Building An Effective Antiwar Movement:
An Open Letter to Stopwar.ca
*Photographs of the banners and signs mentioned in this letter
can be viewed below
Nov 29, 2006.
Dear Members, Coordinating Committee and Co-chairs of
Stopwar.ca,
On October 28th 2006 I attended the rally in Vancouver
organized by Stopwar.ca. During the march and rally I
observed something with I consider very dangerous and
which caused me grave concern. I witnessed
indifference and a lack of sensitivity from Stopwar.ca
organizers towards serious attempts to thoroughly
undermined the goal and cause of the Oct 28 action.
During the march a group called “Third Camp” had a
large banner which stated “NO TO US MILITARISM – NO TO
ISLAMIC TERRORISM”. This banner also was displayed
prominently on the stage at the rally. While I
understand that it is difficult to remove banners or
signs from the march, I do not understand why this
banner was allowed on stage. In addition, a very large
banner was displayed at the top of the stage which
stated “JOIN US TO STOP DARFUR GENOCIDE”.This is
basically US propaganda in order to justify a military
intervention in Sudan either through the UN or through
the US directly. Again, I found this confusing.
Neither of these slogans are anti-war, they are in
fact pro-war, and likely very confusing to those
attending the march and rally.
This confusion was compounded for me when I was
approached by a Stopwar.ca organizer who asked me to
remove a banner I was holding on the stage which said
“Mobilization Against War & Occupation”. I asked
“Why?”, because I know that Stopwar.ca and MAWO share
many common demands and I could not see a political
problem with this banner remaining where it was. I
received no answer to this question. Stopwar.ca
co-chair Mable Elmore approached me and repeated that
I must remove the banner from the stairs. She insisted
that as organizers of the rally, the stairs were part
of their stage and they had jurisdiction over them. We
responded positively to the request and moved off of
the stairs beside the stage at that point.
Within minutes of moving off of the stairs, “Third
Camp” took the place that MAWO had been occupying.
This group “Third Camp” set up their banner with the
demands: “NO TO US MILITARISM – NO TO ISLAMIC
TERRORISM”.
Our banner against war and occupation had just been
forced out, and welcomed in its place? A reactionary,
Islamophobic, war-mongering banner. I was shocked.
In another circumstance, I may have accepted that this
was a tragic oversight by the organizers. However, it
was clear that the Stopwar.ca organizers were
hyper-sensitive to the set up of the stage on Oct
28th, which was reflected in their asking the MAWO
banner to move.
Why was Stopwar.ca indifferent to these banners? Is it
acceptable to Stopwar.ca that “Third Camp” can set up
an Islamophobic banner? Was the “JOIN US TO STOP
DARFUR GENOCIDE” banner acceptable to Stopwar.ca? Does
Stopwar.ca support intervention in Darfur?
I believe that both of these slogans are against the
principle of the antiwar and peace movement.
The “NO TO ISLAMIC TERRORISM” banner was a direct,
clear attack on the Muslim community, spouting the
same racist, intolerant, reactionary rhetoric as the
Bush Administration itself. How can we build a broad,
united antiwar movement while allowing this
Islamophobic attack? How can we unite with the Muslim
community if such hate is permitted? Would the
Canadian Islamic Congress, one of the initiators of
the Oct 28th call-out in Canada, have appreciated such
a banner being present at this rally?
Islamophobia is a tool of division between people in
imperialist countries like Canada and people in the
“Muslim-world” and it has no place in the anti-war
movement. The anti-war movement, and all progressive
people and their organizations must stand for the
unity of the oppressed people of the world against the
oppressor. In Canada it is especially important that
working, poor and all progressive organizations take a
clear stand against Islamophobia. We need to take a
clear and strong stand in defense of all people under
imperialist assault, Muslim or non-Muslim.
