Parliament Square Protester against War and Sanctions on Iraq Faces Eviction after 14 Months

Workers' Daily Internet Edition : Article Index :

Parliament Square Protester against War and Sanctions on Iraq Faces Eviction after 14 Months

Korea:
Joint Korean Reunification Talks to be Held Mid-August
DPRK Foreign Minister Meets US Secretary of State
DPRK Foreign Minister on Security in Northeast Asia

Peace campaigner Brian Haw, who has been protesting in Parliament Square for over a year against the economic sanctions on Iraq, is under threat of eviction by Westminster Council. Brian Haw started his one-man pavement protest against British foreign policy in June 2001 shortly after the re-election of Tony Blair. Nearly eleven months later the Council decided that his placards constituted a "nuisance" and began proceedings to remove him. The order to remove Mr Haw from Parliament Square is being brought under Section 149 of the Highways Act 1980.

During his round-the-clock protest, Brian Haw, who comes from Worcestershire, has had numerous visitors from all over the world, many leaving placards with messages of peace, helping to create what is now a powerful display which challenges the government’s foreign policy. The international media have broadcast his message around the world.

A date for the hearing of Westminster Council’s case against him has been set for October 2-3 at Marylebone Magistrates Court. A number of MPs and high profile public figures, including Tony Benn, Bruce Kent and Caroline Lucas MEP, will be called in defence of Mr Haw’s right to protest.

In response to the Council’s attempt to dislodge him from his site opposite the Houses of Parliament, Brian Haw commented: "Isn’t it disgraceful that they can attempt to take away my human rights to protest in this way. They are entitled to disagree with me but their option is to set up along side of me with an opposing view. They are trying to use the law to stop me protesting against mass murder and genocide – isn’t that perverse?"

Determined to fight for his right to protest at the seat of the British parliamentary system, Brian Haw said, "I am still here because innocents are still dying – babies and infants – for twelve years now because of sanctions. Iraq is already half dead and now the US, with British support, is threatening to complete the murder of an entire people supposedly to save them from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. I won’t let them murder quietly."

He continued, "I want to go back to my own kids and look them in the face again knowing that I’ve done all I can to try and save the children of Iraq and other countries who are dying because of my government’s unjust, amoral, fear – and money – driven policies. These children and people of other countries are every bit as valuable and worthy of love as my precious wife and children."

Brian Haw can be visited in Parliament Square at any time.

South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on August 4 agreed to hold the seventh minister-level talks in Seoul from August 12-14. A joint press statement, issued at the end of a three-day south Korea-DPRK working-level talks at Mount Kumgang of the DPRK, said that the two sides agreed to hold ministerial talks. Ministers will discuss the convention of the second inter-Korea economic talks to handle pending economic issues, such as the re-connection of inter-Korea railways and roads, construction of an industrial base in the DPRK city of Kaesong and joint anti-flood measures along the Imjin River.

The ministers will also discuss the opening of the fourth Red Cross talks and the reunion of family members separated by the Korean War (1950-53), the statement said. Other agenda items to be discussed at the upcoming cabinet-level talks will include the second government-level talks. The two sides will discuss measures to activate the Mount Kumgang tour project, to send a DPRK economic inspection team to south Korea and to open military talks between the two sides, according to the statement. The statement said the two sides agreed to support the inter-Korea civic organisations' efforts for joint celebrations to be held in Seoul in mid-August to mark the August 15 Liberation Day and an inter-Korean football match on September 8 in Seoul. The north side agreed to send a delegation made up of representatives from all walks of life to the joint celebrations. The celebrations will include a meeting for national unity, a north-south art performance, a north-south art exhibition, a photo exhibition, and other events, on August 15 and 16.

