10.30am - 5pm, Saturday 18th November, Friends Meeting House, 173 Euston Road, Euston, London NW1 2BJ (tube: Euston)

Organised by Iraq Occupation Focus: www.iraqoccupationfocus.org

In attendance - and taking part in the discussions - will be such prominent anti-war activists as JUSTIN ALEXANDER (Jubilee Iraq), EWA JASIEWICZ (Naftana), GREG MUTTITT (Platform), MILAN RAI (JNV), SAMI RAMADANI (Iraqi Democracts Against Occupation) and HAIFA ZANGANA.

BACKGROUND
With the publication of last month's Lancet report on war-related deaths in Iraq - which concluded that "coalition" forces had killed 186,000 Iraqis since the beginning of the invasion - the recent poll finding that a "strong majority" of Iraqis favour the immediate withdrawal of U.S.-led military forces (Washington Post, 27 September 2006), and the acknowledgement by the Head of the British Army that the presence of British forces in Iraq “exacerbates the security problems” there (Daily Mail, 13 October 2006), the arguments for the withdrawal of British forces have now become overwhelming.

Nonetheless, without an upsurge in grassroots anti-occupation activism the UK presence in Iraq looks set to continue for many years. Indeed, the Independent recently reported a senior defence source as stating that '[a] force of around 4,000 British troops will stay behind in Iraq for an *indefinite* period, even after all provinces controlled by the UK are handed over to the Baghdad government' (emphasis added).

The anti-war movement needs to build a vigorous local and national campaign to put pressure on MPs to back withdrawal, to dramatically step up its existing counter-recruitment activities and its use of nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience, and to start seriously confronting the long-term consequences of the invasion and occupation eg. by opposing the looming de facto US/UK-driven privatisation of Iraq’s oil industry (see Greg Muttitt, Oil Pressure, 28 Aug, tinyurl.com/y4norh).

One of the main aims of the gathering on 18 November is to help generate just such an resurgence. We hope to see you there!

ENDING THE OCCUPATION: WHAT WILL IT TAKE?
A 4-page discussion sheet has already been produced with the aim of stimulating participants' thoughts in advance of the gathering. See  http://tinyurl.com/uncb4 to download the PDF file.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
We would like to be able to circulate as much information as possible in advance of the gathering concerning: 1) people’s local experiences of anti-war activism; 2) ideas and proposals for action; and 3) thoughts on what the anti-war movement should (or shouldn’t!) be doing to end the occupation. So, if you or your group has written something - or would like to write something - about these topics, please send it to  gabriel@voices.netuxo.co.uk so that we can e-mail it round and put it up on the web.