(Remarks at London peace march, Feb. 15, 2002)
There has been much talk of regime-change over the last year. I think we need a regime-change in Britain. We need to get rid of Blair. At this very moment in a Glasgow bunker he is addressing a hand-picked rent-a-crowd of four hundred Labour Party hacks in Scotland.
Outside there are 90,000 people chanting slogans against the war. Friends, it is we, the one and a half million people gathered in London who speak for the majority in this country. Not Blair. He is a weak and isolated politician and I appeal from this platform to Labour Members of Parliament to remove this warmonger as Prime Minister and replace him with a leader who is in favour of peace.
I am fed up listening to their lies and propaganda. Saddam was at his most dangerous when Blair’s friends, Rumsfeld and Co. were arming Iraq. They sold him the chemical weapons. They supported his war against Iran. And they have a nerve to accuse the antiwar movement of being soft on Saddam.
We want change in Iraq and here, but we believe that only the people of a country have the right to remove their leaders. That is why it is our responsibility to ensure that Blair is removed as soon as possible. That is the surest way to ensure that war does not break out.
TARIQ ALI is an editor of New Left Review and a frequent contributor to CounterPunch. This article is extracted from his new book The Clash Of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads And Modernity, published by Verso.
