AUT: Resistance to the 1991 Gulf Massacre

[Antagonism <mrnobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following is a leaflet produced by a comrade in response to the
current build up to war in the Gulf. Its available on line at:

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill//Lobby/3909/gulf.html

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Do you remember the first time?
Resistance to the 1991 Gulf Massacre


 I can't remember a worse time.... On 16 January 1991, the United
States, with support from Britain and the other Coalition powers,
launched a  massive military attack on Iraq. The so-called "Gulf War"
was in actual fact a one sided slaughter. By  the time it officially
finished on 28 February 1991, an estimated quarter of a million people
had been killed, most of them Iraqi civilians and conscripts.

For most people in the West, the war was just a TV spectacle. As some
graffiti in Sheffield put it "Hi-Tec War kills and maims, but the media
gives us video games". The depressing  lack of a movement able to
seriously confront, let alone stop the massacre has to be acknowledged.

The limited anti-war movement that did emerge failed to sustain itself.
With a few exceptions, most of those active in it  implicitly accepted
the spectacle?s definition of the war. Once the bombs stopped falling
and CNN stopped broadcasting from Baghdad, the war was declared to be
over. Troops returned home, and radicals moved on to the next campaign.
But the war was far from over.

The imposition of UN sanctions, backed up by the threat of military
force, has killed more people than Operation
 Desert Storm. Much of the bombed out civilian infrastructure remains
unrepaired as sanctions block the equipment necessary to repair it.
Water-borne diseases are endemic, malnutrition common, and medical
treatments scarce, many of them subject to sanctions. In 1996, aid
agencies reported that one third of children suffered from stunted
growth or impaired intelligence due to lack of protein. Truly as Brecht
put it "their peace finishes off what their war has left over."

Despite the failures of the anti-war movement, we cannot allow it to be
erased from history, especially now that airborne slaughter is back on
the agenda and a new movement is needed. Across the world, millions of
people took part in demonstrations, strikes, sabotage, desertion and
other acts of resistance.  This is not a comprehensive list of all
opposition last time around. It doesn't include the massive movement of
resistance in Iraq itself, which needs its own pamphlet. Nor does it
include any critical analysis of the politics of the different movements
opposing the war.

The aim here is simply to give a flavour of the range of different
tactics that were used in order to inform attempts at resistance to Bill
and Tony's new military adventure in the Gulf.

Strikes


In several countries workers went on strike against the war, or  against
attacks on their working conditions resulting from the war.

In Bangladesh there was a one day general strike in September 1990
protesting aga-inst the despatch of Bangladeshi troops to the Gulf. At
least 50 people were injured when police used steel- tipped batons
again-st demonstrators. In Pakistan there was a general strike  in
February again-st the US bombing of Iraq. Palestinians in the city of
Jeri-cho held a three day strike in mourning for the 300 killed in the
US attack on the Baghdad bomb shelter. Militants went to the main square
to call throu-gh megaphones for action, risking being shot for break-ing
an Israeli-imposed curfew.

In the first week of the war, more than 2 million Spanish workers
stopped work for two hours demanding an end to the war and the recall of
three Span-ish warships. In Germany draft resisters forced to work as
hospital orderlies went on strike for three days in opposition to the
war, and in Italy, 100,000 workers and 30,000 students stopped work on
22 February.

Students took action in many places. In Turkey, 70% of universities were
hit by anti-war boycotts in November 1990. At a school in suburban
Berkley (near Detroit), 30 high school students were suspended after
staging a sit-in.  On 22 January  there was an anti-war strike at School
of Oriental and African Studies, London. Students there organised
ag-ainst intimidatory security measures and racism against Arab
students. One Egyp-tian student told of how "On the tube a guy look-ed
at me and said 'Iraqi bastard'. And you get 'blo-ody Arab'"

Dockers and seafarers were often at the forefront of action, perhaps not
surprisingly given the key role of ships in moving troops and supplies
to the Gulf. The departure of French ground forces for Saudi Arabia was
delayed when seafarers on a car-ferry requisitioned to carry troops
demanded danger money before agreeing to sail. The ferry left Corsica
after this dispute was resolved, but it was held up for another 12 hours
on 21 September on the dockside at Toulon, by workers opposed to the
war. In February, dock-ers in Marseilles refused to load containers full
of military materials destined for the Gulf.

