While Stoke City were battling against the odds and gaining an unlikely draw away at Liverpool last Saturday, I joined several thousand others in Manchester to engage in another mammoth task - the struggle for peace in our time. 
Media coverage of the Stop the War Coalition demonstration was sparse to say the least, the official StopWar.org.uk site and BBC Manchester being the only sources I could find. Depending which one you believe between 2,500 and 5,000 people took to the streets of Manchester to march past the Labour Party Conference to protest highlight the movement’s opposition to the Government’s strong support of George Bush’s aggressive foreign policy. 
The march was organised by the Stop the War Coalition and CND and called for all troops to come out of Iraq and Afghanistan and for an end to a foreign policy that risks spreading war. It has been a while since my last political march, but inspired by a meeting in Leeds last week, my friend Dave and I decided we had to attend and support the cause. The weather was wonderfully kind to us, a rare sunny and warm day, and the mood was upbeat even if the start was delayed due to the late arrival of a few coaches. We grabbed some placards, chatted with a few of the 57 different varieties of leftist groups including one of my colleagues who was a surprise encounter, and made our way to the back of the long snake of people.
The demonstration brought together trade unionists, students, pensioners, Muslim activists and peace campaigners of all sorts. 
It was led off by Rose Gentle and other members of Military Families Against the War. As it approached the conference centre the demonstration apparently stopped to hand in a letter of protest to the Prime Minister, although we were so far behind we never saw that take place.
There was also a two minutes silence held to respect the hundreds of thousands who have been killed as a result of the government’s foreign policy. Then the protest marched right up to the conference centre fence chanting ‘Troops out now’ and various other slogans belted out by a rather loud socialist group behind Dave and I. 
Sadly my “Bush, Brown end this farce… shove your Trident up your arse” chant didn’t catch on, clearly not serious enough. 
It was a noisy affair outside the conference and one would hope loud enough for every delegate inside to to hear. There was a strong police presence but thankfully the demonstration was well behaved, passionate but peaceful and no strong-arm tactics were required by the Manchester Constabulary. However it didn’t stop the unnecessary filming and photographing of the crowd by the police, and a large number wearing the uniform of the modern riot police stormtrooper.
The march ended with a rally at Castlefield Event Arena. Dave and I stayed long enough to hear speeches by Rose Gentle, Lindsey German (Stop the War convenyor), Kate Hudson (CND National Chair), Seumas Milne (Guardian newspaper columnist), Peter Cranie (Manchester Green Party) and veteran politician Tony Benn. 
They all spoke of the need to continue and expand this campaign and continue to strive for peace. The rally gave all the speakers enthusiastic applause.
We drifted away, Dave to head back to Leeds, myself to the Lake District, and word came through by text that Stoke were holding Liverpool at halftime. Remarkably they went on to keep a clean sheet and take a draw from the game. The road towards peace will also be a struggle in the face of formidable opponents. But as long as there is belief, passion, and people prepared to take action there is hope. People are the true agents of social change. History is punctuated with struggle, movements that have changed the world for the better. I’d like to think we played a small part on Saturday.
