Dear friends and fellow anti-war activists,

In response to the current wave of US/UK repression and killings in Iraq - which have claimed the lives of hundreds of people over the last week - Voices UK has called an EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE DOWNING STREET TOMORROW, Easter Sunday (11th April) between 12 NOON and 1.30 PM (see press release [1] below).

Please come if you can. If you can't make tomorrow's demo. please WRITE, PHONE, FAX AND EMAIL YOUR PROTEST, using the links in [4] below.

Among the speakers will be activists who have visited Fallujah, Sadr City and Amara over the last seven years as well as Iraqis living in the UK with relatives in Iraq. Many of the Voices UK sanctions-breaking delegations to Iraq visited Fallujah during the period 1998 - 2002, visiting the market place (which was hit by an RAF bomb in 1991) as well as the general hospital (where doctors are now estimating that the death-toll in Fallujah alone has topped 400).

Over 50 similar protests are taking place across the US ([2]) and solidarity activists in Iraq are also planning to hold a demo. at a US checkpoint tomorrow (see the call for action [3] from Ewa Jasiewicz below).

Please see also the call for international solidarity from the International Occupation Watch centre [5].

Yours in solidarity,

Gabriel
Voices in the Wilderness uk
www.voicesuk.org

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[1]PRESS RELEASE Voices in the Wilderness UK [A]
10th April 2004
Contact 0845 458 2564 or 07791 486484

EASTER SUNDAY PROTEST CONDEMNS COALITION KILLINGS IN IRAQ

Sunday 11th April, 12 noon, Downing Street, London: British campaigning organisation, Voices UK, delegations from which have visited Fallujah on numerous occasions over the past six years [B], will be co-ordinating an Easter Sunday protest outside Downing Street tomorrow, Sunday 11th April, to condemn the current wave of killings and repression by US/UK forces in Iraq. A banner will be displayed bearing the words 'US/UK: Stop Killing Iraqis' along with images from Fallujah and photographs of Iraqi civilians who have been killed by US/UK forces over the last year. Over 50 similar protests are taking place across the US [C] and solidarity activists in Iraq are also organizing a protest at a US checkpoint.

On Friday doctors at Fallujah's main hospital estimated that 280 Iraqis had been killed - and at least 400 wounded - in fighting in the city over the past week [D]. The dead apparently include 16 children and up to eight women, killed when warplanes struck four houses late Tuesday [E], and as many as forty people were killed when the US dropped two 500-pound bombs on a mosque compound [F]. Fallujah has been under siege since last Monday and whilst an agreement has now apparently been brokered to let women, children and the elderly leave the city, all men of "military age" have been ordered to remain. Meanwhile British troops have killed at least a dozen Iraqis in the southern city of Amara - in one instance apparently 'opening fire on people nearby' the British military headquarters when it came under anti-tank rocket fire [G].

Voices spokesperson Gabriel Carlyle said 'This Easter Sunday, as Tony Blair suns himself in Bermuda, we'll be at the heart of the British Government with a simple message for the US and Britain: stop killing Iraqis. This callous indifference to the deaths of Iraqis must stop - the 16 children killed last Tuesday could have been the same ones I chatted with in Fallujah market place two years ago and their lives were every bit as valuable as the lives of British children.

'On Friday Jack Straw had the audacity to claim that it 'was not the Americans who cast the first stone … in Fallujah' - apparently unaware that the current resistance movement in Fallujah stems from the killing by US forces of 13 unarmed demonstrators in April 2003 [H]. Not only is the current policy - in the words of the pro-US Governing Council member Adnan Pachachi - 'unacceptable and illegal' but it is also making matters much, much worse. The repression and killings must stop.'

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: 12 noon, opposite Downing Street
CONTACT: 0845 458 2564 or 07791 486484

THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS ARE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW :
· Milan Rai: author of War Plan Iraq and Regime Unchanged, who travelled to Fallujah four times during 1998 - 2003
· Ewa Jasiewicz: recently returned from an eight month stay in Iraq, during which time she worked with Occupation Watch (www.occupationwatch.org ) and Voices US (www.vitw.org) and spent time in both Sadr City and Amara)
· Haifa Zangana, UK-based Iraqi-born novelist and artist, former political prisoner under the Ba'ath regime.
· Salih Ibrahim, Iraqi pathologist with relatives in Baghdad and Basra who has spent the last 20 years here in the UK
· Gareth Evans and Gabriel Carlyle (Voices UK members who visited Fallujah in May 2002)

