Mixed messages ahead of anti- war march
Sarah Left Friday September 27, 2002
Stop the War and the Muslim Association of Britain hope to attract up to 200,000 protesters to a mass demonstration in London on Saturday, but some people who oppose a war on Iraq will be staying away after organisers subtitled the march "Freedom for Palestine".
The Stop the War coalition - a loose collective of individuals and groups opposed to the war on terror generally and an attack on Iraq in particular - was formed on September 21 2001 to oppose the attack on Afghanistan.
According to organisers, the march commemorates the second anniversary of the armed Palestinian uprising, or intifada, in addition to voicing opposition to an attack on Iraq.
"These two issues are intimately related," said Mike Marqusee, spokesman for Stop the War. "Anyone in the Middle East would just assume that. We are happy to combine these two issues."
The importance of the Palestinian element in the march depends on which group of supporters you ask. Mr Marqusee said the possibility of an imminent attack on Iraq made opposition to war the most urgent cause for the demonstration. However the event's co-organisers, the Muslim Association of Britain, highlight the Palestinian cause on their website, citing a condemnation of Israeli aggression ahead of opposition to war against Saddam Hussein.
One coalition member, the Friends of al-Aqsa, goes one step further on its website, urging members to "March for Justice: unite for Palestine on the second anniversary of the intifada", with no mention on the front page of the war on Iraq.
Anas Altakriti, spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, understood that tying the two issues together may keep away some opponents of an attack on Iraq. However, he said the march should point out the hypocrisy of using force against Iraq to uphold one UN resolution, while failing to take action against continued Israeli failure to pull out of the occupied territories despite UN condemnation of the settlements.
"I don't see how the two issues come together," said Michael Phillips, campaign director for the Union of Jewish Students, who will not be attending the march. "They're either not serious about the war on Iraq, or they're using the Palestinian issue to score cheap political points."
Mr Phillips felt many of the groups supporting the march were "usually quite anti-semitic on campus".
"Most Jewish groups are wary of a war on Iraq, aware of the impact a war will have in Israel. In the last war Saddam Hussein launched missiles against Israel for no apparent reason, and many of us have friends or family there," he said.
However, he said, the Union of Jewish Students would not be taking part in a demonstration he felt could "incite people against Israelis, Zionists and ultimately Jews".
Naomi Benson, a British Jew who had considered going to the march, changed her mind based on the links with the intifada.
"The husband of a friend of mine was hurt in a bombing in Jerusalem in the summer, and that changed my views. Any sympathy I might have had with suicide bombers - and I do have sympathy for the cause - has disappeared. The intifada is not something to be marked. People are dying on both sides.
"You can be anti-war in Iraq and not anti-Israel. It's a bit cheeky of them to lump the issues together like that," she added.
Mr Marqusee condemned as "outrageous" the allegation by the Union of Jewish Students that groups organising the demonstration were anti- semitic.
"There is no reason why any Jewish person should hesitate to attend this march, and I speak as a Jew," he said.
Mr Marqusee said one of the reasons for choosing this Saturday for the march was to mark the second anniversary of the intifada, although he said that implied no support for violence by any group. The eventual tone of the march depended on the people who came on Saturday with their multiplicity of views, he said.
Members of the Stop the war coalition include the Socialist Workers party, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and a number of trade unions including Unison, the National Union of Journalists, and the Rail, Maritime and Transport union are also aligned with the group. MPs including Tony Benn, George Galloway and Paul Marsden also support the coalition. A full list of supporters is available at Stop the War.
Undeniably, Muslim and Palestinian solidarity groups in the coalition far outnumber Jewish groups. Only one Jewish group is listed among the alliance, the Jewish Socialist Group. Contact details for the group were not available on their website.
Mr Altakriti, of the Muslim Association of Britain, urged people with differing views to come along on the march.
"Come and raise a banner. If someone has something to say - we're against Iraq but not sure in terms of Palestine - come say it," he