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18/1 Leiden: herdenk Ds King; vrede voor Irak
nowar - 13.01.2003 13:12
Op zaterdag 18 januari, om 14 u., op het Stadhuisplein te Leiden, zal een herdenking zijn van Ds Martin Luther King; en van de slachtoffers van de Golfoorlog van januari 1991; met een demonstratie voor vrede (denk aan de dreigende oorlog tegen Irak), burgerrechten, en anti-racisme
Martin Luther King spreekt bij de Mars op Washington
Persbericht
Martin Luther King en Golfoorlog in Leiden herdacht met vredesdemonstratie op zaterdag 18 januari
Dr. Martin Luther King streed tegen onderdrukking van zwarte inwoners van de Verenigde Staten, en tegen oorlog in Vietnam. Hij steunde stakingen van arbeiders tegen slechte omstandigheden. Honderdduizenden demonstranten luisterden naar zijn toespraak “I have a dream.” Ook in Nederland en veel andere landen klonk het lied uit zijn beweging “We shall overcome.” In 1968 werd hij door een racist vermoord. De beste manier om hem te herdenken is, als wij zijn strijd voor vrede, burgerrechten, en anti-racisme nu voortzetten.
Op zaterdag 18 januari, om 14 u., op het Stadhuisplein te Leiden, zal een herdenking zijn van Ds Martin Luther King; en van de slachtoffers van de Golfoorlog van januari 1991; met een demonstratie voor vrede, burgerrechten, en anti-racisme; waar King al voor opkwam; en wat nu nog steeds nodig is.
De demonstratie zal wegens de huidige oorlogsdreiging, speciale aandacht besteden aan de eis: Stop de oorlog tegen Irak.
Diverse sprekers zullen het woord voeren: o.a. Lineke Schakenbos. Zij, lid van Vrouwen voor Vrede, was met een vredesdelegatie zelf in Irak, om de omstandigheden van de gewone burgers daar te leren kennen.
Ook zal er dan telefonisch contact zijn met degenen, die dan op het zelfde tijdstip aktie voeren met een burgerinspectie op volgens internationaal recht verboden atoomwapens, bij de militaire vliegbasis Volkel. Hier liggen VS kernwapens; al weigert de Nederlandse regering de aanwezigheid van die masavernietigingswapens toe te geven.
Route van de demonstratie: Stadhuisplein-Gangetje-Breestraat-verzetsmonument bij Molen de Valk..
18 januari is een wereldwijde dag van herdenkingen van Martin Luther King en van vredesakties. Zie site:  http://www.kingraleigh.org/natlevent/body.cf
In o.a. de hoofdstad van de VS, Washington, zal die dag, zoals ten tijde van Ds King, een demonstratie van honderdduizenden zijn. Zie http://www.internationalanswer.org
Oorlog om olie
De Volkskrant, 7 januari, j.l., meldde: "sommige Britse ministers en andere hoge functionarissen [hebben] privé gezegd dat olie in de afwegingen omtrent het [Irak]conflict belangrijker is dan massavernietigingswapens. Zij wijzen daarbij op de instabiliteit van de huidige energiebronnen in het Midden-Oosten, de Kaspische regio [ten Noordwesten van Afghanistan] en Algerije, en op de noodzaak van veilige alternatieven. Irak heeft de een na grootste hoeveelheid oliereserves ter wereld. Een van hen zei dat 'dit moet worden aangepakt, ook al was Saddam een knuffel'."
Stop Nederlandse steun aan de oorlog voor olie en macht
Ook Nederlandse soldaten worden door de regering naar oorlogstonelen als Afghanistan en de Golf gestuurd. Die regering en grote bedrijven gebruiken oorlog voor aantasting van privacy en burgerrechten, voor massa ontslagen, en voor wat verder rijken rijker, en armen armer maakt. Men kweekt haat tegen moslims en anderen. Hier moeten wij nee tegen zeggen.
