Had an increasingly smaller number of men. He marched them round central London, flogged them some papers, got a few to join the SWP and he sent them home again.

When will the STWC (and their masters in the SWP Central Committee) realise that the idea of marching round and round in circles with fewer and fewer people simply isn't working, in the sense that, however big the march, the powers that be will still ignore it? If they managed to ignore the February 2003 march (and they did), with the massive numbers that turned out that day, what makes the policy-setters at Swappie Central think that a much smaller march (which this one is almost certain to be) will have any more of an effect, exactly?

shower of shit. If you're not prepared to commit civil disobedience and take other forms of direct action on the day, why the hell bother? The Afghan people benefit zero from your pointless marches and pointless speeches. Take this on the chin and fucking learn from it.

Seems to me a stop the upcoming war against Iran would be a more useful thing to demonstrate about - exactly why is it that SWP/STWC aren't doing anything about the war rhetoric against Iran ?

Is it because the possible stoning of one woman garnishes much more publicity and public sympathy for their Anti-Iran activities than the concept of trying to prevent yet another genocide in the Middle East ?

I think we should be told.

One of the biggest lessons that the Vietnamese Revolution taught the world, is that throughout it all including the dropping of more bombs on that tiny country than all the bombs dropped in the second world war, was that both the peaceful political demonstrations and the peoples armed struggle took place. It seems to me that the argument that if you hold peaceful demonstations you are somehow wrong is in itself the wrong way to approach the necessity of taking the streets to show and teach the new generations that way to do our political organizing is necessary and useful even if the warmongers don't obey the majority. Also the movement to revolt is going on world wide. It is a divide and rule mistake to pit one against the other. Both are necessary, should co-ordinate as much as possible their organized opposition to the unjust wars and illegal violence unleashed by the Imperialist camp. Don't get lost in fighting each other, as that only leads to defeat of the revolution and its all sided necessities. Viva socialist liberation. End pollution wars, not endless wars for more pollution.

from the archives:


excerpt from: Preparing for World War III, Targeting Iran - Part I: Global Warfare

by Michel Chossudovsky, 1 August 2010


The antiwar movement in the US, which has in part been infiltrated and co-opted, has taken on a weak stance with regard to Iran. The antiwar movement is divided. The emphasis has been on wars which have already occurred (Afghanistan, Iraq) rather than forcefully opposing wars which are being prepared and which are currently on the Pentagon's drawing board. Since the inauguration of the Obama administration, the antiwar movement has lost some of its impetus.

Moreover, those who actively oppose the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, do not necessarily oppose the conduct of "punitive bombings" directed Iran, nor do they categorize these bombings as an act of war, which could potentially be a prelude to World War III.

The scale of antiwar protest in relation to Iran has been minimal in comparison to the mass demonstrations which preceded the 2003 bombing and invasion of Iraq.

________________________

You'll get about 1200 of the usual suspects.

Rather than endlessly disagreeing with each other about the effectiveness of these marches, we should really be having a debate about why these marches fail to bring out large scale public support.

How is it that just about the whole country doesn't agree with the war but only 5000 show up when these demonstrations are called.

One commentator here touches upon the problem of these marches being co-opted by minority political groups who use these assemblies to sell newspapers and raise funds (SWP). We all know that the STWC is heavily involved with Labour and that should give an insight into why the big original demos were largely ineffective. It was a controlled opposition and the STWC were always a problem because it put its political affiliations before the cause.

I know that there are people in the SWP & STWC who were very annoyed with the wars and genuinely felt strongly against them, but, ultimately the 'kernel' that brought the big protests about was always just a little bit more than it seemed!

Labour waged the war with its right hand, and marshalled the inevitable reaction to it with its left hand.

If there is to be a major protest involving hundreds of thousands, then political colours and affiliations must be set aside. The massive majority of the people of this country want British troops withdrawn from Afghanistan. There is no surviving, meaningful support for a continued presence remaining.

Peace should be humanitarian endeavour, and nothing else.

lets get our own black bloc sorted with flags and banners, to make sure the weirdo SWP don't steal the show.

while i generally agree with the complaints about 'didn't stop the war coalition' callouts and their lack of interest in civil disobedience, i'm not sure i'd agree that the thousands who turn up aren't up for some disobedience themselves, if only it can be effectively sold to them on the day.

so instead of criticising and not turning up, how about seeing it as an opportunity for subversion and empowerment, and coming up with a real plan to inspire, enthuse, and direct the generally caring and passionate marchers to do something a bit more challenging.

how about a co-ordinated effort to infiltrate the stewards? how about leaflets on the day suggesting why and how direct action can be more successful? how about coming up with a plan to inspire people to try something new?

on the other hand, maybe it's just easier to carp from the sidelines - yeah, that'll work!

The war in Afghansitan is going really badly see this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiI6APue89E
That is why everyone needs to attend this demonstration to show how many people strongly oppose this war.