Sydney: M1 targets Halliburton
SYDNEY — Chanting "Halliburton OUT! Troops OUT! US imperialism OUT! OUT! OUT!", 150 people held a spirited May Day march to the office of Halliburton after a rally in Martin Place on May 1.
Halliburton was the first company awarded an Iraq contract, well before the invasion had even started. The company's former CEO, US vice-president Dick Cheney, is still paid up to US$1 million annually.
Recently returned "human shield" Rosemary Gillespie gave an impassioned denunciation of the war and called for solidarity with the growing Iraqi resistance to the occupation.
Other speakers included Rihab Churida from the Sawiyan Coalition for Palestine, Antonella Biscaro from AID/WATCH, Paul Benedek from the Socialist Alliance, Kylie Moon from Books Not Bombs, Nanu Mahmud from the Non-Violence Forum for Aceh and Greens MLC-elect, Sylvia Hale, who presented a Halliburton representative with fact sheets detailing the company's sordid activities.
Rally MC Brian Webb made good use of a set of giant playing cards with the faces of US President George Bush, Cheney, PM John Howard and others, in mockery of the deck of cards issued by the Pentagon depicting Iraq's "most wanted".
"The highly spirited march indicates that we can build a movement against the colonial occupation of Iraq", said Iggy Kim of the M1 Alliance, which organised the demonstration.
Perth: Terrorists on the terrace
PERTH — Chanting "Iraq for the Iraqis" and "US out now", 100 people gathered opposite the US consulate on St Georges Terrace on May 1. With 7000 US sailors — from the battle group headed by the aircraft carrier USS Constellation — on shore leave in Perth and Fremantle, the rally was themed "Terrorists on the terrace".
A heavy police presence accompanied protesters as they marched along St. Georges Terrace. After protesting Britain's support for the war on Iraq outside that country's consulate, the crowd assembled outside the Perth stock exchange to hear speakers explain Australia's corporate interests in US-dominated Iraq.
The rally's final destination was the Perth offices of the Halliburton. Protest organisers called on those assembled to join the union-organised March 4 May Day rally at Fremantle to protest the US warships docked there.
Brisbane: Stop the war machine
BRISBANE — On May 1, around 100 people gathered in King George Square to say: "Stop the war machine" and "Solidarity with the peoples of Iraq and Palestine". The May Day protest was initiated by the Stop the War Coalition.
The speakers included Hassan Ghulam, representing the Afghan Hazara community, who compared the suffering of the Iraqi people to that of Afghans after the 2001 war, anti-uranium activist Melody Kemp, Michael Clipton from the Financial Sector Union, Ross Gwyther, from the National Tertiary Education Union, and Khalil Hamdan, from the Palestinian community of Brisbane.
Other M1 activities
Also on May 1, the ACT Trades and Labour Council and the ACT Network Opposing War organised a protest, attended by about 80 protesters, against the occupation of Iraq. A speak-out was held on the University of Wollongong, organised by Books Not Bombs, targeting that university's military links and a forum in Darwin, entitled "People's power: the new superpower, attracted 50 participants.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, May 7, 2003.
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