A refugee said "I cannot go back to my country because of the following points: 1. Imprisonment and Persecution 2. Torture and punishment 3. Electric torture 4. Beating with the stick on the feet (corporal punishment) 5. threatening me to be killed 6. Lack of human rights organizations which can lobby against human rights violation in the country. 7. Threatening to abuse my family members. 8. Demolition of my house. Due to all that I can’t go back".

Home Page

May 25, 2011

How democratic is Libya's opposition?

Three weeks ago I was in eastern Libya to assess the conflict and get an understanding of how things were likely to turn out. More than three months since the uprising began, there are still many questions unanswered. Chief among these is the question of who the opposition actually is, how it governs and what shape it will take in the near future.

Libya's official opposition movement is the Transitional National Council (TNC). It was established a week after the initial uprising began in Benghazi and is headed by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the Libyan regime's former justice minister. Its underlying purpose is to give the armed uprising in Libya an organisational structure that allows it to effectively end more than 40 years of brutal dictatorship.

The formation of the TNC was a necessity. Perhaps unlike others in the region, the Libyan revolution needed leadership and organisation. By that same measure, however, the creation of the TNC provides for a number of uncertainties that must be addressed.

Libyans maintain they have shed too much blood to find themselves confronted with another dictatorship. When I asked what they thought of the TNC and Jalil in Benghazi's shisha cafes, the average Libyan would praise them both before adding: "but we don't want dictatorship". Similarly, when probed about the future, they would express their desire to see elections and political parties.

When I spoke to TNC officials in Benghazi, they were adamant that elections would be held once the country is liberated. Yet, the conundrum for them is what if the current status quo, whereby you have a self-governing autonomous region in the east and a Gaddafi-controlled west, continues for another five or even 10 years.

When I put this question to a TNC delegation that came to London two weeks ago to see David Cameron, their answer was that this scenario was not an ideal one. In other words, it is yet to be prepared for.

The dilemma is two-fold. First, to hold elections in the east without the participation of western Libya essentially equates with partitioning the country. At the same time, however, Libyans will not allow a so-far unaccountable TNC to continue making decisions for the future and managing extensive funds that are coming its way. The Libyan population still worry about corruption.

Other opposition groups, based in both the west and Libya, recognise the TNC and welcome its creation but remind that no one has elected them and that there is still no transparency.

So far, the TNC has released the names of only 13 of its 30-member leadership council, out of security concerns since some members represent areas under regime control. Five seats have been reserved for the young, February 17 revolutionary committee that instigated the protests against Gaddafi.

TNC members have been co-opted on the basis of their expertise and the extent to which they were linked with the regime. Along with Jalil, who in the past gained prominence by outspokenly criticising Gaddafi, other defectors include former interior minister Abdul Fatah Younes (now defence) and Mahmoud Jibril, the current foreign minister who used to head Gaddafi's National Economic Development Board (closed down in recent years because of corruption).

Perhaps as influential as Jalil is Mahmoud Shammam, head of media and a former editor of Foreign Policy magazine's Arabic edition. Shammam, who used to sit on the board of al-Jazeera, is the link between the TNC and the Qatari government, which has invested heavily in the TNC through money and arms.

The existence of influential and prominent figures, such as Shammam and Jalil, means that power struggles are not unlikely in the near future. Prominent officials have already started to appoint their own personal associates and allies on to the council.

The danger is that such potential power struggles, combined with generally unaccountable leadership, provide an environment conducive to violent instability. Rumours of assassinations in Benghazi of regime loyalists or anyone "perceived" to be a loyalist have increased. Further, as a more efficient and organised TNC military emerges, there is nothing to stop military circles from becoming personal militia groups answering only to powerful TNC officials.

This renders it imperative for the TNC to begin addressing its democratic and accountability deficit – sooner rather than later.

While elections are not feasible right now, this does not mean there can be no consultative process with the broader Libyan society. Ambitious and older politicians, for example, have been criticised for sidelining the young revolutionaries of the February 17 committee, who are also disfranchised as a result of the vast influx of former Gaddafi men into the TNC.

