On Saturday January 31, Mobilization Against
War and Occupation (MAWO) called upon
peace-loving people in Vancouver to join them
in the streets of downtown Vancouver for their
first antiwar rally and petition campaign drive
of 2015. A quick look back on the last 12 months
demonstrates clearly that the US-led war machine
has continued the assault on oppressed people
around the world through the ever-expanding
new era of war and occupation with massive
military aggression. Since October of 2001, with
the start of the new era of war and occupation, the
world has already seen the complete destruction of
Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, and now Syria is
left in a constant state of U.S. fomented division
and civil war.
Following the attack on the offices of the Charlie
Hebdo magazine in France, there has been a huge
rise of Islamophobia in imperialist countries,
coupled with the introduction of more and more
so-called anti-terrorist legislation that threatens
basic civil liberties. Mobilization Against
War and Occupation (MAWO) in their rally
condemned the terrorist attack in France, however
also used the opportunity to condemn all forms of
terrorism, including state terrorism, which is used
by western colonial powers including France, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. “We stand
strongly against Islamophobia and the assault
on civil liberties that is being organized and
promoted by imperialist governments and the
Western mainstream media,” stated Thomas
Davies, an
organizer and a
founding member
of MAWO who
spoke during the
rally.
Canada’s role
in Iraq was also
protested during
the rally where it
was stated that
over 600 military
personnel and
special forces, six
CF-18 fighter jets, a refueling tanker aircraft
and two surveillance planes are operating
there as part of an air combat mission. MAWO
organizers made it clear that the government of
Canada is fully complicit in this newest brutal
addition to the legacy of foreign wars and
occupations that have devastated Iraq and killed
millions of people.
During the rally, organizers and activists with
Mobilization
Against
War &
Occupation
distributed
information
against war
to people
walking
by the busy
downtown location
while collecting
signatures on their
petition against the
US led bombing
campaign against
Iraq. The petition
also demands that
the governments
of Canada and the
U.S. stop all material and financial aid to the
ISIS/ISIL groups in Syria and Iraq.
MAWO organizers while finishing their protest
and petition drive encouraged supporters to join
them again next month as they continue their
monthly rallies and forums to protest against war
and occupation and building an effective antiwar
movement.
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