@box text intr = In the first week of October, thousands of people will take to the streets of Brisbane and Melbourne: in Brisbane, on October 6, they will protest the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), while in Melbourne, the October 3-5 Commonwealth Business Forum of senior politicians and corporate heavyweights will be the target.
@box text= You should be there, raising your voice. Here's seven reasons why.
@box text= Top of the list is the war plans by the US and its allies, including Australia:
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- No to war and racism!
John Howard's federal government, with the whole-hearted backing of the Labor "opposition", has signalled that it will go all the way with US President George Bush, and already has warships steaming towards the Middle East.
@box text= Under cover of opposing "terrorism", it is an absolute surety that Australia, Britain and Canada will seek to strong-arm Commonwealth countries into backing the US plans for a war in the Middle East.
@box text= This war, if it is allowed to go ahead, will doubtless result in the deaths of far more innocent civilians than died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and will only strengthen the US rulers' domination of the world.
@box text= It could very easily become a war in which any government or movement which is opposed to US imperialism is targeted for military attack.
@box text= This war must be stopped — and the October protests are a perfect opportunity for us to say just that.
@box text= Bush's "war on terrorism" is a "continuation by other means" of the permanent policies of the corporate globalisers, so the original demands of the protests hold as much power as they ever have:
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- Treaty now!
@box text= Indigenous communities from across Queensland and Australia will lead the People's March on CHOGM and at the top of their list of demands is that CHOGM 2001 "make a clear and unambiguous statement in support of self-determination for indigenous peoples guaranteed by binding treaties between indigenous and colonising peoples" — a just demand which could be a possible beginning of justice for this country's first inhabitants.
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- No new World Trade Organisation round!
@box text= Rich country governments are sure to use CHOGM 2001 to pressure poorer Commonwealth countries to support moves to launch a new round of "free trade" talks at the WTO's November meeting in Qatar.
@box text= These talks will undoubtedly consolidate the injustices of the global economy and its siphoning of wealth from poor to rich — and must be stopped.
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- Respect human rights!
@box text= The Commonwealth includes some of the world's worst human rights abusers: both countries which commit such abuses (Zimbabwe, Nigeria) and those which arm and train them in "how-to" (Britain, Australia).
@box text= Protesters will point out that the Commonwealth has formal resolutions calling for respect for international human rights obligations — and that the hypocrisy must end.
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- Prevent climate change!
@box text= Many Commonwealth countries will face severe impacts from climate change, yet some countries, including most shamefully Australia, have deliberately sought to sabotage international action.
@box text= Protest groups are calling for CHOGM 2001 to call for effective action to stop climate change, and resist likely Australian efforts to weaken commitments further.
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- Cancel Third World debt!
@box text= With more than a billion people living in absolute poverty in the developing world, debt cancellation is literally a matter of life or death. Yet successive CHOGMs have been content to leave the issue at the paltry, existing commitments to debt "relief".
@box text= Protest groups are calling on CHOGM 2001 to support 100% debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries.
@box text= If these issues weren't pressing enough, the US government's warlike response to the horrific terrorist attacks on New York and Washington has added another.
@box text= And finally, these protests should be used to put forward a positive vision:
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- Another world is possible!
@box text= The time has come and gone when elite figures could meet in comfort to decide the fate of the rest of us. Such forms of rule have only multiplied injustices.
@box text= It is time for a global change, towards a worldwide society based on grassroots democracy, environmental sustainability, social justice and peace. That is the future we're committed to, and that's what we'll be putting forward on the streets of Melbourne and Brisbane.