In Japan, the shipment of supplies to US troops was delayed when
seafarers refused to leave port without an additional 30% on base
salaries to compensate for the military nature of the voyage. Spanish
seafarers s-topped a passenger ship from sailing to pick up French
troops and take them to the Gulf; they refused to let it sail unless its
crew had volunteered and were getting increased wages for sailing into a
danger zone. The Spanish government had chartered the ship as part of
its support for the war.

Even where strike action was not explicitly against the war, it often
threatened the war effort. Early in August 4000 Turkish maintenance
workers on US- run bases, including 1600 at Inchirlik, the main US air
base, went on strike over pay. This threatened to hamper any plans for
an air strike against Iraq- a military source stated "It is difficult to
see how any major operation could be launched in current circumstances".
The strikers were ordered back to work by the government who declared
that the strike was "harmful to national security".

In December a strike wave spread thro-ugh Turkey, starting with 50,000
miners in Zonguldak. Along with wives and supporters they set off in
January to march on the capital Ankara demanding a 600%  wage rise. 200
were arrested when riot police stopped the march. In Bursa, 30,-000 in
different industries went on strike, and 105,000 engineers went on
strike from 26 December. 10,-000 workers in the paper industry came out
on strike in January. The strike wave even spread to east London where
200 Turkish and Kurdish workers went on strike in support of  an illegal
one day general strike at home. 55 people were arrested in clashes with
the Metropolitan Police. The Turkish government responded with a
two-month ban on strik-es, imposed on the grounds of the war effort.
Despite this ban there were anti-war stoppages and go-slows.

September also saw a virtual general strike in Greece, lasting three
weeks, over plans to abolish public sector pensions- strikers were
threatened with being drafted into the army. The country's only weapons
factory was occupied by nearly 3000 armaments workers.  In December 1990
almost every Greek college and 2500 high schools were occupied by
students. They were opposing cuts, tighter discipline and
re-organisation of exams and entry requirements, but anti-war sentiments
were also expressed.  On marches slogans such as "Money for books not
warships" and "send the education minister to the Gulf" were shouted.

There were also strikes against austerity measures related to the Gulf
crisis. In January there was a general strike in Bolivia against a 33%
petrol price increase.

In Britain there was no strike action, but there was some workplace
anti-war act-ivity. 120 attended a London-wide meeting of Health Workers
against the War and anti-war groups were set up in at least six London
hospitals. At the London Hospital in Whitechapel and North Manchester
Hospital there were small  demonstrations linking the war to cuts in the
NHS.

At Great Ormond Street childrens hospital in London, wards were closed
because fewer private patients were coming from the middle east (the
hospital relies on private sector income to help finance free health
care on the site). On 10 October hospital workers staged their second
demonstration against the cuts, demanding that the government provide
funds to prevent them. A leaflet put out by G.O.S. Health workers Group
says: "This war must end. It threatens the lives of millions in the
middle east and it is now endangering our health and our jobs".

Anti-war groups were also set up am-ongst media workers, civil servants
and British Telecom workers.


On the streets


Across the world, millions of people took to the streets to protest
against the war.

On the weekend before war broke out 100,000 marched against war in
London, 15,000 in Manchester, 10,000 in Glasgow, 3,000 in Bristol. There
were also protests in many smaller towns.

On the same weekend a quarter of a million march-ed in 120 German
cities.  Well over 200,000 marched in 150 towns and cities across
France. 100,00 marched in Rome, 40,000 in Bruss-els and 60,000 in
Istanbul. More than 75,000 attended rallies in Madrid and Barcelona,
which ended in clashes with police. There were demos in Swit-zerland,
Norway, Sweden, in over 30 cities and towns in Canada, and all across
the USA.

Thing hotted up as the threat of war became reality on 16 January.
100,000 marched in San Francisco; in the same city 1000 people were
arrested in a single day of protests. In Wash-ington, 250,-000 march-ed.
Bank windows were brick-ed and a fence torn down outside the FBI
building. In Los Angeles, blood and oil was poured on the steps of a
federal building.

In Germany roads and railway lines were blocked and department stores
set on fire. In Berlin petrol bombs were thrown in clashes outside the
US diplomatic mission. Education came to a virtual standstill as
teachers and pupils joined demos.

In Paris police were stoned, shop windows smashed, rubbish bins set on
fire after a demo. In Amsterdam, street fires were started outside the
US consulate.
There were large protests in Australia, where the government  sent two
frigates and a supply ship to the Gulf. 30,000 marched in Sydney,
including Vietnam veterans.  15,000 marched in Tokyo.

