Stop the War coalition Newsletter

Newsletter – 27/06/25

Stephen Kapos Tour

Trump, Imperialism & the Middle East

After last week’s major escalation between Israel, Iran and the US, a ceasefire has now come into effect. Whether this holds is yet to be seen but there is every reason to believe the ceasefire is extremely fragile and history has shown us neither Israel nor the US can be trusted.

It is clear the Middle East remains highly volatile, that Trump is increasingly unpredictable and that Netanyahu’s vicious and reckless actions know no bounds. 

To help make sense of this increasingly dangerous world we are organising a UK tour on Trump, Imperialism and the Middle East with Stephen Kapos, Holocaust survivor and anti-war activist.

Stephen will be drawing links between Palestine, the wider Middle East and Western imperialism. He will be joined by other prominent activists including Lindsey German, Chris Nineham, Andrew Feinstein and John Rees.

Tour dates announced so far:

• Tower Hamlets, 3 July, 6.30pm, Mulberry Hall, E2 9PL
  
• Greenwich, 15 July, venue tbc
• Birmingham, 16 July, 7pm, The Old Library, Gibb Street, B9 4AT
  
• Bristol, 17 July, venue tbc
• Glasgow, 22 July, 7pm, The Renfield Centre, G2 4JP
  
• Newcastle, 23 July, venue tbc 
• Manchester, 24 July, 7pm, Friends Meeting House, M2 5NS
• Preston, 29 July, 7pm, Catherine Becket Community Halls, PR1 5AR
• Liverpool, 30 July, venue tbc

There is a new arms race in Europe and Starmer has ensured the UK plays a central role. Not only has he agreed to eye watering military spending hikes, he has also agreed to air-borne nuclear weapons being housed in the UK for the first time since 1998. This is in clear breach of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

CND and StW will be opposing this dangerous nuclear development and protesting at RAF Marham (King’s Lynn, PE33 9NP) on Saturday 28 June at 1pm. Join the emergency protest on Saturday.

Defend the Right to Protest – Get Involved

Two leaders of the Palestine movement, Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham, are facing criminal charges over the peaceful protest on 18 January. They go on trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court on Monday 7 July. 

Please come along to the protest outside the court at 9 am. We will be joined by actors Juliet Stevenson and Khalid Abdalla; Holocaust survivor and activist Stephen Kapos; current and former General Secretaries of the NEU, Daniel Kebede and Kevin Courtney; musician and President of StW Brian Eno; John McDonnell MP; Yasmine Adam, chair of MAB; and more tba.

We’re also asking all our supporters who have ever been on a national march or taken part in a local action to get involved. If you’ve taken pictures or videos of yourself on a demo, maybe with your family and friends, with your pets or just of the crowd around you, it would be great if you could post them on your favourite social media platform from next Wednesday 2 July, using the hashtags #FreeBenAndChris and#InOurMillions.

Let’s get the trial and the importance of defending the right to protest trending!

If you can help leaflet for the protest, please do! Leaflets are available from the office.

Welfare not Warfare – Stop Disability Benefit Cuts

StW is supporting the Welfare not Warfare rally in Parliament Square to protest against the government’s disability benefit cuts at 4:30 pm on Monday 30 June. At a time when they are funnelling millions into weapons of war these cuts are obscene.

Workplace Day of Action – Free Palestine – No War on Iran

Wednesday 2 July 

The 9th Workplace Day of Action is being held on 2 July. Time to get organised! Actions can be big or small.

Ideas include:

• lunchtime protests,
• march to town centre from workplace,
• bake sale,
• hold a workplace meeting or discussion group,
• wear a Palestine badge to work.

Do what you can and let us know.

During this time of heightened activity we are asking all our supporters to help build the anti-war movement. Please consider donating to our campaign fund. 

This week’s anti-war briefing