Stop the War
Tug Wilson's account of the big Stop the War march that succesfully took place just before the war in Iraq started
Leading up to this march, the organisers were estimating that a million people would attend. This sounded extremely optimistic. However, the last big march was huge and undoubtedly this one would be bigger, public opinion had shifted even further from the position of Bush and Blair. As the day drew nearer it looked increasingly likely that the target of one million would be met. For the last march, four coaches left from Norwich, this time twenty were filled. If there was this kind of proliferation around the country there would be nothing to worry about.
Everyone seemed perfectly happy on the coach down (apart from when the Mr Bean video was put on), however were there sinister forces at work? Many people on our coach were occupying themselves by counting the number of shoes discarded on the side of the motorway. These were good people but what they were doing was not. Someone spotted a dead sheep by the roadside, instead of the predictable sighs of sadness, people wanted to know whether it was wearing shoes. We arrived in London, total shoe count was one. We disbanded from the coach, the shoe episode never to be mentioned again.
Once off the coach we discussed whether to meet up with Class War or the Anarchist Youth Network. As the old people greatly outnumbered the children we headed for the Class War meeting place. As we hit the crowds it became obvious we didn’t stand a hope in hell of reaching our destination. We made contact via mobile phone and eventually met up with our comrades, only to lose them minutes later whilst debating whether to go to the offy or not.
When on the last march, getting to the coach meeting point on time had proved to be impossible, so our wise leader (steward) suggested cheating and joining the front of the march. This turned out to be the best decision made all day as it meant we could demonstrate without panicking about getting to the coach. There was a great atmosphere with much entertainment provided by Islamic fundamentalists and archaic communist groups.
Everyone seemed perfectly happy on the coach down (apart from when the Mr Bean video was put on), however were there sinister forces at work? Many people on our coach were occupying themselves by counting the number of shoes discarded on the side of the motorway. These were good people but what they were doing was not. Someone spotted a dead sheep by the roadside, instead of the predictable sighs of sadness, people wanted to know whether it was wearing shoes. We arrived in London, total shoe count was one. We disbanded from the coach, the shoe episode never to be mentioned again.
Once off the coach we discussed whether to meet up with Class War or the Anarchist Youth Network. As the old people greatly outnumbered the children we headed for the Class War meeting place. As we hit the crowds it became obvious we didn’t stand a hope in hell of reaching our destination. We made contact via mobile phone and eventually met up with our comrades, only to lose them minutes later whilst debating whether to go to the offy or not.
When on the last march, getting to the coach meeting point on time had proved to be impossible, so our wise leader (steward) suggested cheating and joining the front of the march. This turned out to be the best decision made all day as it meant we could demonstrate without panicking about getting to the coach. There was a great atmosphere with much entertainment provided by Islamic fundamentalists and archaic communist groups.
Tug Wilson, yesterday
After a few ales were quaffed it was only a matter of time before we needed to piss. This resulted in the dilemma of whether to cripple ourselves by holding on, or to piss openly in front of hundreds of thousands of people. The girls had some dignity and chose the first option, whilst the boys pissed shamelessly against a wire fence giving the oncoming march an eyeful. The girls managed to hold on until we passed a Pizza Hut. On returning from the toilet, one girl said “that was the best moment of my life”. Earlier in the week she had said the same when offered an unexpected lift home from a friend’s house. We were seriously saddened by the dullness of our mate’s life.
As we approached Hyde Park we came across a statue of some war hero (whatever). We decided it would be criminal to walk past without climbing up to give it a black flag. As our designated media tart clambered up for his photo opportunity some jobsworth coppers came running over, to order him down. When the rapscallion had reluctantly jumped down, the policemen explained how everyday they saved lives this way. This was met with roars of hysteric laughter by all those within earshot. We sacrificed a few minutes of protest time to stay and mock the cops for a while, before getting bored and joining the march again.
Once in Hyde Park we split into two groups. Some went to the American Embassy (the storming of which, amazingly was unsuccessful) others of the group accompanied a sulking teenager, who pissed off with not meeting up with the AYN wanted to watch some speakers who were providing an alternative to the usual leftist ranting at such events. Unable to find them we headed off to Sainsburys to nick some samosas. On our way out of Hyde Park, the cops who hadn’t met their aggravation quota for the day decided it would be a great idea to start shutting the park gates. It all smacked a bit of Hillsborough and was met by the crowd with great anger. One of our group surreptitiously pulled the gate in the opposite direction to the cops. Along with the crowd’s protests the evil plans of the police were foiled.
After the days excitement we were glad to get back to the coach. Luckily our journey was only delayed by about 40 minutes. The journey back was more pleasant than the one there. It was too dark to look for shoes and The Man in the Iron Mask was a slight improvement on Mr Bean. Some media reports had put the numbers at the protest at upwards of two million. Whether there were that many people is anyone’s guess, but with police estimating 750 thousand, it would be probable that there were at least one and a half million. We had created a historic event, the biggest protest Britain had ever seen. Whether this will make a blind bit of difference to Blair’s plans for Iraq is unlikely. It is however important to voice your dissent and remove any legitimacy Blair is deluded enough to think he possesses.
Stop the War Coalition can be contacted at: P.O. Box 3739, London, E5 8EJ. Tel - 020 7053 2153/4/5/6. Email - office@stopwar.org.uk. Their web address is - www.stopwar.org.uk. Disobedience can be contacted at: www.disobedience.org.uk.
As we approached Hyde Park we came across a statue of some war hero (whatever). We decided it would be criminal to walk past without climbing up to give it a black flag. As our designated media tart clambered up for his photo opportunity some jobsworth coppers came running over, to order him down. When the rapscallion had reluctantly jumped down, the policemen explained how everyday they saved lives this way. This was met with roars of hysteric laughter by all those within earshot. We sacrificed a few minutes of protest time to stay and mock the cops for a while, before getting bored and joining the march again.
Once in Hyde Park we split into two groups. Some went to the American Embassy (the storming of which, amazingly was unsuccessful) others of the group accompanied a sulking teenager, who pissed off with not meeting up with the AYN wanted to watch some speakers who were providing an alternative to the usual leftist ranting at such events. Unable to find them we headed off to Sainsburys to nick some samosas. On our way out of Hyde Park, the cops who hadn’t met their aggravation quota for the day decided it would be a great idea to start shutting the park gates. It all smacked a bit of Hillsborough and was met by the crowd with great anger. One of our group surreptitiously pulled the gate in the opposite direction to the cops. Along with the crowd’s protests the evil plans of the police were foiled.
After the days excitement we were glad to get back to the coach. Luckily our journey was only delayed by about 40 minutes. The journey back was more pleasant than the one there. It was too dark to look for shoes and The Man in the Iron Mask was a slight improvement on Mr Bean. Some media reports had put the numbers at the protest at upwards of two million. Whether there were that many people is anyone’s guess, but with police estimating 750 thousand, it would be probable that there were at least one and a half million. We had created a historic event, the biggest protest Britain had ever seen. Whether this will make a blind bit of difference to Blair’s plans for Iraq is unlikely. It is however important to voice your dissent and remove any legitimacy Blair is deluded enough to think he possesses.
Stop the War Coalition can be contacted at: P.O. Box 3739, London, E5 8EJ. Tel - 020 7053 2153/4/5/6. Email - office@stopwar.org.uk. Their web address is - www.stopwar.org.uk. Disobedience can be contacted at: www.disobedience.org.uk.
From issue 3 of Now or Never! which might still be available as a tatty old back issue if you're lucky