World Socialist Web Site reporters spoke to some of those who marched through central London on Saturday at the demonstration demanding an end to the bombing of Iran. Thousands joined the protest, reflecting far more widespread international opposition to the escalating war drive led by the United States and Israel, and facilitated by Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
Members of the Socialist Equality Party distributed thousands of copies of the statement, “Stop the criminal US-Israeli war against Iran!”. Many people signed up to participate in the Emergency Online Meeting hosted by the WSWS the next day, “Stop the imperialist war of extermination against Iran!”.
The interviewees expressed deep hostility to the war and distrust of the political establishment responsible for it.
Gazelle, an Iranian, explained, “The biggest threat to Iran right now is the Western imperialists… Iran is the last place they haven’t touched. For them it secures their interests in that region.”
Alison is from the United States and has lived in London for several years.
Explaining why she joined the demonstration, Alison said, “One thing that I can do is be a body and show up with other people” to show that “we’re against war and violence being committed in our name. It’s so clearly illegal, and it’s using money that should not be directed to violence against other people.”
Contrasting the enormous resources devoted to war with the social crisis confronting millions in the United States, she said, “That money should be helping people who can’t eat or don’t have access to shelter”.
Alison condemned the illegal way that the war had been announced and justified. “Even the way it was announced—in the dead of night—was disgusting.”
Reflecting on the broader political situation in the United States, she spoke of the gulf separating the ruling elite from ordinary people. “None of this is going to hurt any of the people who are making decisions”, she said. “They’re not losing their lives. They’re not being bombed or sending their friends or their family on behalf of the American government to get killed. They’re rich enough that whatever instability it causes isn’t going to hurt their financial interests.”
A growing sense of political alienation also brought her to the protest. “It’s hard to even imagine making decisions that cost people’s lives and not feeling sick about it. I can’t imagine approaching anything like that with the willingness that these people seem to have.
“I vote, I’ve always voted but I don’t feel that I have any access to the levers of power, even as an individual who is supposedly part of a democracy.”
Marzi, a lawyer from Iran, said, “They are bombing in Iran; it is illegal. Any sane person would not stand for what’s happening now.”
Amanda has attended many anti-war demonstrations and stressed the need for international solidarity with the victims of imperialist war and oppression. “I believe that we need to carry on supporting people in other countries who are being oppressed and who are having war crimes committed against them,” she said.
“Unfortunately, many people in this country and in other countries are being fed misinformation about why these acts are being carried out, and it’s our responsibility to keep standing up for them and to try to spread the truth.”
She opposed the official justification for the attack on Iran saying, “They say Iran is going to make a nuclear bomb, but that’s been disproved by facts.”
The wars of the last three decades, said Amanda, were “always about control. Whether it’s control of resources or control of the people who live there, these acts are about power and dominance more than anything else. And there are a lot of innocent victims who are being subjected to that.”
Amanda supported the call of the WSWS for a global movement of the working class against war, voicing support for the development of a broader international movement. “That would be the ideal,” she said. “I would love to see that happening. I wish there were more people out here standing with us… Sometimes I can’t help feeling a little hopeless, but I want to work toward that.”
Another Iranian demonstrator, who asked not to be named, said she attended the protest as “I just can’t hold my anger anymore.”
She expressed anger over the role of the European powers in enabling Israel’s military actions. “I’m against the war,” she said. “I’m against Israel bombing Gaza and bombing wherever they want in the world. I’m very angry with the whole establishment in Europe, because they didn’t stand against Israel when it started committing genocide in Gaza.”
The major powers’ support for Israel had emboldened further aggression. “They believe they can do anything in the world,” she said.
The demonstrator denounced what she described as “a criminal class—an arrogant class that thinks it can do anything,” that is responsible for wars. She said in reference to Jeffrey Epstein—the billionaire buddy of Donald Trump and many others in the upper echelons of the ruling class—“we call them the Epstein class, the Epstein world”.