What is Stop the War Coalition up to?

I had no reply to this email to Stop the War. I think it warranted one.

Subject:

	What is the role of StWC?
Date:	Sun, 9 Apr 2017 12:48:38 +0100
From:	Colin B Bennett
To:	Stop the War

To the Publicity Manager.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I've been a member of the Coalition for some years and always paid my 
monthly subs of £5.

I'm not happy about some of the actions of the Coalition since it seems 
to reflect Establishment positions rather than neutral ones.

I mention two examples:

1. I attended a meeting called by the Coalition at the Old Ship Hotel, 
Brighton on 27 September 2015. The meeting was chaired by Diane 
Abbott whom I regard as an archetypical opportunist. She condemned the 
Syrian Government on that day when the Syrian Government and people were 
facing enormous odds. On 30September 2015 the Russian Government 
announced it was going to support the Syrian Government militarily. The 
Coalition did not make any comments on that positive step. Its line is 
that all foreign military forces are harmful not differentiating between 
those supporting the legitimate Government and those supporting the 
terrorists.

2. Your email of 7 April 2017 in which you write "​​This is the worst 
possible way to respond to the indefensible attack at Khan Sheikhun". The 
tenor of this statement, as well as the use of the word "response", 
strongly indicates that the Coalition is blaming the Syrian Government 
for the attack. This is a line peddled by the mainstream media and the 
western governments. Shades of the Tonkin Incident!

If the Coalition spent less time criticising the immigration policies of 
the US and the UK (which is not in the remit of the Coalition) then it 
might do a better job in speaking up against war and imperialism.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Colin Bennett

I'm puzzled about some aspects of Stop the War. There are undoubtedly some very committed, genuine people in it. As an example of this, I heard a short clip on BBC Radio 4 recently from a StW picket of 10 Downing Street protesting about the bombing of the Syrian airfield. One protestor was asked by the BBC reporter "do you think Syria was behind this attack?". The protestor said unhesitatingly "no".

I think some StW people are confused and others are guilty of groupthink which is not surprising as we're bombarded with war propaganda around the clock. Some others might merely be "useful idiots".

I'd welcome any comments on this question