On Sat 24 Feb 07, scores of thousands of people demonstrated against the war drive of British and American imperialism. Calling for all occupying troops to be withdrawn from Iraq, no replacement of Britain’s nuclear weapons system and no attack on Iran, the demonstration took over one and a half hours to exit Hyde Park, while being entertained by the massed ranks of socialist choirs, including Raised Voices [1] and the Strawberry Thieves [2]. However, since this was yet another march from A to B and listen to speeches event, organised by the left of capital in cooperation with the police, don’t expect a change in imperialist policy in Whitehall. Now just imagine what large scale, effective, direct anti-war action could be created with scores of thousands of people...

In what may be the most gross discrepancy of estimated participants so far, “The Stop the War coalition [3], which organised the event, along with CND [4] and the British Muslim Initiative [5], estimated that around 100,000 participated in London; the Metropolitan Police estimated about 2,000-3,000 took part” [6]. Lies, damn lies and Metropolitan Police “estimates”; or perhaps we should blame falling standards of numeracy on New Labour’s support for faith-based education – churning out cop-fodder who sincerely believe that the scores of thousands of people they can see in front of them are merely 2,000-3,000; C21 state-sponsored doublethink, anyone?.

What's Next?
Why not join in Pre-emptive Peace Strike #1 - “Don’t Attack Iran” [7] on Tue 20 Mar 07, the anniversary of attack on Iraq? Be in Parliament Square, Westminster, London from 10:00 for some anti-war peaceful direct action.

For the most politically astute coverage and analysis of the escalating barbarism being visited upon our brothers and sisters in Iraq, I recommend the International Communist Current's 'War in Iraq' portal page:  http://en.internationalism.org/taxonomy/term/70

In International Solidarity,

Tim D Jones

[1] Raised Voices socialist choir:  http://www.raised-voices.org.uk/
[2] Strawberry Thieves socialist choir:  http://www.strawberrythieveschoir.org.uk/st_home.htm
[3] Stop the War coalition:  http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
[4] CND:  http://www.cnduk.org/
[5] British Muslim Initiative:  http://www.bminitiative.net/
[6] "Thousands take part in anti-war rallies":  http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2020933,00.html - and see also "How Many People Were In Trafalgar Square On Saturday?":  http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/1660?PHPSESSID=c29ec986bb6cc883c729b38ccd10d44b
[7] Pre-emptive Peace Strike #1 - “Don’t Attack Iran”:  http://www.peacestrike.org.uk/index.htm

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