BY SARAH CLEARY
HOBART — Anti-war fever hit the University of Tasmania on October 11 as more than 200 students attended a lunch-time rally organised by the Network Opposing War and Racism (NOWAR) student group.
Shua Garfield, a member of the NOWAR organising group, told students that if the United States government "really wants to stop terrorism they should stop funding terrorist groups. We have to remember that it was the US government that funded the mujaheddin in the 1980s ... calling them 'freedom fighters'."
Australian Greens senator Bob Brown stated that while he condemned the terrorist attacks in the US, he also condemned the uncontrolled response to them by the US.
"In the normal justice system, victims are not the prosecutors", Brown noted. Rather than the US being both judge and prosecutor, Brown said this role should be left to the United Nations. The terrorists should be tried in an international court of justice, he said.
Brown argued that the division of the world's population into a tiny number of "haves" and a vast majority of "have-nots" has created the conditions for terrorism to flourish.
Brown also condemned the Australian government's anti-refugee policies as being the same as those of One Nation.
The government's treatment of refugees was also condemned up by Debbie Butler, a member of the Australian Democrats, and Merryn Smith, the president of the Tasmanian University Amnesty International club.