British Government’s Warmongering against Iraq

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British Government’s Warmongering against Iraq

Women's Alliances, Resisting Division: Anti-War and Anti-Racism

The government has continued to threaten an unjust war against Iraq, even after hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated their opposition to such a war in London last weekend, and after it has become clear that the government of Iraq is willing to allow UN weapons inspectors to re-enter their country.

The British and US governments have continued to demand that what is now required is a "new tough and comprehensive" resolution on Iraq by the UN Security Council. Even the totally discredited UN weapons inspectors have made it clear that existing UN resolutions on Iraq are entirely adequate to facilitate their inspections. The British and US governments have continued to demand that the other permanent members of the Security Council, Russia, China and France, fall into line with this demand of Anglo-US imperialism. At the same time Britain and the US are also attempting to put maximum pressure on the other ten members of the Security Council to accept a resolution that has already appeared in draft form.

According to news agency reports this resolution would require the government of Iraq to make an "acceptable and currently accurate" declaration of its "weapons of mass destruction", including precise locations of such weapons and where research for the production of such weapons was carried out. Iraq would be bound to accept this resolution within seven days. Should Iraq make any "false statements or omissions" or in other ways fail to comply with the resolution, any UN member state would be entitled to use "all necessary means" including military action against Iraq. The resolution also seeks to give any permanent member of the UN Security Council the right to join the team of inspectors, recommend sites to be inspected, conduct interviews and receive reports of any inspections. Inspectors would also be empowered to declare so-called no- fly and no-drive zones within Iraq with the likelihood that such zones would be enforced by UN or other military forces, in effect a means to occupy Iraq. The resolution also provides for other measures that violate the sovereignty of Iraq.

The US government has now declared that it will attempt to thwart the re-entry of UN weapons inspectors into Iraq, unless such a resolution has been approved by the UN Security Council, a clear attack on the integrity of the UN itself. It has also continued to threaten that if such a resolution is not passed it will in any case take its own military action against Iraq and has openly encouraged the assassination of the president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has continued to support the warmongering of the US. He has made it clear that the British government’s position is also one based on the medieval principle of "might is right", and that "the credible threat of force" is a an entirely justifiable way to conduct international affairs, even if that threat is being used against the UN itself. According to Jack Straw if the "threat of force" has been successful in forcing Iraq to allow the re-entry of weapons inspectors, then even more force should be threatened whether in a new Security Council resolution or by other means.

The sabre-rattling and threats of Anglo-US imperialism have been met with growing opposition in Britain, the US and throughout the world. The warmongering of the British and the US governments has been exposed for what it is, an attempt to justify an unjust war against a sovereign country, waged for the economic and strategic advantage of the big monopolies. It has become clear to all that the Anglo-US imperialists will attempt to use every means to bring about "regime change" in Iraq and are flagrantly attempting to us the UN as a vehicle for their own purposes. At the same time it is clear that the "international community" is simply a synonym for imposing Anglo-American values on the world and that the US and Britain are equally ready to undermine and weaken the UN too if this serves their interests.

It is in this extremely dangerous situation that the working class and all peace loving people must strengthen the movement to stop the militarism of the British government and demand that it stop supporting US imperialism. They must step up their struggles to build the alternative, for a new just society and a world free from the danger of war.

A Meeting with Prof. Cynthia Cockburn, City University of London, took place on September 26 in Megiddo Junction, Northern Israel. We publish extracts from the report of the meeting by Jessica Weinberg of Bat Shalom

Women in Black London
Cynthia described some lessons about alliances and racism learned from her participation in Women in Black in London. For example, some WIB London participants also belong to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in London. Cynthia said that although members of PSC are "good, strong-hearted people," WIB has to make choices about how they act, who they act with, and what they say. In a demonstration with the PSC, WIB may also have to walk with fundamentalists, people who seek violence, and people who are anti-Semitic, which poses a problem for WIB's alliances with other women, with Jews, and others.

Women in Black London has a practice of alliances: 1) to support those who are oppressed and struggling, and 2) to support the people who are opposing their own government in the country that is doing the oppressing. For example, in Bosnia, they supported the Muslims who were victims of an ethnic cleansing campaign, but they also supported Serb women who resisted their government's oppression of the Muslims, as well as the alliance between Muslim and Serb women.

Because of lessons learned about alliances and racism, Women in Black knew what to expect after September 11: 1) war/revenge on Afghanistan and other places, and 2) problems for and racism toward Muslims in Britain. They had to oppose war AND racism in their own country. Very soon after September 11, six women's organisations in Britain organised together: Women in Black, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Women Against Fundamentalisms (women resisting fundamentalism in the world's major religions), Women Living Under Muslim Laws (women struggling to improve their lives as women under Shari'a law, around the world), Southall Black Sisters (an alliance of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh women), and Act Together (an alliance of Iraqi and London women). The groups learned from each other and tried to devise their politics to satisfy all the groups.

Question and Answer Period
People discussed nationalism, and strategy for Israeli women's peace activism. The discussion of nationalism centred around whether it is contradictory to criticise Jewish nationalism (Zionism) while supporting Palestinian nationalism, whether nationalism is desirable at all or only leads to racism and hate. One woman pointed out that in order to fulfil their right of self-definition, Palestinians must be allowed to pursue their own nationalism, if they so desire. The rest of the discussion focused on the connection between issues, particularly feminism and national liberation, and whether the women's peace movement in Israel should look at these connections or concentrate on ending the occupation and war. Cynthia wrapped up the discussion, responding to this point about strategy. She noted that she and other activists in England feel that they only have two or three weeks to turn Tony Blair around, and that Blair has only two or three weeks to turn Bush around. Sometimes you have to focus, she agreed. However, she insisted, you cannot ever lose the consciousness of feminism, antiracism, antimilitarism, and multiculturalism. She came back to the example of women's activist groups needing to choose whether to march with groups they have trouble with politically, even in something as urgent as an upcoming demonstration against war on Iraq.