We Must Mobilise like The Climate Change Camp to Demand British Withdrawal from Iraq Now.
As the Climate Change Campers pack up and leave my constituency I just want to say thank you to them for the immense contribution they have made to our campaign against the expansion of Heathrow. More importantly I want to thank them not just for increasing our awareness of the link between the expansion of aviation and climate change but also for raising our consciousness about how social movements can be brought into existence and how they can mobilise effectively.
For one of the key lessons of the Climate Change Camp is that when the political system is ignoring us and failing to represent us, social movements, widespread coalition forming, creative protest and direct action are once again the effective tools for change for the committed but disenfranchised.
As we hear of another British soldier dieing in Iraq and large numbers of Iraqis themselves being killed in almost daily barbarity surely now is the time to demand the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq now.
Every rational person from senior generals to the squaddie in Basra now knows that the military adventure of Iraq has been a bloody, life-devasting, disastrous mistake. British soldiers are now under such attack that they are largely pinned down in their fortified bases serving as sitting targets for attack by insurgents. Even where areas are handed over to the Iraqis we can't even guarantee the safety of the Governor of the province as exemplified by the recent assasination.
Gordon Brown must know the game is up. Having supported, argued for and funded the war he is impicated fully in this fiasco. The least he can do is accept that the situation is irretrievable and order the withdrawal of British troops. At present he is either dithering or is for waiting for the best public relations opportunity to move withdrawal forward without appearing to lose face.
Too many lives are being lost and too much suffering is taking place to wait for a face saving public relations strategy to be rolled out.
British forces should be withdrawn now and if we have to take to the streets again to achieve this let's start organising the demonstrations now.
For one of the key lessons of the Climate Change Camp is that when the political system is ignoring us and failing to represent us, social movements, widespread coalition forming, creative protest and direct action are once again the effective tools for change for the committed but disenfranchised.
As we hear of another British soldier dieing in Iraq and large numbers of Iraqis themselves being killed in almost daily barbarity surely now is the time to demand the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq now.
Every rational person from senior generals to the squaddie in Basra now knows that the military adventure of Iraq has been a bloody, life-devasting, disastrous mistake. British soldiers are now under such attack that they are largely pinned down in their fortified bases serving as sitting targets for attack by insurgents. Even where areas are handed over to the Iraqis we can't even guarantee the safety of the Governor of the province as exemplified by the recent assasination.
Gordon Brown must know the game is up. Having supported, argued for and funded the war he is impicated fully in this fiasco. The least he can do is accept that the situation is irretrievable and order the withdrawal of British troops. At present he is either dithering or is for waiting for the best public relations opportunity to move withdrawal forward without appearing to lose face.
Too many lives are being lost and too much suffering is taking place to wait for a face saving public relations strategy to be rolled out.
British forces should be withdrawn now and if we have to take to the streets again to achieve this let's start organising the demonstrations now.
posted by John at 11:34 AM
6 Comments:
I absolutely agree the troops must be brought home NOW but not entirely sure demonstrations ( of the kind we've had hitherto anyway) are the way forward.
The last STWC march on brown's coronation day in manchester was very small and if we are to maximise impact maybe we have to think of other ways of engaging people. Perhaps mass protest/peace camp outside Parliament, mass lobby of MPs. Even direct action....Whatever it takes, basically. Because, yes, the killing has to end.
On plus side, looks as though the Heathrow protest has been a major success - which is something to cheer about.
I agree. I meant exactly as you suggest, ie whatever it takes. If we are to learn from the Climate Camp the sort of direct action needed has to be so wide ranging that it enables everybody to participate in the way they feel best but also is so effective and creative that it cannot be ignored. The Climate Camp was impressive and effective because the range of actions undertaken were determined in really democratic disussions and debate and they were so diverse that anybody could contribute as best they could and using what skills they had. Consensus was largely achieved but also respect for those who wished to go in different directions and further than others.
I don't believe this government could withstand a campaign now of people from all walks of life using whatever skills and methods they have to hand to demand the troops be brought home.
Let's start the discussion on action now.
By the way, keep up the terrific work in Hebden Bridge.
Best wishes,
John
see also today's Mirror for the big support given to the train driver sacked for trying to protect other passengers from a thug; now even people who never normally support strikes are with the RMT on this (there have been two strikes about it)
typos - this computer has letters missing etc and life's too short to have to be accurate all the time!
I couldn't get to the climate change camp with the kids in tow but I think BAA/BA have been exposed as pretty greedy and unethical not to mention ungreen for wanting to ban protestors who are RSPB members and so on let alone wanting to build the third runway over two schools; Harmondsworth graveyard and so on and so forth and I believen the air pollution in the area can already exceed EC levels now....people heard voices of reason such as John's and George Monbiot's and they didn't buy the "how dare we disrupt the travelling public" line.
