arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

ENGLISH URGENT

NEDERLANDS DRINGEND

FRANCAIS URGENT

Monday April 12th from 17hrs to 19 hrs
on the steps of the stock exhange (Bourse):

Demonstration against the escalation in Iraq,
at the moment that the Peace March from Leuven
is arriving there.

To protest for peace and against the terrible escalation of the occupation in Iraq
To join the international call for an immediate retreat of all foreign troops from Iraq.


Maandag 12 april van 17u tot 19u
op de trappen van de Beurs:

Manifestatie tegen de escalatie van de oorlog in Irak,
bij de aankomst van de vredesmars uit Leuven.

Om te protesteren tegen de vreselijke escalatie van de bezetting in Irak
om ons aan te sluiten bij de internationale oproep voor een
onmiddellijke terugtrekking van alle buitenlandse troepen uit Irak.



Lundi 12 avril de 17hrs à 19hrs
sur les marches de la Bourse :

Manifestation contre l'escalade en Irak
à l'arrivée de la Marche de la Paix venant de Louvain

Pour protester contre la terrible escalade de l'occupation en Irak
Pour rejoindre l'appel international pour un retrait immédiat
de toutes les troupes étrangères en Irak

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The explosion of resistance in Iraq and attacks from the occupation forces on the one hand and the presence of Iraqi witnesses at the BRussells Tribunal on the other, makes this event an occasion to get first hand information! (details on Iraqi witnesses underneath)

On Easter Monday there will be a manifestation against the escalation in Iraq at 5 pm on the steps of the Brussels stock exhange (Bourse/Beurs), where a Peace March from Leuven arrives - with some of our International guests speaking to the crowd: Ghaswan Al Mukhtar (straight from Bagdad), Ayse Berktay (World Tirbunal on Iraq/Istanbul node), Felicity Arbuthnot (journalist, specialist on Iraq)


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Press Statement BRussells Tribunal



The BRussels Tribunal (April 14-17th) is a citizens initiative born out of the planetary protest against the invasion of Iraq during the Spring 2003. It is part of the World Tribunal on Iraq, a series of hearings, holding its final session in Istanbul. In the tradition of the Russell Tribunal, which started during the Vietnam War, the task of the BRussells Tribunal will be to formulate a moral judgement where a real legal action is improbable.The Brussells Tribunal will examine the legitimacy of the military intervention in Iraq and more specifically the responsability falling upon the Project for a New American Century.

The PNAC is a think tank which underpins the Bush administrations foreign policy. The PNAC Mission Statement was signed by a.o.: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz.The PNAC statement of principles is unequivocle: to establish a strategic military presence all over the world via a technological revolution in the military; to deter the emergence of any competing superpower; to launch preemptive strikes against any power threatening american interests.

What does the Pax Americana preached by the PNAC members means? In order to get a better understanding of their strategies, the Brussells Tribunal organizes a commission of enquiry on all the economical and geopolitical aspects of the War in Iraq and will try to assess the existing links between the PNAC and the oil industry, the media and the militaro-industrial complex.

The Brussells Tribunal will rely upon the participation of intellectuals, such as Samir Amin, Michael Parenti, Nawal El Saadawi, Immanuel Wallerstein, Jim Lobe, Ramsey Clark and some first order witnesses on the Iraqi issue: among others, Hans von Sponeck, Denis Hallyday, Haifa Zangana, Abdul Ilah Al Bayaty and Ghaswan Al Mukhtar.

For this occasion, Les Halles de Schaerbeek and the Beursschouwburg, who are hosting the project, will propose a cultural program on the war theme including lectures, installations, performing artists, film projections.





Press moments:

-Wednesday April 14th, 17.30 Beursschouwburg: Opening of cultural event and informal press meeting with participants

-Saturday April 17th, Les Halles: Press conference with findings of the commission



April 14-17 2004 De Beursschouwburg / Les Halles de Schaerbeek

free entry, subscription and accreditation obligatory

Contact :

Brussells Tribunal C/o Beurschouwburg

Rue Orts Ortsstraat 20-28 / 1000 Bruxelles-Brussel

Tel : 02/ 550 03 50

info@brusselstribunal.org

http://www.brusselstribunal.org

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biographical info on Iraqi Witnesses


Ghazwan AL Mukhtar (Witness - Irak)

He studied geophysics at Cal Berkley, and graduated with an
engineering degree from Marquette in '67. For most of his career, he sold
medical supplies to hospitals. He says he has too scientific a mind to be a
writer, yet he has written dozens of articles over the years, critical not
only of the U.N. sanctions against his country, but also the current regime
in Baghdad. He is often interviewed and is one of the powerfull independent voice on Iraq.

