Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 00:33:56 +0100
From: Hugh Rodwell <m-14970-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se>
Subject: M-NEWS: No war against Iraq!


Yoshie wrote:

>Are there any anti-war actions going on around you? We in Columbus, Ohio,
>USA, where the bombing of Iraq is being test-marketed like a new brand of
>breakfast cereal through a mediatized "townhall meeting," held an anti-war
>rally of about 300 people today. People's spirits were high at the rally,
>but, alas, probably not (yet?) high enough to mount massive resistance to
>make this country ungovernable. Next Friday, there will be another rally in
>front of the Federal Building (at 200 N. High) at 12: 00 noon in Columbus,
>in case there are any lurkers from Ohio here.
>
>My personal thanks go to Justin for showing up at the rally despite being ill.

This is great news.

What slogans are you putting forward and why?

I watched some of the CNN show, and was heartened by the noise made against
the butchers throughout -- sporadic but loud and persistent. The butchers
were clearly affected by it, even though their dismissals were
well-rehearsed, including the shit about how free America is to allow
dissent like this. Perhaps we could get some information about how the
hecklers were handled by the security goons? Were there removals, injuries
etc? It was noticeable that the audience was packed with uniforms.

What Yoshie writes about spirits being good seemed to apply in the hall,
too. The one hostile questioner I saw, who asked why the Iraqi people were
being victimized when the quarrel was with the regime, was uncowed and
spoke out confidently and loud and clear -- not an easy thing in a
situation like that. Also there seemed to be few indications of a lynch mob
attitude towards the dissenters even though they were laughed at and the
butchers were loudly applauded.

Note that the rationale for the war is purely and simply that "Iraq is our
enemy", ie they have weapons they may well use against "us and our
friends". Changing the regime was clearly excluded from the strategic goals
of war. It is purely a matter of punishing hostility towards US
imperialism. This means that as the Euphoria consensus falls to pieces and
more and more states have to defend themselves against US depradation, the
number of enemies will grow and the potential causes of war will multiply.

I'm appending a message I got yesterday from a comrade in Britain about
developments there.

Cheers,

Hugh

_______________________________________

No war against Iraq

In Britain there is an anti-war movement. It is headed in London by Tony
Benn and other left Labour MPs. Yesterday the disgraceful vote in the
British Parliament to support the military attack on Iraq was only opposed
by 25 MPs, but at least there was an opposition. Public demonstations,
candle lit vigils (beloved by the middle class here) and other protests
have taken place in the last week or so.

In Manchester there are some interesting developments. The Socialist
Alliance has called a public meeting for the 19 February, the SWP (state
capitalists) also called a meeting and asked CND (Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament) to have a joint meeting also for 19 Feb in the same building.
There will be a joint meeting
of all groups. This means there will be some 100s of people (and the first
time that all the political groups have a possibility of getting an
alliance) and the aim will be to organise a rally in Manchester next week.

The new leaders of the CND are the same people who are leaders in Earth
First and RTS who supported the dockers and who are still coming to the
dock workers support group. They are willing to work with the SWP but they
also know their sectarian past. It is interesting that while the SWP would
do no joint work for the dock workers they may be forced into a united
front in the anti-war movement.

All the polls in Britain show great support for the war but all the radio
and TV chat shows indictate  a majority against the war. This feeling from
below is what is giving Tony Benn the confidence to speak out and also
tending to push for a united movement.

The discussion is around the slogan: No war against Iraq, as a slogan
which can unite all kinds of groups. We of course would go into such a
movement but at the same time use our own material. The big question at
the same time is how a movement in the working class can be built. The
INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU) has issued a
statement opposing the bombing of Iraq, which means that this question can
easily be raised inside the European trade union movement at all levels,
while the ICFTU supports the resolutions of the UN nevertheless for the
European trade union bureaucracy to issue even this statement as quickly as
this must indict a certain pressure from below.