Britain Must End All Interference in Syria

On November 7, Foreign Secretary William Hague presented a written statement to Parliament outlining the government’s approach towards the civil war in Syria. The statement coincided with the meeting of Syrian opposition groups meeting in Qatar and the visit of the Prime Minister, David Cameron, to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE, three of the government’s closest allies in the region.

In his statement, Hague made it clear that the governments of Britain, the US and other NATO countries are intent on regime change in Syria and are openly working to unify the various groups that opposed to the Syrian government, so as to make them a more effective instrument of their aims. The meeting that took place in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on November 8 under the auspices of the reactionary states in the region has been instigated by the US, Britain and their allies in an effort to establish what has already been referred to as a Syrian “government in exile”. Hague’s written statement brazenly states: “This week talks are taking place in Doha between members of Syrian opposition groups. The United Kingdom, France, Turkey, the United States and other international partners will attend the meeting on 8 November.” At the same time, as many news agencies report there is already a jockeying for position between the so-called “friends of Syria” in regard to who exercise most influence in that country in the future.

Russia Today correspondent interviewing
President al-Assad (SANA) Hague’s statement makes clear that the Coalition government has already appointed a Special Representative to the Syrian Opposition, who is attending the meeting in Qatar, and is therefore interfering quite openly in Syria’s internal affairs. By its own admission, it is assisting in co-ordinating the activities of the various organisations ranged against the government of Syria and is co-ordinating these activities with its NATO allies and with the various bodies of the UN. Just as in Libya, the UN that was established on the basis of safeguarding the equality and territorial sovereignty of all members, non-interference in their internal affairs, as well as for the suppression of acts of aggression, is being used by some of the most powerful countries as a means of carrying out aggression, violating territorial sovereignty and intervention.

The statement by the Foreign Secretary boasts that the government is working openly with a range of organisations opposed to the Syrian government including those engaged in military activity. According to Hague, “such groups are playing an increasingly influential role within Syria as the conflict worsens. I have therefore now authorised my officials to have direct contact with an even wider range of representatives including military figures in the armed opposition.” The government also admits that it is providing a range of “technical support” to these opposition groups, and is engaging with “military representatives of the armed opposition”. Although it continues to claim that the technical support consists only of “non-lethal equipment”, it is now widely reported that the Syrian opposition groups are not only being trained and organised by NATO and its allies in the region but also being provided with arms.

The Prime Minister’s visit to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE was undertaken with the aim of furthering the interests of the major weapons and other monopolies in the region. At the same time, it is part of the efforts to strengthen political and military as well as economic ties with the reactionary regimes in the region. Cameron also used the visit to launch further attacks against Iran and to encourage continued external interference in Syria. In a widely quoted television interview he even went as far as promising safe passage for the president of Syria should he voluntarily leave office and openly spoke about efforts to make “transitional” arrangements in that country.

There has been much recent comment in the media about the allegedly unprincipled way in which the government operates in the Gulf region, apparently supporting reform in some places, supporting reactionary regimes in others, criticising arms sales to some, encouraging arms sales to others. What is evident is that as Cameron so clearly stated, the so-called Arab Spring has provided an “opportunity”. However, for the government this is not an opportunity to advance the interests of the people of North Africa or western Asia but rather for the big monopolies and financial institutions to advance their domination and geo-political interests and to remove those regimes which are not to their liking. The approach of the British government is also determined by the need to contend with its rivals and “succeed in the global race”.

The government’s continued interference in Syria alongside that of its allies and rivals is fuelling the bloody civil war in that country. Its activities in the Gulf and its bullying of Iran are all contributing to the destabilisation of the entire region and create the conditions for even greater threats to peace. In these circumstances, the need for an anti-war government in Britain becomes ever more urgent, and the working class and people must place this necessity on their own agenda as a problem taken up for solution.

Lewisham Hospital

South London Trust Special Administrator Matthew Kershaw issued a draft report on October 29 proposing the closure of Lewisham Hospital’s A&E department, which has only recently been refurbished for £12 million. This would leave only an urgent care centre and the Maternity Unit with patients being sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich. Under the proposal, Lewisham Hospital’s land and buildings would be sold to developers to raise money. Many health services in Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley would be privatised and hundreds of doctors, nurses and other NHS staff in south-east London would lose their jobs.

