Donald Trump opposition in Britain

This video from England says about itself:

4 February 2017

Thousands of British people on Saturday gathered in front of the United States (U.S.) Embassy to the UK, protesting against U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order of banning people from Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S.

This has been the second protest rally held in London against the American President within one week.

The gathering was organized by a number of local Muslim societies, who think that Trump’s immigration policy is racist and Islamophobic.

“I think it’s ridiculous. So many of my friends are Muslim, and I don’t agree with that at all. How can you base someone on their religion not to come to the country?” said a female protester, adding that “Not all Muslims are terrorists. That’s not true. It’s not the religion.” …

Another protester argued that it’s totally wrong to ban movements of populations from Muslim countries, saying they had suffered greatly during wars that have taken place in their home countries.

“It’s not the way to deal with the potential threat of terrorism. It’s not to prevent Muslims, for example, from coming to this country. They have a great contribution that they could make for our future,” the protester said.

Many people held placards aloft and called for the British government to ditch their plan of inviting President Trump to visit the country, as a diplomatic gesture of opposing his ban on immigrants and refugees from several Muslim-majority nations.

“I come to this protest because that I think that Trump should not be honored with the royal visit with the Queen. I understand we have to have a relationship with America because of trade deals and everything else, but he should not be given the honor of meeting the Queen and treated with that privilege,” said another protester.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has been criticized for not using strong enough terms against Trump’s policy in her recent remarks. She insisted that the government won’t cancel their plan of inviting President Trump to the country in spite of loud dissenting voices among the public.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Anti-Trump movements must unite

Monday 13th February 2017

THERE is every likelihood that US President Trump will face huge demonstrations when he visits Britain later this year.

Whether he comes in June or July to address a rally in Birmingham, Cardiff or London will make no difference to the turnouts, whether inside the conference hall or outside.

The Stand Up to Trump organising meeting last week reflected the breadth of opposition to the man and his views, itself mirroring the wide coalition of forces marching against him in towns and cities across the US.

Present in London last Friday were representatives and observers from the TUC, major trade unions, the Labour Party, the People’s Assembly, the Stop the War Coalition, the National Assembly of Women, the Morning Star, Stand Up to Racism, the Communist Party of Britain, Momentum and many other campaigning and community bodies.

They want to show that Trump’s sexist, racist, belligerent, anti-union and divisive views are not shared by decent people — the overwhelming majority — in any part of Britain.

Nor are they shared, for that matter, by the majority of decent people in the US. It should not be forgotten that fewer than 27 per cent of US citizens of voting age plumped for him last November, barely one in four of eligible adults.

But that he won with three million fewer votes than chief rival Hillary Clinton, thereby owing his elevation to the state electoral college system, is no ground for us in Britain to challenge his legitimacy. The vagaries of US electoral arangements are primarily a matter for the American people, grave though the implications may turn out to be for people in other parts of the world.

We might also note that had Clinton been elected, her warmongering policies towards Russia, China and Syria, together with support for subversion in Latin America and the oppression of the Palestinian people, would also have merited mass demonstrations when visiting Britain.

As it is, Trump’s total, uncritical support for Israeli violations of international and humanitarian law, his aggressive response to China’s military presence in the South China Sea and his support for the use of torture, would be sufficient to justify protests everywhere he goes in England, Wales or Scotland.

In addition, his hate-mongering speeches and actions aimed at Muslims, Mexicans, refugees and immigrants help to fuel the widespread anger about him receiving the privilege of a state visit to Britain.

In secretive discussions about the US president addressing a rally rather than the Westminster Parliament while here, it appears that some US or British officials believe he will receive a friendlier welcome in a region or country that voted for Brexit in last’s years referendum.

It is a fallacy, promoted assiduously by some pro-EU liberals and leftists as well as Ukip, that there is a strong affinity between the pro-Trump and anti-EU causes.

In reality, many people on the left in Britain — a slight majority according to the extensive Ashcroft polling — voted against EU membership. Like many people who voted to remain in the EU, they detest the same wide range of Trump’s views and policies.

We need united displays of that detestation when he comes here this summer. Those who seek to divide the anti-Trump movement in Britain on the basis of attitudes to EU membership will be doing that movement a disservice — and doing Trump and his right-wing anti-EU and pro-EU allies here a favour.

Related articles

• President Trump’s U.K. Visit Puts Queen Elizabeth in a ‘Difficult Position’
• May refuses to confirm Trident missile failure fired from sub off Florida last year
• London merchants of death fair hindered by peace activists
• The NSA Abroad: The UK Base That Makes US Targeted Killing Possible
• MSP Kidd blasts nuclear weapons