Nevertheless, it is important to maintain perspective. No matter how unseemly it may be to outsiders, nepotism and other forms of personalised appointments may be the only real guarantee of loyalty at a point when the uprising is still sensitive to penetration by the regime and individuals still vulnerable to being compromised or, at worst, being killed by regime loyalists.

The road to freedom will be long and rocky. But it does not mean Libyans, and their western backers, cannot start thinking ahead and ensuring another war in the east does not erupt before the current one is ended or, alternatively, ensuring another dictatorship does not emerge before the current one is defeated.

May 24, 2011

widespread use of rape and other sexual violence as tactical war weapon

To Mr. Luis Moreno Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor

Office of the Prosecutor of the International

Criminal Court (ICC)

Post Office Box 19519 - 2500 CM The Hague

otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int
2 May 2011



Dear Mr. Moreno-Ocampo,



Subject: widespread use of rape and other sexual violence as tactical war weapon


As you prepare to brief the UN Security Council on June 4th on the progress made by the tribunal for the implementation of resolution 1970 which was unanimously voted by the Council on Saturday, 26 February 2011. It decided, in particular “to refer the situation in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya since 15 February 2011 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court”. In this context the Libyan League for Human Rights would like to inform you that it has, during the last few days, received from Libya several consistent horrifying reports of widespread sexual assaults by Colonel Qaddhafi’s troops against women and children. Young Libyan girls and boys as young as eight are being raped and abused. Others have been tortured being forced to watch as their fathers were murdered and their mothers raped.



Rape and sexual abuse in general, has been historically recorded as one of the spoils of war, an inevitable feature of military conflict like pillage and looting. What is new about the situation in Libya is the attention it is receiving – and the recognition that it is being extensively used by Colonel Qaddhafi, as a deliberate military tactic against his political opponents and a political weapon to preclude attempts to rebel against his totalitarian rule and to deter defiance to that rule. This is what explains that crimes of rape and other sexual abuses are being committed in particularly sadistic ways to inflict maximum humiliation on victims, their families, and on the whole community: In many cases women and children are abused in their own home, sometimes in front of their relatives. In other cases - as in the aggression against Iman Al-Obeidi the 28 years old the Libyan lady who burst, on the 25th of March into Hotel Rixos in Tripoli where foreign journalists are based shouting that she was raped by colonel Qaddhafi militiamen- victims are held in camps for days and raped repeatedly by gangs of soldiers.



We understand that Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008) considers in its preamble that rape and other forms of sexual violence when used or commissioned as a tactic of war in order to deliberately target civilians or as a part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilian populations, can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security. In the same context paragraph 4 that resolution stresses that rape and other forms of sexual violence constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide. That Resolution therefore stressed the importance of ending impunity for such acts as part of a comprehensive approach to seeking sustainable peace, justice, truth, and national reconciliation and called upon all Member States to comply with their obligations for prosecuting persons responsible for such acts, to ensure that all victims of sexual violence, particularly women and children have equal protection under the law and equal access to justice. We trust that your briefing to the Security Council on May 4th will include a chapter on the Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008) in light of the widespread use by the troops of colonel Qaddhafi of rape and other forms of sexual violence as a tactical weapon in the war he declared against the Libyan people. Meanwhile the Libyan League for Human Rights is confident that your office will take the appropriate actions to completely cease all crimes of sexual violence perpetrated by Qaddhafi troops against Libyan women and children.



We thank you in advance for your attention to this pressing matter.



Sliman Bouchuiguir (Ph-D)

Secretary General



May 20, 2011

PROTEST OBAMA'S WARS

IAWM TO PROTEST RE OBAMA'S WARS - THIS SUNDAY, 2PM, GPO, O' CONNELL STREET, DUBLIN.

IRISH ANTI WAR MOVEMENT (IAWM)

PRESS STATEMENT – 19TH MAY 2011

On the occasion of President Obama Barrack’s visit to Ireland the Irish Anti War Movement announces:

· Anti War protest to oppose Obama’s wars next Sunday 22nd May at 2 pm at the G.P.O. on O’Connell Street.

