| de vredessite / nieuwe oorlog 2006 |
On the 3rd anniversary of the war
We must be in the streets!
Statement from the Troops Out Now Coalition
An Appeal to all who are opposed the war.
People all over the world will be marking the 3rd anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq this weekend by marching against the war, what will you be doing?
Here in the U.S. thousands will march in Times Square New York City, LA, Boston, DC, and scores of other places including a march from Mobile to New Orleans. What will you be doing?
In New York City on Saturday March 18th, thousands will assemble in Times Square at 1:00 pm to demand the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of all troops from Iraq. We will then march to the UN to tell the Security Council that instead of cooperating with Washington's plans to attack Iran, they should be talking about New Orleans, and the international laws the U.S. government has violated in the treatment of the primarily poor and African American victims, survivors and evacuees of hurricane Katrina. Where will you be on Saturday afternoon?
For all of those who haven't yet planned to participate in antiwar protests this weekend, we urge you to make plans right now to swell the numbers of those who will be in the streets on Saturday and Sunday demanding and end to the war against the people of Iraq, and the war at home against the poor. Nothing could be more important, more timely, more necessary than coming out to demand "Troops Out Now!" this weekend.
There is a contradiction that can only be corrected through action, because passivity will only make the problem more glaring and dangerous. This contradiction is that, on one hand, the overwhelming majority of the people of the world, of Iraq, of the United States, (including the troops who have been sent to Iraq and Afganistan to kill or die for oil) want the war to end. On the other hand, the war-makers are not only determined to continue the war and occupation, but to expand the war throughout the entire Middle East-- with the next target being Iran.
The fact that the war was based on lies about weapons of mass destruction is well known. The killing and carnage of the last 3 years has revealed much more of the awful truth. The motive that connects the occupation of Iraq and Afganistan, the war plans against Iran, and the U.S.-made tanks that led that latest Israili military assault on a Palestinian prison in Jericho are not a "war against terror" or some ancient "feud between religions". The thread that connects all of this is a drive to reconquer, recolonize and redivide the Middle East. It's not just Bush and the neo-cons who are behind this. This military madness that is robbing social needs to purchase death is systemic to the nature of capitalism--expand, exploit and plunder by any means necessary. The problem isn't our addiction to oil, it is Wall Streets' addiction to profits.
We have also learned that the Democratic members of Congress (even if they win a majority in next fall) will not do anything to stop the war, despite the fact that every poll points to growing, overwhelming opposition to the occupation. Neither will the United Nations.
The only thing that's going to stop the war is what a February 17, 2003 New York Times editorial called the "Second Super Power," referring to the 20 to 30 million people who filled the streets on every continent during world wide antiwar protests 3 years ago on February 15 and 16.
True, we did not stop the war during that weekend in Febuary 2003, one month before the invasion. Nor could one or even 10 big protests. What we did do in the course of those huge protests is unleash the only power whose sustained and active pressure, anger, and militancy is capable of ultimately shutting down the war.
What we demonstrated to the world when we filled the streets with antiwar human energy is that it's the government's war, not ours! When we march together in the streets for all of the world see, it smashes the racism and anti-islam xenophobia that the war makers feed us to divide and conquer, and it engenders hope for the world, a hope premised on the time-tested certainty that determined people power will ultimately prevail over the crimes that governments commit in the interest of the greedy billionaires. So don't stay home on Saturday, seize the time, claim the streets, and reclaim the future.
Join us in the streets Saturday March 18!
For a full list of local actions, see www.troopsoutnow.org/m18orgcents.shtml
terug/back | de vredessite / nieuwe oorlog 2006 |