[JNV] Anti-War Events - Peace Activist Imprisoned - Latest Briefing
JNV
info at j-n-v.org
Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:24:37 +0000
1) Peace Activist Imprisoned
2) Event Listings
3) Latest JNV Briefing: Saddam's Crimes: Avoiding The West's
Responsibility
Dear friends,
We hope you find this email useful.
All the best
Maya Evans
Milan Rai
***
1) Chris Cole in Prison
Long-time peace activist Chris Cole, Director of the Fellowship
of Reconciliation (and on the Board of Advisors of JNV), was
sentenced to prison for 28 days on Monday 22 January 2007. He
had refused to pay a fine of £661 arising from an anti-war action
at the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in London on 28th December 2004.
On that day, working with other Christian peace activists, Chris
dug graves in the lawn of the MOD and sprayed ‘Remember the Innocent
- No War in Iraq’. (28 December is Holy Innocents' Day in the
Christian calendar.) Four of the group were arrested and eventually
convicted of criminal damage.
Please write to Chris in Wandsworth prison (colourful cards and
cheerful messages particularly appreciated):
Chris Cole XA7269,
Wandsworth Prison, Heathfield Road, Wandsworth SW18 3HS
(not far from where he was born and grew up!).
Chris is due to be released on 5th February.
A supporter writes:
'Chris was very clear with the court that the protest was an act of
resistance to the war in Iraq. He said he could not in conscience
pay the fine. He stated that it was reasonable for him to do this
action, because the MOD institutions and buildings do not enhance life,
instead they kill, maim and injure. He had a firm but fair magistrate
who tried very hard to persuade him to pay, but he was steadfast in
his refusal to pay, so she sentenced him rather reluctantly to 28 days.'
****
2) REGULAR EVENTS
Every Month, ALDERMASTON: New Monthly Camp at Britain's
Atomic Weapons Establishment(AWE) to add further pressure
to the /Block the Builders/ campaign to halt development of the
next generation of nuclear weapons. Contact 0845 4588 368 or
www.blockthebuilders.org.uk.
Every Sunday LONDON Freedom to protest picnics in Parliament
Square. In defence of the right to protest, recently criminalised
under s132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act
(April 2005). Bring food, drink and music to share. 1.30pm,
Parliament Square, Westminster. For more info contact
0785 439 0408, marshall_darkness@hotmail.com or visit
www.peopleincommon.org
Every Wednesday MOULSCOMBE Noise Demo Outside EDO
MB- 'an arms company that makes bomb parts used in the Iraq war
(Guardian). 4-6pm, EDO MBM, Home Farm Road. Contact
07891 1405 923. www.smashedo.org.uk
First Sunday or every month LONDON Walk in peace. A slow,
silent walk for peace in peace.Meet at 11.00am, Speakers Corner
Café, Speakers Corner, Hyde Park, London. (Nearest tube Marble
Arch) Walk for an hour returning to starting place at 12 noon.
Contact: Clare 020 8755 0353 or e-mail
beatricemillar@freeuk.com.
Every Monday LONDON Monday Love Screenings- a free weekly
politically inspired film & music night at The Good Ship on Kilburn
High Road, NW6 (tube: Kilburn). ‘I Know I’m Not Alone’
(12 Feb), 'Sir! No Sir!' (19 Feb), 'A Letter to the Prime Minister:
Jo Wilding's Diary from Iraq' (12 Mar) and 'Rob Newman's
History of Oil' (26 Mar). All screenings start at 7pm. See
http://tinyurl.com/ynx7c9 for complete listings. Organised by
London Indymedia, Filmmakers Against War, Spiritual Kids and
IFIwatch.tv. Contact euan2000@onetel.com
First Saturday of every month EASTBOURNE Peace Vigil outside
Eastbourne Libaray 5-6pm. Organised by Eastbourne for Peace
and Liberty. Contact michael3col@yahoo.co.uk or 01323 430040.
UP COMING EVENTS
Wed 24 Jan - Sat 19 May AROUND THE UK Events with former
Guantanamo Bay Prisoner Moazzam Begg
-Wed 24 Jan LONDON 'Detained at Guantanamo Bay.'
Discussion with Dr James McKeith, Consultant Forensic
Psychiatrist at the Bethlem Royal Maudsley Hospitals.
8:30 - 10:30pm, Ernest Jones Room, The Institue of
Psychoanalysis,
Byron House, 112A Shirland Road, London W9 2EQ.
- Tues 30 Jan, LONDON 'The Plight of the British Detainees',
5.15pm, University College London. Part of UCL's 'War on Terror
Week.'
- Wed 31 Jan, LONDON 'Debate on Torture', 5:15pm, University
College London. Part of UCL's 'War on Terror Week.'
