A Call to Chauvinism and Warmongering

Workers' Daily Internet Edition : Article Index :

A Call to Chauvinism and Warmongering

Impromptu Anti-War Demonstrations
Mass Protest in Parliament Square Condemns War

Letter to the Editor:
Oppose the unjust war on the Iraqi People!

What About Humanity?

Initial Reactions to the Anglo-US Aggression
Hans Blix: Weapons Inspection Should Have Continued
UNICEF Warns Millions Endangered by Preoccupation with Iraq

On Thursday, Tony Blair appeared on TV to deliver his "address to the nation" on the unfolding Anglo-American aggression against Iraq. Dropping his pretence from before the war that Britain was not in favour of regime change, he declared that the mission of the British invading troops was to "remove Saddam Hussein from power". With these words, Blair unashamedly declared before the whole world that he was in the process of committing a crime against peace, namely ordering a war of aggression to overthrow the government of a sovereign state.

In the face of the determined opposition of people in Britain to his criminal warmongering, Blair declared, "I know this course of action has produced deep divisions of opinion in our country. But I know also the British people will now be united in sending our armed forces our thoughts and prayers. They are the finest in the world and their families and all of Britain can have great pride in them." In this way, Blair is trying to extinguish the opposition of the people to his warmongering, by hiding behind the solders, most of whom are the children of the workers, who he has sent to Iraq to commit a crime and by calling upon the poison of British chauvinism. According to Blair's logic, he proposed committing a crime against humanity, the people opposed him, he ignored the people's will and pressed ahead with committing the crime and now the people are duty bound to give up their opposition to the crime and unite behind him in carrying it out for the sake of the "British armed forces" who "are the finest in the world". In this way, Blair wants to play the "patriotism card". But there is absolutely nothing patriotic whatsoever in involving a country in a war of aggression and dragging its name through the mud as a country led by war criminals. The only patriotic choice is to demand the immediate withdrawal of the country from the front of aggressors and the return of all British troops to Britain. This is also the surest way of supporting the people's children who are in the armed forces.

Further on, he declared, "War between the big powers is unlikely. Europe is at peace." In fact, the opposite is the case. The present Anglo-American aggression against Iraq makes war between the big powers more likely and the growing tension between the Anglo-Americans and the Franco-German axis shows that not all is well in the European "garden of peace". With these words, Blair is trying to pull the wool over people's eyes and lull them to sleep in the face of the grave dangers facing humanity. These result from the adventurist and warmongering policy of the Anglo-Americans and the growing rivalry between the big powers.

Desperately trying to justify the unjustifiable, Blair once again returns to a familiar theme of his, the threat of "chaos and anarchy" posed by "brutal states like Iraq, armed with weapons of mass destruction; or of extreme terrorist groups" who both allegedly "hate our way of life, our freedom, our democracy". This is an oft repeated justification of the warmongers which is more applicable to themselves with their huge arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, their total disregard for international law, their attempts to bring the whole world into a state of anarchy and chaos and their implacable opposition to both freedom and democracy. With utter cynicism, while ordering the raining down of bombs and missiles on the people of Iraq, Blair declared, "These tyrannical states do not care for the sanctity of human life. The terrorists delight in destroying it." Actions speak louder than words and the attitude of the warmongers led by Bush and Blair to the "sanctity of human life" is clear to millions of people both in Britain and around the world.

Further on Blair declared, "It is true Saddam is not the only threat. But it is also true - as we British know - that the best way to deal with future threats peacefully is to deal with present threats with results." In the style of a 19th century colonialist, Blair thinks that by "making an example of Iraq" he will terrorise the world's people into submission and all will give up their struggles for freedom and independence and bow before the Anglo-American diktat. This is the doctrine of a common hooligan, which has no chance of being realised in today's world. The days of the superior and inferior human beings are ended forever and no amount of warmongering and threats will bring them back into being. Expanding on his vision of the world he is trying to create, he declared, "These challenges (tyrannical states and extreme terrorists) and others that confront us - poverty, the environment, the ravages of disease require a world of order and stability." For Blair, this order comes not from the people of the world taking power and recreating their social, political and cultural environments to suit their own needs but out of the missiles and bombs of the Anglo-American imperialists who have appointed themselves the colonial masters of the entire world. He continued, "Dictators like Saddam, terrorist groups like al-Qaida, threaten the very existence of such a world. That is why I have asked our troops to go into action tonight."

