grande allargamento della giornata di lotta del 18 gennaio

400 delegati di 20 paesi arabi riuniti al Cairo decidono di aderire alla giornata di lotta conrtro la guerra e di fare ovunque manifestazioni. Da new York un rapporto dell'Answer in data 28-12-03

CAIRO CONFERENCE SUPPORTS SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQ AND
PALESTINE
CALLS FOR DEMONSTRATIONS FROM JANUARY 18 TO FEBRUARY 15 TO
STOP U.S. WAR DRIVE

[Article prepared by the International Action
Center—see www.iacenter.org for Cairo Declaration
and other reports]

An international conference of over 400 representatives of
popular organizations from 20 countries met in Cairo,
Egypt, from Dec. 18-19 and resolved to take action in
solidarity with the people of Iraq against threatened U.S.
aggression and in solidarity with the Palestinian movement
for self-determination.

The conference called the International Campaign Against
U.S. Aggression on Iraq (ICAA) created a steering
committee whose first order of business will be to
mobilize worldwide for mass demonstrations, first on
January 18, 2003, against U.S. war plans. This is
simultaneous with national anti-war demonstrations already
underway in the United States in Washington and San
Francisco and with many other actions already scheduled
internationally. The committee will also promote actions
for February 15, 2003, a day chosen for demonstrations in
Europe.

The continuations committee of the Conference undertook
the challenge of mobilizing in Egypt on January 18. Its
first action was immediately following the conference on
December 20, when it mobilized 1,000 people for a public
protest of U.S. war plans despite the presence of hundreds
of Cairo police.

Until the last minute the Egyptian government tried to
stop the conference from taking place. After a
mobilization by political forces it backtracked and
permitted the assembly. Then the Sheridan Hotel, a U.S.
owned hotel chain canceled contracted space at two of its
hotels in an effort to sabotage the conference. The
conference was finally moved to the Conrad Hotel. The
general feeling was that the U.S. State Department was
behind the efforts to stop this international anti-war
gathering.

The challenge of calling the conference and confronting
the efforts to halt it was undertaken by the Egyptian
Popular Campaign to Confront U.S. Aggression. Key
organizers of the effort included Mohammed Oudah, Amin
Eskander, Maher Maklouf, Member of Parliament Hamdeen
Sabahy, Professors Soheir Morsy and Ashraf El-Bayoumi and
political analyst Samir Amin.

Among the prestigious world figures attending the
conference were Ahmed Ben Bella, leader of Algeria's
 struggle for independence from France and first president
of Algeria in 1962, Saad K. Hammoundy, Iraq's ambassador
to the Arab League, Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey
Clark, Denis Halliday, (Ireland) was the United Nations
Assistant Secretary-General heading the Oil-for-Food
program in Iraq up through 1998, UN director of the
Oil-for-Food program, Dr. Hans Von Sponeck, and George
Galloway, Labor member of Parliament in the UK. The
86-year-old Ben Bella presided over the conference.

Coordinators of anti-war groups in the different countries
attending included John Rees of the Stop the War Coalition
in Britain, Christof Agiton of Attac in France along with
delegates from Cuba, Canada, Russia, Germany, Italy and
more than fifty distinguished guests from most Arab
countries. Sara Flounders of International Action Center,
Elias Mashmawi and Fadia Rafeedi of the Free Palestine
Alliance, also representing the ANSWER Coalition, Peter
Phillips from Project Censored and Gary Leupp were part of
the U.S. delegation.

BEN BELLA SETS DIRECTION

President Ben Bella gave direction to the conference,
noting that the U.S. attack on Iraq, should it take place,
would be only the first of a succession of wars by the U.S
against Arab and other lands of the Middle East. He was
firm in wanting to mobilize the people of all Arab lands
to hold mass demonstrations against U.S. plans to dominate
the world, calling for a demonstration of 2 million.

Ben Bella also said it was up to the people of the United
States to fight against those policies and that the
struggle within the U.S. was vital.

Ramsey Clark, who was attorney general in the Johnson
administration from 1967-1969, has been the only former
high-ranking federal official to publicly oppose U.S.
military adventures all over the world and has been strong
in his solidarity with the Iraqi people.

Clark said that "an attack on Iraq is obviously unlawful,
it is criminal. Through years of sanctions, the U.S. is
already committing genocide against Iraq." Another strike
now by the U.S. "builds toward world domination and it has
to be stopped. It is an urgent issue because it can happen
in the next three months," because the Pentagon will want
to move before the summer heat sets in.