- Fri 2 Feb, LOUGHBOROUGH Talk to the Islamic Society at
Loughborough University.1:10pm
- Wed 7 Feb, CAMBRIDGE Talk at Cambridge Union.
- Sun 11 Feb, KETTERING
- Tues 13 Feb, BIRMINGHAM Talk to the Islamic Society at UCE,
2-3pm, Kenrick Lecture Theatre, UCE University, Perry Bar
Campus.
-Tues 20 Feb, LONDON SOAS talk and book signing. School of
Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square. Part of SOAS
Guantanamo week
- 24 Feb, BELFAST
- 4 Mar, BATH Conversation with Frank Furedi at the Bath
Literature Festival. 2.30pm, Guildhall. Tickets £8. See
http://tinyurl.com/vo3ga
- 17 Mar KESWICK 'Guantanamo and Back.' Main House at the
Theatre by the Lake. Part of Keswick’s Words by the Water
Literature Festival.
- 14 May LIVERPOOL Writing on the Wall Festival (WoW).
7:30-9pm.www.writingonthewall.org.uk
- 19 May BRISTOL
Sat 27 Jan LONDON School Students National Conference
Against War- School students from across the country discuss the
political situation and plan activities. Open to all under 19 or in a
FE college. Guest speakers include George Gallowat MP
Contact- contact@ssaw.org.uk or 07788 513 563
Tues 30 Jan - Tues 27 Feb HASTINGS Chomsky Course.
Course of participatory talks with author and activist Milan Rai
('Chomsky's Politics', 'War Plan Iraq' and '7/7:
The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War'):
'Mass Media' (30 Jan); 'US Terrorism' (13 Feb);
'How to fight propaganda' (20 Feb); and 'Making a New World'
(27 Feb). All talks 7-9pm, Reading Room, Claremont Art Space,
12 Claremont, by the Hastings Library. Cost: £4 / £2.50 per
session or £15 / £8 for all four sessions. For more info:
milanraiATbtinternet.com
Thur 1 Feb PLYMOUTH UNI STW Public Meeting 5.00PM
Plymouth University Students Union The Scotts Building. Topic:
Civil Liberties Speaker: Andrew Burgin
Mon 5 Feb CROYDON STW Public Meeting 7.30 PM Arnhem
Gallery, Fairfield Halls Speakers Tony Benn, George Galloway MP,
Kate Hudson, (CND) and Lindsey German Stop the War
Contact- 07854473523
Mon 5 Feb BRENT STW Public Meeting 7.30 PM Stop Trident/
Troops Out of Iraq Space 2, Willesden Green Library Centre 95
High Rd Willesden NW10 2SF Nearest tube Willesden Green
Busaes 52, 98, 206, 260, 266, 460
Speaker: Craig Murray former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan and
CND speaker TBA
Tues 6 Feb GLASGOW Screening of US Labour Against the War
DVD on Iraq Trade Unionists. 7.30pm, STUC Centre,
333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow. With Mary Senior, Assistant
General Secretary of the Scottish TUC. Organised by Iraq Union
Solidarity Scotland: iraqunionsolidarityscotland@yahoo.co.uk
Wed 7 Feb LONDON Parliamentary Lobby Against Depleted
Uranium. Lobby: 2-4pm, Public Meeting: 7-9pm. Venue: House of
Commons. Speakers: Dr Keith Baverstock - formerly of the
WHO's Radiological Protection Division; Ria Verjauw - European
Lobbyist ICBUW; John La Forge - anti Alliant Tech Systems
Campaigner, Nukewatch USA; Dr Caroline Lucas MEP; Jeremy
Corbyn MP; Rae Street - CADU. Organised by the Campaign
Against Depleted Uranium (CADU). Contact 0161 273 8293 or
visit www.cadu.org.uk
Sat 10 Feb GLASGOW STW Scottish Conferencewith Kate
Hudson (CND), Craig Murray, Yvonne Ridley (Islam Channel),
Anas Altikriti (BNI), Walter Wolfgang (Labour Party NEC),
Jeremy Corbyn MP, Lindsey German (Stop the War Coalition),
Mozzam Begg (ex-Guantanano prisoner), Rose Gentle (Military
Families Against the War), Pauline McNeill MSP, Sandra White
SNP MSP, Mike Brider (T&G regional sec), Kenny Ross (FBU
Scottish sec), Dr Azzam Tamimi (IIPT), and John McDonnell MP.
