@box text intr = On behalf of the Anti-Privatisation Alliance and all the people fighting against the World Bank/IMF program in Papua New Guinea, we would like to extend our best wishes and gratitude to all our friends and comrades in Australia for your solidarity, support and sympathy at this time.
Since 1993-94, when we began the campaign against the corporate take over of Papua New Guinea by the World Bank and IMF, the struggle had been long and bitter. And as recent events have revealed, it has also been bloody, with our students paying with their lives.
Let there be no mistake however — while the police in Papua New Guinea pulled the trigger, Alexander Downer and John Howard are responsible for the deaths of our students as they are the ones who have insisted and demanded that the government of PNG implements the World Bank/IMF program despite the consistent and massive opposition of our people. They are the ones who are also supplying the technical "expertise" to train and turn the police in PNG into brutal and vicious murderers.
While we are in sorrow and mourning the death of our students, your acts of solidarity and moral support has and will contribute to easing the pain that we are feeling at this moment. We know that we are not alone and that the struggle is common and that the deaths of our students will not be in vain.
While we are all saddened by the loss of our students, we know that the campaign and struggle against World Bank/IMF program in PNG must continue as it provides the only hope for a better future for our people. We know the World Bank/IMF program cannot solve the problems in PNG as it has failed to improve the lives of our people even though the country has been subjected to these programs since 1991.
We know too that while we are acting at local level to counter the take over and domination of our lives by the World Bank/IMF, our campaign is the same as the campaign being waged all over the world by those of you, who like us, are opposed to the take over and domination of our world by transnational corporations. We therefore call on you, all our friends and comrades to continue the anti-globalisation struggle as it is the only way to build a better future for our common world.
To effectively support us in our struggle we call on you all to continue the acts of solidarity and to demand that the Australian government undertake the following actions:
1. Apologise and offer condolence for the death of the students.
2. Suspend its technical and financial support to the Royal Papua New Guinea Police until there have been very serious steps undertaken to stop the brutality and killings committed by the police force. All funds provided to assist the police in PNG should be diverted to fund community initiatives to prevent crime and rehabilitate criminals.
3. Insist that a royal commission of inquiry is held into the death of the four students. (A coronial inquest will be inadequate in the circumstances.)
4. End, suspend or otherwise slow down the implementation of the structural adjustment program in PNG, especially the privatisation program.
5. Increase funding to health and education in PNG, including university education.
6. That AusAid seriously engages members of the Anti-Privatisation Alliance and the civil society generally to address issues of development, crime, poverty and other social/economic issues in PNG.
With warm regards and solidarity
Powes Parkop
general secretary
Melanesian Solidarity Group
Papua New Guinea