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Time To Go Demo

Zebedee | 26.09.2006 00:51

Stop The War Coalition

STOP THE WAR COALITION
‘TIME TO GO’ DEMO; SAT 23rd SEPT 2006


Over 60,000 peace protesters descended on Manchester this warm and sunny Saturday to cast a long shadow over the Labour Party Conference with a message for Tony Blair… “IT’S TIME TO GO”.
The illegal and immoral wars and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, coupled with support for the recent Israeli attack on Lebanon and it’s continuing aggression towards the Palestinians have shown Tony Blair up to be a cruel and heartless warmonger who says there is no money to invest in his own peoples needs such as pensions, housing, education, hospitals, manufacturing and public services whilst being able to FIND £25 Billion to replace Trident and continue to wage war and occupy oil rich countries of the middle east. At the same time he is demonising all Muslims as potential suicide bombers, even encouraging parents to report their own children, as John Reid’s recent address to Muslim leaders suggested.
As it weaved its way around the streets of Manchester Saturday’s demonstration warned against invading Iran, demanded the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, condemned the replacement of Trident and called for Blair to go. At Deansgate the march halted for 3 minutes silence whilst Merseyside STWC staged a Die-in, covering themselves with fake blood and playing dead while a Blair- masked Grim Reaper stood over them.
The demo then headed to Albert Square where a host of speakers addressed the crowds. Tony Benn, after a rapturous welcome, told of the many changes he had seen in his lifetime from the Suffragettes to Apartheid and that it was always a struggle for people to take control of their lives from the rich, the powerful and the arms traders, stating that persistence is the key.
Respect MP George Galloway referred to Blair and PM-in-waiting Gordon Brown as ‘2 cheeks of the same arse’ and that they should cut the umbilical cord of the ‘special Monica Lewinski style relationship’ with US President George Bush.
MSP Tommy Sheridan, the Faslane peace activist, gave his vision of the world we want to live in and build for our children. He pointed out that over the next 30 years the cost of Trident would be £76 Billion and the money could be better spent on pensions, wages and decent student grants. He also revealed that the Annual Global Expenditure on weapons and bombs was £561 Billion compared to only £32 Billion on feeding the poor- that’s 17 times more on killing people than saving people. Malcolm Kendall-Smith, the RAF surgeon jailed for refusing to go to Iraq on the grounds of receiving Unlawful Orders, revealed that many more soldiers are becoming aware of the terrible truth of their mission. Rose Gentle of Military Families against the War called on Blair to ‘Bring our boys home’.
Professor Ergelet from Iran highlighted the ‘unprecedented catastrophe’ facing the people of the middle east and told of the US Navy’s plan to deploy a massive armada there by 21st October, shortly before US elections, ready to launch a massive bombing campaign and air assault on Iran.
Other speakers including Salmia Rasheed, Musician Brian Eno, Sondes Malik of the Muslim Association of Britain, Tony Woodley of the T&G, STWC convenor Linsey German and many more rammed home the message to Blair that he is finished, it is TIME TO GO and that he should go immediately.

Zebedee

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Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Misses the point?

26.09.2006 05:50

Calling upon protestors to tell Blair that it is "time to go!" is a noble sentiment, and certainly one with which I would agree. Yet, I can't help but think that getting rid of Blair is missing the point - somewhat like squeezing a pimple when that excrescence is merely a by-product of the system's toxicity. Perhaps protestors should be looking to get rid of the system, dismantle the system, that allows - even encourages - the likes of Blair to rise to the top whereupon they weave their tapestry of lies, deceit, warfare, surveillance, fascism, and spin.
As for George linking the UK and the US "special" relationship to Lewinski's relationship with Clinton is a surprising lack of understanding on Galloway's part. Lewinski was doubly abused in that relationship - despite her own intentions in becoming involved with a prez - and hardly one who participated as an erstwhile equal. That is totally unlike the UK fellating the Yankee member. A very bad and misrepresentative analogy which misunderstands the dynamics of power in both instances.

Blair and Brown as two cheeks of the same arse is probably accurate enough, but does make one ask - what constitutes the blow-hole between those cheeks, and to which fetid body are those cheeks attached? I would say that it is that body itself that must be dismantled ... the cheeks (and blow hole) would naturally follow suit and no longer cause anyone any trouble.

dr jeckyl does not hyde


truth please

26.09.2006 07:02

Did any of the speakers there repeat the lie that Tony Blair would be thrown out the party? From Stop the War e-mail - "There is now serious talk of Labour MPs forcing Tony Blair out of office at the conference."

Did any of the 'Stop' the War speakers give any clues on how they were going to stop the war? Or how long they are going to wait before doing that?

