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CASI's past activities
The two most significant events which CASI has organised have been its
two international conferences.
The following lists in reverse chronological order some of the other
events that CASI has organised or been involved in. Events were
held in Cambridge, UK, unless otherwise specified. Future events are listed
elsewhere. CASI's press releases are
listed on our press releases page.
- 17 February 2003: CASI issues press release:Over 1 million Iraqi children
might die in war - secret UN document
- 8th January 2003: CASI issues press release: Confidential UN Document Predicts Humanitarian Emergency in Event of War on Iraq
- 22nd December 2002: CASI issues an Analysis
of Foreign Office press release. Our accompanying press
release is headed Foreign Office 'systematically distorts' humanitarian
situation in Iraq, says anti-sanctions group
- 5th December 2002: CASI issues press
release on politicisation of Oil for Food programme.
- 4th December 2002: Talk by Dr Glen Rangwala, lecturer in Politics
at Newnham College, Cambridge on "Weapons inspections in
Iraq"
- 20th November 2002: Talk by Christophe Wilcke, Middle East Research
& Advocacy Officer, Save the Children UK on the Humanitarian Situation
on Iraq.
- 14th November 2002: Talk by Dr Colin Rowat, Lecturer in Economics,
University of Birmingham: "Iraq Policy: Recent political developments".
- 17th October 2002: Information and discussion evening with Milan Rai
(joint co-ordinator of Voices in the Wilderness UK and author of War
Plan Iraq: 10 reasons why we shouldn't launch another war against Iraq)
and Glen Rangwala (lecturer in Politics, at Newnham College, Cambridge,
and author of The dishonest case for war on Iraq).
- 10th October 2002: Introduction to CASI for new members of the University.
- July 2002: Publication of CASI newsletter.
- 17th February 2002: "Isn't it all Saddam's Fault?" - question
& answer & discussion meeting.
- 3rd February 2002: AGM
- 20th November 2001: "Phone Wave" protest against the Foreign
Office, co-coordinated by CASI
- 14 October 2001: Talk by Richard Byrne of Voices in the Wilderness
UK
- 6 October 2001: Chris Doyle of CAABU
spoke at CASI's welcome event for new students
- 10-11 March 2001: CASI Conference: "Policy
Alternatives to Sanctions on Iraq"
- 8 February 2001: Recently returned sanctions breaker Richard Byrne,
of Voices in the Wilderness UK, gave a talk with slides.
- 7 February 2001: CASI AGM
- 6 February 2001: CASI vigil & petition signing in Cambridge.
- February 2001: Publication of CASI newsletter.
- 2-3 December 2000: Anti-sanctions activitist's conference in Manchester
(organised by Voices UK, co-sponsored by CASI). Recordings of Hans von
Sponeck's speech are available here.
- 20 November 2000: Launch of the National
Petition Against Sanctions on Iraq, of which CASI is a co-sponsor.
- 6 November 2000: CASI's Colin Rowat gave a talk in London associated
with the International Day of
Silence.
- 17 October 2000: Chris Doyle (Council
for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding) gave a talk about
the history and future of sanctions on Iraq.
- 10 October 2000: Felicity Arbuthnot spoke of her experiences in Iraq
at CASI's welcome meeting for this year's "fresher" students.
- 18 September 2000: CASI policy advisor Colin Rowat appeared on the
Channel East Breakfast Show to discuss the effects of the sanctions
on Iraq.
- 14 September 2000: CASI policy advisor Colin Rowat led a discussion
on sanctions and their effectiveness at Downing
College.
- 6 July 2000: CASI Co-ordinator Yousef Ghazi-Tabatabai and policy advisor
Colin Rowat attended a CWC
conference on The Economics, Geopolitics and Investment Terms
in the Middle East, where Colin presented a paper, UN
agency reports on the humanitarian situation in Iraq.
- 25 June 2000: CASI published its third Occasional
Briefing and sent it to MPs in preparation for their 29 June debate
on sanctions.
- 30 May 2000: Sarah Graham-Brown spoke on "Humanitarian Aid and Human
Rights in Iraq: the role of non-governmental organisations since 1991".
Graham-Brown is the author of Sanctioning
Saddam (I.B. Tauris, 1999) and has studied the situation in Iraq
in depth since 1995.
- 27 May 2000: Conference proceedings
from CASI's November 1999 conference launched.
- 21 May 2000: CASI's Fiorella Sultana spoke to SPEAK Cambridge on the
situation in Iraq. SPEAK Cambridge is part of a national network of
Christians who speak and pray for justice.
- 6 May 2000: CASI had a stall at the Mariam
Appeal's Day and Night for the People of Iraq. CASI's Colin
Rowat spoke at the workshop on campaigning.
- 1 May 2000: CASI released its May 2000 newsletter (a complete list
is here).
- 31 March 2000: CASI submitted a formal
response to the Labour Party's `Britain in the World' foreign policy
consultation process.
