The horror of war is building a huge antiwar movement. That movement will get bigger as the full facts about Iraqi civilian casualties become known and the land war starts.
But the anti-war movement must develop a strategy beyond the demonstrations to maximise its effectiveness.
The movement must be open and democratic. A conference, aimed especially at the labour movement, is needed to pull the movement The relatively small and to build frequent demonstrations which occurred at the start of the war must be replaced by less frequent and bigger mobilisations. The experience of the US and British anti-Vietnam Wa1 movements must be utilised. They built coalitions around particular mobilisations, well prepared and mobilised for. movement cannot afford to Going into the labour let it drop; racism and the atmovement is a crucial aspect tack on civil liberties is being of this fight (see p.3). This used to stoke up war fever. issue is a golden opportunity Finally, as the US, opposicollege tion to the war is disproporworkplace Groups. It is this tionately high among women kind of grass-roots organis- and black people. ing which will pay dividends against War in the Gulf is on the mass demonstrations. providing a focus for orIn recent days news and ganising among women. The information about the arrests. anti-war movement nationalinternments and deportations 1y and locally has to make a of people from the Middle particular effort to involve East has disappeared from black and immigrant orthe media. The anti-war ganisations.
Socialist Outlook February 2 1991 Page 2 Among the tens of thousands who have taken to the streets to oppose this war, many have championed a simple argument: sanctions should have been given more time to work, war is not the answer.
This argument simply disputes the methods used by the Uniied States and its allies, not the objectives. Implicitly it accepts the political framework argues by the anti-Iraq alliance: a crime has been committed by Iraq, and the international community' must right this wrong.
However well-intentioned, this way of looking at the crisis plays directly into the hands of Bush and Major. The argument becomes purely about means, and whether sanctions could have worked. In effect it de-politicises the debate: it ignores the real political context, and what the warring forces want to achieve.
As Oliver MacDonald demonstrates in the article opposite, the US is trying to do much more than 'liberate' Kuwait. It is trying to destroy the power of the Ba'athist regime in Iraq which is sees as a threat to its position in both the Middle East and globally. The battle to restore the Emir in Kuwait is a useful justification of this aim.
Tyranny
But, surely, the Iraqi regime is a tyranny? If the occupation of Kuwait is allowed to continue, the people of that country will be under Saddam's yoke? What answer do socialists have to that? - maybe not so bloody as Iraq, but none-