The second issue that arose, on the question of
Darfur, is also important for the antiwar movement to
address. The UN Security Council adopted resolution
1706 on Aug. 31 calling for the deployment of more
than 20,000 UN troops to Sudan. Such intervention has
been supported by the imperialist governments of the
US and Canada, among others.
However, mass demonstrations in Sudan have opposed
such intervention, including a protest in Khartoum on
Sept 20th against UN resolution 1706.
Why have so many people opposed the intervention?
Well, just as the protests against invasion in Iraq,
in Afghanistan, in Haiti, the people of Sudan protest
because they do not believe that the gunships of the
US, or the boots of UN troops are working in their
interest. Hundreds of years of colonial genocide has
proven that the people of Sudan will not receive
benevolent aid from imperialist forces, or their
organization - the UN.
The antiwar movement cannot be confused by the
crocodile tears of George W Bush and imperialist
leaders. The so-called “humanitarian mission” proposed
for Darfur is but a door to a new era of intervention
in Africa. We need only look at the “humanitarian
mission” into Iraq, to bring “liberation and freedom”
to Iraqis, to see the future results of a mission into
Sudan. I urge Stopwar.ca to take a position on
intervention in Sudan, to approach the threats to
Sudan critically and to not get swept away by this
clever imperialist campaign.
Now, if what I witnessed at the October 28th
demonstration was a result of a lackadasial attitude,
then it shows that Stopwar.ca is not taking these
interventions seriously. As a result this sloppiness
allowed for a dangerous and divisive political
intervention by the reactionary “Third Camp”. They
were able to come onto the stage of an anti-war rally
with a pro-war message. On top of this, confusion was
further stirred up with the decidedly pro-war demand
displayed at the top of the stage “JOIN US TO STOP
DARFUR GENOCIDE”. These two pro-war interventions were
allowed to be present – and prominient – throughout
the entire program of the Stopwar.ca rally. This
sloppiness will no doubt put into question the
seriousness of the leadership and organizers of
Stopwar.ca about building an effective antiwar
movement.
I don’t agree with the ongoing factionalism of
Stopwar.ca towards MAWO, but for the sake of unity of
the antiwar movement I have tolerated it. However,
there is no justification that the Stopwar.ca
organizers were so sensitive to MAWO on Oct 28th and
so tolerant and conciliatory towards these two
reactionary and dangerous tendencies in the
progressive movement.
I must also explain why I decided to write this as an
open letter, it is because this is not the first time
that I have witnessed this type of political problem
at a Stopwar.ca event. On March 18, 2006, Stopwar.ca
organized a rally in Vancouver for the anniversary of
the US-led invasion of Iraq, which MAWO endorsed and
built. On the stage at this rally were signs that said
“No to War, No to Terror” written beside large image
of the racist, Islamophobic Danish cartoon of Prophet
Mohammed with a bomb on his head. This cartoon was
condemned by the Muslim world and peace-loving people
internationally. On top of this no major newspaper in
Canada or Britain would print these cartoons. Even
Jack Straw, Britain’s Foreign Secretary at the time
stated that the publication of these cartoons was
“unnecessary, it has been insensitive, it has been
disrespectful and it has been wrong”. I was utterly
shocked to see these offensive, divisive and
humiliating images displayed so prominently at, of all
things, an anti-war rally. I believe that the banners
of October 28th are a continuation of this very
misguided and dangerous pattern.
I urge Stopwar.ca to take a more serious and
principled approach. We must work to build an antiwar
movement in Vancouver and in Canada, that has a clear
message against war and occupation. We must unite all
peace-loving people against the horrors of the era of
war and occupation.
I hope that you are able to take this letter to heart
and consider the points raised as friendly advice for
building a stronger, broader, more effective antiwar
movement.
In Solidarity,
Shannon Bundock
Co-Chair, Mobilization Against War & Occupation
CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION
Stopwar.ca Rally Oct 28 2006
Stopwar.ca Rally Oct 28 2006
Stopwar.ca Rally March 18 2006
Stopwar.ca Rally March 18 2006
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