3-18-06, 9:03 am

PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD will participate in massive demonstrations against war on the March 18 weekend, the third anniversary of the brutal and illegal U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In Canada, protests are being organized in dozens of cities and towns.

Far from becoming a problem of history, the dangers to peace are multiplying and require ever larger efforts to build the anti-war movements around the world.

Millions of people are increasingly alarmed at the dangerous escalation of threats and provocations against world peace. Iran faces international sanctions for pursuing the peaceful use of atomic energy, and lives under the threat of aggressions from U.S. imperialism. The United States continues to develop and lower thresholds for the use of its massive nuclear weapons arsenal.

The publication of blasphemous anti-Islamic cartoons in a Danish newspaper was a calculated provocation against world peace, creating dangerous tensions that benefit the aims of imperialism to 'divide and rule' over the peoples of the world.

Another serious danger is the growing measures against communist parties and liberation movements by imperialist countries in Europe and the U.S. The war on terrorism is a useful tool for imperialism to criminalize all resistance to its domination while casting aside all democratic aspects of international law, such as disarmament, respect for human rights, laws against torture and 'renditions,' and most importantly the prevention of war.

All these problems are added to old global injustices, wounds and dangers, such as the impoverishment and starvation of millions of people as a result of the unjust world order of corporate globalization. U.S. imperialism particularly wants to use weapons in space to dominate the world and 'protect U.S. investments.'

Millions of Palestinian people continue to languish in refugee camps more than fifty years after being expelled from their homeland. The brutal U.S. sanctions and support for terrorist attacks against Cuba continue.

The election of the Harper Tories in January is a huge blow against the wishes of Canada's 'peace majority' opposed to further involvement in illegal and unjust military aggressions, often at the behest of U.S. imperialism. It will be important to influence the opposition parties in Parliament to oppose Harper's pro-imperialist agenda.

The days of action on the March 18 weekend should help to strengthen peace forces in Canada and internationally.



--Rankin is the Chair of the Communist Party of Canada's Peace and Disarmament Commission.

From People's Voice