TURKEY, PAKISTAN
Left organizes anti-war protests despite gov't
suppression
By John Catalinotto
Important demonstrations opposing U.S. aggression in
Afghanistan have taken place in two key members of the U.S.-led
"coalition"--Turkey and Pakistan.
The significance of these protests is that they were called
and led not by religious fundamentalists but by communist and
working-class forces.
According to a report from the Party of Labor (EMEP) in
Turkey, demonstrators took to the streets in the cities of
Istanbul and Adana on Oct. 14 to protest U.S. aggressive
attacks on Afghanistan and the collaboration of the Ecevit
government.
The day before, demonstrations were held in Izmir and
Ankara.
The leading forces in these demonstrations were the EMEP,
the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) and the Socialist Power
Party (SIP). Trade unionists from unions affiliated to the
Confederation of Public Sector Unions also participated.
All four demonstrations were first called for Oct. 14. But
when the government banned the actions, two were rescheduled.
All four protested both the banning of the rallies and the
war.
While the demonstration in Adana ended peacefully, police
brutally attacked the 1,500 people on the Istanbul
demonstration and took 44 into custody. Others were beaten or
bitten by police dogs.
The most popular slogans on the march were "No to war,"
"Down with U.S. imperialism," "Budget for education, not for
war," "No to war--work, bread, equality and freedom" and "No to
poverty and hunger."
In a talk that was ending as the police attacked, EMEP
President Levent Tüzel noted that "outside of a handful of
collaborators and people in capitalist circles, the people of
Turkey do not regard the U.S. as a friend or ally. And the
people who have sent their sons to Korea and Kosovo yesterday
are against troops being sent to Afghanistan today."
The EMEP leader added, referring to Turkey's grave economic
crisis, "the government that has dragged the country and the
people into such a decline should immediately resign its
duties, without opening the door to new disasters."
Both the EMEP and SIP party leaders said that neither the
police attacks nor threats would intimidate their parties, and
that they would continue to protest U.S. aggression and
Ecevit's collaboration.
Protesters block traffic
in Islamabad
The Communist Workers and Peasants Party (CMKP) of Pakistan
held a demonstration Oct. 21 of 200 people in Islamabad.
According to a participant, this anti-imperialist action
against attacks on Afghan istan took over Murree Road and
blocked traffic as participants walked for a kilometer.
At a seminar in Peshawar, Afzal Kha moosh, general secretary
of the CMKP, told the audience that U.S. imperialism is in
search of mineral resources in Central Asia and can only be
defeated through an anti-imperialist struggle.
Ghinwa Bhutto, president of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and
former Finance Minister Dr. Mubasher Hassan also addressed the
seminar and showed their solidarity.
Syed Azeem, president of the CMKP, said that his party's
anti-imperialist campaign is going well and has already led to
demonstrations in Lahore and Okara. In the next phase the CMKP
will demonstrate in Multan, Kasoor, Faisalabad and Pesha war,
where they expect more than 3,000 people, including guests from
abroad.
Among the many anti-imperialist resolutions passed at the
seminar was the following: "In the opinion of this session,
putting a prefix of 'Islamic' before terrorism is unjustifiable
and this propaganda on behalf of imperialists is wrong and we
condemn it. We are of the opinion that the U.S. offensive is
not a crusade, nor is it a clash of civilizations, but it is a
war to capture the oil reserves of Central Asia."
Reprinted from the Nov. 1, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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