IT WAS a global revolt without precedent by the people against their political ’masters’. The worldwide anti-war protests on 15-16 February resounded with one voice to say ’No War’.
15 February. No to war in Iraq.
Editorial from The Socialist plus reports from the London protest.
Strike against war
Tens of millions protested and tens of millions more wanted to be with the protesters. A momentum has developed for mass global protests, all of which shook the world’s politcal rulers.
In the long run, the political ’masters’, like Bush and Blair, will reap the whirlwind of their actions. But the question a majority of marchers will be asking after the demonstrations in Britain is: ’what do we do next?’.
Tony Blair and his cabinet ministers, despite their sanctimonious and hypocritical, words have made it clear they will defy the message of the anti-war protests.
The anti-war movement has come a long way in a short time to have a huge effect in holding back the warmongers Bush and Blair. But the crunch is coming.
Day X
Within the next few weeks the decision to start a war will be implemented by Bush and the US regime at least, with Blair very likely risking everything to tag along behind.
For the anti-war movement, the demo on Saturday has to be the launch pad for very concrete, definite action that can halt Britain’s involvement in a war.
Speaker after speaker raised on Saturday the need to remove Blair and for regime change in Britain. This could be a way to halt the moves towards war but how can this be achieved and what would replace Blair if he were forced out? (see article below).
Leaders of the Stop The War Coalition have raised the idea of mass civil disobedience on Day X, the day a war starts. Socialist Party members would welcome widespread, organised mass civil disobedience and will be organising school student walkouts and strikes, along with workplace protests, as part of that movement.
But, for this to be effective, it has to be built and sustained at local level through democratically established and run anti-war coalitions, involving as far as possible the millions who marched on Saturday.
The forerunners of the Socialist Party, Militant, led (along with others) the anti-poll tax movement that defeated the hated tax and brought down Thatcher. That movement too held a defining, momentous demo. But the key to defeating the tax was the building of a movement of 18 million non-payers which made the poll tax unworkable.
The anti-war coalition now has to take a similar path and build effective structures at local level, which link up with the trade unions, colleges, schools and community organisations.
But stopping a war will be an even tougher task than ending the poll tax. Left trade union leaders have called for a recall TUC to oppose the war and also in speeches at Saturday’s rally raised the prospect of workplace action against the war.
Bob Crow from the rail union RMT, raised that if the TUC refused to call a conference then he and other Left leaders would have to do it themselves. Workers have the potential power to bring the country to a halt. Already, on a small-scale, train drivers in Scotland have made a brave stand and refused to transport weapons intended for a war in Iraq.
Since then the mood of defiance and rebellion against Blair has developed rapidly. The Left trade union leaders are in a position now to use their authority and build on Saturday’s demo to call for organising a general strike against Blair’s war plans on Day X.
General strike action could potentially mobilise millions of workers, bringing together opposition to war with the accumulated grievances against the Blair government, which were much in evidence on Saturday’s demo.
These sharp questions of how to effectively stop the war and to implement regime change – getting rid of the reviled Blair and his cronies – will become the incessant topics of the weeks ahead. Implicit in all of these dicussions will be the need for the new movement – as Tony Benn and others described it on Saturday – to be linked into a struggle for establishing new political representation for the working class, which can then seek a socialist solution to the problems of war, terror and the capitalist system that breeds them.
Blair’s nightmare scenario
THE BIGGEST political demonstration Britain has ever seen and what must have been the worst week of Tony Blair’s political life.
First, Hans Blix failed to come up with enough evidence to secure a second UN resolution in favour of war. Then, up to two million people took to the streets to prove that Blair is isolated, arrogant and totally out of touch with the majority of people in this country.
For tens of thousands of those of who marched, war with Iraq coalesced with anger against privatisation, attacks on the public sector, tuition fees etc to trigger a massive outpouring of opposition against Blair and the New Labour government.
After the 15 February demonstration, Blair said that the consequences would be "paid in blood" for showing weakness against Saddam. The price of war will be the blood of innocent Iraqis, the jobs and services of workers in Britain and elsewhere – and it could also be Blair’s own political future.
