Saddam Hussein was the war criminal NOT Tony Blair or George Bush, they were heros for getting rid of him! 300,000 slaughtered Iraqis were discovered in mass graves after the Iraq war! Anyone who says the war to oust Saddam was wrong is a nazi!

another march

another banner

another speech on a megaphone

another camp

nothing changed

nothing achieved

nothing stopped.

This is not the way forward. We are fooling ourselves if we carry on in the same manner with the same approach. Nearly thirty years ago people were doing this at Greenham and despite all the support not one thing changed there. Before then my parents and their generation marched to Aldermaston on Ban the Bomb marches, they achieved nothing despite their best efforts. Events of this kind simply reinforce the sham of independent public protest.

By taking part in these empty gesture protests you help to perpetrate the lie of an 'allowed' protest movement. Governments like it when you do this, it lets them say to the wider masses,
"look we are democratic, protest is not banned". You are part of the problem, you are not leading to a solution.

Well done to all those involved in this protest! (Ignore the trolls who wrote the previous posts.) You've done a great job - and in difficult circumstances: Trying to raise public awareness in an area that's pro-military is really tough, even if you have the backing of some military families who are against the war.

Keep up the good work!!!

If this had been a report of one of those London Stop the War A to B marches, then the comment posted by "public" might be more apt. But it wasn't - this was all about raising awareness in the military community, getting them to think about things rather than blindly following orders which could land them in a court for war crimes, or dead.

In my opinion this march and peace camp had more impact than another march in London with 1000 times as many people could - the corporate media and politicians aren't interested in those any more apparently. But on the day of the march, it was as if the entire town had turned out to see this strange new phenomenon of peace marchers, and I'm sure it's opened quite a few minds in Carterton's population, making them think about and discuss things which might otherwise never enter their minds.

See other reports to put this event in context:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/04/310148.html

Go on the nice, fluffy, State-tolerated protests? Remain ineffective as the overall influence this will have on Government policy is negligable.

Go on the illegal, hardcore, and in many cases, violent protests which theoretically are supposed to make the impact the impotent SWP parades don't? Get villified in the popular media, and hence by the general population, as the vast majority will always be too ignorant/brainwashed to realise the genuine cause of the "hardcore anarchist massif".

Maybe the fact that nearly 100 Labour MPs were voted out last Thursday may have changed government policy as the rebel and anti-war MPs will now have a greater influence on governement policy, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I know people who live in carterton and they said the whole thing was a complete waste of time. The anticipated 600 protesters failed to materialise so there was more police than protesters. Rather than create dialogue with local people as intended, the 'peace camp' simply made the anti-war movement look even more like a bunch of middle-aged, middle-class hippies with too much time on there hands. £300,000 of tax-payers money was spent reinforcing Brize Norton's perimeter fence - does that make you feel better about yourselves?

"But on the day of the march, it was as if the entire town had turned out to see this strange new phenomenon of peace marchers, and I'm sure it's opened quite a few minds in Carterton's population, making them think about and discuss things which might otherwise never enter their minds."

Gentlefolk - For those who are unfamiliar with the town of Carterton, we have a population of approximately 16,000. On the day of the march, I was walking in the opposite direction into town as the marchers (police estimated 94 and that was about right)were heading back to their Camp. If the entire town had indeed turned out to see this "strange new phenomenon", it would have been headline news. I suggest the author needs to come clean and revise his/her estimate - how about 160 Carterton people?
All you succeeded in was to inconvenience people going about their normal Saturday business because the police closed the artery roads for nearly 3 hours. Carterton's economy relies heavily on the 3,500 personnel based at RAF Brize Norton. I am afraid your protests fell on deaf ears here and you need to rethink your strategy if you want to get people onside.