Successful Anti-War Movement Picket

Workers' Daily Internet Edition : Article Index :

Successful Anti-War Movement Picket

Anti-War Meeting and Film: "Not In My Name"

Police Smash Way into Mosque

A picket was organised on Wednesday by Mariam Appeal and supported by Stop the War Coalition and Voices in the Wilderness. This was organised at short notice once it became known to the organisers that the Foreign Office was holding a meeting between Jack Straw and certain Islamic figures of status – councillors, MPs, community leaders based in Britain.

Stop the War Coalition condemned this meeting as a PR (Public Relations) exercise, to recruit certain Islamic figures willing to justify an attack on Iraq. The picket which began at 6.00 pm directly opposite the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was penned in with crash barriers and was small to start off. As more people joined, the picket swelled to 200 and became a demonstration. The police had to make the pen bigger by adding more crash barriers. The crowd chanted slogans led by a representative from Stop the War Coalition, amongst them: "No Arms To Israel - Don't Attack Iraq!" Palestinian flags and anti-war placards were waved throughout the demonstration. These were particularly aimed at the Muslim figures as they arrived at the meeting. Those arriving on foot could not ignore the demonstration and directly received leaflets of different participating organisations.

Around 7.00 pm, the representative of Stop the War Coalition called for speeches to bring the demonstration to an end. Speeches were given by representatives of CND, ARROW, the Muslim Association of Britain, the Emergency Committee on Iraq and Palestine, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and individuals. Speeches were also given in Arabic. In conclusion, the representative from STWC thanked everyone who came, and called for the big demonstration to be held on Saturday, September 28, to be extremely militant in order to send a strong message opposing the warmongering policy of the British government.

The demonstration actually carried on after the final speech was given at around 7.15 pm and continued beyond 9.00 pm. Some of the Islamic figures attending the meeting came to speak to the demonstrators and took leaflets and showed sympathy with the aims of the demonstration.

This picket, as it was called, was organised at short notice, yet with 200 people turning up can only be termed as a success for the anti-war movement!

On Wednesday, July 24, over 300 people attended a very lively evening organised by the South East London Stop the War Coalition at the Rivoli Centre in Brockley. Two anti-war films were shown – "Not In My Name" about the war in Afghanistan, and a short film about a recent visit to Bethlehem in support of the Palestinian people by members of the International Solidarity Movement.

The meeting was introduced by Lindsay German, a leading spokesperson from the Stop the War Coalition, and Jeremy Hardy from the International Solidarity Movement.

The film "Not In My Name" exposed the sham of Bush and Blair’s lies that the war in Afghanistan was in anyway "humanitarian" or on the side of the Afghan people. On the contrary it effectively revealed the ugly truth that the war was entirely about US (and British) imperialist interests in the region under the guise of "fighting terrorism". The film effectively juxtaposed the almost comically banal utterances of Bush and Blair with horrifying footage of the carnage as a result of US bombing, especially the so-called "daisy cutters" which are second only to nuclear weapons in their dreadfulness. Progressive journalists such as John Pilger, Paul Foot and Jon Snow, together with George Galloway MP, Tony Benn and Tariq Ali, spoke of the thousands of Afghan people who have been killed and the necessity to expose the lies of the media in supporting this totally illegal and unjust war. The film demonstrated that America is hell-bent on using the so-called "war against terrorism" to justify interfering with and invading any part of the world in pursuit of its imperialist interests. It spoke of the obscenity of the richest and most powerful country in the world unleashing its war machine on some of the poorest countries in the world, including Afghanistan. The film ended with the criminal bombing and economic embargo of Iraq by the US and Britain which has led to the deaths of thousands, if not millions, of Iraqi children, and of the very real danger that Bush will unleash all-out war against Iraq.

The short film about the recent visit of a delegation from the International Solidarity Movement to Bethlehem very effectively depicted the devastation of Palestine by the occupying US-backed Israeli forces. The film vividly demonstrated the very real dangers of the work of the ISM in supporting the Palestinian people. One scene depicted an Israeli tank actually opening fire on the ISM group in a street in Bethlehem resulting in several injuries. Other parts of the film showed the devastation of Palestinian towns, large areas of which have been reduced to rubble.

After the film was over Jeremy Hardy spoke in detail of the work of the ISM in Palestine. He made clear that supporting the Palestinian people was part of an international movement to support the struggles of people throughout the world against oppression and war. He pointed out that Israeli occupation has effectively destroyed the infrastructure of Palestine. There are no jobs, education, social life and the Palestinians have only two hours in the day when they can go out to do shopping or other every-day activities. He also drew attention to the many hundreds of unarmed and innocent Palestinian people who have been killed by the Israeli forces.

At the end of the meeting, both Lindsay German and Jeremy Hardy took questions from the floor. The main points which came out were that anti-war demonstrations and activities can have an effect. Several people spoke of a new political awareness that was emerging – that people were increasingly opposing war, globalisation and the neo-liberal politics of Blair. Finally Lindsay German called on everyone to ensure that the anti-war demonstration on September 14 would be the biggest and most effective yet.

Police used battering rams to enter a Black Country mosque in pursuit of asylum seekers in Lye, Stourbridge, West Midlands in the early hours of this morning, after 5 o'clock prayers. An Afghan couple, Farid and Feriba Ahmadi, were seeking refuge in the Ghausia Jamia mosque from the authorities who were attempting to deport them.

This unprecedented action by the state in the area is a provocation and an attack on the Muslim community in Britain. The action by the state is also a condemnable desecration of a religious and cultural establishment.

The raid on the mosque led to the arrest of the Ahmadi family who had fled Afghanistan. The Home Office wants to return them to Germany, their first point of entry into the EU. The Afghan parents are to be re-united with children at an airport detention centre first.

One Muslim leader has denounced the police for lack of respect and Karam Daad, President of the mosque, said, "Officers did not need to smash through the metal door of a prayer room."

Onlookers criticised the behaviour of the police and said that there would be a community reaction to the "military style" eviction operation at the mosque.

The Home Office claimed that the state forces had not behaved improperly.