Jenny Haines
War on Democracy, a film by John Pilger
As a country whose own revolution was inspired by the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity, the US might be expected have more insight and understanding of the demands and needs of the peoples of Latin America and the Carribean.
Katharine Gun is a 29 year old English woman who spent a part of her formative years in North-east Asia. As a result, she is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. She used to work as a translator at Britain’s super-secret GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), the signals intelligence agency that violates privacy every day by eavesdropping on phone calls, emails and other communications. Katharine exposed US espionage against member delegations at the UN Security Council in the lead-up to the war on Iraq. Espionage at the United Nations is prohibited under the Vienna conventions on diplomatic relations. When charged under the Official Secrets Act, she signalled her intention to argue the defence of “necessity” — the prevention of an illegal war involving the loss of thousands of lives. On Tuesday February 24, 2004, her legal team served documents demanding to see any advice given to ministers about the legality of the war. Two days later, all charges were dropped and Katharine Gun walked free.
The largest progressive Jewish organisation in the country, the Australian Jewish Democratic Society, has distanced itself from the campaign being conducted by some Jewish community spokespeople against Dr Hanan Ashrawi, who is to receive the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize next month.
