Say no to the war on Yemen, January 25th
London CAAT will join over 160 other organisations to take part in a global day of action on Yemen. Taking place on January 25th 2021, organisations will come together to call for an end to the war on Yemen and an end to western complicity in the war. London CAAT will be carrying out our own action in support of the day so look out for more details on our social media pages and in next month’s bulletin.
The war is only possible because Western countries — and the United States and Britain in particular — continue to arm Saudi Arabia and provide military, political and logistical support for the war. Another level of UK support for the Saudis’ war was recently revealed in that British troops were secretly deployed to defend Saudi Arabian oil fields. The disaster in Yemen is man-made. It is caused by the war and blockade. It can be ended. Organizations from the US, UK, Yemen, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and across the world, are demanding that our governments:
*Stop
foreign aggression on Yemen
*Stop weapons and war support for
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
*Lift the blockade on
Yemen and open all land and seaports
*Restore and expand
humanitarian aid for the people of Yemen.
Individuals and organizations are asked to call for protests – with masks and other safety precautions – in their towns and cities on that day and make clear that the World Says No to War on Yemen.
You can sign up for the day of action here and add an event here.
Boris Johnson’s dangerous pledge on military spending
Boris Johnson has said he will increase defence spending to £16.5bn over four years – this is the largest rise in UK military spending for three decades. In the height of a pandemic, this is a totally irresponsible move. This money would be much better spent on the climate emergency, tackling poverty, preventing homelessness and providing free school meals, among other more socially beneficial things. This ludicrous amount of money will not provide security for this country and increases the risk of a new arms race. Read the response from various peace organisations to this dangerous move here and Andrew Smith from CAAT’s response here. See this page for actions you can take about this foolish move.
The government have also cut foreign aid, another short-sighted move that could affect Middle East countries most in need and won’t increase our security either – read more here and here You can sign Action Aid petition’s on this here.
London CAAT meetings
We are having one final online meeting of the year on December 15th at 6.30pm. Do let us know if you would like to join us – please send an email to londoncaat at riseup.net and we will send you the details.