Statement of the ILPS United Kingdom Country Chapter

Coming in a week in which Keir Starmer pledged to ‘step up the UK’s engagement in the Middle East’, while signing deals to deepen British security and military-industry alliances with the Qatari and Saudi monarchies, his speech at the RAF’s Akrotiri base in Cyprus illustrates the assertiveness with which the Labour government is seeking to buttress British imperialism in West Asia – even as its domestic support base collapses.

This is the first time a British Prime Minister has visited Cyprus since 1971. Ever since the NATO-planned Turkish occupation of the North in 1974, British RAF bases have been operating in Cyprus and represent a key node in British military projection in West Asia.

According to Starmer himself, the role of the RAF at Akrotiri is work that must be kept clandestine, “for reasons that are obvious”. Obvious, because we know a euphemism for genocide when we see it: Akrotiri base and the RAF are integral components of the Zionist genocide of Palestinians. They have consistently made military flights from the base to Tel Aviv since October 2023. Under Starmer, the frequency of these flights have increased – as per Declassified UK, by October there was an average of a flight each day since Starmer was elected in July.

Starmer represents his class. They are people who continually exploit the majority of the United Kingdom while they use their ill-gotten gains to support imperialist ventures that have destabilised entire regions.

We say not in our name. We, like many others in this country, do not support the work that the RAF has conducted from Akrotiri. Recent polls show that 60% of Britons believe that the Zionist entity’s actions have gone too far with a larger majority of 73% supporting an immediate unconditional ceasefire. There is a significant democratic gap between the people of this country and the government that purports to represent them.

We call for an end to British complicity in the genocide of Palestinians. We call for an end to the use of Cyprus as an ‘unsinkable military carrier’ to the detriment of the Cypriot people living there.

NATO BASES OUT OF CYPRUS!
END TO OCCUPATIONS!

 

Signed,

ILPS United Kingdom Country Chapter

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