Fw: [ATTAC] NEWSLETTER 168 - WAR

["Stefano e Fabio" <ulliana at qnet.it>]

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Subject: [ATTAC] NEWSLETTER 168 - WAR


> SAND IN THE WHEELS (n°168)
> ATTAC Weekly newsletter - Wednesday 26/03/03
> ______________________________
>
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> ____________________________________________________________
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> Content
>
> 1. Our Days in Bagdad (Asian Peace Mission to Iraq)
> An Asian Peace Mission, composed of civil society leaders and
> parliamentarians, went to Iraq on the eve of war not only to express
> Asian solidarity with fellow Asians, but also to see for themselves
> the real condition of the Iraqi people and the possible effects of war
> on the population.
>
> 2. Beyond Resolutions: Within Unions, Anti-War Forces Mobilize
> Opposition (By Chris Kutalik and William Johnson)
> By March 2003 roughly 130 local unions, 45 central labor councils, 26
> regional bodies, 11 national/international unions, and the AFL-CIO
> Executive Council had passed resolutions condemning the Bush
> Administration's actions around Iraq in varying degrees of criticism.
>
> 3. Anti G8 Mobilization
> Points of agreement include the illegitimacy of the G-8-the regular
> meeting of the 8 chiefs of state and governmental representatives of
> the richest countries in the world to regulate the affairs of the
> planet; the struggle against war; the support for different relations
> between Northern and Southern countries (cancellation of debt, etc);
> against the growth in inequality; for real and meaningful
> environmental protection, etc.
>
> Meeting ATTAC Worldwide
> All the events, conferences, debates organized by an ATTAC somewhere
> this week.
> ______________________________
>
> Illustrated version only in PDF format.
> « The Dictator » By Brito -
> http://france.attac.org/site/recueil.php?idpage=169&langue=
> ______________________________
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________
>
> 1- Our Days in Bagdad
> ____________________________________________________________
>
> A war on the children, not on Saddam
> REPORT OF THE ASIAN PEACE MISSION TO IRAQ, 13 - 18 MARCH 2003
>
> In justifying its war on Iraq, the United States has swung between
> claiming that the country harbors weapons of mass destruction and
> terrorists to saying that its president is a brutal tyrant who needs
> to be deposed in order to `liberate' the Iraqi people.
>
> The first reason is obviously a non-starter given that the case for
> this justification has been found to be built on forged documents,
> plagiarized dossiers, and exaggerated intelligence. No less than the
> UN's chief inspector Hans Blix has openly accused the US of
> fabricating evidence; even the FBI and the CIA were reported to have
> protested against the distortion of their intelligence reports.
> Clearly, the UN weapons inspection process has led to and still
> continues to lead to the disarmament of the country. There is no
> reason to stop it now.
>
> An Asian Peace Mission, composed of civil society leaders and
> parliamentarians, went to Iraq on the eve of war not only to express
> Asian solidarity with fellow Asians, but also to see for themselves
> the real condition of the Iraqi people and the possible effects of war
> on the population.
>
> The team was headed by Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales, chair of the
> Committee of Human Rights of the Philippine House of Representatives.
> Its members include Rep. Hussin Amin, also of the Philippine Congress,
> representing Sulu province where US troops are planned to be sent for
> actual combat; Dita Sari, a labor leader from Indonesia and recipient
> of the prestigious Magsaysay award; Walden Bello, executive director
> of Focus on the Global South, a regional policy research and advocacy
> center with offices in Manila, Mumbai, and Bangkok; and Zulfiqar Ali
> Gondal, a Member of Pakistan's National Assembly.
>
>  The team came out of Baghdad hours before the deadline of the US
> ultimatum convinced of at least one thing: This will not be a war
> against Saddam Hussein. This will be a war against the Iraqi people,
> half of whom are children. They have been suffering from an ongoing
> war, waged in the form of economic sanctions, and their suffering will
> only be exacerbated by another war.
>
> Moreover, the oft-debunked yet still oft-repeated analogy between
> Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler that is used to exaggerate the threat
> of Iraq - and to justify the war - does not stand. Germany in Hitler's
> time was the most advanced industrialized nation in the world. The
> mission members found out for themselves that Iraq, contrary to
> popular depiction, is a country that has been effectively brought down
> to its knees. It is a ravaged nation.
>
> `Are these the people you are planning to kill?' The team arrived in
> Damascus on Thursday, March 13, but - after hours of waiting at the
> airport - only managed to fly into Baghdad Friday night.
>
> After the parliamentary members' courtesy call on the Speaker of the
> Iraqi national assembly in the morning of March 15, the peace mission
> immediately took off for the Al Mansour Children's Hospital to see for
> themselves some of the worst effects of the ongoing embargo against
> the country.
>
> In the aftermath of the first Gulf War in 1991, the United States,
> working through the United Nations, prohibited Iraq's importation of
> products that they fear could be used for the manufacture of weapons
> of mass destruction. In practice, this has meant that thousands of
> sick children have been denied access to medicine and medical
> services. According to the United Nations, up to half a million
> children have died as a direct result of the economic sanctions.
>
> At the hospital, the peace mission visited Salah, a five year-old
> leukemia patient who is only waiting for certain death. His life could
> have been saved had he undergone radiotherapy but the chemicals needed
> have been effectively out of reach because of US fears that these
> might be used for producing nuclear weapons. Cases of cancer after
> have increased considerably after the United States used depleted
> uranium in attacking Iraq during the Gulf War.
>
> The mission also met Murtazan, a three year-old child suffering from
> lymphoma who may yet survive but only if his treatment continues - an
> uncertain possibility given the arbitrary and often delayed approval
> of requests for medicine.
>
> According to Dr Murtada Hassan, the shortage in drugs has been a
> catastrophe for Iraqi children. Before the sanctions in 1989, an
> average of only 56 in 1000 children under five years old died every
> year. In 1999, that number more than doubled to 131 per 1000 children.
> At Dr Hassan's hospital alone, two to three children now die every
> week because of different kinds of cancers and complications.
>
> "I feel very sorry when I go to the ward and stand beside my patient,"
> Dr Hassan told the mission members. "I can do nothing for him simply
> because the drug is not available."
