Why join the March 20 Global Day of Action? : QC IMC

Join the March 20 Rally Against US Occupations!
A Discussion Guide Prepared by the Justice Not War in the Philippines Campaign

What’s happening on March 20?

March 20, 2004 is the first anniversary of the latest
US/UK invasion of Iraq. On this day people in cities
around the world and on every continent will join
together to say YES to peace and NO to preemptive war
and occupation. They will demand: "End the Occupation
- Bring the Troops Home NOW!" They will highlight the
ties between the occupations of Iraq and Palestine,
and US intervention in the Philippines and many other
countries. In the US, there will be a massive protest
in New York plus dozens of local and regional
demonstrations across the country, including a major
protest in Fayetteville, NC, the home of Fort Bragg.

Why should I attend?

About 550 US soldiers have died in Iraq in the last
year and thousands have been wounded. More than
10,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed directly by
the military attacks of the US and its allies over the
last year. Iraqis are experiencing the massive
destruction of homes, the means of livelihood,
factories, water systems, power plants,
communications, office buildings and other
infrastructure of Iraq. Unemployment among Iraqi
workers has reached 70%. There are no unemployment
benefits. Wages for most Iraqi workers have been
frozen at $60 per month. Amid surging crime in
postwar Baghdad, sexual violence and abductions of
women are increasing. The Iraqi people are resisting
the occupation - they want the foreign soldiers
occupying their country to leave now.

Thousands are dying for a war that was based on lies
and fraud perpetrated by the Bush government.
Government leaks and media reports confirm that the
millions who demonstrated against the war were right
all along: The Bush administration lied about the
alleged Iraqi threat to scare us into supporting the
war. The occupation is costing a staggering $4 billion
per month that’s $15,000 per second. While the
occupation drains federal monies, veteran’s benefits,
our children’s schools, and vital social services are
becoming "collateral damage."

But isn’t it a good thing that Saddam Hussein is gone?

Saddam Hussein was supported by the US government for
decades. The US government gave him weapons of mass
destruction and supported him, even during the late
1980’s when the gassing of the Kurds took place.
Therefore, it is correct to be doubtful when the US
government, all of a sudden, tells us that Saddam must
be ousted and "democracy restored."

While it is good that Saddam Hussein is no longer in
power, US occupation towards making Iraq into a
semi-colony of the US is no better. The US still
intends to extract the natural resources of Iraq for
its own profit, to use the Iraqi people for cheap
labor, and to acquire greater control over the Middle
East. None of this is for the benefit of the Iraqi
people.

If the US leaves now, won’t Iraq erupt into civil war
resulting in more civilian deaths?

It is now widely known that the public was lied to
about weapons of mass destruction and links between Al
Qaeda and Saddam Hussein in order to gain support for
the preemptive war. Then the biggest US corporations
with ties to the Bush administration were awarded
prime contracts to "rebuild" Iraq and its oil fields.
Corporations from countries that opposed the war were
excluded. It is clear that the welfare of the Iraqi
people is not primary in the minds of the US occupiers
and we should not be fooled again into believing so.

Control of Iraq is aimed at further imposing US
hegemony over the entire Middle East, tightening US
control over OPEC and the global oil business,
preserving the US dollar as the currency of oil
transactions and perpetuating the occupation of
Palestine.

The Iraqi people are more than capable of writing
their own constitution and designing their own
government. They do not need lessons from an
undemocratically elected US president or from Western
colonial governments.

Continued US intervention actually increases the
likelihood of civil war, as the US continues its
longstanding practice of favoring certain ethnic
groups as allies against others.

Rally, rally… Millions of people marching around the
world couldn’t stop the war in Iraq. What good will
marching do now?

While the massive demonstrations in 2003 could not
stop the war in Iraq from taking place, there were
many gains. Fewer countries joined the war, Bush’s
approval ratings fell dramatically, millions became
educated about US colonial designs on the world, and
the US war machine was slowed or prevented from
attacking more countries.

In the end, those who protested the war were proven
correct: the Bush administration lied about Saddam
Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction in order to gain
support for the war for the benefit of companies such
as Halliburton and Bechtel that now profit from US
occupation of Iraq.

The anti-war demonstrators of 2003 were correct, the
US government was wrong. While millions marched in
2003 it wasn’t enough. We will need even greater
millions marching in 2004 to stop continued US war
designs.

Why is the March 20 demonstration raising the issue of
Palestine?

The March 20 demonstration is also in solidarity with
the Palestinian people and their right to
self-determination, including the right to return to
their homes and land. Iraqis demonstrating against US
occupation in Iraq raise Palestinian flags. All over
the world (and much more than in the US), people have
taken up the Palestinian cause. Palestinians are the
largest refugee population in the world. Around the
world the Palestinian struggle is viewed as a
fundamental justice issue. The US media actively
censors news out of Palestine so that US residents are
prevented from knowing the truth of what is happening
there including the travel bans, checkpoints,
demolition of Palestinian homes, killings of
Palestinian families and children, and violent attacks
against peaceful demonstrations.

