Killing Time

Peace Protests Organized by Socialists

Anti-war protestors say up to a million people are marching through the center of London today in opposition to a war on Iraq. Bearing placards with the slogans No War On Iraq and Make Tea, Not War, thousands of marchers set off on what is expected to be the UK’s largest ever peace protest. Speakers there will include the morally-tarnished Jesse Jackson, former Labour MP Tony Benn, and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy.

Who Are These Anti-War Protesters?

Who organized the anti-USA and anti-war peace protest marches you might ask? The three main organizers of the London’s peace protest march are the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain. The Stop the War Coalition organizers are a collection of members from the Socialist Workers Party led by Paul Foot. During the Gulf war, Mr Foot’s Socialist Workers Party actually called for victory for Saddam over the United Nations Coalition.

Stop the War group also plan to follow up the weekend peace demonstrations with a campaign of civil disobedience or a strike. The Stop the War coalition steering committee includes only two Labour MPs, Jeremy Corbyn and George Galloway, both veterans of the hard Left. There are also Muslim radicals such as Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui. Many members of the committee have links to Trotskyite or other Marxist organisations. These include Lois Austin, Andrew Burgin, Carlos Rule, Andrew Murray, Wolf Wayne, John Haylett, John Rees and Mark Hoskisson.

Other Socialist or Communist Peace Protest Organizers or Marchers:

How Does the Iraqi Opposition feel about the Peace Protests?

How do the folks in the Iraqi opposition feel about socialist and militant muslims trying to stop Saddam from being unseated? Ahmed Agha Chalabi, human rights coordinator of the opposition Iraqi National Congress in London, accused peace protesters of aiming to prolong “the life of Saddam and extending the misery of the Iraqi people.” He said only war would end Saddam’s repression.

Stop the War Protests in the USA

“STOP THE WAR — Through Mass Resistance and Protest in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Around the World” is what the internet group called International A.N.S.W.E.R. wants. The advertised purpose of the protests are to send a message to President “Bush and his allies that they cannot wage war on Iraq in the name of the people anywhere in the world.” They also want a peace rally to “Converge on the White House” on March 1, 2003. However, their implied intentions in this action appear dangerous. They want protestors at the White House to “resist and disable the war machine.” You decide what that is supposed to mean.

It seems that these “peace” groups are riding the anti-war sentiment to forward rather strange ideas. It appears they wish to halt further spending on jails or imprisioning criminals in the USA. They want to redistribute wealth of ordinary citizens and businesses to fund pet projects by force. It appears that they wish to prevent border protection and allow illegal immigration. The International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) group touts a goal of, “building an anti-war movement that connects the struggle against war on Iraq with the fight for social and economic justice and civil rights at home”.

Analysis: It seems that alot of these peace marches are organized and promoted by groups that have alterior motives in there anti-war movements. It is my opinion, they want the over-throw of the American system of goverment and are piggy-backing the anti-war sentiment to propel their goals. The peace protests are not what they seem. Take a look at the Greek protests where marchers threw gasoline bombs, burned cars and businesses, and hurled rocks at police and citizens in Athens February 15, 2003. These actions surely show what these folks are really about.