"...the worst crime going on daily - the apartheid wall - must be dismantled. The wall with which the Israelis are annexing fifty percent of the West Bank so that they can include the illegal settler colonies. A wall which is separating the Palestinians from their lands, from their schools, from their hospitals, from their families. A wall which is destroying Palestinian farms, orchards, and olive groves. No one can believe that a government constructing such a wall wants peace and security, Sharon's government is a government which wants to deny freedom to the Palestinian people, they want subjugation..."

"...The post-legacy of this war is intolerable. Over 20,000 Iraqi people are dead, plus the bombs and depleted uranium cover their country. No public services - no electricity, no water supply, people insecure unable to go out of their homes. And then we have the grim reality of so called coalition justice in Baghdad. We have occupation forces keeping innocent civilians and children for weeks without charge, without questioning, without reason. And when people object, then those people are shot. We have random killings, ad hoc killings, day after day after day. And we are here today to say enough, this must stop!

Just a few nights ago coalition forces went to the farm of Ali Kabar and killed three people of his family and injured his children. And when the Americans came the next morning to apologise for their mistake, one of the remaining members of the family said "they promised us freedom and democracy. They kill our people, they destroy our homes. Is this what they mean by freedom?"

Is this what they mean by liberation?

Well I'll tell you what George Bush means by freedom. He means freedom for the multinational corporations that allows bleeding the economy of Iraq dry. We've seen the military invasion, now we have the corporate invasion of Iraq. And we are here to say that we find the spectacle of big big business making profit out of the misery of the Iraqi people sordid and obscene..."

"...In February this year by brother Tom joined the two million people who marched here in London against the military action in Iraq. It was at this rally that Tom was inspired to go, first to Iraq and then to Palestine...

...In Rafah when Tom reached out to pick up that helpless little girl paralysed by fear he was moving completely outside of concern for his own safety to help someone even more defenseless than himself. In helping those children tom was also sending a clear message about helping those in need. He wasn't prepared to turn his back on innocent people, the same way we must not. We must treat Tom as an inspiration and not turn our back on the sacrifices that people like Tom have made..."

"...if there was ever a recognition that there should be an international coalition force, then it is to remove Israel out of Palestine! ..."

"...Fifty five years on! Fifty five years on - the Palestinians continue their quest to be liberated. Fifty five years on - the Palestinians are subjected the oppression, occupation and segregation. Fifty five years on - the Palestinians are slaves in their own country. Fifty five years on - we must face the tragic fact that the Palestinians are still not free.

We are told time and time again Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East... well if democracy means mass murder, if democracy means robbery of land and persecution, then we say keep your democracy because we don't want it!

Tony blair why are you silent about Palestine? Why are you silent about Ariel Sharon? Why the hypocrisy Mr Blair? We can't find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, well my advise to you is to look to your left - go to Israel you'll find them there!

We went to Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction - what about Israel? We went in because of UN resolutions - what about Israel? We went in because of a war criminal - what about Israel? If we use these as a reason to go to war then we should have invaded Israel years ago, now where is the justice?"

Then she reminded us of an important truth which is often conveniently ignored by oppressors who cry "terrorist" or "suicide bomber".(*)

"And why do they resist Mr Blair? Well in the words of Mandela it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle - do not tell people how to resist until you stop oppressing them!"

(*) An excellent exposition of this theme can be found in the eloquent words of another great veteran of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, Imam Achmad Cassiem who spent nearly 11 years of his life imprisoned or under detention, some of which was on Robben Island with Mandela. In the words of Imam Achmad Cassiem : "It is immoral, irrational, it is obscene for an oppressor to tell the oppressed how they should respond to oppression".

"...it's not enough for the US to get out of Iraq, and the US to get out of the Middle East, we want to see the US out of Britain as well!

greeted by loud cheers from the crowds

There are many US bases - military bases, spy bases in Britain active today. There are many campaigns throughout the country to close down those bases and drive the US occupiers out of Britain..."

"...Christianity teaches us not to deal in falsehood and lies but to speak truth and deal honestly with one another... sadly we see a British government lining up with Ponchus Pilot who cynically asks truth? What is truth? For which the answer seems to be whatever will serve the purposes of the governments of the day...

We have never at any time given our consent to be lead by George Bush, come to that neither have the Americans - judges appointed by his father appointed him! But Mr Blair without our consent has allowed us to be used to further the nefarious cause of bringing about the new American century.

We were told the world is better off without Saddam, that he had to be removed anyway, but why was he chosen? Israel is carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing with a barbaric ferocity on the Palestinian people...

The disgraceful treatment of people including children held at Guantanamo Bay. Christianity teaches us that all people are made in and bear the image of the divine, to violate another is to violate God. We cannot remain silent when faced with the shackled hooded pictures of Guantanamo Bay caged like wild animals. If we don't raise our voices on their behalf now when our turn comes there will be no voices to be raised..."

"...Its no good just turning around and saying we want Blair to resign - where was the rest of the cabinet when he was making those decisions? Where was Prescott? Where was Milburn? Where was Blunkett? Every single one of them backed Blair to the hilt, and they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. They contemplated war when the war was about to be announced, and they are all war criminals today..."

"...Hello my name is Rosana, I'm aged eleven. I am against the war and I was on a huge anti-war demonstration of two million people. Tony Blairs government lied to us. I wrote a letter to my MP Ivan Henderson who supported the war. I told him I was against the war and I asked him how he would feel if someone bombed his home and killed his family and friends. He sent a reply saying he supported Tony Blair. Well he's just ignorant, war mongering, just like his leader!..."

Ivan Henderson, labour MP for Harwich supported the war. Swing required to lose seat: 2.70% (src: Guardian)

I live in Harwich and two weeks ago it as announced that they were going to close down a maternity unit. A protest was organised and we organised a school strike. We encouraged people to leave school at lunch time and protest at the closer. They have money for war and to murder people but we can't have a maternity unit or a 24 hour accident emergency department! Thats why we went on strike and we will strike again!..."