Athens Meeting 19-20 June 2003, Contribution by The
Democratic Progressive Tribune - Kingdom of Bahrain
--------------------------------------------------
From: SolidNet
================================================

ANTI-WAR MOVEMENTS: MILESTONE AGAINST IMPERIALISM
FOR PEACE AND STABILITY

Dear Comrades,

We would like, first of all, to convey our warmest
greetings to the fraternal Communist Party of Greece and
want to express from this platform our appreciation and
gratitude for arranging this important meeting for which we
wish all the success.

The World is at Great Danger

By the end of the Cold War, United States has become the
only "superpower" in the world. During the last decade of
20th Century, we have witnessed the ascendancy of the most
right-wing sections of transnational capital in the US
political life. The extreme right wing had all the main
levers of power with the conclusion of presidential
elections in 2000. These factors together with September
11th events as well as the economic situation were of
decisive importance in bringing the world to this dangerous
new turn.

This situation is threatening all of humanity with a
catastrophe. The US imperialism is aggravating tensions
between different nationalities and religions.

The US war drives are not disarmament of mass destruction
weapons or bringing democracy to the Iraqi people. The real
agenda goes far ahead to achieve US ambitions. The oil
reserves in the region are of great significance and
control over these supplies would be necessary to meet the
requirements of the US economy. As a result all countries
of the region, not Iraq only, have to submit to the US
will. The US aims to reshape the geopolitics of the region.

The conquest of Iraq would enable the US to dominate the
entire Middle East. There is no room for opposition. Syria,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen and others are on the list. The
war drums are still on the beat. The US is trying to impose
the "Road Map" plan on the Palestinians and have it
accepted by Israel to end the long standing conflict in the
Middle East

In broader term, Control over the oil supplies would
provide the US with a powerful lever against its
competitors in Europe, Japan and China. The US is seeking
reorganization of the world political and economic in the
interests of itself. This requires the submission to its
will of not only weak and underdeveloped nations like Iraq,
but also other imperialist rivals in Western Europe and
Japan.

Anti-war Movement in Bahrain

In Bahrain the anti war movement has started about a year
ago by establishing the National Committee for the
Solidarity with the Iraqi People. Before that we had The
Bahraini Society Against Normalization with Zionist Enemy
established four years earlier to support the struggle of
the Palestinian People. These two organizations have played
an active role in confronting the war actions and
hostilities against the Iraqi as well as the Palestinian
People. They have represented the different parties and
social community organizations with disregard to their
ideological and political differences. This has represented
the first real joint action in Bahrain.

It is widely believed among the normal people that the US
has a mean plan to occupy Iraq for a long period and to
impose policies suits its imperial interests. This gave
energy to the actions pre war and during the war period.
There were almost daily activities such as demonstrations
and marches and all other sorts of peaceful protests.
However, it is noticed that after the collapse of Saddam
Hussein's dictatorship, the anti war movement has lost some
of its momentum. Now the political forces are re-thinking
of new strategies to deal with the new situation arose in
Iraq after the US occupation and the threats of other
countries in the region such as Syria and Iran. The
political forces realize that the people's factor is a key
in this issue. Implementing real democracy and giving the
people an active role in decision making as regards to
national issues are important steps to have the people's
support. The US addresses the absenteeism of the people
role and proclaims that they will bring democracy to the
region. It is important to educate the people that US is
interested to bring the democracy that fits its interests
and plans to dominate the world.

Tasks Facing Anti-war Movements

The anti-war movements have still big task to achieve. At
present there are huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons enough
to destroy the world. The peace movement has to fight for
the abolition of nuclear and other weapons of mass
destruction to bring peace and stability all over the
world. It has to gather and unify its strength as the
struggle against imperialism requires organized and clear
political expression and strategy.

The anti war movements have to support the Iraqi people in
their struggle to end the U.S. and British occupation and
to prevent any further U.S. aggression against other
sovereign states. Its activities have to show that the
self-proclaimed liberators are nothing but colonizers and
empire builders.

The movement against war must be international. It must
unite the efforts of all parties that have interest to
prevent the war action especially the workers of all
countries and other social society organizations regardless
of colors and religions. For instance, we need to organize
an anti-war movement that gathers all peace loving forces
in the Arabian Gulf.

The most efficient method to stop the warmongers is to
mobilize the working class. The opponents of war must
mobilize the people that stand in fundamental opposition to
the entire system of capitalist exploitation and
imperialist plunder. This should be done by addressing the
issues of unemployment, education, health care, housing and
the defense of democratic rights that are under attack in
some countries such as the U.S. and Europe as well as call
for establishing real democracies in countries where
democracy does not exist or at very primitive stages.

Thank you and once again we repeat out gratitude for our
comrades in the Communist Party of Greece for organizing
this event.