BY ROZ PATERSON
& ANDREW MCPAKE
GLASGOW — On January 26, 300 anti-war activists gathered for a conference organised by the Scottish Coalition for Justice not War. The question that most activists wanted to resolve was how to mobilise against the war and build the anti-war movement.
Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar reminded the workshop on that we "desperately need to repeat the September 28 march in London" at which up to 400,000 people mobilised against war on Iraq. Large demonstrations are predicted in London and Glasgow on February 15.
The conference also consisted of a series of workshops on the Palestinian situation, life inside Iraq and the attack on civil liberties caused by the "war on terror".
Simon Asif, from the Lebanese Anti-war Coalition, informed particpants that after 1 million people marched against the war in Florence, Arabs have found "an ally in the ordinary people of Europe".
The afternoon closed with a plenary session. Bill Speirs of the Scottish Trade Union Congress argued that an attack on Iraq would only "strengthen the heart of Osama bin Laden". Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) environment spokesperson Rosie Kane described the rush at anti-war stalls: "If I was selling peace I would be a multimillionaire."
Meanwhile, an uncompromising anti-war amendment moved by SSP member of the Scottish Parliament Tommy Sheridan won the support of six MSPs. The six — Sheridan, Labour's John McAllion, the Scottish Nationalist Party's Margo McDonald, the Green Party's Robin Harper and independents Dennis Canavan and Dorothy Grace Elder — called for mass civil disobedience and opposition to a war on Iraq, with or without United Nations backing.
Many press reports praised Sheridan's powerful speech, in which he challenged MSPs to "wake up and smell the oil".
The amendment was moved during debate on a SNP resolution that called for no action against Iraq without the backing of the UN. In a shameful display of sycophancy towards British Labour PM Tony Blair and US President George Bush, Labour MSPs joined forces with the Tories to defeat the mild resolution .
Even the prospect of a debate had provoked panic in government circles. Blair made a flying visit to bring pressure to bear to prevent an embarrassing vote against war. Labour dissidents were reportedly warned that if they voted for a resolution critical of Bush's war plans, they would no longer be welcome in the Labour Party.
By standing out against these threats, John McAllion is in good company. Back in 1914, the founder of the Labour Party, Keir Hardie, went out on a limb to oppose the mass slaughter of the First World War. Who remembers today the names of the grey mediocrities who voted to send hundreds of thousands of young men to slaughter and be slaughtered on the bloodsoaked battlegrounds of Europe?
Many Labour MSPs claim they are privately opposed to war. Yet they buckled under the pressure and voted for war. One Labour MSP, the former chair of the Campaign for Socialism, Bill Butler, even made a powerful anti-war speech before voting against the resolution and amendments critical of war.
[Abridged from Scottish Socialist Voice, newspaper of the Scottish Socialist Party. Visit <http://www.scottishsocialistvoice.net>.]
From Green Left Weekly, February 5, 2003.
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