From: "Global Women's Strike" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [workfare] LATEST ANTI-WAR PICKET LEAFLET
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 13:06:30 +0100
:
This is the text of the latest anti-war picket leaflet for London.
A printable pdf file showing the layout with photos is available, please let
us know if you would like it.
Front page:
NO TO WAR,
NO TO THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
Invest in Caring Not Killing
Community Picket & Open Mic
Every Wednesday & Thursday 5.30-7pm
in Parliament Square
Anti-war speakers, poets, musicians, singers, street theatre welcome
Since the bombing of Afghanistan and then Iraq, we have picketed outside
Downing Street and then in Parliament Square, joining forces with the
two-year-old 24-hour Peace Camp. The picket is called by women, but many
men join us. Women are the first carers, who have least everywhere, who pay
the highest price for war. We and our children are 80% of people displaced
by armed conflict, 70% of its victims.
Like most people in the world, we in Britain opposed the invasion of Iraq.
But Blair listens only to Bush. They say the war is over but Bush is
talking about a 10-year occupation. There is a growing movement in Iraq
against the occupation, and in the world against US military might and
bullying. The Community Picket in Parliament Sq. is part of this movement.
We are here to bear witness and save lives and to give a voice to the
unrepresented, starting with the Iraqi Women's League: "We fear the threat
of fundamentalist religious movements, which an occupying army inspires .
. . The Iraqi people have not been liberated by the US. We have been
subjected to a barbaric attack . . . . 'Reconstruction of Iraq' is now a
euphemism for the daylight robbery of our resources."
Inside left:
We hear of US and British casualties, but little of the atrocities
(including sexual assault) that Iraqi civilians are suffering from US and
British troops. News is censored of the holocaust against Palestinians
perpetrated by the Israeli government, which represents US interests in the
Middle East, is allowed to have weapons of mass destruction and ignores UN
resolutions. News is censored of how Western interests promote and arm wars
in Africa, which have killed and displaced millions, and how AIDS is used to
attack breastfeeding and starve a continent.
Since Bush stole the election in the US, depriving Black and Jewish voters
of their vote, he has:
- invaded Afghanistan and Iraq;
- organised a coup against the democratically elected government of
Venezuela,
another oil-rich country, which was defeated by a mass movement;
- threatened to bomb Iran, Cuba, Syria and other countries;
- illegally held hundreds of people, including children, in Guantanamo Bay;
- imposed military trials without regard to human rights or international
law;
- criminalised dissent, targeting Arab people and other people of colour.
Our continued presence is an embarrassment to the building across the road
where they vote for bombings and occupation. They have tried to evict us,
complaining that we bother them. Good! Even some MPs who voted against the
war resent the spotlight we keep on them. Though some police are
sympathetic, they do their masters' bidding. But we will not be moved.
Inside right:
NO to LOSS OF PRECIOUS LIFE.
NO to CUTS and PRIVATIZATION of healthcare, benefits,
education, transport . . . and to low wages which pay for war!
NO to a CORRUPT and ILLEGAL GOVERNMENT
which lies about "weapons of mass destruction" and
denies asylum and other human rights to victims of war!
Like women in Palestine, in Congo, in Chechnya, in Kashmir and other
war-torn regions, women in Iraq are trying to keep families and communities
alive despite lack of water and electricity, contamination, unexploded land
mines and bombs, radiation . . . Many of those who escape to claim asylum
here are forced into homelessness and destitution.
$900+ billion is squandered on military budgets whilst 1.5m infants die each
year from malnutrition. The UK spent �3bn attacking Iraq, whilst only �240m
has been allocated for humanitarian needs. There is only money for the
military - and for buying the silence of anyone who opposes or exposes.
Military spending and the oil industry we are made to pay and go to war for
threaten our very survival.
In box:
l �6.6bn a year for 10 years would provide clean water to the 1.75 billion
people who don't have it l �12.6bn a year for 10 years would eliminate
famine and food insecurity l �11.3bn a year for 10 years would provide
safe, renewable affordable energy supplies for everyone in the world and
phase out the polluting energy industries (nuclear, coal, oil, gas) l
�10bn would halve child poverty in the UK by 2010 l �15bn would give equal
pay to nurses and other women workers in the NHS l �9.9bn would double the
minimum wage from �4.20 to �8.40 an hour for 1.3 million low waged workers,
mainly women, for one year l �3bn would pay for all the UK's crumbling
schools to be repaired l �1.5bn would provide 50,000 wheelchair accessible
minibuses l �604 million would provide basic support for the approximately
80,000 asylum seekers who arrive each year l �200m would meet the fire
service workers' demand for a 40% wage increase . . .
The Global Women's Strike demands:
Invest in caring not killing. Military spending should be used to pay for
caring work - wages, pensions, land, water and food security, electricity,
healthcare, literacy and other essentials of life. What is more important
than raising children and looking after everyone's needs? Why must we all do
without to pay for wars, occupations and domination?
Back page:
Every casualty, every collateral damage -
Some mother's daughter, some mother's son.
For the global market, and the governments which worship it, our survival
is not a priority. But it is our priority. However governments justify
war, in whatever country, of whatever race or religion, women point to the
suffering and the tragic loss of life.
We were lied to about weapons of mass destruction and the "liberation" of
Iraq. Our children should not have been sent to occupy another country,
kill other mothers' children for Bush and Blair, risking their own lives.
Like military families in the US, we - mothers, daughters, partners, wives -
demand that the troops come home now, alive and without more blood on their
hands. If not, we will pick up the pieces when they later suffer mentally
and physically from what has been done to them and what they have done to
others - politicians will not.
Those of us who oppose this war and occupation are the unrepresented
majority. We have no choice but to speak for ourselves.
You are welcome to use the open mic at the Community Picket.
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