Its economy has been devastated by the huge financial crisis that swept Asia in 1997. Millions of people were thrown out of work, with many facing hunger. Indonesia's currency collapsed. It couldn't pay its enormous debts. Mass demonstrations followed. An occupation of parliament and clashes with the army drove Indonesia's dictator General Suharto from power in 1998. Many people still live in dire poverty in Indonesia. This is because the current president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, is continuing with an austerity programme backed by the International Monetary Fund. Indonesia's government is also continuing its repression of movements demanding independence, such as in the oil-rich Aceh province. Tragically, some of them may have directed their anger in awful fashion at ordinary holidaymakers.

The bombing of thousands of civilians in Afghanistan and the continuing misery imposed on millions of people by the policies of the IMF and the World Bank has only increased that despair. People are driven to acts of violence by a system that forces them to watch their children die of needless hunger and curable diseases. They have to endure living in filthy shanty town hovels within sight of luxury hotels.

They suffer humiliation at the hands of the pampered rich and see all hope of living a secure life stolen from them by multinational companies which ruthlessly defend their profits. These are people desperate for some change for themselves and their families, but they can see no way of achieving it. Faced with this situation, some people can be driven to take part of the brutality the system dishes out and seek to hurl it back at their oppressors. When people lash out, they rarely hit those really responsible for their hopelessness. Instead they often cause the deaths of other ordinary people. Such acts also have no effect on stopping repressing powers from imposing their will on the world.

But there is a different way, one that builds on hope and not despair. It was seen on the streets of London on Saturday 28 September when over 400,000 people marched against war on Iraq. And it could be seen in the many huge anti-capitalist movements that have mobilised millions of people across the developed and less developed world in the last three years.

It is this kind of collective opposition that can provide inspiration and hope to all those suffering. It can show that there is an effective way of challenging inequality, injustice, capitalism and war. In Britain that means involving the widest number of people in the 31 October day of action against the war on Iraq. If the anti-war movement can force Tony Blair to reassess his support for Bush that would send out a fantastic message to the poor and oppressed around the world.