Cairo Anti-war Conference
Encyclopedia
The Cairo Conference against U.S. hegemony and war on Iraq and in solidarity with Palestine (later: Popular Campaign for the Support of Resistance in Palestine and Iraq and Against Globalization), generally known simply as Cairo Anti-war Conference, is an anti-war
and anti-neo-liberalism conference held regularly since 2002 in Cairo
, Egypt
. The Cairo Conference set up the International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq
which helped to coordinate the World wide demonstrations on 15 February
. In 2009, the Conference was banned by the government of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
.
. Four hundred attended. Speakers included former United Nations
(UN) humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Dr Hans von Sponeck
. Former Algeria
n president Ahmed Ben Bella
chaired the conference. One outcome of the conference was the production of the 'Cairo Declaration', which took a stance against the then looming Iraq war; it also noted the negative effects of capitalist
globalisation and U.S.
hegemony
on the peoples of the world (including European and American citizens). In addition, it noted that "In the absence of democracy
, and with widespread corruption and oppression constituting significant obstacles along the path of the Arab peoples' movement towards economic, social, and intellectual progress, adverse consequences are further aggravated within the framework of the existing world order of neoliberal globalisation", while firmly rejecting the 'advance of democracy' justification for attacking Iraq.
Full text available here http://www.stopwar.org.uk/Resources/cairo.pdf
The UK
Stop the War Coalition
, in particular John Rees
of the SWP, initiated the signing of the declaration by European leftists, including: Jeremy Corbyn
MP, George Galloway
MP, Tony Benn
, Susan George
(scholar/activist based in France
), Bob Crow
, Mick Rix
(general secretary, UK train drivers' Aslef union
), Julie Christie
, George Monbiot
, Harold Pinter
, Ghayasuddin Siddiqui
(Muslim Parliament
), Tommy Sheridan
(Scottish socialist), Dr Ghada Karmi
(research fellow, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter
), Tariq Ali
. http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=2390
The conference was followed by a 1,000-strong anti-war
demonstration that was surrounded by riot police and armoured cars.
The organising committee decided to attempt solidarity actions with the US demonstrations on 18 January and to organise Egyptian demonstrations as part of 15 February global anti-war day
.
Anti-war MP George Galloway
, Tony Benn
, Salma Yaqoob
, and former US attorney-general Ramsey Clark
were among the international speakers. Prominent Egyptian campaigners taking part included Nasserist MP Hamdeen Sabahy, Galal Aref, head of the Egyptian Journalists' Union, and Ma'mun al-Hodeiby, leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim
and human rights activist Aida Seif-al-Dawla were among the conference organisers.
The presence of Muslim Brotherhood
leader Ma'mun al-Hodeiby brought a large number of Islamist activists into the conference. The Muslim Brotherhood, although officially banned, is by far Egypt's largest opposition organisation. However, some delegates were critical of the Muslim Brotherhood's cooperation with the government in a series of stage-managed anti-war rallies held before the invasion of Iraq
.
German journalist Harold Schuman who attended the conference expressed frustration that most speeches did not analyse the role of Arab governments but rather took the easy way out by placing all the blame on the US. He also expressed his feelings that the conference should defend the people of Iraq
but not the regime. Representatives of the Iraqi government were attending the conference, though also the Iraqi opposition had a presence in the form of Abdel-Amir Al-Rikabi who described himself as a member of "the honest opposition" in contrast with those who met at a US-sponsored event in London
.
Before the conference Yehia Fikri, who represents the Centre for Socialist Studies on the organising committee, called for International delegations to come to the conference in order to protect it from state repression
. He has said "The more people who come from abroad, the more prominent personalities who sign up for the conference, the more difficult it will be for the Egyptian authorities to shut us down." http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=5774
20th of March Movement for Change, Egyptian Communist Party
, Karama Party, Muslim Brotherhood
, Organization of Revolutionary Socialists, Socialist People's Party, Wasat Party
.
II. Unions and Syndicates
Arab Medical Union, Syndicate of Pharmacists of Egypt
III. Popular committees
Committee for coordination between professional syndicates, Committee of boycott in professional syndicates, Committee of boycott of Zionist Project, Coordination committee for trade union and workers liberties and rights, General Egyptian committee of boycott, Popular committee in solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada-Alexandria.