The background to this outrageous proposal is the alleged £150 million debt run up by the South London Healthcare Trust. The Trust Special Administrator Matthew Kershaw was appointed in July by the then Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley under the Regime for Unsustainable NHS Providers. The Department of Health said in its statement of October 30 that “the regime seeks to ensure the delivery of high class and affordable NHS services, protecting patients and staff from failing services”.

A leaflet issued by Keep Our NHS Public and SOS Lewisham NHS pointed out that these proposals would be a disaster not only for the people for Lewisham but also for Greenwich and Bexley (whose A&E department was closed last year). Three boroughs with a population of 750,000 would have to share a single A&E unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Just a day after the report was published, nearly 1,000 people signed an on-line petition opposing the closures, which a few days later had increased to 7,447. A report on November 7 in the south-east London paper News Shopper which is backing the local community against these closures pointed out, “Not only would Lewisham patients be stripped of their local emergency care but they are likely to be transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital A&E – further burdening the busy Woolwich hospital.”

At a Save Lewisham Hospital’s A&E meeting on November 8, hundreds of people packed two overflowing halls at the hospital to oppose the closures. It was attended by the Mayor of Lewisham, Steve Bullock, and Lewisham East MP Heidi Alexander who launched the on-line petition.

Save Lewisham Hospital campaign meeting Speaker after speaker condemned the report, pointing out that it does not take into account what is happening in the real world, and that sending A&E and maternity patients to other local hospitals who are already hugely overstretched is totally unrealistic. A Lewisham hospital nurse at the meeting tellingly pointed out that if the proposal to close the A&E and maternity unit went ahead, Lewisham hospital would not have the resources to help people who are very sick so that he and his colleagues would be forced to turn away people in desperate need.

Speaker after speaker also pointed out that the proposals were purely financially motivated and had nothing to do with improving patient care. The secretary of Ealing Trades Council, which itself has been very active in a campaign to save four A&E units (Ealing, Charing Cross, Hammersmith and Central Middlesex hospitals), warmly supported the Lewisham campaign. Many speakers from the floor pointed out that what was at stake was not just opposing these proposed closures but the whole future of the NHS.

The meeting firmly stated that the closures will be resolutely opposed and announced a Hands Around Our Hospital on Saturday, November 24, marching from Loampit Vale (near Lewisham station) at 2.00pm to link hands around Lewisham Hospital at 3.00pm. Website: http://www.savelewishamhospital.com

On November 8, a bust was unveiled in Gordon Square in central London commemorating the bravery of Noor Inayat Khan.

Noor Inayat Khan grew up in Paris and was the first woman SOE (Special Operations Executive) radio operator sent into occupied France during the Second World War. She was captured by the Gestapo, held in chains for 10 months without revealing any information to her captors, and executed at Dachau. She was awarded the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre. Gordon Square, now owned by the University of London, was where Noor lived and played as a small child, and near where she again lived before setting off on her fatal mission. The bust was sculpted by Karen Newman, whose other work includes memorials to fellow SOE heroines Violette Szabo and Nancy Wake.

The unveiling was carried out by The Princess Royal. This was, perhaps, more than a little ironic given that Noor's famous forebear Tipu Sultan, the legendary Tiger of Mysore, was killed in battle by the British, that her father was hounded out of the country, from his very Gordon Square residence, because of his links to the Indian Freedom Movement, and that Noor herself told her WAAF commissioning board she might well be fighting against them for Indian independence if she survived the war. Nonetheless, it seems entirely right and proper that her sacrifice should be honoured by the state, though the context of the fight against fascism is the subject of so much disinformation by those very state forces.

Tipu Sultan, as Tiger of MysoreAt the ceremony attended by some 300 people, Shrabani Basu, Noor's biographer who initiated and vigorously led the campaign to erect the memorial, entirely funded by the public, gave a moving tribute to Noor's supreme courage and sacrifice in the struggle against fascism, to her internationalism, her principles of peace and harmony between the peoples. She spoke also of the great contribution of those of Indian origin to life in Britain, of the fact that over two and a half million Indians volunteered, like Noor, to fight in the Second World War.

The ceremony included music composed by Noor's surviving brother Hidayat, poetry and song composed by Noor herself, and concluded with a solemn Last Post.

The Noor Memorial Trust, it is noted, intends to carry on its work, keeping the memory of those like Noor alive and highlighting the contribution of those of South Asian origin to the life and progress of the country.

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