10am - 5pm, Sir Charles Wilson Building, Gibson Street, Glasgow
University. Contact 078 661 769 60 or edinburghstw@tiscali.co.uk
Tues 13 Feb BRISTOL STW/ CND Public Meeting Stop Trident-
Troops Out of Iraq 7.30 PM Broadmead Baptist Church, Union
Street, Bristol Speakers: TBA
Wed 14 Feb YORK STW Public Meeting Stop Trident- Troops
Out of Iraq 7.30PM Venue: Priory Street Community Centre
Speakers: Kate Hudson Chair CND Lindsey German STW
Thurs 15 Feb WANDSWORTH STW Public Meeting 7.30PM
Balham Library. Speakers: Kate Hudson Chair CND, Chria
NinwhamSTW, George Solomou MFAW
Sat 24 Feb LONDON No Trident- Troops out of Iraq
National demo organised by Stop the War and CND.
Assemble 12 noon at a Central London location tba.
See www.stopwar.org.uk
Tues 20 Feb HOUNSLOW STW Public Speakers: Craig Murray
(Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan), Chris Nineham STW,
Walter Wolfgang Labour Party NEC Meeting 7.30PM
Montague Hall, Montague Road, Hounslow ( next to multi-storey
car park, 5 minutes from Hounslow Central tube)
Wed 21 Feb LONDON Metropolitan Uni Public Meeting 5.00PM
City Campus Students Met Uni Union Building Bring the Troops
Home: Stop Trident Speakers: Gearoge Galloway MP, George
Solomou Military Families Against the War Tel Kate
07834 218 711
Tues 20 Feb LONDON Queen Mary's Uni Public Meeting 5pm
Student Union Building Bring the Troops Home: Stop Trident
Speakers: George Galloway MP George Solomou MFAW
Contact Kate 07834 218 711
Mon 19 March AROUND THE WORLD Global day of Action
Against the "War on Terror" on the 4th anniversary of the
invasion of Iraq. To find out what's happening in Britain on this
day see http://m19wiki.pbwiki.com.
*****
3) JNV Briefing 100
Saddam's Crimes: Avoiding The West's Responsibility
SADDAM?S CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Two weeks after the execution, it is the manner of Saddam Hussein's death
that continues to hold Western attention. Saddam's crimes fade into the
background - and the complicity of the West in those crimes - has been almost
completely erased from public discussion.
Saddam committed many crimes against the Iraqi people, including his role
in the 1968 Ba'athist coup and the institution of a brutal dictatorship.
Beyond this, Saddam was also guilty of crimes of aggression against Iran
(1980-88) and Kuwait (1990-91), and crimes against humanity in his
massacre of Iraq's Kurds (especially the Anfal campaign in 1987-88) and
the Shia Arab majority (especially in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War).
It is a matter of historical fact, as we shall see, that in all of these
ventures (except the invasion of Kuwait), Saddam enjoyed the (often
active) support of Britain and the United States. This barely features in
the obituaries and profiles published in the aftermath of his hanging.
WEAK ADMISSIONS
Those who do not completely ignore the complicity of the West typically
use of the vague word 'support' without specific details.
David Aaronovitch gives us a classic example:
'For twenty years Saddam was tolerated or supported by various Western
powers and by the Soviet Union, in the belief that he was better than the
Iranians, better than chaos and, above all, in the mistaken belief that
his depredations would be limited to the poor, bloody Iraqis.' (Times, 1
Jan. 2007, p.13 <http://tinyurl.com/yekjzc>)
Soft words, backed by immediate justifications.
THE OBITUARIES
It is possible to understand part of the story of Western sponsorship of
Saddam?s crimes from mainstream obituaries, if they are treated with care.
(Obituaries: Independent, 1 Jan., p.28 <tinyurl.com/vw5b5>; Guardian, 30
Dec., p.24 <tinyurl.com/yx9uln>; Telegraph, 1 Jan., p.23
<tinyurl.com/y6nfhm>; Times, 1 Jan., p.38 <tinyurl.com/yyzsqa>)
One way of de-emphasizing Western support for Saddam is to delay the first
mention of it, indicating that it is unimportant. The Independent (first
mention in para. 15) and the Guardian (para. 26) are worse on this than
the right-wing Telegraph (para. 2) or The Times (para. 4).
ATTACKING IRAN, ARMED BY THE WEST
The Telegraph is also straightforward about the Iraqi invasion of Iran:
'Both sides were covertly supported by America and Britain in the hope
that they might provide a check to each other's ambitions... British and
American firms vied with one another for Iraq's plump rearmament
contracts.'
The Independent adds: 'It is worth recalling that Saddam, who was
subsequently demonised by America, relied on financial and logistical
support from the US (the US granted him $6bn in loans and provided him
with satellite pictures showing Iranian troop concentrations).'
The Guardian is almost alone in pointing out that not only did the West
furnish conventional weapons, it also supplied 'the means to manufacture a
whole array of unconventional ones: nuclear, chemical and biological.'
For British newspapers, this should have been a headline item, given the
Matrix Churchill affair and the massive Scott Report into the
'arms-to-Iraq' scandal.
