I forwarded the Johann Hari item from the post below to the Red Pepper Debate list in the form an ‘appeal to the anti-war movement’ to see if there were any among the leftist supporters of the Stop the War Coalition who would back the switching of slogan to Democracy for Iraq.
As I said below, I think many mainstream anti-war activists could be won to such a position, but clearly the Trotskyite element will not.
Here are excerpts from three of the first responses to the call to back a call for Iraqi democracy:
1. Democracy for Iraq is the pointless slogan – Democracy with a US Military occupation? CIA sponsored democracy under the figleaf of the
United Nations? What colour are the skies on your planet?
Stop the War is more relevant than ever – once we are at War it willbecome a battle cry of Youth and the disenfranchised of Britain to attempt to bring down the Government and stop the war.
There is no choice – all choice has been removed by the actions of Bush and Blair. The only choice now is between supporting Imperialism or fighting actively against it.
2. If indeed “Stop the War is now a pointless slogan”, it would be more to the point, would it not, to unite around demands for democracy for
the United Kingdom?
3. Johann Hari is a pro-war activist. How dare he tell those who are opposed to this criminal war how they should proceed.
Tory Boy links to some of the real nasty stuff from the Guardian Talk boards with the nastier wing of the anti-war movement hoping for large scale casualties.
