Anniversary of Second U.S. Iraq War
March 20, 2003
From the Party Press
No to War on Iraq! Prepare Now for the War Measures Which Will Accompany the War!
CPC(M-L) vigorously supports the actions and initiatives of all kinds which are being organized across Canada and around the world this weekend and as the impending war on Iraq gets underway. Already “pre-emptive strikes” to make way for the “pre-emptive war” are being launched. Already we have been informed that under one excuse or another, Canadians are authorized to “join their (American) units” and engage in combat against Iraq. Already we are witnessing Canadian journalists express their fear in Baghdad because they know that the American war machine will not respect civilian lives, including their own.
In this situation, CPC(M-L) calls on the Canadian working class to take immediate stock that as the U.S. steps up its invasion, attacks of all kinds are also being stepped up within the United States, within Canada, within all the countries whose peoples are taking a militant stand against the war. Racial profiling, the criminalization of dissent, blacklisting of celebrities and academics, charges hitherto unknown and prompted by the increasingly fascist American ruling circles […] all this and much more in the name of border security, a common security perimeter, security of ports and airports, are used to destabilize the people, make them fearful of one another and undermine their unity behind their demands.
It is not a time to fall prey to either pessimism that we have not managed to stop the war, nor despair as we see the crimes committed unfold or the government proceeds to take decisions which we deplore and believe constitute crimes against the peace and against humanity. It is a time to close ranks, take a bold step together in defence of the rights of all by opposing racial profiling, the criminalization of dissent, phony diversions to put us on the defensive by claiming we are “anti-American” or “anti-Semitic” or that we espouse violence or support Saddam Hussein. It is the Bush administration which is anti-Canadian and anti all the peoples of the world. It is the Zionists who are anti-Semites with their notion that Palestinians are not human and can be crushed. It is the Bush administration which has weapons of mass destruction and is using them against the peoples of the world.
We condemn the Canadian government for remaining silent about the humanitarian crisis the Americans are creating in the Middle East. The same government which justified its participation in the first Gulf War claiming the aim was to liberate Kuwait, now authorizes Canadian soldiers to join a U.S. invasion of Iraq from Kuwait and international waters and refuses to call an invasion an invasion. So too, the government which justified joining the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia on the grounds of a humanitarian crisis, is now silent in the face of the humanitarian crisis the U.S. is causing in the Middle East. This crisis will hit the Iraqi people the hardest but also the peoples of all the Middle East, including the 1.3 million Filipino and 3.5 million Indian workers stranded there and the American and British youth sent into the abyss as cannon fodder. No country will come out of this war unscathed. Already Turkey is attacking the Kurds and the U.S. is going into higher gear with terror alerts to instill fear so that people do not trust one another and to justify state terror.
The time is now to prepare against provocations, the psychological terror intended to sow fear, the attacks against the fighting forces and reactionary war measures. It can be done by stepping up the tempo of opposition to the war and reactionary war measures, closing ranks, taking bold steps in defence of the rights of all and refusing to get diverted by accusations that “tactics” are an issue, or that we are “anti-American” or “anti-Semitic” or “violent” or any other excuse. Beware of police provocateurs who will come into the midst of demonstrations or to disrupt meetings. They will attempt to provoke fights or propose adventurist actions in order to isolate the fighting forces and justify their persecution.
This is the time for the workers to take their stand on the basis of their individual conscience, and to get their unions to join. It is a time for the workers to boldly defend the youth who are fighting, as well as the women, older generation and even the children. Accusations inspired by George W. Bush and Tony Blair that those who oppose the war support Saddam Hussein should be treated with all the contempt they deserve. We are fighting for the common cause of humanity, not the aims of others.
The peoples stand for peace. Their striving for economic relations which will provide them with prosperity, for a genuine democracy which permits them to exercise control over their lives and for an end to the world order which permits the United States to run rampant against all the countries which refuse to buckle under its dictate is asserting itself in the actions large and small, all over the world. It is one humanity, engaged in one struggle and it is bound to make great strides as the peoples find the means to realize their aims.
On this occasion, we also reiterate our categorical support for the Palestinian people who for years on end have been at the receiving end of the darkest reaction which is about to be unleashed against the people of Iraq and for all those who languish in the dungeons of the empire subject to the “refined” torture techniques which they charge their enemies of using. As we do our duty to open a path to progress here at home, we also reiterate our support for all others who are fighting for the same, as on the Korean Peninsula, in Colombia, Cuba, all over Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania and within the United States and so-called Western democracies.
No to War on Iraq!
No to Any Canadian Role in Bush’s War!
Prepare Now for the War Measures Which Will Accompany the War!
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