400,000 took part in a march in Algiers, where youths stormed the UN
headquarters, ripping down the flag and burning it. There was a massive
demonstration in the city of Kassala in Sudan, while in Morocco 300,000
were on the streets of Rabat to oppose the war. As well as sending
troops to support the Coalition, the Moroccan government used the army
against the working class at home. Troo-ps killed at least 100 people
during riots in December  following a one-day general strike for higher
wages  after subsidies on basic foodstuffs were cut on the orders of the
IMF.

In some countries just the act of taking to the streets was dangerous.
In Turkey, police opened fire on anti-war demonstrators and Birtan
Altumbas died under torture after being arrested on a demo at Ankara
University.  Six people were seriously injured when  police open fire on
demonstrators in Batman, 65 miles from the Iraqi border. The town is
near a US airbase from where bombing raids against Iraq were launched.

Police banned anti-war demonstrations outside embassies in New Delhi,
claiming protests could strain India's ties with countries involved in
the war. Police shot dead three protestors in Pakistan. On 6 February,
500 police smashed a 50 strong anti-war demonstration in Egypt. Four
days later riot police swamped Cairo after rumours of another march.


Blockade
the bases


In Germany there were frequent attempts to block military depots and
barracks. At the end of November US military transport was held up for
four hours by a blockade of Mannheim harbour in southern Germany. In
January, 10,000 blocked the entrance to the US Rhine-Main Air Base
outside Frankfurt. Hundreds held up an army train in the alpine city of
Chambery. Military vehicles were set on fire at the armed forc-es
barracks in Haan, near Hild-en.

In Holland, before the war started, protestors were active against the
transport of US arms through the country en route to the Gulf. Many
groups joined to try and block the movement by trains, lorries and
boats, with people getting arrested for sitting in front of trains.
Incendiary devices were used to sabotage railways.

In Turkey there were bomb attacks on a NATO office, a US Army building
and the American Consulate.

In Italy there were attempts to blockade Malpanese airport near Milan to
prevent it being used to refuel US B52s. Months after the war officially
finished, there were bomb attacks on the homes of two Italian air force
pilots proclaimed as national heros for their part in the slaugh-ter.

Army recruiting offices were picketed. In January 1000 high school
pupils demonstrated outside a military recruiting office on Broadway. 19
were arrested. one 11-year old said: "I'm angry. My uncle's probably
going to die... Who care's about oil?" In Detroit,  riot police broke up
a demonstration outside the Military Entrance Processing Station.
Leicester Direct Act-ion Movement picketed their local army recruitment
office, and the office in Brighton was also blockaded. A combined forces
recruiting office in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, was damaged in an arson
attack.

There were demonstrations outside several naval bases in the US and
outside West-over USAF base, MA.  At the send off for the one Greek
warship being sent to the Gulf, relatives of Greek citizens in Iraq and
Kuwait staged their own demonstration to voice their opposition. In
England there was a demo at USAF base at Alcon-bury. The police limited
the number of demonstrators to 60 for "security" reasons. 1500
demonstrated at Fairford in Gloucester-shire, from where B-52s made
flying bombing raids.

In September 1990 a group called Gulf War Resisters staged a protest at
the Farn-borough Air Show, the UK's main annual public display of
military aircraft and weapons systems. Slogans were painted on a British
Aerospace Tornado jet, and two people climbed on top of the jet with a
"No War in the Gulf" banner.


Stop business
as usual


The BP refinery in Marcus Hook, Penn-sylvania was picketed, as was the
Chevron Oil HQ in San Francisco (28/8/90). No War but Class War picketed
the London headquarters of the oil company BP. Their leaflet we declared
"We won't die for oil profits- Class War not Oil War", and supported
strikers on the North Sea oil rigs as well as opposing war in the
oilfields of the middle east.

Financial interests were also targeted. In October 1990, 350 took part
in demo in San Francisco's financial district. Called to protest against
the "destruction of the plan-et and its people by the corporate and
financial cartels" it focused on corporate links with the Gulf War. The
world headquarters of Chevron Oil were blockaded, and a US and Chevron
flag burned. Traffic was blocked in Market Street (San Francisco's main
street).

On 21 January anti-war protestors block-aded the entrance to the
Frank-furt Stock Exchange and pelt-ed the dealers with eggs and paint
bombs. In August a live TV show was disrupted with a banner reading
"There's always German money in weapons when there's any slaugh-ter in
the world".

A spontaneous demo  in San Francisco blocked the golden Gate bridge.
Police cars were set on fire and a TV station disrupted. In Chicago
roads were block-ed for four hours. In London 31 were arrested in
sit-down protest blocking traffic near Parliament.

