Happy 77th birthday NHS

 

Nye Bevans legacy came into the world 77 years ago this morning when, then Minister of Health in Attlee’s post-war government, Nye opened Park Hospital in Manchester at a time of rationing and shortages, when we were nearly bankrupt, a jewel  that the war generation left us with, an amazing institution for us to all to continue to share. It;s   one of the most important social reforms in British history.

Nye Bevan, once wrote, “No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.” This statement, which is at the heart of our health service, still commands support from the vast majority of the UK population. The NHS encapsulates everything which Bevan stood for, and was the culmination of a life devoted to improving the lives of men and women across the country.

For the first-time doctors, nurses, opticians, dentists and pharmacists all worked under one organisation. It was a ray of hope in that bleak time, and it remains one today. The creation of the NHS in 1948 was the product of years of hard work and a motivation from various figures who felt the current healthcare system was insufficient and needed to be revolutionised. 

Born  to a post-war Britain amidst the rubble of war and a skeptical medical profession, the NHS has had its ups and downs over the years. However, its role and importance as a symbol of our Britishness and intense pride in being able to provide universal care, free at the point of delivery, has remained throughout, out of the belief that healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth, with health and care as priorities – not profit, .these ideals remains one of the NHS’s core principles.

Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health, on the first day of the National Health Service, 5 July 1948 at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, near Manchester. 

These ideas can be traced back to the early 1900s with the Minority Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Law in 1909. The report was headed by the socialist Beatrice Webb who argued that a new system was needed to replace the antiquated ideas of the Poor Law which was still in existence from the times of the workhouses in the Victorian era. Those who were involved in the report believed it was a narrow-minded approach from those in charge to expect those in poverty to be entirely accountable for themselves. Despite the strong arguments provided in the report, it still proved unsuccessful and many ideas were disregarded by the new Liberal government.

Nevertheless, more and more people were beginning to speak out and be proactive, including Dr Benjamin Moore, a Liverpool physician who had great foresight and a pioneering vision of the future in healthcare. His ideas were written in “The Dawn of the Health Age” and he was probably one of the first to use the phrase ‘National Health Service’. His ideas led him to create the State Medical Service Association which held its first meeting in 1912. It would be another thirty years before his ideas would feature in the Beveridge Plan for the NHS.

Few now remember life before the NHS. Until 4 July 1948, every visit to a GP or hospital had to be paid for, unless covered by insurance or charity. Workers paid National Insurance but their dependents weren’t covered. Many families couldn’t afford private insurance, weren’t poor enough for ‘charity’, so suffered without health care. In some cases local authorities ran hospitals for the local ratepayers, an approach originating with the Poor Law. By 1929 the Local Government Act amounted to local authorities running services which provided medical treatment for everyone. On 1st April 1930 the London County Council then took over responsibility for around 140 hospitals, medical schools and other institutions after the abolition of the Metropolitan Asylums Board.

The idea of a state-run health service was mooted at the Labour Party Conference in 1934 by the then president of the Socialist Medical Association, Dr Somerville Hastings. Then the Beveridge Report of December  1942 called for 'Comprehensive Health and Rehabilitation Services' and set the seeds for the creation of the NHS and the creation of the Welfare State. Winston Churchill's attitude was one of ambivalence and when two years after the Beveridge report and it had become Labour Party policy, he became markedly more hostile. It was then  Aneurin Bevan who wholeheartedly embraced  and made sure  the project was implemented and delivered  after he became health minister in 1945.

It was a ray of hope in that bleak time, and it remains one today. The free service, based on need, not what money you have, is something that has become cherished by generation after generation. Many see it as Labour’s greatest socialist achievement. Today, we have a lot to thank the NHS for; from the introduction of polio and diphtheria vaccinations to all under 15-year olds to the success of smoking cessation services and cancer screening services, the NHS has been instrumental in many of the medical achievements the UK has seen over the last 77 years,. a shining example of what separates us from the US. 

It offered for the first time a free healthcare system in the world that offered for completely free , healthcare that was made available on the basis of citizenship rather than the payment of fees or insurance. It has  since  played a vital role in caring for all aspects of our nations health. It has been the envy of the world ever since. 

Today, nine in 10 people agree that healthcare should be free of charge, more than four in five agree that care should be available to everyone. The NHS remains one of our most precious national assets and is the institution that the public have said makes them most proud to be British. It is built on the effort, skill, and commitment of its staff, the support of patients and service users, and strong relationships with the communities it serves.

The deep love we have for our health service is one of the most tremendous aspects of living in Britain. The knowledge that if you ever get ill or have an accident, you’ll get the care you need, whatever your circumstances, is one of Labour’s greatest achievements.

It wouldn’t be possible to run a 7-day NHS, caring for millions of people day-in-day-out without the hard work and dedication of its staff. Despite all the adversity that’s thrown at them: poor pay, bursary cuts, hospital parking fines and staff shortages to name a few; they continue to become stronger and relentlessly deliver fantastic healthcare to the nation .The recent pandemic have once again highlighted the strength, professionalism , dedication and bravery of our healthcare staff. It is truly inspiring to see how amazing the staff handled the awful situation and it was a testament to every healthcare worker throughout the UK. They are a credit to our nation and we couldn’t be more proud.

The NHS  here in Wales employs close to 72,000 staff which makes it Wales’ biggest employer.The NHS in Wales carries out around 360 thousand patient consultations every month in secondary care alone (not including GP visits or diagnostics) There are 79 babies born a day in Wales / with one birth every 18 minutes On average there are over 8,500 occupied NHS beds in Wales every day In the last 12 months, more than 20,000 patients started cancer treatment in Wales, But dedicated, compassionate staff  are under increased pressure, leading to low moral. Recent figures have emerged that 2/4s of hospitals have been warned about dangerous staff shortages.

We should not forget Nye Bevan's words who said ' It will last as long as their are folk with enough faith to fight for it. Despite all its current issues and flaws it is still the UK's greatest achievement- free healthcare for all at point of need from cradle to grave. Nye Bevan's words ring as true today as they ever did. 

On its birthday we should  remember   the NHS is a shining example of how a caring society can create  good and safe care based on social solidarity., making such a great contribution towards social and health equality.  A beacon to the world.

Thank you to all of those who have worked and who are still working tirelessly to provide the best care to over 64 million people in the UK. putting our communities and patients first - which shine through in the dedicated work of our doctors, nurses and health workers every day. The last 77 years wouldn’t have been possible without them. It is currently though in real danger, under attack from those that want to privatise it, run it down and fragment it ;

When the  Government  inevitably put out celebratory tweets today remember  they  are privatising it and with American plutocrats turning their eyes on the NHS, it's more important than ever that we continue to defend it with all we've got, Now, more than ever, it is vital that we stand together to defend our NHS from those who seek to undermine its core values. 

The best way we can mark the 77th anniversary is to vow to remain true to the principles that underpinned the NHS from the beginning – treatment free from private companies and free at the point delivery. Now more than ever we need to fight for an NHS fit to work in and fit for purpose for another 77 years or more. and we must protect it from privatisation at all costs. 

The  NHS has  sadly been systematically dismantled by both Conservative and Labour governments over four decades, with private US healthcare companies poised to feast on the carcass. From Margaret Thatcher’s first cuts, to Wes Streeting’s latest manoeuvres, the NHS has been hollowed out for profit, against the will of the British public.  

