit to London. Demonstrators ‘welcomed’ the loathsome leader of US imperialism when they assembled in Trafalgar Square to march down Whitehall to hold a rally within a hundred metres of Number 10 where Trump was dining with Mrs May.
President Trump dismissed reports of the massive protest as “fake news” and claimed that thousands of his own supporters had come to greet him. But the crowds, which some say topped 75,000, easily outnumbered the handful of Trump supporters who turned up waving American and Israeli flags and chanting “USA, USA” and “Trump is great” to provoke the protesters on the day.
Good-natured stewarding and a strong police presence stopped any confrontation getting out of hand. But at least one of them was “milk-shaked” and some 20 others were escorted to a pub for their own protection by the police after scuffles with marchers.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable boycotted a state banquet held for the Trumps on Monday. Corbyn later offered to meet Trump for a private discussion but this was turned down by the American president because Corbyn was a “critic” of Trump’s stance on migrants, Muslims and women.
“I really don’t like critics as much as I respect people who get things done” Trump explained calling Corbyn “somewhat of a negative force”. He later told the media he thought it would have been “inappropriate” to meet Labour’s leader because “a lot of things are happening right now” in British politics though he didn’t rule out such a meeting at a later date.
Inappropriate or not it didn’t stop the American president from mouthing off in favour of Boris Johnson, one of the leading contenders in the race to take Mrs May’s place or talking to other Tory front-runners including Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove. Nigel Farage was another of the chosen few granted an audience with the US president at the mansion used as the official residence of the American ambassador in London. The Brexit Party leader met Trump at Winfield House, near Regent’s Park, for a face-to-face chat with the US president on his three-day visit. Afterward, Farage described the meeting as “good” and said Trump “really believes in Brexit.”
The Labour leader was greeted with rapturous applause and chants of “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn” at the rally. He accused Donald Trump of spreading hatred and division and he denounced Trump’s childish attack on London mayor, Sadiq Khan, telling the crowd that he was disappointed that the mayor had been attacked during the festival of Eid.
“I’m proud our city has a Muslim mayor — that we can chase down Islamophobia, antisemitism, any kind of racism in our society,” the Labour leader said. “Because racism divides, exploitation of minorities divides, brings about hatred, dislike, disdain and a horrible place for individuals to live in”.
“When you’ve created that sense of hatred, destroyed people’s self-esteem by that form of racism, you haven’t built a house, a school, trained a nurse, defended our natural world, [you have] just created a greater sense of hate and hatred that goes with it.”
Corbyn vowed to defend the NHS from greedy big pharma corporations in the United States who expect the health service to be open to plunder under any post-Brexit trade agreement.
“The real reason Donald Trump is here is he wants a slice of our NHS and our NHS is not for sale,” was how TUC leader Frances O’Grady put it to the crowd while greeting the US trade unions and working class. She sent solidarity to the victims of the latest mass shooting in Virginia, telling Trump to “go home” and “sort out gun control” adding that “We love the American people — we just can’t stand their president.”