>
> Dr Hassan, who cannot even afford to buy updated medicinal books -
> much less attend international medical conferences - toured the
> mission members around the hospital. Economic pressures caused by the
> embargo, he explained, have meant deteriorating hospital facilities.
> Of the eight elevators, only two works. There is no Internet
> connection.
>
> With only a limited number of air-conditioners working, Dr Hassan said
> most hospital rooms would become unbearably hot once summer comes and
> temperature hits as high as 60 degrees centigrade. And Al Mansour is
> already one of the country's premier hospitals. Conditions are so much
> worse in most of the other hospitals.
>
> Dr Hassan pointedly observed how the US, with its use of depleted
> uranium during the war, caused the sickness of thousands of Iraqi
> children. Now, with its enforcement of economic sanctions, it is
> preventing their treatment and, in effect, ensuring their painful
> death.
>
> After meeting the children who are yet to die in the cancer ward, the
> mission were guided to the hospital's art room where Dr Hassan showed
> the paintings and craftworks of those Iraqi children who have already
> died. Hanging on the wall were pictures of young Iraqi patients,
> accompanied with the question, "Mr Bush, are these the people you are
> planning to kill?" At one point, Dr Hassan, took some pictures
> displayed on the shelves, saying, "This one, we lost last week. That
> one, we lost a month ago."
>
> Healthy enough to die The peace mission then proceeded to the
> headquarters of the UNICEF in Baghdad. There they were further briefed
> on the condition of Iraqi children by the UNICEF's representative to
> the country, Dr. Carel de Rooy. The picture he painted was dire and
> bleak.
>
> Iraq has one of the world's worst child mortality rates in the world.
> In the last decade, it had the greatest increase in mortality rates -
> worse even than those of the poorest countries in the world. This does
> not come as a surprise given that the incidence of preventable
> diseases has increased by more than 100% since 1990. Five million
> Iraqis lack access to safe water. Eighty percent of them eat too
> little. Of the women, three out of five are anemic. The percentage of
> children under five who are chronically malnourished is, in de Rooy's
> words, "absurdly high."
>
> De Rooy stressed that the sanctions are not solely to blame. "But the
> sanctions have hurt and they have hurt tremendously." At the root of
> the Iraqis' woes, de Rooy conceded, is the economic embargo.
>
> In response to the impending war, the UNICEF is making sure that the
> Iraqis will at least be healthy enough to resist the sicknesses that
> war will bring, de Rooy said. If the US attacks power installations
> and water and sewage treatment plants again, as they did in 1991, the
> result will be catastrophic in terms of hygiene and the spread of
> diseases.
>
> What the UNICEF would be doing, in other words, is - given the strong
> possibility of a widespread outbreak of diseases - merely to make sure
> that the children will be healthy enough to die.
>
> The real terrorism After visiting the sick and the dying, the mission
> went on to visit the dead.
>
> In February 1991, as the US-led coalition began pounding Baghdad with
> bombs, scores of families hid at the Al Amiriya bomb shelter in the
> hope of surviving the war. The thick walls of the structure proved to
> be no protection.
>
> Around 4 AM on February 12, a daisy cutter bomb launched by the United
> States fell on its roof, bore a three-meter hole through floors, and
> exploded. 407 people, most of them sleeping women and children, were
> instantly killed. It is a number that current US State Secretary Colin
> Powell - asked in 1991 about how many civilians were killed in the
> war - is "not terribly interested in."
>
> The pictures of these 407 war crime victims now line some of the halls
> of the Al Amiriya shelter, now a museum that preserves the way the
> place looked like in the aftermath of the bombing. The walls are still
> black from the ash and the soot. The big gaping hole through the roof
> and floors has become its central attraction. Mangled and bent wires
> and rods snake across the pillars. Dark and thick bloodstains forming
> the outline of the bodies of the victims still mark the floors.
>
> In that instant when the bomb exploded, a mother who was cradling her
> baby was violently thrown off against the wall, leaving a visible
> outline reminiscent of "Madonna and child" against the black canvas of
> the wall.
>
> "This is the real terrorism," remarked a visitor who was moved to
> tears by pictures of the roasted charred bodies recovered after the
> bombing.
>
> In the evening, the mission paid a courtesy call to Adbul Razzaq Al-
> Hashmi, former ambassador to Germany and France, who argued that the
> economic sanctions and the threat of war have turned Iraq into a giant
> refugee camp where people do nothing but eat and sleep.
>
> More self-reliant The following day, March 16, the mission started the
> day by visiting the Iraqi Ministry of Health. Dr Umaid Mubarak, the
> Minister of Health, elaborated on the effects of the embargo and the
> war. He recounted how the offices of the health ministry was among
> those that were bombed as military targets during the previous war.
> For some reason, drug stores and medical dispensaries were also
> destroyed.
>
> Mubarak riled against the unfair and unjust manner by which the
> sanctions were being enforced and the process by which the Oil for
> Food Program was being implemented. Under this program, Iraq is
> allowed to sell its oil then use its revenues for buying what it
> needs. But what it needs only a special UN committee virtually
> controlled by the United States can determine.
>
> Iraq can only make requests for certain items, including medicines,
> subject to the approval of this special committee. This process has
> not only been tedious, it has also often been capricious. Requests for
> certain items which could theoretically be used for chemical weapons
> but which are absolutely necessary for certain medical treatment have
> been turned down. As much as $5.2 billion worth of requests for goods
> and medicine- earned by Iraq in the form of oil revenues- still have
> to be delivered to people in dire need of them.
>
> Despite this, Mubarak told the mission that the Iraqi people have not
> only managed to get by, they have also been forced to be more
> self-reliant and self-sufficient. "We have become different Iraqis
> since 1991," Mubarak said.
>
> Like Tybalt At the Baghdad University, the peace mission members saw
> for themselves the academic community's defiant resolve not to let war
> get in the way of their education. On the eve of war, there were
> classes as usual. Students were milling on the school's corridors,
> playing volleyball on the grounds, or - in one class - studying
> William Shakepeare's Romeo and Juliet.
>
> The team walked into this English literature class and spoke with
> around fifty, mostly female, college students to ask them what they
> thought of the coming war.
