It seems to me less urgent to find out what writers, artists and musicians think about war with Iraq, than to find ways to stop that war from happening. The site www.stopwar.org.uk carries the latest information on action in Britain, and www.notinourname.net in the USA.

A footnote: as writers we are, understandably, very fond of our own words, but that doesn't mean we have some special insight on everything that happens in the world. If one wanted a more radical approach to a list such as this, how about finding out what nurses, railway workers and teachers think about events? Or builders, doctors and shop assistants? The groups could be varied with each crisis, it would make a change from all the writers from whom we already heard so much after 11 September 2001.

© Judith Williamson 2003

Originally published as part of a debate on 6th February 2003 Writers, artists and civic leaders on the War: Pt. II

See also Writers, artists and civic leaders on the War: Pt. 1.