Stroud swells ranks on peace march (From Stroud News and Journal)

Stroud swells ranks on peace march

HUNDREDS of people from the Five Valleys helped make history this week when they took part in the biggest political demonstration in British history.

Those opposed to a war on Iraq flocked to London on Saturday in their thousands, from all over England and Wales.

Even the more conservative figures put the number of marchers at close to one million while organisers claimed over two million had turned up to make their voices heard.

Twelve coaches rolled out of Stroud bus station on Saturday morning, each packed with protesters.

The turnout from the town dwarfed that of far larger towns and even cities and the 600 demonstrators marched proudly through the streets of London under the Stroud banner.

The Gloucestershire Weapons Inspectors also brought along their model B2 stealth bomber which acted as a great landmark for Stroud folk but apparently a source of confusion for others.

Despite being a near-perfect replica of the plane it was heard to be called a bat, moth and even a crow.

It is hard to describe how packed the streets of London were. Even when the crowds thinned, a slow walk was the fastest pace possible and much of the day was spent crammed together cheek by jowl, shuffling towards Hyde Park.

What should have been little more than a 20 minute walk on a normal day took over four hours but street entertainers, costumed protesters and sound systems stopped the good-natured march from getting boring.

A blood-stained George Bush and Tony Blair danced with skeletons and voodoo witch doctors, samba bands beat out festival music and the unmoving crowd kept itself entertained with shouting, whistling and hooting which rolled up the streets like a kind of Mexican wave of sound.

Where all else failed the game of spotting entertaining placards passed the time.

One read 'Make tea not war' with a picture of Tony Blair armed with a rifle and a sporting a teacup helmet.

'Middle Class Against the War' stressed the fact that it was not just the usual faces who had turned up for this march but a broad cross section of society.

"It's amazing," said Stroud poet and veteran demonstrator Dennis Gould. "Such a wonderful day.

"There are so many new people and while it might not stop this war which they seem hell bent on having it shows that people care and something is happening."

He said he had been speaking to a couple in their 70s from Bisley who had never taken part in a political march before but had made the effort to go on the march.

Stroud resident and barrister Alex Raeburn said an attack on Iraq would be a thinly veiled attempt to grab oil.

"It would be an immoral, unjust and illegal war," she said. And she added that international law ruled out pre-emptive attacks against countries which were not actively threatening other nations.

Even if the UN security council did pass a second resolution, she added, it would be worthless as it would be based on bullying and coercion of countries which rely on American trade and aid. "If they do get a second resolution through the UN it will be the same children who die," she said.

Film maker James Dick, who lives in Bisley Road, said he was attending the march not just as a Stroud resident but as an American opposed to the war.

He thought the pro-war propaganda was probably stronger in the States but there was nevertheless a growing peace movement there.

But despite the huge strength of public feeling against the war there seemed to be general resignation that the march could not stop it.

"I think we are on the cusp of history," said Cllr John Marjoram, Stroud's mayor and co-ordinator of the dozen coaches from the town.

"It is a defining moment.

"It will either lead to an upsurge of grass roots action around the world and the politicians will actually start listening or it will be the last gasp of real democracy before it is overtaken by a corporate world run by America.

"They will control all the resources and all movement and if anyone does dare to stick their head over the parapet they will be literally shot down.

"I think the amount of weapons used in the first 48 hours will be so horrendous that no-one will dare to cross them again."

On the return to Stroud several coaches pulled into a service station which, by coincidence, was also playing host to four Army buses full of troops from the Army Air Corps.

It was a surreal end to a long day, seeing crowds of peace campaigners rubbing shoulders with the soldiers.

Some of the younger soldiers posed with their friends in front of the peace coaches for snapshots.

Asked on their views on invading Iraq they seemed untroubled by the huge amount of public opposition.

"Bring it on," they said. "We're up for it."