iraq: worldwide opposition to war
WORKERS, APRIL 2003 ISSUE
WORLDWIDE OPPOSITION erupted after the outbreak of US and British hostilities against Iraq. In Jordan, a demonstration of lawyers was attacked by riot police. In the US, tens of thousands of US schoolchildren skipped school to demonstrate for "books not bombs". From Australia to New York, from Athens to Jakarta, people voiced their fury.
On the day war broke out immediate protests took place in towns and cities all over Britain, outside workplaces, schools and colleges. In London, 3000 students and children took to the streets between the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street, joined by London workers throughout the afternoon and evening. In Edinburgh, 300 young teenagers tried to occupy the castle.
Protest was everywhere. In Northampton, for example, eleven anti-war protesters, including two school students, were arrested for a sit-down protest on a main road during a demonstration on the day war started. 120 protesters of all ages marched to a rally, where they heard speeches, and then held a candlelit vigil for peace at the main police station. During the day children held a variety of protests. In nearby Daventry, year 11 students staged a peaceful protest on the playground and then returned to lessons. In Northampton about 150 pupils marched into town. Others attended the evening rally.
The first Saturday of the war saw big anti-war events and marches taking place throughout the country.
For many young people it was the first time they had taken part in any political activity.For this generation, so often criticised for being "apathetic" because they are not impressed by political parties, opposition to war has brought a huge upsurge in active involvement – real involvement, light years away from the voting in elections which the likes of Blair would like to define as political engagement. No wonder ministers and the police were shocked and worried enough to try to order them to stay in school - citizenship is part of the national curriculum in class, not action outside of it.
They were certainly not won over by the sham democracy of a parliamentary debate in which Blair faced his biggest ever rebellion from his own party,and yet comfortably won a majority for a war against a country which is no threat to us and with which we have no argument whatsoever.
The young have had an object lesson better than any teacher could have thought up – the reality of representative democracy, where our so-called representatives feel free to vote for an act of naked aggression which is overwhelmingly opposed by those they claim to represent.