Flood of Emotion and Anger That Rose to Wash Away Years of Dismay
Richard Williams, The Guardian, February 17, 2003

Somebody called it a movement. It was not a movement. It was a feeling. A feeling that drove wave after wave of people in a great river which began to flow a few minutes before noon and was still in full flood long after nightfall.

What astonished everyone who marched on Saturday - let's settle on a million, shall we? - was the apparently limitless variety of those with whom they shared the roads of central London. Not just a diversity of banner-bearing interest groups but of individuality, brought into focus by the single underlying feeling that gave this day its resonance.

That feeling was one of a generalized dismay directed squarely at the country's leadership. If you wanted to attempt the impossible task of identifying a typical marcher, you would probably settle for the middle-aged white man who marched past the barricaded end of Downing Street at about 1pm carrying a hand-lettered sign.

What it said, in neat black letters about six inches high, came closest to summarizing the message of the day. "Labour Party member no A128368 against the war," the man had written. [...]
- posted by ARYABHATT @ 4:00 pm