2014 was a particularly busy year of campaigning for the Stop the War Coalition. We started the year protesting against Nato military exercises in the Ukraine and the Nato expansion that was risking confrontation with Russia.
In April Stop the War held a public debate at St James’s Church in Picadilly to discuss the legacy of World War One with proponents of the government’s line that it was fought for freedom and democracy. Throughout the year we played a central role in the No Glory in War campaign and thousands of copies of our acclaimed No Glory, the real history of the First World War booklets have reached schools, universities, libraries, members of the public and Stop the War supporters.
On the 5th June Melissa Benn joined a huge range of speakers and performers to share memories of her father Tony Benn at a packed Stop the War gathering at the Camden Centre in London.
July and August saw a horrific number of casualties in the Gaza strip as a result of Israeli aggression. Over 150,000 people marched in London against Western backed brutality as part of a series of demonstrations organised by Stop the War and other campaign groups.
In September leaders of Nato member countries were hosted in Newport, Wales for the 2014 summit. Stop the War co-hosted a counter-summit in Cardiff and helped organise a week of protest against the gathering world leaders.
In September we coordinated a mass lobby of parliament to oppose a new war in Iraq. In October, over a thousand protesters hit the streets to object to Parliament’s decision and later in the month over 300 attended a London conference discussing the legacy of 100 years of War.
Our work remains crucial. Anti-war arguments have been vindicated by disasters of the last fourteen years and both the government and the Ministry of Defence have had to accept there is growing popular pressure against foreign wars. But we need to step up our campaigning our colleges, workplaces and communities.
To support this work, Stop the War produced a new 32-page booklet. Written by Andrew Murray, Iraq III: NO provides a background to the War on Terror, the ensuing spread of terrorism and the new threats posed by a third Iraq war. It provides essential arguments against this latest intervention to support the anti-war campaigning of all our supporters.
