Interview with Jess Williams: Stop the wars, stop the boats!

Does the survival of the United Kingdom depend on its willingness to change its imperialist, war-mongering foreign policy and take control over border security?

Jess Williams is the head of the office and a member of the National Council of the Workers’ Party of Great Britain, whose leader, George Galloway, has had a long political career, transitioning from a member of the Labour Party to a sharp critic of the country’s foreign policy and a staunch opponent of Tony Blair. After the 2024 elections, the Workers’ Party enters the Lower Parliament, and the views which “Politico” claims are anything but conventional become a relevant part of political life. In this interview with Jess Williams, we discuss how isolated the voices advocated by the Workers’ Party are in Britain, whether London’s immigration policy risks “losing” the people, and why Great Britain owes an apology to Russia.

Conflicts on the streets of Great Britain at one point threatened to escalate into a full-blown civil war. The reason was the future of Britain due to the official immigration policy. Is there a solution in sight for the dispute between the Government and the citizens, or a change in course on immigration, which many Britons have marked as crucially important?

Our party’s position on migration can be summed up in one slogan: stop the wars, stop the boats. Our party makes a refreshing break from the liberal left in that we do not join the chorus of extolling the irresponsible virtues of mass immigration and open borders. We believe in the British nation and no nation can be without borders. Look at all functioning socialist countries in the world. They have borders and they police them vigorously. Equally, we are not on the level of the populist right that seeks only to mitigate the symptoms of the problem without tackling the problem at its core, our imperialist foreign policy. We recognise that our government upholds a system of globalised exploitation in which a handful of wealthy countries gorge themselves off the exploitation and aggression against countries in the global south. We all grow up in the context of a nation, culture and community. It molds us and shapes our future. It is a rarity to want to separate oneself from that environment. However, economic and safety concerns compel people to make that move. The escalation of conflict in the middle east, the fall of Syria and Israel’s unmitigated genocide of the Palestinian people will promise a large volume of refugees entering Europe which will have ruinous consequences for Europeans and Arabs alike. The only beneficiaries of this scenario are the Zionists who will be able to build their greater state of Israel with impunity and multinational companies who now have a pool of desperate labour to exploit and use to erode working terms and conditions in European countries. Our government needs to reverse its imperialistic and warmongering foreign policy and, in turn, get a grip over border security if it is to protect social and community cohesion. Mass immigration is a total anathema to all serious socialists who strive to uphold the interests of workers in their respective countries. The unmitigated mobility of labour erodes national identity and the dignity of labour itself.

The fall of Assad’s regime was accompanied by a fireworks display of value judgments in the tabloids on the Thames. What is the Workers’ Party’s view on the recent events in Syria?

In short, catastrophic. Our party does not support Baathism or the Assad dynasty’s legacy. However, since our foundation, we have defended the Syrian Arab Republic’s right to defend itself from foreign invaders who present themselves as rebels. Color revolutions are always portrayed as organic uprisings against bad governance and human rights violations—real or perceived—at the expense of countries that fall out of favor with imperialism. This happened in Libya, Bolivia, and Syria. We have a big problem with those “pro-Palestinian” activists who wave the Palestinian flag alongside the flag of the so-called Free Syrian Army, which is inseparable from the Islamist forces of Al-Qaeda and Daesh. These beheading and heart-ripping traitors acted on behalf of NATO and Zionist forces to destabilize and overthrow the Syrian Arab Republic. In this, they enjoyed the full support of the “useful idiots” who hypocritically claim to support Palestinian liberation. Now, when Palestinian resistance has been severed from its key artery—the military and civilian aid from Iran through Syria—the Palestinian cause is doomed to failure.

The issue of assessing the relationship between Britain and Russia is unavoidable. To what extent do Britons support the government’s measures aimed at Russia and Russian interests?

