Stop Blair and Bush’s War!
Organise Now for an Anti-War Government!

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Stop Blair and Bush’s War! Organise Now for an Anti-War Government!

Not In Our Name - Anti-War Culture and Discussion

Statement of RCPB(ML) – February 15, 2003

The US preparations for war against Iraq are reaching their culmination. The British government is shamelessly acting as US imperialism’s partner in crime. As they prepare to organise a second UN resolution to give a spurious mandate to aggression, at the same time the US administration has declared that it will go to war whatever the outcome. While the Anglo-American stand is giving rise to intensified contradictions with other world powers, nevertheless this only underlines the fact that the working class and people can only rely on themselves, on their own organisation and initiative, to stop the war.

The justifications for war are not being believed by peace-loving people. The people see nothing in these justifications but a smoke-screen for Anglo-US imperialist domination of the Middle East for the purpose of controlling its oil, installing a puppet government in Iraq, giving a warning to the governments of Europe and Asia to submit to its dictate or else, and smashing the resistance of the world’s people to its drive for world domination. The people see that these justifications rest on nothing but lies, fabrications and the reliance on military might. They see the US and Britain tearing up all the principles established following the defeat of fascism in World War Two by the blood and heroic efforts of progressive humanity. The US and Britain, far from using the UN to maintain international peace and security, are attempting to use it to justify the crime of war. Far from renouncing the use of force and the threat of war as the bedrock to international relations, they are declaring that the "credible threat of force" must prevail, that no other solutions are to be permitted, and that the world must submit to nuclear blackmail. Far from respecting the territorial integrity and political independence of states, they are demanding the adoption of the Anglo-American model by everyone and intervening and committing aggression in the name of their own interests of globalisation and "universal values".

This drive to war is being coupled with unprecedented measures to violate human rights, with the British government even seeking to opt out of the European Convention on Human Rights, which it enacted into British law only a few years ago. Racist and anti-human measures are being taken coupled with the most reactionary propaganda against so-called "illegal immigrants" and "bogus asylum seekers" to create a climate of terror and suspicion. Officially, Britain remains in a "state of emergency" and the government in a show of armed force ringed Heathrow airport with tanks.

In these circumstances, the working class and people must seize the initiative. The world is at a critical juncture and the people’s movement against war and for renewal and for the alternative is at a take-off point. Only the working class and peoples of the world have the ability to stop the warmongers and open humanity’s path to social progress. Only they have the ability to prevent international instability and avert a cataclysmic world war. Only they have the ability to resolve society’s problems and end the anti-social offensive against the working people of this country and the merciless exploitation of the peoples of the world.

The people are saying loud and clear to Bush and Blair’s drive to war and reaction: Not In Our Name! It is up to the working class to lead in taking a principled stand, and workers themselves to take the initiative to turn things around. The working class must lead the people in fighting for an anti-war government in Britain now. Such a programme would ensure that the warmongers are defeated, war is outlawed, and the path to democratic renewal is opened up. Therefore RCPB(ML) calls for the people themselves to organise for an anti-war government that represents their desire for peace and social progress. A government committed to peace and progress, not war and reaction, would:

· Outlaw any and all British involvement in wars of aggression and renounce the use of force in settling international affairs;

· Accept the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries;

· Recognise the sovereignty and equality of all nations;

· Adopt a foreign policy independent of the United States;

· Remove all British troops from foreign soil;

· End the militarisation of the economy;

· Pay reparations for all the crimes of British imperialism and colonialism.

These are actions that represent the interests of all the world’s people, and would bring an end to the threat of terrorism and halt the drive of the imperialists to war and fascism. RCPB(ML) calls on the workers themselves to become worker politicians and take up and organise for this programme, and for the people to unite around it and fight for its implementation. It pledges to go all out to make this programme a reality.

No to Bush and Blair’s war!

Let’s organise now to bring about real change! Let’s organise now for an anti-war government!