Blair desperately wants a second UN resolution to try and justify war and cut across the rising tide of anti-war protest. As The Socialist argued on the demonstration, this will be an imperialist war for oil and prestige and should be opposed with or without UN support.
The weapons inspectors are due to report to the UN again on 28 February. Blair will be hoping that by then enough arm-twisting and bribery will have taken place to secure a majority UN resolution which will be the trigger for war. But given the immense opposition to war this might not prove possible, resulting in Blair’s ’nightmare scenario’ of going it alone with Bush.
Blair is banking on a ’Kosovo’ – a short, easy war that will win over public opinion. Instead he could face a ’Suez’, where mass opposition forces him out of office.
Labour MPs are already speculating about a leadership challenge and there are calls for a recall Labour Party conference.
However, if Blair were replaced by Brown in the aftermath of a war it would not fundamentally change anything. New Labour is a party completely tied to the profit system – which is the root cause of war and inequality – as are the other two main political parties.
The hundreds of thousands of people who made their voices heard against war on 15 February will be looking for a political alternative to the establishment parties who put the needs of big business before those of the majority.
What better opportunity to launch a new, democratic political party that could represent the millions rather than the millionaires; a party that could draw together anti-war protesters, trade unionists and all those who are opposed to the main capitalist parties and the system which they represent.
Already firefighters have decided to stand candidates in the local elections on 1 May. Many in the anti-war movement will feel inspired to do the same. The Socialist Party, with four elected councillors, will also be standing against New Labour, campaigning for a new mass party and for a socialist alternative to capitalism and war.
The day that made history
BRITAIN HAS never seen anything like it. Up to two million people flooding the streets of central London in a massive sea of anti-war protest. Hundreds of thousands were on their first ever demonstration and it was a day that nobody will forget. As demonstrators converged on London they were strengthened by knowing that they were part of a worldwide movement with millions more making their voices heard across the globe.
Taking over the streets
DROP BLAIR Not Bombs, Pay the Firefighters Not the Firestarters: front and back of a home-made placard. Youth against the war, demonstrating for the first time. Gower Street runs North/South from Euston to London’s West End. From 11.30am to 3.30 pm waves of humanity washed down the street. Londoners got there first, followed by contingents from Walsall, West Bromwich, Birmingham, Nottingham, Peterborough, Merseyside, Yorkshire and Gloucester – to name but a handful.
Yet Gower Street was only the official assembly point. Tens of thousands of protesters tried to take short cuts to Hyde Park. So parallel streets, too, thronged with the anti-war beat. Tottenham Court Road, which runs parallel to Gower, became another feeder march. In effect, the whole of the West End was taken over. Police looked worried at times, so used to walking by the sides of demonstrations, keeping everything ’in order’. But there was no room for them on Saturday as protesters filled the roads and pavements.
It was hard to believe that as thousands were streaming through these streets a similar scene was taking place at the Embankment.
People in the flats overlooking the march blasted out protest songs on their sound systems, waving banners, cheering the protest on. Young people eagerly agreed with the Youth Against the War call for a walkout on 7 March and on the day war breaks out – assuming Bush and Blair continue on the warpath.
Blair has failed to convince people that war against Iraq is ’just’. People from all walks of life in Britain understand that this is a war for oil and US domination. Anger at Blair’s domestic policies is fuelling this mood. This must now be turned into more resolute action, such as workplace, college and school walkouts.
Cheers for system change
HYDE PARK became the scene of one of history’s biggest ever open-air meetings last Saturday. Hundreds of thousands of people were packed together to make a human central heating system that kept out the biting cold.
Apart from Ms Dynamite, the best responses of the day were to speakers who came from the Left.
Former Labour Cabinet minister Mo Mowlam and Liberal-Democrat leader Charles Kennedy were initially warmly applauded but by the time they concluded their speeches the applause was more polite than enthusiastic.
