BRITAIN: IWD marches oppose Iraq war

BY TERESA FOARD

LONDON — Several hundred people marched from Parliament Square, Westminster, to a rally at the US embassy on March 8, International Women's Day.

There was a significant presence from the Iraqi, Kurdish and Iranian communities, including contingents from the Worker-Communist Party of Iran, the Kurdish Free Women's Movement and the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq.

A spokesperson for the Iraqi contingent stated: "We do not want a bloody war that will kill and maim hundreds of thousands of people and destroy homes. This will only strengthen the terrorists, nationalists and Islamists and make the Iraqi people's struggle for a political system based on direct popular participation and freedom that much harder."

The strong turn-out from the Iraqi and Kurdish communities sharply contradicts the British corporate media's assertions that these communities want a war on Iraq.

There were IWD anti-war protests across Britain organised by the Stop the War Coalition. The largest protest was in Manchester, where 10,000 people protested against British Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair's support of the US-led war.

From Green Left Weekly, March 19, 2003.

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From GLW issue 530