Peace activists protested against the recent international donors meeting for Iraq held in Tokyo, Japan from the October 13th-14th. While the meeting sought funds for US-led reconstruction, the Japanese Anti-War coalition, World Peace Now, denounced the reconstruction plan as they argued, ‘[it] will never support people in Iraq.’
Instead, the plan is used ‘as an excuse for the killings of people in the name of [Iraq’s] security,’ said the coalition in a group statement. ‘The real reconstruction process of Iraq will start only after all the military forces of the US coalition withdraw from Iraq,’ they stated.
Click here for the World Peace Now Statement against the Donors Meeting.
At the European Social Forum in London, a major discussion on the occupation of Iraq took place on October 16th. Commenting on the scheduled Iraq elections, Sabah Jawad, the secretary of the Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation (IDAO), stated that the occupiers ‘are against holding a free and fair election for the simple reason that they will lose such election’. Instead, says Jawad, ‘they will try to rig it’.
Click here for Sabah Jawad’s full speech.