IV. Research centers and civil society organizations
A’afak Ishterakeyya Center (Center of Socialist Horizons); Egyptian Center for media, culture and development; Hisham Mubarak Law Center
; Sa’ed Center; Socialist Studies Center
Source http://www.stopwar.org.uk/new/events/national/mar05/cairo3invitation.htm
The conference discussed means of supporting the resistance in Palestine
and Iraq
, challenged U.S. and Israeli plans to expand their aggression against the region to Syria
and/or Iran
as well as their plans to liquidate Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organisations, dealt with the issue of supporting the struggle of the peoples of the Arab world for democracy against regimes of the region who collude with aggressors, and called for expanding and developing social struggles against globalisation policies in the Arab region.
The Final Declaration http://www.antiimperialista.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4309&Itemid=55 of the conference addressed all of these issues. The declaration expressed support for the Hamas
government of the Palestinian National Authority
against the U.S., Europe and Arab regimes, and opposition to "a peace process that has achieved nothing for the Palestinian people during the last two decades", while rejecting both recognition of Israel and any concessions to it on "the main national demands".
The declaration also stated the ambition to break what it termed "the siege" on the resistance in Iraq, called on neighbouring countries to support "the legitimate Iraqi resistance", and took the position that the Iraqi resistance is "the sole representative of the Iraqi People". In regard to escalating American pressure on Iran and Syria, the conference agreed on an international day of solidarity with Iran and Syria on the 6th of May 2006, an ambition that was reiterated regarding Iran in a separate call for "international coordinated action" that was attached to the declaration.
The declaration also called for "a new Arab movement for change", including "all possible forms of coordination between different democracy movements" and the formation of support committees to protect judges, journalists, lecturers and students against repression.
, the conference was organised by Alkarama
(Dignity), Al-Ishtirakyin Al-Sawryin (Socialist Revolutionary Party), Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood
) and Al-'Amal (Labour), and was held at the Egyptian Press Syndicate, with close to 600 participants and observers from around the world, including a delegation of 80 South Koreans and 20 Canadians. The Muslim Brotherhood reported there were activists present from Palestine (including Hamas
members), Iraq, Lebanon, Venezuela, Turkey, Greece, Nigeria, Britain, Tunisia, Sudan, France and Iran. Speakers included Ali Fayed of Hizbullah, Sadala Mazraani of the Lebanese Communist Party
, James Clark of the Canadian Peace Alliance
, Feroze Mithiborwala of the Muslim Intellectual Forum of India, John Rees
of the Socialist Workers Party (UK) and Rose Gentle
(the mother of Gordon Gentle
, a British soldier killed while serving in Iraq, and a leading figure in Military Families Against the War
).
's regime receives funding from the United States
and that the regime fears popular movements which may grow to challenge its dictatorship.
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
and anti-neo-liberalism conference held regularly since 2002 in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. The Cairo Conference set up the International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq
International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq
The International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq is a campaign umbrella group launched in Cairo 2003, at the Cairo Anti-war Conference, to oppose the invasion of Iraq....
which helped to coordinate the World wide demonstrations on 15 February
February 15, 2003 anti-war protest
The February 15, 2003 anti-war protest was a coordinated day of protests across the world expressing opposition to the then-imminent Iraq War. It was part of a series of protests and political events that had begun in 2002 and continued as the war took place....
. In 2009, the Conference was banned by the government of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
.
First Conference
The first conference was held on the 17–19 December 2002, at the Conrad Hotel on the banks of the NileNile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
. Four hundred attended. Speakers included former United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(UN) humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Dr Hans von Sponeck
Hans von Sponeck
Hans Christof Graf von Sponeck was born 1939 in Bremen, Germany, the son of Hans Graf von Sponeck. He served as a UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. In 1957 he was one of the first conscientious objectors in the Federal Republic of Germany...
. Former Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n president Ahmed Ben Bella
Ahmed Ben Bella
Mohamed Ahmed Ben Bella was a soldier and Algerian revolutionary, who became the first President of Algeria.-Youth:...
chaired the conference. One outcome of the conference was the production of the 'Cairo Declaration', which took a stance against the then looming Iraq war; it also noted the negative effects of capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
globalisation and U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
hegemony
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
on the peoples of the world (including European and American citizens). In addition, it noted that "In the absence of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, and with widespread corruption and oppression constituting significant obstacles along the path of the Arab peoples' movement towards economic, social, and intellectual progress, adverse consequences are further aggravated within the framework of the existing world order of neoliberal globalisation", while firmly rejecting the 'advance of democracy' justification for attacking Iraq.
Full text available here http://www.stopwar.org.uk/Resources/cairo.pdf
The UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Stop the War Coalition
Stop the War Coalition
The Stop the War Coalition is a United Kingdom group set up on 21 September 2001 that campaigns against what it believes are unjust wars....
