Local peace activists Iraqi diary

bristol | peace | news report Thursday February 20, 2003 03:07 by ffwd Bristol indymedia jo_wilding at yahoo dot co dot uk

Local peace activist Jo Wilding & film-maker Julia Guest arrived safely in Iraq two days ago. Jo has sent Bristol indymedia the first part of her travel diary which is reproduced below. Jo was part of the International Solidarity Movements' protest that highlighted the Israeli siege at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem last year, and for this was promptly deported. December she appeared in court defending her actions on why she broke the unjust, 11 year old, U.N. imposed Iraqi sanctions, by importing dates to the UK - these same sanctions are recognised by the U.N. as being the underlying cause for the deaths of over 1/2 a million innocent Iraqi children.

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Her press release outlines the aims of the trip :

1) to meet with ordinary Iraqi people and report on their situations and to help them in any way possible with practical tasks like digging wells to survive the bombardment;


2) to gather evidence of likely and actual breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other humanitarian law relating to the protection of civilians;


3) to take humanitarian items, especially educational materials, vitamins and painkillers, in breach of the sanctions;


4) to set up a twinning programme between Bristol and Basra, linking schools, universities, hospitals, workplaces and so on in order to build understanding between the two communities which have been isolated from one another by the embargo.

Before she left the UK she stated ;

"The US wants Iraq held together with an "iron fist" and will never allow the Kurds genuine autonomy, nor the Iraqi people genuine democracy. It has nothing to do with freedom or justice and it's wrong. Talking about solidarity with the Iraqi people at a time like this maybe sounds a bit inadequate, but one day our kids will have to make peace out of the disaster we're making for them. That's why we're going to Iraq, to do whatever we can."

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Jo Wilding's diary - 18th February

The gang of lads asked my name, then dissolved in giggles, slapping each other's shoulders, when I told them mine and asked theirs. Overcoming their shyness, they asked where I was from, how old I was, what I thought of Baghdad, and we danced down the street together to the clatter of drums and hand clapping.

It was an anti-war march, organised by the students at the Non-Aligned Students and Youth Organisation (NASYO) conference. A Japanese group carried a banner saying "Japan – Iraq. Peace and Friendship" in both English and Japanese, chanting "No to war. Yes to Peace." The Nigerians were in national costume. The Belgians were out in force. Australians, Estonians, Swedes, Turks, Mauritians and a plethora of others were there. Conspicuous by their absence were the 27 US students who had registered to attend the conference but withdrew at the last minute, apparently under persuasion from the US State Department. It remains illegal under the US sanctions for its citizens to even travel to Iraq unless as journalists or UN personnel. Ah, the Land of the Free.

I marched with a group of young Iraqi women, clapping their hands and chanting. The students we met in the colleges were roughly half and half men and women. Probably around two thirds covered their hair, but many wore trousers and make-up. Like their male counterparts they ere shy at first, then friendly and welcoming, keen to practise their English and eager to know what I thought of their city.

I bounced up and down clapping hands with a mixed group, to the bugling of an old man behind us, once we halted outside the UNDP building, and a small boy dived into the middle of the melee and began break dancing. Over the noise we exchanged names and favourite English football teams – mainly Liverpool and Manchester United for them; Brighton and Hove Albion for me. Julia Roberts is popular here, with both men and women, as are Westlife, N-Sync and the Backstreet Boys but even so, there's no excuse for bombing these people.

A tribe of young men were jumping up and down, going round and round in a circle, chanting, arms raised punching the air. The rage against Bush was tangible as they chanted "Down, Down Bush" and "Down, Down USA". Their glee was genuine as I expressed my view that Tony Blair was a muppet. Many of their chants and banners praised Saddam and there was a large banner saying "Saddam is our Choice.". Like the pictures in every shop and office, this is perhaps more a matter of expediency than political preference.

People talk when they know no one else can hear. The feeling is that they would prefer genuine democracy, greater freedom, but if the choice is Saddam or the USA, they will take Saddam. They do not believe, even when they speak freely, that the US and UK will be "liberating" them. Some are angry at the way weapons inspections have been carried out. They tease, says one. They tip out bins in colleges as if that is where the evidence of a weapons programme would be hidden. They are aggressive.

It was as intense an experience as any in my life, to march with the Iraqi students and to feel their anger and their powerful energy. During the march it started to rain, despite the bright sunshine. The sun was over the river Tigris, and I looked for a rainbow opposite. I couldn't see one. If it was there, it was hidden by the UN building.

contact : jo_wilding@yahoo.co.uk