News of the bombings arrived about 30 minutes into an open meeting called by No War But the Class War in north London, early on Sunday evening. The original intention of the meeting had been for participants to discuss a class-based response to the war, following on from an exchange of ideas and experiences in the first part of the meeting.

As we received the first reports of bombings, the 60+ people gathered had to think on our feet, and after a number of suggestions the meeting decided on an immediate response.

So within the hour we regathered at Oxford Circus, giving us time to improvise a couple of banners. By 7.15 we set off, marching from Oxford Circus down Regents Street, with a loud vocal “No War But the Class War” chant. We crossed over Piccadilly Circus where our presence encouraged some passers-by to show their support. Some motorists beeped their support too, despite us holding them up behind our march. It was only as we headed down towards Pall Mall that we were joined by the police.

Crossing over Trafalgar Square, where a number of leftists were beginning to arrive the procession continued down Whitehall. The meeting declined to join the vigil that was assembling across the road from Downing Street outside the MoD, and decided to assemble on the road in front of the gates of Downing Street and blocking the traffic instead. The cops by now were getting a bit alarmed, as our quick response had taken them totally by surprise. We continued our chanting as we could see the press pack opposite No.10, waiting for Bomber Blair to justify Britain’s terror campaign.

There was an amusing moment, and one which characterises how the left sees it’s relation to everyone else, when a Socialist Party member told us all shut up as our collective voices were drowning out her megaphone!

The group moved on from Downing Street, sensing impending encirclement by cop reinforcements, pissed off we’d disturbed their cosy night in front of the telly watching Heartbeat.

We seized the initiative, our group enlarged by others who joined along the way and moved off down Whitehall, sometimes surging forward to keep in front of the cop vans. We passed the statue of Winston “Warmonger” Churchill and everyone cheered and applauded a lone guy on Parliament Square, holding his own anti-war vigil opposite Parliament. The police by now were clearly getting a little more than concerned as they had no idea where we were headed. Neither did we! Several options presented themselves – the war criminals statue, Parliament, Channel 4, the Home Office… the spontaneous nature of the event, and the need to keep the group moving, one step ahead of the cops, did mean that decisions had to be taken on the hoof.

We took a right off Victoria Street, into a narrower road that took us up towards the Home Office and behind Scotland Yard. In retrospect this might have been a mistake. The police, unable to overtake us in vans jumped out and tried to run past us to get in front. Again another surge up the road followed, but about half a dozen cops managed to form a line which most of us could easily breach, pushing past them. There were a couple of skirmishes as people tried to pull themselves away from cops who had grabbed hold of them. One unlucky person was grabbed and held on the floor by cops and arrested a few minutes later. A second line of cops assembled as we approached the far end of the road, and waited for our approach; but not before we managed to make a few ant-war comments to the 5 armed Scots Guards who took refuge behind the iron gates of their barracks on seeing our arrival.

By now however numbers were dwindling. It was clear that as we dissipated, there was uncertainty about the best tactic: stay together and risk further police responses, or to file away in ones and two’s to regroup in a more visible public space. In the end both were used. A small group stayed together at the bottom of the road, while others gathered at the tube station and exchanged information.

Most of the us decided to call it a day at this point. We were by now outflanked by the bill, numbers had dwindled, and the sense of purpose was waning. One group went back to Downing Street, while another met up in central London to discuss the events of the evening.

WAS IT WORTH IT?
Some comments were made after about whether we should have stayed at Downing Street – as the evening wore on, more people started to arrive for a picket outside the MoD – or been better prepared beforehand. It was also felt that the lack of a focus to move on to after we left Whitehall (or the lack of communication about one) was a bit problematic. In addition, keeping ahead of the police, and surging forward at particular times, left some people unable to keep up and separated from the main body of the group, which did have a negative effect on the inclusive spirit which up til that point had been absolutely brilliant.

These are definitely issues that we need to think about for future events. On the whole however, for me, it was a really successful response in lots of ways. The fact that a large group of people (many of whom did not know each other before the meeting), were able to mobilise within an hour, taking to the streets to march through central London in the pouring rain to Downing Street, to refuse to stand behind barriers, to obstruct the traffic, and then to take the initiative so as not to be corralled by the cops says a lot about the strength of feeling and the whole dynamic of the mobilisation. This bodes well for the future.

An anti-war response that actively demonstrates its’ opposition, and challenges sanctioned dissent, is absolutely necessary if an effective opposition to the war can hope to be mounted. This is not a call for separatism: all strands must pull together to challenge in whatever way we can this attack on the working class of the middle east, Europe and the US.

Because our open meeting was interrupted, we decided to rearrange it for this Thursday evening – see bottom for details. A No War But the Class War group has also also been formed in Brighton. Come along, bring ideas, experiences. Don’t bring dogma.

On a final personal note, one last SWiPe: I said above there is a need to come together as part of a larger movement. I was also present to witness the appalling lack of democracy displayed by the SWP controlled Stop the War coalition at their founding meeting two weeks ago. As has been noted a few times already on Indymedia, the committee was stitched up and decided before any input could be given. The kind of inclusivity displayed here was evident towards the end where the chair directed us to brake into smaller groups: “trade unionists over here, students in that corner, muslims over there”!!!

It’s got to be said that if it is the intention that this coalition is to sanction and put a brake on imaginative initiatives such as last night’s mobilisation, I would have serious doubts as to whether Stop the War’s primary concern is to do just that – rather than as another conveyor belt into the Party. Others might consider these motivations too.

No War But the Class War OPEN MEETING
Thursday 11 October at 8pm
The Exchange
Sebbon Street
Islington, London N1 (behind the Town Hall)

We will also be joining the CND march this Saturday 13 October. Look out for our banners.
Join the discussion group:
 nowarbuttheclasswar-subscribe@yahoogroups.com