 |
Peaceful Response
Gears Up for Historic Peace March,
Calls for Massive Turn-out to say “NO WAR ON IRAQ!”
Event: PPRC Friday Rally and March
Date: Friday, March 14th, 2003
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Place: Pioneer Courthouse Square
The PPRC's weekly rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square
on Friday, March 14th, at 5:00 p.m., will focus on the
world’s united efforts to stop Bush’s war
on Iraq. “This week we heard directly from Donald
Rumsfeld that the US may attack Iraq alone, without
even Tony Blair as an ally,” said Chris Roehm,
a volunteer with the PPRC. “While the rest of
the planet is desperately trying to find a way to resolve
this crisis peacefully, the Bush Administration is possessed
by an insane lust for war.” Roehm said that local
activists are hoping this weekend’s peace march
in downtown Portland will contribute to persuading Bush
to step back from the brink of war.
Some members of the peace movement are hoping that the
UN General Assembly may step in, using an obscure Cold-War
era resolution that seems to be relevant in the current
crisis. According to UN resolution 377, the General
assembly can recommend collective action “if the
Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the
permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility
for the maintenance of international peace and security”.
“The US wants to go to war without a Security
Council vote, or with a bare majority vote of a ‘coalition
of the coerced’, but this 1950 UN legislation
allows the UN General Assembly to intervene if the Security
Council is not unanimous,” said Roehm. “They’ve
stepped in ten times in the past so we’re hoping
the General Assembly will come together to prevent Bush’s
war today.”1
“Our planet is in a world of hurt right now,”
said Roehm. “Today we hear again of another ten
Palestinians gunned down in the West Bank, the North
Korean crisis is worsening, and the struggling Serbian
democracy is at risk after President Zoran Djindjic’s
brutal assassination.” Roehm said that the US
should be working to reduce conflict in the world, not
to set off a Middle East conflagration with a war on
Iraq. “
The Saturday peace march will be this region’s
most important contribution to the efforts for peace,”
said Roehm. “What we do here on Saturday may make
the difference between a future of hope, and a future
of endless war and despair.”
The Saturday peace
rally is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at Waterfront Park
in downtown Portland.
1. “The forgotten power of the General Assembly”,
Robert Fisk, Independent (UK), March 14, 2003.
Back to PPRC-news home
|
