Big demonstration Afghan refugees, The Hague
Bactria - 04.10.2002 18:25
There was a big demonstration in The Hague on Friday 4 October, by the Foundation for Peace in Afghanistan and many Afghan and Dutch supporters. They had come to protest plans by the new Rightist Dutch government to return refugees forcibly to Afghanistan, where the war is still very much on and people are unsafe.
Afghaanse vluchtelingen demonstreren, 4 10, Plein, Den Haag. Foto Jan Beentjes
No forced return of refugees to "safe" Afghanistan: big demonstration in The Hague, The Netherlands
There was a big demonstration in the city center of The Hague on Friday 4 October, by the Foundation for Peace in Afghanistan and many Afghan and Dutch supporters. They had come to protest plans by the new Rightist Dutch government to return refugees forcibly to Afghanistan, where the war is still very much on and people are unsafe. The Dutch government sends F-16 warplanes to fight in
Afghanistan, and stops Dutch tourists from going there. Yet, Minister Nawijn claims Afghanistan is "safe" for refugees who fled for their lives from there.
Mr Nawijn says so because of the internal Dutch political situation, not at all because of the Afghan situation. Nawijn himself wants to do something about his reputation as a political turncoat, as he
himself changed political parties to the Rightist anti immigrant Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF) only after the elections when he got a chance to become Minister. Nawijn also tries to take attention away from the chaos his new party is in: members of Parliament beating photographers up; various financial scandals and conflicts, including mutual charges of corruption in real estate and in buying the expensive (over 7 billions Euro) US Joint Strike Fighter warplanes, while the government makes cuts in health and education; three quarters of LPF voters running away from the party in disgust
according to polls; etc. To counter all this, Mr Nawijn tries to whip up sentiments against refugees (somewhat similar mechanisms of xenophobia are at work in other NATO countries).
The demonstrators gathered at the Malieveld, near The Hague Central Station. Pictures of this demonstration are at  http://tinyurl.com/1sez
At the head of the demonstration of over a thousand people was a car with a PA system and a sign: "[Provisional Afghan President] with a [70 men] US bodyguard, Karzai is the safest person in Afghanistan [even though there were attempts on this life, as pointed out during the demonstration]. Afghan refugees do not [even] have such safety."
After the car came 1 and 2 year old children in perambulators pushed by their parents. The others varied from small boys and girls to elderly ladies and gentlemen. Many had signs and banners in English or Dutch: Do not send Afghans to the killing fields. Forced return of Afghan refugees will be a dark spot in history. Do not send refugees
to their death. A sign showed a photograph of US opposition Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, holding up both a cluster bomb and
food "aid" package, both from US war planes, both looking exactly the same bright yellow, attracting curious Afghan children still in
danger now. See http://www.indymedia.nl/2001/11/525.shtml for this picture. An elderly Afghan lady had a hand made sign: "Dutch government, how many suicides by refugees do you think is enough?"
Some motorists let hear their support of the demonstration by honking their horns to the tune of This is just the beginning, let us
continue the struggle (the slogan of the big workers' and students' demonstrations in Paris in 1968). As the demonstrators passed the fences and police lines at the United States embassy, police tried to stop a TV cameraman from filming. Many people in The Hague dislike the disruption which US Embassy "security" demands cause to free
speech and city center traffic. Apart from this small incident, there was no further trouble. All the marchers were peaceful.
