SPAIN
International forum denounces U.S. war
Special to Workers World
Madrid, Spain
Representatives of sectors of the Spanish progressive
movement, countries and movements Washington has threatened in
its so-called war on terror, and the anti-war movements of
Britain and the United States gathered in the main auditorium
of the General Union of Workers (UGT) in Madrid Nov. 23 to
discuss "Today's World: War or Peace?"
The Organization in Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia,
Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL) in Spain called the
discussion. OSPAAAL chairperson Jaime Ballesteros moderated the
forum, which included a lively question-and-answer period.
While the speakers represented a variety of viewpoints and
different countries, the overall impact of the meeting was to
condemn U.S. aggression against Afghan istan and to warn of the
dangers of new wars.
Gaspar Llamazares, general coor dinator of the United Left
in Spain, set the tone by condemning the U.S. war and also the
cooperation of the Spanish government with the "coalition
against terror." Spain's government is led today by a
right-wing party, with Jose Maria Aznar as prime minister.
Isabel Allende, Cuban ambassador to Spain, discussed the new
dangers for world peace and made it clear that the Cuban people
supported their government and would defend it against any
threats. Mohamed Abdul Assis Hossein, Iraqi ambassador,
represented his country's point of view. Olgher Santodomingo
Guarin described how death squads in Colombia have been
carrying out terror against the progressive movement there.
All these three areas have been named as potential targets
of Bush's anti-terror crusade.
An important element in the program was a talk by Spojmai
Zariab, an Afghan writer who has been living in exile in
Montpelier, France, since 1991. She spoke of the situation for
women in Afghanistan and the hardships caused to the Afghan
people by 23 years of war, now topped by the U.S. bombing
campaign.
John Catalinotto of the International Action Center
described the political situation in the U.S. following Sept.
11 and described how the Bush administration took advantage of
the population's fear to mobilize for war. He also outlined how
the IAC initiated the ANSWER coalition to immediately mobilize
an anti-war movement that brought marches of 20,000 people each
to both Washington and San Francisco on Sept. 29.
Jeremy Corbyn, a Labor Party deputy to the British
Parliament, told how the anti-war movement in Britain had been
able to mobilize 100,000 people for a demonstration in London
on Nov. 18, doubling the size of its first effort. The
demonstration, he said, had support from labor, from the large
Muslim community in Britain, from the anti-nuclear movement,
from left parties and even from Labor Party supporters unhappy
with Prime Minister Tony Blair's pro-U.S. war policies.
The Spanish audience was encouraged by the reports of
anti-war resistance within the major imperialist powers that
are carrying out the bombing in Afghanistan--the U.S. and
Britain. Little of this resistance is reported in the
big-business media.
Catalinotto later brought messages of solidarity from the
U.S. movement to other anti-war meetings in Spain, including a
country-wide meeting of anti-globalization forces in Zaragoza
on Nov. 24 held to plan actions for the first half of 2002.
Reprinted from the Dec. 13, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page