BY IGGY KIM
SYDNEY — The Indonesian government's decision to divide West Papua into three provinces is a further attack by Jakarta on the Papuan people's right to self-determination, West Papua Institute for Human Rights supervisor John Rumbiak
Issue 527
News
AMEC workers victory
MELBOURNE — Workers employed by AMEC, the company contracted to install new generators at the Carrum Downs water treatment plant, are back at work. They won the reinstatement of eight workers, including the Australian
Wollongongs peace train and IWD plans
BY MARG PERROTT
WOLLONGONG After the 5000-strong February 8 anti-war rally here, a
large crowd was expected to travel from Wollongong to Sydney on February
16. Although originally NOWAR had
Women say 'Its not our war
BY ELISA TRUNZO
SYDNEY I told my friend I'd meet her at Hyde Park at 12.30pm for the
Women for Peace rally. See you there, I said. Can't imagine there'll
be much of a turnout in this miserable weather.
BY JAMES VASSILOPOULOS
CANBERRA — The ACT Network Opposing War on February 18 issued its own call for all anti-war and peace groups, community organisations, trade unions, student and youth groups and political organisations opposed to a war on
BY MARGARET GLEESON
SYDNEY — On February 19, 100 people met in Leichhardt Town Hall to discuss the topic "How we can stop the war on Iraq".
Organised by Green Left Weekly, the meeting was addressed by by anti-war Labor MP Harry Quick, who told
BY PAUL OBOOHOV
CANBERRA — Seventy police, 30 in riot gear, raided the Aboriginal Tent Embassy at 6am on February 19. They dismantled a recently erected A-frame tin goonji.
Most of those sleeping on-site at the time of the raid were women and
BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE
HOBART — The Unions Tasmania Council, the peak union body in the state, issued a statement from its meeting on February 13 opposing a unilateral US war on Iraq.
However, the statement supports UN calls on Iraq to "surrender
1000 protest in Daylesford
BY MARG MURPHY
DAYLESFORD, Victoria — Inspired by the February 14 massive mobilisation in Melbourne, around 1000 residents took over the main street on February 22 to say "no to war". The arriving crowd was greeted by
BY
AMY MCDONNELL
ADELAIDE Young people need to be leading the anti-war movement.
Tens of thousands of Australian students were involved in stopping the
war in Vietnam, and we can stop the war in Iraq, said University of Adelaide
student
BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE
HOBART — The state Labor government of Premier Jim Bacon decided on February 3 to introduce new laws to allow the $30 million Meander Dam project to go ahead. Previously, the Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal
BY
TIM GOODEN
GEELONG Answering a call from the Victorian branch of the Construction,
Forestry, Mining and Energy Union for shop stewards to fly banners of peace
on construction sites, members have found that even a peace symbol needs
to
BY SHANE HOPKINSON
MACKAY, north Queensland — A week after moving to Mackay from Rockhampton, where I had been involved in anti-war organising, I received a phone call asking if any Mackay actions were planned. A quick phone call to the local
BY SUE BOLTON
MELBOURNE — Armed federal police and immigration officers carried out a Rambo-style raid on an inner-city building site on February 20.
The police and immigration officers stormed the Bayview building site in Port Melbourne at
BY JODY BETZIEN
MELBOURNE — On February 16, 800 people packed into St Michaels Uniting Church for a forum organised by Women for a Humane Refugee Policy.
Federal Labor MP Carmen Lawrence told the forum that the Howard government's treatment of
World
On February 15, around 50 people gathered at McMurdo Station, Antarctica,
to participate the in global day of peace demonstrations. Meanwhile, reports
Paolo Calisse, Amundsen-Scott Station, We organised a rally here at the
South Pole,
BY
PATRICK QUINN
CHICAGO On February 15, close to 10,000 Chicagoans participated
in a spirited march and demonstration opposing the impending US war against
Iraq. Given the brutally cold weather, the size of the march was all the
more
BY
STEPHEN BENNETTS
ROME At least 2 million people (organisers estimate 3 million)
from all over Italy converged on Rome on February 15, one of the largest
peace rallies held in the world on that day.
An entire section of the historic
BY VICTOR GROSSMAN
BERLIN — Like those around the globe, the anti-war protest here on February 15 was colossal. The planning committee, facing unending problems, difficulties and occasional disagreements, hoped against hope to have 100,000
BY GRANT BROOKES
AUCKLAND — More than 20,000 people marched against war on Iraq on February 15 in more than 20 cities and towns around New Zealand. Jewish people and Arabs, black and white, Muslims, Christians and those with no religious belief
BY DEBRA PAYNE
LONDON — Many people on the February 15 London anti-war march peace march hadn't been on a march before. But I had and let me tell you it was terrific.
