Proposed Actions

1) The National Assembly to End the War and Occupation of Iraq urges attendees at this conference to build support for and participate in demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic Party conventions previously called by many groups with the goal being to organize massive, independent and united contingents demanding "Bring the Troops Home Now!" Put the bi-partisan warmakers on notice that our movement will accept nothing less than the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq and closing all military bases.

2) The National Assembly welcomes initiatives taken by local and regional antiwar groups to organize antiwar demonstrations in the months ahead, leading up to the November 4 election, calling for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. military forces from Iraq. The Assembly will encourage participation in such actions.

3) The National Assembly will propose a date to be set by the conference for organizing united local protests in cities across the nation to demand of whichever administration comes to power nothing less than the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. troops and bases from Iraq.

4) That all of the above mobilizations be viewed as springboards for building massive, united, independent and bi-coastal Spring 2009 demonstrations against the war, organized, called and sponsored by the movement's major forces as well as new forces that can be brought into the movement; that every effort be made to make these demonstrations international in scope; and that we aim at a new level of unity and commitment capable of closing the gap between the present antiwar forces engaged in our common movement and those who also oppose the war but have not yet understood the necessity of directly and actively dedicating themselves to the fight to end it.

5) In the event of a U.S. government attack on Iran or another major international crisis triggered by U.S. military action, the Assembly will urge an emergency convening of all the major antiwar forces to plan the most massive, united, protest action possible.


MOTIVATION

1. The U.S. continued occupation of Iraq as part of its war against the people of that nation is today among the central issues in world politics. Initiated with an internationally discredited lie, the war and occupation violate the right of the Iraqi people to determine their own destiny and constitute crimes under international law.

2. The war is motivated by the drive to control Iraq's gigantic oil wealth and access to the energy resources of the entire Middle East. It is a war in which working class youth are victims of the "economic draft" and pay the ultimate price. It is a war costing trillions of dollars needed to solve pressing social problems at home, rebuild the destruction in Iraq, and relieve hunger and poverty around the globe.

3. The U.S. government's pursuit of "victory" in Iraq carries with it threats of expanding the war to Iran and enmeshing the entire region and beyond in even more conflicts and occupations. It is a war that has resulted in incalculable numbers of deaths and casualties of Iraqis, as well as their massive displacement. It is a war that promotes the transparently false and racist idea that Muslim and/or Arab people are not capable of organizing their own affairs.

FOR IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL

4. We call for the immediate, total and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. military forces and contractors from Iraq, their return to the U.S., and closing of all U.S. military bases.

FOR UNITED MASS ACTION IN THE STREETS

5. We advocate and will help bring into being a massive, united, independent and democratic antiwar movement demanding "Bring the Troops Home Now!" and "End the Occupation Now!" Only a united antiwar movement that reaches deep into the fabric of American society and mobilizes the majority millions who oppose this war, from citizens to soldiers, from immigrants to the youth, to women and LGBT people, to people of all races and creeds, can force the U.S. government to bend to its will.
6. We place our confidence in the people of the U.S. to challenge this war and reject the idea that promises by politicians will lead to an end to the slaughter in the absence of popular mass struggle. The history of all successful social struggles, from the fight against the Vietnam War to the fight for civil rights and the right of workers to organize collectively, is the history of the construction of independent mass movements that challenge the powers that be until their just cause is won.

7. All polls show that a majority of the people in the U.S. oppose continuation of the war and occupation. Yet we must acknowledge that there exists a huge gap between those who oppose the war and those who are willing to take to the streets to express their opposition to it. We believe that a united movement can play a key role in closing this gap.

8. It is self-evident that a united movement is a stronger movement. There is every reason for the movement to unite and no good reason for it to be divided. We believe that coalitions, organizations and groups with widely divergent views on a host of matters can and must come together to boldly challenge the warmakers and render the pursuit of this unjust war morally and socially indefensible and unsustainable.

9. We reject presidential and congressional calls to "stay the course" in Iraq or proposals for timetables for withdrawal coupled with belligerent, saber-rattling threats against Iran. What a far cry that is from the clear clarion "Out Now!" demand of the antiwar movement!

