Right-wing threat to anti-war meeting

Submitted by Matthew on 14 November, 2012 - 10:32

Young Tory louts have put out a call online to disrupt a Workers’ Liberty student forum on Thursday 15 November about the meaning of the First World War.

Workers’ Liberty member Daniel Cooper was invited to lay a poppy wreath at an official Remembrance service, in his capacity as Acting President of the University of London Union (ULU).

Daniel declined, on principled grounds — that the official remembrance service is a pageant of nationalism, monarchism, and militarism which celebrates the institutions which organised the First World War.

Daniel wrote in a personal statement: “Mourning the butchery of thousands of ordinary people through an act of remembrance side-by-side with the inheritors of an economic system which created the war is not something I wish to take part in. It is an insult to those sent to die, victims of the self interested advancement of the British Empire ...

“I mourn and remember the dead. But my mourning is mixed with bitter anger against the rulers and the system that create such bloodshed.”

In response to Daniel’s stand, Tory students and assorted right-wingers, jingoists and militarists have crawled out of the woodwork to raise an outcry against him. Petitions have been started calling for his resignation, and articles written arguing that even to suggest a debate on the politics of remembrance is beyond the pale.

The meeting takes place at 7pm in Room 3C at ULU on Malet St, London.

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.