Sr Naaila Khan writes a personal account of the peace march of 28th September 2002:

Saturday 28th September will go down in history, as the biggest antiwar demonstration in Europe and we the members of the Islamic Society were proud to be a part of it.

The Don’t Attack Iraq/Freedom for Palestine march and rally was hailed a success as it exceeded expectations with 400,000 participants in the capital and ended 2 hours later than organizers had predicted. We were joined by the “First Markfield Muslim Girl Guide” group who protested with slogans and banners against the illegal occupation of Palestine, the Israeli apartheid policies and the prospects of war without the backing of the UN. The demonstration began at the Embankment and ended in Hyde Park where prominent speakers spoke out on why war on Iraq was not the solution but instead, was a war for oil.

There were discrepancy in the numbers who took part with the police stating 150,000 taking part. Its organisers, the Stop The War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain, put the number down to 400,000 and some sources on the web even estimated 450,000! Muslim groups, anti racist and anti war organizations made their presence felt in the form of banners and informative literature, amongst them national trade unions, the Socialist Party and Muslim groups such as Friends of Al Aqsa. The high profile MP George Galloway, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, film director Ken Loach, former weapons inspector Scott Ritter and well known journalists including John Pilger and Yvonne Ridley were amongst those who spoke at the rally.

People came in their coach loads from all corners of the UK, as far a field as Scotland.

There were people of all colours, age and faiths: from babies in pushchairs to pensioners including war veterans. They were not your typical protestors depicted in the media nowadays:-stereotypically angry bearded Muslims screaming Jihad or hippies with dreadlocks smoking marijuana. A cross section of society amalgamated on the streets of London, going the Houses of Parliament at which point the crowd booed and our message to Blair was clear don’t listen to Bush! At the time opinion polls had already indicated that 65% of Britons were opposed to Bush and Blair’s war without UN approval. The event also proved that the issue of Palestine is becoming more a part of mainstream news. 9/11 and recently the Bali bombing has shown thatignoring events in the Middle East can have repercussions in the rest of the world.

We set off from the Embankment at 12.30 with a loud cheer and tooting horns. Initially the weather was cloudy but later the sun was shining like mad. News reporters asked people what had brought them to the streets that day. Camera’s rolled, and photographers (wannabes) had their gear ready to shoot the loudest of protestors and capture pictures of the day like the massive papermache effigy of George Bush (amid the many effigies of Bush and Blair). Not to take the mickey but it was also an opportunity for people to demonstrate their opinions and views across in an artistic way. It seemed everywhere you looked a click of a camera seemed to meet your eye.

Slogans

Pedestrian onlookers cheered and many joined in with the catchy chants:

• 1234 Occupation no more, 5678 we don’t want no Zionist state.
• Bush Blair don’t you care, children dying everywhere!
• Stop the killing stop the crime! Get Israel out of Palestine
• “No Justice No peace”
• “Bush Blair don’t you care? Children dying everywhere!”

These are just some of the slogans that were screaming in my head on the journey back to Leicester from the historic day.
The best one has to be to be the innovation of the girls guide group with the tune of “Who let the dogs out”
“Who let the bombs out? Bush! Bush! Bush, Bush, Bush!”
Seriously it was so popular that it spread like wildfire! It was later suitably reworded to Bush, Blair, Sharon.

No doubt everyone smiled and the atmosphere was almost carnival like with whistles and drummers. We couldn’t keep quiet for even a whole minute, which is probably why the girls made it on the 10 o’clock news. Our 5 seconds of fame.
As we approached Piccadilly a man driving a blue van with the words “we want peace no war” received lots of applause and encouragement from the demonstrators. Outside the Houses of Parliament protesting levels went sky high with. Some got a little too personal such as “ Bush, Bush we know you, your daddy was a killer too!”

Speakers

We reached Hyde Park at 4.30 at which point our voices were almost gone and people were still joining the starting point of the march. So we recuperated our energy while we waited for the speakers to begin. There were approximately 30 speakers, however we didn’t get time to hear all of them. Ismail Adam Patel, chair of Friends of Al-Aqsa, an organisation that promotes awareness of the Palestinian plight spoke on behalf of the Jewish group called the Naturei Karta that were present on stage. Since it was a Sabbath they could not speak, however, Mr Patel read out their message:
“There should be no doubt that the root of the problems facing the entire Middle East and the world is the terrorist Zionist state of Israel.” It was made clear Zionism is not Judaism and that Zionism is the equivalent of racism.

A minute silence was observed for the 3,000 Palestinians murdered in the last two years by Israel. I couldn’t believe a crowd of that size could actually become so quiet. Highly respected journalist John Pilger who has presented such documentaries, as “Palestine is still the issue” was there, but I couldn’t hear partly due to the people still pouring in and because of the helicopters above! (Later told these were for counting the number of people that had turned up). Ken Livingstone condemned the war, as did the Trade Unionists leader who also spoke of improving the state pension (I still can’t figure out the connection between Palestine/Iraq and pensions!!).

Yvonne Ridley’s speech was widely applauded and cheered. She spoke loud and clear (before the helicopters headed our way). This journalist surprised many last year during the “War on Terror” when after being released from her kidnapping by the Taleban she said it helped her to see the other side of the story. The highlight of her speech was:

“The reality is the only real threat to this world is George W Bush.”

She also added that the war with Iraq has no logical connections with tragic events of 9/11 and she called the Israeli Prime Minister Sharon “a bloody warmonger”.

In conclusion, the day was a success despite not receiving the media coverage it deserved, it may have something to do with not embarrassing Blair who at the time was persuading his French counterparts to join the war. Many enjoyed themselves and learnt quite a lot from the literature we were bombarded with. One was a newspaper article photocopy mentioning how going to war could actually benefit Bush and his administration. High oil prices from the talk of war would benefit multinationals and investors in the oil industry a proportion of whom are in Bush’s administration. For anyone who did not know much about the conflict in the Middle East this event was a good opportunity to learn about it and to realise the hypocrisy of America towards Arabs. Did you know the only country in the Middle East to have nuclear weapons and that does not allow entry of weapons inspectors is Israel?

Student Power

Students in the 60’s protested against apartheid in South Africa-a successful result in the end so we can make a difference too, after all we are in a democratic society. The following day, Israel moved from parts of the West Bank due to pressure from the US. The next anti war march should hopefully be in 5 months time. The Stop the War coalition is planning a Don’t Attack Iraq Day of Action for the 31st October.

Quote of the day

“Today is the beginning of true democracy. Today we represent the majority of the British people. If they attack Iraq, Bush and Blair will be war criminals. We are the moderates. They are the extremists. Our resistance to their murderous plans must be unrelenting.” - John Pilger