On Tuesday Stop the War held its first ever online Steering Committee meeting, with over 50 attendees from local groups around the country taking part.
Lindsey German introduced the meeting with a summary of how the Coronavirus crisis has increased international tensions rather than reduced them. In particular the Trump administration has sharply ramped up anti-Chinese provocations including various military missions. Meanwhile, the Tories are ratcheting up arms spending and the new Labour leadership is retreating on key Corbyn-era foreign policy positions.
It was also reported that despite the difficulties of lockdown by organising our public events online we have reached a huge new audience. Our last two events were watched by 9,000 and 16,000 people respectively. Our next national event looks like it will break all our viewing records. Arundathi Roy and Jeremy Corbyn will be in conversation with Tariq Ali on Saturday 6 June at midday. They will be discussing Coronavirus, war and empire.
It is anticipated that some local groups and supporters will hold Watch Parties for the event extending the audience reach even further. If you would like to join in with this initiative and hold your own Watch Party please do. It really is easy. You can create a watch party from your FaceBook News Feed or timeline, in a
group, on a
Page, or when you start watching from the live feed. (see
Instructions)
Local groups told us they are keen to organise Zoom meetings of their own – especially following the success of
Manchester StW’s Assange meeting last month. One of the advantages of online meetings is that they allows local groups to access a wide range of speakers who don’t have to travel as well as a wider audience from across the country. Watch this space and we’ll keep you informed of local events.
There are a number of important international campaigns that we will be participating in over the coming weeks and. months. In particular against RIMPAC – international naval manoeuvre in the Pacific at the end of August. We will soon be announcing an meeting.
Finally we discussed the growth of our movement. We always aim to increase our membership – the more members we have the stronger we are. It is especially important now as the lockdown has involved a re-organsation and new costs. We are very pleased that we have been able to increase our membership already since the beginning of the current crisis – but if you have not yet joined us there is really no time like the present!
Click on the link below to become part of Stop the War and our growing movement.
