SSP Statement on London Bombings

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The Scottish Socialist Party today sends its condolences to the families of those killed and injured in today’s bombings in London.

The SSP condemns outright the bombings which were targeted at working-class Londoners going about their daily lives. Many of those dead and injured would have participated in anti-war protests and would have taken part in the Make Poverty History protests over the past week.

Meanwhile, the men responsible for the war on Iraq and the massacre of 100,000 civilians were safely cocooned behind fortified walls 500 miles away, protected by thousands of police and armed forces.

Today’s horrific events further expose the fallacy of the claims by Tony Blair and George Bush that the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq have turned the world into a safer place. Exactly the opposite: the world is now darker and more dangerous than ever before.

Today’s wave of destruction also underlines the futility of trying to defeat terror by ever more repressive legislation. As the escalating violence in Iraq and Afghanistan illustrates, even the most ferocious repression cannot quell violence and terror.

The most effective action Tony Blair could now take to make the UK a safer place is to pull all British troops out of Iraq.

We note that neo-Nazi extremists are already trying to exploit today’s tragedy to whip up fear and hatred towards the Muslim population, the vast majority of whom completely reject acts of violence carried out against innocent civilians.

The SSP pledges to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Muslim community against all forms of racism and Islamosphobia.

Today’s horrific events are a further indictment of the world that the G8 leaders have created.

Until the swamps of poverty, war and injustice are drained, countless thousands more innocent people will die needlessly in the months and years to come.