Dear Left Linkers,
Below is an international call for protests on the 10th Anniversary of the
imposition of US sanctions on Iraq.
In Australia, protests will be held at least in Sydney, Melbourne and
Canberra on August 3 outside US Consulates against US sanctions on
Iraq. Details will be posted as soon as they're formalised. For further
information and to get involved, contact the Worker Communist Party of
Iraq at: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
_________________________________-
July 6, 2000
To left and progressive organisations around the world
Call for International Protests August 3 on 10th Anniversary of
Imposition of US Sanctions on Iraq
Dear Comrades,
As you would be aware, the sanctions imposed by United States
imperialism on the Iraqi masses will have been in place for 10 years on
August 6, 2000. Ten years ago the dominating political event was the
collapse of the eastern bloc, which was portrayed by the capitalist
ruling classes as the final collapse of communism and all liberation
movements and the aspirations of humanity for freedom. The US and its
allies had launched a savage attack against the Iraqi masses, started on
August 6, 1990, by imposing the economic embargo and followed by a
disastrous and incredibly destructive war, which is regarded according
to all standards as the most bloody war in the contemporary era.
The military war has stopped, but the genocide is still ongoing. Since
then the Iraqi masses, and in the first place the workers and other
vulnerable and deprived sectors of society, have suffered from terrible
starvation, illnesses and other miseries, due to this barbaric policy.
It is claimed that this embargo is to defend the Iraqi masses from
Saddam's regime, but in reality these sanctions, which so far have
killed 1.5 million human beings of different ages, actually give support
to his continued rule.
The claims of the US regarding maintaining the sanctions actually are to
warrant its savage policies, which aim in the first place to silence all
the voices demanding freedom for humanity and social equality, and to
suppress all fair human perspectives.
According to credible documents and official statistics this embargo has
resulted in half of the Iraqi population of 22 millions living on the
poverty line, and the reduction of the average individual income in Iraq
to US$3 a month. Due to this blockade 4.5 million Iraqis live in poverty
and Iraq has become the country number 43 among the poorest countries in
the world, even though it's among the richest 10 oil-producing
countries.
The United States and the United Kingdom are still insisting on their
position against the lifting of the sanctions using ridiculous excuses.
They claim that the economic embargo has to remain because the Iraqi
dictatorship does not respect human rights, while they support to the
hilt the regimes in Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries, which are the
most inhuman and barbaric and dictatorial regimes in the world. At other
times they claim that Iraq still possesses weapons of mass destruction
or that it can produce such weapons, while all the officials of the UN
disagree with these claims. Moreover, the US itself is the biggest
producer of such weapons and does not impose economic embargoes on
countries that do possess these weapons or have the ability to produce
them like Israel and India.
Historical experiences and the long struggle of working people
everywhere proved that the capitalist regimes do not comply with the
workers' and peoples' needs and desires without strong pressure forcing
them to do so.
The lifting of the economic embargo on Iraq will not happen through
polite appeals to the US government's kindness and convincing it with
the horrible results of its policy. The US and the UK can be forced to
lift the sanctions immediately and unconditionally only through action
and the solidarity of the working class and all radical and progressive
parties and human right organisations.
Such solidarity of the workers and left organisations and parties to
lift the embargo on the Iraqi masses will give a boost to the
progressive movement worldwide and it will give new hope to the
international working class about the importance and effectiveness of
international solidarity. It will be a strong blow to the bourgeoisie
worldwide and will prove that the workers struggle and their desires for
liberation are alive, growing and are substantiated by the daily
practices of millions of human beings.
We in the Worker Communist Party of Iraq and the Democratic Socialist
Party (Australia) call on you to show solidarity with the just struggle
of the Iraqi masses for the immediate lifting of the sanctions through
arranging protests, and demonstrations in front of the consulates and
embassies of the US and the UK in your countries on August 3, 2000, the
occasion of the tenth anniversary of imposing these sanctions.
Please notify us by email of any plans you carry out in your country to
implement such protests. We'll keep you informed of actions in other
countries.
Down with the sanctions!
Lift the blockade immediately!
Long live international working class solidarity!
Jalal Mohammed
In charge of international campaign against the sanctions
Worker Communist Party of Iraq
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
John Percy
National Secretary
Democratic Socialist Party (Australia)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more information on the effects of the sanctions, contact the WCPI
at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
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