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Is there anything to be done?

09:29 / 16.04.02

Just read this piece by George Monbiot in the Guardian and, ooooh, I am livid. It is about the way the US administration rides roughshod over international, multilateral organisations - in this case the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The article starts as follows:

On Sunday, the US government will launch an international coup. It has been planned for a month. It will be executed quietly, and most of us won't know what is happening until it's too late. It is seeking to overthrow 60 years of multilateralism in favour of a global regime built on force.

The coup begins with its attempt, in five days' time, to unseat the man in charge of ridding the world of chemical weapons. If it succeeds, this will be the first time that the head of a multilateral agency will have been deposed in this manner. Every other international body will then become vulnerable to attack. The coup will also shut down the peaceful options for dealing with the chemical weapons Iraq may possess, helping to ensure that war then becomes the only means of destroying them.

Monbiot then goes on to talk about US hypocrisy regarding weapons inspections, and how the administration is going against the multilateral support for OPCW by undermining its director in ways which are prohibited... and he also says that the UK govt has supported OPCW and its director so far, and might be able to make a stand against this coup. My gut feeling is that Blair's admin. is too involved with the current US project to undermine it in this fashion - how absurd that Blair's personal convictions should take the UK along with him, despite opposition from the elected representatices of the people.

I really posted this topic becasue I thought people should read the article; but a good question to ask would be, how can 'we' make our voices heard in the current climate? It is obvious that mainstream media and parliamentary channels are not going to be very useful, and that obvious radical activist tactics are likely to backfire in the current climate. Is there anything to be done?

09:49 / 16.04.02

I read the same article. Obviously, as you point out, there is no "legitimate" channel for dissent on this issue. It appears that it will be impossible to get the Blair-Bush Poodle Accord rescinded by parliamentary means.

Unfortunately it's not something that can be challenged by direct action means either. We can't really stage a sit-in in the offices.

The only thing that would get the UK government to challenge the US, on this and other issues, would be massive pressure internally within the party from backbenchers, and also from the media. So I think it's just protest, campaign as usual and support any rebellion by backbenchers. That's not a very useful response, is it? But when direct action is impossible, maybe that's the best way forward.

10:39 / 16.04.02

Kit-Cat, thanks for posting this, though it's appalling news. The rallying cry of the last paragraph is fine -

"This is, then, one of those rare occasions on which our government could make a massive difference to the way the world is run. It could choose to support its closest ally, wrecking multilateralism and shutting down the alternatives to war. Or it could defy the United States in defence of world peace and international law. It will take that principled stand only if we, the people from whom it draws its power, make so much noise that it must listen. We have five days in which to stop the US from bullying its way to war."

- but what can be done in just five days in the face of a juggernaut. It's so depressing.

I'll look out for reports in the Australian papers when I go into the library tomorrow. I hope that Monbiot's last paragraph provokes letters to the editor, further articles in the Guardian and other papers, lobbying of MPs and so on; also that the Blair government *will* pull back from a war against Iraq.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

10:41 / 16.04.02

Fax your MP - link fixed. Christ, what the hell is wrong with my brain at the moment?

18:25 / 16.04.02

I read this article but can you honestly see Blair stopping the US from doing what it wants? Me neither. What really pissed me off is the fact that the US won't give the OPCW inspectors free access to their chemical weapon plants. WTF?!

I've said it before but the human race it still dominated by animal aggression. People just won't/can't accept it. We've just managed to be violent in ever more complex ways. Is it possible to have denial on a global scale?

Sometimes I wish I wasn't human. :/

18:51 / 16.04.02

I can't help but still hope that things will work out for the better.... umm.. don't ask me how.

This probably deserves a new thread, but does opting out count as effective protest? communes and squatters?

I also have the hope that the EU and southern hemisphere will just become too pissed off with the US and start ignoring them, starting their own clubs and agreements.

23:09 / 16.04.02

..I can't even summon up enough energy to be outraged by the US Government's doings anymore ..

18:23 / 17.04.02

Same here.

21:47 / 18.04.02

HOPE!

We're The Great Old Ones Now

07:25 / 19.04.02

Cut n paste job for the UK 'lithers:

Dear [ins name]

RE: Jose Bustani and the Organisation For the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

As you are no doubt aware, on Sunday, there will be a special session of the member states of the OPCW, convened by the United States for the purpose of ejecting Director General Jose Bustani, whose service to date has been not merely adequate but outstanding. In case you are unfamiliar with the situation, George Monbiot's excellent article can be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,685155,00.html.

Mr. Bustani deserves and should receive the full support of the British government. That he should be removed from a post whose primary requisites are probity and even-handedness for displaying these qualities is insupportable.

This government was elected largely in the promise of good faith and good conduct. To allow the removal of Mr. Bustani would be a violation of the single most important aspect of your charter.

Please convey my feelings to the government in the strongest possible terms.

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

[ins name]

Click here and send. Do it today.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

07:30 / 19.04.02

Shit. Apparently, form letters often get binned...so I guess you'll have to remix a bit.

Sorry.

08:07 / 19.04.02

If, you don't know your MP you can find out here: http://www.locata.co.uk/commons/

(Sorry, too much of a rush to work out the html for the link)

We're The Great Old Ones Now

08:13 / 19.04.02

Akcherly, the 'fax your mp' link will tell you from your postal code. Then all you have to do is write the letter and click 'send'.

08:13 / 19.04.02

You can also find out direct from the link Nick's posted, which is cool cos it turns out mine is a nice socialist-ish MP.

08:38 / 19.04.02

Oops. sorry, I didn't look at the link because I know my MP doesn't have enail. I've had to write old-fashionedly to him before. Apologies for doubling up.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

10:15 / 19.04.02

Hah! That's the whole point - it comes as a fax, so that the less techno-literate MPs can play, too.

13:38 / 19.04.02

What is an MP?

13:39 / 19.04.02

Member of Parliament - your local elected representative in government, basically.

12:09 / 23.04.02

Well, it didn't work. Fucking HELL.

It is not hard to see why European nations should seek to appease the United States. If the US can be persuaded to keep supporting global treaties, ministers argue, it will not retreat into dangerous isolationism. But once America sees that other nations will submit to its demands, it will continue to bend the treaties to suit itself until the entire framework of international law collapses. More dangerous by far than US isolationism is the unilateral demolition of the world's agreements, forcing every nation to live by its own rules.

... couldn't agree more. (Read the article - it's worth it. No surprise that the UK rolled over so that the US could tickle its little tummy, eh?)

21:51 / 23.04.02

This was the first thing I saw in the paper at work today. Bloody hell was my reaction too. This is a case of being too frustrated to type coherently..

...goddamn, if the USA is going to keep doing stuff like this (see the Is there anything to be done pt.2 thread in the Lab), how much longer is the UN and similar bodies going to put up with it? grrrrr...

07:54 / 24.04.02

Hey, if you DON'T put up with it, buddy, then you're clearly a terrorist.