Resolution approved by the intl gathering in Rome Oct 2, 2005
The following is the document issued at the conclusion of the international gathering of the forces that organized the conference on Iraq, “For a just peace, with the Resistance” in Rome, Oct 2, 2005
Today’s international gathering has been an occasion of protest, of solidarity and of struggle but at the same time also of new proposals.
First of all we denounce those who cause the tremendous oppression the Iraqi people suffer. At the same time we denounce the attacks on the most elementary democratic rights, including even the right to free expression in Europe.
The denial of a visa for Haj Ali, the symbol of torture in Abu Ghraib, follows the refusal to issue visas to the six high representatives of the Iraqi society who had been scheduled to speak at the conference in Chianciano. It is a shameful decision curbing the liberties gained in decades of struggle and finally even hatefully striking even the victims of US torture.
Our full solidarity goes to Haj Ali and all the victims of the military occupation.
We express this very same solidarity to the courageous Resistance of the Iraqi people who, by confronting history’s largest war machine, is fighting at the same time against the overall plans of US imperialism to dominate the world. Therefore the significance of the struggle reaches far beyond the borders of Iraq and is an example to follow for all oppressed people of the world.
Our gathering was one of struggle, of people who do not want to give in to the existing state of affairs, who want to fight for the freedom of the peoples and who want to stop the criminal madness called the “war of civilisations”.
To give substance to this battle we adopted a program of activity which serves at the same time as a proposal to all the components of the movement against the war who hold that the struggle for peace needs to be connected to the resistance against the political, military, economic and cultural oppression by imperialism. The struggle for peace must have as its target a “just peace” respecting the rights of the peoples, and based on the principle of self-determination and national sovereignty, which is the exact contrary of the “pax americana” which the occupation is trying to impose on Iraq.
Here is the plan of action developed during the discussion among the international delegations present:
1. Consolidation of the European network in support of the Iraqi Resistance and its eventual international enlargement. This network has already produced important results. But today the conditions have matured, paving the way to strengthen the co-ordination and increase the efficiency of common action. All the forces present in Rome commit themselves to do their best to go ahead in this sense.
2. The first campaign we have to launch is to bring Haj Ali to Europe to begin the scheduled tour denouncing the brutality of the imperialist occupation. The NO to the visa for Haj Ali by the Italian government – i.e. of a state which participates in the occupation with some 3,000 soldiers – must and can be fought. It is nothing else than an acid test involving the remaining spaces for freedom on our continent. We thereby call upon all sincere democrats to mobilise in defence of liberty. To stop these latest anti-democratic attacks, carried out under the guise of “anti-terrorist laws,” we need to give a strong, united and immediate answer.
We therefore appeal to all available forces to leave nothing untried – so that nobody can claim he didn’t knew what was happening.
Haj Ali’s tour will be throughout the continent to bring the voice of the truth to any corner of Europe and confront the lies about the “just war” the corporate media promotes.
This will offer an occasion to remind everyone of the existence of the desaparecidos, the Iraqis kidnapped by the occupations troops who have never reappeared, like Abduljabbar Al Kubaysi, the secretary of the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance.
3. In parallel, the preparations for the international conference with the high representatives of Iraqi society originally scheduled for Chianciano, Italy, will be carried out. Their presence is indispensable not only to let the Iraqis speak for themselves, not only to give the word to the Iraqi opposition and Resistance, but first of all to pave the way for their international legitimacy and political recognition.
This is what is really at stake. To achieve this objective we invite all the forces who want to contribute to the liberation struggle of the Iraqi people to a united mobilisation.
The international delegations present in Rome unanimously agree to carry on the struggle to make the conference possible. In the coming weeks these delegations will evaluate the possibilities in various European countries, while the efforts to hold the conference in Italy continue and will even be stepped up. After having probed the ground in the different countries, the network will set the date and place of the conference.
In the meantime we confirm our united and international support to all the initiatives in solidarity to the Resistance starting with those in Germany and Greece already scheduled for the coming months.
Regarding Italy we support the mobilisation for a national demonstration to take place by the end of the year as a united attempt to re-launch the movement against the war, for a clear support to the Iraqi Resistance and against the increasing attack on democratic rights.
The strength of the Iraqi Resistance, the growth of the popular opposition to the occupation and the rejection of the constitution imposed by the US and its allies allows us great hopes in a victory over the imperialist forces. This hope must be assimilated by all the forces in the world who have been fighting against the war.
This is today our task. The plan of activity which we have adopted is aimed at responding to this need.
There are struggles which mark epochs. Today it is on the shoulders of the Iraqi people to defend the front line separating freedom from tyranny. We will support them in every possible way, for freedom and self-determination of Iraq, and for the defeat of imperialist tyranny throughout the world.
Rome, October 2, 2005