The demonstration continued to the Plein, the square in front of Parliament, which quickly filled with people. Both men and women, young or older, addressed the crowd. A young girl spoke, pointing out that the Dutch government by forcibly returning refugee families, violates international treaties on children's rights. Children have
the right to health and education. Forcibly returning them to war torn Afghanistan would deprive them of both. Especially for girls,
forcible return would be very dangerous. Others pointed out that bloodstained Afghan warlords, many of them United States allies, are on the same level as Saddam Hussein. While many Afghans starve, a war criminal like General Dostum has a luxurious palace with swimming pool for himself and US officers built. The situation of women in
Afghanistan is still extremely bad, even with the Taliban gone; the Taliban who started as creatures of the CIA and the British SAS. Even decades earlier, Zbigniew Brezinski of the US Carter administration,
like in his later book The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives, treated Afghan human beings like chessmen on the "chessboard" against, then, the Soviet Union; proclaiming "jihad" which had to do with superpower rivalry, not
Islam. However, a violent chess player only hurts wood; while big power "chess" since the 1970s destroyed the lives of millions of
humans in Afghanistan.
An ex prisoner of the Taliban had a letter distributed at the demonstration, from which we quote some parts: "To the Dutch people.
I am an Afghan citizen and refugee in The Netherlands. ... [Sometimes the Dutch government says I am under this procedure, sometimes under that procedure ] ... I have a family with three children. My wife and
children came here three years ago and have official refugee status.
My children are at school and doing well. However, I am ill. In [prison in] Afghanistan, the Taliban destroyed my hip.
Five years ago, I had an operation in Afghanistan. My thigh bone was reinforced with a piece of steel and screws. The doctors then said that I would have to have another operation after two years to take
away the metal, and then I would be able to walk normally again.
However, I still did not have that operation.... Every day, the pain
gets worse.
When I came to The Netherlands, doctors investigated me and made x ray photographs. They said the operation would not be a problem as my wife already has refugee status here. Within a short time, I would be
able to walk well again. However, now they say they can't help me as I don't have official refugee status. This really upsets me, I have a lot of pain, walking goes very badly.
And now, there is the news that the Dutch government plans to return all Afghan refugees without official status. ... Can the Dutch government also say, please, where there is peace in Afghanistan, not
war? The war did not stop, it has only just begun. ... Also, all of the 31 provinces of Afghanistan each have their own laws, their own president, their own army. Not one of these provinces obeys the central government. Everyone knows this, including the United Nations. They also know today 2 million Afghans are hungry. If these
people will not get help before winter, they will starve to death.
In central Afghanistan today, people eat grass, live in dark mountain caves, drink polluted water from canals, and have no medical care. So I think the Dutch government's decision violates human rights. All of us sold their land or house in Afghanistan [when we fled] ...
I think we are equal to all other people and so, we should not be treated unequally. All people should be able to live in peace. I
oppose war. All people should live in friendship with one another. My
final sentence is: long live international friendship.
N.N. (I have to keep my name a secret for safety reasons)."
Mr M.Z .Malikbaba of the organizing committee said at the end of the
demonstration that many Afghans would come to the big demonstration against George W. Bush's plans for war against Iraq, on Saturday 26 October, in Rotterdam.. Unfortunately, he said, they had been unable
so far to help prepare that demonstration as they had been busy preparing the 4 October The Hague refugees'demonstration.
On Saturday 26 October, the place of that demonstration is: city hall, Coolsingel, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. People will gather at 1 p.m.; the demonstration will start at 2 p.m. The two main slogans
are: No war against Iraq; and: Not one man, not one woman, not one cent for the New War.
Saturday 26 October is an international day of action for the peace movement. Then, there will also be big demonstrations elsewhere, like in Washington, DC in the US (see http://www.internationalanswer.org )
26 October is the first birthday of the infamous so called "Patriot Act" of the Bush administration in the VS. That act, under the pretext of "war against terrorism", gravely attacks civil rights, both in general and especially of (real or perceived) Muslims or Arabs. Also in Rotterdam, the struggle for peace will be linked to the struggle for civil rights, especially in The Netherlands, and for
refugees.. There is also co-operation with the Dutch national platform against the "New War"; see http://www.wereldcrisis.nl
The Rotterdam organizing committee of the demonstration can be reached at phone [in The Netherlands] (0)10-4620852 or
 wew@kabelfoon.nl
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