Has Birmingham Stop the War Coalition been brought into disrepute?

One of Birmingham’s local “Stop the War (StW) Coalition” groups held a meeting on the 7^th November 2012 to discuss the Libyan situation. Surely a group, which in theory, at least, claims it opposes western intervention and was formed on the basis that it opposed the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq was going to highlight the extreme shortcomings of the British led intervention in Libya? I should’ve known better.

And who did Stop the War invite to give an assessment of what has been happening in Libya since Gadhaffi’s lynching? Why, none other than the person they invited last year to give a pro-NATO talk on Libya. I presume we live in the era of ‘War is Peace’, so why not?

However, the local StW convener, Stuart Richardson, promoted this talk on the basis that the speaker was offering his own personal perspective. But this misses the point entirely. I always thought that StW existed to oppose western interventions. Isn’t this what it says on the tin? – or on their ‘About Us’ page. Maybe on the 10^th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Birmingham StW could invite Clare Short or Tony Blair to give their personal perspective on the invasion of Iraq?

In other words, if I want to hear pro-NATO speakers I turn on the BBC/ITV/Sky or I would possibly go to a Conservative/Lib Dem/Labour Party/EDL meeting. I certainly don’t expect to arrive at a StW meeting to listen to pro military interventionists.

Allow me to draw an analogy, if I were to attend a conference on learning more about the benefits of vegetarianism, I simply shouldn’t expect the convener of the conference or the head of the vegetarian group to be eating a chicken or BLT sandwich when I arrive!

a LEtter the 'left-WinG' mORning sTAr diD noT pUblish

Paddy McGuffin in his round up of 2010 (30th December) accuses Silvio Berlusconi of being a 'teflon tyrant'. This may or may not be true.

But one thing is for sure, Berlusconi, unlike all shades of the British left, including the ones who in fits of self-deprecation, dub themselves "revolutionary" is capable of looking at Italy’s past adventures in other people’s lands and what’s more compensate for the barbarism unleashed by Italian forces. Berlusconi compensated Libya to the tune of billions of dollars.

Now, dare I ask (and let’s put the British right-wing aside) which British lefty has ever got off his high Victorian horse and acknowledged, in real terms, what Britain has done to countless countries such as India, Palestine, Kenya, Aden, Malaya...etc...etc?

Indeed, under the much vaunted Nye Bevin’s watch, according to a recent book, 400,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by British trained Zionist forces and the suppression of Malayan rebels, which included the use of concentration camps, was given the go ahead. The latter’s suppression allowed Britain to sell Malayan raw materials as its own, on the international market, to fund the new post world war ‘welfare state’. It’s all soaked in the blood of natives!

Once again, Berlusconi may or may not be a ‘teflon tyrant’ but when it comes to anti-imperialism I’d rather see a Berlusconi in power than a Bevin, Benn, Wilson or some other British hoodwinking and blood soaked lefty.