In solidarity

THOUGH BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair has come under fiery attack for his singularly avid support of the US administration's determination to attack Iraq, the last week has seen Blair at his weakest point politically. In his speech at the Labour conference in Glasgow on Saturday -- the morning of the largest demonstrations in the country's history -- Blair seemed to acknowledge this fact. "I do not seek unpopularity, as a badge of honour," he said. "But sometimes it is the price of leadership -- and the cost of conviction."

But in an editorial published the next day, the Independent on Sunday -- by it's own description "the only broadsheet Sunday newspaper opposed to war" -- begged to differ. "The prime minister's persistence in the face of widespread opposition can be seen as an example of brave leadership. Sometimes it is braver to stand back and think again," the paper stated. "Mr Blair is not a president. No one voted for him directly to become prime minister at a general election. He is prime minister because he is leader of the Labour Party."

Anti-war Labour activists are questioning even this. Peace activists within the party have announced that they will call a national conference on the crisis in Iraq. Labour MP Alan Simpson indicated that Blair's position is shaky: "The crunch for Tony Blair is that he can lead the war party, or the Labour Party -- but not both," he said.

IT'S NOT just politicians who are making a statement. Departing from the business of high fashion to make a bold statement, prominent British designer Katharine Hamnett infused London fashion week with a bold dash of anti-war flare when her models stalked the runway in tee-shirts declaring "Stop War, Blair Out" on Tuesday. "I'm saying to people: 'Use the little shreds of democracy that you've got left to save yourselves before it's too late','' she told Reuters.

MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed indicated this week that an anti-war statement will be included in the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, which will be issued at the conclusion of the 13th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit to be held on 24-25 February. Noting that the grouping would certainly discuss the issue of war, or threat of war, as a means of international diplomacy, the outspoken critic of the West questioned the corner the US and Britain had backed Iraq into. "What mystifies us is that they adopt an attitude that if they do not find weapons of mass destruction, that means Iraq is hiding them," he said. The logical conclusion was that even if Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction, it would have to produce them in order to avert war.

A NEW JOINT venture between the anti-war group Voices in the Wilderness, which raises awareness about economic sanctions in Iraq, and the Middle East news site Electronic Intifada, which offers information about the Palestinian Intifada, brings up-to-the-minute information on the situation in Iraq, from reports and news to ways to act out against war in Iraq. Raising issues of international law, activism and development, the site also offers a space for eyewitness accounts of life in Iraq called "Iraq Diaries". Check out "Electronic Iraq" at: http://electronicIraq.net.

IRAQI EXILES are speaking out against the war and bringing on other activists and intellectuals in a recent statement addressed to the United Nations, the US administration, the UK leadership and other relevant bodies, such as the EU Commission, the European Parliament and the Arab League. The statement, "No to war ... No to dictatorship", calls on "people of conscience" to recognise the suffering of the Iraqi people following two devastating wars and 12 years of debilitating sanctions and show "solidarity with our innocent people against a war that would cause more death and suffering to them".

The plea calls for the immediate lifting of sanctions and the implementation of UN Resolution 688, issued in April 1991 and long since overshadowed by numerous other resolutions on Iraq. The resolution calls for the ending of oppression in Iraq. "Such measures, together with free elections under UN supervision, could usher a genuine democracy in our country," the statement says, adding that the Middle East should be purged of all weapons of mass destruction -- thus implementing long ignored UN Resolution 687.

The appeal has been signed by some 1,600 people, many of them prominent Iraqi exiles. Sign the petition at: http:// www.PetitionOnline.com/NoWIraq2/petition.html.

Compiled by Nyier Abdou

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 20 - 26 February 2003 (Issue No. 626)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/626/sc3.htm