停止战争： 庆祝和保卫的一个群众运动

社会主义工作者

2003年2月15日示范提醒我们非战运动的力量并且显示即将来临的3月15日抗议的重要性，写安德鲁Burgin

巨大非战行军的第五周年纪念2003年2月15日由非战运动上星期庆祝，作为带领成千上万人进入政治活动一个真实地独特的群众运动的高峰和最后导致了托尼·布莱尔倒台。

周年纪念由也指示给天的一个有些混杂的评估的大众传播媒体-。

你必须敬佩监护人报纸为它的无耻-在周年纪念本文在行军的称赞致力了它的社论的部分。

被提及了本文的自己的支持为伊拉克战争亦不它的不盖的早先社论位置根本前进。

然而时间变动和现在不仅是将被考虑的行军作为一个美妙的事件，但我们在同一编辑在行军也被对待了对一篇长的文章从古怪的监护人新闻工作者，约翰·哈里斯。

监护人致力了他们的G2补充的一个坚固部分对于行军将鼓掌，并且看行军的相片-总是好他们显示是难用单独词表达非战运动的难以置信的大小和广度。

文章是一件不同的事情。 主要问题哈里斯询问行军是相当异常的。 他说， “英国以前从未看了一声公开喊叫象。 So why haven’t we seen one again since?”

He states that the march and the movement which built it “failed to develop into anything with real political oomph”.

作用

You don’t have to agree completely with former Chinese prime minister Zhou Enlai – who when asked in the 1970s to comment on the effects of the French Revolution, said that it was “too early to tell” – to believe that the effects of the largest demonstration in many hundreds of years of British political history may still be playing itself out.

After all British and US troops remain in Iraq and are now even more heavily engaged in Afghanistan than they were in 2003.

Harris rips the march from the movement which created it and tears it from what came before and what came after.

Rather than 15 February 2003 being seen as the high point in a long campaign against the “war on terror” Harris reduces the march to an isolated event which fell into the laps of the organisers by chance.

The organisers, he says, soon managed to whittle away this with “crushingly unimaginative tactics”. Presumably he means by this more marches.

Contrast this with Tony Benn’s approach – “The Stop the War movement is the most powerful and influential popular political movement of my lifetime and possibly of any period of our history.”

It is not a question of the honour of the movement or a question of defending the role of the SWP, which is criticised in the article, in building the anti-war movement, but the necessity of recognising the historic importance of this campaign – a campaign which still has some way to travel.

The marches are the backbone of our movement but they represent only a small part of our day to day activity.

Later this month the Stop the War Coalitions begins a series of nationwide rallies with Hassan Jumaa of the Iraqi oil workers’ union. We have worked closely with the Military Families Against the War campaign to support their demand for a public inquiry.

We have held a series of international peace conferences which have brought activists from across the world together to campaign against the “war on terror”.

There have been days of action against Islamophobia, in defence of civil liberties and opposing an attack on Iran. We have worked with artists and others to create events and exhibitions opposing the war.

And there has been much more – not least a campaign of direct action including sit-downs, banner drops and strikes and school walk-outs.

Lies and deceit

Where John Harris does hit the mark is in his account of the gap between the politicians (those who began the war) and the people (those who opposed it) and who exposed the lies and deceit that were used to promote it.

This week the government was forced to reveal the first draft of the “dodgy dossier” – and we will see the full extent of the “sexing up” of the intelligence by Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell.

We are in the middle of a long campaign to bring these politicians to account and to bring all the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is why we make no apology for calling for people to work as hard as possible to build the international day of action and the London and Glasgow demonstrations on Saturday 15 March.

The movement remains mobilised.

Rights activists have staged demonstrations in London to denounce Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s ‘human rights abuses’.

The demonstration, organized by human rights group Amnesty International, came on Saturday at Downing Street, prior to a meeting between Musharraf and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday.

“British Prime Minister Gordon Brown should tell visiting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that free and fair elections will be impossible without the full restoration of Pakistan’s judiciary,” said Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch.

On November 3, 2007 Musharraf suspended Pakistan’s Constitution, fired much of the country’s senior judges and arrested thousands of opponents, most of whom were eventually released because of international pressure.

“An independent judiciary is vital for people to have an avenue to contest the results of this election conducted in an environment of bias and intimidation,” said Adams.

He urged Brown to press Musharraf to rescind these measures, set up an independent election commission and a neutral caretaker government to oversee elections.

SB/RE

By Mick Meaney
RINF Alternative News

British comedian and political activist, Mark Thomas, made stark a warning at the annual conference of the GMB union in Brighton, last week, about a draconian British law prohibiting protests outside Parliament without prior police permission.

The ban exists within half a mile radius of the House of Commons that severely damages civil rights in the United Kingdom, in which the government overruled the Human Rights Act - that was meant to guarantee freedom of speech. The legislation came into effect back in August 1, 2005 and signalled the ushering in of a British police state.

The law means anyone gathering to demonstrate within the designated area is committing a criminal offence. Many campaigners, including Brian Haw, expect the ban radius to grow over time and eventually outlaw all forms of protest against government policies in the UK.

“I even had to get permission to wear a red nose in Parliament Square on Red Nose Day. The police are having an internal debate about this law because it’s just not worth it,” said Mark Thomas.

“The effect of these laws is to curtail our rights. They are having a chilling effect on campaigning and activism.”

A female activist has been sentenced to six years in prison by an Iranian court for attending two banned rallies and for “propaganda activity against the system”.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, the lawyer acting on behalf of Roya Tolui, said on Wednesday her client took part in two peaceful rallies in 2005.

The ISNA news agency reported the two rallies were in front of the governor’s office in the north-western town of Sanandaj in Iran’s Kurdistan province and Sotoudeh said Toloui was found guilty by a court in the town even though Iranian law allowed peaceful protests.

ISNA did not give details on what the protests were about.

Numerous convictions

“Roya Toloui was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on the charge of attending the mentioned gatherings and one year’s imprisonment on the charge of propaganda activity against the system,” Sotoudeh told ISNA.

It was not clear whether Toloui was in the court when the sentence was announced or whether she was tried in absentia.

Last month, a court in Tehran handed down partly suspended prison sentences of up to four years against two female activists who attended a banned rally in the capital to demand greater women’s rights, according to Iranian media.

About 100 women protested in Tehran in June against unequal inheritance laws, the difficulties women in Iran face getting a divorce, and the fact their court testimony is worth half that of men.

According to Human Rights Watch, six women have been convicted after taking part in that protest.

The group urged Iran’s judiciary last month to overturn the convictions and end its persecution of human rights defenders.

Iran says it does not discriminate against women and says its rules are based on the Sharia.

Agencies

*International Antifascist demonstration against the German Nationalist Party (NPD) march on June 2nd 2007 in Schwerin*

With the slogan, “Against Fascism and Capitalism – For a World without Borders!”, antifascists from Germany and beyond will protest against the planned right-wing extremist march on June 2nd 2007 in Schwerin. On this day, the regional leader of the German Nationalist Party (NPD), Stefan Koester, previously convicted for grievous bodily harm, has registered a march with over 1000 Neonazis from the whole of Germany.

The reason for this right-wing extremist demonstration is the the G8 Summit from 6th – 8th June in Heiligendamm. For some time now, Neonazis have been trying to jump on the bandwagon of the alterglobalisation movement. During the regional elections last year, the NPD, supported by right-wing thugs, took up the theme in their flyers and pamphlets. “With simplistic explanations and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, the right-wing extremist party sought to diffuse the fears of the population about globalization in their own interest.

Continue reading at the dissent! Network Of Resistance web site