The Assistant National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (UK), Tom Scripps, released a video statement Wednesday opposing the war on Iran, denouncing the complicity of Keir Starmer’s Labour government, and calling for a socialist anti-war movement.
The text of that statement is published below. You can watch and share the video on X, TikTok and Instagram.
Britain’s participation in the war against Iran is criminal. This is an illegal war for regime change, waged against an oppressed country, led by the imperialist United States and its Israeli attack dog. They have put millions of lives at risk.
Keir Starmer’s statements about his duty to “protect British lives” are sickening lies. He has left hundreds of thousands of British citizens stranded, with missiles falling every hour, and has no plan to get them to safety.
And this apologist for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians cares even less for the people of Iran now being slaughtered daily, or for the population of the Middle East.
Once again, a Labour government staffed by political criminals is dragging the country into a US-led war for oil. Just as it did with Iraq in 2003 under Starmer’s hero, Tony Blair.
The outcome of this war could be far worse. Iran is a country of 90 million people, sitting at the crossroads of the world economy. It has been targeted by the US in preparation for war against China. Israel has already invaded Lebanon and has resumed its ethnic cleansing operation in Gaza.
American, British and European capitalism see no other way out of the enormous crisis they face, economically, socially and politically. Wars of plunder, conquest and destruction are their answer to a growing mountain of debt and their falling world position.
That is why the US has launched such a reckless and brutal offensive, why British imperialism supports it, and why it is coupled with such fierce repression at home.
The years of the Gaza genocide have been used not only to normalise crimes against humanity. But to pioneer political repression on a scale not seen in generations. Which will be used against the working class as it is forced to pay the price of war.
The Socialist Equality Party unequivocally opposes the assault on Iran. And we base our opposition on a fight to mobilise the British and international working class against it. Not moral appeals to a Labour government which has none. Or to the United Nations, or trade union leaders.
This is how the Stop the War Coalition and the likes of Jeremy Corbyn led the mass movement against the Gaze genocide into a dead end.
What is needed is a fight for socialist internationalism among workers of all countries. Who have shared interest in bringing down the warmongers attacking their jobs, wages, living conditions and democratic rights.
Only a movement totally independent of the capitalist parties can put a stop to this barbarism.It must begin now. And it must be led by workers and young people. No one will do it for you.
Contact the Socialist Equality Party, join us, and take up the fight of your lives.