The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is part and
parcel of the administration's larger colonial project
targeting the people of the Middle East. While the
Bush administration spends $2 billion per week to
occupy Iraq, it spends $15 million each day to support
Israel's war against the Palestinian people.

What does the Philippines have to do with Iraq and
Palestine?

When GW Bush visited the Philippines for eight hours
on October 18, 2003, he called the Philippines "a
model for Iraq." Like Iraq, the US colonized the
Philippines under the pretext of establishing
democracy. Today 89% of the Filipino people live in
poverty while 2% of the population controls the vast
majority of the wealth. This is nowhere near
"democracy." But Bush thinks the Philippines is
successful anyway because the Philippine government is
a good US puppet. US businesses have prime access to
the natural wealth of the Philippines and are able to
export far more in profit than they invest in the
Philippines.

The US military also has prime access to the
Philippines, despite the massive protests of the
Filipino people. In fact, about 2,500 US Marines are
taking part in live-fire combat maneuvers north of
Manila from Feb. 23 to March 7. The US says the
exercises are intended to help the Philippines fight
Muslim and communist insurgencies and guard against
terror attacks. Again, one has reason to doubt US
intentions here. It has been well documented that the
Philippine military supports the Abu Sayyaf extremists
linked to terrorist acts. And a suspected US
operative, Michael Terrence Meiring, accidentally blew
himself up in his hotel and was whisked away to San
Diego by the FBI in May 2002 in the midst of a bombing
campaign which was blamed on Muslims The evidence
points to the Philippine and US governments as the
real instigators of terrorism in the Philippines.

This serves as convenient pretext to send more and
more US troops to the Philippines and for the US to
give the Philippine government handsome sums in
military aid.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is
running for a second term in May 2004. Progressive
Filipinos are calling for her resignation or removal
because of her puppetry to the US government, allowing
US troops to return to the Philippines against the
constitution of the Philippines, and because of the
thousands of human rights abuses that have been
perpetuated by the Philippine military under her
watch. Just recently on Mindoro Island, two more
human rights activists were murdered by elements of
the 204th Infantry Brigade of the Philippine military.

In addition, President Arroyo and her administration
have encouraged the US and EU to label progressive
professor and political refugee Jose Maria Sison a
"terrorist." Sison is a well-known leader of the
progressive movement in the Philippines who is now a
political consultant to the National Democratic Front
of the Philippines which is engaging in peace talks in
Norway with the Government of the Republic of the
Philippines.

The Philippines is just one of the many countries
where the US has colonial or semi-colonial designs.
The March 20 Global Day of Action also condemns and
protest US military intervention and threats against
the people of the Philippines, Korea, Nepal, India,
Turkey, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Zimbabwe, Congo,
Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela.

How does the war in Iraq affect us here?

The March 20 protests in the US will also take on the
domestic impact of Bush's foreign policies—what some
people call "the war at home." We will express the
growing opposition to the USA PATRIOT Act, which has
authorized political arrests, indefinite detentions,
domestic spying, and religious and racial profiling.

We will call for an end to the mass detentions and
deportations of innocent immigrants in the name of
fighting terrorism. We will say no to massive military
spending amidst vast cuts in vital domestic social and
economic programs.

We will demonstrate on March 20 to call for money for
jobs, housing, health care, education, and subways not
for war and occupation.

How can I be involved?

Join the Justice Not War in the Philippines contingent
on March 20! March alongside fellow Filipinos and
solidarity friends making our voices and issues heard.

We will carry colorful banners, flags and placards
and will chant, sing and dance in the streets. It is
truly a powerful experience to be with thousands of
people marching for justice.

Only the people's movement offers hope that an
effective challenge can be mounted to the Bush
administration's war drive. Global solidarity is the
centerpiece of the new mass movement that has emerged
to counter the forces of militarism and colonialism.
The outcome of this struggle will impact on
generations to come.

Join us:

Saturday, March 20, 2004, 12:00 Noon
Madison Square Park, Manhattan

Meet the Justice Not War in the Philippines Contingent at the
Southeast corner of Madison Ave. and E. 25th St.
Look for the white "Justice Not War in the Philippines" flags.

No to US Occupation!
US Troops Out of the Philippines and Iraq!
Oust Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo!
Defend Jose Maria Sison and the Rights of Progressives!
Stop Human Rights Violations Now!

The Justice Not War in the Philippines Campaign was initiated by the Network in
Solidarity with the People of the Philippines (NISPOP) and GABRIELA Network NY/NJ