Continued violence in London

The HP UK is forced once again to condemn the use of violence in London. Those who use violence are trying to manipulate the population (on both side of the conflict) to believe that violence must be employed to stop more violence from happening in the future.

We denounce the violence, both of the would-be suicide bombers who seek to wreak more death on our transport system AND the government officials who ordered these plain-clothed police officers acting out of fear, to employ a shoot-to-kill policy that opens the door to all manner of tragedies, like the one that befell the Brazilian, Jean Charles de Menezes, last Friday. We also strongly regret the portrayal in the media of Mr de Menezes as an illegal immigrant and therefore someone unworthy of our sympathy as he clearly, in the media’s opinion, had “something to hide”.

We propose the following urgent actions:

In National matters

1. Convene a national peace conference bringing together all parties with a vested interest in UK society with the following goals:

• The creation of a fully-integrated, multi-cultural society, where each human being has the possibility to express their religious beliefs or atheism, their cultural traditions and their lifestyles without fear of violence, intolerance or discrimination.
• 
  To promote the understanding among the different cultures that make up today’s United Kingdom.
• To initiate among opinion-leaders, community leaders, the media and schools a programme of education for non-violence that can lead to the resolution of all conflicts through nonviolent means.
• 
  To engage with the youth of the country in a way that invites their participation in the great issues of our country and doesn’t leave them sidelined, ignored, vilified and criminalised.
  

2. Provide compensation to the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, who having come to the UK to make a better life for himself away from the poverty and violence of his own country found himself in the wrong place in the wrong time.
3. Hold an independent inquiry into the events leading up to this tragic shooting event so that lessons can be learnt. It is clear that there were many opportunities to stop this man before firing 8 shots into him.

In International and defence matters

1. It is time for the UK to recognise that in the root of all the conflicts that we are currently facing is connected to a lack of social justice in the world.
2. We must immediately implement a plan to withdraw our troops from all territories, including Iraq, where they are not under a peacekeeping mandate from the United Nations.
3. We must implement the recommendations of the Africa Commission in their entirety. A partial implementation of their proposals will not lead to social justice.
4. The extension of the poverty-eradicating proposals to all countries in the world.
5. Reduction of the UK’s defence budget, converting it into an international and national development fund that can be used to increase opportunities for those badly off.