Now, a new nightmare looms: a Reform UK victory in the next general election, led by Nigel Farage, could obliterate the NHS in as little as 2–3 years, turning the UK into a patchwork of corporate sovereignties where democracy is replaced by a CEO-led ‘Sovereign Corporation’.  This isn’t a conspiracy: it’s a documented, deliberate, and devastating betrayal

The NHS was not given to us by the rich or powerful. It was won by struggle, built on the principle that healthcare is a right, not a privilege.  Every cut, every privatisation, is a betrayal. The fight now is to save what we already paid for. We we must take this opportunity to hold politicians to account being  aware  that  Wes Streetings and Keir Starmer's policies are going to cost lives and they're going to put more pressure on the NHS right at a time when it needs it the least. 

Wes Streeting  has  accepted £’000’s from private #healthcare interests so no wonder his plan for the NHS is to treat it like the water companies have treated our rivers. Sign this petition to say no to putting profits before patients. https://weownit.org.uk/act-now/no-new-pfi-in-neighbourhood-health-services

Wes Streeting telling everyone that the choice is change or bust for the NHS just as defence spending increases, as do the levels of profiteering by multi national corporations  proves  UK Labour  has gone full  tory.

Whatever you think about Labour as a whole, you must see that Wes Streeting is bad for the NHS. There  he is dripping in personnel private medicine investments,  but  now overlord of the NHS which is very  vulnerable from years of underfunding, lack of adequate staffing, inadequate equipment, poor morale, and the infiltration of for profit privateers.  

Streeting, has to  listen to us now, no privatisation, invest fully in the NHS, keep the private sector out and also ensure that NHS staff receive the pay and conditions they deserve if we are to reward and protect the best thing about it – the people that make it run day-in, day-out. We cannot continue with the Conservative legacy of running the NHS into the ground under the guise of reforms.

Support campaigns by https://everydoctor.org.uk/ and Keep Our NHS public https://keepournhspublic.com/ to stop privatisation. 

If Farage wins  at  next  election  the fight becomes existential: mobilise, protest, and vote to save the NHS and our democracy.  The NHS belongs to us, not to US corporations, Farage, or his far-right libertarian allies. Act now, or lose it all by 2031. 

Happy 77th Birthday to our NHS!  The best thing this country has ever created  ir deserve so much better than a Health Secretary who is 60%+ funded by donations from private healthcare .  Let's insure you are here to stay. Thank you to every staff member and volunteer who' with   skill and  dedication have  shaped our NHS - past, present and future.

Glastonbury Festival and Genocide

Yes the massacre at a music festival was an atrocity but Glastonbury has crossed a line. The chants crossed no line. Unless the Glastonbury Festival is supporting the genocide of Palestinians. It is the IDF slaughtering the Palestinians and openly said they are firing on hungry Palestinians who have queued up for aid. in  the above statement Glastonbury Festival is supporting genocide. 

Defending an army that many organisations, from Oxfam to the UN, is calling genocide is disgusting. Musicians at Glastonbury calling out Israel’s genocide isn’t a “Nazi rally” it’s a clear cry for justice. Conflating anti-genocide protest with antisemitism is dishonest and dangerous. 

al atrocity is happening in Gaza, not the actions on a stage calling for accountability. This weekend at least Glastonbury has become a gathering of thousands united by deep love for Palestinian light and deep hatred for Israeli darkness, a forever symbol of genocide, racism and mass murder. 

Most of the politicians and journalists who will be outraged by political statements at Glastonbury are captured by the Israeli lobby. There is a genocide taking place and thank goodness we have artists prepared to say so. You don’t have to like the way they articulate it but I, for one, understand the anger and frustration behind it.

No one will ever make me believe that Israel, IDF and Zionists are the victims here. and nothing said at Glastonbury even touches the depraved and historic violence of the Israeli state, which is writing the next holocaust into the history books as we speak. Glastonbury should not be the story, neither kneecap or anyone else should be the story. The only story should be Genocide. Nothing can normalize this. All of us have a duty to stop genocide. Shame on all humans who do nothing and allow the killing to continue! 

The lesson from Glastonbury is just because you try and stop people saying it's a genocide doesn't make them think it's not  happening because  quite clearly it  is, the message of Death to fascism, does not disturb  me, but an  army that is currently killing 10s of 1000s of people. does .

The BBC refused to stream Kneecap live at Glastonbury because calling out the british government’s role in global violence is apparently off-limits. So Bob Vylan whatever one might think of him did it on their own livestream. You can censor the artist. But not the message. 

Palestine Action. Kneecap or. Bob Vylan. We live in an upside-down world where the immoral army of a terror state committing genocide are the good guys, and those who oppose it are the bad guys. You don’t have to like the way they articulate it but I for one, understand the anger and frustration behind it. No one will ever make me believe that Israel, IDF and Zionists are the victims here.

And nothing said at Glastonbury even touches the depraved and historic violence of the Israeli state, which is writing the next holocaust into the history books as we speak, with  an  immoral army sniping children, starving children and their families with an endless stream of weapons that has to  be stopped,  

The lesson from Glastonbury is just because you try and stop people saying it's a genocide doesn't make them think it's not a genocide. It just makes them angrier and more radical .We are all Palestinians and  we  won't  be  silenced,. Free Palestine! From the river to the sea. 

We are all Palestine Action

Outrageous that the British gov is moving to ban non violent direct action group Palestine Action whilst it still sells weapons to the state that is carrying out a genocide.  They represent every individual who opposes the Israeli war machine. They represent every person that believes Palestinians are worth more  than the tools used to kill them. They represent every person who stands for Palestinian liberation. If they want to ban them, they ban us all.

Under the legislation proposed  it  will  become  a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, for anyone to become a member of, or even to support the direct action of Palestine Action.

This  is what  we  should  all  be telling Yvette Cooper MP.  Given that it will soon be illegal to say this: I support Palestine Action. Their actions are proportionate and on the right side of history. It's absurd to brand them a "terrorist" group for daring to spray paint on an aircraft that is helping the terrorist entity known as Israel to kill women and children. And I will still think that even when it becomes illegal to say it.

Palestine Action hasn’t murdered any people queuing for food aid, hasn’t bombed any hospitals or incinerated patients in tents, hasn’t stolen land or fired at a desperately frightened 6 year-old with a tank.  Palestine Action are doing what the UK government have failed to do under domestic and IHL, and this is to stop arming, aiding and abetting a holocaust!

The suffragettes movement, particularly the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), would be considered a "terrorist organisation" By UK law today. Taking action against companies complicit in genocide is not terrorism. The point is to make fewer people die. It's the opposite of terrorism. and supporting the liberation for Palestinian people is not terrorism.

Drone-striking refugees in tents is terrorism. Bombing displaced people in a designated “safe zone” is terrorism. Sniping children is terrorism. Shooting starving people as they queue for food is terrorism. And by criminalising Palestine Action our government is complicit in this , the very reason ordinary citizens are forced to take direct action to protest to stop them, Fuck  this  depraved  blood   soaked  government. We will not be silenced. We  must  condemn their actions  in the strongest possible terms. Full solidarity with Palestine Action! In n our hundreds in our millions we are all Palestinians. .Palestine will be free. From the rivers  to  the sea.

