'Make Tea..Not War'.. The numbers have upped over the afternoon.. with the police saying 750 thousand marched through the streets of London today.. the organizers claim closer to two million, but one can forgive them a bit of licence in the exuberance of the moment.. Similar, if less popular demonstrations were held in 60 cities around the world, all bent on stopping the war against Hussein and terrorism..
One must marvel at the basic ignorance of the great unwashed.. as indeed those in the Middle East are likely doing now.. One would think that before a course of action was taken, the history of the area.. of the conflict.. of the peoples involved would be carefully studied and evaluated, but it appears this is a matter of image, of popular sentiment, not of reasoned thought.
May this not come back to haunt those who marched today.. or their children.. One has fears it might well do just that..
In one sense though, Tony got off lightly.. While he addressed the spring conference of the party faithful in Glasgow this morning, he only had his own to deal with due to the lack of substance in Hans Blix's report to the UN.. One must understand that pacifism has been a cornerstone of the Labour movement since it's inception, and Tony has been bucking the basic Party Image with this alliance with George and the US.
That most reviled of Labour leaders, Ramsay Macdonald had been a hero of the pacifist left when he opposed Britains involvement in the First World War..and in 1935 George Lansbury resigned as Labour leader after union boss Ernest Bevin accused him of 'hawking your concience' around Europe in an effort to forstall Hitler and the Nazi machine..
Tony pitched his war efforts this morning, as a continuation of Labour's time homoured policies, but any student of history could have confounded him with simple history.. no heckling.. no walking out by disgruntled delegates.. but this is a result of Tony himself changing the Party..
One might say, as has been said of most if not all Socialist Parties.. that power has changed Labour into a shadow conservative party..
But then they only had to look to Ontario, and analyze what happened with the NDP under Bob Rae, to see what would happen..
Mind you.. there were some who held posters reading 'No blood for oil'.. which shows the depth of understanding even Labour delegates themselves have of this impending conflict..
If one was prone to quoting the Bible, The Gospel of John, Chapter 11, verse 35 would spring immediately to mind..