Debate contribution: Defence Industries

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 20 May 2024.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

20 May 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Defence Industries

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4491197

Read the official Assembly record

Text

It is an utter shame that politicians are using manufacturing workers as political pawns as they beat the drum of war and ramp up military tensions. The motion mentions the 9,000 workers who work in the defence industry, but anyone who thinks that it is about the needs or desires of those workers clearly has not been paying attention. The media is awash with reports about putting Britain on a war footing. In Whitehall, there are open conversations about conscription and the need to ramp up war industries. It is in that context that the unionist parties and establishment and their Tory counterparts, with their Safeguarding the Union deal, are angling to integrate the North further into Britain's military defence systems. We have seen that move before: 13 years after the invasion of Afghanistan and 11 years after the invasion of Iraq, and we know the repercussions. There are millions dead and countless injured, yet not a single worthwhile lesson has been learned by the Tories, Labour, the DUP or the UUP, because, at the end of the day, it is not politicians or the captains of industry who fight the wars that they create: the price is paid in the blood of countless, and, for the most part, nameless, working-class people, who serve in and are massacred by the armies of Britain and its imperialist allies. War is catastrophic and cruel. From Belfast to Baghdad and from Manchester to the Malvinas, the history of that warmongering is carved into tombstones across the world, and its memory is carried in the scars of the survivors. At this very moment, Britain and its imperialist allies in the US are funding Israel's genocide in Gaza. Over 35,000 are dead, there are countless injured, hospitals, schools and universities have been destroyed and millions of Palestinian people are being forced to endure famine conditions. It appears that there is no end to the number of war crimes that Israel will commit or the number of countries that it will bomb, and it does so with the backing of Western Governments. Despite all the risks and warnings of a wider regional war, Britain, the US and others continue to add fuel to the fire. They know that Israel is a bulwark against democracy and the will of the wider working-class in the Middle East, and there is no depraved depths that the ruling class will not go to to protect their interests. That has also been evidenced in Ukraine, which the motion is sure to mention. The British, European and American ruling classes are in the grips of a cold war-style panic over the war in Ukraine.

Yes, but, respectfully, Mr Deputy Speaker, Ukraine is mentioned in the motion. In the aftermath of Russia's barbaric invasion of Ukraine and despite NATO's support for Kiev, the war has been fought to a stalemate. Hundreds of thousands are dead and yet there are parties here that want more. To be clear, Russia's invasion of Ukraine was wrong. Ukraine has the right to self-determination, but that will not come about —.

There is an entrenched power struggle between Russia and NATO and other imperialist interventions, which are tearing Ukraine asunder. The reason the motion — the motion — speaks about Ukraine is twofold. First, it is because the UUP and DUP want workers to think that war is the best way to protect and provide jobs. That is not true. Secondly, the supporters of the Ukraine war have made a cynical, self-serving and morally abhorrent calculation. Those Governments that are arming Ukraine are fighting a proxy war with Russia because they have calculated that it is the cheapest way to protect their own interests. It is cheaper to arm the Ukrainian military because they believe that Ukrainian lives are cheaper than those of their own citizens.

Thanks, Deputy Speaker. I will come on to the intervention in a second. What is needed in Ukraine is a ceasefire, which Sunak and Biden have opposed every step of the way. What is not needed is a further escalation of war or cynical motions like the one here today. That brings me on to the workers here, who were mentioned. When it comes to paying bills or putting food on the table, people tend to take jobs wherever they can get them. Therefore, the responsibility for the dead and the war casualties lies with the politicians and manufacturing bosses who profit from war, not with the workers themselves. People Before Profit has stood on picket lines with workers and told them much of what I have said here today. We can and do make a distinction between the workers, their welfare and the companies that they work for. We have openly told workers that their jobs do not have to be contingent on war. Crucially, we believe that organised workers, with the power that they can wield, are best placed to break those factories from the war industry. In our view, those workers could be reskilled and those factories repurposed to create new, green jobs as part of a just transition that protects workers and our planet. The technological capacity of those industries could help combat climate change with the development of renewable energy initiatives and infrastructure. We think that we could demilitarise those factories —

— and use those workers and their skill sets for more peaceful purposes. In the interests of humanity —

— I will not support the motion.

911 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification