DEFENCE & FOREIGN POLICY AFTER BLAIR
The Labour Party’s three major anti-war, pro-peace groups – Labour Against the War, Labour CND and Labour Action for Peace – have organised a Spring conference for Labour Party members and activists called Defence & Foreign Policy After Blair which will be held on Saturday 12 May 2007, soon after our Party’s next electoral test in the Scottish, Welsh and local authority elections in England.
Local Labour candidates are not responsible for the unpopular policies the Government is pursuing – they are doing their best to provide high quality services to their residents within a difficult framework. Failing to return Labour candidates in Scotland, Wales, and in town halls across England will not affect Government policy, but sadly all indications point towards our Party taking huge losses. Although there are no elections in London this year, next year we will face the Mayoral and Greater London Authority Elections. The results of this year’s elections will point towards what could happen in London next year.
Many electors are telling us that Labour must change policy as well as the leader – this conference will provide an opportunity to discuss the changes that Labour needs to make to realise a popular defence and foreign policy for Labour’s fourth term. This conference will also provide the platform for a Left of New Labour leadership hustings with John McDonnell MP and Michael Meacher MP.
Conference agenda:
Scottish, Welsh and local election results analysis;
Update on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran;
Update on the campaign against the replacement of the Trident nuclear missile system;
After Blair: developing an anti-war and pro-peace manifesto;
Who should lead Labour? Hustings with John McDonnell MP and Michael Meacher MP.
I do hope that you will be able to support this important one-day conference for Labour Party members and activists and circulate details to your Labour Party comrades. Please consider attending this event or sending a message of support.
Individual Labour Party members can sponsor Labour Against the War at a cost of £5.00 per person.
A POPULAR DEFENCE & FOREIGN POLICY
FOR LABOUR’S FOURTH TERM?
Our Party is facing its biggest electoral test since Labour came to power in 1997. The Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and local authority elections in England will provide the stage for the final appearance of Tony Blair’s long goodbye.
It seems like the right time to review the defence and foreign policy of New Labour and remind ourselves of some of the actions the Blair Government has taken over the last ten years. Here are just some of New Labour’s shocking policies that have created a wave of anti-British feeling around the globe:
illegally bombed Iraq in 1998,
was the chief apologist for Russia’s bloody onslaught against Chechnya in 1999,
invaded Afghanistan with the US in 2001,
increased the export of military equipment to Israel as it reinvaded the West Bank in 2001,
armed Indonesia as it attacked Aceh province in 2003,
took legal action to prevent the Chagossians returning to their homeland on Diego Garcia,
refused to call for a ceasefire in the Israel / Lebanon conflict, effectively supporting Israel in its illegal invasion in 2006, backed the ludicrously expensive Trident nuclear missile system, 2007.
But towering over all these shocking policies was the illegal invasion of Iraq. The leadership of our Party remains completely unrepentant, the war and occupation continue with the most appalling human consequences even though every single one of their war aims have been shown to have completely failed:
not a single piece of credible evidence has emerged to support the assertion that Saddam Hussein possessed any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
no links between Saddam Hussein and al Qa’ida have ever been established.
Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11.
Saddam Hussein did not pose a current or serious threat to Britain or our allies.
post-Saddam Iraq is not a thriving democracy, it is a dangerous mess with its economy in ruins with billions of frozen dollars and oil revenues spent but unaccounted for.
Britain is now a prime target for terrorist attacks.
The war on Iraq remains the single biggest issue that has turned off so many of our core activists and even more of the electorate. That’s why Labour Against the War, Labour CND and Labour Action for Peace have joined forces to organise a Spring conference to look at strategies to achieve a popular defence and foreign policy for Labour’s fourth term.
Don’t miss this opportunity, complete the registration form today and return it to us immediately to ensure your place at this important conference for Labour Party members.
Jeremy Corbyn MP will chair the conference.
Speakers include: Walter Wolfgang (LP NEC), Kate Hudson (Chair, CND), Billy Hayes (Gen Sec, CWU), Milan Rai (co-editor of Peace News), Christine Shawcroft (LP NEC), Murad Qureshi (GLA), Haifa Zangana, Jim Addington (AUNR), Francis Prideaux (GLLP), John McDonnell MP and Michael Meacher MP. Other speakers from across the Labour and trade union movement invited.