Many politicians and media sources have claimed that opposition to the war is confined to fundamentalists, terrorist-sympathisers and ‘loony-left’ groups with little mainstream support. Yet despite the efforts of politicians and much of the media to ignore, marginalise or misrepresent us, we are rapidly becoming a vibrant, diverse, and well-organised popular movement. The explanation for this is straightforward enough: there are a multitude of sensible reasons for opposing the war.
Our leaders tell us that they desire to see violence removed from the conduct of international affairs. But there is little in their current strategies that will advance such aspirations. Pre-existing international bodies such as the UN and the World Court, that might have offered a peaceful resolution to current tensions and a constructive way forward towards more a more stable global environment, have been sidelined.
Bush and Blair constantly claim that their war with the Taliban is in the interests of the Afghan people. They cite the oppressive nature of that regime as an additional justification for bombing. Yet the result of their campaign has been to kill or maim hundreds of Afghan civilians, and place millions more at grave risk of starvation. The Northern Alliance forces now receiving Anglo-American support have a human rights record every bit as bad as that of the Taliban. Only the Afghan people can act to install a truly democratic regime in their country – yet more bombing further reduces their capacity to do so.
We are told that this war is necessary, to make the world a safer place and avoid a repeat of the terrible and unacceptable atrocities of September 11th. Yet in Afghanistan, as in so many other parts of the world, we can already see the tragic consequences of past “necessary” military interventions. Many of the extremist, oppressive regimes now cited as potential threats came to power after foreign intervention destabilised their region, in many cases we supplied these new enemies with arms.
It is unsurprising, therefore, that the Cambridge Student antiwar movement, CamSaw, has grown at an astonishing rate. We have forged links with a number of different campaigning and ethnic cultural groups, but we’ve also attracted the active support from many students never previously involved in such movements. Our members come from both Cambridge universities, and range from Muslims to Christian priests, from seasoned peace campaigners to many who are simply concerned to stop the present suffering. We are thus probably one of the most diverse groups of any sort in Cambridge. We’re organising demos, teach-ins, fundraising events, and lobbying. The campaign’s growth looks set to continue: the tired stereotype of the apathetic student is being broken down like never before, and the signs are that this is a campaign that can succeed.
agreed unanimously at a CamSaw open meeting, 06.11.01