POLITICS-EUROPE: Peace Campaign on a War Footing

By Sanjay Suri Reprint | | Print |

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Jan 20 2003 (IPS) - This is becoming something of a peace campaign staged on a war footing. Thousands of groups are coming together in some of the largest peace demonstrations Europe has ever known.

The big peace assault will take place February 15 when massive demonstrations are being planned in some of Europe’s capitals, and in many other countries. A peace rally in London on September 28 last year drew more than a quarter of a million.

"At the February 15 rally we are expecting half a million," Andrew Burgin from Stop the War Coalition told IPS Monday. "And that is a conservative estimate." The rally is being planned as the biggest ever protest held in Britain.

Even allowing for estimates sympathetic to their own cause, mammoth rallies are expected in London and other cities in Europe. The total number of people joining anti-war demonstrations in Europe that day is expected to run into a few million.

Joint demonstrations against a war in Iraq were agreed at the European Social Forum in Florence in November. Representatives from 11 European countries – Greece, Macedonia, France, Britain, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland – the U.S. and the Philippines firmed up plans for coordinated action at a meeting in Copenhagen last month.

"We have had a lot more countries joining us since then," Chris Nineham from Stop the War Coalition told IPS. Scores of groups from the Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Spain and Cyprus are now preparing for demonstrations February 15.

Simultaneous demonstrations have also been planned in Egypt, Palestine, Pakistan, Thailand, Canada, the U.S., Turkey and the Philippines. "We are also expecting a lot of support from Latin American countries," Nineham said. "By the time we get to February 15, the number of counties could easily be double this." These demonstrations are all being planned in capital cities.

If war breaks out before then, the groups are networking to arrange for immediate demonstrations. Protesters have been called to demonstrate at town squares at 6pm if war breaks out. In London a demonstration has been planned at Trafalgar Square.

Demonstrations are already being staged every day in the face of the American and British military build-up in the Gulf. In Britain rallies have been held over the past few days in London, Bolton, Liverpool and Cardiff. A major rally will be held in Nottingham Saturday.

Several groups including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Muslim Association of Britain have planned a lobby of Parliament on Tuesday January 21.

Labour Party MPs Alice Mahon, Tam Dalyell and Jeremy Corbyn are among a group of MPs who will meet lobbyists in the afternoon. Labour leaders are backing the anti-war groups in open revolt against the leadership of Prime Minister Tony Blair. The lobbying of MPs will be followed by a rally in the Grand Committee Room. Playwright Harold Pinter is expected to join the rally.

Valentine’s Day events are being planned in British cities on February 14, with love and not war as the political message of the day. Different regions and counties are being twinned with boroughs in London to provide accommodation to demonstrators arriving from long distances.

Two surveys this month show that an overwhelming majority of Britons oppose war on Iraq. Following a debate on war on BBC Radio, 27,500 listeners rang in to the studio poll, of which 87 per cent said they were against war. A poll on Channel 4 news last week showed 81 per cent opposed to war. However, a survey by the News of the World newspaper indicated that 56 per cent believed that Britain will go to war in Iraq.

There have been several demonstrations elsewhere in Europe in recent days. Thousands of protesters marched to the U.S. military base Torrejon on the outskirts of Madrid in Spain. In Belgium about 5,000 people marched through Brussels in protest against an attack on Iraq.

Thousands came out on the streets in Paris to demand that France veto any resolution in support of a war on Iraq. Big demonstrations were held in Marseille, Lyon, Strasbourg and Toulouse.