https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/2024-year-ahead

As we welcome in the new year, we must raise our collective voices for sustainability, peace and justice more urgently than ever, says JEREMY CORBYN MP

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There has to be an alternative which refuses to accept Tory tax policies that favour the better-off. An alternative that ends the scandal of the two-child benefit policy. An alternative that builds council housing. An alternative that takes energy, water, rail and mail into democratic public ownership.

An alternative that challenges the dehumanisation of human beings seeking asylum. The rhetoric against the so-called “boat people” is appalling, racist and fuels the most dangerous forces in our society. Their heart-rending tales should shame anybody who seeks to outsource their responsibilities to fellow human beings trying to survive.

There are more refugees than ever in this world, more desperate people who want to survive, and more people who want to live and contribute to our collective good. It requires political leadership and vision to stand up and say: refugees are human beings, and we need an immigration system that treats everybody with dignity, care and respect.

Refugees are victims of environmental disaster. They are victims of persecution. They are victims of war. We know this because we can see it live on our TV screens.

Over 20,000 people have already been killed by the Israeli assault on Gaza, in response to the 1,200 killed on October 7 by Hamas. Meanwhile, there has been a horrifying increase in settler violence on the West Bank, as the Israeli Defence Force supports a system of oppression and apartheid.

Only an immediate ceasefire can bring about a halt to the killings. That should be the first step to an international demand for the end to the occupation, and justice for the Palestinian refugees in camps in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

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Read it all: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/2024-year-ahead