- 29 February 2000: CASI's new co-ordinator Yousef Ghazi-Tabatabai and
Colin Rowat attended a panel discussion for parliamentarians organised
by the Council for the Advancement of
Arab-British Understanding and Save
the Children Fund UK.
- 27 February 2000: CASI sent out background
notes on the film, Three Kings, to film critics in advance
of its UK release.
- 26 February 2000: CASI Annual General Meeting selected a new committee
for 2000 - 01.
- 22 February 2000: CASI's Colin Rowat participated in a Cambridge Forum
panel on Rogue States.
- 14 February 2000: CASI's Colin Rowat spoke on Security Council Resolution
1284 at a meeting organised by the Committee for the Lifting of the
Economic Sanctions on the Iraqi People (CLESIP) and Liberation in the
House of Commons. His presentation is available
in PowerPoint format.
- 12 February 2000: Felicity Arbuthnot updated CASI on the humanitarian
situation in Iraq. This talk marked the third anniversary of Felicity's
first talk to the Cambridge
University Amnesty International group that led to CASI's founding.
- 3 February 2000: CASI attended Foreign and Commonwealth Office seminar
day on "The Future of Iraq".
- 24 December 1999: Publication of a CASI Occasional
Briefing on Security Council Resolution 1284.
- 13-14 November 1999: CASI organised international conference Sanctions
on Iraq: background, consequences and strategies. CASI member
Eliza Hilton's article
on the conference appeared in Cambridge student newspaper Varsity
on 18 November.
- 9 November 1999: An
article by CASI's Elinor Wakefield and Seb Wills appeared in the
Guardian's Higher Education section.
- 28 October 1999: CASI's Colin Rowat spoke to the Critical Lawyers'
Group at the University of Kent at Canterbury.
- 14 October 1999: CASI's Colin Rowat spoke at Hills Road Sixth Form's
Amnesty International group. The group then distributed the National
Petition to all forms, leading to 10% of all students signing it.
- October 1999: Publication of a CASI newsletter.
- 6 August 1999: National Petition
Against Sanctions on Iraq launched with CASI sponsorship.
- 17 May 1999: Publication of a CASI Occasional
Briefing on the humanitarian situation on Iraq.
- April 1999: Publication of a CASI newsletter.
- 3 March 1999: Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU) Council
meeting passed a motion to support CASI in raising awareness in Cambridge
of the declining educational situation in Iraq which is a direct result
of sanctions.
- 27 February 1999: National Day of Action. An idea initiated at the
5th December meeting (see below), whereby groups all over the country
organised events on the same day. In Cambridge we ran a stall in the
city centre distributing information, and attracted attention with some
simple but effective street theatre. This event also saw the
formation of a 'town group' in Cambridge (now 'Voices for Justice in
Iraq') to complement the activities of CASI which mainly operates within
the University.
- February 1999: CASI's draft briefing document
"Starving Iraq: one humanitarian disaster we can stop" released.
- 23-28 January 1999: CASI organised former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator
for Iraq Denis
Halliday's UK speaking tour.
- January 1999: Publication of a CASI newsletter.
- 5 December 1998: CASI organised and hosted a first National
Co-ordination Meeting for groups and individuals opposing sanctions
on Iraq.
- 15 October 1998: Speaker meeting and slideshow by Milan Rai of Voices
in the Wilderness UK, recently returned from Iraq.
- 19 May 1998: "IRAQ: DEATH OF A NATION" - a talk by Felicity Arbuthnot,
freelance journalist, who has recently returned from her twelfth visit
to Iraq. Felicity is a moving speaker and avid campaigner against the
sanctions on Iraq. Her well-attended talk relayed some experiences from
her most recent trip and offered insights into the politics behind the
sanctions.
- In the few months before March 1998, we gathered over 1500 signatures
on a petition to Robin Cook, the British Foreign Secretary, demanding
an end to the sanctions on Iraq on humanitarian grounds. The petition
was handed in to the Foreign Office by two CASI committee members, who
subsequently received a short letter of thanks, remarkably similar to
ones received by everyone who wrote to the Foreign Office at that time.
- 6 March 1998: CASI member Selwa Calderbank's The
Silent Holocaust is published in Cambridge's student newspaper,
Varsity.
- 5 March 1998: Having just returned to the UK from a sanctions-breaking
trip to Iraq, Milan Rai, writer and peace
activist, gave a talk describing his experiences on this trip and discussed
the sanctions on Iraq. Here is a precis.
Update : Milan Rai and his companions were
arrested soon after this talk for smuggling medicines and children's notebooks
into Iraq! More
info here...
- 21 February 1998: CASI held An Evening
In Babylon, a charitable cultural event in aid of "Help the Children
of Iraq", a London-based registered charity.
- 26 November 1997: CASI held a speaker meeting by Sabah Al-Mukhtar,
an Iraqi lawyer. A precis
and a full
article about the talk are available.
- 25 February 1997: Felicity
Arbuthnot spoke to Cambridge University's Amnesty International chapter,
leading to CASI's formation.
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