No More Wars; The Lies Must End;
The People Should Rule the World!

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No More Wars; The Lies Must End; The People Should Rule the World!

Speeches at Rally, Trafalgar Square, September 27, 2003

Andrew Murray of Stop the War Coalition, co-chairing the Rally with Kate Hudson of CND and Hamid Bequari of the Muslim Association of Britain, opened by saying that the march and rally were telling Tony Blair: no more war; end the occupation! The lies must end; the Iraqis must be allowed to run their own country; there would be no peace in the Middle East without justice for the Palestinians. Britain should never have allowed itself to be dragged into a war by George W Bush!

Jeremy Corbyn MP thanked all the participants. It was a fantastic march, he said, with people from all walks of life and wide-ranging religious and political beliefs. Did such demonstrations make a difference, he asked? They had led to a close vote in Parliament, he said, and refusal to participate in other countries. The war in Iraq was illegal and illegitimate. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Ten thousand Iraqis had died and many more were still dying. He condemned the British government for its supine support for the Project for a New American Century. Now they were sending more troops, he said, as were the US. This echoed similar calls for "more troops" in Vietnam and led to half a million US soldiers. This could descend into another Vietnam, he said. The call must be for withdrawal of troops, an end to the theft of Iraqi oil and public services. Let the Iraqi people decide their own future, he said. Was there no alternative to these results of free market economics, he asked? There was! An unprecedented unity was developing in the anti-war movement and among the poorest people of the world. Witness the Cancun Summit! The future was not wars and invasion but peace, justice and respect for other cultures.

Majed al Zeer of the Palestine Return Centre said that today war raged both in Iraq and Palestine. He asked where were Tony Blair and George Bush when the Israelis were bombing refugee camps? But siege, mass killings could not succeed if there was resistance, even if such resistance was labelled "terrorism". He said the Zionists of 1948 were terrorists and so were today’s new generation.

Carolyn Leckie MSP of the Scottish Socialist Party said her Party would oppose the occupation of Iraq until every single troop was out. She said it gave no pleasure to say we told you so! Of course there were no WMDs, although these were plentiful at Faslane! The government had gone to war at the behest of the warmongers in Washington and knew they were lying. It was important to build international solidarity with the people of Iraq, she said, to send the troops home and allow them to take control of their lives themselves. Half the US people believed Bush wrong. The occupation must end and a world of equality and justice be built as an alternative to capitalism and warmongering.

Paul Mackney, General Secretary of NATFHE, said Tony Blair must recognise we were not going away. We would be back until he and his fellow warmongers ended the occupation of Iraq! He said Blair knew all along there were no WMDs. Alistair Campbell had begun the campaign against the BBC as a diversion, he said, but still the truth leaks out from the Hutton enquiry. The judgement of the people was that Tony Blair had presided over one of the most ignominious periods in British history. He asked where now was the proposed victory parade? Rather it was a victory for hypocrisy! It had been a war of occupation not liberation, of control of oil and privatisation, not restoration. George W Bush wanted no non-US influence. He would get the welcome he deserves when he visits Britain in November. Paul Mackney saluted the anti-war movement, especially those from the Muslim community and the school students. The new generation would certainly fight for what was right! Why could there not be instead a war against AIDS and poverty? Why taxes for war but not for student fees? We stood side by side with the Palestinian people for peace and justice. We were winning the battle for truth!

Ayub Baquur, President of the World Kashmiri organisation, expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people, those of Chechnya and the nationalities and minorities of India, and all the oppressed of the world. He pointed out that 90,000 had been massacred, largely unreported, in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

Betty Hunter of Palestine Solidarity Campaign pointed out that today was also the 3rd anniversary of the Second Intifada, the resistance to Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands. She said Bush and Blair had used promises on the Palestine issue to get quiescence from Arab governments on the Iraq war. But the promises had been proven hollow! The Palestinians had observed a ceasefire while the Israelis had expanded their settlements and carried out assassinations! Bush and Blair said nothing! She called for the Israeli wall to be dismantled. She mourned the recent passing of Professor Edward Said, patron of PSC. She said that the anti-war movement had changed the political mood in the country. It must be built on the basis of the rights of the Iraqi people, not forgetting the human and national rights of the Palestinians. She called for support for the PSC demonstration on November 9 against the Israeli wall.

