Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised a peaceful, dialogue-based foreign policy rather than more bombing campaigns if he becomes Prime Minister.
Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, Corbyn also said he would give real support to end the oppression of the Palestinian people.
Corbyn is currently leading in the polls and is in a strong position to become Prime Minister if a general election is held in the near future. After a strong general election performance in June he has seemingly defeated the right-wing of the party which has repeatedly tried to unseat him.
During his hour-long speech the Labour leader condemned the five terrorist attacks that have caused dozens of deaths in Britain in 2017, but then went on to blame successive British governments, which have invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, for making the world a more dangerous place.
“Terrorism is thriving in a world that frankly our governments have helped to shape with its failed states, military interventions and occupations where millions of people are forced to flee conflict or hunger,” he said. “We have to do better and swap the knee-jerk reaction of another bombing campaign and solve the conflicts with long-term help rather than fuel them.”
Corbyn said Britain needed to put democracy and human rights at the heart of its foreign policy agenda and shouldn’t apply these values selectively.
On Palestine he said: “Let’s give real support to end the oppression of the Palestinian people, the 50 year occupation and illegal settlement expansion and move to a genuine two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.”
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He added: “We cannot be silent at the cruel Saudi war in Yemen while continuing to supply arms to Saudi Arabia, or the crushing of democracy in Egypt or Bahrain or the tragic loss of life in the Congo which the media seldom bother to report.”
The Labour leader urged the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi to do all she can to end the violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. He also called on Myanmar to allow the United Nations and aid agencies access into Rakhine state and said the “Rohingya have suffered for too long.”
Corbyn said Britain’s voice must be heard independently in the world and “we must be a candid friend of the United States now more than ever.”
He criticised US President Donald Trump for banning immigrants and for threatening war and said “if the Special Relationship means anything it must mean that we can say to Washington ‘that way is the wrong way’.”
