Protesters, including members of the National Union of Journalists, surrounded the BBC building and demanded to speak to a management representative and a union convenor. Despite a BBC worker going in to negotiate, management refused both requests point-blank and locked the doors. The BBC worker then came out and joined the rally and march.

The demonstration, called by Iraqi community groups and the Oldham division of the National Union of Teachers, was comprised mainly of local workers, including a few from the BBC and local newspapers. Young people present included a contingent of militant and vocal Iraqi women. The action was addressed by local Iraqis, representatives from the National Union of Journalists, the Fire Brigades Union, the National Union of Teachers, a Gulf War veteran, and Audrey Wise, Labour Member of Parliament for Preston and a member of the Campaign Group of MPs who have spoken out against the war policies of Prime Minister Anthony Blair.

Bob Pounder, the regional secretary of the Fire Brigades Union in Greater Manchester, explained that the union decided to support the sovereignty of the Iraqi people against the bombings and sanctions. He viewed this as an act of solidarity within the international working class. He also told how the Fire Brigades Union had recently defended through strike action fire workers' right to negotiate nationally rather than have pay and conditions decided in local agreements. "We were told by many that we would be fighting against the government and could not win," Pounder said. "But we didn't listen and we won!"

An Iraqi youth explained the importance of opposing all sanctions against Iraq and resisting attempts by the imperialists to divide the movement into those who only want to oppose some "nonmilitary" sanctions.

Also speaking was Ray Bristow, the first Gulf War veteran from the United Kingdom to be officially diagnosed as suffering from depleted uranium poisoning and Gulf War Syndrome. More than 500 other veterans in the war from the UK have died since 1991 from "mysterious illnesses" or "unknown causes," he said. The government has repeatedly denied the Gulf War veterans' request for a public inquiry into the situation.

Bristow said in an interview that his experiences over the last 10 years "has completely transformed my political perspective right across the whole spectrum. I now believe that the elected government has no real power but just dangles on the end of Big Business. The whole reason for going to war on Iraq in the first place was to protect the price of a barrel of oil. Yet they'll make up anything to prevent people from realizing it. We've had a lot of media interest in our cause, programs have been made, only to be pulled at the last minute because the Ministry of Defense has objected."

After one and a half hours outside the BBC, 50 people from the rally marched though the streets. Passersby stopped to listen, many shouted out support, and some joined the march. Drivers were asked to hoot their horns in support, which many did to general applause. The rally ended with a demonstration outside the offices of The Guardian, a UK paper that pretends to be left wing or liberal but supported the Gulf War and the bombing in the Balkans and rarely ever mentions the current war against Iraq.

All in all, the demonstration was militant and confident. More demonstrations and rallies are planned around the country with trade union support to culminate in a national action in London later this year.

Jason Travis is a school teacher in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, and a member of the National Union of Teachers.  
 
 
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