Attended by around twenty-five people, the group stood in Albert Square in Manchester, England, holding up placards stating their opposition to the attacks on London.

When the bomb blast occurred on the 7th July 2005, the Iraq Solidarity Campaign was just one, which joined with many other voices in condemning the attacks and we immediately put our signature too and circulated a statement of condemnation by the National Association of British Arabs.

We also wrote a statement which was later published in the South Manchester Reporter, making clear that such terrorist attacks are also a regular feature for the people in Iraq and that the attack in London was actually not an isolated incident.

In response to the statements we published, the letters of support we received from both Iraq and the wider Middle East spoke volumes and all were equal in deploring the atrocities by al-Qaida.

As one gentleman from Baghdad stated, he and his family had lived through two wars, a decade of sanctions and the 2003 invasion by the US and UK. He also stated that his children had been born in a war and their adult lives were started in the same way.

Similar sentiments were also echoed by other people from countries such as Palestine, where people also informed us that many Arabs abroad, respect the courage that had been taken by the British people in mobilising on such large scale against the invasion of Iraq.

It was felt by all, that since the events of September 11th, where two air planes flew into the Twin Towers in America, that the Middle East has been demonised in the eyes of the West and that the actions of groups like al-Qaida, have created a popular distortion that go to misrepresent the genuine desire for social change, that is felt by many Arabs world wide.

As one person told me, “when people in Iraq demonstrate against the occupation, or for better water supplies, the Western media can give an easy reply to it and claim that it is all the work of extremists. With this approach it provides people with easy answers when we are in a situation where there are no easy answers.”

I spoke to one Iraqi journalist who is currently based in Iraq’s neighbouring country, Jordan who stated that: “People may believe that Iraqi’s are fundamentalists like al-Zarqawi but the majority of ordinary Iraqi’s are trying to deal with issues like finding a job and feeding their children.”

When I asked if she thought the bombing of London helped the people of Iraq, her response was simple: “How? More people living in fear? Being against the occupation is a question of freedom not religion. I am a Muslim but Iraq is my country, these are two separate issues.”

Hussein Al-alak
Chairman
The Iraq Solidarity Campaign