150 GATHER IN CARDIFF TO SAY ‘DON’T ATTACK IRAN’ AT ANTI-WAR PROTEST AS POTENTIAL FOR A US LED INVASION REMAINS DANGEROUSLY HIGH.
AM FOR PONTYPRIDD MICK ANTONIW CALLS THE ASSASSINATION OF SOLEIMANI A WAR CRIME AND DEMANDS A DEBATE BE HELD IN THE SENEDD.
FORMER PLAID CYMRU LEADER LEANNE WOOD SAYS CONSEQUENCES OF ANOTHER WAR WOULD BE GREATER THAN DISASTROUS IRAQ INVASION OF 2003
DIVISIONS IN US AND UK OVER HOW TO RESPOND TO THE CRISIS MEAN THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT COULD PLAY A PIVOTAL ROLE IN STOPPING A DRIVE TO WAR
A Welsh Labour Assembly Member has condemned the US Assassination of top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani as an International War Crime and demanded a debate be held in the Senedd over UK and US military involvement in the region. At a ‘Don’t Attack Iran’ protest of 150 people in Cardiff city centre on Wednesday evening, the AM for Pontypridd addressed demonstrators in the pouring rain and told voice.wales that he wanted recent US aggression towards Iran investigated as a breach of international law and a war crime.
“In my view this is an international war crime,” Antoniw said. “And there should be action to examine and take account of what has happened.”
“It’s very clear that international law does not allow arbitrary assassinations. Its only in respect of a self defence argument that you could justify a strike like that, but there does not appear to be any evidence on that and the American government when asked to give a justification for it hasn’t [been able to]. If that is the case then basically there is a breach of international law that amounts to a crime.”
He went on to criticise the nature of the so-called special relationship saying that under Boris Johnson the UK was “subservient” to Trump and expected to “knuckle under and do whatever America asks us to do.”
Antoniw also called for the Welsh Assembly to be allowed to be more vocal in condemning the actions of Donald Trump and his allies:
“I think it’s important that the Welsh Assembly is able to speak out on foreign matters. We do not have foreign responsibilities as a devolved matter but of course we have a lot of people from Iraq and Iran who live in this country and of course we have people who serve in the armed forces who have a direct interest in what happens, so I think we have to speak out and represent our concerns for what might happen to those people and their families and those people who might be called up to participate in a war.
“I’d like there to be debate in the Assembly on what is happening internationally so that all AMs have the opportunity to express their views.”
The protest in Cardiff took place as tensions in the region remain on a knife edge. On Tuesday evening the Iranian military bombed a US air base in Iraq and threatened other targets, in response to the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, its most senior military figure who is seen by many as the second most influential figure in the country.
Trump had previously said that an attack on a military base like the one on Tuesday would result in instant military retaliation. However on Wednesday the US president appeared to roll back on this when he indicated that the US would not respond to the air base attack and played down its significance, nonchalantly tweeting “All is well” on Wednesday.
Since the US assassinated Soleimani – a planned attack seen by many as effectively a declaration of war – the anti-war movement in Britain has been on high alert. Many see direct parallels between the US’s drive to war with Iran today and the disastrous invasion of Iraq almost 17 years ago, which is estimated to have led to the deaths of up to 2.4 million people in the region.
The Cardiff protest was part of a wave of action taking place across the UK demanding that Britain pulls troops out of the region and does not follow America into another war in the Middle East. The action was called by Cardiff Stop the War Coalition and supported by a range of groups including Welsh Labour Grassroots and Wales TUC, and was also addressed by activists from Plaid Cymru and people with connections to Iran.
Adam Johannes, from Cardiff Stop the War coalition, told the gathered crowd that, “We have to say no! Not one inch of war. And we have to call on our First Minister of Wales to follow the example of the First Minister of Scotland and speak out against the drag to war. But not only our First Minister, we have to pressure every Welsh Assembly Member, every Welsh MP, every Trade Union official, every faith leader, every community leader, all of us to stop this drive to war.”
Shavanna Taj, Secretary of the Wales Trade Union Congress, offered solidarity from the workers movement, saying that “The International Trade Union Confederation condemns the use of assassination by drones or any other means in place of negotiation and diplomacy. Threats from both the US and Iran risk spiralling into a major conflict, which would have severe consequences beyond the two countries.”
Former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, who was unable to attend the protest in person, said in a statement read out by fellow Plaid Cymru member Abyd Quinn Aziz that any war with Iran could have bigger consequences for the region in terms of casualties and instability than the Iraq invasion of 2003. She also highlighted the impact a conflict would have on people recruited to the army from Wales: “The impact of any conflict that involves boots on the ground will therefore be felt very hard in Wales, as it was with the Iraq war and military action in Afghanistan. We are still dealing with the consequences in terms of PTSD and homelessness from previous conflicts.”
