UK Weapon of mass democracy

Weapon of mass democracy
Friday September 26, 2003 - The Guardian UK

Although the anti-war protests did not stop the invasion of Iraq, they shook the British political system to its core, says Carmel Brown. Tomorrow we will be back on the streets

Alastair Campbell has resigned. Geoff Hoon, branded a hypocrite and a liar at the Hutton inquiry, is finished. And, as the front cover of Newsweek, announces this week, Tony Blair's premiership is now in the twilight zone.

Three men who used duplicity and deceit to manipulate an unwilling country into an unwanted war. And their political graves were dug by the 2 million people who packed into the streets of London back in February.

If the much promised - and much lied about - weapons of mass destruction that Tony "trust me" Blair was so scared of were never found in Iraq, it was always inconceivable to us that these conviction warmongers should stay in office.

For the only WMD that one can truly say has been discovered by Britain this year is the weapon of mass democracy that detonated in the streets of London on that crisp winter day.

Tragically, that demonstration was not enough to stop the war in Iraq. But that was hardly the fault of the protesters. Nor was it the fault of the Stop the War Coalition, who received congratulations from no less an organ than the Daily Telegraph for organising the broadest-based opposition movement in Britain's entire political history.

Looking back on much of the mainstream media reporting of February 15, much was made of it being the day political apathy in Britain ended. But what does anyone think happened to those people when they returned home that night - that they disengaged?

Far from it: they hoped their actions would be enough to force a big enough political rebellion among MPs when the Commons finally got to debate the war. Many still hoped that somehow there was an honour to the office of prime minister.

Such hopes fell at the first hurdle: "Trust me, I've seen evidence that is so top secret we can't disclose it because it will foil any military operation."

And so we were bullied into a war - for which there really was clearly never any evidence - on a whip's whisper.

Many of the 2 million - like the Liberal Democrats - became concerned not to seem unpatriotic when British troops were engaged.

The US promised the Iraqis shock and awe. But for most of us who marched to stop this bloody war and found ourselves instead enforced bystanders; it was in the words of a Daily Mirror headline a "shocking and awful" time.

Blair and his own unelected coterie, in their hubris, forgot there was always a minimum of two million people who were holding them to account.

Attempting to fend off criticism, believer Blair then announced that history would forgive him his actions. Not so. For Blair's reckoning day began on May 1 - the day his political master, George W Bush, announced the end of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Anti-war protestors may not have been back on the streets since then. But we did not have to be. As every passing day made the casus belli seem more and more the ethereal excuse of a deluded Neroesque war-puppet, our voice - our Not In Our Name slogan - was heard running through every "where are the WMDs?" report. And our numbers began to swell. Those who had earlier suspended their disbelief, rejoined our ranks.

And we have gathered new recruits. We have been joined people - like Max Hastings - who, because they believed Saddam probably did possess WMDs, afforded the government the benefit of the doubt on the evidence, while warning Blair: woe betide him if he fails us.

And then there is the Hutton Inquiry. At the end of all the evidence into the events surrounding the death of Doctor David Kelly, is there anybody in the country not on the government payroll who can say this war against Iraq was right?

Is there anybody who can say that our government's support for a continuing American "war on terror" is right?

Our great march in February and the subsequent 400,000 strong demonstration in March - another record breaker as the largest protest against a war in wartime - have shaken the British political system to its very core.

As Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, says: "There would have been no Hutton Inquiry without the anti-war movement. And does anyone think Tony Blair can ever stand up in parliament again and say the words 'trust Me'?

"As they talk up targeting Iran and Syria, do you think anyone will ever believe this government when they say we've got the intelligence to prove it?"

And tomorrow - on the eve of the Labour party conference - we will be back on the streets, as solemn and purposeful as ever, exercising our own weapon of mass democracy.
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· Carmel Brown is a journalist who has been active in building the anti-war movement since September 2001