Resistance Is Not Futile!

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"Time to Go" Demonstration:
Resistance Is Not Futile!

An account of the demonstration compiled from the report of the Stop the War Coalition and other sources

A demonstration estimated at between 30,000 and 60,000 strong marched through Manchester on Saturday, September 23, 2006.

The spirit of the demonstration transcended the occasion, namely a protest at the Labour Party Conference, and a message to Labour. Rather, it was a manifestation of how broad and deep is the opposition to the warmongering course of Britain, a course that is summed up and concentrated in the person of Tony Blair, who has carried out the bidding and been the champion of the vested interests of the rich and economically and politically powerful.

It could also be said that, being staged at the Labour Party Conference, the demonstration was both a manifestation of the organised workers who participated, including the trade unions who sponsored and supported it, and addressed to the broad section of the workers that the necessity is to break with everything that is old, put forward under the banner of "modernisation", that is again represented and epitomised by Tony Blair and his "Third Way".

The demonstration opposed and condemned all that the warmongering course of the government represents: its aggression against and occupation of the former sovereign Iraq and Afghanistan; its threats against and interference in sovereign states such as Iran; its attempts to wipe out the heroic resistance to the strategic plans of Anglo-US imperialism in Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere; its militarisation of the economy in Britain including in particular the plans to replace the Trident nuclear missiles; its alliance with and subservience to US imperialism.

Above all, the sentiment of the demonstration and rally was to condemn strictly as war criminals the Tony Blair coterie, and to sweep away this rottenness, chauvinism and hypocrisy from British political life. In this respect, the message of the demonstration was summed up as much as anything by the call of the court-marshalled Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, who has upheld that the Nuremberg principles must be followed that it is a duty to disobey illegal orders: "Resistance Is Not Futile!"

This spirit of resistance and the determination to oppose what is unjust and criminal was also manifested in the Peace Camp of the military families. This is simply the spirit that not a single soldier must be sent to die in an unjust war, that all troops must be removed from foreign soil, and that the government must be held accountable for the deaths of its military personnel as well as the innocent victims of aggression and occupation.

The unity of the broad sections of the working class and people was also a hallmark of the demonstration. At its best, it reflected that the political groupings and the Muslim organisations which took part did not do so as representing ghettoised communities or to further some narrow interests, but as part of a broad and powerful movement nationally and internationally to end war, to resist oppression and to establish a society based on what is best in human beings. It is this consciousness which is making the anti-war movement so powerful, and is developing its momentum along the line of march of bringing into being an anti-war government.

Tens of thousands of protesters flooded into Manchester's Albert Square for the Time to Go demonstration.

Marchers from Penzance to Aberdeen were united in a strong regional turnout for the first national demonstration called by the Stop the War Coalition and CND outside of London, with large contingents from across the north west of England, Yorkshire and the Midlands. Some 1,000 protesters travelled down from Scotland in a fleet of coaches. A packed Peace Train ran from London, with its own ongoing mobile discussion and songs led by Peggy Seeger.

The demonstration started at lunchtime with an opening rally in Albert Square, before heading off on a circular route around the Labour conference's city centre venue.

The march was marked by blazing sunshine and a series of street theatre events, including a mass "die in". Other protesters dressed up as "Butcher Bush" or carried coffins to symbolise the deaths of thousands across the Middle East.

Speakers before and after the march past Blair's hotel and encircling the G-Mex conference centre demanded an end to the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, an end to the government's slavish devotion to US foreign policy, and for Blair to leave Downing Street.

Lindsey German, national convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, praised the huge turnout saying: "We have written a page in Manchester's history … I don't think this is a message Labour can ignore."

Tony Blair's sister-in-law, journalist Lauren Booth, was scathing about him, claiming that as a family member, she didn't want just to embarrass Blair. She wanted to make him feel ashamed. She explained: "I am here in solidarity with 50,000 people to call for the troops to come home from Afghanistan and Iraq and for Tony Blair to stand down as Prime Minister for his calamitous foreign policy. This is absolutely not a personal thing. It is a political judgement that I share with about 80 per cent of the population of this country."

Respect MP George Galloway warned that the fight would still continue if Gordon Brown took over, and there was a warm reception for Tony Benn, President of Stop the War Coalition.

Human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger said that the protest proved that most of the British people were against the war in Iraq. "You cannot export democracy at the barrel of the gun," she declared.

There was massive applause for the courageous bereaved families who had staged a peace camp in the peace gardens in St Peter’s Square. Rose Gentle summed up the mood of the demo when she vowed not just to haunt Tony Blair for the murder of so many people, including her son Gordon in Iraq, but also to continue to fight for justice and an end to the illegal wars regardless of who takes over.

Andrew Murray of the Stop the War Coalition and Kate Hudson of CND chaired the closing rally. The opening speaker was Michael Meacher MP, who pulled no punches in his condemnation of the Labour government. Other speakers included Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Tony Woodley from the Transport and General Workers Union, Bectu's Anna Murray, Unison deputy general secretary Keith Sonnet, Cllr. Salma Yaqoob from Respect, and Eamonn McCann, currently facing charges for his part in the occupation of arms company Raytheon's plant in Derry. MPs Alan Simpson and Jeremy Corbyn also spoke, as well as Tommy Sheridan MSP, representing the new Solidarity movement in Scotland.

For several speakers it was their first time addressing a Stop the War rally. Richard Horton, editor of the medical journal The Lancet, spoke out fiercely against the government's policies of imperialist war. The Lancet was the first journal to publish scientific evidence that over 100,000 civilians had died in Iraq as a result of the invasion.

Gemma Tumelty, president of the National Union of Students (NUS), said that the money the government was wasting on war should be spent on education. She was one of several speakers to attack New Labour's moves towards privatisation in the NHS.

"The NUS is built on a foundation of internationalism," she said. "We want to send a message of solidarity to students, trade unionists and the people of Iraq."

Several speakers underlined how the anti-war movement had a different vision of the world to that pushed by Bush and Blair. "We stand for justice and liberation, while they stand for tyranny and oppression," said Soumaya Ghannoushi of the British Muslim Initiative. "But the future belongs to us, not them."

Muslim Association of Britain speaker Sondes Malik condemned the government’s disgraceful inaction as Israel butchered over 1,000 Lebanese people. She emphasised, "Britain is led by war criminals and we want justice now!"

Former RAF surgeon Malcolm Kendall-Smith declared, "The facts are clear. US and Britain are the aggressors and responsible for countless deaths. The war is illegal and criminal."