NOTES
A] Voices in the Wilderness UK has been campaigning on Iraq for the last six years. For more info. see www.voicesuk.org.
[B] In 1991 the RAF dropped a bomb on Fallujah marketplace killing an estimated 200 civilians. Voices UK visited Fallujah market place - and general hospital - on many occasions during its 11 sanctions-breaking delegations to Iraq between 1998 and 2002.
[C]  http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a10/a10events.html
[D]  http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=509890
[E]  http://www.fox23.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=6143C15E-2396-42AB- A5B8-B486F44DF7A3
[F] http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/08/1081326808226.html?from=storyrhs
[G]  http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&e=61&u=/afp/20040406 /wl_mideast_afp/iraq_unrest_amara_toll_040406154012
[H]  http://www.j-n-v.org/AW_briefings/JNV_briefing047.htm

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[2] UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL:Nationwide protests against Iraq war

WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- Opponents of the war in Iraq are gathering in cities across the United States over the Easter weekend in response to a call to action to protest the war.

The anti-war ANSWER Coalition has issued a call for "emergency local demonstrations" nationwide to protest the war in Iraq, call for the return of U.S. troops from Iraq, and a call for money for healthcare and education, not the war. ANSWER is an acronym for "Act Now to Stop War and Racism."

As of Thursday demonstrations were planned for Friday through Monday in 17 towns and cities [now more than 50], including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington at the White House.

"The revolt sweeping Iraq in opposition to foreign occupation has resulted in the White House and Pentagon ordering a reign of terror against all those who defy U.S. dictates," the organization said in a statement announcing the protests.

"Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed. A large number of U.S. troops have also died. And there is no let up in sight. ... The current crisis in Iraq is again stimulating protests around the country and around the world," the statement said.

* * * * *

Cities holding demonstrations include:
Albuquerque, NM
Atlanta, GA
Augusta, ME
Baltimore, MD
Binghamton, NY
Birmingham, AL
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Carlsbad, CA
Cedar Falls, IA
Charlotte, NC
Chicago, IL
Detroit, MI
Fayetteville, AR
Ferndale, MI
Gettysburg, PA
Grand Rapids, MI
Kingston, NY
Long Island, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Massachusetts, MA
Middletown, NY
Mill Valley, CA
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Mountain View, CA
New Haven, CT
New York, NY
Portland, OR
Providence, RI
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Sarasota Springs, NY
Seattle, WA
Springfield, MA
St. Petersburg, FL
Washington, DC
& more!

See  http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a10/a10events.html for more information.

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[3] APPEAL FROM EWA JASIEWICZ

Iraq Solidarity Action
Resist the Massacre in Falluga

Urgent information and appeal from Ewa Jasiewicz, who worked with Voices in the Wilderness and Occupation Watch in Iraq, lived there for 8 months (Basra and Baghdad) and in Palestine, mainly Jenin camp for 6 months, speaks Arabic, and who got back from Iraq 2 months ago. She is in regular contact with her friends in Basra and Baghdad.

I just spoke to friends in Baghdad - Paola Gaspiroli, Italian, from Occupation watch and Bridges to Baghdad, Journalist Leigh Gordon, England, (NUJ, Tribune, Mail on Sunday) and a Palestinian friend with family in Falluja and friends in the Iraqi Islamic Party. Both he and Leigh have been ferrying out the injured from Falluja to Baghdad for the past three days. Ambulances have been barred from entry into the blood-drenched city.

Here is their news, which they told me over the telephone tonight (Friday)

PAOLA:

There has been a massacre in Falluga. Falluga is under siege. 470 people have been killed, and 1700 injured. There has been no ceasefire. They (Americans) told people to leave, said they have 8 hours to leave and people began to leave but they're trapped in the Desert. The Americans have been bombing with B52s (Confirmed also by Leigh in an email three days ago). Bridges to Baghdad are pulling out. We have flights booked out of Amman. Tomorow a team will go to Sadr City to deliver medicines. 50 people have been killed there. ?? (Forgotten name) the 'elastic' shiekh in Sadr City (I've met him, young, brilliant guy, describes himself as 'elastic' because he is so flexible when it comes to his interpretations of Islam and moral conduct definitions etc, he's pretty liberal) he has told me I should leave. He says that even he can't control his people. Foreigners are going to be targeted. 6 new foreigners have been taken hostage. Four of them are Italian security firm employees - they were kidnapped from their car, which was found to be full of weapons, and there were black uniforms. Baghdad was quiet today except for Abu Ghraib (West Baghdad, where a vast prison is located and is bursting at the seams with 12,000 prisoners) an American convoy was attacked there and 9 soldiers were injured and 27 were kidnapped. That’s right 27. None of the newswires are reporting it though. And I heard this from (*name best not to supply without permission). Its really really bad. They (Americans) have been firing on Ambulances, snipers are following the ambulances, they cannot get in.