>
> The students knew what this war was about and what it was not about.
> They knew their history by heart. On US President George Bush's
> pronouncements that they're bombing Iraq to liberate them, one student
> retorted, `That's what those who wanted to conquer Iraq through the
> centuries all said.'
>
> The US and its allies hope that the suffering wrought by the embargo
> and the war will compel the Iraqi people to rise up against Saddam
> Hussein. Instead, they're only solidifying their support for him. This
> was evident in the way student after student expressed their support
> for the regime and their disgust for Bush. "He's like Tybalt," one
> student, alluding to a character in Romeo and Juliet, was moved to
> say.
>
> Professor Abdul Sattar Jawad said that while some buildings in the
> university were bombed in 1991, he and his students still see the
> school as their refuge. He recounted how back then, a Ph.D candidate
> was defending his dissertation even as bombs were falling down
> elsewhere in the city.
>
> Jawad thinks it's wishful thinking, the idea that Iraqis will be
> cheering out of the streets and welcoming their "liberators" when they
> arrive in Baghdad. He says that the embargo has definitely affected
> the educational system by making it difficult to import books and by
> making it impossible for him to attend international academic
> conferences.
>
> Jawad, who lectures on American writers like William Faulkner and F.
> Scott Fitzgerald, said he's finding it more and more difficult to
> teach his students to distinguish between American culture and
> American aggression. In the face of a hailstorm of bombs, he asks,
> "How can I convince my students that American culture or democracy is
> good?"
>
> But he is convinced and, it seems, so are his students. Asked whether
> the books they're studying shows that the United States is inherently
> aggressive and violent, the students were unanimous in saying `No.'
> All of the students agreed that continuing to go to school is their
> strongest statement in showing their resolve not to be dampened by the
> threat of war. Staying at home, they said, is already a sign of
> despair and surrender.
>
> International Solidarity After the visit to the university, the
> mission went to the Press Center at the Ministry of Information
> building where scores of international news organizations have set up
> offices and have even put up camps to monitor the situation in
> Baghdad. During the press conference attended by reporters of media
> outfits from Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, the mission
> discussed their objectives for coming to Baghdad at this critical
> time.
>
> Rep. Etta Rosales stressed that the mission hopes to express a strong
> message of Asian solidarity to their fellow Asians, the Iraqi people.
> Rep. Hussin Amin emphasized that his district in Mindanao may soon be
> the next target of American military deployment. Zulfiqar Gondal
> answered questions about the sentiment of the Pakistani people
> regarding the war. Dita Sari shared the Indonesian people's sympathy
> for their fellow Muslims who will be most affected by the conflict.
>
> The press conference was broadcast that evening on Iraqi and Arab
> television, enabling the team to accomplish one of its primary
> objectives: to convey the message of Asian solidarity directly to the
> Iraqi people in their hour of need.
>
> Afterwards, some of the mission members went to Baghdad's Freedom
> Square to attend the unveiling of a giant anti-war mural painted by
> famous Korean artist Choi Byung Soo. There they met other peace
> delegations from Mexico, Japan, and Korea. At one point, the mission
> was approached by a man struggling to say in English that Iraqis were
> very happy to have all of them in their city.
>
>  In the evening, the team organized an Asian Solidarity Night to
> gather and discuss with representatives of many of the other foreign
> contingents who have gathered in Baghdad to oppose the war. They
> shared their findings, insights, and plans with peace activists from
> as varied a set of countries as Australia, Ukraine, Russia, Italy,
> Canada, Sweden, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United
> States.
>
> They also used the occasion to formally acknowledge the invaluable
> assistance of Kathy Kelly from Voices in the Wilderness, the
> organization that has been sending batches of Americans to Baghdad,
> including some 9-11 victims; Han Sang Jin of the Nonviolent
> Peaceforce-Korea; Wadah Qasimy and Hasan al-Baghdadi of the Iraqi
> foreign ministry; and Fahdi Hefashy, honorary consul of the
> Philippines to Syria; and Grace Escalante, Philippine consul general
> to Iraq.
>
> Some of the foreign delegates who were in Iraq plan to stay on even
> during the war. They give themselves just a 20% survival rate in case
> war breaks out. A number of them are determined to camp out as "human
> shields" to protect military targets such as hospitals, bridges, power
> installations, and water treatment plans. Bombing these sites is
> considered a war crime.
>
> Evacuation The program of activities was independently designed and
> discussed by the mission members themselves - not imposed or
> pre-arranged by the Iraqi government. In between the events, the
> mission had the chance to interact with ordinary Iraqis from all walks
> of life - taxi drivers, waiters, government employees, shopkeepers,
> policemen, etc. These interactions were spontaneous and random - not
> guided by minders from the Iraqi government.
>
> By the night of March 16, the Palestine Hotel, where the mission and
> many other foreign journalists and peace activists were staying, was
> abuzz with the news of Bush's final ultimatum to the United Nations
> and Saddam. Not a few delegates were seen openly shedding tears and
> bidding goodbye to those who were leaving and those who were staying.
>
> The team was originally planning to stay on until the night of March
> 17 - possibly even the 18th - but by this time, it had already been
> announced that the flight back to Damascus had already been cancelled.
> The price of renting vans for overland trips across the border had
> more than tripled and there was less and less assurance of securing
> one as staffs of embassies, UN agencies, as well as Iraqis scrambled
> for the limited supply of vehicles. The evacuation of Baghdad began
> even before the mission arrived but accelerated on the night of March
> 16, the even of the US ultimatum on Iraq to disarm.
>
> It was for these reasons that despite their intent to continue their
> fact-finding mission, the mission was forced to pack up and leave the
> following morning, heeding the urgent and insistent advice of the
> Philippine consul general. On the road to Damascus, the mission
> encountered cars ferrying families fleeing to safer ground and forming
> long queues at the gasoline stations.
>
> As the team was leaving the country at the Iraq-Syria border, the team
> chanced upon and talked with a group of volunteers from Morocco,
> Algeria, Palestine, and Syria who were entering Iraq to fight the
> United States and its allied troops.
>
> After a grueling 15-hour trip, the peace mission arrived in Damascus
> on March 18 then left for Manila, Jakarta, and Karachi the next day.
