Anti-War Meeting
LAST WEEK SAW Oxford's largest public meeting for some years, to express opposition to a possible war in Iraq. Over 600 residents, activists and a handful of students were joined by speakers Kate Hudson, Vice-President of CND, Felicity Arbuthnot, a journalist who has written extensively on post-1991 Iraq, and George Galloway MP, a vociferous parliamentary opponent of war, who, in his speech, referred to Britain as an Orwellian "Airstrip One" to American power.
A speech by a local FBU leader on the firefighters' strike was greeted with momentary derision, but the other speakers were well received. The following debate regarding the war was surprisingly passive; even the assertion by one local activist that children as young as twelve were on their way to Iraq as human shields appeared to pass without comment.
The organizers, the Oxford Stop the War Coalition, heralded the meeting as a great success, and expect a large Oxford contingent to travel to London on 15 February for the national anti-war demonstration.
6th Feb 2003