The people's anti-war movement must reject Tony Blair's call to chauvinism and warmongering and push ahead in its struggle to stop the war, topple the present regime and bring into being an anti-war government capable of changing Britain's present reactionary and warmongering course, in which it is the people’s will which has authority.

WKC Students and Staff

On Thursday 20, students and staff at the Gray's Inn site of Westminster Kingsway College, which is London's largest FE college, staged an impromptu mass meeting and demonstration to voice their opposition to the war of aggression unleashed against Iraq by the warmongers of Washington and London. At 1 o'clock, students and staff started gathering in the college playground. Speakers from the Islamic Society, King's Cross Against the War and the college lecturers' union, NATFHE, addressed those gathered. The representative of the Islamic Society condemned the British and US governments for "supporting the UN when it suited them and ignoring it when it didn't". He called on the Muslims present to take a stand in defence of the rights of all. The speaker from King's Cross Against the War called on the anti-war forces to build their unity and declared that his organisation would be contacting the Islamic Society in this regard. The speaker from NATFHE called on the students and staff of the college to take a stand on the basis of their own conscience and invited anyone who wanted, to join an impromptu demonstration.

With this, those who were assembled marched out of the college and headed for the nearby Tavistock Square to meet up with protesters from local universities like SOAS, UCL and LSE. As the three hundred or so demonstrators piled out on to the street, they shouted slogans, including "Stop the War" and "No war on Iraq". When they reached Tavistock Square, the demonstrators combined with those who were already there and headed for the main thoroughfare of Tottenham Court Road. By this time, the demonstration had swelled to over 500 and was heading down Tottenham Court Road. At the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street, the demonstrators sat down in the road bringing traffic in Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road to a standstill. There were some limited scuffles as the police arrived on the scene, but after the initial scuffles the police stood around and waited for the demonstrators to move on. After about 15 minutes blocking the Oxford Street - Tottenham Court Road junction the demonstrators moved on heading for 10 Downing Street and Parliament Square. On route, another 10-minute sit down protest was staged at the junction of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road. Outside Downing Street, the demonstrators stopped and chanted slogans against Tony Blair, including "Blair Out". From here the demonstrators, who had by now swelled to over 1000, proceeded the short distance to Parliament Square which was already teeming with students from other London colleges and schools.

Anti-War Protest Brings Tottenham to a Standstill

Hundreds of people halted traffic in Tottenham at lunchtime on Thursday in protest at the British and US led war against Iraq. Students and staff from the College of North East London carrying union banners and placards completely blocked Tottenham High Road for over 90 minutes, leading to massive traffic jams stretching for many miles. The were joined in the protest by many local people and by students from Middlesex University who had marched all the way from the White Hart Lane campus chanting slogans and calling on local peoples to join the anti-war protest. Many motorists sounded their horns in support of the protest.

The demonstration, which was noisy and militant throughout, was accompanied by drumming and the shouting of slogans condemning Bush, Blair and their governments for the criminal attack on Iraq. Those protesting also expressed their support for the heroic Palestinian people and vowed to continue and step up their protests so that the will of the people for an end to war could be realised.

Birmingham

Several thousand people gathered in Victoria Square at 6pm. A rally took place and a spontaneous demonstration round town. People sat down and blockaded New Street. Police tried to remove the sit down protestors.

On Thursday evening, from 6.00 pm onwards, in response to the call from the Stop The War Coalition, thousands of people converged on Parliament Square to condemn the Anglo-American war of aggression against Iraq. The entire square was full as demonstrators continued to arrive in waves, banners and placards aloft and chanting slogans. In one corner a sound system pounded out its music, which merged with the sounds of whistles and drums.

