Nick Everett, Canberra
British PM Tony Blair received a 21-gun salute and gushing praise from both PM John Howard and Labor leader Kim Beazley when he arrived at federal parliament on March 27. But a more fitting tribute was provided by 150 protesters on the lawns of parliament at a rally organised by the ACT Network Opposing War (ACT NOW).
Speakers at the rally included Terry Hicks (the father of Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks), Green Senator Kerry Nettle, federal Labor MP Carmen Lawrence and Islamic Friendship Association spokesperson Keysar Trad.
Terry Hicks had sought a meeting with Blair to present his case that his son, "like other British citizens", should be released from Guantanamo Bay. However, Blair declined to meet with him, leaving the task to one of his consular officials. David Hicks, whose mother is British, won the right to a British passport in that country's High Court last December, but the British government has appealed the ruling.
A message was read to the rally from Les Thomas, brother of Jack Thomas, who was detained in a Pakistan military prison in March 2003, deprived of his right to a lawyer and subjected to more than 100 hours of interrogations and psychological torture. Today Jack awaits sentencing in the maximum security unit of Barwon Prison after being found not guilty of charges of providing support to a terrorist organisation in Pakistan or Australia, but guilty of receiving funds and possessing a falsified passport. The judge in the case accepted evidence obtained under torture.
Les Thomas told the rally that the so-called anti-terror laws have become the greatest threat to democracy and freedom. "At the moment, it's the Muslim community that feels the brunt of these laws, but examples like the deportation of activist Scott Parkin show that this is a government that has no qualms about trashing our rights and freedoms to suit their political aims ...
"If we value our rights and freedoms, or hope to live in a world that isn't dominated by war and fear, we owe it to ourselves to stand up and fight every attempt to undermine them and alert others of the dangers to our democracy."
Socialist Alliance speaker and ACT NOW activist Jude Morton told the rally: "If it can happen to David and Jack, it could happen to any of us. We should be alert and alarmed about Howard, Blair and Bush."
After being entertained by Bush, Blair and Howard impersonators, the rally marched to the British High Commission with banners and placards reading: "Troops out of Iraq!" and "Bliar, Bliar, pants on fire!".
From Green Left Weekly, April 5, 2006.
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