BY OSCAR
JUKES & RUTH RATCLIFFE
DARWIN Cries of "UN, USA no war, no way! woke up the usually
sleepy Smith Street Mall as 2500 people took to the streets on March 15.
Larrakia activist June Mills opened the rally saying: "No more
Issue 530
News
400 rally against war
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS
MELBOURNE — Around 400 people rallied in Federation Square on March 14, a snap action that was called just six days before. Protesters condemned Prime Minster John Howard's speech on March 13 that
BY SARAH
STEPHEN
Thousands of refugees' rights supporters from around the country
are set to converge over the Easter weekend on the Australian government's
latest concentration camp the Baxter detention centre, near Port Augusta
in South
Rally defends refugees
CANBERRA — "If Saddam Hussein is such a monster, why do you lock his victims up in hell-holes such as the detention camps in Baxter, Woomera and Nauru? If Saddam is such a monster, why are you trying to force asylum
Balmain calls for peace
BY LACHLAN MALLOCH
SYDNEY — Chants of "Come on Balmain, stand for peace, join the march on Darling Street" echoed from 300 anti-war protesters who marched through Balmain on March 15.
Led by peace drummers, the march,
BY ROHAN GAISWINKLER
HOBART — More than one thousand people protested against war on March 15, in a protest organised at less than a week's notice in response to the escalation of US plans for war.
The rally, called by the Peace Coalition,
BY SUE BOLTON
MELBOURNE — At a March 11 caucus of the national left unions in the leadup to the Australian Council of Trade Unions executive meeting on March 25-26, there was a discussion about whether to propose a motion to toughen up the ACTU's
BY
STEVE O'BRIEN
CHARLESTOWN, NSW The newly opened campaign headquarters for the
Socialist Alliance's election campaign for the seat of Charlestown in the
March 22 NSW election is attracting the attention of voters. The windows
of the
BY BILL MASON
BRISBANE — "In the face of a US-led war on Iraq and the looming World Trade Organisation meeting in Mexico in August, the Brisbane Social Forum wants to create an axis of hope — discussing how another world is possible", according
BY JAMES CAULFIELD
CANBERRA — Around 800 people came to Parliament House on March 13 for an anti-war rally to coincide with Prime Minister John Howard's speech to justify Australian involvement in a US war on Iraq.
Howard's speech was
BY BENN BANASIK
SYDNEY — "Peace is possible! War is not the answer!" echoed through the streets of the famous seasside suburb of Manly on March 10 as more than 700 anti-war residents joined together to show they will not support a war on the
BY CHRIS WILLIAMS
WOLLONGONG — Illawarra NoWar is calling on the government of France to use its veto against any plans for war put to the UN Security Council. On March 11, a delegation from NoWar took their message directly to the French
BY TONY ILTIS
TRARALGON — The depth of opposition to Prime Minister John Howard's rush towards war was again demonstrated on March 14 when more than 2000 people rallied and marched in the La Trobe Valley town of Traralgon in the Gippsland region
BY JOHN PERCY
During the last few years, visits to the Green Left Weekly web page have been steadily rising, but they've taken a dramatic leap in the last month, probably reflecting the rising anti-war consciousness and activity.
In April 2001,
BY ALISON DELLIT
On March 15, the day after a 2000-strong protest in Traralgon, people hit the streets in a number of regional and rural areas in Victoria to oppose the government's support for Washington's war drive.
Six-hundred people marched
BY LAURIE
SAUNDERS
MELBOURNE Socialist Alliance candidates recorded respectable results
in the Maribyrnong and Brimbank local council elections on March 15.
Maurice Sibelle scored 6.1% of the vote in McKay, a ward of the Brimbank
council
World
BY
ALI ABUNIMAH, MICHAEL BROWN & NIGEL PARRY
The inclusion in the Israeli government of the racist National Union,
which openly calls for the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, has received
muted coverage in the mainstream media.
The
BY DOUG LORIMER
Despite the March 1 vote by Turkey's parliament against allowing 62,000 US troops to be deployed in Turkey, the Pentagon has pushed ahead with preparations to use bases in eastern Turkey as part of its planned invasion of Iraq.