All traffic around the square was stopped. Westminster Bridge was closed to traffic as a large demonstration was heading down to the Square. Whitehall was sealed off to traffic and pedestrians. There was heavy police presence around the Parliament and Whitehall. Thus the demonstration was contained on the Square.

Amongst the demonstrators the Speakers Corner organisation had set up a PA system and were operating an open platform policy for anyone from the audience to come forward and present their views to their fellow demonstrators. This was a welcome development which gave the people a chance to voice their own views and to put their perceptions centre stage, rather than just being a passive audience for "important speakers". Speaker after speaker came forward to present their views.

One speaker outlined his efforts in the courts to have the British government indicted for its violation of a whole series of international legal requirements such as the UN Charter and the Geneva Convention. He said that as well as the technicalities which the government lawyers had used to frustrate his case, the judge had also ruled that he had failed to prove that the purpose of war was to kill people. He called on those present to take up the challenge and launch more cases against the government.

Another speaker denounced the attack on Iraq as a crime and called on the demonstrators not to give in to the pressure from the warmongers to conciliate with it. He called on those present to not see themselves as a pressure group but to begin to think of themselves as the force that could govern the country and declared that they should strive to establish an anti-war government. In closing he said that as long as Britain did not repudiate its past crimes against humanity such as the enslavement of the African people, the door would always be open to commit new crimes against humanity.

A Plaid Cymru MP greeted the crowd and called on them to keep up their opposition to the war. He said that the opponents of war in the Houses of Parliament greatly valued the efforts of the masses of the people who were taking a stand against the war. Another speaker declared that the attack on Iraq was part of the War Against Terror and that the Terrorism Act of 2000 was part of a campaign of terrorism against the people. He explained that anti-war activists who had damaged landing lights at the Fairford Air Base in order to block the war drive were being charged under the Terrorism Act.

Another speaker noted that the Houses of Parliament across the road had existed long before working class men had gained the right to vote in the early 19th century and long before women won the right to vote in the early 20th century. It had always been an instrument in the hands of the rich and powerful and it remained so today. He called on those present to fight to change the world so that ordinary people all around the world could come to power. Finally, a speaker from the English Collective of Prostitutes condemned the conditions of women who are being trafficked.

At this point, the chair Andrew Murray opened the official Stop The War Podium. He noted the breadth and depth of the anti-war activities across the country and called on all present to keep up the struggle against the war. He declared that if you opposed a crime while people were speaking about committing it, then it was even more important to oppose the crime when it was actually being committed. The speakers from the main podium included pupils from Fortismere school, Paul Mackney of the college lecturers' union NATFHE, Stefan from the Human Shields, Hossan an Iraqi Human Rights activist, the singer Sonia who sang an anti-war song, a speaker from Globalise Resistance, Betty Hunter from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Asad Rahman from the Stop the War Campaign. Lindsey German of Stop the War Coalition who made a lengthy speech condemning the aggression on Iraq.

Repeated calls were made for the demonstration on Saturday, March 22, in London. The rally was wound up at 7.00 pm, but this did not stop many speakers from the crowd making their own speeches right up to 10.00 pm. Around 9:00 pm another demonstration came down Victoria Street heading towards Parliament Square. The police initially blocked its passage but after a few scuffles let them through. At the Square speeches were given and a sit down protest was held. This continued throughout the night.

The war of aggression by the US, Britain and their allies is an illegal war. No foreign power has the right to change the government of another country. The type of system and government should only be decided by the people of a country. This war is a violation of the sovereignty of nations. Once the principle has been violated and the United Nations has proved to be helpless there is no stopping of further wars of aggression leading to a catastrophic world war. Last year it was Afghanistan. This year it is Iraq.

Which country is next?

Millions of people in Britain have expressed fierce opposition to the war. The voice of these millions has been ignored by the government. This shows that the so called democracy is just a show piece. People have to create their own alternative government which stands for peace and implements the agenda fulfilling the aspirations of the majority.