· Speakers include Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Mick Wallace TD, Robert Ballagh, US and Bahraini speakers and others.



The statement noted the intention of the protest was to:

· Oppose the farcically named ‘War on Terror’ and the continued occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan

· Oppose the continued use of Shannon Airport as a US military base

· Oppose the detention of US soldier Bradley Manning and the indefinite detention of inmates in Guantanamo bay with no charge or trial.

· Oppose the interference of the US in the Arab revolutions



The Irish Anti War movement in a statement released today announced that they will be holding a protest on Sunday at 2pm to oppose the continued US military occupation and racist wars taking place in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Since Barack Obama's inauguration in Jan 2009 over 2600 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan, many of them from drone attacks ordered by Obama. The UN says that civilian deaths increased to a record high last year. Obama must be held to account for his role in this senseless waste of life. Many officials in the US have admitted that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable and that Karsai’s government is corrupt. During a recent speech Obama made it clear that even after the assassination of Osama Bin Laden the ‘war on terror’ is not over.

The IAWM statement noted that “US troops should be removed from Afghanistan and Iraq immediately and the people of these countries be allowed to determine their own future.”

The statement notes that the Anti War movement opposes the detention of the US soldier Bradley Manning under suspicion of passing classified material to Wikileaks. This material included footage of a US Apache helicopter firing on unarmed civilians in New Baghdad in 2007. 11 were killed. No charges were filed against American soldiers in the Apache helicopter, however Bradley Manning faces 52 years imprisonment. He has suffered torturous conditions during the year that he has been imprisoned including solitary confinement, denial of meaningful exercise, social interaction, sunlight, and was at times kept completely naked. The IAWM statement noted:

“The Irish Anti War Movement believes that the exposure of war crimes should not be an offense and the illegal pre–trial punishment already suffered by Bradley Manning should be enough legal basis for the US government to drop the case.”

The statement continued to note that the detention of prisoners in Guantanamo indefinitely without trial or charge by the US government was unacceptable. On his inauguration President Barrack Obama pledged to close this torture camp within a year of taking up office. Over two years later there are still 172 prisoners held at Guantanamo with no prospect of trial or release. Among these prisoners are an 89 year old Afghan villager with dementia and a 14 year old kidnap victim. On the 7th March this year President Obama signed an executive order authorising indefinite detention for those held at Guantanamo and approved further military commission trials for detainees there.

“The Irish Anti War movement notes the continued disgrace of Guantanamo and demands justice, dignity and human rights for the detainees.”

The statement further noted that the Irish Anti War Movement strongly opposes the continued use of Shannon as a US military transport hub. Barack Obama declared the end of US combat mission in Iraq in August 2010. However since then over 600 commercial airlines carrying troops and cargo have landed in Shannon. During the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan an average of 600 troops a day have passed through Shannon. The IAWM supports the campaign to terminate the use of Shannon airport by US troop in line with our neutral status.

Richard Boyd Barrett TD and Chair of the IAWM said:

"The whole world celebrated the election victory of Barack Obama believing it would bring an end to the disastrous era of George W Bush – an era which had resulted in such terrible suffering for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. The joy felt by people in the US and across the world flowed precisely from the belief that Obama would halt the warmongering polices of Bush and bring to an end such obscenities as the CIA’s renditions (kidnap and torture) programme or the horrors of Guantanamo Bay. Obama has cruelly betrayed those hopes. He has continued the brutal war in Afghanistan, escalating it with continuous bombing of that impoverished country and neighbouring Pakistan – killing thousands more innocent people. The renditions programme continues and Guantanamo remains open. Worse than that, the US continues to support and arm vicious dictatorships in Saudi and other Gulf states that are brutally crushing popular movements for democracy, such as that in Bahrain. Obama has continued US support for Israel despite its on-going persecution of the Palestinian people and denial of their most basic human rights.”

Richard Boyd Barrett continued: “The Dispatches programme shown this week on RTE about the impact of the Iraq war on over 2 million Iraqi’s, who were forced to flee their homes and are now living in the most apalling circumstances as refugees, provided a shocking reminder of the consequences of US led wars and highlighted the abysmal failure of Obama to undo wrongs committed against the Iraqi people.”

