London - Undemocratic, this is the right word describing the British electoral system which excludes its citizens living abroad and EU citizens in UK from general elections. Look at the electoral register and see people from Antigua, Bahamas, Botswana, Zimbabwe and all the Commonwealth countries can have their say on who rule the UK.
The ‘post-imperial’ electoral system gives ex colonies citizens the right to vote in the country which once exploited their own, and this is absolutely right and fair. But it is utterly unjust citizens from the neighbouring countries living in the UK and the British abroad (who lose the right to vote after a number of years) are excluded from the democratic process by the law since 1969. Why? Is it just for chance or this is the result of the British crossparty establishment's 'domestic defence policy'?
The answer is complex and touches the very founding process of democracy. Every political establishment, in every country, defends itself from whom considers, and wrongly classifies, as defector. This means those who flee their countries of origin are perceived as potential political defectors able to detect the structural, systemic failures of political systems in the countries they left: people emigrate when understand there is no hope for change. But why then Indian or Pakistani, for instance, living in the UK take part to national elections and have MPs representing their communities in the House of Commons while European origin and British expats don't?
Firstly because they are from former colonies and Commonwealth citizens, secondly because nearly all Commonwealth countries (except for Australia, Canada, New Zealand and perhaps few others), are not democracies comparable to the EU ones (exceptions here as well starting from Hungary) therefore people from Nigeria or Malawi have de facto a different political awareness and might not be able to promote changes in the structural system of an advanced democracy such as Britain.
Today the campaign to give British citizens living abroad and EU citizens in UK full political rights launched by Another Europe is Possible, The 3 Million and British in Europe marks a radical change in support of democracy in Great Britain, and goes far and beyond Brexit. The fight is for a fair and just society representing all and for a political system no longer allowed to hide and perpetrate exclusion in the name of a dead ‘post-imperialist’ establishment.
Let Us Vote: campaign and petition launched by Another Europe is Possible, British in Europe and The3Million
African unsustainable development between EU grants and China loans
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Brussels, 16 May 2021 - Israel is the world's 8th largest arms exporter, but it also import weaponry mainly from US and UK such as high tech weapons mainly from the US (64 million dollars in 2020 see chart).
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Though the United States is the largest single supplier of military equipment to Israel, since 2015 the UK has licensed it with over £376 million worth of arms, source CAAT.
Licences include:
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£183 million worth of ML22 licences (military technology)
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£98 million worth of ML10 licences (Aircraft, helicopters, drones)
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£16 million worth of ML4 licences (Grenades, bombs, missiles, countermeasures)
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£4.6 million worth of ML6 licences (Armoured vehicles, tanks)
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£1.8 million worth of ML3 licences (ammunition)
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£1 million worth of ML1 licences (small arms)
CAAT, the Campaign Against Arm Trade, nominated for the Noble Peace Prize this year for its winning legal action to stop UK export of arms to Saudi Arabia used in the war in Yemen, also gives specifications for a number of unlimited licences to Israel including: general military aircraft components, components for combat aircraft, military support aircraft, technology for general military aircraft components, military aircraft ground equipment, components for military aero-engines, see table.
The main arm producers exporting to Israel are BAE System, Lockheed Martin, Leonardo/AugustaWestland, Boeing, General Dynamics, ThyssenKrupp.
Israel weaponised by Western powers.
Since 2015 UK supplied the state with over £376 million worth of arms (figures CAAT).