Iraq |
The Spanish Campaign for Lifting Sanctions on Iraq (SCLSI), which has been working since 1991 in the Spanish State for the end to the genocide against the Iraqi people and of US military intervention against Iraq, in co-operation with the Review Resumen Latinoamericano organised the ANTI-IMPERIALIST SOLIDARITY MEETING OF LATINAMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS IN BAGHDAD on 2 and 3 May, 2001, under the slogans 'For solidarity between peoples', 'Against US interventionism against Third World countries', 'For ending the embargo and the war against Iraq', 'No to the 'Plan Colombia'. As in previous delegations promoted by our organisation to Iraq, the SCLSI has previewed for the Latin-American delegates several meetings and visits in order to let them know the sanctions impact over the Iraqi people and the regional situation. All the delegates will participate as well in the meeting of BAGHDAD CONFERENCE that will be held next May 5th and 6th. Delegates, General secretaries, Presidents and MP of 16 political, social, Indians, and peasants organisations from all over the American continent have confirmed their presence. The past 17th January saw the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the multinational intervention against Iraq in 1991, a war of devastation which was to eke out till 28 February. If the excuse for unleashing what was called the Gulf War was to free the Emirate of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation after the USA foiled any diplomatic settlement for more than the 40 days the aerial bombing and missile launching campaign lasted, the USA and its allies deliberately razed the country's civil infrastructure to the ground (as they would do in 1999 in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), causing Iraq damage calculated by the United Nations at more than 22 thousand million dollars. Ten years later, the USA is still imposing a genocidal embargo on Iraq (more than a million and a half civilians have died because of the sanctions) and daily attacking its population in what is now the largest aerial campaign since the Vietnam War. After the Gulf War, the USA has endeavoured to impose its Pax Americana on the Middle East, i.e., to guarantee control of its oil reserves and maintain Israel's strategic superiority and the survival of allied Arab regimes. The aggression against Iraq was the first episode in applying what is called the "New World Order" which is no more than an unlimited exercising of US military, political and economic hegemony later repeated in other parts of the planet. The USA does not hesitate to unleash the whole devastation of its military might to impose its political projects and, with them, its economic domination which nowadays we call globalisation. The neoliberal impositions of international financial agencies (the World Bank and the IMF) and capitalist expansion of the large consortia are sustained by this exercising of violence which seeks cynical justification as being humanitarian or the defence of International Law. Today, social conquests and peoples' sovereignty are in danger everywhere. The USA has destroyed every principle of international legitimacy and is prepared to continue attacking peoples and nations. The USA has not hesitated to take war even to Europe, to the Balkans, where today it has settled in military fashion in a powerful way. George designation as new President is shadowing even more the future for the peoples. Whilst pressure on Iraq is kept up -being Baghdad attacked last February- Colombia is particularly threatened: once again, a false excuse, the "fight against drug trafficking" serves the USA to launch what is known as the 'Plan Colombia', an open declaration of war against the Colombian people, the intention of which is to finish off its revolutionary organisations by military action, preventing any process of negotiation and political solution to the conflict which the country is experiencing as well as strengthening the siege over Venezuela and the global Bolivariana Area. Therefore, the aim of this new initiative of SCLSI is a double one. First, to encourage a solidarity gesture of the Latin-American left with the Iraqi people towards the embargo and military aggressions of USA and United Kingdom in the 10th anniversary of the Gulf War. Second, to promote a global, direct connection between Latin-American social and political organisations to the reality of Middle East, taking into consideration that both regional scenarios -and their peoples- are suffering the same process of political, economical and cultural re-colonisation and, therefore, they share similar hopes of collective emancipation and anti-imperialist resistance experiences. Spanish Campaign for Lifting the Sanctions on Iraq Madrid, April, 2001 ANTI-IMPERIALIST SOLIDARITY MEETING OF LATIN-AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS IN BAGHDAD 2nd & 3rd May, 2001 The Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Meeting of Latin-American Organizations in Baghdad, was successfully celebrated in Baghdad on the 2nd & 3rd of May, 2001, in an initiative promoted by the Spanish Campaign for Lifting the Sanctions on Iraq (SCLSI). The Delegates attending the Meeting in representation of 18 Latin-American Organizations issued a Final Declaration condemning the Security Council United Nations sanctions regime imposed on Iraq ten years ago for its genocidal impact over the Iraqi population that "has to be consider as a violation of Human Rights and War Crimes against Humanity". Paying tribute to the Iraqi people "for its resistance and creativity in resisting the embargo", the Final Declaration demands to the Security Council "the immediate lifting of the sanctions as well as to US and United Kingdom to end the military aggressions perpetrated against Iraq". The Final Declaration, that was presented to the Fifth Meeting of Baghdad Conference Follow-up and Coordination Committee held on 5-7 May in Baghdad under the presidency of Tareq Aziz, includes also an Annex in which the Delegates and the organizations they represent confirm their commitment to implement different proposals to develop and strength the solidarity with the Arab peoples and between them with the Iraqi and Palestinian ones. During their stay in Iraq, the Latin-American Delegates were received by several Iraqis institutional representatives -Minister of Health and Minister of Commerce-, met with the Iraqi Woman Federation President, Manal Yunis, and the United Nations World Food Program Coordinator. The Delegates paid also visits to Baghdad hospitals and schools and to Al Amiriya Refugee. The SCLSI express its biggest satisfaction for the success of this initiative that constitutes an example of solidarity between peoples and look forward to contribute to strength The organizations in the Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Meeting of Latin-American Organizations where:
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