In this on the sofa discussion, young volunteers consider whether the anti-war demonstrations that gained momentum in the run up to the Iraq invasion, embody a new era of mass political action. Leading the discussion, Brendan O’Neill, editor of spiked argues that the anti-war movement is little more than defeatism posturing as political argument. He asks us to consider whether, had the invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan been ‘successful’, if its oppressed citizens had been liberated, would the war then have been okay? For Brendan, the answer is ‘no’, but are his fellow discussants convinced?