As If the Whole World, Outraged, Were Speaking

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Half a Million March Raises its Collective Voice against War on Iraq:
As If the Whole World, Outraged, Were Speaking

Speech upon Speech in Hyde Park

In one of the biggest anti-war demonstrations ever to have taken place in Europe, some 400,000 people poured onto the streets of London on Saturday, September 28, to demand as one: Don’t Attack Iraq! Freedom for Palestine! Such a forceful manifestation of the popular will was truly unprecedented.

So vast was the demonstration, called by the Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain and supported by CND, moving from Embankment to the rally at Hyde Park, that the whole of the centre of London was brought to a halt. So dense were the crowds that many demonstrators walked down parallel streets and tens of thousands headed straight for Hyde Park by other routes. At Hyde Park as the rally proceeded a sea of faces stretched as far as the eye could see. The march was so huge that it took five hours to be completed.

The route from the Embankment, past Parliament, up Whitehall and past Downing Street, through Trafalgar Square and through central London to Hyde Park, was solid with demonstrators and the air ringing with never ending waves of noise and protest for hours on end. Scores of groups of musicians and dancers, forests of placards and multitudes of banners and flags added to the vibrancy of the occasion, giving it the character of a popular festival of affirmation. It was phenomenal to see, hear and participate in experiencing the people of Britain taking a stand against the criminal war of aggression being hatched up by US imperialism with the shameful backing of the British government and in support of the just struggle of the people of Palestine for their freedom and self-determination.

As well as for its size the demonstration was notable for the breadth of its representation. Trade union contingents, Muslim and other religious groups with large numbers of youth, Palestine campaigners, anti-war and anti-capitalist activists, activists from different social and political organisations, uncountable concerned individuals, all participated in one vast militant united throng. Young and old, people of so many nationalities, people from all walks of life, groups of friends and families all thronged the route of the demonstration. All united as one to oppose the plans of Anglo-US imperialism and to affirm their own agendas.

The unity of this huge and diverse march was reflected in the banners and placards carried aloft by the demonstrators, some professionally produced, some hand-written and prepared at home by individuals. Nevertheless, they all homed in on the hypocrisy and lies which are being offered as justification for war against Iraq and for the suppression of the Palestinian people. "No blood for oil", "Britain has weapons of mass destruction – we need weapons inspectors here", "Regime change in the USA", "When lawlessness rules the world, resistance is a duty" and "Sharon=Hitler" are only a small sample of how the people expressed their own views on the current situation.

This powerful popular march is a sign of the depth of the opposition to the criminal Anglo-US war plans and the US-backed Israeli suppression of the Palestinian people. It was as if the whole world, outraged, were speaking. This is a clear sign that the people reject the method of force, dictate, war and aggression which the big powers are pushing and with which they are organising. It is a clear sign of the desperately weak position of the official circles and their justifications for war and oppression. The power of the march also clearly signals that the anti-war movement must not and will not be deflected until its goal is achieved, and that success will come if the working class and people keep the initiative firmly in their own hands and never let go.

We are herewith posting summaries of speeches at the Hyde Park Rally

Andrew Murray on behalf of the joint organisers, Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), welcomed the marchers and said that this was the biggest ever anti-war demonstration in Britain.

The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Rev Peter Price, said that he was frightened we were heading for a war with devastating consequences. He said that war was sometimes justified, but war as a unilateral pre-emptive strike was illegal, immoral and unwise. He said that he regarded the Saddam regime as repressive, but we could only proceed according to international law. The world must stop trying to resolve issues by war. He said that demonstrations rarely change anything, but helped create a new resolve in people’s hearts. If there was war we must not just shrug. We must demand there be no unilateral action by the powerful and that all weapons of mass destruction be destroyed. The UN must be revitalised to serve all humanity. Prayers, thoughts and actions must be directed to peace. Blessed are the peacemakers, he concluded.

Hassan Amimi (MAB) said the participants of all colours, nationalities and religions were all agreed in saying: No to war with Iraq and justice for the Palestinian people. He asked Bush and Blair: who is killing children in the Middle East? The answer is Sharon, who should be the one punished and whose weapons should be checked. He said the participants had come today believing in justice and human values.

Former MP Tony Benn said that the march represented the overwhelming population of the world. It represented the majority in Britain and possibly the USA too. He said the march gave a clear message against war with Iraq as wholly wrong, immoral and criminal. He said we must demand proper and balanced disarmament, an end to sanctions against the Iraqi people, Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and a Palestinian state, a Middle East Peace Conference under UN auspices. He said that maybe Bush would go to war in a matter of weeks, Blair might commit troops to battle, but nothing would take the British people into a war they do not accept. He said those who took the decision were criminally responsible, but if there was war the responsibility lay with us to ensure everybody understood the issues. We are responsible for what was done in our name. War must not be allowed to happen.

