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Back to: Archive · 2002 Damon's 'Stop The War' involvement from the NME, 14 September 2002. NME: We understand you've made a big financial contribution to these adverts [anti-war adverts appeared in the NME's centre pages in two separate issues]. Is that true? Damon: That's not relevant really. The important thing is that there's a message and a debate. NME: Why did you pick Tony Benn and former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark for quotes? Damon: We were looking for something that didn't condescend to people but also stated the facts. Those two quotes [see the bottom of this page for the quotes] represent the facts. All we're asking for is to generate this discussion and to question what could potentially happen. There are certain issues that are fundamental to CND. That's up to the individual and I happen to agree with them, but the overall message is one of trying to encourage discussion. NME: 3-D [of Massive Attack] mentioned he was disillusioned with other bands not speaking out on the issue. What do you think about that? Damon: I feel that it's an individual choice. This is a choice we've made and I know we speak for a growing number of people. The whole point is, what's happening at the moment has to be, every individual has to take responsibility for it. If you're prepared to take responsibility for it and you feel that it's wrong then you really should do something about it. NME: Are there any plans to put together any kind of concert to raise funds for CND? Damon: We've discussed a lot of ideas but at the moment this is all about trying to develop this discussion. It's hard to say, really. It'd be a great idea if there was an underbelly of opinion sympathetic to what we're saying. Maybe then there'd be a case for a big concert. NME: Do you think British youth have the desire to protest in the same way the Americans did over Vietnam? Damon: I think the world has changed dramatically since then. Maybe teenagers protest every weekend, when they go out, about certain things they don't feel are right in their lives. I think there's an ongoing culture of protest in this country and it's just a case of whether it means enough, what we're saying, to people to turn it into something focussed. Tony Benn: "If the US attacks Iraq it will tear up the charter of the UN - be a breach of international law and cost the lives of thousands of totally innocent people. Indeed it would be a crime against humanity and if Britain goes along with it we will be guilty too. The best chance of stopping it is to bring massive pressure to bear on the British government before it starts." Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney General: "Thirty years ago young people took to the streets to end the Vietnam war. Today, the next generation must take action to end one of the gravest crimes against humanity - the economic sanctions that have killed more than a million innocent Iraqi civilians. It is the very young and their grandparents in Iraq - the most vulnerable sectors of society - who are dying in staggering numbers from the lack of food, medicine and clean drinking water." |