IRAQ: South African Anti-War Protestors Remain Steadfast

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nawaal Deane

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 28 2003 (IPS) - In the week where eight of the South African human shields returned home and CNN slogan no longer says "Strike on Iraq" but rather "War on Iraq", the world faces the reality of a drawn-out conflict with protesters gearing themselves for a new round of anti-war campaigns.

The largest anti-war lobby group in South Africa welcomed the news that the Iraqi forces were resisting the armed British and American troops. They were optimistic that the rebellion showed that Iraqi spirit has not been crushed.

The Anti-War Coalition, the most vocal protesters in South Africa met earlier this week to refocus their campaign on the call for ending the war. The Coalition is made up of 70 religious and civil organisations that have been campaigning since the end of January in an effort to prevent the war on Iraq. Since the war began last Thursday, the coalition has stepped up its campaigns throughout South Africa, especially at the US consulate in Johannesburg.

"We were surprised and elated that the Iraqi farmers and soldiers are fighting back," says Na’seem Jennah, spokesperson for the coalition. He says they do not support a drawn out war and would like to see minimal loss of life, but it was uplifting to see that the American military has over-estimated their ability to invade Iraq. "The Americans need to be taught a lesson. Despite having disarmed Iraq for 12 years, the Americans have not managed to crush the spirit of the people."

He says Iraqi people are fighting for their national pride and not for President Saddam Hussein. "The war has evolved in such a way that it appears as though the Iraqi forces have a strategy, they seem to be waiting for the coalition forces to get near Baghdad and will then strike," says Jeenah.

The week also saw the return of eight human shields who spent two nights in Baghdad amidst ongoing bomb attacks. They returned saying that their presence would not stop the war. Most were despondent because instead of being a human shield, staying in Baghdad, they said, would be like committing suicide.

The Coalition has hailed these people as heroes saying that "all of the human shields that undertook the journey to Iraq went knowing that they were putting themselves in the line of fire of the US imperialist forces and their allies. Yet their conviction that the people of Iraq should be spared this and that the massacre of Iraqi civilians was a war crime drove them to be prepared to put their own lives in danger to protect the Iraqi people."

On Monday March 24, President Thabo Mbeki said that the war would push the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development down on the world agenda. He was criticised by the coalition for failing to criticise the United States and Britain for its invasion without the United Nation’s approval.

Throughout their campaign the Coalition has accused the South African government of hypocrisy for claiming to be anti-war yet supplying military equipment to Britain.

The lobby group has targeted state-owned arms manufacturer, Denel for signing a R225 (28 million US dollar) contract with a United Kingdom defence force to supply them with brass components. It has also provides advanced artillery shell propellants to Britain suppliers.

The government has denied that these exports constitute a breach of the guidelines set out in the National Conventional Arms Control, however the government is scheduled to meet soon to discuss the issue.

Jeenah says the campaign is not only for the international arena but it is on this frontline, with the South African government, that anti-war protestors are fighting. "Our main contribution is being able to show that we are part of an international campaign to stop the war. But the local dynamic is to ensure that Denel and South Africa’s involvement in the war is stopped," says Jeenah. He says that if the government were sincere in its anti-war campaign then it would discontinue these contracts that produce the bullets in this war."Does our government profit over its principals?"

It seems as though the government has toned down its anti-war stance with neither Mbeki nor his ministers condemning the US invasion but rather calling for a swift end to the war. Jeenah says that the government has backtracked and is obviously under "huge pressure" from the two super powers.

The coalition has consistently picketed against petroleum giant, Mobil Exxon for the benefiting financially in the event of the war. Protests marches were held outside the Wanderers stadium in South Africa’s commercial capital Johannesburg at the final of the cricket world cup and marches are being planned for April 5, 2003 throughout the country.

As the lone protestor stands on the street corner in Pretoria with his anti-war banner, the human shields return and the anti-war groups picket, the war continues to wage. When asked whether or not protests in Africa are making a difference, Jeenah says: "We have to join together, throughout the world, to stand up against America for this illegal war. To make American elite uncomfortable wherever they are." In their own individual way they are united in one aim- to end the war on Iraq.(