Mass mobilisation on Palm Sunday
By Trish Corcoran
MELBOURNE — On March 28, the Palm Sunday march, rally and festival will take place. The main demand is "Stop the Jabiluka uranium mine". Other demands are "Stop the nuclear threat" and "Land rights now".
The event was initiated by the Jabiluka Action Group (JAG) and has received support from a broad range of organisations, including the Uniting Church, Victorian Trades Hall Council, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the National Union of Students.
Ray Fulcher, organiser of the day, told Green Left Weekly that the organisers hoped that Palm Sunday would "rekindle the spirit of the anti-nuclear campaign of the 1980s. We expect to see a large number of people marching."
Speakers at the rally include Greg Combet from the ACTU, Bishop Challen of the Brotherhood of St Lawrence, indigenous activist Charmaine Clark, Victorian Democrat Senator Lyn Allison and Dave Sweeney, anti-nuclear campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Deborah Conway's City of Women and Paul Hester's Largest Living Things will be performing at the festival. Other musicians include Dead Heart, the Brolga Boys, Ilana Atkinson and Pan.
The rally will assemble at the State Library at 1.30pm and march to the festival at Tom's Block, opposite the Victorian College of the Arts on St Kilda Rd.
Following Palm Sunday, a week-long blockade of North Ltd has been organised by JAG. Many organisations, including unions, women's groups and ethnic groups, have pledged their support to the blockade. "Peaceful assemblies" will be held from 5 to 9 every morning. North Ltd is located at 476 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne.
For more information, phone JAG on (03) 9417 6660.