“It is not out of any hostility to the American people that we feel obliged to protest during Barack Obama’s visit but precisely from a sense of internationalism and solidarity with innocent people who are suffering and dying as a result of Obama’s foreign policy – whether the victims of those policies be young US soldiers or innocent people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bahrain, Palestine or elsewhere.”



For more information contact;

Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Chair Steering Committee IAWM. Tel. 086 781 4520

Michael Youlton, Co-Chair Steering Committee IAWM. Tel. 086 815 9487

Jim Roche, PRO Steering Committee IAWM. Tel. 087 6472737

Lola Hynes, Steering Committee IAWM. Tel. 086 822 8795

www.irishantiwar.org

May 17, 2011

Free Mr. Hassan Mariami


15th May 2011

PRESS RELEASE

Free Mr. Hassan Mariami
And free all Political Prisoners Of Conscious In Libya
Contact: (Waeel Tel: 0925308828 or Bashir 0928773043 arayahro@yahoo.ie)

Hassan Hassan Al Mariami, also known as Shnabu El Zawiyaa is one of thousands of political prisoners that were targeted, and captured by the Ghadaffi regime and has consistently been tortured for the past two months just because he expressed a desire for freedom and democracy. Shnabu El Zawiyaa was a successful businessman before the 17th February Revolution, but when the youth of Libya stood up and protested for a better Libya, he and countless a number of Libyans were kidnapped and imprisoned and are the subject of daily unthinkable physical and mental persecution.
At the start of 17th February revolution Shnabu El Zawiyaa stood up, holding a poster demanding freedom for the Libyan people. He became one of the icons of the revolution calling for self determination and democracy. “The women, children, men, and political prisoners like Shnabu el Zawiyaa who have undergone ridiculous acts of harassment and violations of human rights. He is one of the victims whose cause and circumstances must be shouted out for all the world to hear, said Oliver Kellman, the Managing Director and CEO of The OKW Group, currently in Benghazi, Libya. “Posters showing Shnabu El Zawiyaa can be seen all over Libya. Courageously, he stood up and defied the oppressive Ghaddafi regime because he could not live another day without true freedom.”
Araya Human rights organization, Tawasel and the OKW Group, demand the immediate release of Hassan Hassan Al Mariami and the thousands political prisoners of conscience, and holds Gaddafi regime responsible before the international court of justice if Mr. Al Mariami dies or persecuted.

Administration
Declaration by:
Araya Human Rights Organization
Tawasel News agency (Bengazi)
OKW Group

GRANDMOTHER OF BRITISH SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN and ex-SAS SOLDIER TO SPEAK AT IAWM ANTI WAR PROTEST, IRISH ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT (IAWM)

PRESS STATEMENT – 16 MAY 2011



On the occasion of the Queen’s visit to Ireland the Irish Anti-war Movement holds Black Balloon Protest.



· BRITISH GRANDMOTHER OF A SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN AND AN ex-SAS SOLDIER AND IRAQ WAR VETERAN TO SPEAK AT BLACK BALLOON PROTEST AGAINST WAR, TUESDAY, 6.30PM AT THE GPO, O’ CONNELL STREET.



· REMEMBER THE MULTITUDE OF DEAD VICTIMS AT THE HANDS OF THE QUEEN’S FORCES IN THE WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.



· SPEAKERS INCLUDE JOAN HUMPHREYS, BEN GRIFFIN, RICHARD BOYD BARRETT TD (CHAIR IAWM), ROGEL COLE (CHAIR PANA), CLLR. BRID SMITH, PBP AND OTHERS.





The Irish Anti-war Movement in a statement released today noted that to coincide with the Queen's visit to Ireland, it will be holding a black balloon protest at the GPO tomorrow evening (Tuesday) at 6.30pm, as a reminder of the thousands killed in Afghanistan and Iraq at the hands of western troops. This includes the deaths of young British troops, many of who joined the army purely to improve their economic circumstances - only to be killed or maimed in Iraq or Afghanistan.



