Support for Iraqi Resistance continues

The government of the Spanish state has sabotaged an international conference in the Asturias autonomous region of Spain. By doing so, Spain joined the U.S. in supporting the occupation regime in Baghdad.

Had it allowed the meeting, the Madrid government could have opened the door to European Union discussions with representatives of the Iraqi Resistance, the only legitimate representatives of the Iraqi people.

On June 21 a delegation from the international participants in the conference presented a declaration and their complaints to a group from the Spanish Parliament in Madrid.

Behind the conference and its cancellation was the instability of the Iraqi puppet regime. Madrid’s actions also showed Spain’s subordinate role with regard to the rest of European imperialism and Washington.

As of mid-May, the conference was on and the Foreign Ministry had guaranteed visas to all the Iraqi participants — all of them legitimate representatives of communities in Iraq. In addition, many had received visas to enter Spain in the past.

Then, following a visit from U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, the Spanish government double-crossed the conference organizers by refusing visas. It was decided to continue with the conference by video. Organizers had the full support of the governments in the city of Gijón and of Asturias, in addition to strong support from the population there.

The Spanish government took a further reactionary step by transmitting to the organizers threats apparently made by militia close to the Maliki regime in Iraq. These included death threats against the families of some of the Spanish organizers. It made no promise to try to protect Spanish citizens or the invited Iraqis, and pressured the organizers to call off the conference.

Under those conditions the organizers in the Spanish Campaign Against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI) made the decision on June 18 to cancel.

Spain’s government did this in the face of mass support among the population for the Iraqi people and the Resistance, support that could be easily seen in Asturias. Despite the cancellation, Asturians found other ways to express their solidarity. At an annual celebration of the struggle against the Spanish monarchy and for a republic — held by chance on June 19 — words of solidarity with the Iraqi Resistance received the strongest applause from the hundreds of participants.

Exposing the U.S. occupation

In recent years the U.S.-based corporate media have played down and distorted the events in Iraq. They misrepresent the legitimate actions of the Iraqi Resistance as sectarian or even “terrorist,” even though the Resistance is careful to distinguish between civilians and legitimate targets: the soldiers and mercenaries of the occupation forces and their puppets.

The media have also given the false impression that the current Iraqi regime is stable and somehow democratic, based on electoral support.

The regime in Iraq is not only undemocratic and corrupt, but its extraordinary pressures on the Spanish government — which likely were cooked up in Washington — indicate that the regime fears for its stability.

On June 21 a delegation representing those international participants who had been able to enter Spain held a meeting with members of the Spanish Parliament in Madrid. They delivered a statement from many of the groups that had planned to participate in the conference — not only from Iraq and Spain but also from England, Luxemburg, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Portugal and the U.S.

The statement made this point: “The Maliki regime is built on corruption and plunder and on a sectarian and ethnic divide of Iraqi society that was itself imposed by the occupation. This divide now threatens extinction of some of the smaller minorities as it turns all Iraq into an Abu Ghraib.”

The statement also pointed out how “the seven-year-long U.S. occupation has destroyed the Iraqi state, its economy, its educational and health care systems and the Iraqi infrastructure, and threatens to destroy the entire fabric of Iraqi society.” It gave the example of the U.S. use of white phosphorus and depleted uranium weapons.

Representatives from the Parliament, including Gaspar Llamazares of the United Left (IU), another from the National Bloc of Galicia (BNG) and one from the ruling Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), reacted to some of the points raised. The IU and BNG speakers expressed the solidarity of their parties with the Iraqis and promised to work in this effort.

Llamazares also promised to raise in Parliament the question of why the Spanish government changed its policy between April and June regarding the visas. He pointed to Biden’s visit and the pressure not only from the Green Zone of Baghdad but also from Washington.

The international participants, including those from Iraq, agreed to continue their work in supporting and building solidarity with the Iraqi Resistance, including supporting the demand for “unconditional, total and immediate withdrawal of all troops and mercenaries and the payments of reparations for the damages of the war and occupation.”

On June 21 the unions in Galicia announced strikes for June 24 against “reforms” that cut wages and remove protection of workers’ jobs. As with the general strikes now in preparation, one might say that the pro-Resistance activists in Iraq have joined the workers in the slogan: The struggle continues!

Catalinotto was in Gijón and at the Parliament in Madrid representing the International Action Center.