A Pro-Palestine protester lies on the ground in Bradford Photo: Neil Terry / Neil Terry Photography
THOUSANDS of people took to the streets in towns and cities across Britain at the weekend to demand a halt to Israel’s merciless onslaught and continuing slaughter in Gaza.
The actions marked almost eight months of weekly protest as Israel’s attack on the southern Gazan city of Rafah continued with the death toll passing 36,000 — over half of them women and children.
Protests in London were marred by the arrest of seven young people calling for a ceasefire and for a halt to Britain’s supply of arms to Israel.
The arrests happened as about 250 supporters of direct action group Youth Demand marched past Waterloo Underground station carrying placards and chanting “All eyes on Rafah!” and “Stop arming Israel!”
Youth Demand had warned earlier on social media that they intended to block roads and bridges in London.
Protester Olivia Burnett, from Leeds, said: “The time for non-disruptive marches is over.
“When you connect to what is happening to the people in Rafah, you realise we have to do whatever is necessary to end the hell they are living through.
“What are we willing to do to stop babies being burned alive? The answer must be: whatever it takes.”
Palestine and climate activists protest outside the British Museum, June 1, 2024Photo: Ron F / BP or not BP
A COALITION of Palestine and climate activists demanding the British Museum end its links with the Gaza genocide through its BP sponsorship forced the London museum to close on Saturday.
Activist theatre group BP Or Not BP assembled a mosaic in the museum’s main hall — reference to the current Legion exhibition about the Romans — with lettering saying Drop BP: End Oil Sponsorship.
Energy Embargo for Palestine and Parents for Palestine meanwhile delivered a programme of events for children in the museum’s courtyard that included dabke, a traditional dance of Palestine, and a display of banners with slogans such as “Palestinian Children Deserve Life, Drop BP!”
The museum announced a new 10-year £50 million sponsorship deal with the fossil fuel giant in December, shortly after BP had secured gas exploration licences off the coast of Gaza from Israel.
Non-governmental organisations warned that such procedures could encroach on Palestinian maritime boundaries and amount to the war crime of pillaging.
“Keir Starmer is falling into the same trap that the Conservatives have.
“Stoking division and adopting the anti-migrant rhetoric of Nigel Farage and Natalie Elphicke instead of welcoming the important role people choosing to work in the UK play.
“People coming to live and work in the UK play an invaluable role in our health and care sectors.
“Those who peddle this divisive rhetoric ignore this and instead feed a false narrative that it’s migration, not a chronic underinvestment in public services, that are stopping you from getting a GP appointment, a hospital bed, or the surgery you need.
“This is just not true”.
He continued,
“Greens in contrast reject this false divisive rhetoric.
“We are offering real hope and real change at this election.
“Only the Greens offer the investment in jobs, infrastructure and public services fit for the future to fix our broken frontline services.
“Voters know that the Greens will never blame people from other countries for the years of underinvestment and economic mismanagement by the Conservative Government.”
Many foreign care workers in the UK say they are lured over on false promises that cause them to amass serious debts. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images/Alamy/PA/Reuters.
Guardian Exclusive: Experts raise alarm over ‘national scandal’ that has hallmarks of trafficking and modern slavery
British social care agencies have been accused of exploiting foreign workers, leaving people living on the breadline as they struggle to pay off debts run up while trying to secure jobs that fail to materialise.
Dozens of people working for 11 different care providers have told the Guardian they paid thousands of pounds to agents to secure jobs working in UK care homes or residential care, with most finding limited or no employment when they arrived.
Many are now struggling to pay off huge debts in their home countries and having to work in irregular jobs for below the minimum wage.
Labour and the Conservatives are now under pressure to tackle the issue if they win next month’s election. The Tories recently banned foreign care workers bringing their dependents to the UK with them, a ban Labour said last week it would keep in place in an effort to bring net immigration down.
But experts say the ban has failed to tackle the deeper issue of exploitation of the workers themselves, many of whom are still in the UK and living in poverty, afraid to leave their employers for fear of losing their visa status.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has nowwritten to the leaders of all three major national parties to demand a full government inquiry into treatment of migrant care workers when parliament returns.
Prof Nicola Ranger, the acting general secretary of the RCN, said: “The exploitation of migrant care workers is a national scandal but little has been done to tackle it.
“A chronically understaffed social care sector has supercharged its recruitment of staff from overseas and a lack of regulation and enforcement has allowed some employers to profit from the mistreatment of migrants.”
She added: “An urgent government investigation into exploitation across the social care sector must be a priority for whoever wins the general election. Lives are being ruined daily and this work has to start as soon as possible.”
‘Great stories begin in social homes. But we’re living in a housing emergency, and we need to build more. Now.’
In England alone, 1.3 million households are stuck on waiting lists for housing. 145,800 children are growing up in temporary accommodation. During the last decade, 19,000 social rent homes have been lost every year. 90,000 social homes need to be built every year for the next ten years to end the housing emergency.
These alarming statistics are provided by the housing and homelessness charity Shelter. The research, carried out by Shelter and the National Housing Federation, found that the building of 90,000 social homes a year would pay for itself within three years, add over £50bn to the economy over 30 years, and support 140k direct jobs in the first year.
In the run-up to the general election, the charity has launched a Vote for Home campaign. Over 35,000 people have already put their signature to a letter calling on political leaders to fix the country’s housing crisis by building new social homes.
It urges Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, Ed Davey, Carla Denya, and Adrian Ramsey to build social homes and “create a fairer renting system that will end the housing emergency.”
The letter notes how none of the leaders have promised to prioritise fixing the housing emergency.
