SPEECH TO PEACE RALLY:
by Tom Hayden &
SPEECH TO PEACE RALLY:
I want to ask Tony Blair a question. In 2003 he visited the US Congress and laid out this vision - "I know it's hard on America, and in some corner of this vast country, out in Nevada or Idaho or these places I've never been to, but always wanted to go...I know out there there's a guy getting on with his life, perfectly happy, minding his own business, saying to you the political leaders of this country, 'Why me? And why us? And why America? And the only answer is that DESTINY put you in this place in history, in this moment in time, and the task is yours to do.' "
DESTINY? I looked into the impact of Iraq on Nevada and Idaho in case Mr. Blair never has the chance to visit. Twenty six citizens of Nevada and Idaho have died so far in Iraq - taking population into account, that is the equivalent of some 400 British fatalities, or four times the current number of one hundred British casualties. The cost of Iraq to Nevada and Idaho taxpayers is $2.3 billion, which would pay for 110,000 four year university scholarships in those two small states.
DESTINY? The destiny of Nevada, Idaho and the rest of my country has been to die for imperial deceptions, for an empire that doesn't care about sending its young soldiers to die for lies.
Fortunately Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush don't represent the people of our two countries. Thanks to your efforts, 57 percent of the British people are calling for withdrawal. So too for a majority of Iraqis, In America, according to the latest polls, a majority supports withdrawal, a majority believes that hurricane relief should be funded by cutting the budget for Iraq, and a majority think President Bush should meet with Cindy Sheehan instead of arresting her outside the White House gates.
What is there to do when majorities are abused and lied to by their own governments? History shows that people power can pull down the pillars of the policies. And what are those pillars?
First, public opinion, already against the war. Second, funding - with costs of $200 billion for hurricane relief and another $100 billion for Iraq, a showdown is mounting over Congressional funding this January. Third, soldiers - our armed forces are in a chronic recruitment crisis, with forty percent of our troops in Iraq from National Guard members who are needed at home. The final pillar is the international alliance which even a superpower needs.
I am here to ask if there can be a "special relationship" between our two movements instead of the secret special relationship between our governments, if there can be a coalition of the Unwilling to replace the coalition of the willing, to pull down the British pillar in Iraq and help force the US to withdraw. Everything you do to challenge the British government also increases the pressure on the American government.
May I also add that the British government demonized, occupied, tortured, shot, interned and waged war against nationalism in the north of Ireland for thirty years, but eventually recognized and accepted in the Good Friday Agreement the national rights of those they had oppressed. They will have no more success in the south of Iraq than the north of Ireland, nor in Basra than in Belfast. They will repeat the myopic policies of the past - Ireland was partioned in the year that Iraq was occupied - until the people of our two countries, and a global coalition for justice, forces them to learn the limits of empire once again. #
|
Tom Hayden is national co-director of No More Sweatshops!, a coalition of labor, clergy, community and campus advocates of "sweat-free" guidelines on public procurement and enforceable labor standards for corporate behavior.
