Revised ANSWER Statement on the UN Security Council Resolution
Security Council Capitulates to Intense U.S. Pressure, Passes Resolution Setting stage for New U.S. War Against Iraq. Now Only the People Can Stop the War
November 11, 202--Global People’s Anti-War Referendum www.VOTENOWAR.ORG Aims to Collect Millions of Votes Against U.S. Invasion of Iraq. Mass March & People’s Peace Congress in Washington DC, Martin Luther King Weekend, Jan. 18-19, After seven weeks of intense U.S. pressure, the UN Security Council passed a resolution on Nov. 8 which sets the stage for a new U.S. war against Iraq.
The Security Council resolution was achieved only through the heavy application of U.S. power against the other countries on the council. The member states of the U.N. Security Council, just as the U.S. Congress before them, defied the people of their countries who have made their widespread opposition towards a new war against Iraq known to their governments through demonstrations in the many hundreds of thousands in cities and countries across the world in recent weeks.
This path to war is being led by the hawk politicians, the generals, and the corporate profiteers who are willing to risk the lives of servicepeople, kill innocent Iraqis, and loot funds that could support human needs, to wage a military campaign to seize the resources of the Middle East. Mass popular action is the only recourse for peace.
The Bush administration is not really interested in Iraq’s much exaggerated weaponry. What the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld ‘axis of oil’ is seeking is the takeover of Iraq’s rich petroleum fields. Washington’s intention is to recolonize Iraq and turn its oil over to U.S. companies (with France, Britain and others cut in as junior partners). If they succeed, the U.S. stranglehold on the entire region which holds two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves would be immensely strengthened.
The November 5 elections showed most people did not see a choice worth voting for. They saw that incumbency and wealth -- which wants war -- decide who wins. The will of the people was nowhere to be seen. The media, which is the voice of those in power, rushed to promote the White House proclamation that the vote was a mandate for war.
We know that is not true. The Washington D.C. anti-war demonstration on Oct. 26 was so vast that, as the front of the march completed surrounded the White House, it met the last quarter of the march that had not begun moving toward the White House. People filled Washington’s wide boulevards and sidewalks shoulder-to-shoulder for 25 city blocks, over two miles.
If we are to stop this war, we must all intensify our efforts. In response to the UN Security Council vote, we are globalizing the People’s Anti-War Referendum (www.votenowar.org). We know that the vast majority of people in the world are opposed to a new war against Iraq. We urge everyone who is against the war to register their opposition at the www.votenowar.org web site, and to circulate the referendum to their neighbors, co-workers and fellow students.
Across the U.S. people are organizing now for a massive march and rally and a Grassroots People’s Peace Congress in Washington DC during the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, Jan. 18-19, 2003. There is no better way to honor the memory of Dr. King than to take a stand against war and racism on holiday commemorating his life.
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@action-mail.org
En Espanol: el_iac@yahoo.com
web: http://www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT SITE http://www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
To make a tax-deductible donation,
go to http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org
Share this page with a friend