Dear Michael,

About 5000 braved an extremely wet and windy day for a 1hr

rally and 2hr march around the barricaded Brighton Conference Centre,

where New Labour held the first day of their conference. The rally was

organised by the Socialist Alliance (cluster of groups to the left of New

Labour) with speeches stressing the hypocrisy of US in having been

willing to see civilians killed in its military actions and in its

economic policy, especially the children of Iraq. Chile, Nicaragua, Iraq,

Libya, Vietnam - all got a mention, as well as US role in creating the

conditions for the Taliban to take power and their direct responsibility for

training bin Laden. Someone read from an old Kennedy speech (in South

Africa) where he urged that every citizen who stands up against repression

and defends human rights helps to bring about a better and more peaceful

world. We hope so!

Slogans on posters included;

People before Profit

Peace not War

neatly combining the mood of anti-militarism and

anti-capitalism.

It was a noisy demo, with chants of

'1-2-3-4 We dont want your racist war

5-6-7-8 Spend it on the welfare state'

(or 'Organise and agitate')

'They say Warfare, we say Welfare'

'Bush, Bush, we know you

Daddy was a killer too'

'Blair, Bush, hey hey hey

How many kids did you kill today?'

and the like.

There were drums and carnival costumes as well as wet

raincoats and umbrellas among the many trade union banners and posters.

Police with riot gear and horses lined the route, funnelling us along the

seafront but away from the Brighton Centre. As we passed it our chants and

whistles reached a crescendo. A few (20 or so) delegates came out and stood

behind the steel fence that caged them in, wishing us well by waving. The

demo dispersed peacefully, which is why you wont see anything on the news!

love