INTERNATIONAL PEOPLE''S TRIBUNAL SIGNS BLACK WARRANT FOR BUSH AND BLAIR
PTI, Udaipur 15th, April 2003.
An International People's Tribunal signed ""black warrant"" for the US
president George W. Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair today.
The effigies of two war criminals were presented in the tribunal and after
the sentence was passed they were hanged in public and burnt to ashes amidst
anti-imperialist slogans raised by the spectators.
Joint Campaign Against Imperialist War organised this mock trial of the two
warmongers who represented the US and British Imperialist powers. A six
member jury consisting of eminent intellectuals like Prof. Nand Chaturvedi,
noted Hindi Poet, Abid Abeed, noted Urdu Poet and a leader of Bohara youth
movement, Dr. Om Shivastava, a Social Worker, Rajanikant Verma, Socialist
thinker and Editor of Socialist India, Bhanwar lal Barbar, senior communist
leader and Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, Chair person of Muslim Vaqf Board,
listened to learned arguments put forward by sixteen representatives of
people-All belonging to different sections of the society.
This public trial of US president George W. Bush and the British Prime
Minister Tony Blair held at a public place called Mohata Park in Udaipur
City. Labourers, workers, Teachers, Students, Trade Union Workers including
several women participated in the programme. At the outset D.S. Paliwal,
convenor of the campaign and the programme introduced the jury to the
audience and explained the public trial of the two leaders. He said that
they represented the imperialist powers, which were responsible for
unleashing uncountable excesses on the people of Iraq. This unjust war was
not a crime against the people of Iraq alone but it was against the people
of entire world. Hence the justification of such trial.
The trial began with a set of charges made by a senior advocate and Human
rights activist Mannaram Dangi. He said that the war was unwarranted. There
was no need to attack Iraq when the government of Iraq had started
cooperating with UN experts searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction
(WOMD). He charged the two leaders of having destroyed the environment.
B.L.Singhvi, District Secretary of the Communist Party of India(Marxist)
described the war imposed on Iraq as the US attempt to encroach upon the oil
fields of Iraq. He said that the United State had always been anti people.
It was US who bombed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and later
attacked the countries like Grenada, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Viren lobo, An
activist of Socialist Unity Center of India(SUCI) focused on the economic
interests of the US which were the sole reasons of the attack on Iraq. He
criticised the Indian opposition of the war as very feeble and ritualistic.
Jayantee Lal Meena of Majdoor Ekta Sangathan said that the US had decided to
increase its effective presence in the Gulf even before George W. Bush came
to power. The recent attack of Iraq was a part of the US long-term strategy
to establish its hegemony over the whole world. Advocate C.P.Sharma
described the American attack as dictatorship. He reiterated that the
objective of the US was not peace but acquisition of the oil fields of Iraq.
Ashwini Paliwal, a social activist said that there was a need to check
american intervention in other countries. He said that any country that
dared to challenge the US, would be attacked if nothing were done to check
the imperialist advances of the US. Dr. H.S. Chandalia, General Secretary of
JASS and Zonal Secretary of All India Federation Of Universities and Collage
Teachers Organisation charged Bush and Blair of having destroyed the very
meaning of the words freedom and democracy. He said that these two persons
are responsible for the separation of truth and large-scale massacre of not
only human beings but also of flora and fauna of Iraq. He charged them of
having committed crime against humanity and life. Prof. Himanshu Pandya
acted as a counselor of the U.S. president and the British Prime Minister.
He replied to the charges made by the representatives of the people, who
included Vijay Choudhary, Heeralal Salvi of CPI ( M), Saleh Mohd. Nayab
(Poet and social Activist) Mohd. Sagi, Moti Singh Bilochi of CPI, Hamer
Singh and D.S. Paliwal of Majdoor Ekta Sangathan in a Satirical tone he said
that America is the world power now and she will decide what is meant by
freedom, democracy and justice. He warned the people of India that now it
was their turn they must realize the supremacy of the US and act
accordingly. He said that the US will enslave all the countries in such a
subtle way so that all the countries and their citizens will never realise
their slavery
The members of the jury responded to the charges made and the defense put
forward by ""Uncle Sam"". Chairperson of the tribunal Prof. Nand Chaturvedi
condemned the US action as imperialist and blamed the British Prime Minister
Tony Blair of Labour party as having brought disgrace to the Labour movement
of the world. He charged US of having initiated a civil war in Iraq simply
to find an excuse to keep its forces for a longer time He criticised the
government of India for its failure to voice the concerns of one billion
Indians effectively. In its Judgement read out by Prof. Chaturvedi the
tribunal sentenced the two criminals of war to death. The tribunal
recommended that the peace loving people of the world should boycott the
British and American products it was also recommended that the countries of
the third world should snap all ties and economic relations with UK and US.
Abid Adeeb, Dr. Om Srivastava, Bhanwarlal Barber, Rajnikant Verma and Mohd.
Ibrahim unanimously declared Bush and Blair war criminals and enemies of
Humanity.
The tribunal ended its trial with a message to the people all over the world
to think of an alternative world order in which no country can exercise
hegemony over other countries - a system which can ensure better peace,
cooperation, justice and fraternity. The trial ended with a vote of thanks
by the convenor D.S. Paliwal.
