BRITAIN: Australians Against the War forms in London

BY
MARTIN ILTIS

LONDON — On March 22, up to 500,000 people demonstrated in central
London against the US-British-Australian invasion of Iraq. Among those
hundreds of thousands of concerned people were a vocal contingent of Australians
marching behind three banners: “Australians Against the War”; “NO HoWARd”;
“Aussies say: no more”. As the march progressed many other Australians
in the crowd were drawn to the banners and joined the “Aussie” contingent.

Some of those marching under the banners are members of the newly formed
Australians Against the War. One of the founding members, Julian Coppens,
told Green Left Weekly: “The idea to form Australians Against the
War arose because a group of us wanted to show that, even though we may
now be in London, we are totally opposed to the Australian government's
support for this immoral war. It's a good opportunity to reach out to other
Australians over here, so we can all have the opportunity to show our disgust
at the government's criminal actions. It's also a good opportunity to demonstrate
to the British people that the Australian people do not support this bloody
war that is devastating the Iraqi people.”

Australians Against the War plans to be involved in all major anti-war
activities in London. In addition, members of the group are considering
extra actions to highlight the role of the Australian government.

“We are considering a protest action at Australia House on ANZAC Day”,
Coppens said.

Australians Against the War is anxious to unite all Australians in the
London area who are opposed to the war. With this in mind, meetings have
been arranged where ideas can be discussed for further actions. A contact
list at the March 22 rally gathered many names of Australians anxious to
take part in further activities.

Meanwhile, Stop the War Coalition, has called a number of actions including
local rallies for March 29 and another national rally in London on April
12.

Australians in Britain can contact Australians Against the War by email
at <aatw_uk@yahoo.co.uk>.

From Green Left Weekly, April 2, 2003.

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From GLW issue 532