Today, I attended an Iraqi activist meeting discussing new forms of resistance to the occupation. The meeting took place at Women's Will, a women's rights and social justice organization, and represented were some of the more radical leftist groups in Baghdad. The bulk of the conference focused around a proposed boycott of US and Israeli goods that have flooded Iraqi markets since the invasion.

A woman opened, "We are now living under another dictatorship, you see what kind of democracy we have, seems more like bloodacracy. You see what kind of liberation they brought: unemployment, murder and destruction. We must resist this, it is the right of any occupied people to resist. Especially the women, we can use the simplest weapons of resistance, a financial boycott." They passed around flyers and one translated to, "Don't pay money for the enemy's weapons".

Well educated activists articulated the economic strategies of the US occupation. "They want to make Iraq a duty-free market for their products and put Iraqi products out of business." Many of the products are causing health problems, "They're importing food that's expired and harmful to us. The Ministry of Health has found items now available that were forbidden because they are cancerous or cause sterility." Since medication is also difficult to get, imitation and dangerous drugs are appearing in stores and on the black market. One man told a story of a diabetic woman who contracted HIV from an insulin shot.

"We'd like to teach our fellow citizens that they can be part of the resistance by boycotting US and Israeli goods" an activist stated. "The main reason for the occupation is the economic benefits, so with a boycott simple people can make lasting change." They insisted that there were plenty of Iraq products that could replace these cheap imports, and that it is largely up to Iraqi women to make this change.

They plan to launch an information campaign warning Iraqis about the health problems caused by these products, and making the links between US products and the occupation. They discussed using the mass media, "But they will never show it on TV," one activist said, "its controlled by the occupation". They noted that they will face difficulties combating America's seductive advertising techniques, but they believe small education campaigns can change many minds. A woman gave an example of a store in her neighborhood that was selling primarily US imports even though they'd asked him to stop. "We made a demonstration and told everyone not to buy there, and it closed".

"We can make a website" one activist suggested, "Lets hand out flyers outside of mosques and universities" another brainstormed. They were very conscious of the risks they face in publicly organizing this kind of resistance. Present was a local Imam who had been arrested after he spoke out against the US occupation. "Soon after I spoke against US advertising in my Friday speech, US spies came and took me away. I was held for five months and interrogators told me it was because I had spoken against US products." This kind of fascist repression is nothing new for Iraqis, they know that freedom means risking their lives.

"The resistance can attack the trucks carrying products through our borders" an activist pointed out, "but we must do our part and stop buying them." "We can convince 10 or 20 today, maybe 100 tomorrow," one said hopefully, "we have to start now to make sure there will be no McDonalds in Iraq." A woman concluded the conference with a statement of conviction, "It would be shameful for us to be under occupation and do nothing. It would be torture for me to stay silent."