Forty years ago, I sat down proudly in Trafalgar Square alongside Bertrand Russell and thousands of others in protest against Britain's weapons of mass destruction. We were all breaking the law.

There was a lot of civil disobedience at that time, organised by the Committee of 100. The committee's arguments were founded in the horrific nature of nuclear weapons and the urgency of alerting the government to widespread public disquiet about them. The square was cleared by police in the early morning and the committee eventually vanished.

Now, however, 40 years on, a monstrous war looms in the Middle East for which there is not the slightest justification. Every single charge against Saddam Hussein - that he has nuclear weapons, repeatedly breaks international law by invading his neighbours, and is a constant threat to peace in the region - applies tenfold to the client state of the United States in the region, Israel.

The war on Iraq proposed by President Bush is a classic imperialist invasion to safeguard oil supplies. Very few governments in the world - and absolutely none in the Middle East - support Mr Bush's war. Britain's New Labour government is an exception - no one doubts that if Mr Bush does go to war in Iraq, he can rely on the grovelling support of the British government. Yet in the country the situation is very different. Opinion polls show a majority against war. The enormous anti-war demonstration last month took everyone by surprise, but was ignored in parliament and patronised in the press. Only 70 MPs out of 650 made even a gesture against the Iraq war. Lots of people joining in tomorrow's anti-war day will wonder what it takes to get their protest noticed. Who else can stop the war but the people? The case for civil disobedience, strong enough in the early 1960s, seems even stronger now.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

###