"At Deansgate the march halted for 3 minutes silence whilst Merseyside STWC staged a Die-in, covering themselves with fake blood and playing dead while a Blair- masked Grim Reaper stood over them."

Stop the War supporters were all asked to lie down on white sheets. Do not tell me you don't understand what white sheets mean at a time of war. You know what it means and it wasn't just to protect the streets from the nasty red paint that demonstrators were asked to take.
They all played dead - except Andrew Murray and Kate Hudson. Andrew Murray was smiling ( https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/09/351764.html), something I don't think the Iraqi people will be doing as their streets are bombed and filled with blood. This was their idea of bringing Baghdad to the streets of Manchester.

Tony Benn/rapturous welcome/stating that persistence is the key
- In other words don't worry about the fact that we haven't stopped the war, you are all doing SO well.

The BBC has just come out with another episode of the TV propaganda drama 'Spooks' where last week we were given an episode portraying anti-war demonstrators as easily provoked (don't go to the march if you want to be safe kids), which is stating the opposite of the truth (what else would the BBC do). Footage that was probably from actual Stop the War marches and with actual Stop the War placards was interspersed with placards made in the style of the actual Stop the War placards with messages to fit in with the plot of the drama. It was also stating that if any demonstration is too provocative then someone will be shot (do not organise anything too provocative). The timing of this episode was perfect - just five days in advance of the Manchester demo.
This week we are greeted to a nice episode where we see a reconstruction of the shoot-to-kill where the murderer is told to shoot even though the individual could not be identified as an actual suicide bomber. Except this time unlike the case of Jean Charles de Menezes it turned out that this time they got it right - the victim was carrying the detonator. So we are being programmed to think that sometimes this approach is successful and that this shoot-to-kill is needed to tackle terrorism. The whole programme was basically brainwash programming that Muslims are out to get us, actually plotting to set off suicide bombs, that we need to inform on them, that white girls (who are just worthless whores) would be best staying away from the Muslim boys. Yet still the British people are acquiescent over the BBC brainwashing. Even the anti-war demonstrators are clueless over this programming!

It was obvious from the start that British people would not see any anti-Blair placards on the BBC or ITV. They see the programming. Tony Blair was saying that he was going soon so Stop the War decided to make a placard saying errr... "GO". Look Blair! Boooo! Gooooo! Their e-mails and the website never ACTUALLY said the demo was about Blair going. They wanted you to think that.

Brian B
- Homepage: http://www.brianb.uklinux.net/antiwar-discuss/


Re: Misses the point?

26.09.2006 07:13

Every action like the Time To Go demo, builds upon every action that is passed and opens up more people to the posibility that they can remove the system and replace it with something so much better. However, not enough people have a class consciousness, and therefor are not calling for revolution, and you can't run before you can walk.

Anon


There is not a war. There are imperialist racist crusader occupations

26.09.2006 21:34

Brian B is correct on the fact the war has not stopped

The central fact in this context is this: there is no war. There is occupation. Invasion. Massacre. Genocide.

'War' means that the occupied lands and the peoples are equally equipped and equally guilty.

It is important to stop the lie.

All true opponents of occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq and other places must think hard before relating the phrase 'Stop the War' in relation to those countries.

Stop the Genocide.

Stop the Racist genocide, occupation etc.

Justthought


Spooks

27.09.2006 14:16


I think bringing in episodes of a BBC fictional drama (see above) seems a bit off topic given the real concerns here about Blair's departure and the Stop the War movement.

But if you're going to spout easily disproveable bollocks on any subject it should be corrected. The whole point of the Spooks episode were that the protestors were the good guys, taking on an evil plot by the media, the oil industry and the arms business who had formed a secret cabal to take control of the Government and instill fear about immigration and terrorism. The only outbreaks of fighting from the protestors came from agent provacateurs, deliberately placed by the secret cabal to make the peaceful, lovely, heroic protestors look like terrorists. Oh - and the young Muslim bloke's the hero. I can't think of another example of a recent BBC programme that would be more on message with your sentiments than that. Yes, it's mindless stuff, but you should engage your brain before criticising it.

Norville B


re:spooks

27.09.2006 21:31

You are obviously like most others in the anti-war movement and don't see it either. The anti-war movement fails to understand and therefore fails to stop the war. Just like you.
The muslim hero is working for the spooks obviously - a hero if he works for them if not then get shot. You are with us or you are against us. If we fail to see the effectiveness of this propaganda then we fail to stop this. Or perhaps like the anarchists you see the only to 'success' is to have a fight with the police and thereby convince that miniscule section of society of the wrongness of the Blair & neo-Labor cartel fascist agenda. The spooks drama is not 'fictional' anyway - it is absolutely about the situation with the phoney war on terror. This propaganda is DEFINITELY not mindless, it is executed with precision by those who know what they are doing.

Brian B


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