On Wednesday 1st March I went along to an event that had been advertised as a Tower Hamlets Stop the War meeting. It took place in the Skeel Hall lecture theatre at Queen Mary Univeristy near Mile End, so it was just down the road for me and I thought with the March 18th anti-war event coming up it would be useful to attend the meeting.
The hall was packed, standing room only so I guess about 300 people in all. Sadly however, it wasn't anything that I would describe as a meeting, it was more a celebrity lecture.
The first speaker was Sami Ramadani, an Iraqi exile who writes for the Guardian. He spoke about his belief, and the apparent widespread belief, that the outurst of secetarian violence that has engulfed Iraq is actually exactly what the US wants and that they are behind the bombing of the mosques and subsequent bloodshed.
John Rees, a big wig in the Stop The War 'Collalition', was up next with a loud speech which lots of people should hear but was probably wasted on the people in the room who, after all, obviously all ready agree. As well as talking about how bad the war is and how we must stop it. He said he would march and march and march and march forever, and I don't doubt that that's exacly what the Stop The War Coalition have in mind. He also asked for our money in order to pay for meetings such as the one we were attending.
Next up was Rose Gently, the UK's answer to Cindy Sheehan. Rose is the mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, who was killed in Basra in June 2004 and has been making a noise about it ever since. My total lack of sympathy and respect for those who choose to fight 'for queen and country' may colour my judgement on this one but I did feel that Rose comes across as very niave. I don't doubt that she does see the bigger picture but hearing hear going on about how Blair is a disgrace and is letting down 'our boys' is missing the point as far as I can see.
Now we were through to the real celebrity speakers... yes it was time for George Galloway and he really let rip! I've never experienced him in person and he certainly is an impressive public speaker. The highlight for me was his line about glorrifying terrorism . and he did! Well, obviously not really since obviously the insurgents in Iraq can never accuratly be described as terrorists no matter how attrocious their action, but that hasn't stopped the media or polititians from throwing the label about.
The former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, followed George. A tough act to follow and he knew it. However this quitely spoken man is a person of rare integrity and I have the uptmost respect for him. If you don't know his story, you should check it out. He also managed to pack in a few gags.
But of course the real star of the show was saved till the end. Classic socialist stand up comedian, Tony Benn. His public speaking ability hasn't diminished with age and when he finished he recieved the only standing ovation of the night. I stood myself, overcome by one of the last things he said which as an ex-politician was quite refreshing considering other people on the panel and the political make up of the gathering in general. He said, don't waste your time voting for polititians and expect them to solve anything for you.
So, what of the evening in general? Well, the place was crawling in SWP and Respect people. It was really an promotional stunt for the party rather than a meeting. It was totally preaching to the converted and yet left not room for the 'audience' to participate, discuss, express their views or ideas. It was purely a top down, celebrity event where we listened, clapped and went home. Fair enough I guess if advertised as a talk but I foolishly thought that a meeting would be discussion based.
I would still like to engage in discussion about the coming march on March 18th but a guess Stop The War events are the wrong place for that.
The first speaker was Sami Ramadani, an Iraqi exile who writes for the Guardian. He spoke about his belief, and the apparent widespread belief, that the outurst of secetarian violence that has engulfed Iraq is actually exactly what the US wants and that they are behind the bombing of the mosques and subsequent bloodshed.
John Rees, a big wig in the Stop The War 'Collalition', was up next with a loud speech which lots of people should hear but was probably wasted on the people in the room who, after all, obviously all ready agree. As well as talking about how bad the war is and how we must stop it. He said he would march and march and march and march forever, and I don't doubt that that's exacly what the Stop The War Coalition have in mind. He also asked for our money in order to pay for meetings such as the one we were attending.
Next up was Rose Gently, the UK's answer to Cindy Sheehan. Rose is the mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, who was killed in Basra in June 2004 and has been making a noise about it ever since. My total lack of sympathy and respect for those who choose to fight 'for queen and country' may colour my judgement on this one but I did feel that Rose comes across as very niave. I don't doubt that she does see the bigger picture but hearing hear going on about how Blair is a disgrace and is letting down 'our boys' is missing the point as far as I can see.