The agreement of the civic organisations had come as a delegation of the South Korean Headquarters for the Promotion of National Joint Functions in 2002 visited Pyongyang from July 20 to 23 at the invitation of the North's National Reconciliation Council to discuss the tasks to be fulfilled by reunification movement organisations to maintain and implement the landmark June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and ways to do so. Both sides had agreed to positively help each other to ensure the success of a meeting of youth and students from the north and the south for reunification early in September and a meeting of women from the north and the south for reunification in mid-September in Mount Kumgang on the basis of the success and experience to be achieved by the August 15 functions.

The DPRK will dispatch its athletes to the 14th Busan Asian Games in South Korea, scheduled for September 29 - October 14, and South Korea will guarantee the provision of various conveniences for the DPRK's team, according to the working-level contact statement. Referring to the statement, South Korean chief negotiator Rhee Bong-jo said, "I am very glad to see our working contact bear good fruits far beyond earlier expectations."

Meanwhile, chief negotiator Choe Song Ik of the DPRK also said he was satisfied with the outcome of the three-day contact.

The working contact of representatives of the north and the south marked an important occasion in the constant work of preserving and strictly implementing the historic inter-Korean joint declaration of June 15, 2000, and improving the overall inter-Korean ties on the path of reconciliation, co-operation and reunification.

The Korean Central News Agency reported that DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun met US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of Brunei Darussalam. Paek Nam Sun and Colin Powell, who were both attending the ministerial meeting of the 9th ASEAN Regional Forum, discussed on July 31 the issue of resuming the US-DPRK dialogue at the proposal of the US side.

Powell expressed the US stand to resume the US-DPRK dialogue aimed to discuss issues of bilateral concern without preconditions and reiterated its intention to send US assistant secretary of state Kelly to Pyongyang soon, KCNA reports.

Paek Nam Sun recalled that the DPRK had already consented to the US side's proposal to dispatch Pritchard, special envoy of the US State Department for negotiations with the DPRK, to Pyongyang to explain the stand of resuming the dialogue. The DPRK had also accepted the later proposal of the US to send assistant secretary of state Kelly to Pyongyang as a special envoy of the US President. He welcomed the proposal of the US State secretary to dispatch the special envoy of the US President to the DPRK, the KCNA report concludes.

The Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the ASEAN-US "Joint Declaration for Co-operation to Combat International Terrorism" with the United States at their annual talks. The pact was signed on August 1, the last day of the talks of ASEAN members and over a dozen other states, in Bandar seri Begawan, capital of Brunei Darussalam. The ASEAN group was founded 35 years ago.

Paek Nam Sun, minister of foreign affairs of the DPRK, in his speech at the ministerial meeting of the 9th ASEAN Regional Forum, referred to ways of contributing to the regional security. He said that North-east Asia including the Korean peninsula is a region of the world where the situation still remains as tense as it had been during the Cold War. He said that it was a priority that the north and south of Korea should reject outsiders' interference and reunify the country by the concerted efforts of the Korean nation as confirmed in the north-south joint declaration of June 15, 2000.

What is important in defusing tensions and ensuring peace on the Korean peninsula is also to put an end to the hostile policy toward the DPRK and the DPRK-US state of armistice, Paek Nam Sun stressed.

It is evident that faithfully implementing the agreements already reached between the DPRK and the US will make a positive contribution to defusing tensions on the Korean peninsula and achieving peace in Asia and the rest of the world, he continued. However, the US has termed the DPRK part of the "axis of evil", "sponsor of terrorism" and "target of nuclear attack" under the pretext of "anti-terrorism". This, the DPRK Foreign Minister said, is the main factor of the acute situation on the Korean peninsula and the deteriorated DPRK-US relations.

"We think that if the United States truly wants the improved relations with the DPRK and peace on the Korean peninsula, it is important for the US to show good faith by taking practical steps to remove the danger of war and ensure a durable peace on the peninsula," Paek Nam Sun said. "If the US hopes for dialogue without precondition on an equal footing with the DPRK, the latter will respond to it and if then, confidence between them will be built and a prospect for a fair solution to the outstanding issues between them will be opened."