Deliver the Troops House: On Saturday nineteenth March 2005 I photographed the Cease the Struggle march on the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. From Hyde Park it went previous the US Embassy in Grosvenor Sq. on to a rally in Trafalgar Sq.. I printed textual content and photos on My London Diary.
That is one other barely onerous to search out publish from the early years of My London Diary earlier than I redesigned the location with hyperlinks to each publish on high of every month-to-month web page and found the Shift key. Then I felt it was someway cool to not capitalise, however I now regard as an unlucky affection – like these photographers who suppose turning their digital color photographs to black and white someway makes them extra genuine.
Again in 2005 I used to be very crucial of Cease The Struggle – and I nonetheless really feel they misplaced the initiative after the large February 2003 protest in opposition to the invasion of Iraq and {that a} extra radical method may have prevented Blair taking Britain into the struggle beside the USA.
That protest and the various earlier than and after confirmed our nation united in a approach no different marketing campaign has succeeded in doing, with protests in nearly each city and village within the nation. Even in Surrey the place driver after driver hooted assist as we stood in conjunction with our native bridge with posters throughout Friday night rush hours.
I’m nonetheless sorry I needed to miss that huge one in 2003, which got here simply the day after I used to be discharged from hospital following a minor coronary heart operation and I may solely stroll just a few yards. My household went leaving me at dwelling. However I did cowl the entire different principal protests in London in opposition to the invasion and they’re recorded in My London Diary.
In my 2005 publish I used to be additionally very crucial of Cease the Struggle’s angle to photographers, which has mellowed barely over time. It could actually nonetheless be troublesome to {photograph} the entrance of their marches although the stewards are typically far more pleasant.
However for all their faults, Cease the Struggle and different organisations they work with have stored up protests over many points, notably in current occasions over the genocide happening in Gaza. And have been doing so in defiance of Tory and Labour governments, legal guidelines limiting our proper to protest and clearly political policing.
Deliver the Troops House – Cease the Struggle March and Rally
I bear in mind standing in Trafalgar Sq. listening to Tony Benn and Tariq Ali urging us all to take instant and radical motion ought to our troops invade Iraq. On the time a majority of the British individuals was clearly in opposition to the struggle, and we should always have taken to the streets to cease it. As a substitute Cease the Struggle organised marches and peaceable demonstrations the federal government may simply ignore. They usually did.
So the most recent within the sequence of anti-war demos was a tragic case of déjà-vu from the blinkered dinosaur. Not least as a result of once more Tariq Ali (and likely Tony Benn) once more urged radical motion and once more we cheered.
Tariq Ali has the proper anarchist hair-style, and it’s onerous to get a nasty image of him. Nenn wasn’t taking a look at his greatest, however there have been loads of others to {photograph}, together with those that had made their stand as troopers (and a diplomat.) And a few very bubbly college college students.
Cease the Struggle are additionally robust on the press, or not less than robust on photographers. Most demonstrations welcome publicity, however they prepare stewards to get in the best way. One colleague was bodily prevented from taking photos at one level within the march, I used to be obstructed and threatened fairly unnecessarily by a few stewards, and all of us have been typically ordered round and hassled.
Extra photos of the march and rally on My London Diary.
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Tags: 2005, Blair, Deliver the Troops House, Bush, déjà-vu, George Solomou, Iran, Iraq, Iraq invasion, London, misplaced the initiative, march, My London Diary, peter Marshall, photographers, protest, rally, stewards, Cease the Struggle, Tariq Ali, Tony Benn, robust on photographers
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