Independent UK: Anti-war activists do battle over intervention in Iran

[marmar]

Anti-war activists do battle over intervention in Iran
By Jerome Taylor
Published: 08 November 2007



An acrimonious war of words has broken out between notable luminaries within the anti-war movement after the Stop the War Coalition refused to allow a group that campaigns against military intervention in Iran to join its ranks.

The decision has prompted a number of prominent activists, including Peter Tatchell and Michael Mansfield QC, to accuse the coalition of being apologists for the Iranian government by "refusing to allow any criticism" of the Tehran regime.

Hands Off the People of Iran (Hopi), a small group of predominantly Iranian exiles who campaign for regime change in Iran but are against external military intervention, were told last month they could not be affiliated to the Stop the War Coalition after their application was rejected by a vote at the anti-war coalition's annual meeting. Members of Hopi said they have been "excommunicated" because of their vociferous opposition to the Tehran regime.

The dispute goes to the heart of a bitter division within the anti-war movement over human rights abuses perpetrated by the Iranian regime amid bellicose US policies towards Iran. A growing number of activists have begun arguing that the anti-war left is too willing to turn a blind eye to the Ayatollahs' policies due to their anti-US sentiments.

"None of the outrageous crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Iranian government have ever been condemned by the Stop the War Coalition," said Peter Tatchell said. "Their anti-Americanism has driven them into a de facto alliance with the Iranian regime. There's a worrying minority within the anti-war movement who are out-and-out apologists of the Tehran regime."

Stop the War Coalition has in turn rounded on Hopi for being "entirely hostile" to the coalition and accused it of deliberately setting itself up as an alternative anti-war movement. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3138378.ece