[Arriving on Saturday Arpil 10th from Bagdad ]

Abdul Ilah Al Bayaty (Witness - Iraq)

Born in Baghdad in 1940, he takes part in the fall of the monarchy in 1958
and soon becomes one of the professionnals in the Ba'athist Party Committee as
the responsible for trade unions and youth movements. In 1962, along with a
few others he splits from the party and makes the first leftist scission in
the National Arab Movement. After many years of clandestinity and emprisonment, being subjected to
oppression like the majority of the arab intellectuals, he leaves into exil
in 1975, first to Great Britain, then to France. He is now part of the redaction of the
Al Wifaq newspaper published in Baghdad.


Haifa Zangana (Witness) - Iraq / UK

Haifa Zangana, writer and humanist, grew up between the Baghdad of her mother and the Kurdistan of her father: a seamless mix of identity between the overwhelmingly male society of Baghdad, and the cool mountains of Kurdistan, where women never covered their faces and could inherit property. Haifa was imprisoned by the Baath regime in the early 1970s. She escaped execution, released because the Baathists needed the help of the Left to consolidate their supremacy.
"You are "either with us or against us", they say. As an Iraqi that means choosing between war and the dictator. To be on the side of the oppressed does not mean we are unaware of the complexity of the situation. To campaign for the lifting of sanctions, for an end to the paralysing bombardment and daily threat of war is to stand by the Iraqi people; it is that policy which will help them to change the oppressive regime. Any change should be initiated from within Iraq, not imposed by Bush or Blair."

Sabah Al Mukhtar (Commssion) - Iraq / UK

President of the Arab Lawyers Association (UK).
Partner and founder of the Arab Lawyers Network, London.
Acts as a consultant of Arab law in London.
Vice chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain, Legal Affairs Committee.
Secretary of PRICE, a Fund established under UK law with the aim of promoting remedies for injurious consequences of economic sanctions and other forms of economic coercion.

Top witnesses on Iraq:

Denis Halliday (Commission) - Ireland

Appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annanto the post of United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq as of 1 September 1997, at the Assistant Secretary-General level, and served as such until end September 1998. During this period, the Security Council Resolution 986 Oil for Food Programme, introduced in 1996/97 to assist the people of Iraq under the Economic Sanctions imposed and sustained by the Security Council, was more than doubled in terms of oil revenues allowed. This enabled the introduction of a multi-sectoral approach, albeit modest, to the problems of resolving malnutrition and child mortality. Mr Halliday resigned from the post in Iraq and from the United Nations as a whole effective 31 October 1998 after serving the Organisation since mid 1964 - some 34 years.

Hans von Sponeck (Witness) - Germany / Switserland

Joined the UN Development Program in 1968, and worked in Ghana, Turkey, Botswana, Pakistan and India, before becoming Director of European Affairs. Serving thirty-six years with the organization, his last post succeeded Denis Halliday as UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq in October 1998, overseeing roughly 500 international staff and 1,000 Iraqi workers.
He was responsible for directing all UN operations in Iraq, managing the distribution of goods under the Oil-for-Food program and verifying Iraqi compliance with that program, Von Sponeck resigned in February 2000, in protest of the international policy toward Iraq, including sanctions.


(on all other witnesses and schedule of the hearing: see website)
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Subject: Brussels Tribunal / Manifestation against the escalation of the occupation
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To conclude:

the explosion of resistance in Iraq and attacks from the occupation forces on the one hand and the presence of Iraqi witnesses at the BRussells Tribunal on the other, makes this event an occasion to get first hand information! (details on Iraqi witnesses underneath)

On Easter Monday there will be a manifestation against the escalation in Iraq at 18 h on the steps of the Brussels stock exhange (Bourse/Beurs), where a Peace March from Leuven arrives - with some of our International guests speaking to the crowd.