Across Australia on March 8, women, men and children took to the streets, using annual International Women’s Day marches as an opportunity to say “no” to US President George Bush and Prime Minister John Howard’s war on Iraq.

The marches, which took place in at least 13 cities, had more or less overt anti-war themes: from the Melbourne theme of “Peace, Justice and Solidarity: No war on Iraq” through to the Adelaide theme of “Women’s rights are human rights”. Protesters carried anti-war banners and placards, and badges opposing war on Iraq dotted clothing and bags.

Protesters highlighted the suffering that war on Iraq would cause to women, and the Coalition government’s allocation of money to war, instead of services. In Adelaide, for example, protesters chanted, “Five, six seven, eight, bombs don’t liberate!” and “money for childcare, not for warfare”.

The protests held in Geelong, Launceston and Hobart, were significantly larger than in previous years. Around 1000 people filled the main street of Geelong, marching behind a “No HoWARd” banner. The large rally and march was the first chance that Geelong residents had had of protesting against the war on Iraq as a community. Geelong’s Trades Hall Council also organised the first ever IWD breakfast. Sixty women came to hear the keynote speaker, Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia secretary Michele O’Neil.

In Hobart, 300 people made up a loud, chanting march, led by women drummers, protesting war on Iraq. The turnout — much larger than at previous IWD protests in the city — was despite pouring rain. A statement read out on behalf of the International Women’s Day collective was greeted with wild applause when it finished: “We express our total opposition to any involvement in a war on Iraq”. A decision to make the rally after the march “silent” was controversial, with the newly formed Women for Action group opposing the decision.

Women for Peace was the theme of the 350-strong Launceston protest. Protesters marched down the street singing “give peace a chance”, and calling out “we can stop the war!”.

Melbourne’s protest was also larger than International Women’s Day marches in that city have been for three years, as 2000 people braved rain to join the protest. The crowd, mostly young women, took the city by storm with a vibrant, energetic march opposing war.

In most cities, the protests were slightly larger than those of the last few years, reflecting some of the sense of urgency many feel about stopping the war on Iraq: almost 2000 rallied in Sydney, 500 in Adelaide, 250 in Lismore, 200 in Canberra and 150 in both Perth and Wollongong. Four-hundred marched in Brisbane and 40 in Rockhampton.

Speaking of the Sydney rally, protester Lisa Macdonald explained to Green Left Weekly that “Organisations that join the march every year, from the Older Women’s Network to the socialist youth group Resistance, were joined this year by many women from the Arab communities, all united in opposition to war.”

Speakers at the protests reflected the political parties opposing war: representatives of the Socialist Alliance and the Greens spoke at many of the protests. In Sydney, for example, Socialist Alliance NSW legislative council candidate Naomi Arrowsmith spoke, calling on Howard to resign, and in Wollongong Dr Margaret Throsby, also a legislative council candidate, spoke.

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow addressed the Melbourne protest, as did Democrats Senator Lyn Allyson. Spoke ALP critic, parliamentarian Carmen Lawrence, spoke at the Perth rally. Local Mayor Barbara Abley welcomed the Geelong protesters.

Anti-war campaigners from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, to Muslim women representatives, through to the Iraqi Women’s Committee, also mobilised for, and spoke at, some of the protests.

Other speakers at the protests reflected the range of attacks that are coming down of women: refugee-rights campaigners, Indigenous women, unionists, Palestinian women, lesbian activists, sex-workers, pro-choice campaigners and student activists.

Two feminist leaders were honoured at the protests. In Adelaide, women carried a wreath of purple and white flowers in the march in memory of poet Connie Frazer, a founding member of the IWD collective who had been a central organiser of many of the marches between then and her death last year. In Lismore, recently deceased Bundjalung elder and feminist and anti-racist activist Fay Smith was honoured.

From Green Left Weekly, March 12, 2003.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

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