Reader from West London

Rania Masri, Electronic Iraq, 20 March 2003

The invasion and occupation of Iraq has begun. Although Iraq threatened no country with aggression, and its violations of UN Security Council resolutions have been technical, mostly consisting of providing incomplete documentation about weapons that may or may not exist, and the use of which there are no apparent plans even, nevertheless, the bombing has begun.  

Surely, this is unprecedented in world history that a country is under escalating attack; told repeatedly that it will be subjected to a full-scale war; required to disarm itself before that war; castigated for significant but partial compliance; told that the end goal has changed from disarmament to regime change; and then forced to endure the wrath of the world’s most powerful military.

Have we forgotten what is most important?  Human life.  
I think of Rasha, an 18-year-old Iraqi high-school student in Baghdad.  In an exchange with American students coordinated by the Iraq Peace Team, Rasha wrote, "I want to say that I love the world and I love peace.  I don’t want war.  Why do you want to kill the smiles on our faces? We want to learn and live in peace.  I want to be [a] dentist, so how could I make that if the war happened?"

Rasha wrote that letter on March 3rd.  How is she now?

The media and the administration and all the pro-war hawks talk solely of one man.  Are there no others living in Iraq?  You who are reading this – do you envision other people living in Iraq other than Saddam Hussein, his regime, and the military guard?  Do you know that half of Iraq’s population are children under 15?

When Pentagon officials were still contemplating launching 300 to 400 cruise missiles a day against Iraqi cities, one Pentagon official said, "there will be no safe place in Baghdad" (CBS News, January 24, 2003).  Weeks later, the war plan became more devastating, increasing the tonnage to 3,000 bombs and missiles in the first 48 hours alone.  (New York Times, February 2, 2003). "Shock and Awe" they call it. On top of the cluster bombs laced with radioactive waste, and the depleted uranium "bunker busters" that can penetrate 150 feet below the desert floor, the Pentagon has recently stated that it will use thousands of landmines in Iraq. And just this week, Rear Adm. Costello said the bombing will be "devastating, it will be lethal, it will be persistent." (USA Today, March 12, 2003).

Lethal.  Against whom?  Who will be killed?  Who has already been killed?

The military bombardment now is 10 times the intensity of the 1991 Gulf War; 150,000 – 300,000 Iraqis were killed, directly and indirectly, then.  How many are being killed now?

The UN estimates that 500,000 people could be injured.  Another 900,000 Iraqis could become refugees and would need assistance.  Thirteen-years of suffocating sanctions have already left 16 million Iraqis – 60% of the population – completely dependent on monthly government food rations. The UN World Food Program’s representative in Iraq has stated that "it is impossible to establish an alternative to the current Iraqi government distribution system. [We cannot] replace it." (Reuters, February 25, 2003)

How will they live, then?  

Another UN document estimates that 30 % of Iraq’s children under five – 1.26 million children – "would be at risk of death from malnutrition" in the event of a war.  That is more than a million toddlers and infants.

The further destruction of civilian infrastructure -- water and sewage treatment, electrical power generation, transportation and communication – by the intense US bombardments means that people will continue to die even when the missiles and bombs stops.

Some have said that the deaths are for a greater goal: "liberation".  Easy to make those statements when it is not our children who are facing one bomb every 50 seconds.

And, liberation for whom and by whom?

War is not liberation.  War is the most bloody, undemocratic, and violently repressive of all human institutions. How is it liberation to launch 1,500 bombs and missiles a day against cities? To risk the lives of millions, including more than one million malnourished children? To leave "no safe place in Baghdad"?

If this is liberty, what have we left for oppression?

Democracy is about the inherent right of all human beings to participate in and create their own history. The most basic of these human rights, and of all freedoms, is the right to live.  Thuraya, a brilliant, young Iraqi girl, recently wrote in her diary:  "We don’t know what is going to happen. We might die, and maybe we are living our last days in life. I hope that everyone who reads my diary remembers me and know that there was an Iraqi girl who had many dreams in her life..."

How is Thuraya today? How is Rasha?