>
>  The mission promised to bring the message of the Iraqi people back
> home to their respective countries: This is not a war against
> terrorists. This is not a war against Saddam. This is a war against
> the Iraqi people, especially the children who make up half of the
> population.
>
> MISSION MEMBERS:
>
> Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales, Head of Mission, Akbayan! party-list
> representative to the Philippine House of Representatives and chair of
> the Committee on Human Rights
>
> Prof. Walden Bello, executive director, Focus on the Global South
> (Mumbai, Bangkok, Manila)
>
> Zulfiqar Ali Gondal, Member of Pakistan's National Assembly
>
> Dita Sari, labor leader from Indonesia, Magsaysay awardee, 2001
>
> Rep. Hussin Amin, representative of the first district of Sulu,
> Philippine House of Representatives
>
> Jim Libiran and Ariel Fulgado, reporter and cameraman from "The
> Correspondents," a television documentary show
>
> Herbert Docena, Research Associate, Focus on the Global South
>
> ---
>
> Let Iraq and its Children Live
> Statement of the Asian Peace Mission on the Impending War on Iraq
>
> (Damascus, March 19, 2003)
>
> The Asian Peace Mission to Baghdad denounces in the strongest terms
> possible the US decision to launch unilateral military action against
> the peoples of Iraq.
>
> Both US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
> offer as the prime justification fot their coming war the "liberation
> of the Iraqi people." We were just in Baghdad meeting with Iraqi from
> all walks of life and we did not meet one Iraqi who wanted to be
> "liberated" by the United States and Great Britain. Indeed, the
> reaction of most Iraqi to the Bush-Blair rationale of liberation by
> aggression is most likely the same as that of the young woman at
> Baghdad University who told us, "We have been invaded for thousands of
> years, and those bent on conquest always told us that they wanted to
> liberate us."
>
> Ironically, Washington's declared principal war aim is likely to
> accomplish exactly its opposite: instead of severing the Iraqi people
> from their government, it is likely to push them to rally around it.
>
> Washington claims that it is is going to war to disarm Saddam Hussein.
> This rationale flies in the face of reports from the United Nations
> inspection panel that the Iraqi government has substantially increased
> its cooperation in the peaceful disarmament process in the last few
> weeks.
>
> There is simply no reason to go to war. There is every reason to
> oppose a war that is not sanctioned by the United Nations.
>
> The rule of international law is the thin wall that separates
> civilized intercourse among nations from anarchy. Washington's action
> will throw the world back 60 years. Like Hitler's march into
> Czechoslovakia in 1938, Washington and London's invasion of Iraq in
> defiance of the United Nations is an outlaw act with momentous
> consequences. In the same way that Hitler's move was the last nail on
> the coffin of the League of Nations, the Anglo-American war against
> Iraq will destroy the United Nations as an effective force to maintain
> global peace.
>
> We are angry but we are also sad. In the brief time our mission was in
> Iraq, we met many Iraqi, made many friends. It is springtime in
> Baghdad, the season when life renews itself. Yet, many of those we met
> with will lose their lives in the coming war. Indeed, hundreds of
> thousands of Iraqi are likely to die and many millions more are likely
> to be wounded or turned into homeless refugees by the unleashing of US
> military might.
>
> Baghdad is a gem of a city, a place throbbing with life, laughter, and
> culture. Large parts of this ancient city will surely be flattened and
> destroyed. So-called precision bombing that avoids large-scale
> civilian casualties is an illusion. We are likely, instead, to witness
> innumerable repetitions of the bombing of the Al-Aamriyya air-raid
> shelter during the Gulf War in 1991, when a Daisy-cutter bomb tore
> into many layers of concrete to kill 407 men, women, and children in a
> horrible firestorm.
>
> We pose to the world the same question that one professor at Baghdad
> University posed to us: why is the world's most advanced industrial
> country determined to destroy the world's most ancient civilization?
>
> The desire to control Iraq's oilfields, which contain the second
> largest proven reserves in the world, is an important reason, but it
> is not sufficient. There is also the drive to establish a Middle
> Eastern order that assures the predominance of Israel and a global
> order where the hegemony of the United States cannot be challenged by
> any power or combination of powers. But this still does not exhaust
> the reasons why the US is eager to wage war. For there is also
> operating at a primordial level the dynamics of power that is in love
> with itself and expresses this deadly narcissism in the destruction of
> others.
>
> Washington is hell-bent on aggression, but it should not expect Iraq
> to be a walkover. Beneath the daily routine of the Iraqi we met was a
> determination to fight for their country's sovereignty. As one Iraqi
> told us, "We are a different people from the Iraqi before the Gulf
> War. By forcing us to rely on ourselves, the years of economic
> sanctions toughened us." Let Washington and London beware that there
> are some 7.5 million trained militia members, and many are expected to
> defend Baghdad block by block. Can there be any doubt that in the face
> of aggression they are doing the right thing? Under similar
> circumstances, would not resistance also be our most sacred duty?
>
> Might will be confronted by morale and morality in Baghdad, and might
> will not be assured of an easy triumph.
>
> War is about to commence. We in the Asian Peace Mission join the world
> in making one last demand that the US and Great Britain desist from
> aggression. We do so in the name of the children of Iraq. We demand
> instead that instead of waging war, they join the rest of the world in
> lifting the crippling economic sanctions that have turned what was
> once a population of relatively healthy children into a severely
> malnourished lot that will be devastated by the impact of what is sure
> to be a prolonged war.
>
> We appeal to the community of nations to mount one last offensive to
> pressure the strong not to dismantle the machinery for the maintenance
> of global peace that has been painstakingly constructed over the last
> 58 years.
>
> We cannot emphasize too strongly that unless we stand steadfast now
> against brazen aggression, the fate of Iraq today may well be the fate
> of the rest of us tomorrow.
>
> We are all Iraqi now.