10. The brochure announcing this conference declares: "Everyone is welcome. The objective is to place on the agenda of the entire U.S. antiwar movement a proposal for the largest possible united mass mobilization(s) in the future to stop the war and end the occupation." It is in that spirit that we urge adoption of the actions proposed above.

From the Coordinating Committee of the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation
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CRITIQUE AND COMMENTARY
Petros Evdokas

Please feel free to distribute and repost the comments and thoughts below to whoever you think is appropriate, and to publish it in any medium, public forum, meeting, etc, wherever you judge it to be useful.

I found that the Coordinating Committee has published their Proposal on their official website, here,
natassembly.org/
and
natassembly.org/uploads/docs/actionproposal.doc
therefore we can now open this dialogue with the public.

* * *

Reading the impressive list of endorsers,
natassembly.org/
one can easily deduce that this National Conference is going to be decisive for the direction of the anti-war movement.

At first reading, the "Action Proposal" kind of sounds like "a good thing". But as soon as one realizes that the Proposal is coming from experienced and knowledgeable activists, all the lies and shameless hypocrisy fall to the side.

The Proposal is a cowardly piece of what in forensic investigations is routinely referred to as "fecal matter".

Where is there any mention of Direct Action? Of integrating organized and unorganized Labor directly into the anti-war effort?

Where is there any recognition of the need to ask "Why has the Peace movement been a total failure so far?" Where is there any recognition of the need to actually do something different now, for a change, so that negative and disempowering influences on the movement will be countered and neutralized?

Under the heading MOTIVATION, in the Proposal, the war is described as having been "initiated with an internationally discredited lie". But there's is no mention *specifically* that the lie is The Big Lie of the September 11 attacks, which has been proven beyond doubt to be an inside job, carried out by instruments of the global and US-based ruling class for their interests. The Big Lie of September 11 is the only reason that the US population has been cowered and shocked into going along with the "endless war" abroad and destruction of civil liberties at home. It's also one of the reasons that the US Peace movement is numb and emotionally incapable of moving forward.

A Peace movement that is unwilling or unable to shake off the US Govt. propaganda about "foreign terrorists" stemming from September 11, will be unable to stop the war. It will remained numb and paralyzed.

Furthermore, adding poisonous insult by the US Peace movement to the death, slaughter and injury already heaped upon the peoples of the world by the US Government, these activists try to make all of us into guilty parties by asking us to agree to this insane proposal: "In the event of a U.S. government attack on Iran or another major international crisis triggered by U.S. military action", say these serious activists, they will urge "most massive, united, protest action possible."

What? Is there no recognition on behalf of these influential individuals that the US Peace movement has been for years sliding backward, "backwards ever" (Maurice Bishop might say), backwards into less and less effective and less efficient tactics? Is there no recognition that the anti-war movement, dominated by fake "Peace activists", keeps being the major recruiting ground for votes for the Dem-ago-cratic Party and that over the last few years the movement has degenerated into being and acting exclusively as that party's backyard and nothing else? Or is it *because* they recognise all this, that experienced and influential activists are proposing this pathetic display of anti-war "action"?

Between five and fifteen *million* people marched against the war in the Spring of 2003 - within in the US itself, estimates range from one to two million, countrywide. Did it stop the US war machine?

That is not of course an argument to stop marching, but to ESCALATE. To ESCALATE the range and type of actions in order to make it materially, practically, politically and financially difficult, and ultimately physically impossible for the US to conduct the war. The need is to ESCALATE, both in the sense of depth and magnitude of Direct Actions and also in the sense of Symbolic, Educational, Informational campaigns.

The Action Proposal, coming from activists and organizers who know all this, is nothing but open, transparent and hideous treachery against the peoples of the world.

I say shame on the US Peace movement for tolerating such leadership.

Petros Evdokas, petros (at) cyprus-org.net
member of the
Belly of the Beast Collective,
and
September 11 Affinity Group
petros-evdokas.cyprus-org.net/Another-sort-of-Introduction.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~