The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 6th February 2026
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 6th February 2026
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
American warships pulled back from the Iranian coast last week as indirect talks between US and Iranian officials begin in Oman amid reports of an Iranian drone downed by the air-defences of the US navy’s Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and that the Islamic Republic is bracing itself for an imminent Israeli–American attack. The Israelis continue to stall on the implementation of the second stage of the Gaza truce. Campaigners who organised a Gaza-bound aid mission that was seized by Israel last year are planning to send an even bigger flotilla to the besieged Palestinian enclave in March. And Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has stunned the Zionists in the world of football by publicly voicing his support for the people of Palestine.
The Global Sumud Flotilla says that it will send more than 100 boats carrying up to 1,000 activists, including medics and war crimes investigators, to Gaza in a “co-ordinated humanitarian intervention” for Gaza next month. Thousands more will be supporting a land convoy across nearby Arab countries to help the Palestinians.
Meeting at the foundation of the late South African leader Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, the campaigners said this would be the largest ever civilian-led mobilisation against Israel’s actions in Gaza. “It is a cause… for those that want to rise and stand for justice and dignity for all,” said Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, who was one of activists arrested by Israel during last year’s voyage. Last October hundreds of international volunteers in the Global Sumud flotilla, including Mandela, Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg and European Parliament member Rima Hassan, were interned after their vessels were seized in international waters by the Israeli navy. Although they were all eventually released several of them said that they suffered physical and psychological abuse while in Israeli custody.
Meanwhile Pep Guardiola, the former Spanish international who now runs Manchester City FC, told the media that he supported the people of Palestine, saying he will continue to speak out on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza to help bring justice and peace. On Tuesday, the Manchester City manager used the pre match news conference for his team’s League Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur as a platform to highlight the plight of people affected by wars across the world, especially in Gaza. “Never, ever in the history of humanity have we had the information in front of our eyes watching more clearly than now,” Guardiola told reporters in Manchester.
“The genocide in Palestine, what happened in Ukraine, what happened in Russia, what happened all around the world – in Sudan, everywhere,” he said.
Guardiola also talked about the two fatal shootings by ICE officers in the USA that have led to a broad backlash against Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. “Look what happened in the United States of America, Renee Good and Alex Pretti have been killed,” said Guardiola, who asked what would happen if a nurse like Pretti was shot in the UK in those circumstances. “Imagine [someone from] the NHS – five, six people around him, go on the grass and 10 shots. Tell me how you can defend that?”