‘Trump’s imperialism and militarism is spreading racism, it’s spreading far right politics and we need to oppose it’
Warplanes roared overhead as hundreds of people marched to RAF Fairford airbase on Saturday.
The base in Gloucestershire is one of 12 US bases in Britain. It is home to the huge B52 and B1 bombers used by the US to spread murder and destruction in Iran.
A group of Iranians displayed photos of all the children killed in a school in Minab, southern Iran, on the first day of the assault. And protesters lined up in a chain along the barbed wire fence of the base.
Marzi, an Iranian living in London, told Socialist Worker, “I’m here to oppose the war in Iran. There’s a ceasefire but it’s quite fragile and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We oppose bombing in Iran and everywhere around the world.”
Protester Andrew pointed to Britain’s complicity in the war. He told Socialist Worker, “I don’t think we should be involved in it in any way, including our bases being used. It’s not ‘our war’ but we are involved. By letting the US use these airbases, we are involved.”
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CND general secretary Sophie Bolt told the marchers, “There is a fragile ceasefire. But Donald Trump is again threatening to commit war crimes in Iran. He is talking about bombing bridges and power stations.
“The airbase at RAF Fairford will be used by the US to do that. It’s absolutely central to Trump’s illegal war in Iran.”
She added, “Starmer is lying to the British public when he says Britain’s base at Fairford will only be used defensively. He has no say in how these bombers are deployed. It is not going to make us more safe. We have been dragged into this war and that makes us all a target.”
But Bolt also pointed out the unpopularity of Trump’s wars, explaining that US veterans and their families had joined protests against the war last week. “Trump’s catastrophic war is leaving him more and more isolated, both internationally and in the US”, she said.
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