OPERATION SOLSTICE - The Battle of the Beanfield 1985 (40th Anniversary ) Lest we Forget

 

The Battle of the Beanfield took place over several hours, ago today on the afternoon  Saturday 1 June 1985, when Wiltshire police prevented a vehicle convoy of several hundred New Age Travelers, known as the ' Peace Convoy'  from setting off from Savernake Forest in Wiltshire towards the twelfth Stonehenge Free Festival and setting up a free gathering and celebration of the summer solstice that had been taking place since 1974.

Stonehenge Free Festival   had grown from the ashes of the Windsor Park Free Festival, that used to take place on the Queen’s lawn, but when this was crushed in 1973 (by the then Labour Government – surprise, surprise), those   that had gathered there moved to the Henge  under the right of Common Law. 

However at a meeting of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), in early 1985, it was resolved to obtain a High Court Injunction preventing the annual gathering at Stonehenge. This was the device to be used to justify the attack at the “Battle of the Beanfield” on the 1st June in Hampshire. Well it wasn’t a battle really. It was an ambush.

They were stopped by a  militarised police roadblock, following  which 1,300 police descended upon them and  British and brutally attacked  people that resulted in innocent unarmed people, women and children being violently beaten up in their own homes, after years of gathering  in the same place of celebration, by the combined  forces of the state, who armed with shields and batons ran savagely amok.

The traditional Stonehenge People’s Free Festival,  had taken place at Stonehenge for the summer solstice for a decade. The festival, which lasted for the whole of June, had become a countercultural highlight of the calendar for many people, particularly the growing number of people who had chosen to live on the road in Thatcher’s Britain. In 1984 an estimated 30,000 people had attended. 

It was estimated that at the time of the Beanfield there were some 12,000 travellers living on the road throughout the UK. And the numbers were steadily growing, taking advantage of the thriving free festival circuit throughout the UK at the time.

The  marginalised and dispossessed  of this land  were brutally  targeted by a police forces  under the auspices of  Margaret Thatcher's right wing, repressive  Conservative Government,  as they suppressed a peoples thirst for freedom,  with  quasi military force that systematically carried out serious abuses of their power with such unrelenting  frenzied brutality following similar tactics  used  against striking miners  the one  in Orgreave the year before.,

On their way to a festival in the North the previous year travellers had encountered officers from the Met returning from the pit villages. As they drove passed them police held up signs with ‘YOU’RE NEXT’ emblazoned across them.

The ambush on June 1 resulted in the worst police violence in living memory, and involved 1300 officers from 6 constabularies. The government and  police, deciding to put an end to both the Festival and the travelling lifestyle that growing numbers of people were adopting. Using an increasingly para-militarised police force, as an extension of brute strength tactics employed against the miners the previous year. 

It was also just after the eviction of the Molesworth peace camp, which is where the traveller's Peace Convoy got it's name, at a time when anyone who opposed government policy was considered to be an 'Enemy Within' and investigated, infiltrated, marginalised, and often attacked, both physically and through the law.

A  truly  horrible time, like today, when people who live on societies  edges are attacked simply for being different. Women and their babies were left showered with glass after the police had smashed up their vehicles and homes and  the police cracked skulls (literally), One young mother carrying her baby, was dragged out of her home by her hair. Some of the police, clearly intent on causing serious damage to both people and homes, were masked up to protect their anonymity. Many didn’t wear numbers. 

It would subsequently  leave over 116 travelers  hospitalised and see  537 travellers arrested after their homes were systematically looted, smashed and burnt  with their possessions  being stolen.. At the time this represented one of the largest mass arrests of civilians since at least the Second World War. ( the few that were arrested were never ever prosecuted) 

Innocent people  who were beaten and bloodied because they simply refused to conform or bow down to a rotten system, and had decided to try and live by their own set of alternative values. Who  simply wanted to gather under the stones to celebrate their lives, sing and dance.. The overall cost of this operation was a staggering £5 miillion. The media of the time played their part too, with footage of the most extreme police violence being subsequently lost, and the subsequent demonising of the traveller lifestyle. 

The travellers unexpected saviour at the time was the Earl of Cardigan, who at the times self-described  himself as "card-carrying Conservative" but  became an invaluable witness to the travellers' tales of police brutality, vandalism and unfair arrest. An interesting note - the Telegraph called the Earl of Cardigan a 'class traitor' for testifying about the violence he witnessed.

A dark day for British justice and civil liberties and freedom, marking a turning point after the injustices of  Wapping, and the miners strike in this supression of our civil liberties that we should never forget.the largest mass arrest in British history.

In a spiteful coordination, social services were on hand to take traumatised children into care, and in some cases held for a few days. Seven dogs were put down. the children of the travellers into care. The last child was returned to their family in the early 2000s  It is important  to  remember that  there has never been a proper inquiry into the brutality - physical and systemic - used. and  years later people still  suffering the consequences ,and bearing the scars of this dark passage in history.

The stones remain, but we should continue to mourn  to  remember and mourn  the pain, and values of human decency that was lost on this day.
Footage of this day which you can see in following film should still make us all, shudder - it's the sight of power off the leash, police arrogant enough to know that they can beat up defenceless people in front of TV cameras without having to worry because they know their political masters had given  them them the green light to do what they like, a dark day reminding us  how British justice and civil liberties and freedom is eroded, that we  should never forget. Years later people still  suffering the consequences , and bearing the scars of this dark passage in history. 

In February 1991 a civil court judgement awarded 21 of the travellers £24,000 in damages for false imprisonment, damage to property and wrongful arrest. The award was swallowed by their legal bill as the judge did not award them legal costs.

The Battle of  the  beanfield remains  a  watermark event  and  one of the darkest days in contemporary British history and in the fight for the commons. An indicator of what was to come, with increased surveillance and suppression of all dissenting voices. One of the lasting legacies of the Battle of the Beanfield, and subsequent police operations surrounding travellers and the summer solstice, would be to tighten an increasingly authoritarian police state belt.

 There were two clear results from the battle, the Stonehenge free festivals came to an end, merging into the nearby Glastonbury Festival. And it spurred calls for similar heavy-handed tactics against gypsy, or Roma, camps around Britain. Local councillors saw an opportunity to win votes from residents by demanding Stonehenge-style policing against all travellers.

In 1986, ushered in on a wave of news-managed moral panic, it was the Public Order Act. Supposedly the government aimed it at a minority, but, as with every legal knee jerk since, it bound everyone. In one section, it limits the number of vehicles that could park up together to twelve – because they really didn’t like people meeting up.  

This would soon become  thanks to the Criminal Justice Act 1994, another tightened notch, only this time with two new convenient groups – ravers and road protestors – in the crosshairs. And more recently, we’ve seen anti-protest laws, controlling everybody, not just Just Stop Oil. The battle of the beanfield will never be forgotten and the police  can never be forgiven  for  the  actions they  committed  on this  dreadful  day. At a roundabout  in , Wiltshire, someone has placed on one of the fence posts a commemorative plaque. It says:  

This marks the spot of THE BATTLE OF THE BEANFIELD June 1st 1985.  

An inscription adds:  

You can’t kill the spirit.  