A crucial part of this concerned licences granted in 1989 to export
high-precision machine tools to Iraq, despite the acknowledgement (by
Minister William Waldegrave, in this case) that the British firm producing
the machine tools, Matrix Churchill, had been 'taken over as part of a
procurement network for the Iraqi nuclear, CBW [chemical or biological
warfare] and missile programmes', and that previous orders had been
'shipped to the major Iraqi munitions establishments'.
In another secret memo, Waldegrave defended the exports with the words,
'Screwdrivers are also required to make H-bombs'. (David Leigh, Betrayed,
1993, p.184)
GASSING THE KURDS, REWARDED BY THE WEST
Saddam's outstanding crime, which defines his rule, is the chemical attack
on the Kurdish town of Halabja, in March 1988, killing 5,000 civilians.
The Times is the only newspaper to record the 'punishment' meted out by
Britain in response to the atrocity: 'Britain doubled Iraq?s export credit
guarantees.'
'Export credit guarantees' are loans offered to countries buying British
exports. The year before Halabja, Britain lent Iraq £175 million. Then, in
1988, 'the British taxpayer advanced Saddam £340 million in medium term
credits.' (John Sweeney, Trading With The Enemy, 1993, p.99)
The Department of Trade and Industry admitted in 1991 that in early 1988
it permitted the sale to Iraq of chemicals used to manufacture poison gas.
The DTI then withdrew the admission - leaving open the possibility that
British chemicals were used in the Halabja attack. (Sweeney, p.94)
Saddam was emboldened to use chemical weapons against his own people after
the lack of Western reaction to his earlier chemical weapons attacks on
Iranian troops (a fact noted in passing by The Times, Guardian and
Independent). (See Juan Cole <tinyurl.com/l3tmx> for more.)
The Times remarks correctly that, 'By now Saddam was convinced that no
atrocity of his risked serious punishment. He believed that Western powers
would not oppose his acquisition of nuclear weapons, since they had
allowed him to buy chemical weapons technology and had apparently turned a
blind eye to his agents buying nuclear triggers and fissile material,
often with money borrowed from themselves under such guises as credit for
agricultural products.'
MASSACRING THE SHIAS, AIDED BY THE WEST
In 1990, Saddam miscalculated, invading Kuwait. In 1991, he was expelled,
and US-British-French forces drove deep into southern Iraq. A massive
national revolt followed. The Guardian remembers: 'President George Bush
senior had urged the Iraqis to rise up. But when they did so, he turned a
deaf ear to their pleas for help.'
This is not quite accurate.
US forces were poised to crush the heart of the regime, the Republican
Guard, in a 'battle of annihilation' (US commander Norman Schwarzkopf),
but were stopped by President Bush Sr. (Cohen and Gatti, In The Eye Of The
Storm, 1991, p.298)
Then Schwarzkopf permitted Saddam's helicopter gunships to operate against
the rebels. (Mentioned in The Times obituary.)
At the same time, US forces were refusing to allow rebels to take weapons
and ammunition from Iraqi military bases. (MERIP, May 1992, p.9, 12-13;
Said Aburish, Saddam Hussein, London, 2000, p.308)
This is rather more than just 'turning a deaf ear'.
It was protecting the regime.
US policy, supported by Britain, was summarized by a US National Security
Council official in Feb. 1991. Richard Haass scolded an official of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for doing too much to help a Kurdish
rebel leader named Jalal Talabani (now President of Iraq). Haass said:
'You don't understand. Our policy is to get rid of Saddam, not his
regime.' (Cited, Andrew and Patrick Cockburn, Out Of The Ashes, London,
1999, p.37)
DEEDS UNACCOUNTED FOR
At the time of his hanging, Saddam was also on trial for massacring the
Kurds.
Kani Xulam, founder of the American Kurdish Information Network, tells
Inter Press Service: 'As a Kurd, I don't think Saddam should have been
executed right now', before the Kurdish catastrophe had been spelled out
in court, and before Saddam had revealed which countries helped him to
carry out the atrocities. (IPS, 31 Dec. <tinyurl.com/ydc4d9>)
In the one mainstream UK media article to deal properly with the issue of
complicity, Robert Fisk comments:
'The whole truth died with Saddam Hussein in the Baghdad execution chamber
yesterday. Many in Washington and London must have sighed with relief that
the old man had been silenced for ever.' (31 Dec. <tinyurl.com/yfohay>)
They must also have sighed with relief that the British mainstream media
once again silenced itself over the West's complicity with Saddam?s crimes.
Nuggets can be extracted here and there, but the overall pattern is one of
self-censorship, of service to power.
One marvels in particular at the suppression of any mention of Matrix
Churchill and the damning Scott Report, which helped to undermine the
Conservatives and paved the way for the squeaky clean Tony Blair.