Stop the War: Five Years on.
John Shemeld | 16.03.2008 00:09 | Anti-militarism | Iraq | Palestine | Terror War
I don't know how many people were there, but I do know that Trafalgar Square was packed, and I do know that as the front of the march was going over Lambeth Bridge, there were still people going over Westminster Bridge. It was measured in tens of thousands. The police may disagree, and the mainstream media may faithfully report their estimate, but then that's why Indymedia was created, wasn't it?
Ben Griffin, ex SAS trooper, spoke in Trafalgar Square despite the gagging order placed on him - stopping him speaking about his time in Iraq. He spoke about the US war in Vietnam, in some detail, and then said that it was just the same in Afghanistan and Iraq. Brave man.
As we set off, Tony Benn said that parliament represented the democracy of the past, and the future of democracy was on the streets. We brought some democracy to the streets.
When the war started, Bush and Blair didn't give a shit about whether there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or not; whether there was a second UN resolution or not; whether the whole bloody thing was legal or not, because they were confident that we would have all forgotten about all of that by now. It is a tribute to the resistance of the people of Iraq, and the protest movement in the US and UK that those things are issues still. We have not let them off the hook.
Keep looking back at this item, because photographer Danny will add a load of photos of the demo as a comment in the next couple of days.
Stop the War demos vary in size, but they are always the biggest demos going, and they continue to make Bush, and now Brown, squirm.
John Shemeld
e-mail:
john_shemeld@yahoo.co.uk
Homepage:
http://www.nottmagainstwar.org.uk
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