I am sorry that my answers to your questions are rather pessimistic, but unfortunately, the answer to this question is just as grim. British ammunition and missiles have been used by the Kiev regime to attack targets deep within Russian territory – which is an open act of war. In light of this, our countries are practically at war. The threat of war between our countries is now greater than during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The horrific crimes of our government against the Russian Federation and its people are a disgrace to the moral character of our country. We in the Workers’ Party are striving to change the political scene in this country to the point where we can stop the deterioration of relations with Russia and eventually fully reverse the hostile policy toward Russia. Our country must begin to atone toward Russia if we wish to contribute to the restoration of peace and cooperation in the world, starting with the lifting of all sanctions against the Russian Federation and its political leadership, as well as pressuring the Kiev regime to sit at the negotiating table.

You have visited Russia, risking being accused of “hostile action.” What did you find in a country that British leaders call an aggressor?

Last year, I visited Russia for the first time and had the great privilege of visiting it a total of three times. I visited Sochi for the grand World Youth Festival, an event called Orenburg for Eurasia Global, and the Conference of Youth Wings of Political Parties in Moscow. I love visiting Russia and meeting its people. I believe the British have much to learn from the Russians. Primarily, Russians greatly respect their tradition and uphold traditional values. They understand that opposing beliefs would lead to the collapse of their social cohesion and national identity.

Is this a model that could perhaps be applied in the United Kingdom?

We in the United Kingdom have become victims of the seductive songs of sirens about individualism and liberalism to the extent that we no longer have a society and culture worth fighting for. We have reconciled ourselves with mutual contempt and indifference. We simply allow our political elite to implement policies that are disastrous for our national interest. Russians are a very friendly and peaceful people, but I equally respect the fact that if they are threatened, they will fight fiercely to defend their sovereignty and survival as a people. The legacy of the Great Patriotic War, which claimed the lives of 27 million of their fellow citizens—civilians, soldiers, and military personnel—who suffered in the Nazi war machine, is still fresh in the national consciousness of the Russian people.

Do you understand the objectives of the Special Military Operation (SMO), such as denazification?

Russians are on the front line in the fight for global peace and security. Ukrainian military battalions shamelessly wear Nazi symbols as emblems of their nation, once led by collaborator and murderer Stepan Bandera. Geopolitical relations are a key factor that parties must consider when setting their political agenda. We are firmly convinced of a policy that aims for friendship, not enmity, with the rest of the world. We believe that Britain can become great again only when it takes its place as a nation among nations, and not as an imperialist prison for all others. There are many changes in international relations that we want to initiate, but such changes can and should be implemented exclusively through diplomacy and cooperation, not under the threat of arms.

In contrast to what official London is doing?

Unfortunately, our government is still trying to impose the prerogatives of Anglo-American imperialism across the world. We find ourselves in the absurd position of threatening the rest of the world with the American military, just as Mussolini once threatened the world with Hitler’s army. Our military leadership is so arrogant and warlike that even the Americans have to restrain us. As long as our government continues to act this way, it is only increasing the threat of a third world war, rather than reducing it. We are dangerously close to a global war, but I know that as long as there is political will, there is a way to steer the world away from the edge of the abyss.

Do you believe that the end of the unipolar world will happen soon?

Absolutely. My leader, George Galloway, often remarks on his show Mother of All Talk Shows that the old world is “pregnant with the new.” Unfortunately, pregnancies rarely go smoothly, quickly, or painlessly. They are often uncertain, complicated, and painful. After the magnificent event that was BRICS 2024, Galloway triumphantly declared that “a new world was born.” However, after the fall of Syria, he corrected that statement: “The baby is back in the womb.” The essence is that there is no straightforward path to changing the global balance of power. The transformation into a multipolar world order will be painful, slow, and filled with challenges. However, we must not allow pessimism or contempt to overcome us. We must be ready to invest perhaps decades of hard work to introduce the world into this new order. This is a marathon, not a sprint. We must keep faith in the final victory.