Home > WHY WE SAY STOP BOMBING LIBYA NOW

WHY WE SAY STOP BOMBING LIBYA NOW

by Open-Publishing - Wednesday 20 April 2011

Wars and conflicts Africa

A packed special meeting of the Stop the War national steering
committee last Saturday brought delegates from across the country
and from affiliated organisations to discuss the issues arising
from the attack on Libya and wider issues of the "war on terror".

The statement last week signed by Cameron, Obama and Sarkozy made
it clear that this is now a war of regime-change, which is
neither sanctioned by the UN resolution nor legal under
international law.

How the anti-war movement should respond to the new phase of the
Libyan war was addressed by Andrew Murray, national chair of Stop
the War, in his introduction to the discussion. His speech, which
gives a clear analysis of how the Libyan conflict has developed,
and the balance of forces involved, is available on the Stop the
War website, here: http://bit.ly/gaI3Wl

The meeting reasserted Stop the War’s opposition to Western
intervention and agreed on a statement which outlines why we say
the bombing of Libya must stop now. The statement is available on
the website: here: http://bit.ly/i7TUR2

An action plan agreed by the meeting included:

* Organising a public rally involving the trade unions, following
the statements calling for the end to the bombing by Unite and
Unison — the two biggest unions in Britain.

* Organising a protest when Barack Obama is here for a state
visit on 26-28 May.

* Organising a public meeting in parliament. Five MPs have called
for parliament to be recalled following the change of mission in
Libya to regime-change, an indication of the unease MPs are
beginning to feel about where the war is leading.

* We are encouraging all local Stop the War groups to organise
actions and public rallies about Libya. Some groups who have
already organised meetings on Libya say they were the biggest
they have had for years