When they seek to change our country or our way of life by these methods we will not be changed.... When they try to divide our or weaken our resolve we will not be divided, and our resolve will hold firm.'
So said Tony Blair in his Downing Street speech after the London bombings. But Britain was and is a country divided by the war and by class.
When Blair took us to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, he did so without the mandate of the majority of the population of Britain.
In February of 2003, just before the invasion, 86 per cent of people polled wanted no war without a UN mandate, and 75 percent thought there was insufficient evidence to justify any war at all. Surveys from this year show that figure eroding a further 5.5 per cent.
All analogies to the blitz, and Londoners
Within the uniting around their national Muslim ment over the community bombings are, to say the least, premature. there are
Blair may talk in already many hollow terms about
reports of 'our way of life', but the reality is, there police is no 'us', there is 'us
harassment, and them, and the horrific bombings and hate in London will not wipe this away.
from racists.
Nationhood is a relatively phenomenon, developed alongside the rise of capitalism. Within nations the population is divided rich from poor, oppressed from oppressor.
The lives of the majority of people in Britain are very different from the lives of the rich that Blair chooses to call his friends.
The majority of people who are dead and missing from the ondon bombs were working class, including some Muslims. Many would have been against the war, and would have been on the massive demonstrations.
The alleged perpetrators of the bombings also share the assumption with Blair that all people in Britain are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis.
Their statement includes the sentence: we have repeatedly warned the British Government and
Whoever they are, and whether they are the real perpetrators, they clearly share more common values with Bush and Blair than many of the people killed or maimed.
The character of the antiwar movement is not nationalist, but based international solidarity, and in direct opposition to narrow national interests.
This why we cannot stand by and say nothing when our movement and its participants are attacked.
The bombings will make it more difficult for us to oppose Blair, and within the Muslim community there are
already many reports of police harassment, and hate from racists. When George Galloway, the Respect MP, spoke in parliament about the connection between the bombings and the war in Iraq (see below) he was not supported by any other individuals or party, including those from the Labour left who had opposed the war.
This has always been the logic of the Labour Party. In times of crisis it is the job of the party of government -New Labour - to bring stability where there is crisis.
This will continue to compromise those very principled anti-war MPs until they realise that their very presence as Labour members is a ballast to Blair's 'unity doctrine.
This is a further reason why they should seriously consider joining us in the only genuine anti-war party: