End the lies, bring the troops home, Howard out

[The following text is from a leaflet calling for an "End the lies" rally in Sydney on the Sunday before the federal election.]

Three years after the truth was thrown overboard at the last federal election, now is the time to say "No more lies!"

We now have an opportunity to start a new path to a better country and a more peaceful world.

There has been too much spin and half-truths. There have been too many lies.

The lie that welcoming refugees with hospitality not prisons is a risk.

The lie that we have already done too much for East Timor and have the right to steal their oil.

The lie that the wealth of the few is more important than the poverty of many.

The lie that subsidising the coal industry is a real solution to global warming.

The lie that destroying our native forests is good environment policy.

And now the biggest lies of all are plain to see.

The lies that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was justified by weapons of mass destruction; that it was about democracy and making the world a safer place. And the lies that it should continue, that the continuing occupation is the solution to Iraq's problems not their cause.

Many times before we have gathered to question what is being said and done in our name. We have walked in our hundreds of thousands for reconciliation and we have marched in our millions against the war in Iraq.

We refuse to be manipulated by fear.

Now one week before the election let us gather again for truth and ensure they account for their lies.

From Green Left Weekly, July 21, 2004.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 590