MONEY FOR EDUCATION, NOT WAR !

MONEY FOR EDUCATION, NOT WAR !
Articles edited from ‘The Socialist’
Five long years of bloody war and occupation have left Iraq as a dangerous, violent and divided society. The latest statistics suggest:
Around 700,000 Iraqis have died violently or in connection with the conflict;
Almost one in two households in Baghdad have lost a family member;
Over 170 British troops and nearly 4,000 US troops have been killed so far. A further 58,000 US troops are injured or seriously ill;
Perhaps 100,000 US troops returned home with serious mental health disorders (the occupying powers do not even bother collating such statistics for the Iraqi people);
Baghdad has only eight hours of electricity supply a day and only one-third of the city is connected to the water mains. The health service, once one of the best in the Middle East, lies in ruins, as do the country’s roads, schools, homes and sewage system;
One in four Iraqis are jobless. No wonder that two million people fled the killing fields of Iraq for Syria and Jordan and elsewhere;
The estimated total budgetary and economic cost to the US: “will turn out to be around $3 trillion, with the cost to the rest of the world perhaps doubling that number again” (The Three Trillion Dollar War, Stiglitz and Bilmes, 2008).
The Iraqi people, particularly the oppressed Shias and Kurds, suffered terribly for decades under the brutal Saddam regime. But the task of overthrowing the dictatorship was for the Iraqi masses to carry out, not the cynical US
Students and teachers protest against US military recruiters
On November 16th, thousands of high school students in Minneapolis, Seattle, and other U.S. cities walked out of classes to demand an end to the war in Iraq, to protest the presence of military recruiters in schools, and call for money for education, not war.
Protesting against military recruitment was a major focus of the walkout. In Seattle, activists won an important victory last summer when the school board restricted recruiters’ access to schools following an ongoing campaign and a walkout of 800 students in April. In Minneapolis/St. Paul there is an ongoing campaign to force the school board to pass similar restrictions.
In Seattle, approximately 600 students from over 30 high schools and several universities and colleges walked out of classes at noon …
imperialist powers, which for years backed the vicious Saddam regime.
Bush wanted to secure oil for the big corporations and to vastly enhance US imperialism’s geo-strategic position, both in the region and internationally. Rather than bringing ‘stability’, the US occupation has deepened religious and national divisions, triggering a sectarian bloodbath that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
The situation in Iraq remains highly unstable and fragile. In the absence of a powerful class force uniting all Iraqis, including non-sectarian, democratically-run defence committees, the Iraq state could eventually break up along national and sectarian lines, pulling neighbouring states into the vortex.
The Iraqi working class must return to its rich class struggle traditions; creating a powerful socialist party to unite all religious and national groups and to overthrow the rule of sectarian warlords and big business.
This is a huge task facing the Iraqi working class but the alternative is a continuation of imperialist rule, and deepening sectarian divisions. As recent waves of strikes in Egypt and Iran show, class struggle can unite workers across all ethnic, religious and national lines in the Middle East.
Western imperialism is also facing growing disaster in Afghanistan. The huge PR stunt surrounding Prince Harry’s ‘tour’ of duty in Afghanistan cannot hide the truth that the majority of Afghans regard Western troops as an oppressive occupation and that most of Afghanistan is out of the control of the puppet Karzai government. It says a lot about life for Afghans under Western powers that the reactionary Taliban should make a comeback.
Full support should be given to attempts by democratic, non-sectarian, working-class organisations in Iraq and Afghanistan to resist imperialism, to fight for democratic rights and to struggle to overthrow the ruling gangsters.
Working people and youth, everywhere, need political parties that represent their anti-war, anti-capitalist sentiments – new mass workers’ parties, with bold socialist policies.
… and converged for a spirited rally and march. After the rally, demonstrators marched to a military recruiting station chanting, "Hey recruiters, we're no fools! Get your lies out of our schools!" and "Stop, stop, stop recruiting the poor! Fight the rich, not their wars!"
This was a successful step toward turning the overwhelming public sentiment against the war into a more active, visible opposition.
Unfortunately, some students faced threats of discipline and suspension from school. In Tukwila, Washington, where 200 students walked out, the School District threatened students with suspension, but their main targets were teachers, some of whom had encouraged students to take part.
Disciplinary investigations threatened the firing of six teachers, and the administration placed one of the six, Brett Rogers, on leave.
A solidarity appeal was sent out across email lists worldwide, resulting in over 1,000 protest emails and phone calls flooding the school administration demanding they reinstate Brett Rogers and respect the democratic rights of both teachers and students.
The school authorities faced relentless pressure on all fronts. The Seattle teachers’ union and the L.A. teachers’ union (the second largest teachers’ union in the country) both passed resolutions in support of the teachers and the students. The campaign received significant local media coverage.
Following the school board meeting where students gave impassioned speeches, ongoing pressure by community members, anti-war groups, and concerned individuals worldwide, and the threat of further organizing by students, the school board finally capitulated.
Brett Rogers was reinstated for the fall semester, all investigations against the remaining teachers were dropped with twominor letters of reprimand, and the principal of Foster High School, disgraced and under pressure, was forced to resign!
Students have learned a powerful lesson in organizing. Teachers have been emboldened that they can stand up to the pro-war activities of their school authorities.

For the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
End the siege of Gaza.
For the right of the Iraqi and Afghan people to determine their own future.
For student and teacher campaigns to keep military recruiters out of schools.
For a new mass workers’ party to represent the anti-war majority.
For workers’ unity and for