And despite their best efforts, after nearly 40 years of the Public Order Act 1986, with hundreds of people now taking up van life in laybys, carparks, and in fields all over the country, they still clearly haven’t. Because no matter how hard they push down with that thumb, the spirit, like water, will always find a way:

                                   Copyright Alan Lodge

Operation Solstice -- The Beanfield 1985 (40th Anniversary 

  

 
Some good links here for more on this  tragic story

http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/henge-85.html

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/

http://libcom.org/history/1985-battle-beanfield

The Levellers - Battle of the Beanfield

Hawkwind - Ghost Dance

Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Itinerant Child

Inner Terrestials - Free the land

Hope for Palestine

 

Art: 'We shall Return' Abu Ishtayyah

Hope for Palestine, 

We witness children burning, trapped by hellish fire

Bombed to death by terrorist state fuelling ire, 

These flames burn deep inside, cruel and unkind

Grave injustices that engulf heart and mind,

No room for words, the world must act and stand  

Let justice  be delivered, offer it's unyielding hand, 

Amidst all the pain, where hope seems shatterred

There remains a people with spirits undaunted, 

Never surrendering or giving in, hold on to sumud

A unique iteration of resilience and steadfastness,

Do not fall into despair, even in the darkest times

Strong  and fearless, under ash ridden sky,    

Last night, I had a dream, in this land of Palestine

From the rivers to the sea, the chimes of freedom,

Beyond this time of  genocide and annihilation

The pain of hunger replaced with healing balms, 

Instead of living in tents, trembling in fear of bombs 

Homes rebuilt, children wake to play and laughter, 

Eyes see the delight of beauty and goodness 

As flowers bloom again under spreading olive trees,

Hear joyful sounds of liberation, as occupation ends 

Peace and love daily spread, instead of oppression. 

Feeling , Sad and Depressed? You might be suffering from Capitalism.

Today, Capitalism seems to be an unescapable state of things, a system far too big and complex to be even put into question. Yet many of the problems of our modern world, though, from the environmental crisis to social and economic inequalities, mental  health crisis, seem to lead back to our  current  economic system. 

The very heart and soul of the system is the idea that our economy exists to serve the wealthy, to allow them to extract limitless, maximum amounts from the rest of us, and from the planet. Protecting and growing their financial wealth,called “capital”is the aim of the whole system. 

Capital is a world-wide relation between classes, based on the exploitation of wage labour and production for sale in order to realise profit. The constant search for outlets for its commodities calls forth ruthless competition between nation states for domination of the world market. And this competition demands that every national capital must expand or die. A capitalism that no longer seeks to penetrate the last corner of the planet and grow without limit cannot exist.

By the same token, capitalism is utterly incapable of cooperating on a global scale to respond to the ecological crisis, as the abject failure of all the various climate summits and protocols has already proved. The hunt for profit, which has nothing to do with human need, is at the root of the despoliation of nature and  the  gaping   inequaliries  we see  in  society  and this has been true since capitalism began.

The origins of capitalism are complicated, and stretch back to the 16th century, when the British systems of power largely collapsed after the Black Death, a deadly plague that killed off up to 60% of Europe’s entire population. A newly formed class of merchants began to trade with foreign countries, and this newfound demand for exports hurt local economies and began to dictate overall production and pricing of goods. It also led to the spread of colonialism, slavery, and imperialism.  

The death of feudalism ,a hierarchical system often seen as oppressive that kept poor people bonded to their masters’ land, which they farmed in exchange for a place to live and military protection, also left rural British peasants with no homes and no work, which eventually funneled them away from the countryside and into urban centers. These former farm workers then had to sell their labor in a newly competitive work environment in order to survive, while the state worked in concert with the new capitalists to establish a maximum wage and “clamp down on beggars.”  

By the 18th century, England had converted into an industrial nation, and the dawn of the Industrial Revolution saw an explosion of manufacturing overtake the island. It is within those smoky factories and flammable textile mills that our modern idea of capitalism, and the opposition to it, began to fully flourish. 

In 1776, Scottish economist Adam Smith published his treatise, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which is regarded as the bedrock upon which modern capitalism stands. Though some of his specific ideas about value and labor differ from those of modern economists, Smith is often called “the father of capitalism.”

Capitalism has since  continually pushed the idea of market fundamentalism,  meaning that the market can solve all social, economic, and political problems. According to this idea, the market serves best when left unregulated. It promotes a cut-throat competition driven by self-interest. Believing  that this kind of environment leads to innovation and economic growth, promoting overall welfare.  

But  left to its own devices, raw unmanaged capitalism produces some very unpleasant outcomes. Capitalism takes the position that “greed is good,” which its supporters say is a positive thing, greed drives profits and profits drive innovation and product development, which means there are more choices available for those who can afford them. Yett capitalism is, by  it's very nature, is exploitative, and leads to a brutally divided society that tramples the working classes in favor of fattening the rich’s wallets. 

While Capitalism encourages greed,  let's try  not to  forget that  greed is only good for capitalists qho  are ,typically wealthy people who have a large amount of capital (money or other financial assets) invested in business, and who benefit from the system of capitalism by making increased profits and thereby adding to their wealth. 

Many people believe that greed is the root of all evil,  that it is anti-social and soul destroying, not to mention very bad for our communities, which rely on altruism, compassion and a generalized concern for others. Beleiving that Capitalism  has become such an alienating system that makes people feel powerless, isolated, insecure, afraid,  and demand the destruction of the system that they see as being a Plutocracy that is of the Corporations, by the Corporations, for the Corporations to screw the people over. 

The benefits of capitalism are rarely equitably distributed. Wealth tends to accrue to a small % of the population and the very sick nature of capitalism  causing  inequality to keep increasing, causing  traits like  selfishness and makes people more acquisitive and materialistic. It provides us with an idea of success that rendered us as lonely and stressed creatures filled with self-doubt. 

Norms of capitalist society also help   enforce social isolation. Isolation  which  has become an epidemic.as more and more people  become  isolated from their friends, families, relationships, and even from their work. 

This  leads  me to  the subject  of mental health  which is probably the most ignored aspect of one’s health. Seeing the data of rising mental illness, it will not be suitable for us if we keep ignoring this impending epidemic and how capitalism helps  create  it. A subject  so  impoetant to  address as globally, more than 264 million people suffer from depression. Over 8,00,000 people commit suicide every year, which is roughly one person every 40 seconds.

There is a significant correlation between social conditions and the mental health of persons. Mental illness is not a mere chemical imbalance in mind. We are a reflection of society. If we are healthy, it means the community is healthy and if we are sick, it means society is sick, and its root cause is capitalism. And there's nothing more depressing than capitalism. Multiple studies link capitalism's byproducts; inequality, job insecurity, and social alienation, to mental illness. 

Most of society's mental health problems stem ultimately from financial insecurity and the alienation from one's own human essence having to working under the capitalist mode of production. Capitalism produces a society where wealth is equated with happiness. The more a person can consume, the happier they  can be. In a quest to achieve this happiness, people feel alienated, sad, depressed, and anxious.

A capitalistic society continually asks us to be “productive” and condition us to feel bad and guilty for relaxing, or as they say, wasting time. This has led to the birth of a new problem known as Productivity Anxiety- a state in which a person feels anxious for not being “productive enough.”

We constantly compare ourselves with others and fear being “less productive” than them. Anything other than that, no matter how much it can be useful for oneself, is not productive. Society in Capitalism makes us believe that we are worth nothing more than our productivity.  

Capitalism  also  uses  manipulative  tools like advertising ,marketing, entertainment and even so-called news. to  control  our  minds, Millions around the world are employed to use their creativity to twist our feelings of love, desire, human solidarity and fairness into tools of manipulation,. so that ever more profits can flow into the hands of a tiny minority.  

