Looking back on the year (including a tour of the US)
Next steps for the movement (including the UN debate)

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Looking Back On The Year

This year has seen an enormous mobilization of the anti-war movement, which came close to derailing the US/UK drive to war (see Anti-War Briefing 40 'Close'), and a continuing mobilization against the US/UK occupation of Iraq on an extraordinary scale. Justice Not Vengeance (JNV) was founded in the aftermath of the war, to take forward the work of the London-based anti-war group ARROW.

Our main focus for the past six months has been initiating and sustaining GROW (GrassRoots Opposition to War), a new, non-hierarchical network of British anti-war groups <www.grassrootsoppositiontowar.org.uk>. JNV contributed time, energy, fundraising and some direct funding to GROW's GrassRoots Anti-War Conference in London in September. GROW now has local networks in Birmingham, Sheffield, London and Leeds.

Recently, JNV has resumed production of the respected Anti-War Briefings (formerly produced under the aegis of ARROW), and has initiated a national and international anti-war speaking tour by Milan Rai, author of War Plan Iraq and Regime Unchanged.

In mid-November, hosted by Voices in the Wilderness US, Mil travelled coast-to-coast from New York to Seattle, and then up to Vancouver in Canada. Mil has said that everywhere, especially in the mid-West in Minnesota and Wisconsin, he was struck by the strength and vibrancy of the anti-war movement (very often built on the foundations laid by the anti-sanctions movement in preceding years). Mil is preparing a report that will soon be available here on the JNV site.

Next Steps For The Movement

During this presidential election year, there are likely to be several key issues in relation to Iraq, apart from the occupation itself, and the growing insurgency against the US-led forces - our next Briefing deals with the recent killings in Samarra. One issue will be the struggle over the process of creating a new "sovereign" provisional government, where JNV will be supporting calls from within Iraq for direct elections to both the provisional government and the constituent assembly. (See Briefing 51: The Sovereignty Shell Game.)

Another issue will be the continuing restoration of elements of "Saddamism without Saddam", where first ARROW and now JNV have warned of the true nature of the US agenda for Iraq: 'leadership change, regime stabilization'. The capture of Saddam Hussein will not alter US strategy, nor will it end the obscene re-nazification of core elements of the Iraqi state. (Please see below for a recent quote from Robert Fisk. JNV will also shortly be producing a briefing responding to the capture of Saddam and the continuing restoration of the regime.)

In straw polls taken in anti-war meetings all over Scotland, Wales and England (and, in fact, in North America), there have been consistent majorities in favour of a rapid US/UK military and political withdrawal, to be replaced by a UN Transitional Authority to support Iraqi political parties in re-shaping Iraq, creating a new constitution and holding free elections, with UN peacekeeping forces replacing the occupation forces. (Please see Briefing 49: Transitions & Priorities.)

In the New Year, JNV will be producing anti-war materials dealing with these and other issues, from campaigning postcards to leaflets and badges. We hope you will find them useful and effective in your campaigning in this important year ahead of us. (If you would like to be in the 'advance notice group' of activists whose feedback will help shape these materials, please email us with a short message, ensuring that you have 'Feedback Group' in the subject header - thanks!)

We will also be promoting discussion of the UN issue here on the JNV site.

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