Nathan Verney
March 20 will mark three years since the US-led invasion of Iraq began, and demonstrations will be held around the world in a global weekend of action (March 17-19) to call for an end to the occupation, and for justice for the Iraqi people.
According to US President George Bush, the invasion was necessary "to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger". Yet all the arguments being used by the war hawks to justify invasion have been debunked, and Iraq is in shambles. The effect of the war on the lives of the Iraqi people has been horrendous: the British medical journal the Lancet has estimated that 100,000 Iraqis died in the first 18 months of the war and occupation. Infant mortality rates and other measures of health are worse than they were before the invasion and basic services such as water and electricity are well below pre-invasion levels. This hasn't stopped US corporations like Halliburton and Bechtel, and Australian companies such as Worley and ANZ, from profiting massively from the war.
Adelaide Resistance organiser Emma Murphy pointed out that "Each day Iraq is sinking further into hell — we need to build a movement that can put a stop to this and force the troops to be withdrawn, and we think young people have a vital role to play in doing this".
Since initiating the Books Not Bombs student strikes against the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Resistance has continued to organise young people against war on schools and campuses. During university orientation week this year, Resistance activists campaigned to build the March 17-19 weekend of action against the occupation among students, and initiated a number of counter-military recruitment speak-outs.
Taking the lead from US student anti-war activists, who are organising a nationwide week of anti-war and counter-recruitment action on schools and campuses in the lead-up to the anniversary of the invasion, Resistance is planning to involve students around the country in a week of "sedition", plastering campuses and schools with posters and stickers highlighting the truth about the impact of the war, organising on-campus anti-war protests, and encouraging other young people to participate in the March 17-19 protests.
Sydney Resistance organiser and Sydney University global solidarity officer Simon Cunich explained: "We need to get out on the streets and demand an end to the occupation — for the Iraqi people, but also to defend our own democratic rights to voice dissent. The new sedition laws clearly target anti-war activists who call for an end to Australian participation in the occupation of Iraq or declare their support for the right of the Iraqi people to resist it. Is the truth — that this war is illegal, brutal and unjust — seditious?
"We're organising this student week of 'sedition' to say loudly and clearly that we have a right to feel solidarity with the Iraqi people being killed by the brutal US occupation with the help of the Australian government — and we have a right to demonstrate that solidarity. No matter how many laws are passed trying to criminalise our dissent, the anti-war movement will not be silenced."
In Canberra, Resistance members are also helping to prepare a "welcome" for British PM Tony Blair, who is due to address a joint sitting of parliament on March 28. Amy McDonell, Canberra Resistance organiser and a leading activist in the ACT Network Opposing War, said: "We want young people in particular to come out and tell this warmonger what we think of his lies about Iraq's supposed WMD, about the occupying troops 'bringing democracy' and, now, the new round of lies about Iran's nuclear program." Resistance activists in Sydney are organising student buses to Canberra to join the anti-Blair protest.
In Adelaide, Resistance high-school and campus activists are organising an anti-war speak-out on March 20. Murphy explained, "We have the misfortune of having [foreign minister] Alexander Downer's office here, so what better location to protest against the government's Iraq policy?" She added, "We also want to protest against the racism and Islamophobia that the Howard government is whipping up in order to justify its brutal foreign policy.
"The government clearly wants to prevent the Australian people from developing solidarity with the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Iran and the corporate media is sickeningly compliant. Racism is also being used by the Howard government as a smokescreen for extreme attacks on our basic democratic rights and our rights at work."
Cunich appealed to all young people who are opposed to the ongoing occupation of Iraq and the racism of the Howard government to join Resistance in the week of sedition to build the anti-war protests. "It's urgent that all of us who are against the war act together, and act now, to stop it." To get involved, phone your local Resistance Centre (see details on page 2) or visit .
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, March 15, 2006.
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