, in particular John Rees
John Rees (UK politician)
John Rees is a British political activist, broadcaster and writer who is a national officer of the Stop the War Coalition and founding member of Counterfire who was formerly associated with the Socialist Workers Party...
of the SWP, initiated the signing of the declaration by European leftists, including: Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Islington North since 1983.-Early and personal life:...
MP, George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
MP, Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
, Susan George
Susan George (political scientist)
Susan George is a well-known Franco-American political and social scientist, activist and writer on global social justice, Third World poverty, underdevelopment and debt. She is a fellow and president of the board of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam...
(scholar/activist based in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), Bob Crow
Bob Crow
Robert Crow , who is better known as Bob Crow, is a British trade union leader, the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers and a member of the General Council of the TUC...
, Mick Rix
Mick Rix
Mick Rix is a British trade unionist and politician.-Union career:Rix is the former General Secretary of ASLEF. Rix left school at 16, and started work the next day, with no qualifications...
(general secretary, UK train drivers' Aslef union
Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen
The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen is the trade union representing railway workers in Great Britain who are train drivers or in the line of promotion to train driver....
), Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
, George Monbiot
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
, Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, Ghayasuddin Siddiqui
Ghayasuddin Siddiqui
Ghayasuddin Siddiqui is an academic and political activist. He was born in Delhi, India, migrated to Pakistan in late 1947 and moved to the UK in 1964....
(Muslim Parliament
Muslim Parliament
The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain is a Muslim organization founded in 1992 in London by Dr Kalim Siddiqui, Director of the Muslim Institute, based on a proposal published in July 1990 under the title The Muslim Manifesto. The Muslim Parliament consists mainly of appointees, including women and...
), Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish socialist politician. He has had various prominent roles within the socialist movement in Scotland and is currently one of two co-convenors of the left-wing Scottish political party Solidarity....
(Scottish socialist), Dr Ghada Karmi
Ghada Karmi
Ghada Karmi is a Palestinian doctor of medicine, author and academic. She writes frequently on Palestinian issues in newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The Nation and Journal of Palestine Studies...
(research fellow, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
), Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
. http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=2390
The conference was followed by a 1,000-strong anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
demonstration that was surrounded by riot police and armoured cars.
The organising committee decided to attempt solidarity actions with the US demonstrations on 18 January and to organise Egyptian demonstrations as part of 15 February global anti-war day
February 15, 2003 anti-war protest
The February 15, 2003 anti-war protest was a coordinated day of protests across the world expressing opposition to the then-imminent Iraq War. It was part of a series of protests and political events that had begun in 2002 and continued as the war took place....
.
Second Conference
Held 13 and 14 December 2003, at the Egyptian Journalists' Union headquarters. This had 800 attendees. Conference final declaration available here.Anti-war MP George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
, Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
, Salma Yaqoob
Salma Yaqoob
Salma Yaqoob is the leader, and former vice-chair, of the Respect Party and a former Birmingham City Councillor. She is also the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and a spokesperson for Birmingham Central Mosque....
, and former US attorney-general Ramsey Clark
Ramsey Clark
William Ramsey Clark is an American lawyer, activist and former public official. He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, which included service as United States Attorney General from 1967 to 1969, under President Lyndon B. Johnson...
were among the international speakers. Prominent Egyptian campaigners taking part included Nasserist MP Hamdeen Sabahy, Galal Aref, head of the Egyptian Journalists' Union, and Ma'mun al-Hodeiby, leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim
Sonallah Ibrahim
Son'allah Ibrahim is an Egyptian novelist and short story writer and one of the "Sixties Generation" who is known for his leftist and nationalist views which are expressed rather directly in his work...
and human rights activist Aida Seif-al-Dawla were among the conference organisers.
The presence of Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
leader Ma'mun al-Hodeiby brought a large number of Islamist activists into the conference. The Muslim Brotherhood, although officially banned, is by far Egypt's largest opposition organisation. However, some delegates were critical of the Muslim Brotherhood's cooperation with the government in a series of stage-managed anti-war rallies held before the invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
.
German journalist Harold Schuman who attended the conference expressed frustration that most speeches did not analyse the role of Arab governments but rather took the easy way out by placing all the blame on the US. He also expressed his feelings that the conference should defend the people of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
but not the regime. Representatives of the Iraqi government were attending the conference, though also the Iraqi opposition had a presence in the form of Abdel-Amir Al-Rikabi who described himself as a member of "the honest opposition" in contrast with those who met at a US-sponsored event in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Third Conference
24–27 March 2005. Political groups, independent activists, and organisations in Egypt were invited to take part in the conference and also to propose their own activities to take place at the same time as the conference.Before the conference Yehia Fikri, who represents the Centre for Socialist Studies on the organising committee, called for International delegations to come to the conference in order to protect it from state repression
Political repression
Political repression is the persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take political life of society....
