Stop the War coalition Newsletter, 19.12.25

Newsletter 19/12/25

Please keep giving to our Winter Appeal – time for one last push!

The Drive to War

Well done to all our supporters for an amazing year of campaigning – and what a year it’s been – from Palestine to Venezuela, Trump and NATO, there has been no respite. It looks unlikely that 2026 will usher in a period of peace and stability, so we have our work cut out.

Europe is ratcheting up its war rhetoric. Hence the growing talk of conscription for military service, already happening in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, and the endless sums European governments are committing to spend on arms. Infrastructure projects enabling the transportation of military equipment across the continent are already underway, in preparation for war with Russia. 

The Ukraine war is being lost but Europe is determined to keep it going, asLindsey German said, “they dismiss talk of a negotiated settlement, which is regarded as appeasement.” Meanwhile, Trump has imposed a partial blockade on Venezuela marking a dramatic escalation in the situation there in what is seen by many as an act of war. And of course the genocide in Gaza continues.

This is why the international peace conference planned for London on 20 June 2026 is so vital.

We must be ready to hit the ground running in 2026. Please begin by downloading our model resolution in support of the conference to submit to your union branch and by saving the date. We expect trade union representation from across Europe, we need to ensure the British unions are there in numbers too. Please do what you can.

Defend our Rights – Support Palestine 

All week the Palestine marches have been under attack as the political establishment attempts to conflate legitimate protest with anti-semitism and terrorism. 

It culminated on Wednesday when the Met police tried to ban a protest in London supporting the hunger strikers and then arrested protestors for using the word ‘intifada’. A word, as we said in our statement, that means “shaking off or an uprising against injustice”. This decision was made with no judicial oversight in what can only be described as political intervention in policing and the law.

Of course this is not the first time they have tried to ban our protests. Suella Braverman tried in November 2023 and in January 2024 they arrested the chief steward of the demonstrations and other leaders of the Palestine Coalition (their court hearings begin 23 February 2026). Over the last two years politicians and police have placed increasingly harsh restrictions on our marches, have tried to ban us from chanting ‘from the river to the sea’, attempted to prohibit the waving of the Palestinian flag and have proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group. This week’s attacks were just the latest move by an increasingly authoritarian government.

For anyone who cares about democracy these draconian attacks on the right to protest are chilling. Make no mistake, this will not stop with Palestine.

Meanwhile Palestinians are still being routinely killed, Israel is severely restricting aid into Gaza and leaving people to die in waterlogged tents and freezing conditions.

If we wish to support Palestine we must stand up to these draconian measures and continue waving the Palestinian flag in our thousands and millions. We can do both on 31 January.

Saturday 31 January

12:00 noon

 Central London

Get ready now by booking coaches, organising union delegations and arranging leafletting sessions for the beginning of January. Let’s make the next national Palestine demo massive.

 Key dates for 2026 

• National Palestine coalition demonstration - 31 January. 
• annual conference - 14 March
• Together against the Far Right national demonstration - 28 March
• Nakba commemoration march – 16 May
• International peace conference, Westminster Central Hall – 20 June. Please take our model motion to your trade union branch to help support and build the conference.

Workplace Day of Action for Palestine – 12 February

The next Workplace Day of Action for Palestine is on 12 February. Don’t let Gaza and justice for Palestine disappear from the conversation. We need to mobilise the labour movement – take the message into your workplace, school or college.

Stop the War’s Annual Conference 2026

Our annual conference Time to Stop Militarism, War and Islamophobia will be held on 14 March and will address this alarming situation. We will be joined by key figures and experts from across the movement.

If you would like to attend the conference and play a part in shaping StW’s response to this increasingly unstable world, join us on 14 March. To do so you must be either a member of StW (you will need to have joined before the end of January 2026), or a delegate from an affiliated organisation. So join our movement now and register for conference.

Stop the War is proud to be one of the participants in the Together Alliance, a new coalition to expose and challenge the rise of the far right in Britain. As the voices of division have grown louder across the country it is time to take a stand.

The Together Alliance is mobilising for a national demonstration on 28 March. Sign up Sign up to The Together Alliance

The Stop the War Winter Appeal is almost there – but we need to raise a few thousand more for the challenges we face in the coming year. Please do give generously if you haven’t already.

This week’s anti-war briefing