>
> Asian Peace Mission to Baghdad, March 14-17, 2003
>
> Loretta Ann Rosales, Head of Mission, Chairman of the Committee of
> Human Rights, House of Representatives, Philippines
>
> Zulfikar Ali Gondal, Member of the National Assembly, Pakistan
>
> Hussin Amin, Member of the House of Representatives, Philippines
>
> Dita Sari, labor leader and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, Indonesia
>
> Walden Bello, executive director, Focus on the Global South, Thailand,
> Philippines, and India
>
> Herbert Docena, Ariel Fulgado, and Jim Libiran, Mission Staff
>
>
> ______________________________
>
> 2- Beyond Resolutions: Within Unions, Anti-War Forces Mobilize
> Opposition
> ____________________________________________________________
>
> By Chris Kutalik and William Johnson
>
> In recent months a growing, if uneven, sense of momentum against an
> impending war in Iraq has been spreading in the labor movement in the
> United States and around the world.
>
> Before the fall of 2002, trade union opposition to war plans was
> mostly isolated into pockets primarily organized in small ad hoc labor
> anti-war committees in the larger cities, such as New York City Labor
> Against War and the Labor Committee for Peace and Justice in the San
> Francisco Bay Area.
>
> As the autumn unfolded an increasing number of anti-war resolutions
> came from U.S. labor groups. Starting with a few scattered locals,
> there were important breakthroughs in relatively larger bodies. Early
> resolutions from larger bodies such as the California Federation of
> Teachers, SEIU Local 1199, and Teamsters Local 705 opened space for
> more unions to sign onto calls. On January 11 2003, 100
> representatives met to set up a national coordinating body, U.S. Labor
> Against the War (USLAW).
>
> By March 2003 roughly 130 local unions, 45 central labor councils, 26
> regional bodies, 11 national/international unions, and the AFL-CIO
> Executive Council had passed resolutions condemning the Bush
> Administration's actions around Iraq in varying degrees of criticism.
>
> Opposition to war focused on the enormous toll-in workers' lives and
> tax dollars-and on fears that the Bush administration would use the
> war as a pretext for even more crackdowns on workers' rights. Public
> employee unions in particular warned of the inevitable budget cuts
> that will hurt both the public and their own members.
>
> This tide of resolutions-while effective in creating political space
> for workers and unions to come out against the war-hasn't evenly
> translated into a strong mobilization of rank-and-file union members.
>
> Ron Lare, a former officer in UAW Local 600 in Dearborn, Michigan,
> talks about the difficulties encountered in his local even after a
> resolution was passed: "In some locals, including my own, there has
> not been local-wide discussion or even local-wide publicity of
> leadership anti-war resolutions before or even after they are adopted.
> Is a local 'anti-war' if members don't know it is?"
>
> In some locals, passing a resolution has prompted opposition after the
> fact, with some members arguing that it's not appropriate for the
> union to take a stand on a divisive issue; or that since war is bound
> to be declared, the country should unify behind our troops; or that
> the President is right about the need to remove Saddam Hussein.
>
> Some local union presidents have said that their unions should not
> address the war question out of respect for the feelings of the local
> veterans' committee. It is not apparent, however, that veterans'
> committees in general are proactively moving to support war plans.
>
> In the UAW's Region 1, in the Detroit area, the regional director
> called a meeting of local veterans' committees with former Congressman
> David Bonior, himself a veteran and a vigorous opponent of war in
> Iraq. The vets reportedly came away impressed with Bonior's arguments.
>
> As war looms in mid-March a number of unions have started to move
> beyond simply calling for resolutions towards a gamut of more direct
> and organized expressions of anti-war sentiment.
>
> INTERNATIONAL ACTION
>
> Anti-war labor action has been far more militant outside of the U.S.
> On March 11, Italian dockworkers went on strike for the last hour of
> their shifts to protest the U.S. military's use of Italian ports. Near
> Livorno, Italy, dock and railway workers (with union support) have
> refused to transport and unload shipments of U.S. military supplies,
> while in Scotland, two train engineers refused to board or operate a
> locomotive bearing supplies bound for a military base on the country's
> west coast.
>
> The British engineers' union, the Associated Society of Locomotive
> Engineers and Firemen, pledged support to these workers, and also
> announced that more similar actions are likely. Five of Britain's
> largest unions have said there will be mass walkouts in the event of a
> war. CGIL, the largest union federation in Italy, has pledged a
> general strike immediately after war on Iraq is declared.
>
> IG Metall, Germany's largest industrial union, has made a similar
> call, encouraging its 2.6 million members in the metal industries to
> engage in a 10-minute work stoppage against the war on March 14. This
> call was seconded by the ETUC (Europe's AFL-CIO), who have designated
> March 14 as a day for their members to participate in work stoppages
> across the continent.
>
> Australia's Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union has warned
> that up to 10,000 of their workers will participate in a strike on
> building sites the day that war on Iraq begins.
>
> Meanwhile, in Pakistan, a country whose support for a U.S.-led war is
> seen as crucial, the All-Pakistan Trade Union Federation has voiced
> strong opposition. Rubina Jamil, president of the Federation  (which
> represents more than five million Pakistani workers), has called for
> actions ranging from rallies to hunger strikes in front of U.S.
> embassies.
>
> IN THE UNITED STATES
>
> Labor activists in the United States have acted in much more modest
> ways to move beyond the call for resolutions.
>
> USLAW, in a last-minute attempt to build more momentum in labor
> circles before a war, issued a call for a Labor Day of Peace on March
> 12. Actions on the day were intended to be locally-based protests and
> educational efforts at workplaces, with the handing out of leaflets,
> buttons, and bumper stickers. Lunchtime and union hall meetings and
> discussions were also encouraged. The day's activities were viewed as
> a springboard for building large-scale national demonstrations in
> Washington, D.C. and San Francisco on March 15.
>
> Joe Fahey, president of Teamsters Local 916 and co-chair of Teamsters
> for a Democratic Union, participated in actions in the Monterey,
> California area on March 12. According to Fahey, labor activists in
> the area toured workplaces, schools, and a city council, talking to
> workers and political leaders about the need to oppose the war. While
> visiting the local teachers union hall, the delegation was surprised
> to find union members making up informational packets on the war.
> "People are taking much more independent initiative than we thought,"
> says Fahey. "This is a great time for us in the labor movement to get
> out and talk to people."
