Hundreds in ACT take protest to Howard's door

BY JAMES CAULFIELD

CANBERRA — Five-hundred people attended a November 30 rally outside the US Embassy and Prime Minister John Howard's residence, the Lodge.

The protest was organised by the ACT Network Opposing War. Speakers included ALP MP Harry Quick, Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker, James Vassilopoulos of the Socialist Alliance and representatives from Unions ACT, the local Aboriginal community and the ACT Council of Churches.

Quick said: "I would urge you... to talk to people about this issue. We can mobilise, we can stop Australian involvement [in the war]", Quick said.

Attendees included a wide range of local activists and groups such as Resistance, the Refugee Action Collective and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

The rally first congregated at the fences of the US Embassy before marching to the Lodge. The crowd's vibrant chanting may even have reached the ears of the nearby Israeli Embassy.

If war should break out before the next action, ACT NOW has called for protests on that day, starting at noon in Garema Placeand followed by a 5pm anti-war rally at the US embassy. As James Vassilopoulos said at the end of his address, "We've got a war to fight and a world to win."

From Green Left Weekly, December 4, 2002.

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From GLW issue 519