When Mo Mowlam concluded her speech by using Labour’s old campaign slogan, "things can only get better", there was derisory laughter.
In contrast, all the speakers from the Left spoke passionately and carried the crowd with them. Tariq Ali was loudly cheered when he said: "We want regime change in Britain. Bring Down Blair!" RMT railworkers’ union leader Bob Crow also got loud cheers for his call for workers to take action on Day X, the day the war starts.
Tony Benn got a huge response when he said that the march was the foundation of a new political movement, the first ever simultaneous global demonstration.
Although this march was against the threat of war he said, it was also about the establishment of a Palestinian state, for democracy in the Middle East, democracy in Britain and redistributing wealth from the 500 billionaires who control the planet’s resources.
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North, made it clear that even if the US were to corruptly cobble together support for a second UN resolution, this war would still be wrong and we would still oppose it.
This got a much bigger cheer than anything that Charles Kennedy had said about going through the UN. He concluded to rousing applause when he said he wanted to see a world free from poverty, injustice and war and that the system had to be changed to achieve that.
Billy Hayes, leader of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said the TUC should fully back the Stop The War coalition and warned New Labour that the unions who are currently funding Labour were fed up with being ignored. And if Blair persisted with his drive to war then the unions would fight to get a government that was going to end the war.
Left-wing MP George Galloway said to laughter and cheers: "We don’t want Blair’s government playing Mini-Me to the Dr Evils of the Bush regime. We do not intend to continue with a prime minister who acts as the Governor of the 51st state of the USA."
To enthusiastic applause, he gave a powerful warning to Tony Blair in his conclusion: "If he takes Britain over the cliff and into war, he will break the Labour Party he is supposed to lead. Some of us are prepared to pick it up and rebuild it out of the wreckage as a real Labour Party".
Ken Smith, Stop The War Coalition national steering committee
Voices amongst the millions
I’M FROM Taunton, on the demo to protest against Tony Blair and George Bush going to war. It’s completely wrong. I don’t know anyone who is pro-war. I think the idea of organising a walk-out on the day war starts is a brilliant idea. I’ve got a lot of support for that at college and all round my area.
Jim Thompson
"I DON’T agree with Iraq being checked for weapons and not Israel. It’s double standards. The war will result in the killing of innocent people. Saddam doesn’t worry about innocent people dying, he’s killed enough innocent people himself. None of the wars in the past have been what they say they’re about – I don’t believe a single word they say.
"People walking out, going on strike and affecting the economy would make the government listen."
Sadia and Samira, Cambridge
"THE POLITICIANS are not working for the people, they are working for themselves! They don’t seem to be listening, so we definitely need more people to protest."
Barbara, London
"I CAME to the demonstration to show Tony Blair how many people are against this war, and that he hasn’t got any support. Everyone I know is against the war!"
David, Forest Hill
"I’VE COME on the demo because there’s no justification for the war. The problems of Iraq are far broader than Iraq itself. It goes to the root of capitalism and also the Israel/Palestine question can’t be left out. I can see from the demonstrators here that a lot of people feel the same."
Derek, Reading
"NOBODY WANTS this war! We’re all young, and we don’t want to get involved in it. I think it’s not worth it. It’s all about money, they want to rule us with money, and it’s not right!"
David, Lewisham
Socialism on the march
HUNDREDS OF Socialist Party members took part in the demonstration, selling The Socialist and staffing stalls along the route. Here are some of their impressions of this historic event.
On the coaches
"Our new Taunton Socialist Party branch organised two coaches for the demo. The Saturday before the demo our stall was inundated with people of all ages, sexes and nationalities wanting to sign the petitions, book tickets for the coach and buy our papers. It was amazing how many young people came. We sold 38 copies of The Socialist and our picture was in the Guardian with placards and red flag – you can see it on our website. Steve Bush and Dave Moody
The arrival
People arrived in London and the streets began to overflow. Andy Tullis and Rob MacDonald who were at Waterloo Station report:
"Four Lambeth Socialist Party members sold 250 copies of The Socialist from 8.15 until 2pm as people came straight off the train. It was constant, and we worked hard. We asked them all if they were interested in buying. We signed up several people to join the party. It was a magnificent demo. It’s a once in a lifetime, isn’t it?