>
> While much of the activity on March 12 was confined to local events at
> workplaces, there was a higher level of coordination among groups
> nationally than had been seen in the months before. A week before
> March 12, representatives of U.S. central labor councils met to
> discuss plans for the day. A few international unions, such as the
> American Postal Workers Union and UNITE, picked up on the call and
> encouraged their members to participate.
>
> According to USLAW organizers, the inspiration for a labor day against
> the war stemmed from a USLAW-sponsored international meeting on
> February 19 of union leaders interested in coordinating an
> international series of actions against the war.
>
> Substantial labor contingents were planned for the big March 15
> rallies. Members of the Washington Teachers Union, an AFT local, for
> example, were gathering under a union banner. Liz Davis, one of the
> organizers of this group, believes that "educators don't want this war
> because of the millions of lives that would be lost and the billions
> of dollars that would be drained from public education."
>
> On March 16, USLAW backed a rally in Chicago to say "NO to War in Iraq
> [and] YES to spending for the needs of America's working families."
> The following weekend, South Bay Labor for Peace and Justice planned
> an anti-war teach-in, for workers and others to learn more about the
> impact a war would have on working Americans.
>
> Educational work, from teach-ins to leafleting to open discussions
> within union locals, may be the key to effectively mobilizing U.S.
> workers. As Lare puts it: "Officers may not want to face rocky debate.
> Some pro-war motions get made. Some officers lose elections. But
> without democracy, resolutions don't build movements, and won't
> survive when the shooting starts."
>
> Contact for this article. Marsha Niemeijer marsha at labornotes.org
> Published in collaboration with Labor Notes. 'Labor Notes' is a
> monthly magazine based in Detroit, USA. We are committed to reforming
> and revitalizing the labor movement. We report news about the labor
> movement that you won't find anywhere else. News about grassroots
> labor activity, innovative organizing tactics, international labor
> struggles, immigrant workers, and problems that some union leaders
> would rather keep quiet. Subscribe and receive a copy of 'Labor Notes'
> in your mailbox! Subscription information can be found at our website
> at www.labornotes.org
>
>
> ______________________________
>
> 3- Anti G8 Mobilisation
> ____________________________________________________________
>
> Status of the anti-G-8 mobilisation after the European coordination
> meeting at Geneva, March 1st and 2nd, 2003.
>
> Introduction
>
> March 1st and 2nd a European coordination meeting for the mobilisation
> against the G-8 was held at Geneva.
>
> Roughly 300 activists and group representatives were present at this
> meeting; the complete list of attendance will be diffused by the
> activists of Geneva.
>
> Delegations with representation at the meeting: - Disobediente/
> Italian Social Forum - Representatives from the former coalition «
> contra le europa del capital » who are responsible for having
> organised the great protest at Barcelona in March 2002. (Catalonia) -
> Globalize Resistance (Great Britain) - Greek Social Forum - ATTAC
> Germany and other groups - CADTM (Belgium) - ATTAC Sweden -
> representation from Hollande - numerous representatives from various
> Swiss activist organisations, unions, and political groups in the
> «Forum social lémanique », ant the « Comité vaudois anti-G-8 » as well
> as representation from Germanophone Switzerland.
>
>  - numerous representatives from French political and activist
> organisations and unions, at both the local and the national level,
> including CHARG, CGT, FSU, G10 Solidaires, CNT, Confédération
> Paysanne, UNEF, CRID, Amis de la Terre, No pasaran, ATTAC, LCR, the
> Greens, PCF, les Alternatifs, PS, etc.
>
> The discussion essentially touched upon initiatives being organised
> against the G-8, and explored numerous questions, such as the date and
> place of the protest and the different intitivates still needing
> further discussion at the time of the March meeting.
>
> The general context
>
> Atmosphere of open discussion, delegates who wished to speak were
> called upon in an orderly fashion.
>
> The context essentially surrounds the agreement on a common opposition
> to the G-8 found in the appeal text, even though the text has not been
> signed by all participating parties in the anti-G-8 coalition.
>
> Points of agreement include the illegitimacy of the G-8-the regular
> meeting of the 8 chiefs of state and governmental representatives of
> the richest countries in the world to regulate the affairs of the
> planet; the struggle against war; the support for different relations
> between Northern and Southern countries (cancellation of debt, etc);
> against the growth in inequality; for real and meaningful
> environmental protection, etc.
>
> The context of the mobilisation also weighs upon the position of the
> French government, which wants to evade the responsablities that it
> has created for itself in the pursuit of neo-colonial policies,
> especially in Africa and in the application of neo-liberal policies.
> The French government counts on presenting itself as sharing the
> preoccupations of the anti-war protesters, alterglobalists and
> environmentalist, and as being open to « civil society ». In this
> spirit, the G-8 will be preceded by a « G-28 », where numerouis chefs
> of state and governments of Southern countries will be present,
> including Lula of Brazil; a reunion of NEPAD with African heads of
> state will also take place.
>
> Last point of context: the importance of the war in Iraq. This
> question, which is the main point of preoccupation in the activist
> community in the current weeks, will be a determining factor for the
> G-8 summet next June. This issue could radically change the character
> of the summet, depending on what happens in the future weeks: either
> protests and pressure of the international community succed in
> blocking the war, or the war takes place with the endorsement of the
> Security Council, in which case the powers at Evian would be
> essentially those responsible for a war launched unilaterally by the
> United States and its allies.
>
> A plurality of initiatives
>
> Various initiatives were discussed and articulated under the
> understanding that each one is under the sole responsability of the
> movement or organisation presenting it, the idea being to assure
> coordination (all movements involved in the mobilisation having
> members present at Geveva March 1st and 2nd) but simultaneous autonomy
> of initiatives.
>
> Conferences and alternative summets
>
> Under this general denomination, numerous debate, conference, and
> public discussion initatives will take place at Geneva and Annemasse,
> which will be the centers of mobilisation. Two of them should be of
> particular importance: - The « Summet for Another World », initiave
> launched by CRID, which should take place at Annemasse (contact
> Bernard Pinaud, b.pinaud at crid.asso.fr).
>
>  - A « Tribunal for Debt », inititave of CADTM, which should be taking
> place at Geneva (contact Eric Toussaint, cadtm at skynet.be).
