INDONESIA: Protest condemns Israel’s wars
From Green Left Weekly, August 9, 2006
On July 31, some 200 protesters from Indonesian Solidarity for Palestine and Lebanon held a solidarity march to the US embassy in Central Jakarta to protest Israel’s war against Palestine and Lebanon. The action - the first solidarity action since Israel launched its latest offensive - was initiated by several organisations including the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the Indonesian National Student Movement (GMNI), the Islamic Student Association (HMI), the People’s Democratic Party (PRD) and human rights organisations. PRD chairperson Dita Sari told the demonstration: “The war on Palestine and the Middle East is not just a Muslim issue. The source of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East is US oil imperialism and its ’war against terror’. These have become issues for people around the world from all religions and nations. The problem of violence against humanity by US imperialism has united the oppressed peoples from Africa, Latin America and Asia.”
PAKISTAN: Karachi
To day (12 August 2006) here in Karachi Workers rally have been organised by Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) against the USA supported “Israeli Aggression on LEBANON”.
Rally was started from Empress Market Sadder Karachi to Press club Karachi. In rally workers shout slogans against Imperialist Agent BUSH and thier allies particularly Israel.
Arround one thounsand (1000) workers of Karachi participated. And many young male female students from universities and colleges participated. As well as many other area wise LPP workers and sympathisers were fully participated.
BELGIUM
Brussels had a succesful demo on Sunday 6th of August with 10.000 participants.
UK
00,000 people marched through central London yesterday, Saturday 5 August, to demand an end to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and an immediate cease fire. The demonstration, called by the Stop the War Coalition in association with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the British Muslim Initiative, enjoyed strong support from London’s large Arab population, with large numbers of Lebanese people taking part in a demonstration that reflected all the diversity of British society.
The strength of popular feeling about the Lebanon war and about the complicity of Tony Blair, alongside George W. Bush, in Israel’s war crimes is shown by the fact that the march was organized in ten days. It followed an emergency demonstration in London a fortnight ago, in which more than 20,000 people participated, alongside large protests in most British cities.
The breadth of opposition was also expressed in the range of speakers at the rally in which yesterday’s demonstration ended. Among those who addressed tens of thousands opposite the Houses of Parliament were no less than four Labour members of Parliament, the human rights activist Bianca Jagger, the veteran peace campaigners Tony Benn, Bruce Kent, and Walter Wolfgang, George Galloway and John Rees of Respect, Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition, Ismael Patel of the Friends of Al Aqsa, trade-union leaders Billy Hayes, Mark Serwotka and Barry Campfield, Professor Manuel Hassassian, the representative of the Palestine Authority in Britain, and Craig Murray, ex-British ambassador to Uzbekistan.
The Stop the War Coalition is now organizing a demonstration outside the Labour Party conference in Manchester on 23 September. Its slogan is ’Time to Go’ - time for the US and Britain to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but time also for Blair to be driven from office!
VENEZUELA
Chavez move to call back his ambassador from Tel Aviv (hopefully this will give new input for other campaigns, particularly in Latin America, requesting the same move from their governments).
SOUTH AFRICA
Doubts in the South African government whether their rhetoric about a “mediator” role in the Middle East has anything to do with reality, bringing the call for sanctions on the national agenda. For now, the South African government has started an inquiry into South Africans serving in the Israeli army. Activists have asked for this since long in order to try them under the law that forbids South Africans to serve in foreign armies.
BRAZIL
In São Paulo, Brazil, there was an anti-war march with about 10,000 people on August 6, organized by the Lebanese community and several Brazilian organizations (unions, grassroots movements, progressive parties, student movements, etc).
ISRAEL
This coming Saturday, August 12, has been declared International Day Against the War in Lebanon and Gaza. We in the peace and left-wing movement - the one that has refused to wait before beginning its protest - continue our activity to bring this insane war to an end, a war that the government of Israel is carrying out under the pretense of security...a war in the name of us all, whether we like it or not. On Saturday, women and men, Jewish and Arab, are joining the support vigil for those who refuse to fight in the armies of war and occupation, the . Let us transform this vigil into a demonstration by all of us to demand an end to the war and occupation...and demand that the war crimes be halted at once.
To date, the following refusers are in prison: Amir Pasteur, Itamar Shapira, A.A., and Y.D. Yesh Gvul reports that there are dozens of calls from those who received mobilization orders seeking advice on how to refuse.