on a sweltering summer day (and the day of England's first World Cup match) shows the real strengths we have achieved.
Key trade unions continue to play a vital role in the movement together with left activists, peace campaigners, students and individuals in every corner of the country.
The highlight of the day was undoubtedly Rose Gentle's speech on behalf of Military Families Against the War. It is important that we are having an impact on army recruitment and heartening to hear that the Scottish Teachers' union, the EIS, has voted to stop any recruitment material coming into schools.
Andy Newman from Swindon Back to business as usual THREE British soldiers have been acquitted by a court martial of the manslaughter of 15year old Ahmed Jabar Karheem.
Karheem, an asthmatic, drowned in the Shatt-al-Arab canal while in the soldiers' custody, and there have been no answers on how he was forced into the water - or sign of army regret or apology for his death.
Instead the chauvinistic tabloids have grunted their joy at a verdict which most Iraquis will see as yet another whitewash of brutality by the occupying powers. against the War launches a new campaign to bring home the troops, army recruitment is 15 per cent below target - three times worse than previous figures - reports Veronica Fagan. THE OUTGOING commander of Sandhurst officers training college admitted to the Independent on June 6 that the "mum factor" was having a significant impact. Major-Gen Andrew Ritchie said the Army's involvement in an unpopular conflict and the dangers of serving in Basra mined support.
"Mums find Iraq deeply unpopular - they are concerned that their youngsters will be exposed to real risk and danger," he said. "That worries them. And mums are hugely influential in boys and girls joining the Army," he continued.
Military Families against the War are getting increasing coverage in the media as in Iraq is increasingly shown to be failing even in its own terms. What is significant about the new stage of the campaign is that for the first time it involves the families of those currently serving in
The stories of twelve women with sons or grandsons who have served or are due to serve in Iraq appeared in their own words on the front page of the Independent on Sunday on June 4.
This is what five of them had to say: Nicky Bucknor 47, Nurse, Central France MOTHER OF 19-YEARDUE IN IRAQ IN OCTOBER
"It's an illegal war. I just think our military are being played with as if they're toy soldiers. It's as if Tony Blair and George Bush are playing the strategy game Risk. They don't seem to be aware that they're real people..." Kathy Vian 49, College Lecturer, Cornwall MOTHER OF ADAM VIAN, 22, 2ND BT LIGHT INFANTRY, DID ONE TOUR IN 2003, DUE BACK IN IRAQ THIS AUTUMN
"We were told it was a just war because we were all led to believe that they had now that perhaps there weren't any, and with the rest of the baloney which comes out of the Government, I wonder, did they ever believe that there were WMD?..." Maggie Wheeler 65, Art Teacher MOTHER OF JUDAH, 27, SERVED WITH GUARDS IN IRAQ AND JOSEPH, 23, A ROYAL ENGINEER DUE TO GO TO AFGHANISTAN
"We should never have gone into Iraq. It was obvious it would be just like Vietnam before we went in. All us ordinary people knew it was the stupidest earth could we help people by bombing them? It was all so obviously wrong."
"I was disappointed with the whole of the Labour Party. They just seemed to be thinking about their careers. I'm not a pacifist but, as my sons were saying, we weren't being threatened.
"There was no reason to go in there. They don't have any foresight, and they don't seem to be able to finish what they started." Marilyn Miller 46, Housewife, Washington, Tyne & Wear MOTHER OF ROYAL
SIMUN MILLEK, L1, KILLED AT AL MAJARR AL KABIR, JUNE 2003, AND RMP CPL JON MILLER, 27, DUE TO GO TO AFGHANISTAN "Si and his five comrades were left isolated at a dilapidated police station on 24 June 2003. Under attack from a mob of 500 firing AK47s and RPGs, our boys ensured up to 50 Iraqi police escaped to safety while they stood their ground. That day we have to live with 24 hours, seven davs a week. "Si died not knowing that his country had lied to him; he died for all the wrong reasons. Blair thing to do. How on How are they keeps telling us that
finding he takes all the risks
and that he has to live money for
with it. Well, it wasn't Iraq when your son that came they haven't home in a body bag
Lynda Holmes 55, got enough
Nurse for the NHS? MOTHER OF A 24YEAR-OLD GUARDSMAN IN IRAQ "Our forces are risking their lives for an illegal war. So many people have been killed. It's cost so much money. My NHS trust has just announced job losses of 720 people. My department is under threat of closure, and this is happening all across the country. How are they finding money for Iraq when put into the NHS?
"Innocent people have died. Those in the forces have died - they enlisted to protect their country. But all they've done is fight an illegal war for Blair and Bush.
"As a soldier, he's proud of his regiment and of what he does. I'm not anti-Army. I'm not anti what my son does. I'm just anti this war."
While some of these sentiments, particularly in terms of general support for the army, are not nkely to be shared by the majority of the readers of Socialist Resistance, they are probably representative of people who support the anti-war movement
More importantly perhaps, in terms of public opinion as a whole, voices like theirs raised so eloquently in anger against the betrayals of this government will reach a broader audience than those on the radical left can necessarily do directly.
In giving Rose Gentle a standing ovation at the Stop the War conference on June 10. anti-war activists recog nized the vital role that such initiatives can play in bringing to an end the bloody and criminal occupation of Iraq.
Socialist Resistance will be working to ensure that the next key date for the movement, September 23 in Manchester is as successful as possible.