IAWM Forum this Saturday 12 March, 3-6pm Cassidy’s Hotel, Cavendish Row, Upper O Connell Street, Dublin 1. Hands off the Arab pe

Irish Anti-war Movement
Press Release 10 March 2011
IAWM Forum this Saturday 12 March, 3-6pm Cassidy’s Hotel, Cavendish Row, Upper O Connell Street, Dublin 1.
Hands off the Arab peoples’ revolutions – no western military intervention.
The Irish Anti-war Movement has organised a forum in Dublin for this Saturday 12 March to discuss the momentous events in Egypt, Libya and the rest of the Middle East and to argue against western military intervention of any kind in Libya.
Speakers will include well known Egyptian activist Wassim Wagdy, Dr. Anne Alexander, a writer on Egypt and the Middle East, Richard Boyd Barrett T.D. and a member of the Libyan Community in Ireland.
In a statement issued today the Irish Anti-war Movement noted that western military intervention in Libya will make things much worse for the Libyan people and for the whole region. The rebels are resisting Gaddafi and the momentum needs to be maintained. Western intervention could throw a life line to Gaddafi. UN or NATO bombing of Libya would allow him to champion Libyan independence in a country which has a long history of savage imperial intervention.

Irish Anti-war Movement
Press Release 10 March 2011
IAWM Forum this Saturday 12 March, 3-6pm Cassidy’s Hotel, Cavendish Row, Upper O Connell Street, Dublin 1.
Hands off the Arab peoples’ revolutions – no western military intervention.
The Irish Anti-war Movement has organised a forum in Dublin for this Saturday 12 March to discuss the momentous events in Egypt, Libya and the rest of the Middle East and to argue against western military intervention of any kind in Libya.
Speakers will include well known Egyptian activist Wassim Wagdy, Dr. Anne Alexander, a writer on Egypt and the Middle East, Richard Boyd Barrett T.D. and a member of the Libyan Community in Ireland.
In a statement issued today the Irish Anti-war Movement noted that western military intervention in Libya will make things much worse for the Libyan people and for the whole region. The rebels are resisting Gaddafi and the momentum needs to be maintained. Western intervention could throw a life line to Gaddafi. UN or NATO bombing of Libya would allow him to champion Libyan independence in a country which has a long history of savage imperial intervention.
Recently elected TD, Richard Boyd Barrett, chair of the Irish-anti War Movement, said that “the incoming Irish government should raise its voice against UN or NATO intervention in the Libyan people’s revolution and to refuse the use of air facilities for US troops on their way to the region. Instead the government should call for medical and humanitarian aid to assist the rebels in their battle for democracy.”
He said that “the incoming Irish government is uniquely placed to set Irish foreign policy on a new footing. The Labour Party in the past has sought to distinguish itself as having a clear anti-war position. It has called for the removal of Irish military personnel from Afghanistan. Many of its supporters marched with the Irish Anti-war Movement against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The first act of Eamon Gilmore as Minister for Foreign Affairs should be to oppose any UN military involvement in Libya, refuse passage to US troops on their way to the region, and make a clear declaration to Europe than the West should not intervene militarily in Libya.”
The IAWM statement further noted that: “Any such military operation would be driven by the same cynical self-interest that has led the West to back dictators – including Gaddafi – across the region for generations. Gaddafi’s attempt to repress the uprising is sickening, but the best way to support the democracy movement is to demand that Western governments recognise the Interim National Council, stop paying Gaddafi for oil and drop any plans for military intervention.”
“Despite media accounts, the Libyan rebels are not all seeking western military intervention. Many of the protests around Libya have carried placards calling for the West not to interfere. Last Sunday Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga speaking from Benghazi at a press conference about how the revolutionary councils were co-ordinating rebel cities, said ‘We are against any foreign intervention or military intervention in our internal affairs. This revolution will be completed by our people with the liberation of the rest of Libyan ¬territory’.”
Jim Roche, PRO of the Irish Anti-war Movement added:
“This outpouring of concern for the Libyan people by western Governments should be seen as a cynical exercise in reasserting western domination of the region. Contrast this with the reticience of Obama and Clinton in supporting the peoples’ revolution in Egypt against their friend Hosni Mubarak, Western leaders silence on the killings of peaceful protesters in Bahrain while Prime Minister David Cameron sneeked off on his arms-selling tour of the region, the continual slaughter in Afghanistan where nine children were mowed down by US helicopters last week and the silence over the killing of 30 Iraqi protesters two weeks ago who were merely seeking democratic change from a corrupt Government supported by 50,000 US troops.”
“There were no calls for a no-fly zone when Israel slaughtered 1400 Palestinians, including almost 400 children, in Gaza over two years ago.”
“The courageous people of Libya and the middle east should be supported in other ways and not through cynical posturing by hypocritical western leaders that threaten to dampen the peoples’ revolutions throughout the region and whose main interest is to keep the oil flowing”.
These issues will be discussed at a forum hosted by the Irish Anti-war Movement on Saturday 12 March at 3.00pm in Cassidy’s Hotel, Cavendish Row, Upper O Connell Street, Dublin.
Speakers will include well known Egyptian activist Wassim Wagdy, Dr. Anne Alexander, a writer on Egypt and the Middle East, Richard Boyd Barrett T.D. and a member of the Libyan Community in Ireland.
Please contact the numbers below for interviews:
Marnie Holborow 087 9889244
Jim Roche 087 6472737
Richard Boyd Barrett 087 6329511
www.irishantiwar.org