IAWM PRESS RELEASE – 15 APRIL 2011 – NO TO NATO INTERVENTION, SUPPORT THE ARAB REVOLUTIONS

IAWM PRESS RELEASE 15 APRIL 2011
• NO TO NATO INTERVENTION – SUPPORT THE ARAB REVOLUTIONS
• OPPOSE NATO MILITARY INTERVENTION IN LIBYA
• PICKET THE EU OFFICES ON DAWSON STREET.
The Irish Anti-war Movement in a statement today, noted that they have organised a series of events this weekend along the theme ‘NO TO WAR – NO TO NATO’. This includes a picket of the EU Offices this evening, Friday 15 April at 6.00pm, against the NATO bombing of Libya and a Public Meeting tomorrow, Saturday 16 April at 4.00pm in Liberty Hall.
PR0TEST AT EU OFFICES, 6.00PM, FRIDAY 15 APRIL
Speakers will include:
Richard Boyd Barrett TD
Jimmy Kelly, UNITE the Union, Region Secretary
and other speakers.
PUBLIC MEETING, LIBERTY HALL, 4.00pm, SATURDAY 16 APRIL
NO TO WAR – NO TO NATO (jointly organised with PANA)
Speakers:
Kate Hudson, Chair CND, UK
Arielle Denis, French Peace Movement
Paul Murphy, MEP
Richard Boyd Barrett, ULA TD, Chair IAWM
John Lannon, Shannonwatch
Eoin O’Broin, Sein Féin
Chair: Patricia McKenna, PANA

IAWM PRESS RELEASE 15 APRIL 2011
• NO TO NATO INTERVENTION – SUPPORT THE ARAB REVOLUTIONS
• OPPOSE NATO MILITARY INTERVENTION IN LIBYA
• PICKET THE EU OFFICES ON DAWSON STREET.
The Irish Anti-war Movement in a statement today, noted that they have organised a series of events this weekend along the theme ‘NO TO WAR – NO TO NATO’. This includes a picket of the EU Offices this evening, Friday 15 April at 6.00pm, against the NATO bombing of Libya and a Public Meeting tomorrow, Saturday 16 April at 4.00pm in Liberty Hall.
PR0TEST AT EU OFFICES, 6.00PM, FRIDAY 15 APRIL
Speakers will include:
Richard Boyd Barrett TD
Jimmy Kelly, UNITE the Union, Region Secretary
and other speakers.
PUBLIC MEETING, LIBERTY HALL, 4.00pm, SATURDAY 16 APRIL
NO TO WAR – NO TO NATO (jointly organised with PANA)
Speakers:
Kate Hudson, Chair CND, UK
Arielle Denis, French Peace Movement
Paul Murphy, MEP
Richard Boyd Barrett, ULA TD, Chair IAWM
John Lannon, Shannonwatch
Eoin O’Broin, Sein Féin
Chair: Patricia McKenna, PANA
The statement noted that: “The US, French and UK governments who are spearheading the NATO intervention in Libya say they are doing it to save civilian lives. We say they are cynically USING the threat to Libyan civilians to intervene for their own reasons – to re-establish their power in the region where it has been threatened by people’s revolutions. They only intervene in order to serve their own interests, safeguard their oil supplies and bolster their own power. Its what they did in the Suez Crisis, in Vietnam, in Cuba, in Algeria, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and what they are doing now in Libya.”
The statement further noted: “France and Britain were colonial powers in the area with terrible records of brutality. The US has been the informal colonial power since World War 2. All of them have a record of supporting – with military and financial aid – all the corrupt, reactionary dictatorships in the region including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Zine Ben Ali in Tunisia (until he was overthrown by the Tunisian people) and above all Hosni Mubarak in Egypt ( until he was overthrown).”
“Their only condition was that these regimes did the bidding of their Western paymasters. They never cared what these regimes did to their people. This is why they supported Gaddafi in Libya once he fell into line with the West. While NATO bombs rain down on Libya, democracy protesters are being killed and tortured on a daily basis right now by the dictatorships in Saudi, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Bahrain WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE WEST. In Libya they are bombing in a way that is bound to kill civilians and they are probably planning to partition the country in a way that none of the Libyans want but that will enable the Western powers to control the country.”
The statement further noted that: “The western powers refused to do the things that would really have helped the citizens the most. They failed to supply humanitarian aid. They refused to recognise the Rebel government. They refused to send arms to the anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries while still selling arms to despotic leaders in the region.”
“These actions would have helped empower the rebels and helped the democracy struggle across the Arab world. Instead the Western powers have intervened to defend their own power in the Middle East. “
Marnie Holborrow of the IAWM Steering Committee noted:
“The NATO bombing must be seen as part of a wider western political strategy for the region. Cameron and Sarkozy, cheerleaders for this initiative, fear that the Arab uprisings may get out of hand and threaten to overturn their cosy relationships with the despotic middle-eastern regimes. They believe that it is time to put their stamp back on the region and force a halt to further radicalization of the pro-democracy movements. That is why we are protesting against the NATO intervention”.
END
For further info contact:
Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Chair IAWM, Tel. 086 781 4520
Marnie Holborrow, Steering Committee IAWM, 087 988 9244
Jim Roche, PRO Steering Committee, IAWM, Tel. 087 6472737
www.irishantiwar.org
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