Five More Wars?

This video clip shows scenes from the British anti-war movement in the period 2003-2005. The location is mostly Manchester, but there are some shots of the huge 12th April 2003 demonstration in London. This was not the massive 2 million march on February 15th 2003--just before the war started--but a later march, the largest ever peace demonstration during an ongoing war in British history. Out of this mass movement emerged the British anti-war political party Respect. This video shows some of the key moments in the establishment of the party in Manchester. The final part of the video shows scenes from a day of political campaigning on Friday 22nd April 2005 for the British General Election that takes place on 5th May 2005. The location is the Manchester electoral constituency of Stretford and Urmston which has a sitting Labour MP who voted for the Iraq war. The constituency includes the Old Trafford soccer ground of the legendary Manchester United. The question in the title highlights the fact that all three mainstream British political parties supported the bombing of Iraq. If any of them win, we could not only be in for five more years of government on behalf of the corporations--pressing ahead with the privatisation of the health service and schools--but also for five more wars. The Liberal Party's anti-war stance collapsed when the invasion of Iraq got under way. From the point when the invasion took place, it supported the war and even now it refuses to call for an end to the occupation and for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops. This party's anti-war pretensions are thus highly suspect. George Bush stated, shortly after his re-"election", that: "This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table." Does this mean that he is waiting for Blair's re-election before proceeding with plans for the invasion? Events will shortly reveal the truth about this. The war is very unpopular in Britain. Was Bush's comment designed to lull the British electorate until after the election is over? We shall see. For the benefit of non-British viewers, the 11-Plus is an examination taken by school children at 11 years old in some local boroughs in England--although most have long since abandoned this archaic and divisive system. It creates a majority of "failures" at a very tender age. It is designed to select children for elite, university-orientated Grammar Schools (similar to the Gymnasiums in continental Europe). The rest of the school population is destined to become factory/cannon fodder. London footage by Richard Searle Manchester footage by Chris Edwards Martin Luther King photo still (public domain) courtesy of US National Archives and Records Administration. Song: "Get Up and Get Out" (open source) composed and performed by Gerry Dempsey. An mp3 of this song can be downloaded here. http://www.archive.org/details/Five_More_Wars