Gatwick is onlly safe from expansion till 2019 by the way; they are probably drawing up the plans now.....
did you seen the Ch 5 programme about the ten lane superhighway that's been build under Boston in the USA?
It jsut shows the scale of some of these projects though you could argue the Boston one is greener in that it takes traffic underground
As for the Nippon debate - Heathrow is the best example i know of hwo the two tier workforce is alive and well and under our noses. Some of the companies there are too mean even to give their employees a canteen pass as no doubt I've mentioned before...,
would John like to comment on the possibility of an election in Spring?!
hospitals
my old next door neighbour's son in Sussex was helicoptered to a Brighton hopistal when he had a suspected spinal injury as due to the cuts he couldn't be seen in Haywards Heath's hospital nearest to where he had fallen due to the recent cuts, he had to go to the Royal Sussex in Brighton. It turned out he didn't have a spinal injury although he had lost movement in his limbs for a while and was ok but the helicopter cost the NHS £30,000 for the journey;s so much for the cuts saving money. It was in the front page of the Mid Sussex times. His Mum is quoted as saying how it would have been much simpler all round if he had been seen locally and she also had had a long franitc drive as her mobile had been out of range so her mother in law (my Mum's boss by coincidence) had had to go in the helicopter and when she got the message she had a frantic long drive....In theory it's only twenty five mins betweeen Haywards Heath and Brighton but there are many elderly people etc out in the many surrounding villages and it's too heavy a load on the ambulances/helicopter to see them all at Crawley or Brighton. I kno wthey are now sayingv that distict general hospitals are outdated and of course we want the latest medical machines etc but they are no good if you can't get to them are they??? We still need evey hoisptal to be able to deal with general emeregencies of whatver hue' at least to eb able to get you past the initail crisis of your emergency and then you can always e transferred to a specialist hospital afterwards if necessary. They can't argue that more lives wouls be saved with specailsist equipment as your chances of survivial now depend on how good anbulance provison is in your area and longer journey times such as here people are being talen to Stoke Mnadeville or Wexham Park which is out out of the county near Slough so gettin gon for an hour's journey for these instead of ten minutes or less to Wycombe. More people are not going to make it; it's blatantly obvious and I'm sure is laready happening, must read up mor3e details to see of there are any stats yet - I know there have been lots of probs with the ambulamce service in Wales as well. Apparenly some of the casualty depts weren't well enough used -probably because people were trying to save the NHS resources and tried to use things like the (mostly worseing since it's effective privatisation) out of hours GP service instead but now they are using that as an excuse to close A and E provsion.
last night Newsnihgt said that they only have 5000 was it troops left in Iraq and that they effectively can't so much except protect themselves now and they presented it as a gradual withdrawal that has already begun ( I think as I was a bit sleepy so someone enlighten me if I'm wrong). They said they needed th troops fro Afghanistan whihc they reckon will take years though and that of course we will follow America as it should pull out soon which was obvious.
I watched a brilliant (and at times quite emotional) documentary film last night by John Pilger (War on Democracy), in which Pilger looked at the United States' role in destroying democracy throughout latin America during the Cold War and to the present day.
One of the interesting, and potentially alarming points raised, was that should US forces be withdrawn from Iraq and oil sources there prove too unstable to allow the US to exploit them fully, then they could focus on venezuela due to its role as a major oil producing nation and its large oil shipments to the US. By 'focus' it was suggested that coups in the style of 2002 could be orchestrated by the US in order to ensure a friendly government.
Based on the United States constant interference, coup backing and orchestrating, and often genocidal behaviour in latin America such a possibility isn't unreasonable speculation.
Just thought i'd mention it because even if the troops are pulled out of Iraq we should be ready to watch US actions and political activities elsewhere as a direct result of that withdrawal. They'll pull out, but the US quest for economic and corporate domination will simply move elsewhere, and quite possibly in what the US government assumes, quite arrogantly, to be it's own 'backyard'.
Jonathan
Bush is now comparing Iraq to Vietnam saying that it would be as disastrous to pull out now as it was then. But if the US had stayed any longer in Vietnam nothing would have had changed - only more deaths in the intervening time.
How many times did they deny Iraq would be another Vietnam back in 2003? Things are getting very sticky out there, finger pointing is starting - the west MUST ask the UN and the surrounding countries for help on their departure and the ensuing chaos that is the result of this illegal invasion.
Post a Comment
<< Home