Report of Free Speech In Parliament Square Press Conference 17th June

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Wednesday June 18, 2003 18:23

by Global Women's Strike

This report is from the sister picket of the Global Women's Strike Anti-war/occupation picket, Galway,
opposite the Houses of Parliament in London.
A lively press conference in the House of Commons on 17 June defended
protesters' right to be seen and heard in Parliament Square. Many who
packed the room have supported brian haw's two-year, 24-hour protest against
the genocide of Iraqi children, or have come for the open microphone at the
community anti-war picket organised by the Global Women's Strike. The
protests are now under threat through legislation, and from roving
anti-protest police units.....

A lively press conference in the House of Commons on 17 June defended
protesters' right to be seen and heard in Parliament Square. Many who
packed the room have supported brian haw's two-year, 24-hour protest against
the genocide of Iraqi children, or have come for the open microphone at the
community anti-war picket organised by the Global Women's Strike. The
protests are now under threat through legislation, and from roving
anti-protest police units. At the same time, Mr haw, who has won a precedent
ruling based on the right to freedom of speech under the Human Rights Act,
told the meeting he had been violently attacked in the night by an off-duty
US marine. His nose was broken while police stood by "defending
Parliament". (This is being pursued.)

Chairing the meeting, John McDonnell MP welcomed the protests for "bringing
attention to issues that in this place often get forgotten", and Selma James
from the Strike said people who do not feel represented by Parliament were
finding a way to be politically active, beginning with women who, as the
carers of society, are "even more anti-war than men". And "if the speeches
at the picket are bothering MPs, that's what it's there to do." One by one
speakers made clear how important it was for them to be heard - as asylum
seekers, women with disabilities, pensioners, a churchwoman, a Jewish
anti-Zionist man, Greenham women who had used the courts against the
military, a woman protester from the coaches hijacked by the police on the
way to Fairford US airbase. Nawal Karem from the Iraqi Women's League said
the picket's support and exchange of information had made it a vital "home"
for them. Explo Nani-Kofi from the African Liberation Support Campaign said
the attempts to silence the picket was a measure of its achievement: the
message was getting into Parliament - in fact more than they wanted to hear!
Black people, who were not represented anywhere in any "house of
representatives", had found a way to represent themselves. Tony Benn said
how much influence the protests had, and pointed out, "It's not just the
picket that the government doesn't like. The government doesn't like
Parliament." The event was proof of a vibrant and increasingly united
movement - facing up to alarming times.