Thursday saw the first day since the assassination that the issue dropped from the news agenda briefly, where the debate moved onto responsibility for a downed passenger plane that killed all its 176 passengers, most of whom were Iranian. The plane was shot down in Iranian air space when it’s military was on high alert in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Iran denies responsibility, but the US openly contests this. The situation remains extremely tense, and it’s likely that the US wants to shift focus onto the plane crash as a means of deflecting from its own climb-down and in an attempt to fracture anti-imperialist sentiment in Iran.
US actions have united a fractious Iranian society against Trumps aggression, as well as consolidating anti-war sentiment in Iraq. On Sunday, the Iraqi parliament voted to expel US led forces from the country and thousands of enraged protesters marched in Basra following the killing of a senior commander of the Iraqi armed forces, who was assassinated in Baghdad in the same attack that killed Soleimani. Iran has seen days of large mobilisations against US aggressions and commemorations for the murdered general.
Speaking to voice.wales at the protest last night, Negrine, an Iranian woman living in Cardiff, described herself as part of the opposition to the Iranian government but said the priority right now was now to stop a US-led invasion of the country. “The situation in Iran at the moment is really hard to explain,” she said. “Because we are [in] opposition to the government, but obviously in a situation like now, with Trump in the Middle East…we can’t go ahead with our opposition. Stop war first, then other things.” Both pro and anti-government protesters have taken to the streets in recent days, and Negrine suggests this is because “they are anti-Trump as well.”
“The troops have to leave the region,” she told us. “It’s too long for them to be there, it [does] not belong to them you know. I am anti-war person. I don’t want to be involved in a war at all. it’s not good for anyone.”
Negrine said it was “hard to predict” what might happen, “because every misunderstanding might make a war but on the other hand I see in the Iranian government and even in Trump that they don’t actually want a war because it’s not beneficial for both sides.”
In the UK, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson broke his silence on the situation at Prime Minister’s Question’s on Wednesday when he defended Trump’s actions and refused to pull UK troops out of Iraq, something now demanded by the Iraqi parliament. In response to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s questions about the legality of the assassination and continued British military presence in the country, Johnson said that Iraq had ‘come to rely’ on the UK and dismissed the idea that the killing broke international law. It was also reported on Wednesday that British troops are on standby and could be deployed to the gulf in 48 hours.
But in a sign of deepening divisions in the West over how to respond to the crisis, Trump contradicted himself on Wednesday when he appeared to rule out retaliation for the Iranian attack on a US air base in Iraq. Having previously said that any such attack would lead to the US launching military strikes against Iran, Trump instead paused before declaring that ‘All is well’. This is likely to reflect diverging opinions in the US ruling class about what to do next, with some extremely nervous about going to war. In Britain, Johnson released a joint statement with other European leaders that struck a note of caution about the potential for conflict.
Despite this, the US’s allies including Britain have defended the assassination and will likely support whatever action Trump decides to take. The risk of a major conflict in the region – with consequences greater than Iraq – remains a very real possibility.
As well as growing opposition in the Middle East, any Western push for war must overcome a huge body of opposition in both Europe and America to the idea of another invasion in the region when the previous two have been disastrous and costly. Anti-war sentiment in Britain has been fuelled in part by these failures, but also because of the huge movement that swept the country against the invasion of Iraq. Cardiff and Swansea sent a combined number of 50 coaches to the 2 million strong anti-war protest in London on 15th February 2003, which still lays claim to the biggest political mobilisation in British history.
The demonstration in Cardiff on Wednesday was clearly small in comparison, but it likely speaks to a wider sentiment that could be mobilised if a British invasion suddenly becomes a reality. It’s for this reason that Johnson will be weary of being dragged into an unpopular war that would dominate his first year in office and why the anti-war movement could play a decisive role. The movement received a boost on Thursday as Jeremy Corbyn announced he would address Saturday’s demonstration in London.
Summing up his speech, Adam Johannes of Cardiff Stop the War Coalition said the movement needed to be taken into working class communities:
“This war, if it happens, will cause great harm for the people of Wales, the people of the UK, the people of America and most of all the people of Iran and people of the Middle East.
As tensions boil over, action on the ground could be pivotal. Anyone who thinks they are reduced to simple bystanders in events of such global significance is mistaken, each protest matters in halting the drive to another disastrous war.
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