After over two years of inaction Nottingham Stop the War Coalition seems to have returned from the dead.

The Stop the War Coalition has opposed the NATO invasion of Afghanistan and upheld the right of the Afghani people to resist foreign invaders.  What it has not done is to appeal to the British armed forces not to fight this unjust, imperialist war.  Instead it has put forward the line that British troops are the innocent pawns of the British Government and are being misused.  In the last few years this has provided the Government and the media with the opportunity to present British forces as "brave heroes" defending us against terrorist attacks by the Taliban.  Now, as a result of this propaganda campaign, any criticism of British military personnel for their part in the war of terror on the Afghani people is widely seen as disloyal, as not supporting "our boys".

Very few people have tried to go to the troops to persuade them not to fight the war.  It is not just Stop the War Coalition that has not done so but all of the leftist organizations in Britain have failed to engage with the troops so as to encourage their disaffection with the war.  It is an issue they have assiduously avoided.  However, in Luton in March 2009 a group of Muslim fundamentalists did demonstrate against a parade of British soldiers who had been in Afghanistan.  They did so in an unsubtle, insulting way rather than trying to point out to the soldiers that what they are doing is wrong and trying to encourage their dissent. The result of this action was that some local racists, led by Tommy Robinson, decided to form an anti-Muslim organization, the English Defence League. (See Channel Four documentary on 27/02/12)

If the Stop the War Coalition had led a campaign to encourage dissention within the British armed forces and head off the cult of heroes propaganda, then the EDL might never have come into existence. STWC is largely a front organization for the Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party and its fragments.  Thus it is ironic that the main organization opposing the EDL, Unite Against Fascism, is also a SWP front.  If it had not been for the opportunism of STWC in avoiding directly opposing the role of British troops in Afghanistan then the EDL would probably not exist.

The lesson to be learnt here is that to be effective, opposition to imperialism must first and foremost begin at home.  Open criticism and opposition to British troops for the death and destruction they have brought to the Afghanis should be at the forefront of campaigning against the war on Afghanistan.

Harry
March 2012