AIDS direct action group ACT UP stag-ed a "Day of Desperation" in New
York on January 23. Protestors forced the CBS national evening news off
the air when they invaded the set shouting "Fight AIDS, not Arabs". 500
activists  shut down Grand Central Station for an hour during the
evening rush hour, float-ing a large banner reading "Money for AIDS not
war" to the ceiling with helium-filled balloons.


Resistance in
the military


The most effective action against war is of course the refusal by
soldiers to fight. The Iraqi war effort was destroyed by the mass
desertions of soldiers, and it was this that caused the war to come to
an end so quick-ly.

Unfortunately in the Coalition forces there was no mass resistance of
this kind, but there was significant opposition to the war. By the end
of November over 50 US service people or  reservists had declared their
refusal to go. In New York, the War Resisters League had received more
than 400 phone calls from soldiers, including 12 members of one company
of 150 Marine reservists. Paul Dotson, a US Marine Corps reservist
stated: "I emphatically refuse to kill for oil in the Persian Gulf".

The US army issued new regulations preventing soldiers from filing for
conscientious objector status until they were in Saudi Arabia. Some
soldiers tried other ways of avoiding the front: there were reports of
300 cases of self-mutilation among US troops in Germany who didn't want
to go to the Gulf.

US Marine Jeff Patterson sat down on the runway in Hawaii and refused to
board the plane due to take him to the Gulf saying that he refused to
fight for "American profits and cheap oil".

In the UK, 410 compulsory call-out notices were issued to reservists
(mostly medical personnel), but only 314 tur-ned up as ordered on 5
January. At least 25 reservists publicly refused to serve in the war.
These included Tim Brassil an ex-army nurse who went into hiding. He
said: "as a nurse, I am dis-gusted that massive funding has become
immediately available to fight a war when for years we have seen the
National Health Service starved of funding". Another reservist  and
Falklands veteran de-clared: ""There's no way I'll fight to fill their
petrol tankers".

Also in the UK Lance Bombadier Vic Williams deserted from his regiment
and spent the war on the run, turning up at anti-war rallies to denounce
the war for oil.

Terry Jones, an Australian sailor, was put on trial for going absent
without leave from HMAS Ade-laide- a warship destined for the Gulf. He
said that he was not prepared to die "to protect US oil lines".

As with every other aspect of the war, resistance in the military was
censored. The father of a British RAF pilot noted: "They interviewed our
lad for the telly out there. He said it was all for a bit of oil and it
wasn't really right. They spoke to his mate after that, and his mate was
a bit more proper. He said they were there to do a job of work and would
get on with it the best they could. It was his mate they eventually
broadcast".

The families of military personnel also spoke out against the war.
Relatives of US servicemen and women set up the anti-war Military
Families Support Network. The parent of one Marine wrote "now you have
ordered my son to the Middle East. For what? Cheap gas?". In the UK,
the mother of a 19-year old soldier wrote in a letter to a national
paper: "My son is very precious to me and I do not want to see him risk
his life for oil".


 Repression


The war was used as an opportu-nity to step up repression across the
world. A bogus 'anti-terrorist campaign' saw 62,000 troops and police
deployed in Italy. In France, 200,000 troops were deployed and police
leave was cancelled.

In the United States Cheryl Lessin, of Cleve-land, Ohio, was jailed for
a year for setting alight to the US flag.

35 Iraqi servicemen who were stu-dents in Britain were held as POWs at
Rolle-stone military prison camp on Salisbury Plain. 53 Arab detain-ees
were put in jail, and a further 78 were been deported since Aug-ust.
These included anti-Sadd-am Arabs. For instance Abbas Shiblak, a
Pales-tinian who had publicly criti-cised Sadd-am as a member of the
Arab Org-anisation for Human Rig-hts, was held for several weeks before
being released after a well-publicised campaign in his support.

In February there were 11 arrests outside Home Office in London at
protest in support against the war and in particular the detention of
Arab nationals.


And finally...


A special mention to whoever pro-voked the following patriotic letter to
the Sun:

"Your Page One flag will stay in my window until Our Boys come home in
glory- even though someone smashed my window"  (the Sun had put out a
cut out and display Union Jack).



published by Practical History c/o 121 R-ailton Road, London SE24
(February 1998).

1998: just do it!

--

web:  http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill//Lobby/3909/
email:  mrnobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
post:  BM Makhno, London WC1N 3XX, UK




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