The Call of the Anti-War Coalition (Jhb,SA)
In a few weeks time, or even in a few days, the world’s only superpower will unleash a war that will kill over 500 000 civilians in Iraq. The United States of America (USA) and its allies have already killed close to two million Iraqis, mainly children, through war and economic sanctions. Millions of human
rights activists, activists in many social movements around the world, unionists, activists for women’s rights, campaigners for peace, have taken to the streets to protest against a predatory and unjust war. On the 15
February 2003, these millions of people will again take to the streets to raise their voices against the war.
We, as South Africans active in many struggles for social justice, will join the millions across the globe in the struggle against imperialism and war. Through this declaration we add our voices to the global millions, and commit ourselves to struggle against war and militarism in all its forms.
- The present war is a war against the poor
The USA has been in a permanent state of war with various countries in every year for the last 50 years. These wars, conducted in all continents outside North America, have killed and maimed millions; they have destroyed millions of livelihoods; and they have laid waste to whole countries. All wars by the USA are wars against the poor. Landlessness, hunger, environmental degradation and the collapse of social services are the results of war against the poor. War promotes racism, xenophobia, and violence against women. We are against war because the working class and the poor are the main victims of wars of conquest and plunder.
- Capitalism, Imperialism and War
The forces that have driven the USA to war over this last half century are the same forces that are driving the USA to war against Iraq. The insatiable search for higher and higher profits is the single most important cause of the war against Iraq. American and world capitalism is facing one of its gravest economic crises since the 1930s. The profits of the largest corporations have fallen sharply, and war is now the only way out.
Imperialism, which is the expansion of the capitalist empire in its search for profits, is the twin-brother of war, plunder and conquest. The biggest beneficiaries of the massive arms expenditure that has been undertaken by various US governments are the big companies: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and TRW. The capture of the oilfield of Iraq by the US will benefit the big oil companies owned by the George Bush’s family and friends: Chevron, Gulf Oil and Exxon-Mobil, among others.
The war drive of the USA and its allies is the fist that enforces the structural adjustment programmes imposed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and the ‘free market’ imposed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The war against Iraq is a first in series of coming wars against countries like Venezuela and any others who dare challenge US imperialism.
- Zionism and Imperialism – two sides of the same bloody coin
The war on the people of Palestine waged by the Zionist state of Israel is the other side of the war on Iraq. Both these wars are aimed at securing the oil supplies for the USA’s big corporations. They are both aimed
at preserving capitalism and giving it a longer lease of life. The same big corporations that benefit from the arms industry and war also benefit from arming the Zionist state of Israel. The state of Israel is the policeman of imperialism in the Middle East. For more than half a century, the UN has stood by and watched millions of Palestinians displaced from their homes, thousands of children shot and starved to death, whole lives destroyed, and communities broken. The ‘war on terror ’ is the new name given to the old policy of genocide against the people of Palestine.
- The United Nations – a dictatorship of the rich
Progressive humanity cannot rely on the United Nations in the struggle against the USA’s predatory wars.
Over many years the USA has threatened, blackmailed and bulldozed the UN into supporting the USA’s policies of plunder. The present deadlock in the Security Council is a result of the fight over how the spoils of war will be divided. The nature of the war as a war of plunder will not be changed when the UN agrees to a “multilateral war”. The UN has watched silently as its sanctions killed 1.5million Iraqis over the last decade.
We know that there are many states in the UN who have been victims of USA aggression, plunder and economic exploitation. The voices of these countries are silenced by the undemocratic nature of the UN. Only when they join the masses of their people, and the rest of progressive humanity in the streets, will their voices in the UN be strengthened.
- The South African state – a partner in crime
The present South African state is a product of many years of struggle against military aggression and oppression. In particular, the USA and many of its present allies were supporters of the Apartheid regime. Although formally opposed to a ‘unilateral’ war by the USA, the South African government will support a war that has UN approval. The South African government supports the war preparations of the USA-alliance in many ways.
Towards the end of January 2003, South Africa allowed US and British battleships to replenish their supplies in South African ports. Denel, the state owned and controlled arms manufacturer, is a supplier of laser guided missile systems to the US army. This same company supplies aircraft parts to Boeing, one of the main defense contractors in the US. Through the arms acquisition programme of the South African state, the local arms industry is being integrated deeply into the arms industries of the imperialist powers. In the Middle-East, the South African state refuses to break economic and diplomatic ties with Zionist Israel.
During the WSSD, and in many international forums, our government has acted as a proxy for the US in its policies of advancing economic and political domination of the globe. The South African state is in the forefront of accelerating neoliberal globalisation through Nepad and other programmes, and has played a shameful role in breaking the resistance of the Third World to US imperialism.
These are not the actions of a government that is genuinely opposed to war. This war is unjust whether waged by the US alone, or by the United Nations!
The enemy of our enemy is not our friend
Our struggle against the USA-led war on Iraq is not support for the regime of Saddam Hussein. The regime of Saddam is a brutal and undemocratic dictatorship. Indeed, the USA and its allies, especially Britain, sponsored the violent suppression of democracy by the Hussein regime. The present campaign of the USA is to install another blood and oil stained dictatorship over the people of Iraq. Our struggle against this war on
Iraq and its people forms part of a larger struggle for democracy and social justice in Iraq. We believe that only in conditions where there is no war and no sanctions against Iraq can a mass movement against the Saddam dictatorship develop.
The Call of the Anti-War Coalition
The mobilisation by the Anti-War Coalition forms part of a chain of struggles for social justice all over the world. For us the struggle against the war on Iraq cannot be separated from our daily struggles against the many instances of oppression and exploitation in our own countries. The Anti-War Coalition calls upon all the people of South Africa to join the millions all over the world. Together with our sisters, brothers and comrades, we demand:
- No war against Iraq! We are opposed to a USA-led and to a UN-led war on Iraq!
- Freedom for Palestine and an immediate end to Israeli occupation and war!
- An end to neoliberal policies that have impoverished millions of our people, and have led to wars, landlessness, death and destruction!
- An end to South African support for the war effort of the USA and its allies!
- An end to South African diplomatic and economic relations with Israel!
- An end to US economic, political and military terrorism against the world’s poor!
- We demand a closure of the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO.
- We call upon all South Africans to take to the streets to voice our opposition to the war on Iraq. Millions of people will not be silenced! We join them and shout out: No war against Iraq! Freedom for Palestine! No blood for Oil!
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