- Conference
- 2008 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 15 September 2007
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference notes that four years after the invasion of Iraq, the US-led occupation has had a horrific human cost on Black people, including the deaths of 655,000 Iraqis, and 3,352 US and 147 British troops. The past year has seen violence escalate to unprecedented levels.
The occupation has been brutal, with the use of chemical weapons, and the mass jailing without trial, and the torture of thousands of Iraqis which have all been documented. At the same time, thousands of Iraqis remain without access to clean water or electricity.
This situation is far worse than life under Saddam Hussain’s regime, and still no weapons of mass destruction have ever been found.
Calls in the US and Britain for withdrawal of troops from Iraq are growing. Despite the failure of his latest military reinforcement ‘surge’ strategy, George Bush vetoed an attempt by Congress to set a date for withdrawing troops.
Hostile rhetoric against Iran is growing under the pretext of possession of nuclear weapons – just as in the case of Iraq.
Hypocritically, the US and UK have had nuclear weapons for decades and Israel is the only nuclear weapons state in the Middle East, yet it does not allow independent inspections of its nuclear facilities.
Conference instructs the National Black Members’ Committee (NBMC) to work with the National Executive Council (NEC) to:
1.Support Stop the War Coalition and CND to work together with UNISON’s Black members about the call for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq;
2.Lobby the National Executive Council to oppose all sanctions or military action on Iran which could further condemn Black people to the experience being witnessed in Iraq;
3.Call on UNISON NEC to lobby the British Government, UNISON’s Labour Link to lobby the Labour Party for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and to oppose any call by the US/UK government of attacking, invading and bombing Iran.