Hundreds of Thousands March against Visit of George Bush

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Hundreds of Thousands March against Visit of George Bush

Blair and Bush on the Terrorism in Turkey

As many as 400,000 demonstrators made their way through London on Thursday as part of a day of mass opposition to the visit to Britain of George W Bush and those who had invited him. It was reported to be the largest weekday demonstration in London ever.

The day began when a number of protesters attempted to hang a "City of London Closed to George Bush" banner from Admiralty Arch. By 2.00 pm, thousands of people were gathering in Malet Street streaming in from the train stations, coaches and surrounding area, including school students who walked out to join the demonstration.

At 2.40pm the march started. At the front of the march was a huge banner held up across the road reading "Stop Bush". Thousands joined the demonstration as it progressed through Holborn and it was as if the demonstration merged with the peoples of London as it made its way towards Whitehall. The head of the march passed Downing Street just after Bush left from a meeting with the Prime Minister.

The huge march was cheerful, colourful and noisy. As blocks of protesters arrived at Downing Street, they stopped to shout loudly "Bush Go Home!". During the march, many kept up impromptu anti-Bush speeches over the PA, and performed street theatre.

The gates to the Mall were closed at Admiralty Arch, with a line of police in front and a line of vans behind. Soon Trafalgar Square filled to overflowing and the top of Whitehall was blocked off. All traffic stopped in all adjoining streets, which were swarming with people. Indeed, the Square was full with 30,000 people before the march started arriving. Speakers in Trafalgar Square announced that more than two hours after the start of the march, people were still leaving the Malet Street assembly point.

The tragic news filtered through of the bombing of the British Consulate in Istanbul. Whilst reports said that George Bush and Tony Blair had turned their meeting into a "terror summit" people expressed even more determination to defeat the Anglo-US "war on terrorism" as the prime cause for this increasingly violent world. This was also articulated in the speeches at Trafalgar Square where a minute’s silence was held for all the victims of terror, responsibility for which was laid at the feet of the warmongers themselves. The rally began with call to prayer because of Ramadan, the breaking of the fast and the distribution of dates.

The Iraqi chair of the rally said that the greatest victory was that they were unable to divide people on religious or any other ground. Their attack on the Muslims had failed just as their attempt to divide us from the people of America by peddling the lie that we were anti-American.

Jill Evans of Plaid Cymru, speaking of the fantastic demonstration, said that Wales was well-represented. Louise Christian spoke about Guantanamo Bay, pointing out the double standards of Bush and Blair, who said that they went to war for human rights and democracy, but have set up a concentration camp denying all rights. Paul Mackney, General Secretary of NATFHE, called on the trade unionists and the people to build the resistance. Among other speakers were Caroline Lucas MEP of the Green Party and Labour MP Alice Mahon.

Alec Salmond of SNP pointed out that he had not been invited to the state banquet although a leader of a party represented in parliament. But he was much happier here with people who were protesting. He said that a river of protest stretching from Glasgow would carry Bush and Blair away.

Dr Azzam Tamimi, speaking from the Muslim Association of Britain, gave heartfelt sympathy to the families of victims of Istanbul, but said that such terrorism was a result of Bush’s war, and would only be ended if there were a change of policy. Others speakers included Bruce Kent of CND, who gave the slogan "Another World Is Possible!"

It was after 5pm in Trafalgar Square as the night drew in and Ron Kovic, an American a veteran peace campaigner from the Vietnam War, told the masses of people gathered that together we have a rendezvous with history. We have a sacred birthright to take back our countries and return them to the people. History is on our side and this is only the beginning. We would not be defeated. On the contrary, he declared, the warmongers will be swept away.

Ron Kovic gave the countdown to the toppling of the 30-foot statue of Bush, grasping a missile, to enormous acclaim.

Amongst the other speakers who must be mentioned were three school students from Sheffield who spoke very militantly.

Jeremy Corbyn said that the demonstration was not supposed to happen. The Americans had wanted total exclusion, but why shouldn’t the people of London march in their own streets. The same lies were told about Vietnam as are being told about Iraq. Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition said that the White House had tried to insist on central London being closed down. Instead, George Bush was being confined to house arrest in Buckingham Palace. Secretary of State Colin Powell was forced at the last minute to cancel collecting a medal at London university Senate House because of student demonstrators.

A message was read from the wife of a US soldier who said that democracy cannot be established at gunpoint.

Tony Woodley, general secretary of the TGWU, said that it was great to see so many young people and that the union was proud to associate itself with opposition to illegal occupation. Peter Smith from Sedgefield, of the North East Stop the War Coalition, said that Bush already had had to cancel a visit to Durham Cathedral after the clergy refused to allow his helicopter to land in Cathedral Close. George Galloway said that with so many police around, it should be asked why they could not arrest a single war criminal. He called on people to use the upcoming elections to the EU parliament to unite the forces who are disenfranchised and had no voice into one mighty movement.

In conclusion, before the singing of songs, the chairs of the rally vowed: we will carry on. People will not forget what we have done.

Once again, the fanaticism of the words of Tony Blair and George Bush have taken the breath away as much as the slaughter of the bomb victims in Turkey. These leaders take the bombings as the evidence of a terrorism which they choose to identify as the root of all evil. And then they declare their determination to defeat this unseen terrorism.

It is this determination to ignore and twist the evidence of what violence is being committed where and against whom, and draw the conclusions as to the source of "terrorism", the targeting of innocent lives in order to undermine just struggles against oppression, and instead to insist on a course of action in which loss of life is being escalated, that justifies the epithet of "fanatic" for Bush and Blair.

At least 507 "Coalition" servicemen were killed before the "official" end of the war against Iraq on May 1, and 328 have died since then, including a total of 73 from Britain since the start of the aggression. However, these totals themselves are dwarfed by the number of civilians killed in the Iraq war and occupation. This is put at between 7,898 and 9,729. At least 20,000 civilians were injured during the Iraq war. Well over 1,500 violent civilian deaths occurred in occupied Baghdad up to the end of September.

For Tony Blair, his conviction that he is correct despite the horrors that pile up in Iraq, Turkey and elsewhere, is of the Hitlerite type. Wipe out these "evil terrorists", "Islamic fundamentalists" and all those that stand in the way of the realisation of his vision of a universal civilisation after the Anglo-US model and a society with social justice will prevail. Tony Blair would do well to heed that occupation and aggression, whether physical or cultural, is not liberation. It is what defines both Blair and Bush as war criminals.