IAWM PRESS RELEASE – 06 December 2012
• OSCE members – stop supporting terrorism and abuse of human rights
• Stop drone attacks on civilians
• US, Britain and NATO out of Afghanistan
• Stop supporting Israeli aggression – Justice for Palestine
• What about Bahrain? – Stop supporting Arab dictators
• Peace not war – don’t attack Iran
The Irish anti-War Movement (IAWM) announced this morning that it is holding a demonstration this evening, Thursday 06 December at 6pm, assembling at the Central Bank, Dame St. and marching to as close as possible to Dublin Castle where the foreign Ministers from the OSCE are being hosted. The protest is supported by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and WitnessBahrain Ireland.
The statement noted that the protest is being called to draw attention to the contradictions between the stated aims of the OSCE regarding concerns for human rights and security and the actions of many of the participating countries that include the abuse of human rights, restrictions of free speech and media activity, use of torture, harassment of NGOs, support for dictatorships and the proliferation of warfare and nuclear weapons.
The statement noted that these contradictory actions occur in various forms across the membership of the OSCE from the US to Tajikistan and from Britain to the Russian Federation.
Memet Uludag of the IAWM Steering Committee said:
“There are 57 participating states in OSCE including UK, US, Germany and the Russian Federation. Some of these countries are the very same countries that are occupying Afghanistan, supporting Israel in its daily suppression of the Palestinians and constantly threatening to attack Iran.”
IAWM PRESS RELEASE – 06 December 2012
• OSCE members – stop supporting terrorism and abuse of human rights
• Stop drone attacks on civilians
• US, Britain and NATO out of Afghanistan
• Stop supporting Israeli aggression – Justice for Palestine
• What about Bahrain? – Stop supporting Arab dictators
• Peace not war – don’t attack Iran
The Irish anti-War Movement (IAWM) announced this morning that it is holding a demonstration this evening, Thursday 06 December at 6pm, assembling at the Central Bank, Dame St. and marching to as close as possible to Dublin Castle where the foreign Ministers from the OSCE are being hosted. The protest is supported by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and WitnessBahrain Ireland.
The statement noted that the protest is being called to draw attention to the contradictions between the stated aims of the OSCE regarding concerns for human rights and security and the actions of many of the participating countries that include the abuse of human rights, restrictions of free speech and media activity, use of torture, harassment of NGOs, support for dictatorships and the proliferation of warfare and nuclear weapons.
The statement noted that these contradictory actions occur in various forms across the membership of the OSCE from the US to Tajikistan and from Britain to the Russian Federation.
Memet Uludag of the IAWM Steering Committee said:
“There are 57 participating states in OSCE including UK, US, Germany and the Russian Federation. Some of these countries are the very same countries that are occupying Afghanistan, supporting Israel in its daily suppression of the Palestinians and constantly threatening to attack Iran.”
“The OSCE claims to do things such as arms control, border management (the racist Frontex agenda) and combatting terrorism yet many of the Governments of these countries do the exact opposite.”
Jim Roche, PRO of the IAWM said:
“It is deeply ironic that Ireland as a neutral country should be hosting such a collection of warmongers and abusers of human rights all on the same day. The claims made by the OSCE regarding concerns for “human rights, conflict resolution, ensuring the suatainable use of natural resources and promoting the full respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms” are just not credible given the actions of the participating countries.”
“One only has to think of the illegal and immoral wars indulged in by the US, Britain and NATO countries, often waged mainly to control access to natural resources, the continued use of drone attacks, the promotion of extrajudicial killings, the unashamed use of torture and the support that these major western Governments give to dictatorships. Hilary Clinton would happily have seen the continuation of Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Now her Government, along with Britain, is openly supporting the barbaric regime in Saudi Arabia, who helped last year to suppress pro-democracy protests in Bahrain. The US and Britain are falling over each other to sell arms to this dictatorship while threatening to start yet another war in the region, this time with Iran.”
He continued:
“The most obvious case of human rights abuse is in Palestine, yet the Israeli delegation will be openly welcomed at this gathering. The primary reason Israel gets away with its horrific mistreatment of and denial of human rights to the Palestinians is the unconditional support given by Western Governments, particularly the US and Britain, for its racist, apartheid policies.”
He continued:
“Wikileaks has contributed more to exposing the lies told about the so called ‘war on terror’ and to promoting the cause of human rights than any of these Governments yet we have seen the horrific treatment in prison of Private Bradley Manning in the US and the harassment of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in London.”
He also noted:
“The IAWM is also deeply critical of the Russian Government for its clampdown on freedom of assembly, restrictions on the media and on NGOs.”
He concluded by noting:
“Social and foreign policy in these countries, especially in the US, Britain and Russia, is not set by the needs of human rights and security but by the perogatives of geo-political strategies and the needs of industrial military complexes. This needs to change in order to achieve true human rights and real security. That is why the IAWM is protesting tonight.”
END
For further info contact:
Jim Roche, PRO Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 087 6472737
Daryl Southern, Coordinator, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 085 277 6505
John Molyneux, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 085 734 6424
Memet Uludag, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 087 791 9307
Website – www.irishantiwar.org
@IrishAntiWarMvt <https://twitter.com/#!/IrishAntiWarMvt>
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