Rania Masri, Ph.D. is director of the Southern Peace Research and Education Centre at the Institute for Southern Studies (Durham), and regular contributor to Electronic Iraq

Pakistan deplores military action

Pakistan has deplored the war against Iraq. On Wednesday night Foreign Minister Mian Mehmood Kasuri had told parliament he saw no justification for the military action against Iraq.

"Pakistan deplores the initiation of military action against Iraq," Kasuri told a news conference on Thursday. … There is no way that the government of Pakistan would want to support military attack on the brotherly people of Iraq."

Arabs say hearts with Iraqis

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, whose country is a US ally and hosts the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, said in a televised speech that he had hoped diplomacy could have averted war.

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat expressed concern that Israel might exploit the war, increasing a crackdown against a Palestinian uprising while world attention was diverted.

"We have asked the international community not to allow Israel to exploit war in Iraq to escalate attacks on the Palestinians... to reoccupy all of Gaza and the West Bank or to attempt to destroy the Palestinian Authority and its leadership," Saeb Erekat told Reuters.

Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi called the unilateral US military action illegitimate and unjustifiable.

"The continued disregard for public wisdom by the United States will completely ruin the valuable achievements by governments and nations over half a century to consolidate cooperation for peace and security," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Israel says wants to stay out of Iraq war

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said that Israel has no plans to be sucked into the war against Iraq. "Israel is not part of the campaign against Iraq and does not want to be dragged into it," Shalom said in a conference call with Israeli diplomats after the US-led war began.

Senior Israeli government sources said the United States gave Israel 90 minutes advance notification of its initial military strikes in Iraq.

Israel has said repeatedly it intends to play no role in the war but has reserved the right to retaliate if Iraq attacks it.

Indonesia opposes attack on Iraq

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri said the government of Indonesia fiercely opposes the US-led attack on Iraq and has asked the United Nations to call an urgent meeting.

"Indonesia strongly denounces the unilateral attack on Iraq," Megawati told a news conference at the presidential palace.

"The Indonesian government calls on the Security Council of the United Nations...to hold an emergency meeting to urge the United States and its allies to halt the war and be responsible for the humanitarian impact of the conflict on Iraq."

Megawati said the attack was against international law and threatened world order. Her statement followed a cabinet meeting that lasted several hours.

Indonesia, generally an ally of the United States, has consistently opposed any attack against Iraq.

Russia regrets use of force on Iraq

The Russian Prime Minister said that Russia regrets the US-led attack on Baghdad. Mikhail Kasyanov, speaking hours after the US-led coalition launched hostilities, said Russia had made every effort to avert a war.

"The Russian leadership expresses regret that the Iraqi crisis is being resolved by military means without a decision by the UN Security Council, that is to say by the system of international security," he told a weekly government meeting.

The prime minister, in televised comments, said he had spoken to President Vladimir Putin about the outbreak of hostilities, which the United States unleashed to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and disarm Iraq by force.

Putin was to address the nation later, the Kremlin said.

"Russia undertook maximum efforts so that crises and conflicts might be resolved solely through the international security system," Kasyanov was quoted as saying.

Berlin dismayed at Iraq war

The German government said that it was dismayed by the start of the US-led military campaign against Iraq and offered humanitarian help to the Iraqi population. "News of the start of the war against Iraq has sparked grave concern and dismay in the federal government," the government said in a statement.

"Now everything must be done to avert a humanitarian disaster for Iraq's civilian population," it said.

"The government hopes military action will come to an end as quickly as possible. It expects the warring parties to do everything to prevent civilian casualties. That especially includes avoiding the use of weapons of mass destruction."

The government repeated that United Nations weapons inspectors had been having success in disarming Iraq peacefully and that it regretted they had not been given the chance to continue their work.

"The government is ready to support the United Nations and its special organisations in providing humanitarian aid to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people," the statement said.

But Berlin has said it will continue to allow US forces overflight and transit rights, a stance some legal experts say could contravene the German constitution, which forbids offensive military action and any moves to assist it.

"We're against this war and have sought internationally to prevent this war happening," said Olaf Scholz, general secretary of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats.

