DAY
OF PROTEST AGAINST NATO
Saturday
May 19th
Troops
out of Afghanistan,
Don't
Attack Iran,
No
intervention in the Middle East
The occupation of Afghanistan has passed crisis point. Afghan soldiers are turning their guns on NATO troops, negotiations with the Taliban have broken down and protests against occupation are continuing.
Meanwhile, further war in the Middle East is terrifyingly close. The debate about war on Iran in Israel is more about when rather than whether to attack. In the US there is also a sense of inevitability about war. Officials in the International Atomic Energy Agency say their leadership is being used by the US to justify war on Iran. The US is opposing direct intervention in Syria for the moment, but this can change and meanwhile Western allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar are arming the Free Syrian Army.
Stop the War is calling a day of protest on Saturday May 19th to coincide with big protests in Chicago against the NATO summit.
Details will be announced in the next few days.
The occupation of Afghanistan has passed crisis point. Afghan soldiers are turning their guns on NATO troops, negotiations with the Taliban have broken down and protests against occupation are continuing.
Meanwhile, further war in the Middle East is terrifyingly close. The debate about war on Iran in Israel is more about when rather than whether to attack. In the US there is also a sense of inevitability about war. Officials in the International Atomic Energy Agency say their leadership is being used by the US to justify war on Iran. The US is opposing direct intervention in Syria for the moment, but this can change and meanwhile Western allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar are arming the Free Syrian Army.
Stop the War is calling a day of protest on Saturday May 19th to coincide with big protests in Chicago against the NATO summit.
Details will be announced in the next few days.
I'm interested to know the basis of this perspective on war. I agree that the Western powers shouldn't be interfering all over the Middle East like some sort of World Police, and that many of the problems caused in those regions are down to Europe and the US. But when people are being tortured and killed in droves in the likes of Syria, don't we have a responsibility to try to help? I guess the whole thing is rather hypocritical when our government cosies up to the likes of the President of Syria when it suits, and supplies arms to the Middle East, yet when the shit looks bad it's our armed forces that are expected to step up and put themselves in the firing line, and a bunch of innocent civilians are caught in the cross-fire. Hmm... now that I think about it, I think I've answered my own question.
ReplyDeleteStill, I'd be interested to hear an Anarchist perspective on this, and whether you think war is ever justified.
Not all “uprisings” against a state are for a libertarian ideal, some are not even for democracy but are no more than two power blocks struggling for supremacy. You can rest assured that no state intervenes to push for democracy for the people, there will always be other motives. Did we bring democracy to Iraq, where there are faction fighting and bombings on a daily basis? However our corporate bodies now have access to their oil, but the people have paid a terrible price for poverty and violence. Libya is now a warlord, tribal faction fighting land controlled by militia, but our corporate bodies have access to their oil. In both these cases the people are of little consequence, now we have control of their resources, as far as the West is concerned they can fight among themselves for all eternity. The last thing the West would want in that area is a strong democratic people controlling their own resources. As for Syria, when you get the likes of Saudi Arabia and Qatar sending arms and money to support the "uprising" you have to think, when have these two countries ever supported democracy? It is the one thing they fear in the region, they certainly would not want it to spread, it might reach their own country.
ReplyDeleteGood point. I knew enough about the Iraq war to be against it, and joined the droves of others in marches against it. And Libya always seemed very suspicious with regards to the oil situation. But it's difficult when there are continuous news stories about the torture and murder of people in Syria to not want our country to do something to help. But then, when these things are going on all over the world, we can't very well go interfering everywhere. And when it's happening in countries we're very close with, like Saudi Arabia or China, there's not much reporting of it.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm convinced, it just makes you question your faith in humanity when the world is so screwed up, and those with the power to genuinely help are so corrupt that they'll only do something when it suits them.
Britain has invaded countries since the "Days of Empire" and none of it was for the ideal of bring democracy to the people. If you are looking for democracy, don't expect the military might of the state to deliver it, it has to come from the people and if they call on the power of another state to step in and help them overthrow their own, then they have already sold the revolution.
ReplyDelete