A message of support was read from Mo Mowlam MP.

Alice Mahon MP said the magnificent turnout sent a clear message to the Prime Minister: No to war; No to killing Iraqi civilians; No to the oil spivs who dominate the USA. She asked why Iraq was being threatened now, why the issue of weapons of mass destruction raised now. Who would be next? She said this would be a war for oil. Bush had plans to attack Syria, Iran, North Korea, with possible use of nuclear weapons. She said she was ashamed that Britain was sending emissaries around the world to further such plans. She said that all UN Resolutions should be honoured, all countries inspected for weapons of mass destruction. We had a voice. We must demand: No to Bush’s war; Not in Our Name!

Tam Dalyell MP voiced concern about use of nuclear weapons. He said that Ministers had refused in the House of Commons to answer questions about deployment of US nuclear strike aircraft on Britain’s territory Diego Garcia. Geoff Hoon had said "in the right conditions" nuclear weapons could be used. What were the right conditions? This was a most dangerous crisis, he said; we were sleepwalking to disaster. We must awake to the horrendous consequences of nuclear weapons.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow gave fraternal greetings from his union. He said they had no gripe with Iraqi workers. There must be no war on Iraq. He said the "enemy within" were Tony Blair and George Bush. He said he was appalled by September 11, but appalled too by the terrorism against the Palestinian people. The message of the people is: No War on Iraq, War on Poverty!

Manchester Councillor Abdul Khan, speaking for the Pakistani Councillors Association, said we had gathered for peace and justice, for the rule of law. We represented the tens of millions who did not support war against Iraq. He said he was suspicious of Bush’s activities regarding weapons of mass destruction. Why only Iraq? What right did the US have to set the rules? They had used chemical weapons in Vietnam. Saddam was an evil dictator, but what of Sharon? He had inflicted genocide on the Palestinian people. Saddam must be dealt with, but more pressing was the 50-year suffering of the Palestinian people. UN Resolutions should be adhered to, but what of those on Kashmir and Palestine? There must be peace and justice for everyone. No War on Iraq, Freedom for the Palestinian People, he concluded.

A representative of Iraqis in Exile Against War said we were told that pre-emptive war with Iraq was needed. We Iraqis in exile considered this false, he said. He said generations of Iraqis had suffered repression, but war would only crush them, and would spill over all the Middle East. Saddam must be held to account, but the remedy was not greater damage. Real change could only be brought about by the Iraqi people themselves in a climate of justice covering all the Middle East. The UN must lift sanctions and stop the drive to war. The dangerous war plans of the US administration must be challenged.

Carole Regan, Chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said there was a country run by a terrorist, possessing weapons of mass destruction, ignoring UN Resolutions, denying human rights, carrying out systematic murder. Israel! A terrorist state! But what did the US do? George Bush went no further than saying its actions were "not very helpful". Pressure must be put on Tony Blair to end all links with Israel, stop buying and selling arms with them, boycott trade with Israel. Israel was like apartheid South Africa, she said. A large movement must be built in support of Palestine like the Anti-Apartheid Movement. There must be no war against Iraq, and justice for the Palestinians.

Mick Rix, General Secretary of ASLEF, brought fraternal greetings from the train drivers’ union. He described the demonstration as a wonderful show of support and solidarity for international peace and justice. He said there could be no peace without justice. An International Coalition was needed for freedom for the Palestinian people, an end to the occupation of their lands. He said war was not threatened because of weapons of mass destruction but as a payback by Bush to the multinationals who put him in power. He said his union would go to the Labour Party conference supporting an emergency motion against military action. He said Blair should learn from the German election where an anti-war stance had brought victory.

Paul Mackney, General Secretary of NATFHE, said he spoke for all the university and college lecturers who opposed war. He said the so-called new "awkward squad" of trade union leaders opposed war on Iraq and considered Britain must not pay the "blood price" talked of by Tony Blair. If they went ahead they would be accused of slaughter but not in our name. He too mentioned that Israel was the state in the Middle East which had weapons of mass destruction, ignored UN Resolutions and invaded its neighbours. If Blair was for a better world he should spend money on an independent Palestinian state, for AIDS, etc. He must stop clinging to the imperial past. Gordon Brown should invest the "war chest" in schools and hospitals, paying the firefighters and giving students the grants and tuition fees he himself enjoyed. He called for the racist laws to be repealed. We will not pay the blood price, he ended; this war is not in our name.

