New anti-war coalition launched

BY NICK EVERETT

SYDNEY — A "No War on Iraq" coalition was founded at a meeting on August 22 attended by representatives of the Greens, the Socialist Alliance, the Worker Communist Party of Iraq, as well as the National Union of Students, Labor for Refugees and Friends of the Earth.

The meeting heard reports on a variety of initiatives in Sydney linked to the threat of war on Iraq, including planned protests at the Pine Gap spy base on October 5-7, a rally on October 26 with the theme "Rally for the truth about refugees and war — unite against racism!" and protests planned against the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting being held in Sydney on November 14-15.

While it was noted that the US government might not be able to stitch together the necessary coalition to mount an attack on Iraq in the immediate future, most of the meeting's participants agreed that it was necessary to begin exposing the lies being used by the Bush and Howard governments to drum up support for a war.

The coalition adopted three objectives: opposing any US attack on Iraq; opposing any Australian government support for an attack; and calling for an end to the sanctions that have resulted in the deaths of over one-and-a-half million Iraqi children.

A public launch of the coalition will be discussed at the next meeting. For more information, phone Nick on 0409 762 081.

From Green Left Weekly, August 28, 2002.

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From GLW issue 506