Campaign GENOA 2001-Greece
“After the massive anti-war mass actions of 2003 by tens of millions of people in hundreds of cities, coordinated by ANSWER, Not in Our Name, United for Peace and International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), Bello belatedly managed to raise the funds for conferences to misrepresent himself and his kind as leaders of the movement against the US war of aggression in Iraq and as defenders of the peoples of Iraq and Palestine.”
It is the first time that I am informed that the 15th of February 2003 was coordinated by the above forces.
– Since I participated in the antiwar assembly in Florence ESF in 2002 where this date was proposed by european antiwar coalitions and finally adopted by the assembly of movements,
– Since, I participated in the antiwar assembly in Porto Allegre 2003, where also this proposal was adopted and where antiwar movements from 90 countries declared that they were organizing the 15th of February,
– SO I cannot remember when ILPS played this historic unique role of global coordination.
Exactly because of lack of manipulation by the old left the new antiwar movements in Europe managed to go beyond the conservatism of the traditional stalinist left. I “understand” the slanderous attacks against Walden Bello since he put himself bravely in support of the new movement. I was also shocked to read lists targeting Bello and connecting him with the “international conspirators” trotskyists-socialdemocrats and co.
It would be more helpfull for the international antiimperialist struggle to make first enemy Bush, Blair and his friends and NOT different parts of the same movement. We stood and we are going to stand shoulder with shoulder with every activist, stalinist, maoist, trotskyist, socialdemocrat, enviromentalist building antiwar movement against imperialism. We need a broad participation in our mass movement and not ideological purity of a small heroic minority.
This does not mean that we do not support every part of the movement against state oppression. But we propose mass collective action. However, the attacks against Walden Bello reminds attacks of the stalinist bureaucrats of the 30’s. Times have changed for everyone!
When, some people attack “conferences organised by Bello” they recognise magic power for this person but also simply do not understand that some meetings like that in Beirut, in Mumbai etc play a central role in the building of the strength of our global antiwar movement against occupation of Iraq. If some people want to be absent is their choice.
But if they think that just by demonising or even demolishing Walden Bello can stop this new movement, they are fooling themselves. They have to dismiss and destroy everyone of us who believes to the power of the new global antiwar movement.
We are many, Walden is just one guy in our global movement, so forget it!
Petros Constantinou, Campaign GENOA 2001-Greece