and what a beautiful day; sunshine and rain led to the most beautiful rainbows at its end as I made my way by bus and train home. One could almost imagine the world was indeed at peace. It's what the people want, at least.

The county town of Stafford seems a quiet, archetypically post-Thatcherite middle england kind of place with its shopping center, quite large prison, markets and 'local' shops. Its people - well, I'll let them speak for themselves, as today they did.

Local peace activists deemed today ideal for organising a march through the town, leading with inexorable logic to RAF Stafford. That logic however was made carnivalesque by the invigorating presence of samba! Surdo, tamborim, agogos, shakers and a couple of djembe were out and proud; the support from the street was fantastic. People were dancing as we walked along the road with our police escort. Folk either ignored us or supported us - no nasty comments, just stoical disregard or loud and joyful support. No real social tension - or maybe I was dancing too much to notice.

At a march, it's sometimes difficult to tell who's in and who's out; who is demonstrating and who is just there as a bystander; but that is the whole point of the pink bloc isn't it, to create a feeling that everyone's involved, and there is no such thing as a bystander. That division is brought into question - power to the imagination. We were that town today, raising consciousness and feeding the vibe. Overground.

Once we got to the airbase of death though, 'twas easier to divide all present between the forces of peace and the forces of death. Into 2 sides. I would like to resist even this division, however; it is my fondest hope that at least one copper, at least one military, was made to think and wonder if they might be better off with us than behind their wire fence. This division did make numbers easier to estimate however, and those of us concerned with such things decided that 200 was a fair accurate figure. So if media reports say anything less, you'll know they lie. And, of course, this was the tip of the iceberg. During the march, as with other actions in the midlands, so many people came up to us and asked 'why did we not know about this? We would have made a day of it?'. A local muslim 'leader' was wondering why we had not got in touch, as he was well up for it. We could have had a thousand.

So, lessons. The setting up of a more active working group was expressed as a desire, and for my part, a more radical intervention might have been on the cards. Obviously police presence at the base was high, and a couple of squaddies walked up and down. But there's a big plane on display at the base, war porn that many identified as an obvious target. Entry was not gained or attempted. The only attempt at an inspection was some bloke jumping up a tree and shouting 'have you got any weapons?' at the squaddies, following up with 'how many kids you gonna kill?'.

These were the other actions taken at the base. First, we had an open megaphone, which was used for a number of inspiring and eloquently factual points: that this march and others like it is just as important as F15; that we reject the weapons used by the West on Afghanistan and Iraq: the cluster bombs used to maim children looking for food and water; that getting out on the steets was nothing to be afraid of yet totally necessary, to get your voice heard. And raised, controlled voices were directed at the base and its inhabitants, including 'get a proper job' and 'love of money money - the root of all evil'.
Secondly, we placed our banners and placards on the fence, as well as attaching luggage tags withour messages to the base. They expressed concern for the safety of Iraqis and military personnel. Hopes for peace and life. Simple. Symbolic. Beautiful.

So it was a pretty 'overground' action; no attempt on the base, and maybe there could have been. Yet, I feel no need to justify its overground, consciousness raising character against the demands of the direct action and civil disobedience movements. The movement in the Midlands continues. Benefit gigs, direct actions, disobedience, demo after demo; people are awakening. The long night is over. Power to the earth; power to the planetary imagination; lets arm our desires for an end to war.

The clock is ticking...
but the future is unwritten
all out for peace truth justice.