MPs demonstrating against the renewal of Trident nuclear missile system, February 2016. Photo: Flickr/Counterfire
In a world of increasing conflict, pandering to the right-wing on Trident and Nato is not the way forward argues, Lindsey German
The speech by Clive Lewis is one you might have expected from a right-wing led Labour Party, not one where the left has been in the ascendant and where a major reason for Jeremy Corbyn’s support last year and this is his commitment to anti-war and anti-nuclear policies. Now we have Lewis supporting Trident renewal, praising Nato and committing to very high levels of defence spending.
This is not Jeremy’s politics, and it is done to appease the right wing. As if anything will appease them. They will see this as a sign of weakness and come back for more.
The world is hurtling towards more conflict, not less. Nato is at the heart of much of this. The war in Syria increasingly involves conflict between the major powers who are intervening, primarily Russia and the US. Every single report – Chilcot, the foreign affairs committee report on Libya, the defence committee report on Syria – are all highly critical of British foreign policy.
The imperialist wars of the past decade and a half – and longer – have done nothing but harm. The conflicts in Syria and Eastern Europe both have the potential to lead to much greater wars than anything we have seen so far, terrifying though they have already been.
And why are we committing to 2% of our whole GDP ie everything we produce to military spending? It comes at the expense of our hospitals, schools and houses.
What a step backwards. If you’re angry about this help us organise. Join Stop the War and CND, come to our conference on 8th October and donate to our funds. We really need an anti-war and peace movement.
Lindsey German
As national convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, Lindsey was a key organiser of the largest demonstration, and one of the largest mass movements, in British history.
Her books include ‘Material Girls: Women, Men and Work’, ‘Sex, Class and Socialism’, ‘A People’s History of London’ (with John Rees) and ‘How a Century of War Changed the Lives of Women’.