. He has said "The more people who come from abroad, the more prominent personalities who sign up for the conference, the more difficult it will be for the Egyptian authorities to shut us down." http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=5774
Egyptian organisations supported the third conference
I. Political Groups and parties20th of March Movement for Change, Egyptian Communist Party
Egyptian Communist Party
The Egyptian Communist Party is a political party in Egypt, formed in 1975 by a number of members of the former Egyptian Communist Party. Under the regimes of Presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak the new Communist Party faced state repression and was barred from running in elections. The...
, Karama Party, Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
, Organization of Revolutionary Socialists, Socialist People's Party, Wasat Party
Al-Wasat Party
Hizb al-Wasat al-Jadid , translated in English as the New Center Party but more commonly known as al-Wasat Party, is a moderate Islamic political party in Egypt.- Foundation :...
.
II. Unions and Syndicates
Arab Medical Union, Syndicate of Pharmacists of Egypt
III. Popular committees
Committee for coordination between professional syndicates, Committee of boycott in professional syndicates, Committee of boycott of Zionist Project, Coordination committee for trade union and workers liberties and rights, General Egyptian committee of boycott, Popular committee in solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada-Alexandria.
IV. Research centers and civil society organizations
A’afak Ishterakeyya Center (Center of Socialist Horizons); Egyptian Center for media, culture and development; Hisham Mubarak Law Center
Hisham Mubarak Law Center
The Hisham Mubarak Law Center is an Egyptian law firm based in Cairo and Aswan which "works in the field of human rights through litigation, campaigns and legal research" and is "perhaps best known for its active support of torture victims and Egyptians subject to arbitrary detention." Founded by...
; Sa’ed Center; Socialist Studies Center
Source http://www.stopwar.org.uk/new/events/national/mar05/cairo3invitation.htm
Fourth Conference
The fourth conference, under the rubric "International Campaign against US and Zionist Occupation", was held 23–26 March 2006, on a platform expressed through the slogans "With the Resistance in Palestine and Iraq" and "Against Globalization, Imperialism and Zionism".The conference discussed means of supporting the resistance in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, challenged U.S. and Israeli plans to expand their aggression against the region to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and/or Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
as well as their plans to liquidate Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organisations, dealt with the issue of supporting the struggle of the peoples of the Arab world for democracy against regimes of the region who collude with aggressors, and called for expanding and developing social struggles against globalisation policies in the Arab region.
The Final Declaration http://www.antiimperialista.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4309&Itemid=55 of the conference addressed all of these issues. The declaration expressed support for the Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
government of the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
against the U.S., Europe and Arab regimes, and opposition to "a peace process that has achieved nothing for the Palestinian people during the last two decades", while rejecting both recognition of Israel and any concessions to it on "the main national demands".
The declaration also stated the ambition to break what it termed "the siege" on the resistance in Iraq, called on neighbouring countries to support "the legitimate Iraqi resistance", and took the position that the Iraqi resistance is "the sole representative of the Iraqi People". In regard to escalating American pressure on Iran and Syria, the conference agreed on an international day of solidarity with Iran and Syria on the 6th of May 2006, an ambition that was reiterated regarding Iran in a separate call for "international coordinated action" that was attached to the declaration.
The declaration also called for "a new Arab movement for change", including "all possible forms of coordination between different democracy movements" and the formation of support committees to protect judges, journalists, lecturers and students against repression.
Fifth Conference
The fifth Cairo Conference was held between March 29 and April 1, 2007. Its declaration is here. According to the Al-AhramAl-Ahram
Al-Ahram , founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya . It is majority owned by the Egyptian government....
, the conference was organised by Alkarama
Alkarama
Alkarama for Human Rights is a non-governmental organisation founded in 2004 by a team of volunteer lawyers and human rights activists as a society for the protection of human rights in the Arab world.-Organisation:...
(Dignity), Al-Ishtirakyin Al-Sawryin (Socialist Revolutionary Party), Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
) and Al-'Amal (Labour), and was held at the Egyptian Press Syndicate, with close to 600 participants and observers from around the world, including a delegation of 80 South Koreans and 20 Canadians. The Muslim Brotherhood reported there were activists present from Palestine (including Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
members), Iraq, Lebanon, Venezuela, Turkey, Greece, Nigeria, Britain, Tunisia, Sudan, France and Iran. Speakers included Ali Fayed of Hizbullah, Sadala Mazraani of the Lebanese Communist Party
Lebanese Communist Party
The Lebanese Communist Party – LCP or Parti communiste libanais in French, is a communist political party in Lebanon...