Now we were through to the real celebrity speakers... yes it was time for George Galloway and he really let rip! I've never experienced him in person and he certainly is an impressive public speaker. The highlight for me was his line about glorrifying terrorism . and he did! Well, obviously not really since obviously the insurgents in Iraq can never accuratly be described as terrorists no matter how attrocious their action, but that hasn't stopped the media or polititians from throwing the label about.
The former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, followed George. A tough act to follow and he knew it. However this quitely spoken man is a person of rare integrity and I have the uptmost respect for him. If you don't know his story, you should check it out. He also managed to pack in a few gags.
But of course the real star of the show was saved till the end. Classic socialist stand up comedian, Tony Benn. His public speaking ability hasn't diminished with age and when he finished he recieved the only standing ovation of the night. I stood myself, overcome by one of the last things he said which as an ex-politician was quite refreshing considering other people on the panel and the political make up of the gathering in general. He said, don't waste your time voting for polititians and expect them to solve anything for you.
So, what of the evening in general? Well, the place was crawling in SWP and Respect people. It was really an promotional stunt for the party rather than a meeting. It was totally preaching to the converted and yet left not room for the 'audience' to participate, discuss, express their views or ideas. It was purely a top down, celebrity event where we listened, clapped and went home. Fair enough I guess if advertised as a talk but I foolishly thought that a meeting would be discussion based.
I would still like to engage in discussion about the coming march on March 18th but a guess Stop The War events are the wrong place for that.
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
Glad you enjoyed yourself
03.03.2006 11:18
Night Owl
They won't do it for us...
03.03.2006 14:01
(for example it sickens me the way the 'official' anti-war movement is
dominated by celebrities and how some speakers call the British troops 'our
boys' ignoring the fact that these soldiers had a choice in fighting in an
imperialist army, its not as if they were conscripted!)
I found this comment about Tony Benn interesting:
"But of course the real star of the show was saved till the end. Classic
socialist stand up comedian, Tony Benn. His public speaking ability hasn't
diminished with age and when he finished he recieved the only standing
ovation of the night. I stood myself, overcome by one of the last things he
said which as an ex-politician was quite refreshing considering other people
on the panel and the political make up of the gathering in general. He said,
don't waste your time voting for polititians and expect them to solve
anything for you."
These words are pure HYPOCRISY coming from Benn, who during the last
election was phoning up the public telling them to vote for the Labour
Party, the party in POWER who are waging the war for fuck's sake!! I cannot
understand why some people on the Left can respect Benn. Yes he can give
supposedly good speeches which sound great, but with Benn his words and
actions are worlds apart. During a previous Labour Government's war in Aden,
Tony Benn was a Cabinet Minister who had access to information about
widespread torture being committed by British Troops, yet he did nothing to
try and stop it. In the 1980s, he did nothing to help the Irish hunger
strikers, and he also belongs to the organisation Labour Friends of Israel,
despite speaking at demonstrations for the rights of Palestinians. And Benn
also voted to impose the sanctions on Iraq that have led to the slow deaths
of THOUSANDS of children from illness and malnutrition!
Other 'left' or 'Old Labour' politicians who speak at Stop The War rallies
also have disgusting past histories like Benn. This is because there is no
real difference between "new" and "old" Labour, the Labour party was and
always will be a pro-capitalist and pro-imperialist party. And a big problem
with the official anti-war movemement in Britain is that it is led by people
like this, who deep down would never renounce their ties to the Labour
party, they see their celebrity status and money as more important than the
people who are dying horrific deaths in Iraq and elsewhere. Because of these
ties, the official movement goes nowhere.
I'm not pretending to have perfect answers on how to organise a movement
myself, but it's really important that we see the likes of Benn for what
they are and find ways of creating a constant, effective movement against
the war by ourselves. I will be going to the demo on March 18th, but not to
hear the speakers. I'm more interested in meeting and talking to other
people on the demo who are interested in building a genuine anti-war
opposition. We have to do it ourselves because the rich politicians are NOT
going to represent us!
¡Hasta la victoria siempre!
Ria
Re:They won't do it for us...
04.03.2006 22:43
I just wanted to add that as someone who considers himself to have been a part of this movement (having been a member of a local group), I think it is important for local groups to realise that the central STWC can not do everything and therefore it is important to make their own efforts as well and not just wait until the next march. Local groups should consider this!
Brian B