I was on one of 25 buses that left Nottingham for London, along with 300
BY
ALEX CHIS
SAN FRANCISCO Sunday February 16 was the largest anti-war
protest in this city's history, with the march organisers estimating that
250,000 people took part. Even the police department said about 200,000
marched double that
BY EVA CHENG
Despite mass protests last December, the Hong Kong government is pressing ahead with plans to pass a draconian new law which will seriously curb freedom of speech and association.
In September — using the pretext of combating
By Ahmed Ben Bella, George Galloway & John Rees
At least 13 Egyptian activists against the war on Iraq have been arrested. Ten remain in custody; 11 of the 13 arrested have been tortured.
We have received a plea for solidarity from a broad range
BY DANI BARLEY
CHICAGO — Under the slogan, "Books not bombs", students across the United States are gearing up for what may be one of the most important days of youth activism against the looming US war against Iraq. The March 5 national student
BY ROHAN PEARCE
"There will not be a safe place in Baghdad", an unnamed Pentagon official told the US news network CBS on January 24."You're sitting in Baghdad and all of a sudden you're the general and 30 of you at division headquarters have been
BY DOUG LORIMER
In the wake of the February 14-16 international weekend of anti-war demonstrations — in which up to 12 million people participated — leaders of the 15 European Union countries held an emergency summit on February 17 to cobble
BY
ED GEORGE
LEON The February 15 anti-war mobilisations were huge all over
the world; in the Spanish state they were truly enormous. If one tots up
the 1.5 million who marched in Madrid with the 1 million plus in Barcelona,
and then add
BY TARIQ ALI
The emergence of a mass anti-war movement shows a complete distrust of official politics. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the London Financial Times crowed that it would finish off the anti-capitalist movement. No such luck, gents.
BY JEFF SHANTZ
TORONTO — February 15 marked the Canadian anti-war movement's impressive growth. In Toronto, Canada's largest city, between 30,000 and 50,000 people braved bitter cold and icy winds to assert their unconditional opposition to war
BY
PHIL HEARSE
According to Labour MPs, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has only
a few weeks to turn around the dreadful political mess in which his support
for US President George Bush's looming attack on Iraq has landed him. Blair
BY
GERALD LENOIR
PARIS Despite intense pressure from the US government, French President
Jacques Chirac continues to maintain that France will veto a United Nations
Security Council resolution authorising a war in Iraq. On February 15,
I
BY
HELENA SHEEHAN
DUBLIN Among the millions marching on February 15, there were more
than 100,000 on the streets of Dublin. That was the official number being
cited not only by enthusiastic activists, but by hostile newspapers and
a
BY
IGGY KIM
& EVA CHENG
As in the rest of the world, there were anti-war protests across
Asia on February 14-16. The largest protest was in Tokyo, with 25,000 people
marching on February 14.
In Thailand, 15,000 protested in two cities
BY IGGY KIM
The Indonesian government has again violated the December 10 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA). The agreement was supposed to bring an end to violence in Aceh.
Indonesian authorities have arrested Acehnese civil rights
Culture
REVIEW BY LEE SUSTAR
Gangs of New YorkDirected by Martin ScorseseWritten by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth LonerganWith Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Jim Broadbent and Cameron DiazAt major cinemas
The events of the
Deglobalization: Ideas for a New World EconomyBy Walden BelloZed Books, 2002132 pagesOrder at <http://www.zedbooks.demon.co.uk>
BY PATRICK BOND
Walden Bello's new book, Deglobalization: Ideas for a New World Economy, is part of the
BY JO ELLIS
ADELAIDE — A group of local writers organised an anti-war poetry reading after the massive rally on February 16. Entitled Bang/Whimper, the event was held at an appropriately named venue, the Worldsend Hotel.
It featured 10 writers
SYDNEY A cappella
ensemble Ecopella will launches its first CD, An Organism Called Earth,
on March 1 at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre.
Founded in 1998, the Sydney-based Ecopella was the first Australian
choir to focus its repertoire on
BY NICOLA DZIADKIEWICZ
MELBOURNE — Colour My World is an art exhibition being held to support asylum seekers who are without work rights, Medicare or social security benefits.
Hundreds of displaced and distressed people, who have been granted a
Editorial
Help us get the word out!
Last weekend one million people marched against Australia joining the US
war against the Iraqi people. An unprecedented movement has taken over
the stage of Australian politics.
If it can keep its resolve