A show of antiwar defiance against Cameron
British Prime Minister David Cameron won a parliamentary vote Wednesday night authorizing Royal Air Force air strikes in Syria targeting ISIS. But the margin of victory for his Conservative Party government, while large, was less than what might have been because of the opposition of a majority of Labour Party members of parliament, led by the party's newly elected left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn. Dozens of Labour MPs did vote with Cameron, but the majority opposition to air strikes under Corbyn--in defiance of Cameron's slanderous accusation that opponents of air strikes were "terrorist sympathizers"--was a far cry from Labour's cheerleading for war under former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Opponents of war mobilized protests around the country to put pressure on MPs to reject Cameron's proposal. In a report that appeared the morning of the vote, described the protests outside parliament on the eve of the vote, in an article for the revolutionary socialism in the 21st century website.
TODAY, THE House of Commons will be asked again to vote on bombing Syria. The UK is already bombing Iraq, and Syrians are already being bombed by the Assad regime, by Russia, by the U.S., by France. The UK has also carried out air strikes on Syria, but Cameron has held off seeking formal parliamentary ratification of an expansion of Britain's bombing campaign from Iraq into Syria until now.
On the eve of the vote, approximately 4,000 people joined the Stop the War Coalition's emergency protest on Parliament Square to oppose the bombing of Syria. This was larger than last Saturday's demonstration, despite being called at very short notice. After a series of speeches by members of the Stop the War Coalition, CND, the SNP, the Green Party and the Labour Party, the protesters marched first to Tory Party HQ and then to Labour Party HQ to demand MPs vote against bombing Syria.
The speakers were united in their condemnation of the logic that bombing stops terrorism, of the logic that bombing can happen without the loss of civilian lives, and of the logic that adding British air strikes can in any way help the Syrian people or make Britain safer. Many of the speakers recalled the mass mobilizations against the Iraq War in 2003, and the moral responsibility that MPs who voted for that war should feel for the cycle of violence that has followed. Others spoke of the attacks on civil liberties and intensifying Islamophobia here in Britain. There were big cheers for speakers such as Caroline Lucas, who spoke out against the government's shocking refugee policy.
Particular anger was reserved for Hilary Benn, who voted for the Iraq War in 2003, who has continued to defend his decision to do so, and who will be making a case in support of British air strikes in Syria tonight. There was bitterness that the son of the former chair of the Stop the War Coalition should play this role, and those protesting called on Labour MPs to follow the example of Jeremy Corbyn and the late Tony Benn, rather than Hilary.
This was not the only cause for bitterness last night, though. No Syrian was given a platform to speak against the bombing of their country. Syrians opposed to both Assad and ISIS have spoken out passionately against the current bombing of their country by the U.S.-led coalition, as well as reminding the world they have already been facing bombardment by Russia and Assad. Their voices were not heard. There were Syrians on the demonstration, with the flags of the revolution, but a regime flag was allowed greater prominence next to the stage. Not one speaker mentioned Assad, although Weyman Bennett, speaking on behalf of Stand Up to Racism, did make the single oblique reference of the evening to the bombardment of Syria carried out by the regime over the last five years.
This matters as a point of principle, and as a basic requirement of solidarity to the Syrian people resisting Assad. But it also weakens the movement against the bombing of Syria. When speakers on antiwar platforms continue to dismiss the non-ISIS opposition to Assad as irrelevant, or imperialist stooges, or as no different from ISIS, they drive Syrians away from the antiwar movement, and contribute to the Islamophobia that justifies attacks on Muslims in Britain and air strikes abroad.
The demonstrations are growing, which is a relief. But the antiwar movement needs to change its tune if it wants to stop not only the bombing of Syria, but the bombing of Iraq, and the growing racism against migrants and Muslims here in Britain.
First published at the rs21 website.
