DEMONSTRATE AGAINST BUSH

Saturday, 5 July 2003, 12.00

Library Gardens (between Market & President Streets)

Bush comes to Africa to assist US imperialism. He wants to increase US multinational companies control of the resources of Africa. Bush and his war- mongering clique want to bully and bribe those who opposed him over the Iraq invasion. Bush says he wants to help Africa’s development. But he only wants to help big business and the elites of the world. He will try to tempt African rulers with special treatment if they fall in line. This treatment through trade deals will not benefit the people of Africa. President Mbeki said he was opposed to the war against Iraq. How can he now warmly receive the same bloodthirsty butcher who carried out the war? Mbeki should refuse to meet Bush!

Bush calls for peace and democracy in Africa. But he is a war-maker. He tramples democracy if it stands in his way. The Bush regime threatens the globe with its dangerous perspective of endless war. Thousands of civilians died and continue to die in Afghanistan and Iraq as a result of the US/UK military invasion. Bush said US troops would liberate Iraq. Instead they have become an occupation force. US generals have imposed a government on Iraq. No elections were held. The so-called caretaker government in Iraq is merely to get the oil flowing to benefit the US oil barons and not the Iraqi people. US troops continue shooting Iraqis who protest. No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. Saddam’s dictatorship has been replaced by an equally ruthless occupation.

The US is now threatening Syria and Iran while supporting the Israeli war criminal Ariel Sharon. Apartheid Israel has weapons of mass destruction. The US talks about a roadmap to peace in Palestine but what they want is a subservient Bantustan Palestinian state. Apartheid Israel continues to massacre Palestinians with American weapons, steal their land, and is now constructing an Apartheid Wall that further imprisons Palestinian communities. This Apartheid Wall will be higher and longer than the Berlin Wall!

Bush and the US government are not friends of Africa. The US military industrial complex has poured billions of dollars worth of armaments into Africa. It supplies military equipment to all governments involved in the war in the Congo. It has funded dictators and mercenaries to secure its interests. Let us not forget that the CIA was implicated in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba – paving the way for the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. The US also supported UNITA and RENAMO who killed hundreds of thousands of Angolans and Mozambicans. The US ruling class supported Apartheid and Bush’s vice president Dick Cheney called Nelson Mandela a terrorist while Madiba was still in jail. The US also Vetoed a resolution to send an UN-backed force to Rwanda. This could have prevented the genocide in Rwanda. The US also left Somalia in a mess after killing 10 000 people in their ironically named “Restore Hope” operation.

Today the US has stationed 2000 troops in the East African country of Djibouti. They have transformed Diego Garcia, an island belonging to Mauritius, into a military base and with the British, displaced the inhabitants of this island.

The US gets 15% of its crude oil from Africa at cheap prices. US oil companies require African soldiers, particularly from Nigeria, to suppress communities such as the Ogoni people who want to benefit from this wealth. The US intends building bases in Ghana, Senegal and Mali.

Bush will say he wants to tackle poverty in Africa. But his policies have only made the rich richer and Africans poorer. Bush and other G8 rulers drain money from Africa through debt repayments. Governments repay interest on loans instead of funding education and health care. For instance, five years ago the G8 promised debt relief, but Senegal is

Bush has one set of rules for the world, and different rules for the US. Rwanda was told to cut social spending to reduce its government borrowing. Meanwhile the US government runs the biggest deficit in the world. Other countries are ordered to drop subsidies, trade barriers and “unfair” assistance, but US business still gets huge subsidies. US markets are kept protected.

The contracts to rebuild Iraq have been given mainly to US companies. Iraq, Syria and Iran have all been condemned for allegedly having weapons of mass destruction and biological weapons, but it is Bush’s troops that have paying 60% more than two years ago. More than half of Senegal’s population lives in extreme poverty. Under Bush, poverty has grown even in the US. Government assistance for the poor has been limited to fund tax cuts to big business and to fund the military. Meanwhile, business rakes in big profits. Bush wants to impose this model on all of us. Bush also wants all countries to pass so-called anti-terrorism laws. The South African government is pushing

Down with US Imperialism

Africa is not for sale Mbeki should not host Bush We call on all in our country to Support the protests against Bush

On the 5th   and 9th   July Support the international call for a Peoples Tribunal against the warmongers.

Just flattened Iraq and Afghanistan, destroying water plants, electricity, roads, buildings and people. The US military has also used depleted uranium in their weapons. This caused cancer amongst tens of thousands of Iraqis and deformities amongst new- born babies. Let us not forget the millions killed in Vietnam and elsewhere by US troops with their weapons of mass destruction and biological weapons such as Agent Orange.

Through these laws. They will be used against those fighting poverty and for social justice.

Internationally, Bush’s economists preach privatisation and cutting state spending. Basic needs like water and electricity are privatised. Bush’s economists insist that the world’s markets must be opened to the multinationals. Zambia suffered a famine when its small farming sector collapsed after subsidies were cancelled. Mozambique’s cashew nut industry collapsed after it was privatised. Thousands of jobs were destroyed. The G8 put harsh conditions on debt relief: Senegal was told to privatise its peanut industry, destroying thousands of jobs; Ghana was told to impose a huge petrol price increase and VAT. The Mugabe regime followed the prescriptions of Washington and has now been conveniently dumped. In fact, Mugabe, like Panama’s Noreiga, the Taliban of Afghanistan and Iraq’s Saddam, once supported by the US has become a burden.

Bush will offer to boost African industry through trade deals such as those covered by African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA). But the trade deals are very slim compared to the massive subsidies and trade protection given to US big business. Clothing exports to the US have grown the fastest under AGOA. These are the same industries that have become notorious for locking up, underpaying and mistreating workers. The trade deals will be used to force Africa to follow Bush’s policies. Bush offers Africa funds to fight AIDS. But he supports drug multinationals that want to increase profits by preventing poorer countries from making cheaper copies (generic drugs) of anti-AIDS medicine.

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