A Call for International Demonstrations on 15-22 March, 2008

Over 1,200 delegates from the anti war movement across the globe came to London for the World Against War International Peace Conference in London.

Delegates from 26 countries addressed the conference, reported on developments in their regions and discussed strategy for the movement.  The conference issued a declaration which is included below.  There was unanimous agreement to organise demonstrations for Troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and against an attack on Iran in every country around the fifth anniversary of the attack on Iraq between 15 and 22 March.

Delgates attended from Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Egypt, Iceland, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Somalia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.

Check out the videos of the speeches delivered at the World Against War conference (London, 1 December 2007) on the Web site of the Stop the War coalition. Here are some of the videos:

Karamat Ali, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education

Abbas Edalat, Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

Sabah Jawad, Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation

Marzieh Mortazi Langroudi, Mothers for Peace, Iran

Ibrahim Mousawi, Editor, Al Intiqad (Hezbollah's newspaper)

Mohammad Omidvar, Tudeh

Elaleh Rostami Povey, Campaign Iran

Sami Ramadani, a political exile from Iraq and a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University

Hamdeen Sabahy, MP, Al-Karama (Dignity), Egypt

Declaration of World Against War Conference

This conference of delegates from peace, anti-war, anti-imperialist and liberation movements across the world declares its opposition to the "endless war" prosecuted by the US government against states, peoples and movements in all parts of our planet.

We oppose the interference of the US and its allies in sovereign states, and assert the right of all peoples to self-determination.  We support all people fighting for peace and against imperialism.

In particular, we demand:

• An immediate end to the illegal military occupation of Iraq, which has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and displaced millions of people, a withdrawal of all foreign troops and the full transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people and their representatives.
• A halt to all preparations for an attack against Iran, and a commitment to solve any issues through exclusively diplomatic means.
• A withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, allowing the Afghan people to determine their own future.
• Justice for the Palestinian people, and an end to Israeli aggression throughout the Middle East.
• An end to plans for US missile defence, and that all states actively pursue nuclear disarmament.

We affirm the solidarity of all those fighting for peace, social justice and self-determination worldwide, and commit ourselves to strengthening our unity and developing new forms of co-operation.

We therefore designate the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq as a worldwide day of action in support of the demands NO ATTACK on IRAN and TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ/AFGHANISTAN and call on all national anti-war movements to hold mass protests and demonstrations on that day.