Platformteksten UK/VS

Omdat ik hier veel lees dat de platformtekst van de NGO's niet zo radicaal is als in de VS of in het VK, publiceer ik ze hieronder allebei. Ik kan hierin bijna niets terugvinden van de eisen van STOPUSA, waarbij sommige ondertekenaars laten uitschijnen dat ze geïnspireerd zijn door de bewegingen in de VS en het VK.

In het buitenland is 'stop de oorlog' genoeg, waarom niet in België?

The Bush administration is rushing towards war. The time to act is now. The people of the United States can stop this madness.
World public opinion and almost every government opposes Bush's planned war of aggression. But it will take a mass peoples' movement--in the streets, workplaces, communities, campuses and high schools--to stop the coming war.
On Saturday, October 26, 2002 -- the first anniversary of the signing of the so-called Patriot Act -- anti-war, civil rights, labor, student and other forces are joining together to launch a massive international mobilization in opposition to a new war against the people of Iraq. Mass marches and rallies will be held in Washington DC and San Francisco in the U.S., and in many other countries.
As the Bush administration violates international law it has been systematically engaged in a campaign of division and repression in the United States including a wholesale assault on the Bill of Rights, institutionalization of racial profiling, and aggregation of near dictatorial powers to the Executive branch.
In articulating the so-called doctrine of preemptive war, the Bush administration is preparing to violate all existing international law and the UN charter which forbids countries to carry out war except in the case of self-defense. Preemption is merely a slogan to justify a foreign policy of armed aggression and military adventure.
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and company are planning to send tens of thousands of young GIs to kill and be killed in another war for Big Oil. Simultaneously, the Bush Administration is diverting billions of dollars to feed military conquest and away from jobs, education, healthcare, childcare and housing.
The so-called debate that is opening now to public view from within the political establishment presents a necessity for all anti-war forces to become a major factor in generating an authentic opposition to U.S. war plans in the Middle East. The October 26 National March in Washington DC and joint action in San Francisco come just one week before midterm Congressional elections.
There won't be a real national debate on a planned invasion of Iraq until the people are in the streets. We can't leave it to the military establishment to decide when and how they will go to war and to define the debate. We must tell Bush and his corporate and Big Oil patrons that we will not allow this to happen.
This war can be stopped. Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and company can be stopped. But the essential element must be the mobilization of a massive new anti-war movement in the streets. We call for civilians and soldiers alike to exercise their political right to speak out against an illegal war. On October 26, there will be a National March in Washington DC, a West Coast march in San Francisco, and protests around the world.
ONLY THE PEOPLE CAN STOP THE WAR!
JOIN US ON OCTOBER 26, 2002!
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/o26/o26endorse.html#endo

Poverty in the United States is soaring. The real unemployment rate is higher than anytime in the last thirty years. In New
York City alone, more than 1.5 million people depend on charity from food pantries to feed their families. This is the real
crisis that is undermining the security of tens of millions of people. So why is Bush planning to spend $200 billion (a conservative
figure) for a war and occupation of Iraq?
Iraq poses no military threat to the people of the United States.
Don't believe the war propaganda that seeks to portray Iraq as a
great nuclear menace. Iraq has never possessed a nuclear
weapon. The U.S. government, on
the other hand, has 6,000 nuclear
weapons and has spent a total of $6
trillion building this stockpile of
weapons. The U.S. military budget is
already more than the next closest 15
countries combined, and the
Pentagon stands to get its biggest
budget increase in 20 years.
Iraq is a country weakened by twelve
years of U.S. bombing and sanctions.
It is Iraq who has been the victim of
U.S. aggression. The U.S.-led UN
sanctions on Iraq have killed over 1.5
million people (according to the UN
Food and Agricultural Organization).
Sanctions have been proven to be the
true weapon of mass destruction.
Now, the Bush administration wants
to "finish the job" they started in Iraq
in 1991. They are not planning to
wage war to install a democratic government
in Iraq. They are calling on
young people to kill and be killed in order to install a puppet government that will be run by Corporate America.
On Saturday, October 26, 2002 -- the first anniversary of the signing of the so-called Patriot Act -- hundreds of thousands of people
from anti-war, civil rights, labor, student and other organizations will be marching to tell Bush that we need money for jobs,
education, healthcare, childcare and housing - not for a war that will only benefit ExxonMobil, Citibank and his friends in Corporate
America. Mass marches and rallies will be held in Washington DC and San Francisco in the U.S., and in many other countries.
http://www.internationalanswer.org/pdf/o2602flyer.pdf

tekst voor oproep natinonale actie in Engeland op 28-10:

The Stop the War Coalition was formed on September 21st, 2001 at a public meeting of over 2,000 people in London. The Coalition is campaigning under the following slogans:

Stop the war No to a racist backlash Defend civil liberties

The resolution below, setting out the Coalition's platform, was ratified at public meetings held in October 2001 in London.

1. The aim of the Coalition should be very simple: to stop the war currently declared by the United States and its allies against ‘terrorism'. We condemn the attacks on New York and we feel the greatest compassion for those who lost their life on 11th September. But any war will simply add to the numbers of innocent dead, cause untold suffering, political and economic instability on a global scale, increase racism and result in attacks on civil liberties. The aims of the campaign would be best expressed in the name Stop the War Coalition.
2. Supporters of the Coalition, whether organisations or individuals, will of course be free to develop their own analyses and organise their own actions. But there will be many important occasions when united initiatives around broad stop the war slogans can mobilise the greatest numbers.
3. The Coalition shall elect a steering committee which reflects the breadth of those involved to carry forward the aims and objectives. Local groups should have regular, open and inclusive meetings.
4. We call on all peace activists and organisations, trade unionists, campaigners and labour movement organisations to join with us in building a mass movement that can stop the drive to war.
5. We are committed to opposing any racist backlash generated by this war. We will fight to stop the erosion of civil rights.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)