George Galloway, Labor Member of Parliament in Britain
mocked Washington's charge that Iraq holds weapons of mass
destruction. "Everyplace visited by the inspectors so far
has been completely empty," he said, calling Great Britain
and the U.S. "imperial powers" who want to decide on "new
kings, new countries, and new slave centers" in the
oil-rich Middle East.

Denis Halliday, who resigned in 1998 to protest the effect
of sanctions against Baghdad, said that Washington has
accused Baghdad of "material breaches" of the new UN
resolution because it "plans to undermine the work of
inspections and the work of the Iraqi government. 'The
United States doesn't want a peaceful solution. They want
an excuse to go to war, to conquer Iraq and control its
oil," Halliday said.

Hans Von Sponeck, who also resigned his UN post in
protest, called the 150-percent increase in infant
mortality in Iraq since 1990 "genocide by the United
Nations."

Ashraf el-Bayoumi, an Egyptian professor and one of the
conference organizers, said Washington was preparing to go
about "launching an attack on Iraq, occupying Iraq,
usurping its natural resources, oil and otherwise, in
order to continue being the solo superpower in the world."

Sara Flounders told of "Bush's one big problem," the
growing opposition to the war inside the United States.
She referred to the demonstrations of hundreds of
thousands ANSWER called on October 26 and its plans for
January 18, 2003. "The one power that the Pentagon today
fears is the arousing anger of the millions of people,
whose power is explosive when they are organized and
mobilized. This is the one force that can stay the hand of
the Pentagon."

Elias Rashmawi, a Palestinian American, focused on the
need for a strong anti-war mobilization from the U.S. He
stressed that there is now the potential to build a
movement that can effectively fight against U.S. war
plans. "Our international coordination in mobilizing for
January 18th will strengthen solidarity and  will send a
signal to the Bush Administration that the world is united
against the continuation of conquest  and war."

John Rees referred to both the September 28 demonstration
of 400,000 in London against the war, and the almost
million people who gathered in Florence, Italy, to
demonstrate on November 9 as part of the European Social
Forum's anti-globalization actions.

Iraq's Hammoundy connected U.S. military aggression with
the drive to impose capitalist globalization on the world.
With U.S. capital invested around the world, it requires
its military to secure its profits. Hammoundy drew
attention to the U.S. seizure of Iraq's weapons
declaration from the United Nations, saying Washington
altered the declaration to create an excuse for an
invasion.

Mohamed Asad Kanaana, Secretary General Abnaal El-Balad,
People of the Homeland Movement within 1949 Palestine,
described the period as one of the most critical periods
facing the Arab nation in its modern history. The U.S. is
repartitioning the world. Israel has decided that direct
control - the return of colonialism - is the assured
method to guard their interests. But the one polar world
of U.S. imperialism is not the destiny of humanity.
People's movements will innovate new forms of struggle to
confront imperialist arrogance.


CAIRO DECLARATION

The statement known as the Cairo Declaration coming out of
the international meeting to launch an "International
Campaign" starts:

"We, the participants reaffirm our resolve to stand in
solidarity with the people of Iraq and Palestine,
recognizing that war and aggression against them is but
part of a U.S. project of global domination and
subjugation. Solidarity with Iraq and Palestine is
integral to the internationalist struggle against
neo-liberal globalization.  The Cairo meeting is not an
isolated event, but an extension of a protracted
international struggle against imperialism, from Seattle
and Genoa to Lisbon and Florence, to Cordoba and Cairo."

The statement goes on to "declare our total opposition to
war on Iraq and our resolve to continue the struggle
against U.S. policies of global domination. We strongly
believe in the urgency of mobilizing against these
policies."

It condemns "U.S. military presence on Arab land" and
calls for "pressuring the Arab governments that allow U.S
military bases on their territory to close them down, and
not to provide air, naval, or land facilities."

As practical actions it proposed to "elect a Steering
Committee to follow up on the implementation of the Cairo
Declaration, and coordination among organizations which
commit to its principles, and enhance awareness through
appropriate actions ranging from the preparation of
posters to organizing marches and demonstrations in
solidarity with Iraq and Palestine."

The first action was the Cairo demonstration on December
20. The steering committee will support a month of
activities starting with the January 18 demonstrations
internationally in concert with those in the United States
and ending with actions February 15 in concert with those
in Europe.