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Australia: Nationwide protests against war in Iraq
By our reporters
4 December 2002
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Despite a lack of any publicity in the media, thousands of
people, many of them young, took part in protests across Australia
last weekend against the impending US-led war against Iraq. The
size and national scope of the demonstrations provide another
indication of growing anti-war sentiment among broad layers of
ordinary people.
The largest demonstration took place in Sydney on November
30, where an estimated 14,000 peoplemore than double recent
anti-war rallies in the citymarched from the town hall to
Hyde Park. Among the range of banners and placards carried were
those declaring, Weapons inspectionsInspect weapons
in the USA, Regime changeStart with the regime
in the US and Australia, Weapons of mass destructionthe
most destructive weapons are Bush and Howard and No
Blood for Oil.
Simultaneous rallies were held in the Tasmanian capital Hobart,
the Queensland city of Ipswich and the Northern Territory town
of Alice Springs. More than 1,500 protested in Adelaide, the South
Australia state capital, and over 500 rallied outside the US embassy
in the national capital Canberra. The next day, some 6,000 turned
out in Melbourne for a march through the city centre to Treasury
Gardens. Protests were also held in the Northern Territory capital
Darwin and Brisbane, the Queensland capital, and a rally is planned
next weekend in Perth, Western Australia.
Demonstrators in Sydney and Melbourne were addressed by a variety
of speakers, including actors, Greens and Australian Democrats
MPs, church leaders, ACTU president Sharan Burrow and other union
officials. All of them sought to confine the mounting opposition
to the war to the official political channels and to block an
examination of the deeper economic and political roots of the
drive to war.
Speaker after speaker promoted the illusion that protests could
pressure the Howard government to withdraw its support or that
the UN might stop the war. But the major partiesLiberal
and Laborare committed to backing a US invasion of Iraq
and the major powers have already passed a UN Security Council
resolution providing Washington with a host of triggers for a
war.
In many cases, the speeches were politically dishonest. Burrow
and other trade union bureaucrats are all members of the Labor
Party, whose leader Simon Crean has declared his readiness to
support an attack on Iraq. None of them have undertaken any political
struggle either within their unions or inside the Labor Party
against the policies of the Labor opposition.
Journalist John Pilger, the keynote speaker in Sydney, made
a short speech. He pointed to the growing scope of anti-war protests
internationally and to the underlying US aimto seize control
of the Iraqi oil fields. But he did not attempt to explain why
the Bush administration was being driven along the path of military
adventure, and concluded with a lame appeal for honest journalists
to tell the truth. The vast bulk of the mass media has been doing
precisely the oppositeacting as a conduit for the propaganda
of the Bush administration and the Howard government.
A number of those attending the Melbourne and Sydney rallies
viewed the Greens as a party that opposed any war against Iraq.
But the more the war looks like becoming a reality, the more muted
the opposition of the Greens. In the campaign for the Victorian
state elections, which was held one day before the Melbourne anti-war
rally, the party barely mentioned its stance on the war.
Greens leader Bob Brown, who addressed the Hobart rally, has
opposed the war, not on principle, but on the nationalist basis
that the Howard government should focus on regional security
issues. Moreover, he has left open the possibility that
the Greens will support an attack on Iraqif it has UN approval.
Its about capitalism
In contrast to the official platforms, many of those who spoke
to World Socialist Web Site reporters in Sydney and Melbourne
were critical not only of Howard and Bush, but of the political
establishment as a whole and were grappling to understand the
deeper causes of the war, which lie in the profit system itself.
In Sydney, David, a 22-year-old student, said US foreign policy
was heavily driven by their economic interests and
described the Howard governments war on terrorism
as rhetoric to try and justify an inhumane policy.
He denounced Labor for its refusal to oppose the war threats against
Iraq. They are not being led by real values, just political
opportunism.
Guido, from Switzerland, said the preparations for war against
Iraq were an expansion of American imperialism and
added: We dont believe this is a solutiongrabbing
the worlds dwindling resources, oil mainlybut its
all about power. The US government, he continued was not
eliminating troubles in other countries, but making troubles happen
and then telling us its all for world peace.
Julie, a teacher, said: I think it is an imperialist
war. Its about oil and its about George Bush pushing
the parameters of being able to walk in wherever he wants and
brutalise whomever he wants. I think he was just waiting for an
excuse like September 11 to have something to hang on to so that
he could smash Afghanistan and Iraq.
Im intensely disappointed with the Labor Party.
They dont follow the basic principles or the tenets they
began with and they havent come out against the sabre-rattling
of Howard or the refugee issues and detention centres. I started
out as a Labor voter, but the Greens have shown more integrity.
I would never vote Labor again, ever, state or federal. Im
a teacher and the Labor government has squeezed the life out of
public education.
Claire, a media worker, said: There are a lot of other
regimes around the world that are causing trouble, but the United
States is not launching a war against them because these countries
dont have any oil. Im here to protest about what they
are doing. Im not really sure what the solution is, it is
obviously very complicated, but Im open to options.
In Melbourne, Angel, a professional artist, commented: There
is more to this war than just a struggle for oil. We are talking
about a new imperialism, that of the US, and I feel their drive
is part of a means of dominating the world. Its about US
capitalism and capitalism as a whole at work.
American interestsI dont mean ordinary peoples
interests but those of the corporations and oil companiesare
bound up with this military drive. The US is trying to have world
domination like in Chile. Then they used the CIAit was more
covertnow its much more open.
Musa Koc, an information technology worker, pointed to the
increasing attacks on the democratic rights of Muslims in Australia,
in particular raids by Australian secret police following the
Bali terrorist bombing on October 12. As well as plans to take
control of oil interests in the Middle East, Koc said the Bush
and Howard governments had a racist, anti-Arab agenda. As
soon as some terrorist act comes they blame the Arabs. Instead
of them proving that we are guilty, we have to prove our innocence.
John Anton, a furniture maker, said he distrusted the established
media and kept informed by reading books and searching the Internet.
The media has a big responsibility for the current situation.
A huge amount of money is poured into the media propaganda to
achieve their agendaoil.
He opposed any reliance on the UN. I cant see any
progressive role of the UN as an organisation. The US has complete
power over NATO and the UN, which is doing nothing against the
war. From what they did in 1991, which was to support the economic
sanctions against Iraq, their track record shows they will do
it again.
See Also:
The war against Iraq and America's
drive for world domination
[4 October 2002]
Australian government rejects
call for caution on US war
[28 September 2002]
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