, James Clark of the Canadian Peace Alliance
Canadian Peace Alliance
The Canadian Peace Alliance / L'Alliance canadienne pour la paix is a Canadian umbrella peace organization claiming more than 140 member groups...
, Feroze Mithiborwala of the Muslim Intellectual Forum of India, John Rees
John Rees
John Rees may refer to:*John Rees , British political activist *John Rees , American journalist*Conway Rees, John Conway Rees, Welsh rugby union international...
of the Socialist Workers Party (UK) and Rose Gentle
Rose Gentle
Rose Gentle is the mother of Gordon Gentle, a 19 year old from Pollok who was killed while serving in Iraq. Some claimed that this was through the failure of the UK government to provide adequate equipment to their armed forces. Since his death she has campaigned against the Iraq War and set up...
(the mother of Gordon Gentle
Gordon Gentle
Fusilier Gordon Gentle was a 19 year old soldier from Pollok, Glasgow, who died in Iraq on 28 June 2004, after completing his 26-week basic training course at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick. He was serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers. Gordon's lightly armoured Snatch...
, a British soldier killed while serving in Iraq, and a leading figure in Military Families Against the War
Military Families Against the War
Military Families Against the War is an organisation of families of servicemen in the United Kingdom created to campaign for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq.The group's mission statement sets out their objectives as follows:...
).
The Egyptian government and the Cairo conference
Although the Egyptian government was formally against the Iraq war, relations between it and the conference are strained by the fact that Hosni MubarakHosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
's regime receives funding from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and that the regime fears popular movements which may grow to challenge its dictatorship.
Criticism
Among the criticisms of the first Conference was that it was building solidarity not with ordinary Iraqis, but rather with the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. This perception was fuelled by the reported presence of a number of Iraqi officials at the conference. According to Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/618/sc1.htm, German journalist and author Harald Schuman attracted the ire of Nabil Negm, the chief political adviser to the Iraqi president, after comments he made insisting that claims that all the problems of the Arab world could be laid at the door of the US were only half-true and that the conference was not meant to "defend the Iraqi regime and Saddam Hussein in any shape or form". "I am here," he said, "to defend the Iraqi people."Further information
- Article on state repression of Egyptian anti-war movement http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/03/egypt032403.htm
- Article on the relationship between anti-war movement and movement for democracy in the middle eastDemocracy in the Middle EastAccording to the "Democracy Index" , the country in the Middle East with the highest Democracy Index score is Israel, with a score of 7.48, corresponding to the status of "flawed democracy"; the only one in the region.The next highest scores of countries of in the region are held by Lebanon and...
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/618/sc2.htm
First Conference
- Notes on the Cairo Conference Against US Aggression on Iraq, Gary Leupp, CounterPunchCounterpunchCounterpunch can refer to:* Counterpunch , a punch in boxing* CounterPunch, a bi-weekly political newsletter* Counterpunch , a type of punch used in traditional typography* Punch-Counterpunch, a Transformers character...
- A Report from Cairo on the International Campaign Against US Aggression on Iraq, Peter Phillips, CounterPunchCounterpunchCounterpunch can refer to:* Counterpunch , a punch in boxing* CounterPunch, a bi-weekly political newsletter* Counterpunch , a type of punch used in traditional typography* Punch-Counterpunch, a Transformers character...
, December 23, 2002 - http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=2060Socialist WorkerSocialist WorkerSocialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
article on 1st conference] - http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/618/sc1.htmReport on first conference by Al-AhramAl-AhramAl-Ahram , founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya . It is majority owned by the Egyptian government....
] - Stan Crooke, "The Politics of the Cairo Declaration," New PoliticsNew Politics (magazine)New Politics is an independent socialist journal founded in 1961 and still published in the United States today. While it is inclusive of articles from a variety of left-of-center positions, the publication leans strongly toward a Third camp, democratic Marxist perspective, placing it typically to...
, Vol. IX, No. 3 (New Series), Summer 2003, pp. 120–126.
Second Conference
- http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=8716Socialist ReviewSocialist ReviewThe Socialist Review is the monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online.-Original publication: 1950-1962:...
article on the 2nd conference] - http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/666/eg3.htmReport on second conference by Al-AhramAl-AhramAl-Ahram , founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya . It is majority owned by the Egyptian government....
]
Third Conference
- http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=5774Socialist WorkerSocialist WorkerSocialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
article on the call for a 3rd conference] - Video of Report of Conference at Manchester Peace Rally
- Swindon delegates report back from Cairo anti-war conference(indymedia)