MELBOURNE — Victorian state secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), Martin Kingham, has urged all trade unions to participate in an afternoon rally on the day that the US launches its war against Iraq.

The emergency action has been called by the Victorian Peace Network. Opponents of the US-led war, and Australian participation in it, will rally at 5pm at the State Library on that day.

This is not the first time that the CFMEU has voiced its opposition to a war on Iraq. At its branch meeting in December, the union's construction and general division passed the following motion unanimously:

“If a war on Iraq breaks out before or after the shut-down period, this branch meeting calls on the state executive to consider a brief lunchtime action in the CBD.

“We support a war on poverty, low pay and unemployment; not Australian tax dollars being spent supporting a war on the Iraqi people for the benefit of US imperialism and US oil companies.”

The motion was moved by shop steward and Socialist Party activist Steve Jolly.

The union subsequently decided to unite with the rest of the peace movement and take part in the broader rally.

Meanwhile in Adelaide, the Australian Education Union's national conference on January 17 endorsed amotion calling for Australian troops to be immediately withdrawn from the Persian Gulf. The AEU represents 155,000 teachers.

“Any attack on Iraq would cost the lives of thousands of innocent children”, AEU federal president Denis Fitzgerald said after the vote. “No child's life should be lost to such a pointless war, be that child Australian or Iraqi. On the evidence so far, there's no justification for it.”

Fitzgerald pointed out that “attacking Iraq to achieve regime change is not only illegal but is a threat to international stability. Not only will it fuel insecurity and poverty and threaten wider conflict in the Middle East and beyond, it will also strengthen the resolve of the repressive Iraqi government.”

While the AEU recognises that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime has “a shocking record of human rights abuses including the execution of trade unionists and political opponents”, Fitzgerald noted that “no link has even been alleged” between the September 11 attacks and Iraq.

“We suspect that the United State's aggression is more to do with geopolitical ambitions, notably Iraq's oil reserves. We're seeing the West's self-interest being put ahead of UN conventions, human lives and peace”, the AEU president said. “Australian [military] vessels and personnel enforcing the blockade on Iraq should be immediately withdrawn from the region to avoid any implication of involvement in a preemptive strike.”

Fitzgerald accused Australian Prime Minister John Howard of exploiting the fear of terrorist attacks “to promote militarism and xenophobia. “The AEU firmly believes that Australia's security interests are best achieved by building strong regional alliances through mutual development programs and independent security programs not tied to the aggressive US.”

“We urge the Howard government to see reason and look to the United Nations for a peaceful resolution [in Iraq]. A comprehensive multilateral disarmament plan under the UN is required — the removal of weapons of mass destruction cannot be achieved on the basis of rich countries having them and poor countries not”, Fitzgerald said.

“The AEU is committed to the building of the widest coalition of anti-war forces ever seen in Australia”, Fitzgerald declared. “We'll encourage citizens to overwhelmingly reject Howard's rush to war in Iraq.”

From Green Left Weekly, January 22, 2003.
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