Als de VS plus bondgenoten Irak aanvallen, zal de vredesbeweging in Nederland en de hele wereld reageren. Op de dag van de aanval [of de volgende, als de aanval 's avonds is] komt er een burgerbijeenkomst en demonstratie op het Stadhuisplein, Leiden, 19 u. En een grote landelijke demonstratie in Amsterdam, het weekend van ongeveer 10 dagen na het begin van de aanval.
De demonstratie in Leiden op 18 januari is mede een voorbereiding op de grote landelijke demonstratie: Stop de oorlog tegen Irak. Deze is op zaterdag 15 februari, 13 u., Dam, Amsterdam. Organisatie: landelijk Platform tegen de “nieuwe oorlog”, zie http://www.wereldcrisis.nl Die demonstratie in Amsterdam is in het kader van de wereldwijde vredesaktiedag in alle Europese landen, in Afrikaanse en Aziatische landen, Brazilië, New York, en veel andere plaatsen. Oorspronkelijk werd voor deze aktiedag opgeroepen op het Europees Sociaal Forum te Florence, november j.l., waar een miljoen mensen voor vrede voor de bevolking van Irak demonstreerden.
De demonstratie in Leiden is georganiseerd door het Anti Oorlogs Comité Leiden, samen met de Marokkaanse Unie Moultaqa.
Anti Oorlogs Comité Leiden
E mail:  aocleiden@zonnet.nl
Tel: 06 444 60 264
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| Read more about: Agenda | | supplements | | | geen | henk - 14.01.2003 12:54
By Sarah H. Wright
News Office
Veteran journalist Helen Thomas brought the grit and whir of a White House press conference to Bartos Theater on Monday evening, speaking with passion about the media's role in a democracy whose leaders seem eager for war.
Actually, the 82-year-old former United Press International reporter didn't just speak: she surged into her topic, giving everyone present an immediate sense of the grumpy wit and fierce precision that gave her reporting on American presidents Kennedy through Bush II such a
competitive and lasting edge.
"I censored myself for 50 years when I was a reporter," said Thomas, who is now a columnist for Hearst News Service. "Now I wake up and ask myself, 'Who do I hate today?'" Her short list of answers seems not to vary from war, President Bush, timid office-holders, a muffled
press and cowed citizens, pretty much in that order.
Angered by what she views as the Bush administration's "bullying drumbeat," Thomas referred early and often to her own hatred of war, quoting from poets and politicians to bear down on President Bush and his colleagues.
Winston Churchill, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Louis Brandeis, George Santayana, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr. all made appearances in Thomas' sweeping portrayal of what she
sees as the administration's betrayal of both the character and will of the American people and the principles of democracy.
"I have never covered a president who actually wanted to go to war. Bush's policy of pre-emptive war is immoral - such a policy would legitimize Pearl Harbor. It's as if they learned none of the lessons from Vietnam," she said to enthusiastic applause.
Thomas ignored the clapping just as she once ignored the camera flashes and shouting matches of the Washington press corps.
"Where is the outrage?" she demanded. "Where is Congress? They're supine! Bush has held only six press conferences, the only forum in our society where a president can be questioned. I'm on the phone to
[press secretary] Ari Fleischer every day, asking will he ever hold another one? The international world is wondering what happened to America's great heart and soul."
Like any star, Thomas, who resigned from UPI in 2000, appreciated her audience's thirst to get the insider's view of our national leaders, and she gave generously, in snapshots, though the Reagan and both Bush regimes were cast in darker hues.
"Great presidents have great goals for mankind. During my years of covering the White House, Kennedy was the most inspired; Johnson rammed through voting rights and public housing; Nixon will be remembered for his trip to China and for his resignation; Ford for helping us recover from Nixon; and Carter for making human rights the
centerpiece of foreign policy," Thomas said in an even, respectful tone. She just sighed over Clinton, who "tarnished the Oval Office."