Gower Street
"The northern arm of the march overflowed from Gower Street," reported Annoesjka from the Hackney stall at Euston.
"We sold over 100 papers as people flooded into Euston Road. The police were forced to close it as buses got stranded in the mass of people. There was such anger. Someone said ’I’ve not been on a demo for twenty years.’ Many said it was their first demo. People are being politicised by this. Gower Street filled up and people flooded up Gordon Street (which runs parallel).
"On the megaphone we were saying ’Come to our stall and get the socialist alternative to war and terror. Buy The Socialist.’ They were queuing up to sign the petition and everyone wanted our posters. We had arrived early and put our posters up on all the lampposts, but people were tearing them down and using them as placards."
Embankment
Lionel Wright was our best seller on the demo, selling 211 papers outside Embankment tube. He told us:
"I started from 9.45. I was actually putting the paper in people’s hand and saying ’Do you want a copy of The Socialist?’ They would ask ’Is it free?’ And I’d say, ’BP don’t advertise in our paper! We have to cover our costs. We’re putting the socialist alternative to this war.’
"The truth is I’m not the newest member by far but the size of the demo really inspired me: I knew that hundreds of thousands were attending their first demo, so I really tried to get as many people as possible to read The Socialist, as well as getting potential members."
On the march
The march set off early. Alec Thraves reports: "As we approached Parliament Square, Wales Socialist Party members formed a line of sellers across the road, selling to everyone. By the end of the march Swansea Socialist Party had sold 72, with 40 plus from Port Talbot, 50 from Pontypridd, and Cardiff sold 70. People were grasping our leaflets and using them as mini-placards."
Piccadilly
The crowds merged at Piccadilly."It was freezing but we sold 188 papers and 10 people filled in join cards." reported Clare Doyle. "Two people from Cirencester paid £5 each to join there and then. One woman from South Africa said she wanted to join and gave £5 for the paper and literature.
"Many people took the leaflet and stuck it onto themselves or onto makeshift placards. Same with the front page of the paper in a few cases."
Sofia, Emma, and Lindsey were three college students attending the demo. Emma skipped her Saturday job in Mango on Oxford Street to attend. Sofia, a seventeen year old Socialist Party demonstrator quickly sold out of papers. Everyone was enthusiastic about the 7 March Walkout Against the War.
Passing Green Park Tube, Tony McGill of Hillingdon branch reported: "We sold 136 papers and raised £135.65 for the fighting fund. It was a fantastic day and one that we will never forget."
Hyde Park
In the morning the police were stopping the ’usual suspects’ from putting up their stalls in the park – including the Socialist Party. So we put up our hoardings on Park Lane.
The police then barricaded us off from the march, so we ferreted our papers into the park as the demo arrived. The march streamed into the park from every entrance. We sold 250 papers at the Queen Elizabeth entrance, and London West Central branch sold 153 from the Hyde Park Corner entrance. People held up our paper and leaflets as placards as they entered the park.
Groups of anti-Saddam, anti-war Iraqis came up to our stall buying papers and taking our material.
Youth against the war
"The ISR/Youth Against the War contingent from London was made up of groups of school and college students and young workers and was really lively. We gave out chant sheets so people could join in with ’What shall we do with the Toxic Texan’ to the tune of ’The drunken sailor’ and ’Tony Blair’s a Tory’ to the tune of ’My old man’s a dustman’.
"As people poured into Hyde Park, we were on the megaphone for hours calling for young people who wanted to help organise walkouts in their schools and colleges to come to the stall. Streams of young people were fighting through the crowds to come and give their names. We were there until it was dark and still they were coming into the park."
Clare James and Sarah Sachs Eldridge.
From The Socialist, paper of the Socialist Party, CWI in England and Wales.
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