The Cairo Conference against U.S. hegemony and war on Iraq and in solidarity with Palestine (later: Popular Campaign for the Support of Resistance in Palestine and Iraq and Against Globalization), generally known simply as Cairo Anti-war Conference, is an anti-war and anti-neo-liberalism conference held regularly since 2002 in Cairo, Egypt. The Cairo Conference set up the International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq which helped to coordinate the worldwide demonstrations on 15 February 2003. In 2009, the Conference was banned by the government of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. First Conference – 2002 The first conference was held on 17–19 December 2002, at the Conrad Hotel on the banks of the Nile. Four hundred attended. Speakers included former United Nations (UN) humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Dr Hans von Sponeck. Former Algerian president Ahmed Ben Bella chaired the conference. One outcome of the conference was the production of the 'Cairo Declaration', which took a stance against the then-looming Iraq War; it also noted the negative effects of capitalist globalisation and U.S. hegemony on the peoples of the world (including European and American citizens). In addition, it noted that "In the absence of democracy, and with widespread corruption and oppression constituting significant obstacles along the path of the Arab peoples' movement towards economic, social, and intellectual progress, adverse consequences are further aggravated within the framework of the existing world order of neoliberal globalisation", while firmly rejecting the 'advance of democracy' justification for attacking Iraq. The British Stop the War Coalition, in particular John Rees of the SWP, initiated the signing of the declaration by European leftists, including politicians Jeremy Corbyn, George Galloway and Tony Benn, Susan George (scholar/activist based in France), Bob Crow, Mick Rix (general secretary, UK train drivers' Aslef union), Julie Christie, George Monbiot, Harold Pinter, Ghayasuddin Siddiqui (Muslim Parliament), Tommy Sheridan (Scottish socialist), Dr Ghada Karmi (research fellow, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter), Tariq Ali. The conference was followed by a 1,000-strong anti-war demonstration that was surrounded by riot police and armoured cars. The organising committee decided to attempt solidarity actions with the US demonstrations on 18 January and to organise Egyptian demonstrations as part of 15 February global anti-war day. Second Conference – 2003 Held 13 and 14 December 2003, at the Egyptian Journalists' Union headquarters. This had 800 attendees. George Galloway, Tony Benn, Salma Yaqoob, and former US attorney-general Ramsey Clark were among the