Statement of RAWA's anti-war demonstration in Islamabad


Blair wants to play the 'moral' card and is telling us that he wants this war to liberate iraquis of a terrible dictator. Well, most people will agree that few are more oppressed in Iraq that women, and here they are marching against the war and telling USA, UK, Spain and any other supporting this war that they don't want it: so in who's name are you fighthing Mr. Blair?



The US Government Wants War,
the People of US and the World Want Peace!



Again the world has been plunged into a newly terrifying nightmare. The US and its allies are willing to destroy Saddam Hussain's regime- the regime with which till yesterday they were allied and which they supported in the war against Iran- and impose their own puppet government on the Iraqi people and by doing so repeat the ghastly tragedy of the Gulf War in which Saddam survived but the war caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi people.

While a war against terrorism in the name of democracy is the excuse for the attack, the people of Afghanistan, at least, know well the hidden nature of these claims and excuses.

First the terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was the favorite son - the recent American pronouncements against this hangman are meaningless. Then Osama and Mullah Omar occupied his place and now finally they polished the grim appearance of the "Northern Alliance", beautifying them with pantaloons and neckties, and imposed them on our people.

Will America do better than this in Iraq? The Iraqi people have suffered and been pushed to the limit by the crimes of Saddam's regime but this has never meant that they ask the US and its allies to save them with military intervention. The change of government in each country is the prerogative of the people of that country, otherwise the result will be neither stable nor sustainable for the long term. The puppet regimes of Parcham and Khalq followed by the criminal Jehadi regime, the Taliban and finally the re-imposition of the Jehadis, with Karzai as the President, are all proof of this claim.

Even Afghan and other children throughout the world ask why, if the US wants to destroy rulers like Saddam Hussain, has it imposed the war criminals and professional terrorists, who are worse than Saddams, in Afghanistan?

If the US considers Saddam as a threat to the peace and security of the world and region and for this reason intends to disarm Iraq, then why does it support Israel, which is equipped with atomic weapons and is the butcher of the Palestinian people?

Why doesn't the US government, which without any strong evidence or facts claims that the Iraqi regime has connections with Al Qaida, seriously consider these suspicions regarding other Arabic countries? Why doesn't the US government, which calls itself the champion of democracy, pay any respect to the voices of millions of anti-war people around the globe?

The answers to all these questions are crystal clear to everyone:

It is the oil of Iraq (the most important oil reserve in the world), the domination of the Middle East, the threatening and bullying of other countries and finally the desire to surpass its rivals that makes the US government resolute and determined to invade Iraq. It should be noted that still it is not clear which countries will come under attack after the occupation of Iraq.

The US and Britain governments have been exposed as warmongering and hegemonic regimes.

But what is clear in today's world is the stand and wishes of the majority of the people who are separate from their governments.

The people of the world and of the US in particular will not allow the Bush administration to misuse the 11th September incident and, in their name and under the banner of democracy, impose war and bring catastrophe on poor and suffering nations.

Just now the anti-war and anti-jingoism call of the people is so strong in the US, the UK, and all over the world that Bush and Tony Blair can't overlook or ignore it.

The majority of UN Security Council members are also standing against the US and British jingoism, and emphasizing the continuation of the UN inspectors' work. But this is not enough. We must all stand against the war on Iraq and never let it happen.

The Afghan people who have suffered in the fires of war for the past 25 years deeply hate war more than most other nations, but unfortunately in Afghanistan they cannot mingle their anti-war protest voices with the millions of other anti-war protestors around the world because of the domination of the fundamentalist dictatorship in Afghanistan.

The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) is pleased that at least in Pakistan through today's demonstration it can announce its solidarity with all peace-loving movements in every nook and corner of the world and can represent and echo the choked and muted voice of its fettered nation against war and warmongers.

Down with terrorism and jingoism!
Long live peace, freedom and democracy!

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
Feb.24, 2003

P.S.-on the RAWA website there is photos of the demo and you can read about their struggle, etc.