Caucus

In the UK the anti-war movement was spearheaded by the Stop the War Coalition. It is a very broad based coalition and more of a movement of movements than a coherent entity. It encompasses a wide range of views from committed pacifists to people who believe in ‘just’ war. As such a broad coalition it would be unfruitful and even counter productive to talk about ‘where next’. In a way it only exists when thousands of people come together on the streets.

This ‘movement of movements’ does however consist mainly of individual groups. Many Stop the War groups have sprung up round the country but these cannot be seen as a homogonous whole and are often only loosely associated with the national group. Other local peace groups and campaign groups (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Campaign Against the Arms Trade) have been involved with and re-invigorated by the mobilisation against the war in Iraq.

The Green Context

The UK government has spent over £5billion on refurbishing research facilities and is employing thousands of scientists. However, this is not to tackle the problems of climate change but to research nuclear weapons at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. Inevitably similar sums will be spent by other nuclear weapons states and increasingly by non nuclear weapons states in similar research.

Increased military expenditure and commitments is not just diverting money, expertise and commitment from tackling environmental problems it also decreases the international harmony that is needed to tackle global problems such as climate change. The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the non-compliance to the Non-Proliferation Treaty by countries such as the US and UK, the ripping up of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty by the US… all of these decrease the belief throughout the world that powerful countries will adhere to international agreements and international law.

The Anti-War Movement and Political Parties

The peace and anti-war movement has an extremely large anti-parliamentary component. The reasons for this are quite obvious considering the frequent betrayals of the Labour Party. However there are many people in the anti-war movement that are also suspicious of the Green Party. This is partly due to the controversy over the German Green Party during Kosovo and Afghanistan conflicts but more often a general distrust of anyone who may be trying to gain political advantage from association with the movement. Many campaigners have seen the support for their cause wax and wane following the changes in the media spotlight. This can only be overcome by continuous support through the quiet periods as well as during upsurges of interest.

The strength and the weakness of the anti-war movement is its diversity. This means that it cannot have a definite programme and can often be seen as a negative campaign since it often fails to offer a coherent alternative. However, the lack of these alternatives is due to the incoherence of the movement rather than that of the beliefs of the individuals and groups involved. This means that any anti-war activity must make links with other issues but this must work both ways – others must see the cost and the negative affects of military action on their campaign and people in the anti-war movement must see that there must be an alternative outside the peace and anti-war narrative.

Some headway has been made with this with Faslane 365 – a ‘year long’ blockade of Faslane nuclear base last year which tried to draw a wide range of support from different campaigning groups. This year is the 50th anniversary of the first Aldermaston Easter March and as well as trying to commemorate this historic occasion the organisers are hoping to bring together a wide range of individuals and campaigns to help make those links necessary for us all to move forward.

For more information about this year’s Aldermaston Event see http://www.cnduk.org/aldermaston