Barry Canfield, Assistant General Secretary of the T&GWU, brought the greetings of Bill Morris and his Executive Council. He said the number one issue was the suffering of the Palestinian people. He said the trade union perspective was one of solidarity with working men and women across the world, including the Iraqis. He said that Iraq will let in UN inspectors but the US will not take Yes for an answer. The USA wanted the unequivocal right to run the world. The great fear was that the US did not support international law unless framed by them. The Iraqi people were already suffering. The response of our and the US governments was to add real terror. He said the message to the Labour Party and Tony Blair was stop kneeling to Bush, uphold the UN and oppose war against Iraq, but deal with the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Glasgow Govan MP Mohammed Sawar said the message to the Prime Minister was we do not want war. Blair was responsible to the British people not George Bush. He said George Bush had said UN credibility was at stake if it did not deal with Iraq, but the truth was the UN Security Council credibility was at stake if it followed Bush. He said the US was interested in Iraq’s 100 year oil reserves. The "war on terrorism" could not be won without justice for the Palestinians.

Journalist Yvonne Ridley saluted the heroic Palestinian people. If it had not been for their resistance Iraq would already have been attacked. Bush and Blair call Sharon a "man of peace" whereas he is a war criminal who should be tried as such. She denounced Blair for justifying arms sales to Israel with the cynical excuse "someone else will". She said she had just returned from Iraq where people had told her they posed no threat to Britain. The fact was the only threat to the world is George Bush. It was the US who refused UN weapons inspections, refused access to Gauntanamo Bay prisoners, had been at war for every one of 50 years. Now they were waging a so-called "War on Terror". But war on Iraq had no logical connection with September 11. Bush had said he would act alone with a pre-emptive strike. But he had one friend. How dare Tony Blair decide to murder innocents in our name! A regime change was needed at No 10!

Ismail Musl Batail of Friends of Al Aqsa began by reading a message from a group of Jewish rabbis opposed to Zionism. He said that there could be no peace until the Palestinian question was solved.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of PCS, said it was a marvellous demonstration, uniting all people in Britain against war. He said decades ago trade unions had denounced Saddam’s regime as repressive while the US was arming it. Nothing justified war. The US was interested in oil and its presence in the region. War on Iraq was unjust and would not deal with the problem. He said the trade union movement was international and opposed injustice. We must oppose war and wage the struggle in this country over issues such as pensions, democracy and public services. He called for a just peace and an end to the occupation of Palestinian lands.

A message of support was read from playwright Harold Pinter.

Billy Hayes of the Communication Workers Union said the "awkward squad" was getting pretty big today. Trade unions must play their part in the anti-war movement. He reminded participants of the anti-Vietnam war movement. The trade union movement linked to the anti-war movement will defeat Bush and Blair, he said.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said that five years ago the new Labour government had spoken of an "ethical foreign policy". Now they spoke of "regime change"! This threatened war, he said, was not about weapons of mass destruction. The only nuclear power in the region was Israel! It was a disgrace that Britain should be the lapdog of the USA. How could they send troops to Iraq when they knew the majority of people in Britain opposed this? Londoners would die, he said; they must listen to the voice for peace.

General Secretary of the Muslim Council Iqbal Sakranie expressed total support for the civilian populations of Iraq and Palestine. The threat was not from Islam, he said, but from the subversion of international law by powerful nations. War was fundamentally wrong for purposes of territory and subjugation; force could not be used to bring change. He called for an end to the occupation of Palestinian lands – pointing out that one third of the world’s refugees were Palestinian – and the lifting of sanctions against Iraq. Enough is enough, he said.

Journalist and broadcaster John Pilger said today was the true dawn of a new century. Democracy was not institutions which rubber-stamped decisions, not the use of the power of kings to attack others, not siding with war criminals like Sharon. Democracy today was this demonstration representing the majority of people in Britain. He had seen the suffering in Iraq and Palestine. He had seen children with cancer from the depleted uranium used by US troops in the Gulf War. These were the weapons of mass destruction. And deaths from economic sanctions outnumbered all from weapons. Murder of children in Iraq, he said, was no different from murder of children in more familiar areas. If there were another attack on Iraq, Bush and Blair would have committed an international crime. And more were planned against Iran, North Korea, and possibly China. Today’s demonstration, he said, represented the true moral mainstream. We are the moderates, he said, Bush and Blair the extremists. The danger was not in Baghdad but in Washington. Only one country had ever used nuclear weapons, torn up all treaties concerning their use, and was now developing nuclear weapons for use pre-emptively. If Tony Blair attacks Iraq, he is promoting terrorism, and with Bush is the true enemy within. Resistance to their plans must be unrelenting, he said.