Falluga, there are people in the Desert, they've left Falluga but they're not being allowed into Baghdad, they're trapped in the Dessert, they're like refugees, its terrible but the people, Iraqi people are giving all they can; they’re bringing supplies, everybody is giving all their help and support to Falluga.

I want to stay but I have to go, if I want to come back and be useful, you know I think its best to leave, Bridges to Baghdad has decided this. It’s getting really dangerous for Italians. We feel like we’re being targeted now. (Italy has a 2500+ force including Carabinieri occupying Nassiriyah which has been subject to a number of resistance attacks including the devastating attack on the Police station which claimed the lives of 4 soldiers, one civilian, one documentary film maker, 12 Carabinieri police and 8 Iraqis).

… and Leigh have been great. They’ve been driving into Falluga and bringing out people, going back and forth. They know what’s going on, really they have been great. They want more people to help them but we couldn’t from here. It’s getting much much worse.

EWA: My friend who’s been in Falluga today and for the past few days:

We’ve been seeing it with our own eyes. People were told to leave Falluga and now there are thousands trapped in the Desert. There is a 13 km long convoy of people trying to reach Baghdad. The Americans are firing bombs, everything, everything they have on them. They are firing on Families! They are all children, old men and women in the dessert. Other Iraqi people are trying to help them. In Falluga they (Americans) have been bombing hospitals. Children are being evacuated to Baghdad. There is a child now, a baby, he had 25 members of his family killed, he’s in the hospital and someone needs to be with him, why isn’t anyone there to stay with him, he just lost 25 from his family!??? The Americans are dropping cluster bombs and new mortars, which jump 3-4 metres. They are bombing from the air. There are people lying dead in the streets. They said there d be a ceasefire and then they flew in, I saw them, and they began to bomb. They are fighting back and they are fighting well in Falluga. But we are expecting the big attack in 24-48 hours. It will be the main attack. They will be taking the town street by street and searching and attacking. They did this already in a village near-by, I forget the name, but they will be doing this in Falluja. Please get help, get people to protest, get them to go to the Embassies, get them out, get them to do something. There is a massacre. And we need foreigners, the foreigners can do something. We are having a protest, Jo (Jo Wilding www.wildfirejo.org.uk) and the others from her group are coming to the American checkpoint tomorrow. We haven’t slept in 3 or 4 days. We need attention. I have photos, film, we ve given it to Al jazeera, Al Arabiya but get it out too. Do everything you can. We are going back in tomorrow.

LEIGH GORDON: It s kicking off. Come by all means but me and (..) probably won t be around. I mean they re going to crazy. (…) is saying for foreigners to come but its not safe. Sheikh . from Falluga said he couldn’t guarantee my safety. I mean its going to go crazy, I think foreigners will start getting killed soon … I mean people are going to start getting desperate, when they’ve seen their mother father, house, cat, dog, everything bombed they’re going to start to attack. They (Americans) have said this operations only going to last 5 days it’s drawing to an end. They need to free up troops on other fronts breaking out all over the country. They’re going to go in for the kill. There’s no way of guaranteeing anybody’s safety. I think you can be useful but its not like you can just not tell your mum and think you ll be back in a week. We’re probably going to get killed tomorrow. Come, but we might not be here.

EWA:

What to Do

This is an appeal to the anti-war movement, to the peace movement, eco-action movement, animal rights movement, anti-fascists, everybody active, everybody who can respond, can call a demo, can organise a protest, an office occupation, an embassy storming, a road blockade, mass civil disobedience, industrial shut-down, work-place occupation, solidarity work stoppage, blockade the US Embassy, Fairford Military Base action campaign … what’s taking off at Fairford? Are B52s being deployed? Shannon Peace Camp protestors … are there new movements at Shannon? We need to address this, we need to resist this. We become the solidarity resistance in Iraq by taking action in our neighbourhoods and in our cities. Print up a leaflet. Paint up a banner. Take to the streets. Only a small group can make a change. Show people in Iraq that we are standing by them. 700 more British troops have been flown in to quell the uprising in the South. No Pasaran. Take to the embassies, the bases, the US interests, the streets.

 http://www.usembassy.org.uk/ukaddres.html - addresses of US Embassies in London, Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff

 http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/caab/ - Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases this site has a list of the locations of all the main US air bases used in the UK

 http://www.caat.org.uk/links/companies.php - full list of arms companies. BAE Systems, and Lockheed Martin have been principal supplies of weapons of mass destruction for the war on Iraq

 http://www.caat.org.uk/support/confronting-companies.php - tips on confronting arms companies by Campaign Against the Arms Trade

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[4] CONTACT DETAILS

[PLEASE NOTE: if you can only contact one person, make it your MP. This will then get passed up the food chain and have the biggest impact. One imagines that 'e-mails to Tony Blair' probably disappear (more or less) into the void.]

