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Official Institutional Statements Against the Sanctions: Resolutions
Condemning the War


(Academic Institutions, Municipal Governments, Religious Bodies, Gulf War
Vets, and More) 


Since January, six universities have issued resolutions condemning the
sanctions war against the people of Iraq.  Following the lead set by the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, universities nationwide have
successfully passed resolutions opposing the sanctions war: the University
of Texas at Austin, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Anderson
University (a Christian university in Indiana), Yale University (in
Connecticut), and Macalester College (in Minneapolis). Many more
universities are currently working on submitting resolutions, and adding
their voice to the growing anti-sanctions, pro-peace movement.


In April, the City Council of Ann Arbor (Michigan) unanimously passed a
resolution commending Bishop Thomas Gumbleton’s “challenge to the
genocidal policy of sanctions and [joining] him in urging the immediate
end to this policy.” A year earlier, the Detroit City Council had passed a
resolution “[saluting] the humanitarian efforts of Ramsey Clark” and
commending “his challenge to the genocidal policy of sanctions and
[joining] him in urging the immediate end to this policy.”  


In January, the National Gulf War Resource Center called for an “immediate
end to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.”


In November 1998, in response to the catastrophic looting of Iraq's
cultural heritage, which has been one of the lesser publicized crises
precipitated by the UN sanctions, an international group of 145
preservation authorities unanimously adopted a resolution urging all
governments to support international efforts in behalf of Iraq's
endangered heritage.


And in Iceland, the Left-Green Party denounces “the trade sanctions
against the people of Iraq as immoral, illegitimate and contrary to
fundamental principles of humanity and human rights” and demands that “the
Icelandic government end immediately its participation in the sanctions
and support international efforts to lift the sanctions.”


Furthermore, numerous religious institutions have issued various
statements regarding the sanctions and bombing war against the people of
Iraq.  In addition, the UN Human Rights Commission, in 1997, issued an
appeal “to all States concerned to reconsider their adoption of or
support” for the economic sanctions.


One of the strongest statements, thus far, has come from the International
Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(EAFORD).  In 1995, EAFORD wrote, in reference to the economic sanctions
against the people of Iraq, that “the liquidation of people by murder,
starvation and destruction of economic, industrial, educational and
cultural basic structures on which a society is built still take place,
due to ethnic, racial, religious or ideological reason. ... The
continuation of the sanctions against the people cannot be due to anything
but to unhealthy and unjustified political reasons, with the purpose of
exerting, directly or indirectly, coercion on the sovereign decisions of
this country."


All these institutions have proved that the movement to end the sanctions
war upon the people of Iraq encompasses a wide array of issues and angles,
all united in the struggle for peace and justice.  Utilize these voices in
your actions to end the war, and work to pass similar resolutions through
your own university, municipal government, church, and organizations.


And let's take it one step further -- let's introduce anti-sanctions
resolutions at party conventions.  This would involve running activists as
delegates, and, as delegates, they will introduce and vote on the
resolutions. In 1988 resolutions in support of Palestinian statehood
passed at party conventions in many states.  It is possible then to pass
anti-sanctions resolutions at the state level and at least bring the issue
to the fore at the national level.


(For more information on these resolutions, access the Iraq Action
Coalition website at http://iraqaction.org.  Also access the IAC site for
updated information and action alerts.)


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