The Chinese flag is raised ahead of a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, September 3, 2025
THE world is facing a choice between peace or war, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned today during celebrations to mark the end of World War II.
He was joined in Beijing by Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and dozens of other world leaders at China’s largest-ever military parade.
The three leaders met for the first time, holding private talks after the parade in a show of diplomatic unity.
China also flexed its military muscle during the parade marking 80 years since the country’s victory over Japan, revealing aerial and underwater drones, hypersonic missiles and fighter jets and bombs.
Addressing more than 50,000 people in Tiananmen Square, Mr Xi said: “Today, humanity is again faced with the choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum.”
He declared that China “is never intimidated by any bullies” and “unstoppable.”
Mr Xi also said that the world must “never return to the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak” during a lunch reception speech stressing the establishment of the United Nations and international law as achievements of anti-fascist victory.
“We sincerely hope that all countries will draw lessons from history, value peace and work together to … create a brighter future for humanity,” he said.
He concluded by toasting to “common prosperity for all humankind.”
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Lamees M of the Palestinian Youth Movement speaking at the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit on August 30. Photo: Jaylen Strong
Lamees Mehanna, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, spoke on the panel “Gaza is the Center of the World” at the People’s Conference for Palestine
The second annual “People’s Conference for Palestine: Gaza is the Compass” seeks to strengthen the growing movement for Palestinian liberation within the United States – Israel’s largest political and financial backer. The conference taking place in Detroit, began on August 29 and will conclude on August 31.
On the second day of the conference, Lamees Mehanna, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), spoke in the keynote session “Gaza is the Center of the World” reflecting on the centrality of Gaza and Palestine in today’s world and how the liberation of Palestine is part of transforming the entire world predicated on exploitation and war.
Read her full speech below:
For our generation, Palestine and Gaza are truly the defining issue of our time. For the PYM, Gaza has always been a centering force. In fact the PYM was formed during the 2009 war on Gaza 16 years ago. It is the issue that has transformed the lives of everyday people, people like you and I, who have rearranged, redefined, and recommitted our lives to struggle for Palestine.
The movement for Palestinian liberation has been able to weaken the bases of support for Israel and revealed the true face of Zionism as synonymous with genocide. There are many millions now around the world, including within the US, who will never believe Israel’s propaganda again, generations will grow up knowing the truth about Palestine. There have been major developments through organizing that we might have never thought possible a few years ago.
And yet, to our devastation, against our will, and at the cost of so many lives in Gaza, all of our actions have not stopped the genocide. And so our question is why?
Why has the genocide continued when the masses of the world have shown day in and day out where they stand? Why has the genocide continued when over 80% of Americans support a ceasefire? Why has the genocide continued when international bodies, human rights organizations, genocide scholars and historians globally have laid out, in excruciating levels of detail, the reality of this genocide?
Why can’t the ICC actually prosecute Netanyahu? Why hasn’t the UN intervened in any real or tangible way? Why hasn’t every single country sanctioned Israel? Why are there still any corporations facilitating this genocide, from tech to logistics? Why does mainstream media continue to cover, euphemize, obscure, and hide Israel’s crimes?
One could look at these questions and feel stuck in their organizing or movement work across the world, and especially here in the United States.
But the continuation of this genocide is not due to a lack of will, or lack of hope, or lack of desire on the part of the people or the part of the movement to stop this. It is ultimately due to the character of our global system, and the role of states and corporations within it. The world order is designed to benefit the interests of a few states, and ultimately a few people, at the expense of the masses of the world, including the working people of this country. This genocide has revealed that, it has revealed the undemocratic nature at the core of the status quo.
The people of the world, the masses that stand with Gaza see this clearly now. This is what I think it means to say that Gaza is the compass. It means, then, that the only logical conclusion to ending this genocide is transforming the world that has allowed for it to happen. Gaza has made so clear the importance of confronting decades of policies that favor endless wars, lobbied for by weapons manufacturers, the pro-Israel lobbies, such as AIPAC, and other warhawk politicians. Policies that continue to line the pockets of billionaires, at the expense of the global majority, including the millions of hard working families in this country.
And the supporters of this genocide know this. They know if we are able to bring about the changes needed to not just end this genocide but to hold all those who have been complicit accountable, it means we have ushered in a new world. And so their response is to do anything they can to stop the march towards the truth, and to put forth such bold-faced lies.
