Haringey Stop the War Coalition
	Gallery 500 demonstrate on Saturday March 29 2003 against war on Iraq

Our demonstration not only opposed war by the British and American forces, but also raised a call for unity among Iraqi Kurds, Turks and Turkish Kurds in Haringey.

The demonstration was organised in under a week following the national demonstration on 22 March. Local demonstrations in London are different from national ones. They reach into the community to reclaim our streets. They do not challenge the government so directly as demonstrations in Central London. But with the threat of Turkey being sucked in to the US and UK slaughter in Iraq, we wanted to send a message out loud and clear: in Haringey we would unite against the war. This was the largest demonstration in Haringey since the poll tax.

Marching down Green Lanes, the heart of the Turkish and Kurdish communities, we reclaimed our streets from the police who, a month earlier, had raided shops and businesses in a major sweep, and painted Green Lanes in dangerous colours in the press. Following attacks on the mosque in Finsbury Park and the "ricin" scare in Wood Green (subsequently found to be castor oil), it was also necessary for us to reclaim our own community spaces from those in British society who are trying to divide us.

In the event, 500 people from many different communities in Haringey stood together against the war. An important dimension was that we clearly also opposed any intervention by the Turkish military.

We recognised that should those Turkish commandos discovered by occupation forces in Northern Iraq at the beginning of the war prove to be a spearhead for a Turkish invasion, it would necessarily create a massive crisis in Turkey. While one faction of the Turkish military clearly has its eyes on subjugating Kurds and capturing the oil fields of Kirkük, other sections of the establishment desperately seek integration with the EU and funds from the USA. And a massive Turkish anti-war movement was anxiously watching the situation unfold. Like Pakistan over Afghanistan, the ripples of the US-led war risked creating the circumstances for a military coup, in addition to the betrayal of the Iraqi Kurds.

Speakers at the rally on Duckett's Common emphasised their unity and resolution to oppose all aspects of the war. They included Kurdish speakers from Day Mer and the Kurdish community centre, speakers from the local mosque and school children, and local speakers from Labour Against the War, Green Party, Socialist Alliance and the SWP. Ally Mir, a longstanding Labour Party member who left the LP in disgust, spoke out against Blair's war lies. And a guest speaker from the US Labor Against the War emphasised the impact of the UK anti-war movement in the USA.

As we said then, the only solution is to unite against the entire war - US, UK, and Turkish troops should leave NOW.

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