Families for Peaceful Tomorrow's - organisers of the event are calling for an end to military intervention and an end to the use of their grief to justify the bombing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sadly, international media looks set to ignore this moving demonstration as the memory of 9/11 is cynically used again to whip up war fever. As cities across the world observe a minute‚’s silence tomorrow for the victims of S/11, final preparations are being made for phase II of the 'war on terror' a new attack on the people of Iraq.
The S/11 anniversary falls all too conveniently for Bush & Blair as on the following day the UN General Assembly will meet. As pressure builds internationally for a return of UN weapons inspectors rather than unilateral US action against Iraq, it is highly likely that the warmongers will use Thursday's meeting to obtain a UN stamp of approval for war on Iraq.
Addressing the TUC in Blackpool today, Blair said that it must be made clear that 'should the will of the UN be ignored, action will follow'. Of course, UN Resolutions have been repeatedly ignored by Israel but Ariel Sharon will not feel threatened by this speech.
White House officials have hinted at the possibility of coercive inspections, in which foreign troops would be prepared to shoot their way into suspected weapons sited if denied access by Iraq. Whether or not he gets the support that he needs from world leaders, Bush is expected to get Congress approval for the use of military force within weeks. And, if the UN is not forthcoming, President Bush can always depend on Tony Blair‚’s unconditional support.
Meanwhile world leaders continue to ignore the more than 9,000 innocent Afghan civilians murdered by US & international forces over the past year. In last Friday's Irish Times, Miriam Donohue revealed how only $570m of the $1.8b in aid promised by the international community has actually been delivered to Afghanistan while the country falls increasingly under the hands of local warlords. And, while the US makes big of the $280m given to Afghanistan, this is only a fraction of its war budget - $10b spent so far this year keeping US troops in Afghanistan and a staggering $1.8b each month allocated to the 'war on terror'.
Just like Afghanistan, war on Iraq will not bring democracy. All that it will achieve will be the killing and injuring of thousands of innocent civilians. It is vital that we oppose our government‚’s support for this war before it begins by turning September 28th into a major national mobilisation against any attack on Iraq.
In October 1998, Denis Halliday, the then United Nations Assistant Secretary General and at that time UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Baghdad resigned in protest at the genocidal consequences of the UN economic sanctions on the people of Iraq. Since then he has written and lectured extensively on the subject.
Last year, Denis spoke at the launch rally of the Irish Anti-War Movement opposing the war on Afghanistan. Hundreds turned up to the public rally to hear Denis and other speak about the war on terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan.
We are delighted that Denis will be speaking at Friday's event and we hope to use the event to build support for a major anti-war demonstration on Saturday 28th September. Other speakers include Councillor Deirdre de Burca (Green Party) and Kieran Allen (Socialist Workers Party). Make sure you arrive early to guarantee a seat.
The conference took in 4 separate sessions:
Representatives came from many different peace groups from all across the country. Discussion focused on recent US foreign policy & so-called humanitarian intervention, the myth of Irish neutrality, the causes of global conflict and the role that the Irish Anti-War Movement had played in building opposition to the ‚‘war on terrorism‚’. We agreed that we needed to place major emphasis on building the anti-war movement and to have better co-ordination amongst peace groups around the country.
The following resolutions were passed by the meeting:
P.S.: Congratulations to Eoin & Tim for their recent imaginative anti-war stunt & for their persistent monitoring of the daily infringements of Irish Neutrality at Shannon airport. For info on US warplanes at Shannon contact them at info@refuellingpeace.org
please contact Aoife on 087 7955013 if you have noticed any errors or omissions in this bulletin email events for next
Start Date: 2002-09-10 01:00:00-04
End Date: 2002-10-10 01:00:00-04
Created By: info@irishantiwar.org .