Ealing residents last night discovered the extent of media misrepresentation of the Iraq war at the first public meeting of the Ealing Stop the War Coalition of the year.

John Rees, co-founder of the Stop the War Coalition and editor of International Socialism said Tony Blair's 5th March speech was an important one because it granted the anti-war movement a victory. He said the anti-war movement would not forgive what the government did in Iraq, which he called "a massive error of judgement" and encouraged people to hold the government to account by protesting on March 20th.
Click here to read John Rees' speech in full.

Journalist Shaista Aziz then described her own experiences working for the BBC and Al-Jazeera: her struggle against ignorance and racism in the BBC, the tragic price paid by Al-Jazeera for its provocative reporting, and the pressure placed on Al-Jazeera by the US government.
Click here to read Shaista Aziz's speech in full.

Tim Gopsill, editor of the NUJ magazine The Journalist and co-chair of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, revealed the influence of the system of embedding reporters with military units on the portrayal of the war and accused the government of criticising the BBC to make its reporting seem more independent. He also warned that plans to privatise the BBC would make it less impartial.
Click here to read Tim Gopsill's speech in full.

'Why War?', the anti-war film produced by the Independent Media Society, was then screened for the first time in Ealing. The documentary showed the shocking truth about the war on Iraq and cited control of Iraqi oil as a primary motive for the US-led invasion.
Click here for more information on Why War?