https://iclfi.org/pubs/wh/255/pdc
As Starmer is pushing anti-working-class policies and right-wing reactionaries like Farage are gaining ground, the attacks on minorities, political activists and on all our rights continue unabated. To rebuild its strength for the battles ahead, the workers movement must unite in action to defend those being targeted. To build such united-front defence is the purpose of the PDC.
A cause that could galvanise every trade unionist in the country is defence of Lucy Letby. Her conviction is not only a direct attack on the health unions, making their members responsible for the failures of a chronically understaffed and underfunded NHS, but also a dire warning to all workers to shut up and put up. This is why we seek to advance the struggle to free Letby.
For the last 15 months, both Labour and the Tories have thrown their full support behind Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people. To intimidate anyone challenging Israel’s right to massacre the Palestinians, the government has used sinister anti-terror legislation to arrest activists and journalists. Outrageously, at the most recent Palestine protest in London, cops not only tried to prevent the march from happening but then brutally arrested over 70 people, including prominent leaders of the Stop the War coalition who had rallied in defiance of the ban. The workers movement must mobilise in defence of the arrestees, upholding the democratic right to protest for all who oppose the foreign policies of British imperialism.
The workers movement cannot fight for its own interests without fighting for the most oppressed and vulnerable layers in society. Unions should be at the forefront of defending the ten black youths in Manchester, outrageously jailed for sending private texts venting their grief and anger after one of their friends was murdered. Since our statement in December , seven of the boys had their appeal hearings, which reversed the conviction of one of the youths. Two had their sentences reduced and four remain imprisoned with their convictions upheld.
Forging bonds of international class solidarity is key to rebuilding the unions. The PDC is joining in the defence of Anasse Kazib, a leader of the Trotskyist organisation Révolution Permanente and trade unionist in France facing seven years in jail for tweeting in support of the Palestinians.
We also launched an international campaign in October in defence of anti-austerity protesters in Nigeria facing the death penalty on trumped-up treason charges. The protesters have since been released with draconian bail conditions, but the threat of death continues to hang over their heads. The struggles of the Nigerian people for their liberation from imperialist domination are intimately linked to working-class struggle here because we face the same enemy.
As these statements make clear, there is a crying need for united-front defence in the tough times ahead. Join us in these campaigns including by making donations.