** You can find an alphabetical list of MPs, including (where they have them) their web-sites, e-mails etc... on-line at:  http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/alms.cfm

** If you know your postcode you can also fax your MP on-line using  http://www.faxyourmp.org

** If you want to leave a message for Jack Straw, the main switchboard # at the Foreign Office for general enquiries is 020 7008 1500.

** You can fax the Prime Minister on 020 7925 0918 or send him an e-mail via  http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page821.asp. Alternatively you can write to him at 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA

** You can phone the Defence Attache's Office at the US embassy by calling (0207) 894 0745, fax it on 020 7894-0726 or e-mail  WereszczynskaAM@state.gov. According to the Embassy's web-site ( http://www.usembassy.org.uk/dao/index.html) the DAO 'performs representational functions on behalf of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretaries of the Military Services, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chiefs of the U.S. Military Services and the Commander of European Command. The Defense & Naval Attaché at the American Embassy, London is Captain David L. Wirt, USN.'

** Contact the MoD: a list of contacts is available on-line at  http://www.mod.uk/contacts/index.html. You can write to them at Ministerial Correspondence Unit, Ministry of Defence, Room 220, Old War Office, Whitehall, London SW1A 2EU or e-mail them at  public@ministers.mod.uk (including your postal address).

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[5] EMERGENCY CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH THE IRAQI PEOPLE

by Eman Ahmed Khammas, Director of International Occupation Watch Center, International Occupation Watch CenterApril 8th, 2004

Eman Ahmed Khammas, Director, International Occupation Watch CenterOccupied Baghdad

To the peoples of the world and their representatives at the United Nations:

The Iraqi people call for international solidarity as they resist attacks by US-led Occupation Forces. It is clear that these attacks are designed to terrorize entire populations of Iraqi towns and neighborhoods.

According to reports, in Fallujah alone, over three hundred Iraqis have been killed and hundreds more injured since attacks began on Sunday, April 4. There is fighting in Baghdad, particularly in the neighborhoods of Sadr, Adaamiya, Shula, Yarmok, and the cities and towns of Fallujah, Ramadi, Basrah, Nasiriya, Kerbala, Amarah, Kut, Kufa, Najaf, Diwaniya, Balad, and Baquba. Residences, hospitals, mosques and ambulances trying to transport the injured are being bombed and fired at by Occupation Forces’ guns and tanks.

Fallujah and Adaamiya are currently under siege, surrounded by Occupation Forces, in contravention of the Geneva Convention that prohibits holding civilian communities under siege. Hospitals do not have access to sufficient medical aid, essential medicine and equipment or blood supplies. In Fallujah, the hospitals have been surrounded by soldiers forcing doctors to establish field hospitals in private homes. Blood donors are not allowed to enter; consequently, mosques in both Baghdad and Falluja are collecting blood for the injured. Water and electricity have been cut off for the past several days.

In Sadr City US helicopters have fired rockets into residential areas destroying homes. Although no curfew has officially been imposed, US soldiers have made a practice of aiming tank fire on cars they find moving through the streets after dark. On Tuesday night alone, at least 6 people were killed in this way. US forces continue to occupy and surround all the police stations and the Sadr municipal offices.

While these attacks have escalated sharply over the past week, they are in no way a new phenomenon in occupied Iraq. The indiscriminate killing of civilians and the refusal to provide people with security, electricity and decent medical infrastructure have characterized the ‘freedom’ that Occupation Authorities have brought to Iraq.

We call on the international community, civil society and the anti-war/anti-occupation movements to respond to this US-led war of terror with tangible displays of solidarity and support for Iraqi people facing this gruesome manifestation of the occupation.

Please take to the streets to demand an end to the US-led aggression. Organize protests in front of US consulates and embassies around the world and demand: an immediate end to this massacre; an immediate end to the siege of Iraqi cities and neighborhoods; immediate access to humanitarian and medical aid organizations seeking to provide assistance to Iraqi people who are living under attack; and an end to the occupation of our nation.

Cities in which demonstrations have already been organized include Milan, Montreal, Tokyo, Istanbul, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and New York City.

To contact the International Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad, please call 001 914 360-9079 or 001 914 360-9080. You can also email  eman@occupationwatch.org