BRITAIN: Anti-war coalition continues campaigning

BY NATASHA IZATT

LONDON — A conference of the Stop the War Coalition, held on June 21, has called for a national demonstration on September 27 to demand the end of the occupation of Iraq.

The conference, attended by 700 people, heard a range of a speakers, including Nicaraguan activist Bianca Jagger and Labour MPs Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn and George Galloway.

Discussion from the floor and in workshops was rich. One Iraqi man spoke of a recent phone call from his uncle in Baghdad, who said: "We don't need any aid, just give us the oil money. Then we can help ourselves and other people as well."

Trade unionists spoke of the importance of organising local workplace meetings now in preparation for industrial action to prevent the next war.

Stop the War Coalition leaders Lindsey German and George Galloway have been speaking to packed auditoriums all around the country for the last month and are booked into mid-July.

The Stop the War Coalition has no intention of going into hibernation. Its current demands are for an end to the occupation of Iraq, opposition to any future wars against Iran, Syria, North Korea and Cuba, and for Prime Minister Tony Blair's government to be held to account for the lies it to justify the war on Iraq.

From Green Left Weekly, July 2, 2003.

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From GLW issue 544