Stop The War Zoom Meeting On The Ukraine Crisis

The Stop The War Coalition held a Zoom meeting from 6.30pm London time, June 20 on the ongoing madness in Ukraine. Predictably, it was overwhelmingly if not entirely leftist, but in a world where men can legally call themselves women and where a teacher can endorse a pupil who identifies as a cat, we shouldn’t be surprised if on occasion communists are the only sane people in the room.

The attendance topped 250 at one point and was chaired by Stop The War’s deputy leader. The first speaker was Tariq Ali. Decades ago he called himself “an Asian” though someone rightly pointed out that he was actually the son of a millionaire Pakistani land owner, but at least he doesn’t identify as a cat!

Ali said something intelligent for once – stop the war!

He was followed by a young activist from Ukraine in a recorded message, then came Sean Vernell, a long time left wing activist, including in the trade union movement, so half a point for that.

In addition to spouting the usual left wing drivel about Imperialism, he too said something intelligent. You can’t understand this war by knowing who fired the first shot. He called for the end of NATO expansionism and to stop arming Ukraine. 

Those of us who are of a certain vintage may remember that after the collapse of the Soviet Union there was a serious suggestion that Russia should be invited to join NATO. Instead, after a brief period of Western companies investing in Russia, our leaders decided to be obnoxious rather than magnanimous in victory, and look where we are now.

The next speaker was Lindsay German, a founder member of Stop The War and its leader, although she would probably wince at that title.

She quoted Karl Liebknecht, who like his fellow lunatic Rosa Luxemburg was murdered in the unrest that followed Germany’s defeat in the First World War. They both became martyrs and are still worshipped by leftists today.

Back on planet Earth, Lindsay warned against tactical nuclear weapons and the escalation of NATO, pointing out (a claim that is probably true) spending on arms across Europe went up 13% recently, while people’s incomes are at best stagnating.

She pointed out too that Tony Blair had supported Vladimir Putin, something that must embarrass the Russian leader on account of Blair’s war crimes.

After German, the floor was opened to other participants, one of whom was an idiot who talked about decolonising the curriculum. 

Towards the end, Sean Vernell said Joe Biden was worried about China. Of course he is, worried Xi Jinping will release the receipts of those bank transactions.

Concluding, German said we don’t want the nationalism and the racism that goes with this madness. Actually, some of us do want nationalism, indeed Chris Nineham was once a leading member of an anti-globalist organisation.

The meeting ended with a call for a day of action. Details of this and a lot more can be found on the Stop The War website.