A few years after the Iraq War had begun I went to a talk by Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition (among other things) who was asked if she had her time over again what could the anti-war movement have done to actually stop the war. Her answer was refreshing in that it didn’t fall back on “there should have been more of us” or “we should have done more” but was clear and specific. “We should have concentrated more on getting MPs to vote against the war”.
It can be outside our comfort zones to lobby people from parties we have fundamental political disagreements with but for the Iraq War vote to have gone the right way it needed more Labour and Tory MPs to vote against. Today, if we’re serious about the vote in Parliament on Syria we need to do our best to ensure MPs on all sides of the House vote against military intervention.
There simply are not enough of our “tribe” to win it.
Part of this is, of course, showing that there is a movement that opposes yet another war. Attending the demonstrations (e.g. tonight and Saturday), calling public meetings, writing to your local paper, and all those public displays of protest that help show that there are a substantial number of people who do not want this. It also means taking the specific MPs seriously, be they SNP, Tory, or whatever.
But the right always wants war!
It might surprise some of you that there are usually a fair number of people on the right of the political spectrum that will be opposed to any specific military intervention (just as there are right-wingers against climate change, for a living wage or who are in favour of trade unions). As the polling says only 25% of Brits and around 17% of Americans and think air strikes are a good idea, so it should not be a shock that many Tories (et al) also think war is not the way to go.
That opposition ranges from moderate and calm voices like Iain Dale;
I supported invading Iraq, I supported invading Afghanistan, I supported helping the rebels in Libya. But Syria? No.
— Iain Dale (@IainDale) August 27, 2013
To the more excitable and irascible Nigel Farage;
We cannot go to war on the whim of Hague http://t.co/ZOIHw7x72v
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) August 27, 2013
Progressive Tories like Zak Goldsmith are unconvinced;
Thursday’s debate & vote will be enormously difficult. Heart says we must do something… head says that would be utter madness.
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) August 27, 2013
As are right libertarian Tories like Daniel Hannan;
Let me get this straight. We dislike the use of gas because it kills indiscriminately. So we’ll respond by raining missiles on Syria?
— Daniel Hannan (@DanHannanMEP) August 27, 2013
It wont mean much to you if you like your attempts to prevent war anti-imperialist red in tooth and claw, however, if you think turning a majority opposition into a significant anti-war movement is worth doing, and winning a NO vote in Parliament would be a very good thing then these voices matter.
If the size of the NO vote matters then we need to ensure lots of Tories, Lib Dems, Labour, Plaid, SNP, et al MPs are drawn into the campaign, speak on its platforms and vote against war. We also need to persuade as few of them as possible to vote YES by showing them that many of their constituents don’t want it, other Parliamentarians are defying the whips by opposing it and that the case against the war is solid.
So. Let’s not forget the lessons of the campaign against the war on Iraq. We need everyone if we’re to stand a chance of stopping yet another military escalation.