Harry’s Place

Would it be unreasonable to suggest that the anti-war, anti-Bush protestors were supporters of the terrorists and Ba’athists who continue to kill Iraqi civilians and others working for peace and democracy in the country?
Would that be over-the-top demonisation of concerned citizens?
Well, the main organisers of next week’s demonstration don’t appear to think so as they […]

Just a thank you for everyone who helped in collecting and creating the material for the virtual counter-demo on Saturday. Especially big thanks to Anthony.
We set modest aims for the event and it was good to see other bloggers joining in and to have a live report from the actual demo from Marcus.
If you are […]

Well the BBC may not have had to hand out too many Blue Peter badges but Indymedia do provide some images of Saturday’s march.
This is my favourite - any suggestions for a caption?

Even though I probably should know better I was still a bit surprised to see this on the BBC’s site on Saturday morning:
Are you involved in the Iraq demo?
Thousands of protesters from around the country have descended on London, to march under the slogan “No more lies, no more war”.
The Stop the War Coalition, who […]

Given that the anti-war demonstrations in Europe on Saturday were back to four figure attendances Bill Herbert suggests that we should stop using terms such as the ‘anti-war crowd’ or movement or whatever. He has an alternative suggestion:
Why, their numbers are almost small enough to qualify them as a … cabal.

It’s telling that at least one London demonstrator interviewed by The Observer basically disagreed with the theme of the march:
“I’m not really against the occupation; I don’t think we should pull out,” said Laura Parry, from Leeds. “I’m here because Tony Blair sneered at us after the 15 February march. I want to show him […]

Aaronovitch in The Observer:
I had to laugh, albeit bitterly. In the publisher’s blurb for Tariq Ali’s forthcoming Bush In Babylon, it is being claimed that the book - a polemic against the occupation of Iraq - will ’stand apart from the morass of sycophantic books now being presented’, by ‘eschewing the fashionable lurch to the […]

Jackie D at Au Currant makes her contribution to the counter-protest:
Here is part of her criticism of the ‘anti-war’ movement:
In short, their new truth is new fiction. Their old fiction warned that the Arab street would rise up in unprecedented protest, that the terrorists would be so incensed that not a week would pass when […]

From the Kurds in the north to the Shia in the south, there isn’t a reputable political group (in Iraq) which thanks Blair’s opponents for presuming to speak on behalf of Iraqis.
Nick Cohen, The Observer, Sept 14 2003

“No War against Iraq, Justice for Palestine”. Since when is justice for the Palestinians, and for the Israelis for that matter, to the exclusion of justice for Iraqis?
So to those who say “No War”, I say, of course “yes”, but we can only have “No War” if there is “No Dictatorship” and “No Genocide.”
Kurdish leader […]