Caroline Lucas MEP of the Green Party expressed anger that Tony Blair had lied to the country and dragged it into an illegal and immoral war. She said the lies must end and Blair must go! She pointed out that 20,000 Iraqis had died and were dying from the war and its aftermath. There was no water or electricity. Coalition justice in Baghdad amounted to detention without charge and the shooting of anyone protesting. Rule by George Bush meant freedom for the multinational corporations to bleed the country dry. Military invasion had been followed by corporate invasion. That big business should profit from the suffering of the Iraqi people was sordid and obscene. She too pointed out the irony of the failure to find WMDs in Iraq with their presence at Faslane. How could a "war on terror" be allied with the selling of arms? She said a secure world could only be built by dealing with the causes of conflict. The occupation of Palestinian lands must end, as must the arms trade. She pointed out that Tony Blair had said history would forgive him. But the message was he would neither ever be trusted again or forgiven!

Sophie and Billy Hurndall, sister and brother of Tom Hurndall, the peace activist left in a coma after being shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while shielding children in Gaza, paid tribute to the sacrifice made by their brother. Sophie said that Tom would serve as an inspiration, his sacrifice would send a ripple of hope to all the oppressed. Billy pointed out that while his brother’s name was known worldwide, un-named Palestinians suffered the same fate every day. The media betrayed them and covered up who were the terrorists!

Mick Rix, General Secretary of ASLEF, said that the real terrorists were the US and British governments who had waged an illegal war. If a coalition force was need anywhere, why not against the Israelis in Palestine! He said we would not go away, even if some lost positions in the labour movement. He said those in control of the Labour Party Conference did not want a debate on the Iraq war. How could anyone fight for democracy if there was no democracy in their party? He said he felt part of the majority on this question and that Tony Blair must go.

A representative of the Federation of Islamic Student Societies pointed out that the movement in support of Palestine had never been so strong. Students had been in the forefront of the anti-Vietnam War and anti-apartheid movements, and it was the same today. If Israel was the only democratic country in the Middle East, as it was claimed, she said, you can keep democracy! She condemned Tony Blair for his silence on Sharon. For WMDs, for ignoring UN Resolutions, for war crimes, look to Israel, she said. You cannot tell people how they should or should not resist when you are oppressing them, she pointed out. Let our voices be heard in Jenin and Tel Aviv, she cried!

Stewart Hemsley of Pax Christi said that his organisation was founded after the Second World War. In the last four years, war had been waged in the Balkans, in Afghanistan and in Iraq. They said there was no alternative. But the British government, he said, was with Pontius Pilate: the truth was what served themselves. He condemned Tony Blair for deceiving the people and allowing the Project for a New American Century to go ahead. He said in Guantanamo Bay people were kept like wild animals. We cannot remain silent! As Martin Luther King had said, we live together or perish!

Bob Crow, General Secretary of RMT, mentioned that the Emergency Resolution on Iraq was not to be debated at the Labour Party Conference. He said it would be no good Tony Blair resigning. Every single one of the Cabinet were war criminals. They should all resign! He pointed out that the RMT’s forerunner, the NUR, had helped set up the Labour Party. Should this party now be saved? He said unless New Labour changes its foreign policy support should go to other parties who stand for peace.

Rosanna and Hannah of School Students Against the War recounted how many school students had walked out of school when the war had started, declaring Not in Our Name! Hannah said that school students today would not put up with lies. The troops must be withdrawn from Iraq and the government had better not dare attack any other countries on their list! Rosanna aged 11 said she had led her school strike and had written to her MP demanding to know why children were being bombed in Iraq. She had asked why money could be found for war but not for a local maternity and A&E department.

Former MP Tony Benn said that the two girls had spoken for all. He pointed out that 60 years ago, returning from war service as a pilot, he had been deeply moved by the words of the then new UN Charter to "save successive generations from the scourge of war". War was still a disaster, he said, for both its wagers and those occupied. Armed robbery was taking place in Iraq. The USA was selling off the country to multinational corporations. We create the wealth, he said, and we should run the world! People sometimes asked if there was any point in demonstrating, he said. But in Trafalgar Square he had witnessed protests against the Suez invasion, against apartheid, against the poll Tax and many others. This was the real Parliament of the country, he said! We must see that our voices are heard.

Annette Place of the UNISON National Executive said that her union would not be silenced at the Labour Party Conference. UNISON had condemned Bush and Blair for the war and would continue to do so. Workers would unite against injustice, fascism, globalisation, privatisation, and illegal war and occupation.

Iqbal Sacranie of the Muslim Council of Britain said Iraq was seeing a new colonial project bearing fruit. It was unsanctioned internationally and the architects must be made to pay for the consequences of the war. He said the war had created an unprecedented unity and solidarity, which had welded people, cutting across all barriers. This alliance must be built on, he said.

