ISR and Socialist Students:

 Balloting against the occupation

On 29 January, on the day before the elections in occupied Iraq, ISR and
Socialist Students in London organised a protest outside Aegis Defence
Services Ltd.

Suzanne Beishon Hackney

Aegis was given a $293 million contract to co-ordinate security operations
amongst thousands of private companies in Iraq by the Pentagon. Whilst over
100,000 Iraqi’s have died, Aegis is making massive profits. Our protest
outside 118 Piccadilly was both enthusiastic and attractive to passers by, and
we met and spoke to many young people who were all very angry at the situation
in Iraq.

Rosemary Lew, from the US, who first got involved in the anti-war movement
when Dick Cheney visited her campus in Wyoming, said: "It’s hard to have an
election where people can’t vote in it because of fear and the lack of safe
polling places, so the whole thing is a farce".

Jack Nakama, also from the US, agreed: "I think it’s just a sham, it’s just
something to legitimise why we went in there, and say that we can let the
Iraqis control their own destiny but it’s really not. It’s just a top down
strategy, power is coming from the top, it’s not coming from the grass roots.
Democracy comes from the people, not from big corporations or US presidents".

Finally, Florian Koosbauer said: "I think it’s no real election, it’s far
more of a dictatorship". These opinions really show the growing consciousness
of young people today and the anger there is towards the continuing occupation
of Iraq. The protest was really lively and I think our ability to chant and
rhyme with ‘Aegis’ impressed all, including the police.