The statement noted that her Majesty's Armed Forces, as one of the major contingents of foreign troops, has been directly responsible for appalling human suffering in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Afghan occupation is now entering its tenth year, and in recent weeks has seen a further escalation of violence. Many officials in Britain and America, such as former Democratic leader Howard Dean for example, have openly admitted that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable and that Karsai’s government is corrupt. Various polls in Britain have shown an overwhelming desire among the British people for the troops to come home. Yet the Queen’s forces still occupy that country and continue to play a significant role in the subjugation, harassment and murder of its people.



Joan Humphreys, a British woman who lost her soldier grandson in Afghanistan and who will speak at the protest said:



“The Black Balloon protest on the 17th May organised by the Irish Anti-war Movement is a unique way of showing the British Government and the Queen the strength of opposition to the unacceptable wars in which the UK are involved. The Queen has equal responsibility, along with the British Government, for the thousands of deaths, for the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of civilians and also for the deaths of British service personnel. Her own grandson was removed from active service in Afghanistan as soon as there was any chance of him being maimed or killed. This is not an option for the other British soldiers who are serving there or for the Afghan combatants and civilians who are suffering in their own country. All foreign troops should be removed from Afghanistan and Iraq now to allow the people of these countries to decide their own destiny.”



Ben Griffin, an ex SAS soldier and Iraq war veteran, who will also speak at the protest, said: “I will be in Dublin during the visit of Elizabeth Windsor to stand in solidarity with people who actively believe in Peace and Independence, as opposed to the Wars and Empire represented by Her.”



Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Chair of the IAWM said:



"There is a deliberate attempt by the government and some sections of the media to paint all those who might protest against the Queens visit as bitter and sectarian. However, there are very legitimate and current reasons motivating our protest. It is precisely because the Irish Anti-War Movement is thoroughly internationalist that it feels obliged to protest against British warmongering and imperialism in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

We are standing in solidarity with the beleaguered people of Afghanistan who have had to suffer ten years of murderous occupation and war at the hands of Britain and other allied military powers - resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of Afghanis, Pakistanis and hundreds of young British soldiers.



Britain, along with the US and other western countries, also continues to support and arm brutal dictatorships, particularly in the Gulf States where those regimes are, as we speak, attempting to crush popular movements for democracy, particularly in Bahrain.



As the head of the British armed forces, the Queen is a key part and symbol of that machine of war and empire. We would be abdicating our responsibility as peace activists and internationalists if we failed to register protest at the time of her visit.”



The statement also condemned the restrictions on postering during the Queen’s visit, the sinister and systematic removal of posters and the harassment of anti war activists by members of the Garda.



Jim Roche, PRO of the Steering Committee, concluded the statement by noting:



“It is amazing that the Irish people have been burdened with the massive cost of this extravagant visit – now estimated at €30 million - and that ordinary people have been restricted from protesting peacefully, organisations have had posters removed and anti war activists have been harassed by the Garda.”



“The Queen, as the head of the British armed forces, must be held to account for the wanton waste of human life and resources in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is why the Irish Anti-war Movement is holding this black balloon protest during her visit to Ireland - to remember the dead victims of her futile wars.”



END

May 14, 2011

Syrian community in Dublin

On Thu, May 12, 2011 John Molyneux

Last night three people from the (quite small) Syrian community in Dublin came to the Irish Anti War Movement activist meeting and requested support for a protest against the repression in their country which we agreed to give.

More than 800 have been killed, more than 8000 arrested, (which means many will be being tortured). Moreover their appears to be covert complicity in this by the US and EU (they see the brutal Bashar as a force for 'stability' and I think they've had enough of peoples revolutions) . So I think its important we mobilise as much support for them as we can .

*The protest is Saturday 12 noon at The Spire. *

Please come if you possibly can. Please forward this to contacts.