Filmmaker Ken Loach condemned Tony Blair for his lies. He said he must have known there were no WMDs. As John Pilger’s recent film had pointed out, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice said as much before 9/11. He said one could not oppose war without opposing corporate power, its quest for cheap labour and cheap resources, its rape of the earth’s resources. Never in modern times, he said, had we seen such concentration of power. And never so supine a British Prime Minister! He called for the building of a party for real socialist progress. The Labour party had its worst leader in history. It represented capitalism. He said anyone who called for the replacement of Blair by Brown must be on another planet. The lies must end. The illegal occupation must end. We must organise a movement to represent the interests of the people, not of big business, he said.

Ismail Patel of Friends of Al-Aqsa condemned Bush and Blair as well as Sharon for maintaining the Israeli occupation of Palestine. He called for the de-Zionisation of Israel, for integration not separation. The wall must come down, he said. The day of justice would come soon.

Ismail Zamlot of the PLO General Delegation to Britain condemned the USA for vetoing the UN Security Council Resolution opposing the Israeli proposal to consider assassinating the Palestinian leader. He queried the so-called Road Map. He pointed out that the Israeli strategy was to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and to exercise control by means of settlements, the occupied towns and the wall. But, he said, the Palestinians were not defeated. Time was on their side. They belonged to the land and the land belonged to them. Today millions were marching in 60 different countries. Palestine would be free!

Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition congratulated the marchers. You represent the conscience of millions, she said, the majority. This was the 5^th march this year, she pointed out, two the biggest in peacetime, one the biggest in wartime, and this one the biggest after war was over. She condemned Tony Blair for his lies and called on him to end the illegal colonial occupation of Iraq. The right of sovereignty of the Iraqi people must be recognised, she said. She said that if Blair went ahead with his invitation to George W Bush to visit Britain from November 19-21 London would be brought to a standstill. She said that the anti-war movement had created the biggest political crisis in years in Britain. As with the Suffragettes and with American Civil Rights, she said, victory was not won after five demonstrations. But the course was set!

George Monbiot spoke against the replacement of US control of Iraq by the UN. The UN must not be allowed as an escape valve for Bush, to free him to attack North Korea or Iran. The UN had no more legitimacy as an occupier than the US, he said. There could only be immediate transfer of power to Iraqis themselves, running their own Constitutional Convention.

Donovan McCarthy of the Liberal Democrats said that the legacy of Tony Blair was death and destruction. He had not listened to the British people. We can put an end to the existing neo-Presidential system, he said.

Jill Evans MEP of Plaid Cymru said that the protest against the war was not over. We had been dragged into war on the basis of lies, she said. Only a reformed UN could save the world from the scourge of war. She spoke of the effect of the war domestically, in terms of cuts in essential services and rises in council tax. She said that the anti-war movement represented justice and we must keep shouting louder.

The widow of Tareq Ayyoub, the Al Jazeera journalist killed by a US missile in Baghdad, spoke movingly of her despair being rekindled by the fight for truth, freedom and justice. She said her dream was that their only daughter would live to see a better world. Her anger had become a driving force to stop the war.

George Galloway MP compared Tony Blair’s plan not to debate Iraq at the Labour Party Conference to a family ignoring an elephant sat in the living room. He condemned proposals for UN troops to take over from the US and British troops in Iraq. Foreign occupation is the problem, he said, it cannot be the solution. He said foreign invasion and occupation, as depicted in the film "Platoon", begins by dehumanising the occupied and ends by dehumanising the occupiers. He said the US risked facing the same humiliation it had faced in Vietnam. He said that George W Bush’s proposed visit to Britain on November 19-21 was an opportunity for the biggest festival of opposition to war ever.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of PCS, condemned the lies of Tony Blair. He called for an end to the illegal occupation of Iraq and for a free Palestine.

Dr Azzam Tamimi of the Muslim Association of Britain said that if Bush and Blair represented democracy and freedom the world said No Thank You! Similarly Sharon and his F16s. The masses must be mobilised to teach Blair a lesson. Sharon the war criminal must be brought to court.

The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said he would not be giving George Bush a civic reception. He said he spoke for the majority of Londoners. He called for an end to double standards regarding Palestine and for the US and Britain to get out of Iraq.

Ernest Rodker of the Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, the physicist incarcerated for 18 years for exposing Israeli nuclear weapons development, spoke in support of the Rally and called for support for the weekly vigil on Vanunu at the Israeli Embassy.

An Iraqi campaigner, exiled for 35 years, spoke of the initial US support for Saddam Hussein. He called for an end to the occupation of his country.

Dr Siddiqui of the Muslim Parliament said that the US was bogged down in Iraq. It would be their graveyard, he said. He said a UN force would suffer the same fate as the US. The Iraqi people would not forget 13 years of sanctions.