Cymru Wales UNISON opposes War drive and agrees to affiliate to CND Cymru See motion (below) passed at Regional Council meeting in Mold on 5th October

UNISON seeking Justice but not revenge

This Regional Council believes that no political cause or sense of grievance can justify or excuse the wave of terrorist outrages inflicted on US civilians on 11 September.

In common with the rest of Britain's labour movement, this Council extends its deepest sympathy to the families of those who perished in the concerted assaults. But since these devastating attacks this Council has noted a profoundly disturbing response from some governments, politicians and sections of our communities; with calls for retribution and displays of xenophobic attacks in different places of the world, including incidents of ‘revenge’ racist attacks here in Wales. This Council therefore urges caution on the British and US government before embarking on any acts of war that are likely to add to the already horrifying loss of innocent life.

This Council recognises the ability of the imperialist states to strike other countries, with apparent impunity, using long-range rockets and high-altitude bombing raids which is one of the contributory factors to the growth of indiscriminate slaughter of civilians as a political weapon. It could be seen as an example of state terrorism inciting individual and group terrorism.

This Council believes that launching bombing raids on Afghanistan would merely add to the growing list of countries where civilians have been massacred, or forced to flee their countries, in order to force their governments to bend the knees. This Council notes that the heartache experienced by US citizens who have lost their loved ones in these latest atrocities, has already been felt by Yugoslavs, Iraqis, Palestinians and many more nationalities, as they have seen their relatives wiped out. Over one million Iraqis have died since the end of the Gulf war as a result of US air raids, backed up by Britain, and sanctions which kill Iraqi children while leaving the Saddam Hussein dictatorship intact.

This Council in recognising this fact does not intend to trade one atrocity against another, but to emphasise the need for a new approach to global relations and the implementation of ethical foreign policies, as was once promised by this Labour government.

This Council therefore calls upon the Labour government to use its influence with the USA to prevent a War and to pursue a new approach that recognises the rights and needs of the Palestinians, Iraqis and other suffering peoples that would create a new international climate that would undermine and isolate those committed to terrorism.

This Council also agrees to support the initiatives of CND Cymru in pursuance of these same aims through their campaign for ‘Peace with Justice’; to affiliate the Cymru Wales region to CND Cymru and to circulate its material around the branches.