Thomas' mood became visibly more somber at the mention of Ronald Reagan's military buildup and at the name Bush. Again and again, Thomas warned the MIT audience, "It's bombs away for Iraq and on our civil liberties if Bush and his cronies get their way. Dissent is
patriotic!"
After her talk, Thomas participated in a panel discussion with MacVicar Faculty Fellows David Thorburn, professor of literature, and Charles Stewart III, professor of political science. Philip S. Khoury, dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, introduced the speakers.
"Helen Thomas offered a very powerful indictment of the current behavior of the Bush presidency in her comments on the incoherence and inconsistency of Bush's policies and the danger to civil liberties of Bush's rhetoric," said Thorburn.
He compared the lack of public awareness of an antiwar movement in 1965 and 1966 with the wide public debate about Iraq going on today. "An aroused citizenry can instruct the government," he said.
Stewart also focused on the current public debate about Iraq, declaring that it may be a "hopeful sign. The polls say Americans don't want to talk about Iraq - they want to talk about the economy, about education. But the press has continued to point out the important thing. Everyone knows there's been a dance between the President and Congress over Iraq."
Thomas didn't let the press off the hook, though. "Everybody learned the lessons of Vietnam, including the Pentagon. In Vietnam, correspondents could go anywhere - just hop on a helicopter and report on the war. Now we don't have that access. It's total secrecy. The media overlords should be complaining about this. I do not
absolve the press. We've rolled over and played dead, too," she said.
Asked to advise young journalists, Thomas pounced. "Remind the politicians you interview that you pay them, that they are public servants. Remember every question is legitimate. And don't give up. There's always a leak. There's always someone who's trying to save the country," she said.
The talk was sponsored by the MIT Communications Forum.
Subject: White House Press Briefing report - extract
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/200301061.html#2
January 6, 2003
12:35 P.M. EST
MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon and happy New Year to everybody. The President began his day with an intelligence briefing, followed by an FBI briefing. Then he had a series of policy briefings. And this afternoon, the President will look forward to a Cabinet meeting where the President will discuss with members of his Cabinet his agenda for the year. The President is going to focus on economic growth, making America a more compassionate country, and providing for the security of our nation abroad and on the homefront.
And with that, I'm more than happy to take your questions. Helen.
Q At the earlier briefing, Ari, you said that the President deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all innocent lives in the world? And I have a follow-up.
MR. FLEISCHER: I refer specifically to a horrible terrorist attack on Tel Aviv that killed scores and wounded hundreds. And the President, as he said
in his statement yesterday, deplores in the strongest terms the taking of those lives and the wounding of those people, innocents in Israel.
Q My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?
MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, the question is how to protect Americans, and our allies and friends --
Q They're not attacking you.
MR. FLEISCHER: -- from a country --
Q Have they laid the glove on you or on the United States, the Iraqis, in 11 years?
MR. FLEISCHER: I guess you have forgotten about the Americans who were killed in the first Gulf War as a result of Saddam Hussein's aggression then.
Q Is this revenge, 11 years of revenge?
MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, I think you know very well that the President's position is that he wants to avert war, and that the President has asked the United Nations to go into Iraq to help with the purpose of averting war.
Q Would the President attack innocent Iraqi lives?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President wants to make certain that he can defend our country, defend our interests, defend the region, and make certain that American lives are not lost.
Q And he thinks they are a threat to us?
MR. FLEISCHER: There is no question that the President thinks that Iraq is a threat to the United States.
Q The Iraqi people?
MR. FLEISCHER: The Iraqi people are represented by their government. If there was regime change, the Iraqi --
Q So they will be vulnerable?
MR. FLEISCHER: Actually, the President has made it very clear that he has not dispute with the people of Iraq. That's why the American policy remains a policy of regime change. There is no question the people of Iraq --
Q That's a decision for them to make, isn't it? It's their country.
MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, if you think that the people of Iraq are in a position to dictate who their dictator is, I don't think that has been what history has shown.
Q I think many countries don't have -- people don't have the decision --including us.
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