People's Democracy

Anti War Assembly In Hyderabad

THE Anti War Assembly held in Hyderabad from December 17 to December 19, was a significant event in the global resistance to the brutal occupation of Iraq and the apartheid conditions in Israel. More than 20 international and 400 Indian delegates participated in the Assembly, passed a resolution, an action programme, and ended with a rally and a public meeting. Prakash Karat, Medha Patkar, Sudhakar Reddy, Surendra Mohan, Bashiruddin Babukhan, a number of international delegates and others addressed the public meeting on the 19.

The Assembly had been initiated by more than 40 mass and movement organisations in the country. The Hyderabad Anti War Assembly saw the coming together of major Anti War coalitions from Europe and the US, various groups in the struggle against occupation and apartheid in West Asia with leading Indian anti war activists. There was Jamal Hassouneh and Jaber MI Wishash from Palestine, Khudur al Azawi, Cheikh Hassan Zarkani from Iraq, Mamdouh Habashi from Egypt, Walden Bello, Herbert Doecena from Philippines, Nimalka Fernando from Sri Lanka, Asato Reiko, Jun Chisaka from Japan, Joseph Gerson from the US, Chris Nineham, Chris Harman and Talat from UK, Fabio Alberti from Italy, Salim Vally from South Africa, Mireille Mendes from France, all of whom are leading figures in the global resistance against the War being waged in West Asia.

It was inspiring to have in Hyderbad so many of the activists who are a part of the global resistance, such as Jaber Wishas and Jamal Hassouneh from Palestine. Jaber has spent 17 years in Israeli jails; Jamal is an activist from the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, which is fighting against the Wall that is being built by Israel to annex parts of the West Bank. Walden Bello is one of the leading spirits of the World Social Forum and has been active in the anti WTO and the global anti war movement. Joseph Gerson is a leading figure in the US Anti War movement and a part of the United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 800 local and national groups throughout the United States. Chris Nineham is a key organiser of the Stop the War coalition in the UK, which had organised the mammoth protests there. Salim Vally is an anti war activist with a long history of struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Khudur and Cheikh Zarkani are a part of the struggle against occupation of Iraq. Mamdouh Habashi, from Egypt, is a civil engineer who has been active, first with the student movement and now in the International Campaign against the American and Zionist Occupation. Fabio Alberti, Italy, is president of an organisation called “A Bridge to Baghdad” set up to promote solidarity with the Iraq population hit by the UN/US economic sanctions and campaign for its lifting. He has been involved in the Italian anti-war movement since the 1980s. Nimalka Fernando, from Sri Lanka, is a women’s rights activist and the president of the International Movement against all forms of Discrimination and Racism. Jun Chisaka, is the secretary general of the Japan Peace Committee, which has been actively campaigning against nuclear weapons, in the involvement of Japan in the Iraq war and oppose the US military bases in Japan and elsewhere

It was not easy for some of them to come; they may face problems when they go back. But all the international delegates were keen to connect with the Indian anti war movement. Salim Vally and Mamdouh Habashi told the press that people who were once under colonial rule and under apartheid remember India’s role in supporting national liberation struggles all over the world. India remains important not only geo-politically, but also because of this history.

The resolution detailed the attacks on the Iraqi people have killed more than 100,000 in the last 20 months, with 6,000-10,000 dying in the current Falluja offensive alone. It also discussed the complete loss of all democratic rights that is being faced by the Palestinians. The Palestinian people, already under occupation, are now also being dispossessed of their land and water, with Walls, barbed wire and Jewish settlements crisscrossing the Palestinian national territory.

The Assembly was structured with a starting plenary, which gave the background to the War and Occupation of Iraq and the conditions of the Palestinian population in Israel and the Occupied territories. Walden Bello, Jaber Habashi, Aijaz Ahemed, Nandita Haksar, Chris Nineham and others addressed the opening plenary. Professor P M Bhargava, the eminent scientist gave the welcome address. It was chaired by K Balgopal and Sonya Gupta. There were then parallel sessions where detailed discussions took place on various aspects of the current War, its root causes, other issues in South Asia, etc. All these sessions discussed not only various aspects of the problem but also what we can do in terms of an action programme. There were also plenaries in the evening on 17 and 18 to chalk out these action programs. On the morning of December 19, the resolution was discussed and passed as also a detailed action programme. The key element in the action programme was the call for massive demonstrations on March 19 and 20 (on the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq) and build state and regional movements with this in view. All the speakers in the public meeting that took place in the evening also repeated this call.  

Prakash Karat and others at the public meeting

In the public meeting, Prakash Karat expressed the solidarity of the Indian people in the struggle against occupation of Iraq and Palestine. He also said “Eliminating nuclear weapons and building peace between India and Pakistan should be the immediate goals of the anti-war movement in India”. Karat added that despite the defeat of the pro-US NDA in the Lok Sabha elections, there remained a strong lobby, which wanted deeper military relations with the US and Israel. “This”, he said, “can only be defeated by popular pressure.” He also gave a call to mobilise a larger number of people to stop US interference in India.

Khudur al-Azawi, an Iraqi delegate, said the whole world was opposed to the US-led war in Iraq. Thanking the Indian people for their support to the Iraqi people, he said: "The day is not far when the mighty American military will have to leave Iraq having been defeated by our resistance." Hassan Zarkani, said the Iraqi people were united in their opposition to US occupation and no power on earth could defeat their resistance.  Jaber Wishash, a Palestinian activist, recalled Jawaharlal Nehru's visit to the Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza and said that Palestinians were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's spirit of resistance to "evil" in their own struggle for their homeland. Chris Nineham from the UK, said the US had already lost the global battle for the "hearts and minds" of the people and was now losing the military battle on the ground in Iraq as well. Asato Reiko called for a campaign for a total ban on all nuclear weapons.

The Assembly drew up an action programme that will help to build the Indian Anti War movement and also strengthen the global solidarity movement. It planned for solidarity visits to Palestine by Parliamentarians, women’s groups, trade unions, lawyers groups, etc. It also decided to raise relief and medical supplies for Palestine and Iraq, campaigns and conventions in various states and cities. It also set up groups to study the dangerous military relationship that is being forged between India, Israel and the US, which is still continuing under the current regime. The Assembly ended with a call to intensify the global struggle against War, particularly in the occupying countries.