Socialist Alliance candidate condemns ASIO raids

BY KIM BULLIMORE

SYDNEY —
“The raids by armed secret police on a number of Muslim families in Sydney,
Melbourne and Perth must be condemned by all who value democratic rights”,
said Sam Wainwright, the Socialist Alliance candidate for the NSW seat
of Bankstown, on November 1.

“These are insidious attacks based on the religious profiling of some
members of the Muslim community as 'terrorists' and are part of a government-promoted
fear campaign in the wake of the Bali bombings. They will fan the flames
of racism and religious intolerance”, Wainwright told Green Left Weekly.

Wainwright, who works as a wharfie, is long-time supporter of trade
unionism and a social justice campaigns.

“Muslim and Arab people are being tarred with the 'terrorist' brush
by the federal Coalition and NSW Labor governments. They are attempting
to cynically exploit people's grief over the Bali bombings to generate
support for US President George Bush's looming war on Iraq”, Wainwright
charged.

Wainwright called on people to show their opposition to the war and
racism by joining a protest organised by the Canterbury-Bankstown Socialist
Alliance at 11am, Saturday, November 16, at the Old Town Plaza in Bankstown.

For more information on the rally or to get involved with the Canterbury-Bankstown
Socialist Alliance, phone Sam on 0412 751 508 or visit <http://www.socialist-alliance.org>.

From Green Left Weekly, November 6, 2002.

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From GLW issue 515