Voices in the wilderness: Nikki van der Gaag speaks to the sanctions-busters

New Internationalist, Sept, 1999 by Nikki Van der Gaag

THEY call themselves `Voices in the Wilderness'. Their aim is to draw attention to the plight of the Iraqi people by breaking the sanctions; taking medical supplies and toys to Iraq and hand-delivering them to children's hospitals.

They do so despite the risk of prosecution-the maximum penalty is five years' imprisonment in Britain and 12 years plus a million dollars in fines in the US. Voices in the US has already been threatened with such a fine. On 3 December 1998, the US Treasury Department informed the organization of its intention to impose $163,000 in penalties for breach of sanctions. They had 30 days to pay, although to date nothing has happened.

I met the latest delegation-two Americans and three Brits-in a hotel in downtown Baghdad. The lobby reeked of petrol; cheaper than water and less precious, it was being used to clean the floor.

Andrea Needham, from the British delegation, explains how they work. `We always make it very public that we are going to Iraq to break sanctions. We delivered a letter to the Prime Minister before leaving explaining exactly what we were going to do.'

Voices are welcomed by the Iraqis, but face a more mixed reception back home.

`People in the US aren't always friendly,' said Soyun Kim, a US delegate. We did a Peace Walk for Iraq in January. Along the way some people showed their support but others threw things at us. Two young men shouted "Bomb them!' "

All five said they would be prepared to go to prison in order to bring the plight of the Iraqi people to the attention of the world. Andrea and a colleague, Gabriel Carlyle, have already been arrested and imprisoned for protesting against the bombing of Iraq last December. In the US, six people were arrested on 15 June when they protested against the awarding of an honorary doctorate of law to Madeleine Albright, US Secretary of State. They argued that such an award should not be given to someone who administers a foreign policy that violates international law and has caused the death of so many Iraqi civilians.

In Britain, Voices UK and CASI (addresses below) are helping to organize a petition against sanctions on Iraq.

CAMPAIGNING ORGANIZATIONS:

You can contact local groups through these main ones:

AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND

Iraq Sanctions Medical Alert PO Box 7343,

Wellington South. E-mail: ISMAG@hotmail.com

Web:come.to/ISMAG Peace Movement Aotearoa

PO Box 9314, Wellington. Tel: 04 382 8129.

Fax: 04 382 8173. E-mail:pma@apc.org.nz

Web: www.converge.org.nz/pma/iraqa.htm

AUSTRALIA

Campaign Against Militarism PO Box 186,

Northbridge WA 6865 Tel: 08 9227 7880.

E-mail: camperth@odyssey.apana.org.au

Gulf Peace Action Committee, Adelaide SA.

E-mail:gulfpeace@writeme.com

BRITAIN

Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (CADU)

c/o GMD CND, One World Centre, 6 Mount Street,

Manchester M2. Tel: 0161 834 8301. Fax: 0161 834

8187. E-mail: gmdcnd@gn.apc.org Campaign

Against Sanctions on Iraq (CASI) c/o Seb Wills,

Clare College, Cambridge CB2 1TL. E-mail:

cir20@cus.cam.ac.uk Web:linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/casi

Emergency Committee on Iraq George

Galloway MP, Room 501, 7 Millbank, Westminster,

London SW1A 0AA. Tel: 0171 219 2874.

Fax: 0171 219 2879. Gulf Veterans and Families

Association c/o 4 Maspin Close, Kingswood, Hull

HU7 3EF. Tel: 01482 833 812. Fax: 01482 833 816.

Voices in the Wilderness 12 Trinity Road, London

N2 8JJ. Tel/Fax 0181 444 1605.

E-mail: voices@viwuk.freeserve.co.uk

Web:www.nonviolence.org.vitw

CANADA

Campaign to End Sanctions Against the

People of Iraq (CESAPI) 240 Holydrood Road,

North Vancouver, BC V7N 2R5. Tel: 604 985 7147.

Fax: 604 985 1260. dmorgan@web.net The Global

Movement to End the War against Iraq c/o

OPIRG McMaster, PO Box 1013, Mcmaster

University, 1280 Main St West, Hamilton, Ont L8S

ICO. Tel: 905 525 9140 ext. 27289. Fax: 905 523

0107. Web:www.leb.net/globalmewi Iraq Action

Network Canada, PO Box 40052, 75 King St S,

Waterloo, Ont, N2J 4V1. Objection de

Conscience / Voices of Conscience 8166 Henri-

Julien, Montreal, Quebec H2P 2J2. Tel: 514 858 7584.

E-mail:object@colba.net or voices@colba.net

UNITED STATES

Houston Coalition to End the War on Iraq

1844 Kipling St, Houston, Texas. Tel: 713 524 2682

Web:www.houstonprogressive.org International

Action Center Anti-Sanctions Project 39 W

14th St, #206; New York, NY, 10011.

Tel: 212 633 6646. Fax 212 633 2889.

E-mail: iacenter@iacenter.org Iraq Action

Coalition 7309 Haymarket Ln, Raleigh, NC 27615.

Tel: 919 848 7438. Fax: 919 846 7422.

E-mail iac@leb.net Web: iraqaction.org

International Peace Project 900 Mission Canyon

Rd, Santa Barbara CA 93105. Tel: 805 569 3738.

E-mail: MFKimball@aol.com Voices in the

Wilderness 1460 West Carmen Ave, Chicago, IL

60640. Tel: 773 784 8065. Fax: 773 784 8837.

E-mail: kkelly@igc.apc.org (see Britain for website).

READING

The Scourging of Iraq: Sanctions, Law and Natural Justice, Geoff Simons (Macmillan 1998). An angry book, but an invaluable reference tool. Simons has also written Iraq: Primus Inter Pariahs, a crisis chronology 1997-98 (Macmillian 1999) which minutely charts the disputes between the US and Iraq that led to the expulsion of the weapons inspectors, and Imposing Economic Sanctions: Legal remedy or genocidal too? (Pluto, 1999) looking at sanctions worldwide and their implications, as well as Iraq: From Sumer to Saddam (Macmillan 1996) which goes back 10,000 years! Sarah Graham-Brown's Sanctioning Saddam: the Politics of Intervention (IB Tauris, 1999) is a thorough and detailed analysis of the politics of economic sanctions. It includes material on the Kurds. For those wishing to look in more detail at Kurdish issues, David McDowall's definitive A Modern History of the Kurds (IB Tauris 1997) is a must. For an historical view, The Fire this Time by former US Attorney-General Ramsey Clark (Thunders Mouth Press, updated 1994) gives a searing analysis of Gulf War propaganda, as does Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War by John R Macarthur (University of California Press, 1993). For more information on depleted uranium, read Metal of Dishonour: how the Pentagon radiates soldiers and civilians with DU weapons (International Action Center). Journals: Gulf States Newsletter Box 124, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 3YT. Tel: 01342 712 929. Fax: 01342 712 829. Web:www.gulfstates.co.uk Middle East International 21 Collingham Road, London SW5 ONU. Tel: 0171 373 5228. Fax: 0171 370 5956. UK e-mail: steve@meiuk.u-net.com US E-mail astaats.his.com Middle East Report MERIP, 1500 Mass Ave NW, Suite 119, Washington DC 20005. Web:www.merip.org