Lindsey German of Stop the War Coalition described the march as the authentic voice of millions, of working people, of the poor and those oppressed by racism. It would have echoes around the world, would be heard in Iraq, in the Palestinian refugee camps, and in the USA with its growing anti-war movement. She said the message was not no war unless the UN Security Council cobbles together some Resolution, but no war! Bush with his "Dead or alive" and "offer he can’t refuse" practised the politics of the gangster movie. War would be about oil and strategic interests, rich against poor. Blair mourned for the lost Empire, and was trying to gain another. We wanted no Empire back, neither the people who suffered under it nor those here who gained no benefit. She announced that on October 31 a day of local action, student protest and civil disobedience was planned. She said demonstrations do make a difference. Think of Vietnam, the Suffragettes, Civil Rights in the USA. We are more, she said; this is only the beginning.

Selma Yacoub of Birmingham Stop the War Coalition pointed out that the call of many after September 11 of Justice not Vengeance had been ignored. The plan was to destroy Iraq and sow confusion. Clarity was needed. As Bush and Blair talked to each other, so now the people were talking to each other. After September 11 Muslims had felt demonised, yet here we all were side by side. People were cottoning on to Tony Blair’s lies.

George Galloway MP asked why Tony Blair could not find the money to pay the firefighters yet could find it to set fire to other people’s countries. He recalled that today was the second anniversary of the current Intifada and called for its victory and for a free Palestine. He asked how Sharon could refuse UN inspectors for Jenin yet war was planned for less in Iraq. Tens of millions opposed this war for oil, he said. He called for the occupation of universities, factories, and public buildings on October 31 and for democratic disobedience against the civil slavery of Tony Blair.

Veronica Dunn of Unison said she was terrified what the US and British governments were planning. The dossier was just a fig leaf. How could they carry on about UN resolutions when it was Israel who should be brought to task? There was not a safer world after the aggression against Afghanistan. The USA was the country to be frightened of. Britain should attempt to moderate the US positions and work with the EU for a just peace.

Knesset MP Anwar Musharref asked what right had the USA to control the world. He said most people in the Middle East had been victims of dictatorship. Since when had the US supported democracy? Israel was a colonial and apartheid state. He said the interest was not only oil but strategic interests, including changing regimes. He said Bush and Blair might not listen to the UN but they would listen to public opinion.

A message of full support for the rally was read from the Scottish National Party.

Caroline Lucas MEP (Green Party) said that war would be about access to oil. No UN resolutions gave authority for daily bombing of Iraq. The currency of UN resolutions was being devalued, she pointed out. One can’t bomb the way to peace, she said.

Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter opposed the war plans against Iraq. He said today we see an Army of Peace, democracy’s divisions. He said that people asked why he was here. I am here, he said, because I am an American, who follows US law and wholeheartedly rejects the policies of George Bush. He said he had two messages. One was to Tony Blair. He said he shared concern about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. His inspections had not accounted for everything. There is a job to be done. Saddam must keep his promises. The investigation must be clean. Saddam must be disarmed, but not removed. The dossier does not give a case for war. It is not worth one drop of blood from a US soldier, a British soldier or an Iraqi civilian. Secondly, he said, a message to George Bush. He pointed out he disagreed with the slogan "Down, Down USA". The argument was with George Bush, he said, not with the American people. The American people were good and law-abiding. Today’s demonstration would motivate the American people. It was George Bush’s policies that were un-American. He mentioned the saying "don’t let friends drive drunk". Bush was like an alcoholic at the wheel. We must grab the keys.

Mr Kasiha of Palestinian Return Centre called on Tony Blair to honour his responsibilities to the Palestinian and Iraqi people or the world would be thrown into disarray. It was a moment of truth. Blair could right the historical wrong of Arthur Balfour. He said that Palestinian resistance would continue.

Kate Hudson of CND said the struggle for peace was the greatest challenge in the world. The Iraqi people had suffered enough. They must not suffer more in the pursuit of oil and political and economic control. The dossier provided no evidence. Our government was proposing the first use of nuclear weapons. It would be a war crime. If there was war, she called on people to come to Downing Street at noon the following Saturday. We will prevail, she said: No War on Iraq, Justice for Palestine.

Jeremy Corbyn MP said Tony Blair has no right to wage war without our approval and support. He said nobody had welcomed September 11. It was a disaster. But the killing of 8,000 Afghan citizens was also disaster. Today we saw a unique coalition, he said. What matters are the voices of the ordinary people. Today we have told the British government to Stop the War. He pointed out the opposition to Saddam in the ’80s when the government was arming him against Iran. He said security came only with happy and loving neighbours. George Bush allowed the assassination of Palestinians, he did not attend the Earth Summit; he could bomb today, but it would come back to haunt him. October 31 would be the next staging post. Stay Together, he said, Stop the War!