Mann for School Board | home
More International News / Opinion | Support US Troops, Bring Them Home Now | House Members say "Give Weapons Inspection a Chance" | Manufacturing Consent for Iraq War Plans | Bush's War Disinformation Campaign | Letter to Antiwar Activists | Black National Congress Opposes War Against Iraq | US Labor Resolution | No New War Against Iraq | Green Party Antiwar Statement | US Green Party Policy Statement of 9.20.2002 | Venezuela: Washington's Hand at Work | DEMANDING DEMOCRACY | Venezuelan Workers Defy Rightist Oil Blockade
Black National Congress Opposes War Against Iraq
-------------------------------------------------------------
This is a Press Release/Statement from the Black Radical Congress
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Black Radical Congress (BRC)
The Black Radical Congress Opposes a Military Attack on the
People of Iraq.
Statement of the Black Radical Congress, January 2003
The BRC joins the International Call for No war on Iraq.
By the beginning of January 2003 the United States military
accelerated the biggest military build up in the Persian Gulf
since the Gulf War of 1991.
The Pentagon called up more than 100,000 soldiers - including
their tanks and attack helicopters to the Gulf. This will be
the first full deployment of a U.S. combat division in the
region since the Gulf War.
Among these 100,000 soldiers were crack units from the
offensive forces of the infantry, the Marines, the Navy and the
air force. These soldiers joined some 4,000 troops already on
the ground in Kuwait and added to the tens of thousands of U.S.
personnel in various offensive bases in Qatar, Djibouti; Saudi
Arabia poised to attack and invade Iraq. There is at the same
time the call up of military reservists in the USA in
preparation for war.
The BRC is mindful of the fact that a disproportionate number
of those who are being called up to go to the frontlines are of
African descent and other peoples of color.
At the present moment there is no international force to stop
the military build up for war. On January 1st the Secretary
General of the United Nations Kofi Annan said that he sees no
basis at present for the use of force against Iraq. The
impending conflagration spells the end of the legitimacy of the
United Nations.
The most important sections of the mainstream media in the USA
continue to carry out psychological warfare against the
citizens of the USA in order to mobilize them to support this
military invasion at a time when millions want jobs, heat,
health care, affordable medicine and decent education. The
impending war in Iraq is supplemented by an accelerated war at
home under the banner of Homeland Security. Africans in America
have been the main victims of the oppression and war against
the poor inside the USA. Millions of blacks are in the prisons
or awaiting sentencing in this war at home. In order to
intensify this war at home there are advanced plans for urban
warfare to supplement Homeland Security.! The draconian
measures being taken by the present government include the use
of more sophisticated instruments of coercion and repression
than was available at the time of the Nazis in Germany.
The Black Radical Congress unequivocally opposes military
intervention in Iraq. The people of Iraq, especially the
children have suffered immensely since 1991. It is estimated
that over half a million children have died as a result of the
sanctions imposed on the people of Iraq. The war against Iraq
will create more sufferings. It is up to the people of Iraq to
initiate regime change.
The BRC sees this war as one component of the escalation of the
hegemonistic actions of a small section of the political
leadership in the USA that maintains control over the Organs of
state power. Unfortunately, other sections of the bourgeoisie
have been silenced or are seeking to gain lucrative contracts
from the implementation of Homeland Security. This obscene
behavior on the part of these corporations is reminiscent of
the relationship between major corporations in the USA and the
fascist regime in Germany.
The BRC joins the youth, students, progressive women’s
movement, the rank and file workers, the church and religious
leaders, those in the environmental justice movement and
ordinary citizens who are mobilizing against this war. The BRC
recognizes that this is an unjust war and will be part of the
national and international opposition to this war. The BRC
calls on all sections of the African community at home and
abroad to find ways to oppose this war. The BRC is calling upon
all political leaders in the African community to support the
youth who refuse to be called up to fight against the people of
Iraq.
The National Members Congress of the BRC will be convened in
June to consider ways of strengthening the work of the BRC in
the peace and anti globalization movement.
The current peace movement is playing an important role in
delegitimizing the false patriotism that is being orchestrated
by the conservative media. This peace movement is very central
to the building of a new political movement in this period. One
requirement is for the larger movement to begin to grasp the
important interconnections between Reparations, Peace and
Justice.
Black Radical Congress
January 2003
NOTE: When responding or sending us feedback about
this statement, please indicate whether we have your
permission to share your comments publicly, as part
of a broader discussion and debate. Thank you.
Black Radical Congress
National Office
Columbia University Station
P.O. Box 250791
New York, NY 10025-1509
Phone: (212) 969-0348
Email: blackradicalcongress@email.com
Web: http://www.blackradicalcongress.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
BRC-PRESS: Black Radical Congress - Official Press Releases/Statements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:majordomo@tao.ca?body=unsubscribe%20brc-press>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:majordomo@tao.ca?body=subscribe%20brc-press>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:worker-brc-press@lists.tao.ca?subject=brc-press>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/brc-press@lists.tao.ca>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive: <http://groups.yahoo.com/messages/brc-press>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive: <http://www.escribe.com/politics/brc-press>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<www.blackradicalcongress.org> | BRC | <blackradicalcongress@email.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------