US
According to a poll published in the March 7 Glasgow Herald, support for the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) has surged because of its steadfast opposition to a war in Iraq, with or without UN backing.
"The Scottish Socialist Party has made
BY
IGGY KIM
Dita Sari, head of the Indonesian National Front for Workers' Struggle,
was in Baghdad on March 14-18 as part of high-profile Asian peace mission
to Iraq. Mission members visited hospitals, orphanages and schools. They
met with
BY MICHAEL ARNOLD
On February 1, Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra significantly upped the stakes in the war on drug users, resolving to make Thailand "drug free" within three months.
Given the level of drug use and distribution in
BY NORM DIXON
Just a month after more than 12 million people across the planet took part in the largest anti-war protest history in an attempt to prevent the United States' war machine decimating the people of Iraq, millions of people throughout
BY DOUG LORIMER
On March 9, US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that Washington was "in striking distance" of getting "nine or 10" votes on the UN Security Council to pass a draft resolution giving Iraq until March 17 to "disarm" or face an
WELLINGTON Five
people were arrested at a 600-strong anti-war protest outside Parliament
House on March 10. The demonstrators mobilised to greet Australia's pro-war
Prime Minister John Howard as he arrived for a state luncheon hosted by
More than 1 million people marched through Cairo on March 1 in a anti-war protest sponsored by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party. Members of the party, including the minister of information, marched with the
BY NICK SOUDAKOFF
The Philippines government has threatened to label the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) a "terrorist" group. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on March 10 stated that "actions, including the sabotage of [electricity]
MANILA — More than 3000 women, led by Women Rage (Women's Resistance to Globalisation and to End War), protested outside the US embassy here on International Women's Day, March 8. The women demanded that the Philippines government address issues of
BY TERESA FOARD
LONDON — Several hundred people marched from Parliament Square, Westminster, to a rally at the US embassy on March 8, International Women's Day.
There was a significant presence from the Iraqi, Kurdish and Iranian communities,
BY ROHAN PEARCE
US President George Bush has increasingly resorted to the claim that the aim of his regime's planned invasion of Iraq is to spread "democracy" throughout the Middle East. The worth of this claim is belied by the US record of backing
BY DANNY FAIRFAX
On February 15, 500,000 people converged on Berlin, and 50,000 in Stuttgart, to say "Keine lust auf krieg!" (We don't want war!). This is despite the fact that the federal Social Democratic Party (SPD)/Greens coalition government,
BY JAMES BALOWSKI
JAKARTA In response to continuing protests and press criticism,
the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri is resorting to the tactics
used by the Suharto dictatorship to suppress dissent.
A March 1 article in the
Suddenly, and without justification, five Cuban political prisoners being held in US prisons were thrown into solitary confinement on March 3.
Prison authorities have not given the official reason for the illegal confinement in "the hole", but
With media attention focused intensely on the UN Security Council debate over Iraq, the London-based Observer newspaper revealed on March 2 that the United States is apparently spying on the diplomatic delegations of Security Council nations. Despite
BY ROHAN PEARCE
US Secretary of State Colin Powell made headlines on March 9 when he announced that Iraq's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program — pilotless "drones" — were the ever-elusive "smoking gun" that proved Iraq was concealing banned
Culture
MELBOURNE — Scottish folk music legend Dick Gaughan will be performing at Trades Hall for one night only on March 25. His songs evoke a deep sympathy and respect for the working class, their struggles and their victories.
A professional musician
REVIEW BY JOHN ESTHER
Antwone FisherWritten by Antwone FisherDirected by Denzel WashingtonWith Derek Luke, Denzel Washington, Joy Bryant and Salli Richardson
It is a Hollywood fairytale come true. Antwone Fisher was a security guard at Sony
Anthony Blunt:
His Lives
By Miranda Carter
Macmillan, 2001
590 pp, $25 (pb)
REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON
In 1979, when British PM Margaret Thatcher exposed Sir Anthony Blunt
as the Fourth Man of the famous Cambridge University spy ring (Guy
BY BUSTER SOUTHERLY
"Now how many people must get killed? For oil families' pockets to get filled?", ask the Beastie Boys in the new anti-war song "In a World Gone Mad". The song was released on March 11 on the group's web site