"STOP THE EUROSTATE" MARCH

The Democracy Movement's 'Stop the Eurostate' march and rally on 28th
October was a resounding success.Police estimate that some 10,000 people
joined our march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square.  A distinguished bill
of speakers from across the political spectrum then called on the crowd to
strengthen their resolve and demand a referendum on the forthcoming Nice
treaty.

Over 80 coaches from around the country brought thousands of supporters to
assemble in Hyde Park. Here they joined those who struggled on the trains or
who braved the London traffic and the autumnal weather. Like hornets
agitated by a common threat, thousands of DM supporters swarmed around North
Carriage Drive eventually forming one very long, orderly red column.

The march began at 1.45pm to a cacophony of whistles and chants of 'Keep the
Pound, Stop the Eurostate'. At one point the whole of Piccadilly yielded to
this wave of protest. Shoppers abandoning their quarry came out onto the
street to clap and cheer whilst workers waved support from their office
windows. Car horns blasted endorsement as we marched down the Haymarket.

A New Orleans jazz band kept pace all the way to Trafalgar Square where a
massive 'Stop the Eurostate' banner enveloping Nelson's column welcomed the
march. As the square reached capacity supporters were forced to spill out
onto the steps of the National Gallery. Jugglers and stilt-walkers
accompanied the band in entertaining the crowd whilst the end of the march
caught up some 30 minutes later.

Then fourteen speakers from across the political spectrum warned of the
dangers that the coming months will reveal. Labour, Tory, UKIP and Greens
alike mixed with Euro-realist MEPs, bikers and conservationists to bring a
united warning against the emerging leviathan of the European Superstate.
This rainbow coalition was cheered by an exultant crowd before Lord Shore of
Stepney brought the day to a climactic end with one of his trademark
passionate orations.

The Democracy Movement has come a long way since its inception on 1st
January 1999. This demonstration proves that we are now large enough to host
events that will effect the euro-debate and/or the election. Watch this
space Tony Blair!

SPEECHES

The following are extracts taken from six of the speakers at the rally.
Other speakers included: John Boyde, secretary of the trade union movement
Campaign Against Euro Federalism; Brian Prime, Executive Director Federation
of Small Businesses; John Haylett, Editor of the Morning Star; Carishma
Gillani, Youth for a Free Europe; Jens Peter Bonde MEP, leader of the Danish
June Movement; Dr Mike Woodin, Principle speaker for the Green Party of
England and Wales; Christopher Booker, Sunday Telegraph journalist and
author; Dr Anthony Coughlan, National Platform Ireland; Christopher Smith,
bikers representative; Jim Sillers, former deputy leader of the Scottish
National Party.

" Today we are under threat like we have never been threatened since the
second world war... and the shame of it is that British ministers have
accepted that they no longer hold the rights and the powers to decide how we
exercise our own democracy. That is something that predecessors of this
present lot would have died of shame to admit. We have not come so far in
our national journey and history to surrender to others at this stage. We
really must insist not only that no further transfer of power be made to the
European Institutions without the express permission of the British people
in a referendum but also that we begin the process of repatriation to
Westminster of those powers that should never in the first place have been
surrendered."

Lord Shore of Stepney, former Labour cabinet minister and MP for Bethnal
Green and Stepney.

"Being part of the Eurozone is not all that it is painted to be. Ireland is
promoted as a healthy tiger economy at the centre of Europe but inflation in
Ireland is going through the roof. We can no longer control our own economy.
We've given over decisions on interest and exchange rates to the European
Central Bank, to unaccountable unelected people who do not have to justify
the decisions they make. That is not democracy!"

Patricia McKenna MEP (Irish Green Party). Author of 'The Amsterdam Treaty -
the Road to an Undemocratic and Military Superstate'.

"Europe is killing the countryside. Rural communities are dying, farming is
falling apart, countryside culture is under attack and our wildlife is
disappearing... 22,000 people were forced off the land last year, 22,000
will be this year, 5 thousand bankruptcies, suicide out of control and it's
your fault Tony Blair and it's Europe's fault and the fault of the Common
Agricultural Policy."

Robin Page conservationist and countryside campaigner. Former presenter of
the popular BBC programme, 'One Man and His Dog', and Vice President of the
Democracy Movement

"Before the election Tony Blair wrapped himself in the Union Jack and said
he was a British patriot. Since then he has agreed to a European Army, a
European Police Force, alterations to our judicial system and at Nice is
about to agree further measures including an EU Charter of Fundamental
Rights which is to become the written constitution of the European Union. It
also includes a EU public prosecutor and the proposal to get rid of our veto
in many new areas .... Some patriot that! It brings the word patriot into
disrepute."

Lord Stoddart of Swindon, Chairman of Campaign for an Independent Britain
and of the Anti-Maastricht Alliance. Former Labour MP for Swindon

"My message today is that at exactly  the point where we were winning the
battle to keep the pound we are losing the battle to stop the eurostate. We
must tell Tony Blair that we cannot give anymore power away from our
democracy to their bureaucracy. I say to Tony Blair do not give any more
power away and if you think of doing so, first put the matter to a
democratic vote."