>
> Several European chapters of ATTAC will organise a conference at
> Geneva Friday March 30th or Sunday March 31st (contact Alessandro
> Pellizari, alessandro at attac.org). The other initiatives will be
> announced and presentatd in the coming weeks.
>
> Note the meeting in Geneva of a union forum organised by the European
> Confederation of Labor, Tuesday May 27th, and the meeting of G-World,
> organised by ATTAC Paris region, either on Wednesday May 28th or
> Thursday May 29th.
>
> Alternative Villages
>
> Under this heading are projects concerning not only the simple lodging
> of protesters (a question being handled seperately) but instead real
> political initiatives. The idea is to construct spaces where, for
> several days, particpants can experiment with different ways of
> self-organisation, sharing of resources, and communal discussion.
>
> There are two groups making plans at this level: - The VAAAG
> (Alternative, Aticapitalist, Antipatriarchal, Antiwar Village), which
> intends to retain its political purity by guarding its total autonomy,
> is organised by CLAAC (Convergence of Antiauthoritarian and
> Anticapitalist Struggles, - A European Alternative Village proposed by
> the network « g8-Illegal » (composed of SUD student, AARRG, Vamos, and
> certain individuals).
>
> The locations of these villages are not yet known and should be
> negotiated with authorities. The location proposed by activists of
> Haut-Savoy is the Annemasse airport, the only place with a sufficient
> surface area to host one or more villages composed of several thousand
> tents.
>
> Projects of non-violent blockage
>
> Such initiatives were proposed by the Geveva Social Forum and
> discussed at the regional coordination level among Swiss and French
> activist networks.
>
> The idea is not to attempt to block the arrival of heads of states and
> governments, which is obviously outside of the capacity of protesters
> given the expected police and military presence. The project of the
> Lemanic Social Forum is hence to disrupt the functionning of the G8 by
> slowing down the arrival of the tens of thousands of collaborators
> necessary for its day-to-day functioning. This disruption will be
> caused of course by the big protest itself-Geneva and Annemasse are
> small enough areas which will be quickly and easily paralysed by an
> influx of several tens or hundreds of thousands of people-, and by
> sit-ins and popular parties which will be organised Sunday afternoon
> along the roadways leaving Geneva and Lausanne-another town which will
> be the sleeping quarters of numerous G8 staff members.
>
> A disussion was held about what level of explicit solidarity should be
> associated with these initatives, the fear of the activists of the
> Geveva Social Forum being a seperation between the « good » protesters
> of the morning and the « bad » ones participating in blockage and
> perhaps setting themselves up to be victims of repression. A long
> debate resulted in an agreement to defend the openness of borders and
> the right to protest, on the agreement of all coalition partners for
> the Sunday morning protest, on the popularisation of different
> initiatives and on an affirmation of solidarity with those
> participaying in non-violent and peaceful blockage.
>
> « Fire on the lake » and other initiatives
>
> In addition to all the above, other initiatives have been announced,
> like the one known as « Put Fire to the Lake », which is coordinated
> by the activists of the « Vaudois anti-G8 committee » and which
> consists of the orgnisation of big fires on the shores of lake Leman
> on May 30th, fires which will be part of picnics and popular
> barbecues. Already fifty municipalities and activist groups have
> pledged their participation in this initiative.
>
> Other initiatves will be presented in the coming weeks: an anti-G8
> party for the 17th of May at Cessy has already been announced (stands,
> conferences, debates, orchestras, etc.).
>
> Protest at Geveva and Annemasse the morning of Sunday, June 1st.
>
> The big protest itself was one of the most important topics of
> discussion of the meeting, as it is the only initiative common among
> the totality of activist organisations present at the meeting and
> participating in the mobilisation against the G8.
>
> The debate touched on the date of the protest-whether it should be
> Saturday or Sunday morning-as well as the place and the organisational
> method. Political and pratical considerations were mixed in with this
> discussion, such as the need to be close to the G8 but to
> simultaneously guarantee a peaceful march, and also the logistics of
> coordinating the access of tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of
> protestors. It is in light of these criteria that an agreement was
> reached to hold the big protest with two starting points-Geneva,
> Switzerland, and Annemasse, France-Sunday morning.
>
>  These two towns are approximatley the same distance from Evian,
> assure the best conditions of transport, road and rail, and are the
> nearest large towns to Evian.
>
> The difficult-to-answer question is evidently that of the Franco-Swiss
> border, for which there will need to be a quick negociation between
> the authorities of the two countries, the strongest argument to
> convince them to keep borders open being the possible logistical
> problems of not doing so and the fact that the protest will be far
> enough away from the « red zone ».
>
> Swiss and French coordination groups were given a mandate to assume
> contact with the authorities of the two countries seperately but also,
> if possible, together to discuss two questions: - the right to
> demonstrate and the opening of the borders, first and foremost for the
> protest on Sunday morning, but also, in a more general sense, to avoid
> the detainment of protestors at the French borders (the Schengen
> accords risk being suspended), as happend at Nice in December 2000, -
> the possible means to permit the lodging of protesters for the night
> of Saturday May 30th and to permit the counter-summet and the
> alternative villages to take place.
>
> Organisational and Logistical Problems
>
> Even if numerous problems rest unresolved at this stage of planning,
> discussions certainly advanced at Geneva.
>
>  - For lodging on the night of May 31st, requests will concentrate on
> the towns of Geneva and Annemasse, point of depart of the protests,
> but if need be, it will be possible to ask collectives of neighboring
> towns (Annecy, Grenoble, etc.) to provide auxiliary sleeping area for
> Saturday night.
>
>  - Welcome and meeting centers. Here too, on account of incertainties
> viv-à-vis the borders, we ought to duplicate our plans. At Geneva, the
> «Maison des associations» , a friendly meeting place offering very
> good working conditions will agree to be the reception and
> organisational center for the counter summet and the protest. It could
> also be the media center. Negociations will take place with the local
> authorities for a meeting place that would permit the large-scale
> gathering of all people coming to the area for the various
> aforementioned initiatives. At Annemasse, things are a little less
> advanced, but there appear nonetheless to be several possible meeting
> places.
