End the occupation of Iraq
london stop the war march / september 27, 2003
photography/text: pablo luis gonzález
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Photography © Pablo Luis González
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"Iraq's problems are Iraq's problems."
This sentiment was echoed by several of the speakers. George Monbiot argued that to involve the UN in the reconstruction of Iraq is a bad, very bad idea.
The Security Council is already a discredited organisation due to its well known undemocratic nature. The United States' veto is effectively the only one that carries any weight. What this actually means is that the UN is not regarded as an independent organisation, but merely as another instrument that America uses to further its imperialist ambitions. The current situation in Iraq clearly demonstrates this picture, where its recently murdered envoy sanctioned the creation of the unelected so-called Governing Council, a shadowy organisation hand-picked by the Americans. One of its latest deeds was to decide to privatise most of the country's state enterprises without any consultation whatsoever, either by referendum or election.
In other words, the new Iraq is being moulded by the diktats of the Governing Council's masters, their people posed to make out a killing out of the cheap companies. The Iraqi people is being clearly and neatly bypassed as they seem to be considered such a bunch of ignorant Arabs and Kurds that their opinion is not worth asking.
If this is not neo-colonialism in action, then I do not know what is; indulging in a bit of deconstruction of New Labour New Speak.
Quite interestingly, this point was not picked-up by neither of the two newspapers I read, "The Independent on Sunday" and "The Guardian", on the following Monday. As I do no longer have a TV set (I expressed my opinion about the BBC with my feet several years ago), I can say nothing about TV coverage. However, it was comic to watch a BBC cameraman, who had set-up his equipment in the crowd, removing his badge, conscious of some hostile looks directed on his direction as whoever was on stage made some dispiriting remarks about the Corporation’s coverage of the peace movement. This was the same cameraman who videoed the crowd from the podium at the end of the rally when it was already dwindling as people started to make their way home. Is this yet another example of the BBC's unbiased and balanced reporting?
The march began at about 1pm from the Marble Arch corner of Hyde Park, a kind of multifaceted beast that surged forward unstoppable with the powerful energy of the young when the green light was given; preceded by a band of photographers (myself included), TV reporters and left-wing newspapers sellers.
Stewards had to slow down or stop the march on several occasions as it was in danger of overtaking the workers in a couple of trucks laying the traffic cones and white ribbons that marked the route. Marchers kept filling Trafalgar Square long after the speeches started.
The City of London will not be offering a civic reception to President Bush when he comes to England this November; such were Ken Livingstone's words. Instead, a reception will be hosted for the peace movement.
"Blair must go!" Several speakers and the crowd called for Blair to go, going wild in more that just one occasion. Considering the appalling performance of the Labour Party at Bournemouth, this is unlikely to happen, at least not by the time being. However, as the process of self-destruction of Blair continues - the extracts from Robin Cook's diaries have thrown yet another flare on the duplicity of the PM, the situation is very volatile. Brent East Labour Party is very aware of this.
Blair reminds me of Henry Ford and the very democratic and open nature of the early Ford Model T motorcar back in the 1930s: "You can choose any colour you want as long as it is black". However, even the Ford T had a reverse gear.
Sophie and Billy Hurndall, sister and brother of Thomas Hurndall, a young British peace activist shot by an Israeli sniper in Rafah on 10 April 2003 whilst trying to shelter a Palestinian child from the bullets, made thoughtful and emotive speeches:
"If they (the peace campaigners) were Palestinians, they would be just a dash somewhere, we would not "now."
“Palestinian blood is being spilled, quite often by laughing Israeli soldiers".
This last quotation brings George Galloway's comments after watching the previous sleepless night Oliver Stone's film "Platoon", on Sky One Gold:
"The process of dehumanisation begins with the dehumanisation of Arabs and Iraqis, ending in the dehumanisation of the occupation forces themselves".
Which prompts the question: How long will we have to wait for laughing Americans or British soldiers to start killing Iraqi children?
Two young girls, schoolchildren, the younger being eleven year old and the other being just a bit older, made strong and confident speeches, with the deep conviction of the young unstained by cynicism:
"We were lied to..."
"Support the NHS, not the occupation of Iraq".
Tony Benn, following them on the plinth of Nelson column that doubled as stage, was quietly pleased as he realised that the olive branch is being passed to a much younger generation.
The film-maker Ken Loach gave an expectedly rousing speech, at least for me as I have not heard him speaking politically before, suggesting that the Stop the War movement should become a coherent political force.
Many other speakers addressed the crowd, some being: Caroline Lucas, MEP for the Green Party; Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP and tireless peace campaigner; Dr Sadiqqi, of the Muslim Parliament; and many others. I apologise for not naming them all.
Dima Tareq Tahboub, the Jordanian widow of Tareq Ayyous, the al-Jazeera journalist killed in Baghdad by two American bombs, in spite that the co-ordinates of the broadcaster's Baghdad office were given to the Pentagon three months before the war.
Pointing at her baby daughter, she asked:
"What shall I tell her when she grows up and asks why her father is not there any more to play with her? What shall I tell her?"
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Page updated: 27 March 2009