The market under Capitalism has failed to keep it’s the most significant promise. It was supposed to grant us freedom and emancipation; instead, it has delivered the  opposite The vast majority of us who work for a living are daily asked to uncritically follow orders, to act as if we are machines, and limit our creativity to what profits our bosses.Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman has rightly remarked,” Never have we been so free. Never have we felt so powerless.” 

So next time you feel sad, afraid, or anxious and feel at odds with this mad market-driven world where people with poor mental health are just treated as another market, it’s not because of a chemical imbalance in your mind most of the time, it is Capitalism.

Capitalism breaks our spirit by forcing us to claw our way through life as commodities and it's so logical that a society organized around the commodification of everything would produce a mental health crisis. It pits us against one another. It rips away our humanity. It destroys empathy. It destroys our sense of community. It destroys families. 

The capitalist system not only prioritises profit over human health and wellbeing, it actively thrives on the extraction of corporate revenue from human malaise and torment. Just ask the pharmaceutical industry.  

The formula is simple. Neoliberalism breeds psychological distress by working to obliterate solidarity, the very essence of humanity, while converting the right to physical and mental health care into an exclusive and costly endeavour, an arrangement that only aggravates mental health stressors for those of lesser socioeconomic means. 

 And while depression, anxiety and despair are completely rational reactions to an inhuman environment, and a world that capitalism is rapidly propelling towards ecological annihilation, drug companies have pushed pathologising psychological turmoil as an individual defect rather than a result of societal context. 

 Capitalism is also not a friend to democracy but ultimately its enemy. When pushed, capitalists choose capitalism over democracy. If people use democracy to weaken the power of capitalists the rich and powerful turn to various forms of fascism in order to keep their privileges. Rich people also use their money to dominate the elections that are supposed to give us all one, equal vote. Under capitalism those with the most money are entitled to the most goods and services as well as the most say in directing our governments and our economy. 

As German Communist philosopher and economist Karl Marx, perhaps the most famous opponent of capitalism in history, who ironically enough helped to popularize the term , wrote in his book Capital, Volume 1: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production, “Just as man is governed, in religion, by the products of his own brain, so, in capitalist production, he is governed by the products of his own hand.”  The essential anti-capitalist argument is that “the hallmark of capitalism is poverty in the midst of plenty.”  forcing  immense suffering and violence upon the laboring classes, the ruthless emphasis on profits over people, the proliferation of wage slavery, in which people have no choice but to sell their labor, which we see in every industry from fast food to corporate office work.

Marx also emphasized the system’s capacity to dehumanize workers, writing that capitalist methods of productivity “mutilate the labourer into a fragment of a man, degrade him to the level of an appendage of a machine, destroy every remnant of charm in his work and turn it into a hated toil.”  Today his words sound eerily current,

As the looming threat of automation and erosion of public health care puts more pressure on the working class, with many of  us worrying that capitalism’s thirst for profit over everything else means that those who sell their labor will be worked to death.

Capitalism proclaims the virtue of naked self-interest, but self-interest without regard for morality, or common sense that leads to environmental degradation, colonialism, war and other forms of mass destruction,  while a  the same time , the arms industry, another pillar of capitalism, perpetuates its own vicious cycle of lucrative catastrophe, devastating communities as it wages war on human empathy.

In conclision capitalism has become so dominant that it is difficult to ever imagine a world in which its injustices and inequalities are not present. but the  pervasive myth that capitalism is unchallengeable like it will outlive the human race and the earth itself,is based on fictions and the propaganda of capitalism itself. We don't have to settle for the status quo or to the direction that society seems to be taking us. 

Remember Capitalism has never been static, never mind stable. It has collapsed into failure countless times, destroying lives, communities and entire nations before being bailed out by the sweat and callouses of the working class.  In this way, it can be seen as a chronic condition, a system of destabilisation, collapse and rebirth that perpetually takes place, with each iteration slightly different, and often less stable than the last. 

The UK is  currently experiencing levels of inflation not seen since the 1980s; declining wages are going hand in hand with soaring fuel and food prices, and a large proportion of the population are unable to meet their basic needs. The popular narrative surrounding this ‘costs of living crisis’ links it with certain isolated ‘shocks’ – the War in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit etc – and suggests it can be managed, and overcome, via certain temporary measures, such as wage restraint, reduced public spending, and limited assistance to the most vulnerable.  In fact, of course, this ‘costs of living’ crisis is deeply  rooted in the much more generalised crisis of modern capitalism.

The nature of capitalism, serves a purpose other than to produce misery..We just need to stop bolstering it with meek lies based on flawed economic theory that it is an inherently superior and inviolable system, as there is an abundance of evidence to the contrary.  As long as humanity ties itself to capitalism we are doomed. It’s a parasitic, dysfunctional and abusive  system that has reached a dead end and must be abolished. A new  fairer egalitarian society for the benefit of all in accordance with a set of collectively determined parameters; unlike under capitalism is required. 

There is no easy way to do this, and we are currently a long way from the sort of consciousness and organisation needed to overthrow this system of inequality. However another kinder  world devoid  of  capitalsm is possible,  but  we have to  continually  to fight  for  it.  in  all  areas of our lives,  putting people and the planet before  profit. .

“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.”  Ursula Le Guin.

From old stems to new seedlings

We are all products

Of our mistakes, 

A mosaic of different scars

Haunting the present.

Hope is the lifeline, 

That keeps on calling, 

A silent presence that says,

you’re not alone.

Between the flaws  

We make journeys,

With our healing hearts,

Allow love to stir.

Beyond the storms of life ,

Times of trauma and strife, 

Every day is a new breath  

We inhale letting out a sigh.

Make our amends

Relax with inner grace,

Erase trembling aches

As bitterness floats away.

Let turbulent thoughts go

Settle like depositing sediments,

Wash away deep insecurities

Embrace labyrinths of existence.

 

Broken paths deflected

Reach out for the evening sky, .

Enabling clarity to arrive 

On the wings of dawn.

Carry kindness as a tool

Against tides of injustice, 

Support those holding on 

Surviving against the odds.

Plant seeds of understanding

With gentle hands and minds

Allow words of  joy to grow

Spread peace like a wildflower.

International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

Today is International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Observed every year, as a global moment for collective action, awareness, solidarity, and visibility for LGBT+ rights and campaigning for a prejudice-free world. Founded in 2004 by French academic Louis-Georges Tin, this day was chosen to honour May 17, 1990, the date the World Health Organization made the landmark decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder. 

It is a day to recognize hard-earned progress, while also addressing the pursuit of equality..Every year, policy makers, opinion leaders, the media and the general public are challenged to address the urgent need to combat violence and discrimination against LGBTI persons and to build inclusive societies, enriched through their diversity. 

IDAHOBIT is now celebrated celebrated in more than 130 countries, including 37 where same-sex is illegal. The UK’s Prime Minister  Keir Sarmer is ignoring it and instead tweeting like Donald Trump, (the most anti-LGBTQ+ president in American history) about immigrants. He’s paving the road for fascists to walk into Downing Street and take over.

65 countries still criminalise LGBTs, 12 have death penalty, 30 are Commonwealth nations  The fight continues until all LGBTs everywhere are free and equal

This year’s theme - “The power of communities” - reflecting the diversity  and richness within LGBTQIA+ communities and celebrating the range of backgrounds, identities, and  experiences they encompass  and is a powerful reminder of the strength that comes from coming together. 

