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Whither the Peace Movement?

Tony Hillier | 13.04.2003 10:10

Whither the Peace Movement? What next for the newly enthused and massively expanded peace movement? Wither and die or organise, act, and fly? Don't knock what's happened. Get all Stop the War Coalition (STWC) groups to share thinking and ideas for action for change.

Swindon marched in London yesterday following a 30 person heartfelt debate last Tuesday about of course :

"Where do we go from here?"

It strikes me that such meetings and conversations are happening all over the STWC groups nationwide.

This pooling of the hundreds of STWC groups' experience, understanding and "what next scenarios" would be powerful if we could share it - (via internet at least).

Between us all we must have the commitment, imagination and courage to either start something new if needed or develop and grow what we have.

Reference some of the comments under "demo reports" on this site :

I too would like to know what happened to the flowers and momentoes placed by No 10.

I think also that if you have not been a volunteer or even a paid worker struggling with limited resources at a national level to organise the impossible then it is disrespectful to slag off their work.

In my view your positive suggestions, practical and financial help and the contribution of your expertise would be very welcome to define and progress the cause.

Tony Hillier
- e-mail: tony.hillier@ntlworld.com

Comments

Hide the following 8 comments

up the ante

13.04.2003 11:43

Where from here? See this:

 http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=63280&group=webcast

The gist is, national marches every month are easily
ignored. What is needed is civil disobedience, disruption
of "business as usual", direct action against military
bases etc.

civil disobedience


Not wise to wither

13.04.2003 12:23

It would be very unwise of the anti-war movement in Britain and the world to wither away. Not least because it is likely that the Americans and probably British will attack somebody else soon - most probably Syria. The threats and ultimatums now being directed at Syria make that likely. Besides, Syria is vulnerable, with Israel to the west, NATO member Turkey to the north and hundreds of thousands of US/British troops in the east, in newly-occupied Iraq.

The Crimson Expat


Mayday

13.04.2003 13:58

..must be huge, see:
www.ourmayday.org.uk for info, this years 'theme' is weapons of mas construction. They are producing a map of 50 valid targets for protests (companies linked with the arms trade, oil, multinationals, etc..)
send an SAE to:
BM Mayday,
WC1N 3XX

call in sick to work and organise an action (picket, blockade, occupation, whatever you're comfortable with) at one of these places, or simply turn up on the day - see the website for info on bigger marches & protests.

That's just London, no reason not to organise stuff around the country. Be inventive. Mayday is OUR day

bogzla


.

13.04.2003 15:43

If they attack Syria I doubt the anti-war movement will go away. IMHO it will be bigger, and angrier. There is no way a british government could support a war in Syria.

leyo


Inform as well.

13.04.2003 16:20

Most people still don't get the whole plan of which Iraq is a beginning. Wolfowitz, Perle and the whole gang of zionazis plus homegrown American fundamentalist neofascists around Bush drew up a plan 6 years ago - For a New American Century. We should all read it and tell everyone (including naive politicians of all parties) about it. Then they would fully realize that the warnings directed at Syria are much more serious than they are taken.

Notone


idea

13.04.2003 21:14

I think the anti-war movement really needs to expand from simply demanding "stop the war" - people who marched on F15 maybe for the first time in their lives need to see the connection between war and capitalism - oil companies - arms trade - social & economic injustice as causes of "terrorism" (or as some might say, fighting oppression) -the anti-capitalist movement sees the connection but let's face it, most people do not. We need to make people see why these wars are being fought, and that Iraq was just the beginning. Almost 2 million people marched in London on F15 but it seems like most of those people never marched again, never took part in any other action, and after all the recent media propaganda (how many times in one day have you seen that footage of the Saddam statue fall? I've stopped counting) they could be forgiven for thinking that the war is over. Stop the war coalition has widespread support amongst all sorts of people, it has the organisation and it has the funds to, for example, rent a stage in Hyde Park for a day - it should seriously think about future and how to keep all those people who have been marching involved. Imagine if even half of those people turned up on Mayday?

rrrrrrr


Boycott time

14.04.2003 10:51

Tactics for hitting back at the war machine...

There are many excellent ideas for tactics floating around at the moment, here are a few that should be implemented by the anti-war movement:

1) Continue protesting and creatively breaking though into the public consciousness. Many people came close to awakening to their responsibility and power as citizens (as seen in the F15 multitudes), only to fall back into a despondant slumber once their efforts were ignored. These people need to be given fresh hope, ideas, information and support to bring them back into the fold.

2) Targetted civil disobedience. I don't mean sitting in the road and blocking ordinary citizens getting home from work (and hence turning them against us). I mean heading down to your local pro-war MP's office with pictures of the Iraqi dead and refusing to leave until they have studied every one and explained themselves. I mean dumping shit on Labour-party offices and pouring (fake) blood on arms-dealing company's steps (a la Mark Thomas - genius, go and see his current tour for more ideas!). Blockading petrol stations, breaking into army facilities and throwing buckets of fake blood around... so many possibilities!

3) BOYCOTT!!!! There are many companies that are complicit in this murder. Stop buying what they are selling, don't let them get away with murder.

Check this website for boycott campaign info:

 http://www.motherearth.org/USboycott/index.php

The boycott is the most important in all this - the other tactics are mainly strength-building exercises to build numbers. Recent events have shown that the "powers that be" can and will ingnore protest. They must be hit where it hurts - in their bloated wallets.

If we can harness and direct the masses of people who are thrashing around for effective methods of combatting this evil and channel their efforts into a coordinated boycott of all these morally dubious corporations, just maybe we can hurt Dubya's campaign contributers badly enough to make them reign him in.

It must become unfashionable to support this war with your money, the list of products must become household names synonimous with mass murder.

I became convinced of the power of boycott by the recent Nestle campaign. That company was forced to back down on its extortion of the Ethiopian government due to a co-ordinated boycott. I read an article in The Economist recently, written by some corporate bigwig, that basically said (in reference to the Nestle boycott) that CEOs shit themselves whenever they come under attack from influential NGOs. Profit margins drop like lead balloons when Greenpeace turns its guns on a company. Well we should be heartened by that and attack the warmongers with the only thing they fear. Withdrawl of our monetary support - the thing that gives them their power in the first place.

Dannyboy


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