Warmonger Tony Blair not a ‘moderate’

This video from England says about itself:

Thousands of ardent “Stop Bombing Syria” anti-war protesters marching towards 10 Downing Street, London.

Saturday 12th December 2015, the marchers were on Haymarket Street (near Piccadilly Circus); they were on their way to 10 Downing Street (the home of the UK Prime Minister; David Cameron) to voice their concerns at the decision by the British government to start bombing Syria.

By Joana Ramiro in Britain:

World turned on its head by Blairites

Monday 14th December 2015

Burgon slams those claiming war criminal is a ‘moderate’

LABOUR frontbencher Richard Burgon took on Jeremy Corbyn’s critics head on yesterday, accusing those who view Tony Blair as the moderate of living in a “topsy-turvy” world.

The shadow treasury minister argued that “demonising” Mr Corbyn for opposing the bombing of Syria while “pretending that Mr Blair and others “got it right in Iraq” was wrong.

Speaking on the BBC Sunday Politics programme, Mr Burgon said: “It’s part of an open democratic process and people shouldn’t be demonised for being part of it and Jeremy Corbyn certainly shouldn’t be demonised for being part of it.

“It’s a topsy-turvy world we’re in when attending Stop the War events is controversial. We’re still pretending that Tony Blair and others got it right in Iraq is seen as moderate. That’s a topsy-turvy world indeed.”

He said the attacks on Stop the War were “proxy attacks” on the Labour leader.

“When Charles Kennedy was speaking at the 2003 demonstration against the Iraq War which two million people attended, the Liberal Democrats and Charles Kennedy weren’t attacked for that and quite rightly so.”

And Blair’s own deputy prime minister John Prescott waded into the row yesterday, saying that some Labour members were continuing “a war that they lost.”

He branded those who had failed to accept Mr Corbyn’s leadership as “bitterites.”

…

Mr Corbyn refused to drop out of a Stop the War fundraiser last week despite sniping from rightwingers.

He was not present at this weekend’s protests against Syrian airstrikes, but sent a message of solidarity to Stop the War chair Andrew Murray to be read out at the day’s rally.

It said: “The anti-war movement has been a vital force at the heart of our democracy.

“The attacks on it as somehow illegitimate are an attempt to close down democratic debate and campaigning.

“We in Parliament will hold this government to account for the conduct of their campaign — and step up the pressure to bring the conflict to an end.”

KIERAN CROWE
North London

I’m here because the Stop the War Coalition has been absolutely right for the last 15 years. We should have never gone into an aggressive war in the Middle East. It’s brilliant that we’ve been able to keep this going and that we finally have a leader of the Labour Party who supports us and we support him.

I think it’s a fantastic show of unity today, despite the ridiculous controversy that’s been in the media. There will be more of these demonstrations and I urge more people to get involved.

TOM HAYES
Manchester

I am here today because obviously I am opposing the bombing of Syria. I hope it stops. It’s related to that, but also in terms of more generally the leadership of the Labour Party and austerity.

The anti-war movement has been attacked by the media and by the political class and we have to defend our right to protest. If we don’t, then we have lost a big argument about international policy and it will weaken what has been recently a more hopeful situation for the left. It’s all connected.

NICOLA BELLE
University of East London

I’m the black students officer at my university and I felt I needed to come to represent my students. They are against the bombing.

This video from London, England says about itself:

Peter Brierley, Military Families Against the War: Stop Bombing Syria. Demonstration 12 12 2015.

By Joana Ramiro in Britain:

‘I lost a son in war, in Syria they’re losing entire villages‘

Monday 14th December 2015

THE father of a soldier killed in Iraq reduced anti-war protesters to tears at the weekend with a moving speech opposing British bombings in Syria.

Peter Brierley, whose son Shaun died in action in 2003, was addressing the thousands of people who attended Saturday’s Stop the War Coalition demonstration in London, where the Military Families Against the War spokesman took to the stage along with politicians and religious leaders.

“I lost my son and people often say to me: ‘I don’t know what it’s like. I can’t imagine what you feel like to have lost a son’,” said Mr Brierley.

“It’s only recently that I started thinking that, in a village in Syria or Afghanistan or Iraq, they are not losing a son, they are losing a family.

“They are losing their neighbours. They are losing practically their whole village. I cannot imagine how that feels.”

Speaking about David Cameron’s push for British air strikes in Syria, he added: “The gentleman in there thinks bombing brings peace — I wouldn’t want to live in his house. You cannot bring peace by bombing. The only way to bring peace is by negotiation.”

His words of solidarity with the Syrian people were delivered after a peaceful march from Broadcasting House to Downing Street brought traffic to a halt.

Syrian priest Nadim Nassar also addressed the march, saying: “It seems it is very difficult to learn from our history.

“I’ll tell you something. One party is winning: the warlords and those who are exporting and importing arms. Those are the winners on every occasion.”