Peace activists representing anti-war movements from all over the world are set to converge in Jakarta, Indonesia from May 19 to 21 in to plan for its next moves. Entitled “Iraq and the Global Peace Movement: What Next?,” the conference expects to gather as many as 200 delegates from the broad anti-war coalitions that have emerged in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
The war on Iraq has given birth to a global peace movement that is historically unprecedented in both scale and reach. But with the invasion and current occupation of Iraq, organizers of the meeting realized that it is now both very urgent and necessary for the global peace movement come together again to assess the present conjuncture, make common stand on some pressing questions, and to strategize its next moves. The momentum must not be lost. Demoralization must not weaken the ranks.
The conference hopes to:
– bring together and link up a broad range of representatives from peace movements around the world
– assess recent developments in Iraq, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia and their implications for the global peace movement
– draw up a concrete and detailed plan of action for responding to these developments from different fronts
In particular, delegates will be confronting the following questions and will hope to build a consensus on the answers to them:
– What should we do with Iraq now? How do we deal with the oil and reconstruction corporations?
– What should we do with the United Nations? What should its role be in post-war Iraq?
– What can we do to prevent “future Iraqs”?
– How to bring the United States and Britain to face consequences of war?
– How do we sustain the momentum of global peace movement and how can we broaden it further?
Jakarta was chosen as the site of the gathering precisely because it is home to probably the strongest anti-war movement this side of Asia and the region is a potential flashpoint in the US’ endless “war against terror.”
The conference is being put together by a group of organizations, most of which were also behind the sending of an Asian Peace Mission to Iraq on the eve of war. This includes a group of Indonesian organizations and individuals led by National Front for Workers’ Struggle in Indonesia (FNBPI) and the Indonesia Centre for Reform and Social Emancipation (INCREASE). Also part of the steering committee are the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South and the Transnational Institute (TNI) based in Amsterdam. Aside from these groups, the conference is also being endorsed by a broad array of national anti-war groups and coalitions around the world.
The conference is open to all those who wish to attend but participants will have to take care of their own travel and accommodation expenses.
For more information, please contact Herbert Docena at [email protected].
