Thousands march for 'Troops out of Iraq'

Pip Hinman

Up to 7000 people joined a March 20 protest organised by the Stop the War Coalition in Sydney. Thousands more rallied in other cities, including 2000 in Melbourne and 1000 in Brisbane.

The Spanish election results had clearly given anti-war activists a renewed sense of purpose, and they put PM John Howard on notice to pull the troops out. ALP opposition leader Mark Latham was urged to make a clear commitment to do the same if the ALP wins the next federal elections.

In Sydney, Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, Keysar Trad from the Lebanese Muslim Association, Susan Price from Socialist Alliance and internationally renowned journalist John Pilger all called for the withdrawal of troops.

Nettle argued for a phased withdrawal of the troops, with a June 30 deadline. However, at the Hobart protest Greens Senator Bob Brown called for UN peacekeepers to replace occupation forces.

Andrew Wilkie, formerly of the Office of National Assessments, argued that the Iraqi people had a right to be able to run their own country.

Pilger slammed the invasion of Iraq as a "massive act of terror". US President Bush, British PM Tony Blair and Howard will be the ones to blame for any terrorist attacks as a result of the Iraq war, he said to loud applause in Sydney. A message of solidarity from Pilger was well received at protests around the country.

ALP national president Carmen Lawrence stressed at the Brisbane protest that "the Iraq war was, and still is, illegal under international law".

Terry Hicks told the Melbourne demonstration that after two years of imprisonment in the US camp at Guantanamo Bay, his son David Hicks has still not been formally charged. David is kept in a small cage and only allowed two 15-minute exercise sessions a week.

Anglican Bishop Phillip Huggans and Islamic Council of Australia representative Bilal Cleland also addressed the Melbourne rally.

Sam Watson, Murri community leader and Senate candidate for the Socialist Alliance, told the Brisbane rally, which was sponsored by the Queensland Peace Network: "The world's worst terrorist [is] George Bush! The invasion of Iraq has made the world a less safe place".

Solidarity with the Palestinian struggle was a feature at many of the rallies. Saif Abukeshek, a visiting Palestinian from the International Solidarity Movement, addressed the Sydney rally and Ali Kazak, Palestinian representative in Australia, spoke in Brisbane. "George Bush launched the war on Iraq based on the lie of weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq], and on the accusation that the Iraqi people were suffering violence and oppression", said Kazak. "The people who have really been suffering occupation and oppression for decades are the Palestinians."

@Cont'd = Continued on page 5.

From Green Left Weekly, March 24, 2004.

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From GLW issue 576