Protesters at RAF base rage at Burnham’s complicity

RAF Fairford is used to by US fighter jets used to bomb Iran

Protesters gathered at Fairford airbase in Gloucestershire on Saturday to demand an end to the use of Britain’s airbases for US wars. The action was called by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Stop the War Coalition and local group Fairford Action. 

Fairford is used by the US for the B1 and B52 bombers that have dropped 2,000 pound bombs on Iran this year. 

Activists say that despite the name RAF Fairford, it is essentially a US airbase. 

Allowing it to be used has made Britain complicit in murderous and illegal wars. 

And it makes us all less safe. 

The protests follow Andy Burnham’s announcement of an extra £8.4 billion investment in Dreadnought class submarines for Trident nuclear missiles. 

The new prime minister has ramped up spending on these weapons, which he says are needed for security. This is while he says there are “difficult choices” to make when it comes to funding social care. 

Palestinian activist Zami told Socialist Worker he looks at the bombers at Fairford and thinks about his family in Palestine under those same bombs. 

“These planes don’t bring peace, stability and security. They only bring more blood and more killing and more lives lost. We need to end these bases in any way,” he said. 

“The money should be spent on welfare and people having a better life. Our leaders are committing war crimes rather than serving our interests.”

Anne from Oxford CND told Socialist Worker she had spent time at Greenham Common Peace Camp in the 1980s. 

“It does feel like a more dangerous time now,” she said. “There are a lot of things happening at the same time. 

“The combination of wars in different places and the climate crisis. This is the first time I have felt quite scared about that. 

“The people in positions of power don’t have the best interests of all of us at heart, it’s a worrying time.”

Anne said she hoped Burnham would be different. But she was already disappointed in his plans to press ahead with more fossil fuel exploitation. 

Tom from St Alban’s CND said, “I hope the protests make more people aware of the war crimes that are being committed.

“I am very disappointed in Burnham,” he told Socialist Worker. “As we commemorated Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day last week, he committed billions for the nuclear submarine programme. What does that tell you?”

But others wanted to wait and see what Burnham would do. Nabs from Fairford told Socialist Worker it is still quite early to say what the new prime minister will be like. 

Speakers at the rally included CND general secretary Sophie Bolt, local Green Party councillor Helen Fenton, Arjan from Iranians Against War and TSSA union leader Maryam Eslamdoust, who is Iranian. 

Chris Nineham from Stop the War had some demands for the new prime minister. “Burnham says he is going to be different. He says Labour got it wrong over Israel. Well, how about introducing some practical measures to get it right?” he said. 

“How about stopping arms sales to Israel? How about introducing sanctions? And how about stop persecuting the people who got it right?

Shel McDonagh from Fairford Action linked the murder of civilians around the world in operations from Fairford with the harm done to local people. 

“People are being woken up in the middle of the night. And there is now evidence that the water sources are being polluted,” she said. “The US military is the world’s biggest user of fossil fuels. This heatwave is courtesy of the US military. 

‘We want this base closed. We want more protests and more non-violent direct action taking place here.”