Paul Donovan watches the anti-war movement lose faith and battle with itself
Sunday September 21, 2003 The Observer
February 15th was a high point of the anti war movement in the UK as more than a million people protested against the pending war in Iraq. For many, it has been all downhill since.
Leading voices in the Stop the War Coalition such as chairman Andrew Murray have claimed that on that day, "it came within political inches of forcing British disengagement from the aggression against Iraq." More cynical voices believe that the reaction of the government to the mass protests simply showed how moribund democracy has become with millions coming out to peacefully protest - only to be ignored.
However effective they might have been, the coalition's failure has led to some fierce in-fighting. Over recent weeks there have been some public fallings out among leading members of the movement -most recently a coup at CND with Carol Naughton, the longstanding chair defeated by one vote by Kate Hudson at the annual general meeting, amidst dark talk of tactical infiltration by the leftist group Socialist Action together who, with elements of the Socialist Workers Party, have effectively taken over.
Meanwhile, at the Stop the War Coalition itself, Murray and fellow leader Lindsey German have attacked previously sympathetic commentators like David Aaronovich, Nick Cohen and John Lloyd "who supported the war." This was followed by a rather more personal attack on Mike Marqusee, for one, "who opposed the war, but appear personally embittered by one thing or another." Marqusee has refuted the claim against him but believes some in the SWC have lost their way and that the leadership of the SWC have made huge tactical errors.
Marqusee also believes that in February, the leadership of SWC found itself sitting on a movement of millions and didn't know what to do and the coalition has been in retreat ever since war broke out. "There should have been events going on up and down the country putting pressure on the Hutton inquiry but there has been very little, it has largely been the media carrying things forward over the last couple of months," said Marqusee.
Part of the problem, Marqusee adds, is that the coalition completely failed to take on board the faith-based nature of much of the anti war movement. "The SWC work with the Muslim Association of Britain, which is a moderate group, but there are all sorts of groups in the Muslim world from extreme to moderate," said Marqusee. "There has also been little representation of Christian groups at national level in the SWC."
The very nature of the coalition causes its own problems - the lead organisers among the anti war movement were the SWC, CND and the Muslim Association of Britain. Nowhere in this structure was there official representation for Christians, Hindus, Jews and Sikhs and other faith groups. Yet in many ways much of the strength of the wider anti war movement came from its multi-faith nature. Many ethnic minority groups gained great strength from seeing people of all faiths and none united in a common purpose to oppose war.
The coalition failed to exploit this. "Stop the war, from the outset, didn't warm toward faith groups. It is a question of how far people understand community. The local community in Britain today often means faith groups," said one activist.
A number of faith-based community organisations developed around the anti war movement. Peace and Justice in east London was one. Community based, it includes Catholics, Protestants, Hindus, Quakers, Muslims, Buddhists and Jews amongst its number. There has been some disagreement, but the group has been impressive, organising a public meeting in the House of Commons at the same time as the dossier was being debated last September. Faith leaders addressing the meeting included the Catholic Bishop of Brentwood Thomas McMahon and Iqbal Sacrani from the Muslim Council of Britain.
Pat Gaffney, the general secretary of international peace organisation Pax Christi, has been encouraged as to how the wider peace movement has been able to break down barriers. "There have been networks created, alliances of an ecumenical and interfaith nature. It has been good to see dialogue and bridges being built between the different faiths," said Gaffney. She has though little time for the SWC. "There are people there pushing an extreme political agenda and not looking at the issues. They seem hide bound by an old style of organsation that says come the revolution all will be well. I really question there understanding of long term peace building," she said.
Former CND chair Bruce Kent shares holds a similar view. "They don't seem to want to build a broad base, they are obsessed with trade union leaders and the Labour Party. They don't seem able to expand beyond their own theme of the working class rising up," said Kent. "There is a feeling in CND and some Muslim groups that they are more token than real representatives in the coalition. Faith groups do seem to have been outsiders."
He is furious about the happenings at CND and refusing to share anti war platforms with SWC people.
The next big test for the anti-war movement comes next weekend when the SWC are organising a pre-Labour Party conference anti war march. The level of turn out will no doubt give an indication of how well the anti-war coalition is holding together. Again while many would rightly argue that a statement needs to be made against the ongoing war in Iraq, there is the question as to whether another march is the way to do it. In media terms anything less that the millions who turned out in February is going to be viewed as failure.
· Paul Donovan is freelance journalist who has covered the anti-war movement since September 11 2001
==================================== To this day, no one has come up with a set of rules for originality. There aren't any. [Les Paul]