In Year 2008 - With MDS, Walk toward Age Free from War and Poverty

Occupation of Iraq fails

We are having a New Year, 2008. Bellicose elements of global capitalism are significantly being cornered. In our struggle to replace war and bottomless poverty with a world of peace and democracy, the year 2008 will be a turning point.

The occupation of Iraq has been a failure. The fact is clearly exposed in the US-Iraq Declaration of Principles for Cooperation and Friendship signed on November 26 between US President George Bush and Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki of the Iraqi puppet government. The declaration provides that the current term of the US troops deployment under a United Nations resolution shall be the last one, and no extension shall be made any more. After that, the declaration says, the US troops deployment shall be under a bilateral agreement planned to be signed by the end of July.

It shows that they cannot continue to maintain the current state of the occupation rule after all their efforts including the initiation of an illegal war and the justification using the authorization of the United Nations.

On one hand, Bush has lost the greatest ally, the Howard administration of Australia. On the other hand, Al-Maliki is losing control even inside the Green Zone (the zone governed by the US military) as more than half of his cabinet members have left. It is already a firm fact that they are both isolated "lame ducks."

Scheme for oil plunder not let go

The Declaration aims to make way for more stable long-term presence of the US military insured by a security treaty and a status of US forces agreement. What would come after that is shown in provisions for economic arrangements: assistance for transition into a market economy, enhancement of competitive edges of the Iraqi economy, promotion of foreign and particularly US capital inflows, and integration into the global market through the World Trade Organization (WTO) among others. In short, its objective is to offer the resources and industry of the Iraqi people as the prey for global capitalism.

However, a serious barrier is looming in this area as well. The enactment of the Oil Law essential for the plunder of oil is deadlocked. Although the Iraqi cabinet gave approval to the Oil Law in February 2007 and submitted it to the assembly in July, possibility of its enactment is nowhere in sight.

This is a success brought about by the Anti-Oil Law Front formed around the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC). IFC President Samir Adil has raised an alarm saying, "The occupation will end in a couple of years, but the Oil Law would permanently bind the Iraqis to jail." A demonstration that the Anti-Oil Law Front staged in central Baghdad was shown nationwide via Sana TV, the IFC's satellite TV station. Oil Minister Hussain Al-Shahristani had no choice other than revoking his demand to arrest leaders of the Anti-Oil Law Front.

In our effort to end the occupation along with the activities of bellicose elements and to help world antiwar movements advance, it is critically important to enhance the support for and solidarity with IFC and as well as Sana TV as means of broadcasting IFC's struggles.

Through struggles, society can be changed

Complicity in the occupation of Iraq, spending of one trillion yen for the Missile Defense System deployment, and throwing away as much as three trillion yen for Japan-US military integration - that is the plan of Japan-based global capitalists and the Fukuda administration. We must enhance our movement under the slogan, "Diminish military budget. Eliminate poverty."

After aggravating poverty, the neo-liberalism policy line is now shaken. The plan to lower the public assistance standards in FY 2008 is postponed. A major day workers dispatch business, Goodwill, which has created so-called "Internet cafe refugees (the young working poor who stay at Internet cafe)," has received a business suspension order. This trend reflects results of our struggle under a slogan, "Refuse self-responsibility for poverty." Instead of letting it go as a temporary upset, let's make this an opportunity to realize a radical turnaround from neo-liberalism.

Join MDS to put an end to the age of war and poverty. (December 24)