That they’re telling you to deny what you see with your own two eyes. They’re telling us to deny our own intellect and morality, deny the burning tents and hospital beds, deny the double tap executions of medical workers and journalists, deny world-renowned research institutions that have published the death tolls, deny what every international human rights body has said and the international courts that have classified it as a genocide. They are telling you to deny the truth, and believe the Zionist propaganda instead.
But they make a huge miscalculation, which is that you and I, all of us in this room are proof of that. Which is that our commitment to truth and justice is unshakeable, our morality and our intellect will not be insulted, we will not be intimidated, and we will not be made to turn away from Gaza and we will not be complacent with a world system that does.
We will not be denied the future Gaza deserves, the one where the Palestinian people can self-determine their future, see their children grow up and grow up to fulfil their dreams and aspirations, the one where international institutions can actually move to uphold conventions on human rights, without obstacle or fear of US intervention and sanctions, the one where we elect people that can actually represent us and not the interests of the few who bought their campaign. A future that brings an end to war profiteers and to the very idea of genocide and occupation.
This is what they fear the most. They fear a reality where Gaza is world altering; because it is. Gaza shows us that the choices are between building a just world or sliding into full scale barbarism. And we have chosen a just world
The movement for Palestinian Liberation is the movement of our lifetimes, it’s the movement that we have all chosen, it’s the movement of the future, it’s the only option and it’s the movement for all people of conscience, it’s a charge for all those who are willing to take it.
As Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta often says and reminded us just now, tomorrow is a Palestinian day. Free, free Palestine!
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Zack Polanski is the new leader of the Green party in England and Wales after winning a leadership election promising a programme of “eco-populism”. Polanski beat incumbent leader Adrian Ramsay and his partner on the ticket, Ellie Chowns.
It’s been just over a year since the party celebrated its best ever results in the most recent general election. In July 2024, it doubled its vote share and quadrupled its representation in the House of Commons to four MPs.
The same election saw terrible results for the Conservatives and even for Labour, despite its win, raising questions about whether two-party politics was well and truly over. Since then, as professor John Curtice has vividly described, things have started to look even shakier.
This year’s local election saw a “record-breaking” fragmentation of the vote in which less than a quarter of local council seats went to the two main parties. The Greens now hold over 800 seats in more than 170 different councils, adding to their electoral portfolio – which also includes two members of the House of Lords and three London Assembly members.
While Polanski will be celebrating today, party members will look to him to raise their electoral fortunes even further. The electoral challenge for the Greens in England and Wales is two-pronged.
First, the party needs to maintain its position in the seats it has already secured. Its four MPs have fairly comfortable majorities, the smallest being Chowns’ 5,800 majority in North Herefordshire. Second, and perhaps most importantly, it needs to maximise its success in the 40 constituencies where it came second. All but one of these constituencies were won by Labour, which makes Labour voters the prime targets.
My research has shown how the Green party has followed a policy of “total engagement” in recent years. It takes its parliamentary work very seriously, using any and every opportunity to get its message across, even in lower-priority policy areas.
The goal here is to build credibility with the electorate. Small parties tend to want voters to think they are bigger than they are, so they can present themselves as realistic contenders for taking on the heavy work and responsibility of government. Caroline Lucas did a fantastic job of this, punching well above her weight as the party’s only MP between 2010 and 2024.
Together, the Green MPs have made over 380 contributions in the House of Commons. Chowns in particular has been a prolific backbencher, making 161 contributions, while the previous co-leaders Carla Denyer and Ramsay have been much quieter.
With Polanski sitting in the London Assembly rather than the House of Commons, this will inevitably change. The four Green MPs will collectively have more time on their hands and, with the right direction from their new leader, will have the space to be more strategic in their parliamentary activities.
Outsiders
But the Greens have always acted as something of an atypical party too, keeping one foot outside Westminster. Lucas was regularly involved in activism, joining protesters campaigning against tuition fee increases and fracking and to support refugees, to name just a few. She was even arrested in 2013 after joining a protest against energy firm Cuadrilla in Sussex (she was later cleared of all charges in court).
The new Green MPs have continued in this vein, with Sian Berry joining a peaceful protest against far-right agitators in Brighton last year and Chowns pressing the government to water down anti-protest laws.
