hy Bob Turpin What a beautiful fantasy world some cf cur proverbial spillers of ink in the Fleet Street gutters live in. How happily they twist the truth to lend colour and substance to their daily or weekly handout of benevolent malice. How enthusiastically they appear to go about the tasks of lying, muck-raking and witch-hunting. According to the Sunday Telegraph of March 17 the dmonstration cf that day was planned and conceived in Hanoi! One can almost see General Giap's boys poring cver large maps of the Squares Trafalgar and Grosvenor, and every so often retreating into close conclave to exchange strategic and tactical chit-chat. In Grosvenor Square one looked enthusiatically for divisions of North Vietnamese regulars, but sad to say they never materialised. This incredible fairy tale is only one way the British press is attempting to whip up anti-ccmmunist mass hysteria by presenting Sunday's demonstration as part cf a world-wide communist conspiracy instigated by Hanoi or Peking. The sad fact is that many of that paper's readers are sufficienfly gullible or reactionary to swallow the story. Britain has one cf Ahe most efficient propagenda machines in the whole world and I wonder how ‘my people reading the reports on Monday morning were taken in by the monstrous sensaticnalism of the gutter scribes, Again inevitably the Lcndcn Police were presented as the heroes of the peace: controlled, cool-headed guardians of lew and crder, right and justice, and all things bright and beautiful in this tragic clown of a country of ours. And, as we expected, the manifestations of extreme anger of a minority section of thedencnstrators - the broken windows, fractured bones, smoke bombs and whatever - were presented in the press as though they Were something very carefully prepared beforehand by the Ad Hoc Committee or the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, These were individual acts of protest, often the retaliation of self-defence. Again, secticns of the police panicked. I saw one policeman run amok, and three throw @ girl upon the ground and set abcut her with all the ruthless efficiency of the Gestapo. But, these things apart, Sunday's demonstration can be regerded as a success, It was a success because it was militant. And it was militant because the base upon which it rested was ‘Victory to the NLF' - or in other words, solidarity with the Vietnamese pecple in their hercic resistance to Yankee imperialism, The pacifists, the Communist Party - the 'negotiators' if you like, came along, or at least some cf them. And they were welcome, just as they were welcome at the Ad Hoc Committee meetings. But they must have. been taken rather aback to see the forests of banners proclaiming 'Victory to the NLF' and the portraits of Chairman Mao, Che Guevara and Ho Chi Minh, symbcls to the great majority of particigmts of internaticnal revolution,
Earnest Maoists were tc be seen scuttling hither and thither, clutching
their little red becks, whilst people impatiently awaited the beginning of
the meeting. Very slcwly at first, the contingents arrived - from various
corners of the square, and as the square began tc fill up, one began to
realise the immensity of thedércnstration that was about to start. Stadents
had come from universities as far north as Durhem and as far south as Exeter.
There were hundred of banners from university and college Socialist societies,
provincial VSC's and Labcur clubs. One was especially heartened to see the
banners of Sussex and Essex and Cambridge, symbols cof the. new student
militancy. There toc were the Radical Student Alliance, Labour Party Young
Socialists, the Stop it Committee and the Australians’ and New Zealanders
against the war in Vietnam. It was probably the greatest cross section of
the country's militants ever tc assemble in one place since the thirties.
It was one of the most inspiring spectacles I have ever seen in London and
symbclised the birth of a new era in the histcry of the British Left. And
were my eyes deceiving me, cr was it the child of a malicious humour, the
banner proclaiming 'Young Ccnservatives Victory to the NLF',
The speeches were all much of a muchness and the sentiments expressed in
them tcok no-one by surprise. But-I say this in no derogatory way, but
merely excuse myself for not reporting them in great detail. The message of
support from the VSC President, Bertrand Russell, which opened the meeting,
praised the great and ever-growing world wide mevement of solidarity with
the Vietnamese people. Americe, bv its war in Vietnam, was defeating its
declared objectives, he said, and alienating the great mass of the world's
peoples. What we were witnessing was the exploitetion cf the world's work-
ing people by a small and wealthy elite. 'The role of our gcvernment defies
description ...... It. is opportunist es never before ....... It is time the
US was ejected from Vietnam for ever', declored Lord Russell.
Tariq Ali breathed flames of revolutionary oratory over the: over-whelmingly
young crowd in the square, whilst John Palmer in a cogent speech linked the
Vietnam war to the struggle ¢f the British workers, and reminded us that
America's vast expenditure in Vietnam was mainly responsiblé for its own very
serious financial crisis, its curb on imports and restriction cof internaticnal
credit, which in turn was partly responsible for Britain's economic plight.
Sad to say, in the huge forest of banners I noticed only a few representing
trade unicns, the AEU and SOGAT ameng them. Not enough trade uniorists,
unfortunately, for his words to heve any great impact. He was, in fact,
preaching to the enlightened.
Obi Egbuna, President of the Univers-1 Coloured People's Association related
the struggle in Vietnam to the fight against racist oppression, We are here
today, he remarked, to 'spit in the eye' of imperialism, Not only that but
to give it a well deserved 'kick in the groin' as well, Cclourful language
from © popular figure. Probably for many people the pleasant surprise of the
afternoon's speeches came from Vanessa Redgrave. Her speech was one of com-
plete sclidarity with the NLF and Vietnamese people and for immediate US
withdrawal. She read messages cf suppert from such distinguished figures as
Michelangelo Antcnicni, the great Italian film director, and Marcello Mastroiani,
the film star. Antonioni, 'This is 2 shameful war. The Americans are not
only fighting awr against Vietnam but one against themselves as well .....
I unite myself violently with your demenstration',.
There was uproér when Barbara Wilson, the chairman, then announced that several coaches from provincial universities had been stopped by the police and returned, Other speakers included Igor Webb of the Stop It Committee, Subid Ali’ of the Overseas Students! Co-ordinating Committee, Christina Semler cf the West German SDS (in lieu of RUdi Dutschke) and Alain Krevine of the French Naticnal Vietnam Committee, Pat Jordan of the Week also, It was particularly encouraging to welcome our comrades from the continent where the sslidarity movements are on a very high level indeed, and added an international flavour to the meeting, These were the highlights of a memorable day. The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign which initiated the formation of the Ad Hoc Committee has survived the gratuitous mud-slinging of certain sections of the British 'Left' and a generally hostile press, There is probably no way at present of gauging the real extent cf the impact made by Sunday's demonstration. When all the shouting has finally died down, I believe that many people will be driven to a serious re-appraisal of their attitudes and policies towards the campaign. The time is now ripe for the building of a large grass roots movement.