US hypocrisy condemned in Hobart

BY AMY GARDNER

HOBART — Around 400 people gathered in Franklin Square on November 30 to protest against the planned US-led war on Iraq. The rally was organised by the Peace Coalition of Tasmania. The people then set off on a short march to Parliament lawns to listen to speeches.

Many onlookers were persuaded to join and the gathering grew as the rally and march progressed. Greens Senator Bob Brown urged the Australian government to heed the Australian people's opposition to a war on Iraq. Brown said that Prime Minister John Howard should not make a decision of such a grave and serious nature without prior consultation with parliament. He condemned the subservience of the Australian government to the whims of the US.

Unions Tasmania secretary Lynne Fitzgerald spoke of the need for trade unions to participate in the peace movement. The federal member for Denison, Labor's Duncan Kerr, outlined the importance of the United Nations role in maintaining international peace and security. He noted that the charter of the UN firmly states that a country must not wage war unless their domestic security is threatened. He likened US president George Bush's threat to invade Iraq to Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Resistance's Shua Garfield criticised the hypocrisy of the US government. He also reminded the rally that the US supplied Saddam Hussein's regime with the components for chemical weapons in the 1980s.

From Green Left Weekly, December 4, 2002.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 519