Organising is well under way for protests during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney in September, to which PM John Howard will be welcoming his war criminal mate, US President George Bush.
The Stop Bush Coalition is organising a convergence for September 8, and has called for people across the country to come to Sydney to protest against the biggest terrorist in the world today — Bush. The protests will demand not only that the troops leave Iraq and Afghanistan, but also urgent action to stop environmental destruction and the defence of workers' rights.
Resistance believes that young people need a voice of our own: democracy is not about waiting to vote every three or four years. Beyond getting rid of Howard, positive social change will only come about through workers, students and others fighting for our democratic rights.
This is particularly important in the lead-up to APEC, because of the introduction special police powers and the waging of a media scare campaign aimed at intimidating people away from protesting.
Young people have played an important role in changing public opinion in this country. We were among the first to publicly protest against the policies of Pauline Hanson, with high-school walkouts against racism. In 2003, the Books not Bombs student strikes involved tens of thousands of students who walked out of class to oppose the invasion of Iraq. Last year, high-school students marched again in a national day of student action in response to Howard's attacks on workers' rights.
We have proved in practice that when we take action together at our universities, high schools, TAFEs, workplaces and in the streets we can make a difference.
Resistance wants to join with others in a national day of student and youth action in the lead up to APEC. A student strike is already being prepared on high schools and universities in Wollongong and Sydney.
Recently, defence minister Brendon Nelson admitted something that we have always known — that oil security was a critical reason behind the invasion of Iraq. The West's voracious demand for fossil fuels continues to grow while oil supplies are becoming increasingly scarce.
This particular war for oil also fuels the global environmental crisis because the burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of global warming. This is another reason to protest the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which has killed at least 1 million Iraqis and cost more than US$1 billion per week.
The APEC energy minsters meeting in Darwin in May reaffirmed the central role of fossil fuels and governments' desire to secure oil resources into the future.
Bush and Howard say they plan to use the APEC summit to "forge a new international agreement". We know from previous APEC summits that they are in the business of finding new ways to suck more wealth from the world's poor through securing bilateral trade agreements that disadvantage poorer nations, and that also impact badly on working people's rights.
Join us in challenging Bush and Howard's profit-driven, exploitative agenda. To endorse the student day of action, or to get in touch with others to help organise an action in your city, phone Brianna on (02) 9690 1220 or email pike.brianna@gmail.com, or phone Simon on 0438 297 552. To contact the Stop Bush Coalition, visit