Socialist candidates endorse student strike
BY LINDA WALDRON
MELBOURNE — The Socialist Alliance candidates standing in the Maribyrnong and Brimbank council elections will participate in the March 5 student strike against the war and the International Women's Day anti-war march and rally, they announced on February 28.
Lincoln Hancock, the 21-year-old candidate for Sheoak ward in Maribyrnong, is one of the strike organisers. Hancock will also join fellow candidates, Justine Kamprad and Maurice Sibelle, when they march against war on International Women's Day.
Kamprad told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly that "women and children suffer most from the catastrophes inflicted by capitalism. War is the greatest of these. Everyone needs to come out on IWD to show their support for real women's liberation — which is a future free of war, rape, poverty, illness, deprivation and persecution".
Penrith demands peace
BY TED LORD
SYDNEY — About 60 people attended a lunch-time rally in Penrith organised by Nepean Greens and the Western Sydney Peace Group on February 28. The rally heard speeches from the Lesley Edwards, the Greens candidate for the state seat of Penrith, Sister Susan Connolly, Gail Lord from the Socialist Alliance and Tim Vollmer from Western Sydney Peace Group. Local residents also took to the microphone to vent their anger at the war policies of the Australian and US governments.
Local youth "shook" the office of the local Liberal federal MP, Jackie Kelly, by shouting anti-war messages and waving their anti-war placards to the staff inside.
A candlelight vigil will be held outside Kelly's office from 5pm the day the war starts. The Western Sydney Peace Group will show the film Not in My Name at its meeting. For details, phone Tim on 0401 769 880 or Sarah on 0409 155 314.
Suburban anti-war group forms
BY BARRY HEALY
PERTH — Anti-war action has spread to the leafy Perth suburb of Darlington, which is better known for its gum trees and middle-class passivity. Parents at the local Montessori school have started a branch of the NOWAR Alliance.
At the first meeting, it was decided to letterbox the leaflet for the March 22 anti-war demonstration in Perth, and to deliver white peace ribbons to each house with an explanatory note.
A similar white ribbon campaign in Beaconsfield has resulted in a mass of ribbons attached to letterboxes, signifying each household is anti-war.
Plans were also made for a public meeting in Darlington Hall, featuring an Iraqi speaker and a screening of the British anti-war video Not in My Name. Darlington NOWAR meets each Sunday evening. Contact Barry or Annolies on 9299 6453 for details.
Northern Tasmanian youth organise to stop war
BY KAMALA EMANUEL
LAUNCESTON — The May 5 "books not bombs" student strike is gathering steam here, with students from Tasmanian University (TU), Launceston College and Prospect High pledging to build contingents to the 1pm rally in Civic Square.
Prospect High School principals have sent letters to parents of students wishing to attend the strike, informing them that the students will need permission to attend, but not discouraging participation.
The Students Association of the Newnham campus of TU is planning to provide a bus to ferry students into the city for the rally, and an anti-war campaign group is being set up on the campus. Launceston College students are planning to rally at Royal Park (over the road from the college) before marching into the city. Students from Newstead College and other schools have also expressed interest in participating.
Meanwhile, students at Hellyer College in Burnie will gather at 3pm in the cafeteria, before deciding whether to march off campus to link up with students from the university campus there.
Honk for peace
LAUNCESTON - Honk for peace roadside peace vigils will be held every Friday, 5pm, outside the museum, Wellington Street (near TAFE). They are being organised by No War on Iraq.
'It's deadly weapons or a rubber chicken'
CANBERRA — After abusing the 200 anti-war protesters gathered at the Australian National University (ANU) as "leftie rabble", members of the Chaser comedy team, responsible for ABC TV's satirical CNNNN, attempted to convince a sceptical crowd of the correctness of the US-led war drive. The key to their pro-war argument was a photo they produced which, they claimed, clearly showed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But they did concede that it could also show a rubber chicken.
The performance was part of a "Fight plaque not Iraq" rally organised by the ANU Students Association as part of Orientation Week, attended by hundreds of students. After speeches condemning the US war drive and urging students to organise against it, students took their their anger at Prime Minister John Howard's war-mongering out on giant "John Howard pinjada" with a cricket bat.
Speaking on behalf of the ANU Students Against War group, Jo Hunt provided a graphic account of the US war's likely effects on Iraqi civilians. Hunt urged students to take part in the March 5 international student strike.
ANU students will gather at 12.15pm on March 5 in Union Court and march to the 1pm rally in Civic. Phone Danny on 0422 132 988 or Stuart on 6247 2424.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, March 5, 2003.
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