>
>  - Transportation and logistical qustions that will arise at arrival
> will be easier to handle if the places of depart for the protest are
> confirmed.
>
> Activists of Haut-Savoy will see if it would be possible to arrange
> free train service between Annecy and Annemasse.
>
>  - Transportation from far-away places will be handled by local
> collectives (buses, trains, etc).
>
>  All help and ideas can be shared thanks to the electronic lists and
> web sites. Already, we also know that the French-language newspaper
> « Charlie » will offer a free supplement that we will work with them
> to write and which will be sold, the money going towards the financing
> of transportation.
>
>  - The alternative villages will have basic needs (sanitation,
> transportation, etc) which will be discussed once their localtion is
> established.
>
>  - Specific teams are in the proces of organising themselves to
> provide various types of assistance to protesters. In this manner, a
> group of lawyers is already in place.
>
>  - Electonic lists and web sites. Francophone list,
> g8 at g8-evian2003.org. International list (messages welcome in various
> langauges), g8-eu at g8-evian2003.org. Web site www.g8-evian2003.org is
> accessible but remains to be completed. It is a SPIP website, which
> means that it will be possible for every organisation to manage
> autonomously its own individual space on the site (contact: Erick
> Aubourg, erick at globenet.org). For the actions proposed by the Geveva
> Social Forum, there is a site www.g8deviant.org, www.evian- g8.org.
>
>  - Permanent positions. While positions in Annemasse and Geneva are
> not yet in place, there exists one in Paris, at CICP, 21ter rue de
> Voltaire, 75012, Ashby Crowder, info at g8-evian2003.org
>
>  Working framework and next meetings
>
> Collectives are establishing themselves in different towns, regions,
> and countries. At the international level, three types of coordination
> were put in place in Geneva.
>
>  - A technical coordination, which will follow logistical
> negociations. Two dates have already been fixed: Wednesday March 19th,
> and Wednesday April 23rd in the afternoon, at Geneva; the place and
> precise hour will be diffused via the electronic list. Another meeting
> time will also be established for the month of May.
>
>  - Larger informational meetings and collective discussion on the
> progress of the mobilisation will take place the weekend of April 26th
> and 27th at Angers, where there will be a series of activist
> initiatives against the G-8 on the question of the environment, and
> also at Berlin where the European Assembly for preparation of the
> European Social Forum of Paris/St. Denis will he held. Precise hours
> for meetings about the G8 will be communicated via the electronic
> lists.
>
>  - Finally, if the poiltics of the organisational process require it,
> the weekend of May 10th and 11th has been reserved for us to meet if
> the need arises, at least for one of the two days.
>
> ______________________________
>
> Meeting ATTAC Worldwide
> ____________________________________________________________
>
> http://attac.org/rdv/index.html
>
>
> 26/03
> AUSTRIA : http://www.attac-austria.org/termine/termine.php
> Wien + Graz
> FRANCE : http://www.france.attac.org/annexe/calendrier.php?langue=
> Grenoble + Rennes
> NORGE : http://www.attac.no/index.php?url=%2Fkalenderliste.php
> Gunerlokka-Sofienberg
>
> 27/03
> AUSTRIA : http://www.attac-austria.org/termine/termine.php
> Braunau + Bludenz
> BELGIQUE-BELGIE :
> http://wb.attac.be/modules.php?op=modload&name=Calendrier&file=index
> Bruxelles + Huy
> DANMARK : http://www.attac-danmark.dk/kalender/index.asp
> Frederiksberg
>
> 28/03
> BELGIQUE-BELGIE :
> http://wb.attac.be/modules.php?op=modload&name=Calendrier&file=index
> Bruxelles
> FRANCE : http://www.france.attac.org/annexe/calendrier.php?langue=
> Arras
>
> 29/03
> DEUTSCHLAND : http://www.attac.de/termine/index.php
> Rhein-Main-Airbase
> FRANCE : http://www.france.attac.org/annexe/calendrier.php?langue=
> Grenoble + Mende + Brest + Paris (Colloque Santé) + Amiens + Lyon +
> Cergy Pontoise
> SUISSE-SCHWEIZ :
> http://www.suisse.attac.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=6
> Genève (Manifestation internationale devant l'OMC)
>
> 31/03
> AUSTRIA : http://www.attac-austria.org/termine/termine.php
> Linz + Wien
> FRANCE : http://www.france.attac.org/annexe/calendrier.php?langue=
> La Rochelle
>
> 01/04
> DANMARK : http://www.attac-danmark.dk/kalender/index.asp
> København
> FRANCE : http://www.france.attac.org/annexe/calendrier.php?langue=
> St Brieuc + Saint Dié + Romorantin + Paris (festival Images
> mouvementées) + Tregunc + Lyon + Nantes
> NORGE : http://www.attac.no/index.php?url=%2Fkalenderliste.php
> Oslo
> SUISSE-SCHWEIZ :
> http://www.suisse.attac.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=6
> Lausanne
> SVERIGE : http://www.attac.nu/index.php?sc=340,1
> Stockholm
>
> 02/04
> AUSTRIA : http://www.attac-austria.org/termine/termine.php
> Gotzis
> FINLAND : http://www.attac.kaapeli.fi/kalenteri
> Vantaa
> FRANCE : http://www.france.attac.org/annexe/calendrier.php?langue=
> Grenoble + Paris (Festival Images mouvementées) + Paris 15 + La
> Rochette + Quimper + Paris 10
> SUISSE-SCHWEIZ :
> http://www.suisse.attac.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=6
> Lausanne
>
>
>
> ______________________________
>
> (*) coorditrad at attac.org is the email address of an international
> group of volunteers who coordinate 700 translators worldwide. You can
> be part of this group and share your language expertise by helping us
> publish articles and documents. Just contact them for further details.
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
>
> This weekly newsletter was put together by the « Sand in the Wheels »
> team of volunteers. <newsletter at attac.org> <http://attac.org/indexen>
>
> Disclaimer. The articles published are not representing the opinion of any
ATTAC in the world. Otherwise they are signed by a national ATTAC. They can
be written by individuals, groups or organizations and represent their
opinions. It is about building, together, another possible world and to get
back our future, by enriching ourselves with expertises and ideas.