It speaks to the resilience, courage, and care that define LGBTQIA+ communities at every level, from grassroots groups to global advocates. Let us honour the power of communities by listening, learning, and standing up for the right of every person to live and love with dignity, safety, and respect 

Too many LGBTQIA+ people continue to face violence, stigma, and discrimination. Across regions, regressive policies, targeted attacks,anti-rights and so-called “anti-gender” rhetoric is on the rise: criminalisation of identities, bans on gender transition, attacks on inclusive education or parental rights. are on the rise:

As a result the day is more important than ever with a resurgence in homphobic and transphobic laws being passed and transphobic news stories gaining mainstream attention.

In the UK, a recent Supreme Court judgment on the legal definition of sex, raises serious concerns for the rights of trans women, in work, education and healthcare. 

In Hungary, the parliament has passed a law banning Pride events and other gatherings that promote LGBTQI+ rights. In Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda conservative alliances, financed by international conservative groups, are fuelling anti-LGBTQI+ and anti-abortion campaigns. These are political strategies of repression and control that threaten fundamental rights. 

In America  the Trump-Vance administration since it took office in January has issued a number of executive orders that have specifically targeted transgender and nonbinary people. They include a declaration that the federal government will recognize “only two genders, male and female” and a directive that bans the State Department from issuing passports with an “X” gender marker.

While the  administration’s decision to suspend most foreign aid has forced several LGBTQ rights groups and HIV/AIDS service organizations in South Africa, Kenya, and other African countries that received U.S. funding to curtail operations or shut down. 

In the face of these attacks, we have a duty to speak out, to defend hard-won rights, and to stand in solidarity with those who are targeted.especially in uncertain and challenging times. The day reminds us that there is still a long way to go until all LGBTQ+ people are free and safe from harm.

Discrimination and violence should never be allowed on any grounds, including sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.The world is full of different wonderful people. Some of these people are made to feel they are different or not normal. Together, we can help build a more inclusive world.Let's  celebrate our  diversity and never  ever take human rights for granted,  while continuing to fight for a world where everyone can live freely, safely, and with dignity, regardless of who they love or how they identify. .

Marking the 77th Anniversary of the Nabka

On May 15th Palestinians  and their allies around the world mark the  anniversary of  their  disposssession,  the Nakba ( literally “disaster” or “catastrophe” in Arabic)  a poignant reminder of the forced displacement in 1948 of more than 750,000 Palestinians, about half of the Arab population  in Palestine at that time,

The 1948 founding of Israel was founded with the Nakba, a series of atrocities that ethnically cleansed Palestinians from their homeland.Israel was established by means of brutal massacres  (Deir Yassin, Kafr Qasim, Tantura, etc.), through ethnic cleansing, and an attempt to erase Palestinians both from their land and global collective memory.. Palestinians were forced out of their homes and lands and saw Palestinian villages wiped off the map in places like Yassin, Lydda and Tantura  by the hands of Zionist para-military groups like Ergun,  the Stern Gang  and Haganah, that later formed the core of the Israeli Defense Force.

Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the establishment of the Palestine Mandate, the British colonial power began implementing its plan of creating a Jewish state on Palestinian land. At the same time, the Zionist movement was lobbying Western powers to support the mass migration of Jews to Palestine and recognize a Jewish claim to the land.  In 1917, the Balfour Declaration declared British support for a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, and that's how the Day of Nakba officially began. 

The  notorious declaration was made in a letter written by Britain's then-Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, to Baron Rothschild, a leader of the British Zionist movement. The letter was endorsed by Britain's then-Prime Minister David Lloyd George..The letter stated the British would "use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object". For Zionists, this was a clear victory.

The vast majority of Palestinian refugees, both those outside the 1949 armistice lines  and those internally displaced, were barred by the newly declared state of Israel from their right to return to their homes or the reclaiming of their property, and in doing so Israel violated international law. It is the defining event that formed and solidified the Palestinian liberation struggle.

To understand the Nakba is to first confront its sheer scale and totality. Before the Nakba there was a large, deeply rooted, and essentially ancient Arab society in most of what, within a few months, became the Jewish state of Israel. In effect, one day it was there, as it had been for living memory, and the next day it was gone. An entire society, with the exception of relatively small groups in a few places, simply vanished.

After World War I, the League of Nations broke the Ottoman Empire up into territories assigned to different colonial powers. The lands that today constitute Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories were placed under British rule, but with two explicit and incompatible purposes: Britain was already committed to supporting the recently established Zionist movement that sought to create “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. 

Then in Britain came the notorious 1917 Balfour Declaration and the Palestine mandate, in which the overwhelming Palestinian majority was simply referred to as “existing non-Jewish communities,” with “civil and religious rights,” but not political ones.

With the Balfour Declaration, the government of the time was seeking Jewish support for its war efforts, and the Zionist push for a homeland for Jews, which was becoming an emerging political force. In 1917, Jews constituted 10% of the population, the rest were  Arabs. Yet Britain recognised the national rights of a tiny minority and denied it to the majority This was a classic colonial document which totally disregarded the rights and aspirations of the indigenous population. In the words of Jewish writer Arthur Koestler: “One nation solemnly promised to a second nation the country of a third.”

It was a shock to the Arab world, which had not been consulted and had received promises of independence of its own in the post-war break up of the defeated Ottoman Empire. The Palestinians have always condemned the declaration, which they refer to as the "Balfour promise" saying Britain was giving away land it did not own.

The Balfour Declaration constituted a  dangerous historical precedent and a blatant breach of all international laws and norms, and this  act of the British Empire to “give” the land of another people  for colonial settlement created the conditions for countless atrocities against the Palestinian people. Balfour, in a 1919 confidential memo, wrote: 

 “Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age old traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far greater import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land”  

The discriminatory language used by Sir Arthur Balfour and seen in the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate reveal the prejudiced rational behind British foreign policy in Palestine. A month after the Balfour Declaration on 2 December 1917, the British army occupied Jerusalem. In 1923, the British Mandate for Palestine came into effect, and included the entire text of the Balfour Declaration. Through the Mandate, Britain would go on to rule Palestine for three decades.

As a result of all of this the Palestinian people were denied the right to independence and statehood, and were treated as refugees in their own land. The Nakba resulted in the destruction of much of Palestinian society and much of the Arab landscape was obliterated by the Zionist state. And in the post 1948 period the Palestinians became second class citizens, subject  to a system of military occupation by a government that confiscated the bulk of their lands.

Even the word 'Nakba' was banned by the Israeli Minister of Education in 2009, and was removed from school textbooks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayah said at the time that the word was tantamount to spreading propoganda against Israel. But the word Nakba is the term that about a fifth of Israel's population, the Palestinians use to describe this day.

The influx of Zionists to Palestine, supported by the British, was however was met with fierce Palestinian resistance and is very important to note that the Palestinian leadership in Al-Quds at the time insisted on continuing negotiations with the British to resolve the simmering tensions, Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam, a Syrian leader living in Haifa since 1922, began calling for resistance against the British and the Zionists.  In 1935, Al-Qassam was surrounded by British forces and killed along with some of his men. His resistance inspired many Palestinians.

By 1936, an Arab resistance erupted against British imperialism and Zionist settler colonialism and by  1939, the Palestinians found themselves fighting two enemies: British colonial forces and Zionist militia groups.

And although the British had backed mass Jewish immigration to Palestine, the colonial power began to limit the number of Jews arriving in the country in an attempt to quell Arab unrest.This new limit on immigration upset the Zionists and they launched a series of terrorist attacks on British authorities to drive them out, while at the same time the Zionists continued to further advance their dream of creating a Jewish state on Palestinian land. 

