Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

Wales

Wrexham protests re. threatened military action in Syria

wpjf | 30.08.2013 18:54 | Anti-militarism | Terror War | Wales

Around a dozen people showed up in Queens Square, Wrexham this morning at short notice in visible opposition to the threat of western military action in Syria. The government may have lost the Commons vote last night but there's every chance it won't be able to resist getting involved in some way if the US goes ahead with an attack.

Among those protesting today were two enthusiastic children who made sure the placards were displayed to their best advantage throughout the morning and a Syrian friend who has alreadly lost five cousins and numerous acquaintances in the conflict.










No confidence in the anti-war vote

An article in the Guardian quoted Doctor Andrew Mumford, lecturer in politics and international relations at the University of Nottingham:

"The British and Americans still have and will have for a long time from now incredibly close military and intelligence co-operation. The level of intelligence co-operation is as close as it can get.

"Even if Britain doesn't participate in any further military action against Syria that the US might lead, you can be absolutely guaranteed that the British will be giving as much support and help in an indirect capacity as possible."



The article continues:

He said that could include use of British bases, or through passing on intelligence, adding: "That could be quite significant if the Americans are wondering which strategic targets of Assad's to hit."


Miliband, meanwhile, said he wasn't opposed to military intervention in principle; this hardly inspires confidence that Labour will maintain opposition to war on Syria.


I have little faith in the healing power of parliamentary 'democracy' but let it not be said that I failed to pursue this avenue. Yesterday morning I wrote to my MP, Susan Elan Jones, to tell her what I thought.


"I am writing to urge you to oppose British military intervention in Syria. Hopefully Labour has by now learned the lessons of its murderous intervention (on a lie) in Iraq.

"If those who use chemical weapons are to be held responsible, then let's start with the disaster that's Fallujah, where there's no uncertainty about the perpetrators of that particular atrocity.

"Besides, military intervention won't save lives. There will just be more 'collateral damage' which in plain language is men, women and children - innocent civilians. We know. We've seen enough of these sort of western military misadventures recently.

"Violence breeds violence. War is not the answer. Please support peaceful, negotiated solutions in Syria."



I got a couple of standard messages in reply, one thanking me for my "thoughtful email" and telling me that Elan Jones shares my serious concerns, then after the vote another to say how pleased she was that "we defeated David Cameron's resolution last night and that our country will not be entering a war situation in Syria." Let's see if she can sustain that position. Neighbouring MP for Wrexham Ian Lucas got himself in a real mess over the Iraq war and the elusive second UN resolution back in 2003.


The first casualty of war is truth

All wars are started and sustained with lies. We have to hope that what's different this time is that we have the benefit of evidence from behind the scenes of the war-making states, for example the vast volume of documentation released by Chelsea (Bradley) Manning and others and disseminated by Julian Assange's WikiLeaks, for which public spirited action both Manning and Assange continue to be persecuted. More people won't be fooled this time round. Let's hope that we have the strength collectively to say NO to this latest threat to our fellow human beings and to mean it.

wpjf
- e-mail: wrexhamsaw [at] yahoo.com

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. in a nut shell — artfulldodger

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

Wales Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech