{"id":551,"date":"2008-06-06T19:26:46","date_gmt":"2008-06-06T19:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hopoi.org\/?p=551"},"modified":"2008-06-06T19:26:46","modified_gmt":"2008-06-06T19:26:46","slug":"uk-unions-take-principled-stand-against-war-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/?p=551","title":{"rendered":"UK unions take principled stand against war on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t<\/strong>June 6, for immediate release<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nAS IMPERIALIST THREATS AGAINST IRAN GROW, SECOND UK UNION AFFILIATES TO HOPI<\/p>\n

Delegates to the June 2-6 Nottingham conference of the train drivers\u2019 union, Aslef, voted unaminously to make their union the second to affiliate to Hands Off the People of Iran in just 2 weeks. They joined the PCS, the 300,000-strong civil servants union, in lending their support to Hopi.<\/p>\n

The gathering pace of Hopi\u2019s support is crucial in a period when authorative leaks from Washington tell of Bush secretly briefing key US senators on plans to launch air strikes against Iran with the next two months.<\/p>\n

In what must be an orchestrated move with the US, a deputy prime minister of Israel, Shaul Mofaz, has warned that an attack on Iran\u2019s nuclear sites was \u201cunavoidable\u201d unless Tehran halts its alleged weapons programme. Meanwhile, the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, met US president George Bush on June 4 to discuss concerns over Iran\u2019s supposed nuclear threat, something he has stated \u201cmust be stopped by all means possible\u201d. (While no one has produced a shred of evidence that Iran – a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty – is making nuclear weapons, there is plenty of evidence that Israel (which refuses to sign the NPT) has a huge nuclear arsenal).<\/p>\n

Mark Fischer of the Hopi steering committee commented:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis underlines the importance of Hopi\u2019s unequivocal stance in its founding statement against \u2018Israeli expansionism and aggression\u2019 and for \u2018a nuclear-free Middle East as a step towards a nuclear-free world\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have to set these statements against the background of Barack Obama\u2019s hawkish June 4 speech, where he pledged his \u2018unshakable commitment\u2019 to Israel and warned that if elected president he would do \u2018everything in my power to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon\u2019. Attitudes towards Iran are hardening in the US political elite and in its close Middle East ally, Israel. The threat of a new war is growing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopi says that the organised working class movement is the key to any successful fight against imperialist war. The action take by Glasgow train drivers in 2003 when they refused to move arms freight is a glimpse of its power – this is the sort of determination we need again if we are to have a chance of stopping a new disaster for the peoples of the Middle East.
\nENDS<\/p>\n

NOTES FOR JOURNALISTS<\/em><\/p>\n

1. <\/em>ASLEF is Britain’s trade union for train drivers. Its 18,500+ members are employed in the train operating companies, the freight companies, London Underground and some Light Rapid Transport.<\/p>\n

2. Hopi was established in December of last year and includes amongst its supporters John McDonnell MP, Derek Wall, male principal speaker, Green Party, Peter Tatchell, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Naomi Klein, Michael Mansfield QC, John Pilger, Peggy Seeger (singer, songwriter and activist), Bill Bailey (actor and comedian) and Noam Chomsky.<\/p>\n

3. Hopi was barred from affiliating to the Stop the War Coalition in October 2007 because – it was claimed – we were \u201centirely hostile to the Coalition, its policies and its work\u201d (see www.hopoi.org\/media.html for material on this controversy). The dispute was also covered in the Independent – see www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/politics\/antiwar-activists-do-battle-over-intervention-in-iran-399450.html).<\/p>\n

4. However, Hopi supporters have remained members of the StWC and intend to challenge this undemocratic exclusion at the coalition\u2019s AGM in the Autumn.<\/span>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 6, for immediate release AS IMPERIALIST THREATS AGAINST IRAN GROW, SECOND UK UNION AFFILIATES TO HOPI Delegates to the June 2-6 Nottingham conference of the train drivers\u2019 union, Aslef, voted unaminously to make their union the second to affiliate to Hands Off the People of Iran in just 2 weeks. They joined the PCS, … <\/p>\n

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