Today, the 6^th August, is a good day to consider not just British Foreign Policy but that of the US Government and their so-called "War on Terror". It is also important to put it in its historical context. It is of course the 60^th Anniversary of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb. This was the worst example ever of an act of terror involving the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians using weapons of mass destruction. It followed the mass bombing of civilians in European cities during the 2^nd World War. British Foreign Policy has for many years justified and supported such terrorist acts, particularly those carried out by the US government. Vietnam with napalm bombing was another example. They have also accepted the Israeli Government’s killing of civilians in Palestine. Most recently they have carried out the bombing of civilians in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. The bombing and invasion of Iraq, followed by an illegal occupation, was just the latest example of this "terrorism". There is therefore a great deal of hypocrisy involved in what the US Government describes as *the war on terror". This terrorism comes in a variety of forms. In the 19^th and 20^th centuries there have been many examples of both UK and US Governments either illegally occupying other countries and openly and covertly establishing or supporting corrupt elites all over the world. However the US is also happy to support other "democratic" countries such as Israel and condone their illegal invasions, occupations and assassinations thereby creating massive injustices for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Why do the US and UK governments practice terrorism? It is of course in order to maintain a global capitalist economic system The major political parties in the USA and the UK as well as the great majority of the media in these countries support this system to achieve the objectives of Big Business. They practice a kind of brainwashing of the home populations. When George Bush, Tony Blair & Jack Straw etc talk about defending "the way of life of people in the civilised world" or "western values" they mean this global economic system and if any individual, group or country doesn’t agree with it then they are "uncivilised". It has nothing to do with democracy as their support for countries such as Saudi Arabia and regimes such as that of Saddam Hussain in the 1980’s demonstrates. And when New Labour spokespersons, other conservatives and racists talk about British or Western values, way of life or culture what exactly are they referring to? The answer is again predominantly the values of the prevailing economic system. Such values are in direct contradiction to the values of social justice and the world’s major religions including Islam. One consequence of British Foreign Policy and its support for US led terrorism, and the economic exploitation which it seeks to maintain, is worldwide violent resistance. The poverty, environmental damage, social injustice and corrupt tyrannical governments which result from UK and US policies are a breeding ground for those who have decided to resist this state terrorism by following its example and killing civilians. Some of these try to justify their actions by reference to their version of Islam. They are not the first to use religion as a justification for killing their opponents. There are for example in the USA so called Christians who support George Bush and the multi-national corporations and think that the US government should use their hideous arsenal of nuclear weapons against "anti-Christ" in order to maintain their privileged economic position. A further consequence is that the bombings of civilians in the UK provides an excuse for the restriction of civil liberties by conservative governments in the UK and a move towards a police state. This is demonstrated by New Labour’s present call for the introduction of I.D cards, and stop and search and shoot on sight (which inevitably means dark skinned people). It has also led to the scapegoating of Muslims and a dramatic increase in abuse and violence by racists and neo-fascists against ethnic minorities in the UK. The Archbishop of Canterbury and other religious leaders have done well to point to this consequence. The Green Party believes in peace and is opposed to any violence, most especially where it involves the killing of civilians. It believes that the only solution is for people in the UK and the "western world" in general to change their "way of life" in order to bring an end to world poverty, and social injustice and to bring about the necessary actions to prevent climate change becoming a catastrophe. We must keep up the pressure for trade justice, debt relief, increased aid and an end to military build up and the arms trade, and specifically for the withdrawal of US and UK troops from Iraq . It is the Green Party’s view that our economic system must be changed quite fundamentally before peaceful and sustainable development will be possible in the world. At the heart of the economic system is Big Business. The influence of the big corporations and companies can be seen globally, nationally and locally. They dominate G8 and WTO thinking and oppose any meaningful attempt to eradicate poverty in the world. They support short-term unsustainable development in the interests of their shareholders which will ultimately lead to environmental disaster for the world and its peoples. We see already a change in climate, and erratic weather and a worsening of the conditions which create absolute poverty, most noticeable in Africa. The Birmingham Tornado and campaign to destroy the existing Birmingham Library to be replaced by a hugely expensive new development are part of this process. Peter Beck (Birmingham Green Party)

5^th August 2005