On March 5, in the USA and Canada a student strike against the war has been called by several left wing and progressive organisations. This call has had an echo outside of North America, and there are also going to be student strikes in many other countries. For example, the Spanish School Students' Union (Sindicato Estudiantes – SE) has decided to support this day of action and they are trying to turn this into an international day of action. More information can be found on the website of the SE (www.sindicatodeestudiantes.org). Below we are publishing the SE’s latest statement in support of the March 5 action.
The In Defence of Marxism web site totally supports this mobilisation and calls on students around the world to organise strikes, rallies, assemblies for that day and link up with the American students who are taking such a brave stance. More information on the One-Day National Student Strike, March 5, 2003 in the USA can be found at: http://www.nyspc.net/home.html.
We call on our readers to send us reports on what is planned in their countries for March 5, and also to send in further reports after the mobilisation itself.
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Sindicato de Estudiantes Appeal
March 5, international student general strike
After the great success of the international demonstrations of February 15,
the struggle against the imperialist war continues!
Books, not bombs!
The Bush Administration wants the United States to start an absolutely unjust “pre-emptive” war that will serve only to increase the dangers facing the American people and the rest of the world. Meanwhile health care and education, the environment and the economy are being neglected. It’s time for the youth and the students to mobilise and take a stand for their own future!
As students and youth, our future will be shaped by the actions that the Bush administration is taking today. A US attack on Iraq will inevitably lead to the following:
• Endanger the lives of US servicemen and women,
• Increase the suffering of the Iraqi people while slaughtering thousands of
innocent people,
• Encourage terror attacks against the US around the world and at home,
• Be used as an excuse to reduce civil liberties,
• Divert resources from education and social services,
• Overturn historical precedent and international law.
The left-wing student organisations that have signed this manifesto are calling for a Student General Strike in all countries on March 5, to express our opposition to the war that the Bush Administration is preparing against the Iraqi people and whose main objective is control of Iraq’s oil.
With the excuse of Iraq’s possession of “weapons of mass destruction” and the Iraqi government’s supposed links to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network - something that the UN inspectors have not proved yet - imperialism is preparing its war machine to carry out a “scorched-earth” attack on a people that has already been devastated by years of criminal sanctions. This is a classical imperialist war for the control of markets and raw materials, in this case of oil. Iraq has the second biggest known oil reserves after those of Saudi Arabia. The American and international bourgeoisie are very concerned about the world economic crisis, and that is why the US needs to control the Middle East.
The real aims of this war are the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the establishment of a puppet government totally dependent on US imperialism, so that they can control Iraq’s oil without any problems. At the same time, US imperialism by revealing its despotic and oppressive nature wants to show to the entire world that those who defy it will suffer war and destruction.
We are totally opposed to this imperialist war, whether it is carried out by the USA alone or with the support of the UN. Of course, we also understand that Saddam Hussein’s regime is a brutal and oppressive dictatorship that the workers and youth all around the world must also oppose.