Pip Hinman
Plans to hold national "End the lies" rallies the Sunday before the federal elections are well underway. Groups in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Hobart have adopted the additional demands, "Troops out! Howard out!"
Andrew Hall told Green Left Weekly that the Canberra rally organising group had decided to also "welcome refugees" at their protest, as the refugee movement in and around that city is very broad and active. "There was heaps of enthusiasm for this protest when the Refugee Action Committee handed out nearly 1000 leaflets at a John Butler Trio concert recently."
The Canberra rally has so far been endorsed by the ACT Refugee Action Committee, the ACT Network Opposing War, Public Servants for Refugees and the Socialist Alliance. Activists from The Wilderness Society, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the ACT Greens, Resistance and Community Radio 2XX attended the first meeting.
According to Iggy Kim, the Sydney "End the lies" group is "approaching all the community rights groups, unions and churches to get on board. It makes sense as they are already working on the very issues this rally aims to highlight".
"The bigger these rallies are, the greater the pressure on Howard and Co. Importantly too, an incoming ALP government has to be made to feel this pressure. It's in our interests to ensure that they realise that they too will be forced to pay the price if they lie like the Coalition has."
In Melbourne, the Victorian Peace Network decided on "End the lies! Bring the troops home!" as the key demands for the protest. Margarita Windisch from the VPN and the Socialist Alliance told GLW that after a lot of discussion, "affiliates felt that people will not necessarily support and attend a 'Howard out' rally when they can express that sentiment the following week in the ballot box". The VPN is encouraging cultural groups, artists and musicians to hold a fundraising concert for an Iraqi hospital after the rally.
The Hobart group decided on July 11 for a broader theme: "End the lies: Troops out, Howard out, refugees in, justice for all." Participating groups include the Hobart Peace Coalition, the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group, the Socialist Alliance and the Democrats.
Tasmanians for Refugees, the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union and Aboriginal rights activist Michael Mansell are interested in helping out, as is the Hobart College SRC, which is planning to organise students around the demand "No GST on text books".
Nikki Ulasowski reports from Perth that activists there have also decided to rally, and have endorsed an initiative by Project SafeCom to invite Merlin Luck from Big Brother to be one of the keynote speakers.
Another indication of the resonance of the "End the lies" call is a new website, <http://www.johnhowardlies.com>, which has been gaining up to 10 new subscriptions per minute.
From Green Left Weekly, July 21, 2004.
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