February 18, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 16, 1423

LONDON: Anti-war coalition leaders, emboldened by the massive turnout at peace rallies in London and around the world, are planning to try to shut Britain down should Tony Blair defy public opinion and go to war without a UN resolution.

“We want people to walk out of their offices, strike, sit down, occupy buildings, demonstrate, take direct action and do whatever they think fit the moment war starts,” said Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition on Sunday.

“We want to completely close down Whitehall — the government administrative district — and prevent the Ministry of Defence going to work. At 6pm on the first evening after the bombing starts, there will be demonstrations and vigils all over the country, to be followed by another march with CND — Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament — on the first weekend after war starts.”

The coalition will decide over the next few days whether or not to call for a local “day of action”, which would be an invitation for younger, militant groups around Britain to take direct action.

Last year, with considerably smaller support, a similar call led to more than 300 demonstrations, including university occupations and wildcat strikes.

International campaigners from the US, Asia and elsewhere are expected to meet in London in the next week to consider further co-ordinated opposition to war. But whatever the outcome, local groups in Britain will continue their diverse protest activities, which range from weekly vigils in Milton Keynes to next week’s Cycle for Peace in London.

US airforce bases such as those at Fylingdales in Yorkshire and Fairford in Gloucestershire, where activists have staged weekly “weapons inspections”, are likely to become a focus for much activity.

One of the key dates will be March 8, International Women’s Day, which will see an anti-war march setting out from Parliament Square, organized by women who have been holding a weekly anti-war picket opposite Downing Street.

That day’s annual global women’s strike, held in more than 70 countries each year to push for investment in caring work rather than military budgets, has been dedicated to the anti-war movement this year.

The size of the London and Glasgow marches, together with the great diversity of people on them, has given people a shared confidence and a new moral authority, said Ms German. “People who oppose the war now feel that they speak for the majority.

“To get at least one million, probably two million, people on to the streets on Saturday is unprecedented. This was a national occasion.”

Her sentiments were echoed by many people on Saturday’s march, many of whom said they had never marched before. “Mr Blair has truly united Britain for the first time in my lifetime. I never dreamed so many people felt the same way as I did,” said Joanna Fitcham, a company director from Norfolk. “Next time I’ll bring all my friends,” said John Tucker, 15, from south London, who had come with his mother.

Several politicians predicted that the march would have repercussions throughout the ruling Labour party and beyond.

Tony Benn, a leading left-winger, said: “It will go down in British history. In 50 years’ time people will say ‘were you really there?’ It has given us great hope. This is crunch time. Tony Blair can now either be the leader of the Labour party or leader of the war party.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.