Africans will be the worst victims of a war in Iraq, according to the Stop the War Campaign.
The campaign is a broad alliance of organisations that aim to mobilise South Africans against war in Iraq.
Addressing a press conference a day after United States Secretary of State Colin Powell reiterated his country’s determination to attack Iraq, the coalition announced a mass campaign in opposition to the war.
The coalition, which represents civil, political and religious organisations, plans to organise protests that will culminate in a march on the US embassy in Pretoria on February 19.
The campaign aims to make South Africans aware of the effect of the war.
”Africa will be the worst hit by the war,” says Vukani Mde, spokesperson for the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
He says the war will cause oil prices to rise dramatically, putting Africa in an economic crisis.
”The US has increasingly exhibited a preference for acting alone in its own national interests, backed by its military might and economic weight. This war is a scheme for global domination … and has grave consequences for the interests and needs of poor and working people in developing countries,” said Blade Nzimande, general secretary of the South African Communist Party.
The campaign also hopes to set up a long-term South African peace movement.
”It is important that we don’t sit by and say we can do nothing. We do not accept this reality [of war] as it is not our reality,” said Douglas Torr, representative of the South African Council of Churches.
Mazibuko Jara, spokesperson for the SACP, says the campaign will continue even if war does not break out. The situation will be re-evaluated at the end of the month.
Heavyweight African National Congress politicians are expected to endorse the campaign on February 11 by signing a Declaration of South Africans United to Stop the War in Iraq.
The organisations will collect signatures for a petition against war and organise prayer meetings in all provinces. They are calling on members of other faiths to attend Friday prayer meetings at Muslim mosques. Marches will be held throughout South Africa on February 15.
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon has distanced his party from the campaign because the march on the US embassy would cause a loss of foreign investment.
The SACP condemned the DA’s stance, saying it put the interests of multinational companies ahead of peace and justice.