JAKARTA — On February 24, hundreds of demonstrators from the People's Democratic Party (PRD) took action against US plans to attack Iraq.

The demonstration began at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in central Jakarta then moved to the presidential palace via the British embassy, the UN headquarters and the US embassy.

At the US embassy, PRD chairperson Haris Rusli Moti, PRD general secretary Natalia Scholastika and the chairperson of the Indonesian National Front for Workers' Struggle Dita Indah Sari presented a statement to an embassy representative.

Speaking at the rally, Moti warned the Indonesian people to be on guard against Western imperialism's policies of foreign debt and military aggression, which are driven by the US. These policies are result in the privatisation of state industries, cuts to price subsidies for the poor and the exploitation of Indonesia's natural resources.

“They destroy countries with their theories of development, which are used to drain wealth while building permanent economic dependence on the imperialist countries”, Moti told the crowd. “After the targeted country nation is trapped beneath massive foreign debts, the imperialist governments force the victims to sell state assets and reduce subsidies to pay for the interest on the debt.”

Moti went on to explain that when this process fails, the US resorts to war. He described US plans to attack Iraq as “a war of capital ... The US and its allies want to take over Iraq's [oil] wealth by using issues of religion and terrorism”.

From Green Left Weekly, March 5, 2003.
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