Our online Annual Conference on the theme of New Cold War Challenges platformed:
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Vijay Prashad from the Tricontinental Institute
London CND Vice-President Emma Dent-Coad
Junayd Islam from Cambridge Student CND
Margaret Kimberley from the Black Alliance for Peace USA
Karina Lester, an Yankunytjatjara Angu woman and ICAN ambassador
and Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
A recording of the event is available here:
Following Theresa May’s decision that Britain would participate on an attack on Syria, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for a Wars Powers Act so that governments are held to account by parliament for what they do in our name. He called for the UK government, through the UN, to take a diplomatic lead to negotiate a ceasefire in the Syrian conflict
Writing in today's Guardian, Jeremy Corbyn said:
"The military action at the weekend was legally questionable. The government’s own justification, which relies heavily on the strongly contested doctrine of humanitarian intervention, does not even meet its own tests. Without UN authority it was again a matter of the US and British governments arrogating to themselves an authority to act unilaterally which they do not possess.
"The fact that the prime minister ordered the attacks without seeking authorisation from parliament only underlines the weakness of a government that was in reality simply waiting for authorisation from a bellicose and unstable US president. That’s why we are pressing for parliament to have the final say on planned military action in future in a new war powers act.
"Now is the moment for moral and political leadership, not kneejerk military responses."
You can read the full article here.
