For an Anti-War Government!

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For an Anti-War Government!

Speeches at the World Against War Rally

The marches through London and Glasgow on March 15 were powerful demonstrations of the sentiment of the people of Britain to put an end to war and to accuse the pro-war government of New Labour. They were held as part of the global protests against war and occupation, numbered at more than 300.

            The London event was called by the Stop the War Coalition, CND and the British Muslim Initiative. The Glasgow rally, at which organisers estimated that around 5,000 participated, was called by the Stop the War Coalition and supported by the Scottish TUC, Scottish CND and the Muslim Association of Britain; speakers included Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Gavin Strang MP, Rose Gentle from Military Families Against the War, and SSP leader Colin Fox.

            In London, Trafalgar Square was packed by well over 50,000 people for a rally before the march on Parliament. It is estimated that full, Trafalgar Square holds 100,000, and the people that occupied the Square left little room for more to enter, and in addition demonstrators thronged the walkways overlooking the Square. In the demonstration’s path over Westminster Bridge, along the Albert Embankment, crossing the Thames again at Lambeth Bridge, and walking along Milbank, the head of the march entering Parliament Square practically joined up with the tail passing by it. Speakers at the Trafalgar Square rally included Tony Benn, Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsay German, film-maker Nick Broomfield, CWU general secretary Billy Hayes, George Galloway, and many others.

            The demonstration, though not approaching it in numbers, had that same quality as the massive manifestation of February 15, 2003, when the whole world said no to war. It was a quality of people from all walks of life, all ages, finding their own way to say no to war, and looking for a way to bring into being an anti-war government. As such, it was not simply a protest march or a demonstration of solidarity with oppressed people. It indicated that the anti-war movement is a genuine movement that is being built and is working to build that path to a society in which the principles of an anti-war government are fulfilled. This was borne out by the many conversations and discussions with demonstrators along the way. This is the success of the anti-war movement.

At the end of the London march, a rally was held in Parliament Square at which a number of speeches were made. John Rees, from the Stop the War Coalition, said that five years ago the anti-war movement had said that the war was based on a lie and would lead to a catastrophe. “Today, five years on,” he continued, “we are here to say to those in parliament, we were right and you were wrong.” He said that it was time to get the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. He made the point that in the present situation where there is the danger of a recession, it was the very people who are behind the banks that are failing who are also making the catastrophe in Iraq. He said his message was that there is more that binds ordinary people together in the UK, Iraq and Afghanistan than there is that binds us to the government in Britain. He ended his speech by saying that we would not be divided by race or religion.

            Alice, one of the school student organisers from 2003, stated that back in 2003 they had made the point that the attack on Iraq would lead to more wars and this was indeed the case. She said that as long as they continue to threaten Iran, we need to be on the streets. We need to demand that the carnage in the Middle East ends and that all the threats against Iran are ended.

            Ben Griffin, an ex-SAS soldier who is under a legal injunction from the Ministry of Defence not to make any further disclosures relating to the work of or in support of UK Special Forces, also spoke at the rally. Earlier in February, Ben Griffin had brought to light the role of the British government in the extraordinary rendition and torture of seized individuals, prompting the MoD’s injunction. Speaking at the rally he said, “We went to preserve the peace and our testimony will show that we have set all of Indochina aflame. We went to defend the Vietnamese people and our testimony will show that we are committing genocide against them. We went to fight for freedom and our testimony will show that we have turned Vietnam into a series of concentration camps.

            We went to guarantee the right of self-determination to the people of South Vietnam and our testimony will show that we are forcing a corrupt and dictatorial government upon them. We went to work toward the brotherhood of man and our testimony will show that our strategy and tactics are permeated with racism. We went to protect America and our testimony will show why our country is being torn apart by what we are doing in Vietnam.

            It has been remarked but seldom remembered that war itself is a crime. Yet a war crime is more and other than war. It is an atrocity beyond the usual barbaric bounds of war. It is legal definition growing out of custom and tradition supported by every civilised nation. It is an act beyond the pale of acceptable actions even in war. Deliberate killing or torturing of prisoners of war is a war crime. Deliberate destruction without military purpose of civilian communities is a war crime. The use of certain arms and armaments and of gas is a war crime. The forcible relocation of population for any purpose is a war crime. The US Government has committed all of these crimes over the past ten years in Indochina. An estimated one million South Vietnamese civilians have been killed because of these war crimes. A good portion of the reported 700,000 National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese soldiers killed have died as a result of these war crimes and no one knows how many North Vietnamese civilians, Cambodian civilians, and Laotian civilians have died as a result of these war crimes. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq – different countries, same crimes! The MoD has told me “injunction – stop talking”. I say Des Browne, Geoff Hoon, David Miliband, Margaret Beckett, Gordon Brown, Jack Straw, Tony Blair – Shame on you!”

            Following Ben Griffin, Dr Aklam Awad, representative of the British Muslim Initiative spoke to the rally. He said that it was good to see that people are saying no to war in Iraq, no to an attack on Iran and no to the siege of Gaza. He said that as well as those at the rally, there were millions more who were in support of this stance and who clearly understood that these were wars of colonial greed. The core issue of the Middle East crisis, he said, is the stolen land of Palestine. He further stated that sixty years on from the Nakba, which was carried out using the suffering of the victims of the holocaust as its justifications, the Israeli deputy defence minister was threatening the Palestinian people with a new holocaust. He remarked that clearly this minister regarded Adolf Hitler as a role model and not as a criminal. He stated that at the end of the Second World War, the British government had given a pledge to work to prevent a new holocaust and asked what it was doing to honour this pledge in the present circumstances.   He answered that it was supporting the collective punishment of the entire Palestinian people. He called on those present to go all out to bring the Israeli apartheid regime to its knees in the same way that they had worked to bring an end to the apartheid regime in South Africa. Dr Awad then called for a minute’s silence in honour of the fallen Palestinians, at the end of which shouts of Free Palestine arose from the crowd.

            The final speaker at the rally was Kate Hudson from CND. She stated that the danger of nuclear war is greater than it has ever been. She said, however, that in the present situation the main danger of a nuclear attack was of a nuclear weapons state attacking “third world countries”. She said that these were wars in the interests of economic interests and that Pentagon scenarios all included the use of nuclear weapons. She called on all to oppose the nuclear policies of the big states and in particular to oppose the British government’s decision to spend £76 billion to upgrade its nuclear weapons. She called on all present to join the CND Surround the base at Aldermaston protest on Easter Monday, saying, “Be at Aldermaston to surround that criminal factory. The British people don’t want war, they don’t want nuclear weapons and they don’t want nuclear war.”