BY NICK EVERETT
SYDNEY — "Newspapers often categorise people into moderates and extremists. You are the moderates, the government are the extremists", declared John Pilger, addressing an anti-war rally in Sydney on November 30.. The Australian government "has to be extreme to attack, unprovoked, a country that offers no threat to Australia".
Organisers estimate that between 15,000 and 25,000 people attended the rally, which was part of a national weekend of action against the war (see the next page for more details).
An award-winning journalist, Pilger addressed the Walk Against War on its arrival in the Domain, along with actors Judy Davis and John Howard, Dr Sue Wareham, Bishop Pat Power and representatives of Sydney's Muslim, Iraqi and Palestinian communities. The enthusiastic crowd was also entertained by Chris Taylor and Craig Reucassel, from the popular ABC television comedies, the Election Chaser and CNNNN, singers Jenny Morris and Cafe at the Gates of Salvation and popular Sydney band Leonardo's Bride.
The walk began at the Town Hall Square, where Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sharan Burrow opposed a military strike on Iraq carried out by the US government under the false pretext that Iraq has "weapons of mass destruction".
Burrow stated that she was "shocked" to hear the prime minister advocate support for defence minister Robert Hill's argument that international law should be changed to make pre-emptive strikes legal. Declaring that "peace is a union issue", Burrow called for solidarity between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians.
The march, led by a banner demanding "No war against Iraq! No Australian involvement!", wove its way though Sydney streets chanting "1, 2, 3, 4, we don't want your racist war! 5, 6, 7, 8, we will not cooperate!" and "Who will stop the war? We will stop the war!" When the front of the march reached the Domain the rear had only just left the Town Hall, filling the length of Park and College Streets.
Among the contingents in the march were local anti-war committees, such as the Marrickville Peace Group; several unions, including the National Tertiary Education Union, the NSW Teachers Federation, the Public Service Association, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; church groups, such as the Josephites for Peace; and political parties, including the Socialist Alliance, the Labor Party, the Greens, the Communist Party and the Australian Democrats.
British backpacker Neil Moore told Green Left Weekly that it was the first time he had ever been to a political rally. "This is something that really moved me. You expect it to be all hippies and stuff, but it's not — it is families, it's old people, it's young people. It's really positive such a huge cross-section of society is getting involved now."
Melinda, another rally participant, told GLW: "I am against the war in Iraq and I want to show my support for the anti-war movement. I don't see this only as a peace movement but as a more general movement against the direction of US economic and military power at the moment and the way the Australian and some European governments are following them."
On arrival at the Domain, the crowd was told by Kassim Abood, president of the Iraqi migrant council, "A US war will only bring destruction. We think that the task of overthrowing Saddam Hussein is a task for the Iraqi people."
Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali, the Mufti of Australia, expressed his agreement, saying that "the children of Iraq need food and basic medicines, not bombs or soldiers shooting at them."
Power summed up the feeling of many when he said "I have heard a lot of rhetoric about the war on terrorism. We should be more concerned about a war on poverty. A so-called war against terrorism has seen a build-up of hatred, fear and suspicion, a divide between 'them and us', and produced a climate of war."
"If there was a real attempt at the mitigation of poverty, the alleviating of the debts of the Third World, that would be real progress", he said.
Pilger reminded participants that they are part of an international movement, noting recent enormous rallies in London and Florence against "the outrageous prospect of attacking Iraq."
Pilger declared "a whole people is being held hostage to a medieval embargo, as well as to its own dictator. Many of those people are suffering after a dozen years of one of the most vicious blockades of a people in modern history."
Arguing that the US was using "weapons of mass destruction" as a red herring, he said: "The issue is strategic control of a country mainly due to the fact that Iraq is the only oil producing country in the world that could possibly increase its production."
Pilger also had words for his fellow journalists. "This great event today apparently was not important enough to appear in the Sydney Morning Herald, the major newspaper of this city, or the ABC, the national broadcaster", he said. "The media in the end will have blood on their hands."
"Only public opinion can change things. Only public opinion can look out for humanitarian issues around the world. But, the public can only know about the issues — the truth of issues — if journalists and broadcasters tell them. And I appeal to all the many good people that there are in the media, I appeal to them to rebel against this system and start telling the truth!"
Pilger finished his speech, which had the entire audience captivated, by urging people to "never lose heart."
"You are the opposition", he said. "You are often the difference between rapacious action of governments that are unaccountable and the growing militarism that is rushing across the world. It is a huge new movement, regardless of whether it is written about in the media or not. And what you do matters."
From Green Left Weekly, December 4, 2002.
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