"We said Germany won't commit any of its soldiers to such a war but that doesn't mean we're ending our friendship with the United States or that we won't honour our treaty obligations."

Schroeder has rejected opposition calls for a parliamentary vote on allowing German troops on NATO reconnaissance flights over Turkey and on keeping nuclear and chemical contamination detection units in Kuwait.

China calls for immediate halt to war

The Chinese Foreign Ministry called for an immediate halt to military action and a return to efforts to resolve the crisis peacefully.

"We strongly urge relevant countries to immediately stop military action," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a news conference without mentioning the United States by name.

"They ignored the opposition of most countries and peoples of the world and went around the UN Security Council to begin military action against Iraq," he said.

"This constitutes a violation of the UN charter and the basic norms of international law," he said.

"We hope to see an immediate halt to military action and a return to the path of a political settlement," Kong said.

France "deeply concerned" by Iraq war

France’s Foreign Ministry expressed deep concern on Thursday at the launch of the Iraq war.

Denouncing what it called an "illegitimate and dangerous war", the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, suspended its session to demonstrate the broad domestic support President Jacques Chirac has won for his anti-war stance.

"As the first military operation in Iraq starts, the French authorities express their deep concern," the Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement.

"They (French authorities) hope the conflict that has just started can end as quickly as possible," the statement said. "They call on countries in the region to abstain from any initiative that could aggravate the situation."

"An illegitimate and dangerous war has just started," Parliament Speaker Jean-Louis Debre, a close Chirac ally, told the National Assembly ahead of its scheduled Thursday session.

"You will understand that, in these circumstances, I am suspending the session to show just how much all the nation's representatives disapprove of these deeply worrying events," Debre told deputies.

Speaking on the day the last United Nations weapons monitors were withdrawn from Iraq, the top inspector, Hans Blix, said before the aggression began that he felt that the inspections should not have been stopped at this stage.

"I don't think it is reasonable to close the door to inspections after three and a half months," Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), said in answer to questions during a briefing of the UN Correspondents Association in New York. He added that he did not think Security Council resolution 1441, adopted in November, foresaw such a short inspection time.

Hans Blix also said the inspectors had never asserted that Iraq had any remaining weapons of mass destruction, only that there were a lot of things unaccounted for. It would be interesting, he added, to see what would come out when people go in and can go anywhere and examine the sort of intelligence the inspectors never had access to.

He also said he did not think Iraq would use chemical or biological weapons in a war with a US-led coalition, although it had the know-how to produce and deliver chemical weapons.

"I think it is unlikely they will do that because I think world public opinion, which they study quite a lot, is in large measure feeling that going to war is too early," he said. "So there is a fair amount of scepticism about armed action. That scepticism would turn immediately around if they used chemical weapons or biological weapons. My guess is they would not."

Asked if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government would care if it was about to be overthrown, he said: "Some people care about their reputation even after death."

The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) appealed for urgent international help on March 19 for millions of children struggling to survive around the world because a preoccupation with Iraq has eaten into donor support and put them at risk.

"The Iraq crisis has virtually blocked out every other emergency in the world," Executive Director Carol Bellamy, said. "Donors have been reluctant to commit resources to other major humanitarian emergencies because they're uncertain how much they might be asked to do for Iraq. That's understandable, but it's a real crisis for children in need in other countries."

Noting that lack of donor support for non-Iraq emergencies, if it continues, could jeopardise the health, nutrition and development of millions of children. Carol Bellamy said: "We need to invest in these children, not ignore them. Outside help is vital not only to keep children healthy and growing, but to plant the seeds of hope in their communities. If the world needs anything these days, it's hope."

Of the $501 million UNICEF requested for emergency programmes in more than 30 countries and territories for 2003, less than 14 per cent had been received by last month. Last year at the same time more than 30 per cent had already been met.

Twelve countries in the 2003 appeal have received no funding at all, including Colombia, the Central African Republic and Rwanda. Even major emergencies in places such as Ethiopia and Eritrea, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Afghanistan are severely under-funded, leaving millions of children in jeopardy, UNICEF said.