After the war, Israel refused to allow them the right to return because it says it would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within its borders. Instead, they became a seemingly permanent refugee community that now numbers some 6 million, with most living in slum-like urban refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 

The Zionist strategy of expelling Palestinians from their land was a slow and deliberate process. According to Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, Zionist leaders and military commanders met regularly from March 1947 to March 1948, when they finalized plans to ethnically cleanse Palestine.  As Zionist attacks on the British and Arabs escalated, the British decided to hand over their responsibility for Palestine to the newly founded United Nations.

In November 1947, the UN General Assembly proposed a plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab one. Jews in Palestine only constituted one-third of the population - most of whom had arrived from Europe a few years earlier - and only retained control of less than 5.5 percent of historic Palestine. Yet under the UN proposal, they were allocated 55 percent of the land. The Palestinians and their Arab allies rejected the proposal. The Zionist message was simple: Leave the land or be killed. The Zionist movement accepted all this on the grounds that it legitimized the idea of a Jewish state on Arab land. But they did not agree to the proposed borders and campaigned to conquer even more of historic Palestine. 

As the date (May 14, 1948) selected by the British for their Palestine Mandate to expire approached, Zionist forces hastened their efforts to seize Palestinian land. In April 1948, the Zionists captured Haifa, one of the biggest Palestinian cities, and subsequently set their eyes on Jaffa. On the same day, British forces formally withdrew, and David Ben-Gurion, then-head of the Zionist Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the state of Israel.  Overnight, the Palestinians became stateless. The world’s two great powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, immediately recognized Israel. 

As the Zionists continued their ethnic cleansing campaign against the Palestinians, war broke out between neighboring Arab countries and the new Zionist state. The UN appointed Swedish diplomat, Folke Bernadotte, as its mediator in Palestine. He recognized the plight of the Palestinians and attempted to address their suffering. His efforts to bring about a peaceful solution and halt to the ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign ended when he was assassinated by the Zionists in September 1948. 

Nevertheless the  UN continued to push for an armistice deal between Israel and those Arab countries.  Bernadotte was replaced by his American deputy, Ralph Bunche. Negotiations led by Bunche between Israel and the Arab states resulted in the latter conceding even more Palestinian land to the newly founded Zionist state. In May 1949, Israel was admitted to the UN, and its grip over 78 percent of historic Palestine was consolidated. The remaining 22 percent became known as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

While the Nakba represented a catastrophic historic event in the collective consciousness of the Palestinian people, it was followed only 19 years later by another horrific war which resulted in the displacement of a quarter to one third of the Palestinian population and the beginning of a new era in which the whole of it got to live under a complex Israeli regime. 

This additional event got to be known as “the Naksa”, which can be translated as a serious quick escalation of an earlier catastrophe. The Naksa happened in and after a war that took only six days between Israel on the one hand, and a number of Arab countries surrounding, resulting in a relatively easy victory of Israel and the occupation of territories that were under the sovereignty or administration of its neighbouring states. 

Although the hostilities of the war itself were quick and not that widespread, the displaced persons from the occupied Palestinian Territory were hundreds of thousands. In other words, the number of Palestinians displaced in that war was out of proportion. This can be understood only by explaining the ideological background that has, since the Nakba, been informing military, legislative and administrative Israeli operations. 

When the war took place in 1967, Zionist leaders saw this as an opportunity to make some demographic changes in the occupied territory as a whole and in certain areas in particular. During and immediately after the war, some quarter a million to 420,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes.in  a  continiation of  Israels policy  of  etnic  cleansing  that  started with the Nabka, 

The Nabka is given almost no attention in  history books or by the mainstream news media but is essential in understanding the ongoing violence in Israel-Palestine and the Middle East in general.  Events like  this  are at the core of the Palestinan peoples  national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. 

The Nakba, is ongoing to this day, as millions of Palestinians continue to be starved in Gaza, while thousands more are massacred and displaced from Gaza to the West Bank in  Israel's ongoing genocide.

Over the past 77 years, the Palestinian people have continued to be oppressed and dispossessed, with  over 7 million Palestinians living  as refugees or exiles, who  are still denied the right to return to the land from which they, or their family, were forcibly expelled. A right which is enshrined in international law. 

The Nakba  continues every day as Palestinians are evicted from their homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to be replaced by illegal Jewish-only settlements. It continues as Israel’s occupation obstructs and severely restricts Palestinians’ attainment of rights and fundamental freedoms, including: the right to life, the right to liberty and security of person, and their right to an adequate standard of living.

The crimes that were committed in 1948 draw haunting parallels to the action that Israeli forces have been committing in Palestine in since October 7, 2023. Today we are witnessing Israel engage in ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza on an even larger, more violent scale. The Palestinians are facing what Israeli leaders openly call the “Gaza Nakba”an unprecedented genocide of extermination and forced displacement against Palestinians in Gaza.   

In the aftermath of October 7th, a second Nakba has been unfolding in Gaza  before  our  eyes, with over 35,000 Palestinians killed. Of the 2.2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 1.9 million people have been forcibly displaced and many of their homes have been destroyed by Israel's brutal attacks.That is well over twice the number that fled before and during the 1948 war. 

The collapse of the truce with Israel’s resumption of attacks on 18 March 2025, which have killed at least 2,325  people, including  820  children, shattered any semblance of hope for Palestinians in Gaza. In addition to blocking entry of all aid, Israel’s decision to cut power to Gaza’s main desalination plant on 9 March 2025 has further crippled access to clean water. The plant was the only facility in Gaza reconnected to Israel’s electricity grid in November 2024, after a full electricity blackout had been imposed since 11 October 2023.  

The fact that members of the Israeli government are calling their assault Gaza 'the new Nabka' tells you all you need to know about their intended endgame. It's genocide.Nakba is not history. Nakba is the  present. Forcibly starving and annihilating 2 millions Palestinian  people is Nakba.. It’s a wound that bleeds every day.

Israel’s 18 months of bombardment on Gaza has killed 18,000 children and damaged and destroyed more than 90 per cent of all homes in the Gaza Strip. Starved and under siege, no food, water, fuel or humanitarian aid has entered Gaza for a third month.   

The Israeli Security Minister has stated that Gaza will soon be “completely destroyed” and emptied of the millions of Palestinians still living there. Israel is not only destroying the lives and livelihoods of Palestinians, but their futures too. 

On May 5, 2025, the Israeli security cabinet approved a plan to escalate military operations in Gaza, seize more territory, and cement long-term control. As images of emaciated children flood the media amid an ever-deepening humanitarian crisis, Israel declared its intent to make its occupation of Gaza permanent. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described a mission to “conquer all of Gaza.”  The plan outlines large-scale forced displacement, funnelling Gaza’s 2.3 million residents into the already devastated southern corridor between Khan Younis and Rafah, regions torn apart by relentless aerial bombardment. Mainstream Israeli society has increasingly embraced decades of far-right rhetoric. “Occupation” is no longer a word many shy away from.  Israel’s decision to permanently occupy Gaza is a brutal continuation of history.  

Today, Israel has demolished homes, destroyed nearly every hospital, and erased universities from the map. Agricultural fields are flattened, while schools and churches are in ruins. Over the last 19 months, the death toll exceeds 55,000 Palestinians. The final count will likely surpass 200,000 once the bodies under the rubble are uncovered.  