The new leadership will need to decide whether this strategy enhances their electoral appeal. Does it highlight the Greens’ distinctiveness from the establishment parties, or does it imply they aren’t responsible enough to manage being a party of significant size? The answer depends on who you ask. Polanski has participated in several protests in the past, so chances are this activism will continue to be a core feature of Green party politics.
An added complication for the Greens is that two other parties are also chasing left-leaning voters. One of these is Reform UK. Although associated with rightwing views on social issues, the party came second in many Labour seats in 2024 and needs to appeal to both sides of the political spectrum.
This may explain why the Greens have focused their efforts on highlighting Reform’s failures. Berry, for instance, recently challenged Nigel Farage and his colleagues to publish a log of all their meetings since entering the Commons, arguing that it would be in the public interest.
The other outside threat is Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s new and currently nameless party of the left. While we know little about this party’s policy platform right now, it seems to be veering towards a similarly bottom-up democratic model of organisation which has long been favoured by the Greens – possibly even with co-leaders.
The challenge for the Greens will be to better establish their niche on the left, to ensure they capture voters who are disillusioned with Keir Starmer’s wobbly start. Part of the solution could be to focus on a handful of key policy areas which go beyond the Green party’s niche of environmental issues. At the moment, its MPs take something of a scattergun approach in the Commons, contributing on everything from local buses and universal credit to Ukraine and the Middle East.
Some of the most recent questions asked during Prime Minister’s Questions by Greens hint at the options they might pursue. Ramsay has pushed for a wealth tax on the super rich, and an end to the two-child benefit cap. Both Corbyn and Sultana have, of course, been outspoken on these issues in the past.
If the Greens can’t forge a different path to this new left party, they may have no choice but to consider an electoral pact to avoid splitting the anti-Labour vote right down the middle.
Zack Polanski after being announced as the new leader of the Green party at Coin Street neighbourhood centre, London, 2 September 2025. Photograph: James Manning/PA
For too long, the richest in this country have accumulated wealth at the expense of the poorest. It can’t go on like this
Zack Polanski is the newly elected leader of the Green party
This is the most dangerous political moment in my lifetime. Not only is our economy in dire trouble, with the cost of basic goods shooting up again and again, but trust in those running the country is at a record low. These are the conditions in which far-right politics festers. With the help of his friends in some of the media, Nigel Farage is feeding off that anger.
This is the Green party’s moment. We know Keir Starmer shuffling the deckchairs this week is not the real change we need. We are not here just to be concerned or disappointed with this Labour government. We are here to replace it.
Things have to change, and it’s my job as the new leader of the Green party to work with communities, bring people together and turn anger into hope.
Most people know one thing about the Greens: that we care about the environment. And this won’t change. But increasingly, and in every corner of this country, people are voting for us because we’re the only party talking about everyday solutions and pointing the finger at those who are causing the real problems we face.
It’s actually fairly simple. For years now, the very richest in society have accumulated more and more wealth. While they sleep at night, the money pours in, not from work, but from assets such as stocks, shares and multiple properties. The wealthiest 1% of households in this country hold a greater proportion than that held by the least wealthy 50%.
And while that tiny proportion at the top gets richer, our NHS is buckling, disability benefits are under threat and the two-child benefit cap threatens to push hundreds of thousands of kids into poverty.
The GREAT scheme envisages a bustling port city bisected by a watercourse bordered by up to eight AI -powered high-tech megacities. Photograph: Supplied
Prospectus proposes forced displacement of entire population and puts territory into US trusteeship
A plan circulating in the White House to develop the “Gaza Riviera” as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an “insane” attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory’s population.
On Sunday the Washington Post published a leaked prospectus for the plan, which would involve the forced displacement of Gaza’s entire population of 2 million people and put the territory into a US trusteeship for at least a decade.
Named the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust – or Great – the proposal was reportedly developed by some of the same Israelis who created and set in motion the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with financial planning contributed by Boston Consulting Group.
Image from the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust – or Great – proposal. Photograph: Supplied
Most controversially, the 38-page plan suggests what it calls “temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s more than 2 million population” – a proposal that would amount to ethnic cleansing, potentially a genocidal act.
Palestinians would be encouraged into “voluntary” departure to another country or into restricted, secure zones during reconstruction. Those who own land would be offered “a digital token” by the trust in exchange for rights to redevelop their property, to be used to finance a new life elsewhere.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
The Chinese flag is raised ahead of a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, September 3, 2025
