For the past 6 months the National Steering Committee have systematically censored and sabotaged virtually all forms of Direct Action. From the international significance of USAF Fairford, to the Mass Sit-Down on the 15th Feb National Demo, to the Reclaim The Bases Weekend on 5th and 6th April, the Steering Committee has used and abused the national email list and website to squeeze out, downplay, or just plain censor these, and many other actions.
The censorious agenda of the Steering Committee was most plainly exposed during the lead up to the 22nd March Fairford National Demo. Stop The War groups around the country were telephoned by someone claiming to be from the National Steering Committee, who was spreading the message that Fairford had been cancelled. Whether this individual was genuinely from the Steering Committee is unclear, but the issue remains that the Steering Committee refused to use resources at it’s disposal to refute this sabotage, as it clearly suited their censorious agenda to allow Fairford to be damaged in this manner.
The Steering Committee have therefore made it absolutely clear that they have no intention of representing the full spectrum of opinions which make up the coalition, but only those opinions and actions they narrowly approve of. This is the definition of a hijacking, and that is exactly what has occurred. Furthermore, on the 20th June defendants who took part in various forms of Direct Action at Fairford will be making the first UK legal challenge to the legality of the war. It is expected that this landmark event will also be censored by the Steering Committee, and sidelined at conference.
The Steering Committee still has the opportunity to pull back from this active censorship and sabotage of the movement. If it does not then the calls to bypass the Steering Committee will continue to grow. This is one of the first, and in the longer run, as more people become aware of the extent of events, actions and landmark legal cases which have been censored from view, trust in the National Steering Committee will evaporate, andshift to those who diligently bring this information to the movement in it’s uncensored form.
In the interim, ‘National’ events called by the Steering Committee will be referred to only as ‘London’ events in Bristol-Stop-The-War News, and the ‘National’ website will be relegated to an ordinary link in our links page, as it is not representative of the movement, and therefore should not be advertised as such. If people have an issue with this they should refer it back to the Steering Committee. In the interim, ‘National’ Demonstrations will continue to be called ‘National Demonstrations’.
Voice your concerns to the Steering Committee: office@stopwar.org.uk 07951 235 915 or 0207 053 2153/4/5/6
James Venables (Bristol-Stop-The-War Communications)
also …….
Meetings Vs Actions. SWP etc
http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2003_05_18_tash_lodge_archive.html#94572838
Mark Thomas on the SWP
http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2003_05_18_tash_lodge_archive.html#94571487