Thanks

hn Molyneux
IAWM steering committee


May 6, 2011

widespread use of rape and other sexual violence as tactical war weapon

allibyah@yahoo.com


To Mr. Luis Moreno Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor
Office of the Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court (ICC)
Post Office Box 19519 - 2500 CM The Hague
otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int
2 May 2011

Dear Mr. Moreno-Ocampo,

Subject: widespread use of rape and other sexual violence as tactical war weapon

As you prepare to brief the UN Security Council on June 4th on the progress made by the tribunal for the implementation of resolution 1970 which was unanimously voted by the Council on Saturday, 26 February 2011. It decided, in particular “to refer the situation in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya since 15 February 2011 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court”. In this context the Libyan League for Human Rights would like to inform you that it has, during the last few days, received from Libya several consistent horrifying reports of widespread sexual assaults by Colonel Qaddhafi’s troops against women and children. Young Libyan girls and boys as young as eight are being raped and abused. Others have been tortured being forced to watch as their fathers were murdered and their mothers raped.

Rape and sexual abuse in general, has been historically recorded as one of the spoils of war, an inevitable feature of military conflict like pillage and looting. What is new about the situation in Libya is the attention it is receiving – and the recognition that it is being extensively used by Colonel Qaddhafi, as a deliberate military tactic against his political opponents and a political weapon to preclude attempts to rebel against his totalitarian rule and to deter defiance to that rule. This is what explains that crimes of rape and other sexual abuses are being committed in particularly sadistic ways to inflict maximum humiliation on victims, their families, and on the whole community: In many cases women and children are abused in their own home, sometimes in front of their relatives. In other cases - as in the aggression against Iman Al-Obeidi the 28 years old the Libyan lady who burst, on the 25th of March into Hotel Rixos in Tripoli where foreign journalists are based shouting that she was raped by colonel Qaddhafi militiamen- victims are held in camps for days and raped repeatedly by gangs of soldiers.

We understand that Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008) considers in its preamble that rape and other forms of sexual violence when used or commissioned as a tactic of war in order to deliberately target civilians or as a part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilian populations, can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security. In the same context paragraph 4 that resolution stresses that rape and other forms of sexual violence constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide. That Resolution therefore stressed the importance of ending impunity for such acts as part of a comprehensive approach to seeking sustainable peace, justice, truth, and national reconciliation and called upon all Member States to comply with their obligations for prosecuting persons responsible for such acts, to ensure that all victims of sexual violence, particularly women and children have equal protection under the law and equal access to justice. We trust that your briefing to the Security Council on May 4th will include a chapter on the Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008) in light of the widespread use by the troops of colonel Qaddhafi of rape and other forms of sexual violence as a tactical weapon in the war he declared against the Libyan people. Meanwhile the Libyan League for Human Rights is confident that your office will take the appropriate actions to completely cease all crimes of sexual violence perpetrated by Qaddhafi troops against Libyan women and children.

We thank you in advance for your attention to this pressing matter.

Sliman Bouchuiguir (Ph-D)
Secretary General




May 5, 2011

Libyan people Support MILITARY INTERVENTION IN LIBYA

Dear Freinds
Although you are trying to promote peace in the region but there is a fact that we Libyan cannot take our freedom from the dicatator Gaddafi only with outside help. Threrfore the Libyan believe that Gaddfi is against the people of Libya wish to topple down peacefully. He said "either I rule you or kill you" and he is doing what he said. Hence Gaddafi is not a ruler he is a Mafia and he is doing everything to hold on to power.
In view of the war forced on the peaceful protesters in the streets of Tripoli, Bengazi Musrata, Zintan, Zawia, and the wesatern mountain it seems that Gaddafi lost his popularity and he shoul hand the power to an interim government like they do in the west. Yet Gaddafi still fighting on and employing mercinaries to carry on the dirty war.
Options to leberate the rest of Libya:
1 Arm the freedom fighters
2 due to lack of experience for the freedom fighters they may need to employ third party to help do the difficult work of stopping Gaddafi airplanes and garad which could kill all the Libyans.
3 Hi jack Gaddafi and his family through an intillegence operation and silence him forever.

