Demonstrations are growing against NATO’s war in the Balkans, but the anti-war movement, as led by the Committee for Peace in the Balkans, continues to have a major failing, not least if it is to win over those who, up to now, have swallowed NATO’s line about conducting a "humanitarian" war.
It is not just that its sole slogan, "Stop the Bombing" fails to address Milosevic’s crimes against the Kosovan people, but at meetings and rallies few, if any, of the official speakers even mention this issue.
By concentrating almost exclusively on the suffering of the Serbs without mentioning the Kosovars, they come across as apologists for Milosevic.
This in turn gives a legitimacy to those Serbs in Britain (by no means all) who vehemently oppose any criticism of the Serbian government and its ethnic cleansing.
On both national demonstrations there has been a small counter-picket by Kosovars. Holding KLA placards, but also NATO, U.S. and British flags, these show the illusions most Kosovars currently have in NATO saving them from Serbia’s repression.
But the outrageous response they get from sections of the demonstration is to chant "Kosovo is Serbian".
Sections of the demonstrations which have raised slogans in support of the Kosovars as well as `Stop the Bombing’ have been subject to verbal abuse and threats of violence.
Although these problems are not present on the same scale in every local campaign, it does mean that at its heart the movement cannot address the concerns of those appalled at the plight of the Kosovars in Kosova and the camps.
Nor can there be any dialogue with the Kosovars themselves who, wrongly but understandably, see NATO as their saviour.
Because of this organisations have come together in a loose coordination around the slogans "Stop the Bombing, NATO out of the Balkans", "Stop the Ethnic Cleansing, Self-determination for Kosova" and "Open the Borders".
On the two national demonstrations these organisations have formed a bloc behind a banner with these slogans, both for protection against abuse and to make it more visible that at least a section of the anti-war movement does attempt to address the issue of the Kosovars.
The participating organisations (Socialist Outlook, Workers Power, Workers Action, Communist Party of Great Britain, Socialist Democracy and Workers International) have also sent a letter to the Committee for Peace in the Balkans calling on them to ensure the range of speakers at meetings and demonstrations also includes those who address these issues.