The Nakba is not merely history; it is an ongoing system perpetuated through war, siege, and displacement. A colonial blueprint reaffirmed after October 7, 2023, a leaked Israeli intelligence memo exposed the “Sinai option”,a plan to expel Palestinians into Egypt. Though presented as a contingency, it echoes a long-standing objective: to remove Palestinians and prevent their return, continuing the ethnic cleansing that began in 1948.  

The plan gained traction in January 2025, when Donald Trump, newly re-elected, publicly endorsed the forced relocation of Palestinians to Egypt or Jordan and re-authorized shipments of 2,000-pound bombs.  

Israel’s objective to “conquer all of Gaza” is part of a broader displacement strategy, from East Jerusalem to the West Bank and now Gaza,pushed by both far-right settlers and state forces.  

The Nakba was never a single moment,it is a system that still displaces, erases, and confines the Palestninian people. Every demolished home, every village cut off by walls, every child growing up under siege is part of that ongoing catastrophe.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has made it clear that Israel will not return seized land in Gaza. Speaking in the West Bank, he declared that Gaza “will be entirely destroyed” and predicted mass civilian departure to third countries, expressing hope for annexation under the current government. 

 U.S. influence is unmistakable, given President Donald Trump’s expected Middle East visit. Washington and Tel Aviv are pushing for a U.S.-led provisional government to oversee Gaza post-war, excluding both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.  

The U.S. plan mirrors the logic of the British Mandate: denying Palestinian sovereignty while enabling foreign control and displacement. Under the Mandate (1920–1948), Britain administered Palestine, claiming to prepare it for self-rule while facilitating Zionist expansion. This colonial framework armed and protected Zionist militias, which would form the Israeli army and execute Plan Dalet in 1948, forcibly depopulating Palestinian towns.  

The logic remains unchanged: sovereignty denied, displacement renewed, and the Nakba carried forward.  Mass starvation as policy Even as bulldozers reshape Gaza, the blockade tightens around the territory’s throat, a coordinated policy of starvation designed to complete what bombs and bullets began.  

Since March 2, 2025, Israel has barred all supplies, including food, water, and medicine, from entering Gaza. This blockade coincides with ongoing aerial bombardments. Mass starvation looms. Aid trucks sit idle, unable to enter. Survivors of bombings are succumbing to hunger and thirst. Children,already the majority of the dead,are the primary victims of the famine.

The Red Cross has warned of a collapsing humanitarian response, and the World Food Programme has run out of supplies. UN experts stress that Israel is using famine as a weapon of war. “Safe zones” bombed, burned, and abandoned.  

As of May 2025, Israeli forces have repeatedly struck areas in Gaza labeled as “safe zones” for displaced civilians. Despite their designation, places like Al-Mawasi and UN-run schools have been bombed repeatedly. 

Gaza authorities report over 230 attacks on shelters, including a May 6 airstrike on a school in Al Bureij that killed at least 30 people. In Al-Mawasi alone, over 217 Palestinians have died in similar strikes since May 2024. In late 2024, a missile hit a shelter in Rafah, killing over 50 people, primarily women and children. The blast set tents ablaze, trapping victims in fire and smoke. The images, burned shelters, charred bodies, silent screams, left an indelible scar on global consciousness.  

These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a deadly pattern: civilians are told to flee to “safe zones,” only to be carpet-bombed where they run. Residents of Gaza have been repeatedly forced to flee their homes under duress, losing their homes and becoming homeless in tents and schools, trapped between walls of poverty and war. Out of approximately 2.2 million Palestinians who lived in Gaza Strip on the eve of the Israeli occupation aggression, about two million have been displaced from their homes; however, they have not been spared the bombardment.  

Right now, Israel is escalating its genocidal assault against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip - deliberately blocking food, medicine, and aid on the Gaza Strip. More than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza Strip are at risk of starvation, including more than 1 million children of all ages who suffer from daily hunger, about 57 children died to famine and about 65 thousand people have suffered from severe malnutrition and have been transferred to the remaining yet destroyed hospitals and medical centers in Gaza Strip.  

Due to the extensive damage incurred by the water and sanitation sector, water supply rates have declined to an average of 3-5 liters per person per day, varying significantly according to geographic location, water supply, damage to infrastructure, and ongoing displacement. 

More than 70% of the housing units in Gaza Strip are uninhabitable. Since the Israeli occupation aggression against Gaza Strip on October 7th, 2023, the Israeli occupation has destroyed more than 68.9 thousand buildings, more than 110 thousand severely damaged buildings, while data show that the number of housing units that have been completely or partially destroyed is estimated to be more than 330 thousand, constituting more than 70% of the total number of housing units in Gaza Strip, in addition to the destruction of schools, universities, hospitals, mosques, churches, and government headquarters, as well as the destruction of thousands of economic establishments and most of the agricultural areas, making Gaza Strip an uninhabitable place to survive.

The Nakba, while a symbol of loss, remains a beacon for future generations who continue to pursue liberation and the dream of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. While Nakba Day reminds us that 77 years on from their expulsion, human rights violations, oppression, domination and displacement of Palestinians is still ongoing.

The  catastrophe of the Nakba  and its consequences continue to this day. Too many generations have been born into displacement, kept from their land by institutions of apartheid, ideologies of annihilation, military backing from Western powers, corporate complicity, and media distortion.  But none of this has quashed the resistance of Palestinians or the resolve of people of conscience who support them.

From campuses to city councils, from the streets to the largest trade unions, a global wave of solidarity is rising. Millions of justice activists, artists, workers, students, farmers, and human rights defenders are standing up for Palestinian liberation worldwide. The Palestinian-led BDS movement is reshaping how the world relates to Israel: not as a normal state, but as a regime of genocide and apartheid that must be dismantled to achieve freedom, justice and equality.

Today let’s send a strong message of solidarity to Palestine and the Palestinian people suffering! We cannot be silent in the face of an ongoing genocide, or the constant violation of Palestinian human rights and international law. And we must .vehemently reject Israel’s proposal of forced displacement. Any attempt to weaponise humanitarian aid, coerce displacement, or create discriminatory aid zones is a gross violation of international law and must be instantly halted. We must move from mere words to concrete actions. 

The UK Government has repeatedly ignored its legal obligation to prevent and punish genocide, hypocritically claiming to be a champion of the ‘rule of law’ whilst enabling Israel to enforce its apartheid regime and systemically deny the humanity of all Palestinians. It’s beyond disappointing, it's disgusting. 

Lets keep calling  for a  permanent ceasefire,  stand with Palestine struggling for freedom, justice, equality and return  and call  for  an end to the occupation. Pressure  our government to impose immediate unilateral and multilateral lawful sanctions against Israel, starting with a military-security embargo, as called for by the UN Human Rights Council and dozens of UN human rights experts,  and the end to the blockade to ensure the safe access of aid and humanitarian agencies. We must further call for our Government to implement a full arms embargo with Israel until such time as these conditions prevail.

Every day of impunity granted to apartheid Israel brings further devastating consequences to Indigenous Palestinians and to what’s left of international law’s credibility. On the 77th Anniversary of the Nakba we musr reaffirm the  eternal truth Palestine was, and remains, the land of one people, the Palestinian people Despite the pain, displacement,and decades of struggle, Today is a day for justice and liberation.for  us  to  reimagine  a future where Palestinans  live  in  peace and dignity. From  the rivers to  the  sea, Free Palestine!