Rt.Hon. John Redwood MP, former Conservative cabinet minister and author of
'The Death of Britain'.

"Who would have thought that back in the mid 1970's, when our professional
politicians took us into what was laughably called the Common Market, that
on 7th November, 2000 a greengrocer in Sunderland will go for a preliminary
court-hearing because it is now a criminal offence for one Englishman to
sell to another Englishman a pound of apples?  This issue transcends all
traditional political and tribal loyalties. This issue is the great
political issue of our lifetimes... we must decide, either we stay in this
thing or we get out of this thing now."

Nigel Farrage MEP, United Kingdom Independence Party

BBC Blackout on March is a Disgrace

Article first printed in the Sunday Telegraph 5 November, 2000.

"You would have thought at least a flicker of media interest might have been
aroused by the spectacle of John Redwood, MP speaking to 10,000 people in
Trafalgar Square on the same    platform as the editor of the Communist
Morning Star, a biker in leathers, the leader of the Green Party, an MEP for
the United Kingdom Independence Party and a distinguished former senior
Labour Cabinet minister. But somehow there was a complete press and
television blackout on the mass of people who, last Saturday, brought
central London to a halt by marching to gather below Nelson's Column for the
largest anti-EU demonstration ever seen in Britain.

I walked down Park Lane with  the young family of Jens-Peter Bonde, one of
the heroes of the Danish "No" campaign and leader of the Europe of
Democracies and Diversities group in the European Parliament, and up
Piccadilly with Ireland's leading Euro-sceptic, Dr Anthony Coughlan, just in
front of a jazz band and the Morning Star banner. As the crowds waved
support from the pavement, this event, organised by the Democracy Movement,
was one of the most remarkable I have ever taken part in.

In a packed square, beneath a huge banner reading "Stop the Eurostate", the
immense crowd (10,000 was the police estimate) stood in the rain for an
array of short speeches, from members of both Houses of Parliament, Irish,
Danish and British MEPs, the biker and a pretty Asian student, culminating
in an almost Churchillian oration from Lord (Peter) Shore. As the speaker
before him, I was able to suggest that the great man on the plinth above us
would have approved of the banner below his feat, since in effect he had
been saying "Stop the Eurostate" in the battle that gave the Square its
name.

But for the media it was as though none of this had happened. Although the
BBC had two camera crews on the spot, it later explained that it was not the
BBC's policy to report marches and demonstrations, unless "an incident"
occurred. This was odd given that it managed to give news coverage that
night to a "Black Britain" demonstration of 100 people which took place in
Whitehall at the same time.

At least the following evening I was able to insert the briefest mention of
the march into an interview conducted by Edwina Currie on Radio 5's Late
Night Currie show. When I said I had been walking up Piccadilly with
"various Danes, Irishmen and Swedes", Mrs Currie responded with her
legendary wit: "It sounds as though you were marching with a load of
vegetables." Isn't it interesting how fervent Europhiles love their fellow
Europeans in the abstract, but if they dare criticise the EU, they become no
more than "vegetables". A charming lady."

Leaked Memo Proves Child Propaganda Policy

In an amazing confidential government memo, handed to the DM, a top
government official  blatantly boasts of  Foreign Office involvement in the
indoctrination of schoolchildren with pro-EU propaganda. The memo written
last May by Sir Stephen Wall, then Britain's Ambassador to the EU, states;
"...the EU is only in the GCSE modern history curriculum thanks to FCO
[Foreign and Commonwealth Office] pressure on the DfEE [Department for
Education and Employment] last year so I suspect there is a lot more that
could be done. Something I plan to pursue in a future incarnation."

This ominous last sentence is a reference to Sir Stephen's new job as Head
of the Europe section of the Cabinet Office - a very powerful position. The
fact that the FO is using its muscle to force other departments to follow
its pathological obsession with all thing pro-EU is cause for concern. It is
probably no coincidence that children are now also being indoctrinated with
pro-EU propaganda under the guise of 'citizenship studies', which forms a
compulsory part of the national curriculum. Some teachers and
educationalists have voiced concern about the politically partisan nature of
this programme.

EU CANNOT BE SERIOUS! E-mail Campaign

The Democracy Movement has launched a campaign to email copies of Jim
Slater's excellent booklet "EU Cannot be Serious!" to concerned people. We
thank all of you who have participated and used our mailing facility to send
copies of the booklet on to others. Using the internet to distribute the
booklet has resulted in a considerable saving in postage costs and helps us
to get this important message out to even more people. Please keep the
e-mail addresses rolling in!

New Look DM Web Site

The DM is undertaking a major refurbishment of our website. We have launched
an online news service that brings visitors an up-to-date news service of
news related to the single currency, the EU super-state and related issues.
We have entered into a partnership with the EU Observer (www.EUobserver.com)
to bring this service to our members and visitors. Take a look at our
new-look web site (www.democracymovement.org.uk) and bookmark the news-page.

Top