The freedom fighters' fire in Libya is in no match to that of Gaddafi. The money situation is so bad and no resources generating income in the country due to civilian's boycott declared by the freedom fighters in all the cities including Tripoli.The assets frozen outside Libya need a new government to take it back. The new government cant be erected only if the capital is liberated. therefore intervention by NATO is favoured by the millions of people as air strikes.
Please support the Libyan struggle by denouncing Gaddafi and not debating Gaddafi or giving a lee way to get out of our hands.
Bashir


IAWM PRESS RELEASE - 15 APRIL 2011 - NO TO NATO INTERVENTION, SUPPORT THE ARAB REVOLUTIONS
IAWM PRESS RELEASE 15 APRIL 2011

• NO TO NATO INTERVENTION - SUPPORT THE ARAB REVOLUTIONS
• OPPOSE NATO MILITARY INTERVENTION IN LIBYA
• PICKET THE EU OFFICES ON DAWSON STREET.

The Irish Anti-war Movement in a statement today, noted that they have organised a series of events this weekend along the theme ‘NO TO WAR - NO TO NATO’. This includes a picket of the EU Offices this evening, Friday 15 April at 6.00pm, against the NATO bombing of Libya and a Public Meeting tomorrow, Saturday 16 April at 4.00pm in Liberty Hall.

PR0TEST AT EU OFFICES, 6.00PM, FRIDAY 15 APRIL
Speakers will include:
Richard Boyd Barrett TD
Jimmy Kelly, UNITE the Union, Region Secretary
and other speakers.

PUBLIC MEETING, LIBERTY HALL, 4.00pm, SATURDAY 16 APRIL
NO TO WAR – NO TO NATO (jointly organised with PANA)
Speakers:
Kate Hudson, Chair CND, UK
Arielle Denis, French Peace Movement
Paul Murphy, MEP
Richard Boyd Barrett, ULA TD, Chair IAWM
John Lannon, Shannonwatch
Eoin O’Broin, Sein Féin
Chair: Patricia McKenna, PANA

The statement noted that: “The US, French and UK governments who are spearheading the NATO intervention in Libya say they are doing it to save civilian lives. We say they are cynically USING the threat to Libyan civilians to intervene for their own reasons – to re-establish their power in the region where it has been threatened by people’s revolutions. They only intervene in order to serve their own interests, safeguard their oil supplies and bolster their own power. Its what they did in the Suez Crisis, in Vietnam, in Cuba, in Algeria, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and what they are doing now in Libya.”

The statement further noted: “France and Britain were colonial powers in the area with terrible records of brutality. The US has been the informal colonial power since World War 2. All of them have a record of supporting – with military and financial aid - all the corrupt, reactionary dictatorships in the region including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Zine Ben Ali in Tunisia (until he was overthrown by the Tunisian people) and above all Hosni Mubarak in Egypt ( until he was overthrown).”

“Their only condition was that these regimes did the bidding of their Western paymasters. They never cared what these regimes did to their people. This is why they supported Gaddafi in Libya once he fell into line with the West. While NATO bombs rain down on Libya, democracy protesters are being killed and tortured on a daily basis right now by the dictatorships in Saudi, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Bahrain WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE WEST. In Libya they are bombing in a way that is bound to kill civilians and they are probably planning to partition the country in a way that none of the Libyans want but that will enable the Western powers to control the country.”

The statement further noted that: “The western powers refused to do the things that would really have helped the citizens the most. They failed to supply humanitarian aid. They refused to recognise the Rebel government. They refused to send arms to the anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries while still selling arms to despotic leaders in the region.”

“These actions would have helped empower the rebels and helped the democracy struggle across the Arab world. Instead the Western powers have intervened to defend their own power in the Middle East. “

Marnie Holborrow of the IAWM Steering Committee noted:
“The NATO bombing must be seen as part of a wider western political strategy for the region. Cameron and Sarkozy, cheerleaders for this initiative, fear that the Arab uprisings may get out of hand and threaten to overturn their cosy relationships with the despotic middle-eastern regimes. They believe that it is time to put their stamp back on the region and force a halt to further radicalization of the pro-democracy movements. That is why we are protesting against the NATO intervention”.

END