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CAIRO
CONFERENCE CALLS FOR DEMONSTRATIONS FROM JANUARY 18 TO FEBRUARY 15 TO STOP U.S. WAR DRIVEAn
international conference of over 400 representatives of popular organizations
from 20 countries met in Cairo, Egypt, from Dec. 18-19 and resolved to take action
in The conference called the International Campaign Against U.S. Aggression on Iraq (ICAA) created a steering committee whose first order of business will be to mobilize worldwide for mass demonstrations, first on January 18, 2003, against U.S. war plans. This is simultaneous with national anti-war demonstrations already underway in the United States in Washington and San Francisco and with many other actions already scheduled internationally. The committee will also promote actions for February 15, 2003, a day chosen for demonstrations in Europe. The continuations
committee of the Conference undertook the challenge of mobilizing in Egypt on
January 18. Its first action was immediately following the conference on Until the last minute the Egyptian government tried to stop the conference from taking place. After a mobilization by political forces it backtracked and permitted the assembly. Then the Sheridan Hotel, a U.S. owned hotel chain canceled contracted space at two of its hotels in an effort to sabotage the conference. The conference was finally moved to the Conrad Hotel. The general feeling was that the U.S. State Department was behind the efforts to stop this international anti-war gathering. The challenge
of calling the conference and confronting the efforts to halt it was undertaken
by the Egyptian Popular Campaign to Confront U.S. Aggression. Key Among the prestigious world figures attending the conference
were Ahmed Ben Bella, leader of Algeria's struggle for independence from France
and first president of Algeria in 1962, Saad K. Hammoundy, Iraq's ambassador to
the Arab League, Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Denis Halliday, (Ireland)
was the United Nations Coordinators of anti-war groups in the different countries attending included John Rees of the Stop the War Coalition in Britain, Christof Agiton of Attac in France along with delegates from Cuba, Canada, Russia, Germany, Italy and more than fifty distinguished guests from most Arab countries. Sara Flounders of International Action Center, Elias Mashmawi and Fadia Rafeedi of the Free Palestine Alliance, also representing the ANSWER Coalition, Peter Phillips from Project Censored and Gary Leupp were part of the U.S. delegation. BEN BELLA SETS DIRECTION President
Ben Bella gave direction to the conference, noting that the U.S. attack on Iraq,
should it take place, would be only the first of a succession of wars by the U.S
Ben Bella also said it was up to the people of the United States to fight against those policies and that the struggle within the U.S. was vital. Ramsey Clark,
who was attorney general in the Johnson administration from 1967-1969, has been
the only former high-ranking federal official to publicly oppose U.S. Clark said that "an attack on Iraq is obviously unlawful, it
is criminal. Through years of sanctions, the U.S. is already committing genocide
against Iraq." Another strike George Galloway, Labor Member of Parliament in Britain mocked Washington's charge that Iraq holds weapons of mass destruction. "Everyplace visited by the inspectors so far has been completely empty," he said, calling Great Britain and the U.S. "imperial powers" who want to decide on "new kings, new countries, and new slave centers" in the oil-rich Middle East. Denis Halliday, who resigned in 1998 to protest the
effect of sanctions against Baghdad, said that Washington has accused Baghdad
of "material breaches" of the new UN resolution because it "plans
to undermine the work of inspections and the work of the Iraqi government. 'The
United States doesn't want a peaceful solution. They want Hans Von Sponeck, who also resigned his UN post in protest, called the 150-percent increase in infant mortality in Iraq since 1990 "genocide by the United Nations." Ashraf
el-Bayoumi, an Egyptian professor and one of the conference organizers, said Washington
was preparing to go about "launching an attack on Iraq, occupying Iraq, Sara Flounders told of "Bush's one big problem," the growing opposition to the war inside the United States. She referred to the demonstrations of hundreds of thousands ANSWER called on October 26 and its plans for January 18, 2003. "The one power that the Pentagon today fears is the arousing anger of the millions of people, whose power is explosive when they are organized and mobilized. This is the one force that can stay the hand of the Pentagon." Elias Rashmawi, a Palestinian American, focused
on the need for a strong anti-war mobilization from the U.S. He stressed that
there is now the potential to build a John Rees referred to both the September 28 demonstration of
400,000 in London against the war, and the almost million people who gathered
in Florence, Italy, to Iraq's Hammoundy connected U.S. military
aggression with the drive to impose capitalist globalization on the world. With
U.S. capital invested around the world, it requires its military to secure its
profits. Hammoundy drew attention to the U.S. seizure of Iraq's weapons declaration
from the United Nations, saying Washington Mohamed Asad Kanaana, Secretary General Abnaal
El-Balad, People of the Homeland Movement within 1949 Palestine, described the
period as one of the most critical periods facing the Arab nation in its modern
history. The U.S. is repartitioning the world. Israel has decided that direct
control - the return of colonialism - is the assured CAIRO DECLARATION The statement known as the Cairo Declaration coming out of the international meeting to launch an "International Campaign" starts: "We, the participants reaffirm our resolve to
stand in solidarity with the people of Iraq and Palestine, recognizing that war
and aggression against them is but part of a U.S. project of global domination
and subjugation. Solidarity with Iraq and Palestine is The statement goes on to "declare our total opposition to war on Iraq and our resolve to continue the struggle against U.S. policies of global domination. We strongly believe in the urgency of mobilizing against these policies." It
condemns "U.S. military presence on Arab land" and calls for "pressuring
the Arab governments that allow U.S military bases on their territory to close
them down, and As
practical actions it proposed to "elect a Steering Committee to follow up
on the implementation of the Cairo Declaration, and coordination among organizations
which commit to its principles, and enhance awareness through appropriate actions
ranging from the preparation of posters to organizing marches and demonstrations
in The first action was the
Cairo demonstration on December 20. The steering committee will support a month
of activities starting with the January 18 demonstrations - End- _____________________ |