BY NICK EVERETT
SYDNEY — Sections of the anti-war movement are attempting to disband the Sydney Walk Against the War Coalition, the organisation that organised the 500,000-strong march against the war on Iraq on February 16. They have already set up a new, invitation-only organisation, called the Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition (SPJC).
On July 7, former Labor senator Bruce Childs, former Communist Party leader Peter Murphy, representatives of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), the pro-China Communist Party of Australia (CPA-ML), the Australian Democrats, Politics in the Pub and several full-time organisers from the NSW Labor Council, the NSW Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the NSW Construction, Mining, Forestry and Energy Union met at Trades Hall to form the SPJC.
The majority of affiliates to the Walk Against the War Coalition, including local peace groups, the Socialist Alliance, Socialist Alternative and solidarity organisations were not informed of the inaugural meeting of the SPJC. Neither were Muslim organisations and individuals who are active in the anti-war campaign.
The SPJC meeting elected a 16-person coordinating committee for a term of one year, adopted a charter and operating rules. The meeting called for the Walk Against the War Coalition to be disbanded.
Rather than uniting the broadest range of people around a set of agreed anti-war demands (which the Walk Against the War Coalition does), the SPJC's charter reflects a conservative political perspective, including the controversial call for United Nations involvement in the occupation of Iraq. All affiliates of the SPJC must sign a statement saying that they will "withdraw from the organisation if the Coordinating Committee determines that [they have] committed repeated breaches" of the SPJC's charter, operating rules and guidelines for events.
On July 15, Luke Deer, Sydney district organiser of the International Socialist Organisation (ISO), and myself, a co-convenor of the Walk Against the War Coalition, were informed by Peter Murphy, Bruce Cornwall (from the CPA-ML) and Dave Barrington (Politics in the Pub) that due to the "difficulties" of working with the radical left in the Walk Against the War Coalition they wanted a "harmonious divorce".
Murphy claimed that the basis for unity in the Walk Against the War Coalition — opposition to the war on Iraq and to Australia's involvement — had now disappeared. Barrington later argued that local peace groups had nothing to offer the SPJC.
"It is disappointing that those who have initiated the split have been unwilling to put their case to a broad meeting of the Walk Against the War Coalition", Marlene Obeid, a member of the Canterbury-Bankstown Peace Group, told Green Left Weekly. "They have not consulted many of those who have worked tirelessly. The strength of the coalition has been the involvement of a diverse range of anti-war groups working together."
The ISO's Luke Deer told GLW, "A coalition is needed to unite the broadest range of organisations and people who want to resist the 'war on terror' and to mobilise against the occupation of Iraq, regardless of their attitude to the UN". He added that the peace movement had to be ready to "mobilise against any threat to North Korea, Iran, Syria or any other country targeted by Bush".
Pip Hinman, national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific, noted that recent opinion polls show that opposition to the US-led occupation of Iraq is growing. "This provides the peace movement with new openings to mobilise broad opposition to the war-makers. We need to start organising rallies — perhaps around October 25, when anti-war activists in the US will converge on Washington to demand an end to the occupation. But we need a united anti-war movement to do this."
This is not the first time that the conservative wing of the Walk Against the War Coalition have tried to split the peace movement. Last year, some of the same people involved in setting up the SPJC attempted to exclude members of Socialist Alliance and Socialist Alternative from the Sydney 2002 Palm Sunday Committee. A campaign against this forced the conservatives to retreat.
The formation of the Walk Against the War Coalition flowed from the anti-war movement's growing recognition of the need for unity.
As US threats against Iraq escalated, in August 2002 the No War on Iraq Coalition was initiated by members of the Democratic Socialist Party and Socialist Alternative. It organised a 3000-strong rally on September 30 — jointly with the Palestine Human Rights Campaign — to oppose war on Iraq and to mark the second anniversary of the Palestinian intifada. Later, the Sydney Peace Network was set up by members of the CPA, CPA-ML and the ISO.
As the US war drive increased, the need for unity in the campaign became more urgent. A meeting was initiated by the Sydney Peace Network and No War on Iraq to bring the groups together. On October 21, 2002, the Walk Against the War Coalition was formed to organise a "walk against the war" on November 30, with the slogans of "No war on Iraq" and "No Australian involvement". Three co-conveners were elected, one each from the major initiating anti-war groups.
At coalition meetings, which attracted up to 100 people, differences were debated and courses of action decided. Sometimes, debates reflected sharp differences over political demands and orientation. Differences came to a head over the relationship of the coalition to the youth-led Books Not Bombs coalition. BNB had organised two successful national student strikes on March 5 and 26, the second of which was marred by police violence in Sydney.
Following the March 26 student strike, the NSW Labor Council, which had major influence inside the Walk Against the War Coalition, tried to isolate the radical left. It called on the "mainstream peace movement to distance itself from the organisers of [the March 26] violent student rally" and labelled Books Not Bombs "fringe extremists". The Labor Council endorsed a resolution calling on the Walk Against the War Coalition to "take steps to ensure that similar events are not held".
While the Labor Council succeeded in pushing through a Walk Against the War meeting a motion condemning the March 26 student strike (by a margin of 55 to 45), it failed to split the coalition; supporters of the students' right to protest remained with the coalition. A third peaceful student strike and rally took place on April 2, despite police provocation and a massive media red-baiting campaign.
[Nick Everett is one of three co-conveners of the Walk Against the War Coalition and a member of the Socialist Alliance.]
From Green Left Weekly, July 23, 2003.
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