BY NICK EVERETT
US President George Bush has announced he will be visiting Australia — probably Canberra and Sydney — immediately following the October 21 APEC forum in Bangkok, Thailand. Within days of the announcement, activists have begun planning for protests. Activists in Sydney are circulating the following call to protest:
George Bush is coming to Australia to promote his never-ending war and free trade agenda.
The Sydney Stop the War Coalition calls for all organisations and individuals who have stood against the US government's drive to war and global economic domination to protest Bush's visit.
The coalition of the killing — Bush, Blair and Howardwaged an illegal and immoral war on Iraq despite unprecedented global opposition and protests.
The lies behind this war are now being exposed. Despite Bush's talk of "liberation", the invasion of Iraq has become a war of occupation, with US forces bogged down in ongoing battles with the Iraqi people. US corporations have re-entered Iraq to carve up the spoils of war.
Bush is not content to stop at Afghanistan and Iraq. He is threatening further nations, such as North Korea, Iran and Syria with military action.
In the wake of the war Prime Minister John Howard hopes to secure a free trade agreement with the United States. This will be his trophy for supporting war on Iraq.
The FTA will "lock in" a neoliberal agenda which gives corporations greater rights. This bilateral deal is modelled on the North American FTA where companies now have the right to sue governments for introducing environmental, labour or other regulations. The FTA threatens the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, quarantine laws, GM labelling and public assets.
Bush's visit coincides with a round of trade negotiations planned for October 27 in Canberra.
For these reasons and many more we are saying enough! We demand an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq and oppose the proposed FTA.
We call for those who mobilised against Howard and Bush in February to do so again.
The Sydney Stop the War Coalition invites all concerned organisations to attend an open meeting to coordinate the biggest possible mobilisation on September 15. We also urge other activists to start planning now to mobilise from their cities and towns to come to Sydney and/or Canberra.
Another world is possible. A world without war, where people come before profit.
[More Australian anti-occupation, anti-war protest news on page 4.]
From Green Left Weekly, September 17, 2003.
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