Speech by Rev Ray Williamson, NSW Ecumenical Council, Palm Sunday 2007

Speech by Ms Rihab Charida, UTS Students Association, Palm Sunday 2007

Maree O'Halloran (President, NSW Teachers Federation)
Ms Holly Creenaune (Friends of the Earth)

music from Urban Guerrillas

Statement on the US mid-term elections and Iraq occupation

Withdraw Australian troops from Iraq now

The Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition is inspired by the vote of the US citizens who clearly rejected the military occupation of Iraq by the Bush administration, and have already forced the resignation of the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.

This vote is due to the shocking human cost of the war and the untiring efforts of the US anti-war movement over the last three years, and especially since Cindy Sheehan's peace camp at Crawford Texas in July 2005.

The Howard government took part in the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq because of its support for the Bush administration, not because of any positive approach to the Iraqi people's human rights - clearly exposed by the cynical sanctions-busting by AWB. Now that the Bush Iraq policy has been rejected by the American people, it is high time that the Howard government admitted that it has no policy for Iraq. We ask the Howard government for a national debate about how to withdraw from the occupation.

The SPJC is under no illusion that the Howard government will be so open, and calls on all democratic and anti-war organisations and movements to refocus their efforts to press for the immediate withdrawal of Australian military forces from the Iraq occupation. There is no political or moral basis for the Howard government to continue propping up the Bush policy in Iraq.

The US anti-war movement also knows that the incoming Congress will not force a US military withdrawal from Iraq without a strong on-going anti-war campaign. We in the Australian anti-war movement assert that the occupation forces in Iraq are the major source of violence and disintegration in Iraq, that the overwhelming strength of the armed resistance is Iraqi, and that only when all foreign military forces are withdrawn can the Iraqi people take control of their future. Only then can we consider a new form of peaceful international intervention, under the United Nations, to help repair all the damage that has been done in our name. This will not be the much-vaunted 'win for Al-Qaeda', but a win for the Iraqi people.

Statement on the North Korean Nuclear Test

The Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition joins the global condemnation of the nuclear weapons test by the North Korean government and calls on the United Nations Security Council to take united and firm action to persuade the North Korean government to abandon this dangerous path in its international relations.

Nuclear weapons are a weapon of mass murder and terror and therefore a danger to all humanity and in no way provide protection or security for any nation.

The SPJC recognises that the North Korean government feels under severe threat from the Bush administration. Therefore the SPJC urges the UN Security Council to work energetically to remove this perception of a threat of attack as part of a North Asian and Asia-Pacific regional effort to secure a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a nuclear-free Asia-Pacific region.

The Korean nuclear weapons test and the UN Security Council response will also influence the efforts of the Iranian government to develop a nuclear weapons capacity. The SPJC therefore urges the UN Security Council to make it clear that the international community opposes any efforts by the Iranian government to develop a nuclear arms capacity.

Both the Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, and the Indian and Pakistani nuclear arsenals, show that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is now severely undermined, and the major nuclear powers on the Security Council bear the main responsibility for this, by rejecting any implementation of the Treaty's clauses requiring a total nuclear disarmament. The Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition calls for a new UN Conference on the NNPT to ensure that it is properly implemented.

The SPJC calls on the Howard government to wholeheartedly support the United Nations framework for coping with security crises and to oppose unilateral actions.

October 17, 2006

Statement on Iran nuclear program and United Nations

Say NO to military attacks on Iran
NO to nuclear weapons for the mullahs
Support the democratic hopes of the Iranian people

The Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition, a major anti-war group, calls on Prime Minister John Howard and the Labor Opposition to speak out loudly now against any plans for military attacks on Iran.

The peace coalition is highly critical of the Howard government for its refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel - Hezbollah war, to allow the massive Israeli bombardment on civilians in Lebanon to continue. While the Labor Opposition did call for an immediate ceasefire, it also failed to strongly condemn the massive bombardment of civilians.

The peace coalition itself also strongly condemns Hezbollah for firing of missiles onto civilians in Israel and the West Bank.

This horrific war in Lebanon, and in the West Bank and Gaza, could be a prelude to a bigger war between the United States and Israel on the one hand, and Iran and Syria on the other. The coming deadline of August 31 set by the UN Security Council for the Tehran regime to cease all uranium enrichment, or some other provocation, could well be the trigger for a devastating war in the region.

The Australian government, as a very close ally of the Bush Administration, has the opportunity now to use its influence to try to avert this new threat of war, and the Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition is calling on the Prime Minister to act now.

The peace coalition opposes the development of nuclear weapons by the Tehran regime, a government of autocratic clerics, and also opposes the nuclear arsenals of other regional powers, Israel and Pakistan, and the great powers who are all permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council. A nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East is an urgent necessity.

Therefore the peace coalition strongly supports the role of the UN Security Council in using international law to defuse the huge danger posed by the Iranian nuclear program, and calls on the international community to unite behind a non-military path to resolve this crisis.

The Tehran regime has been condemned over 50 times by the UN General Assembly for its outrageous repression of human rights and oppression of women.

The people of Iran oppose the clerical fundamentalist regime which has brutally oppressed them for 28 years. This opposition is demonstrated in widespread protests, huge election boycotts and underground practices that defy the regime. They desire a peaceful, democratic and non-nuclear development path. However, the politics of oil and nuclear power have so far motivated the Bush, Howard and European governments to declare the democratic opposition in Iran to be terrorist, as part of their negotiations with the real terrorists - the clerical fundamentalists.

The Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition completely condemns such cynical use of anti-terror laws, and calls for the immediate de-listing of the main opposition groups in Iran - the PMOI and the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

There is a democratic option for Iran and we must support it now, before it is too late.

August 25, 2006

Information on Iran and the nuclear showdown

Palm Sunday Rally & March for Peace

No War - No Nukes
Justice and Compassion

Sunday April 9, 1pm, Prince Alfred Park Parramatta

Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition opposes SAS deployment to Afghanistan

Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition condemns London bombings

The Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition, with over 70 sponsoring organizations, condemns the horrific bombings in London's transport system on July 7, 2005. We reach out to all the people who have lost loved ones or have been wounded, or who have been struck by the terror in a more general way.

We oppose all forms of terror, whether perpetrated by individuals, groups, democratically elected governments or dictators. The perpetrators of the London bombings must be caught and brought to justice, and this should be done by focused professional investigation according to law, without discrimination or abuse of civil liberties.

We also condemn the actions of those who use the recent bombing as an excuse to attack people of Middle Eastern appearance or Muslim faith. Such actions merely serve the purposes of the terrorists by creating further distrust, conflict and hardship.

These latest terrorist attacks and the concern that such attacks could also occur in Australia show that the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan (the so-called "war on terror") have not reduced terrorism or made the world safer.

The Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition will continue to work against terrorism in its various forms by working for an end to war, pre-emptive strikes, military occupations, repressive regimes and violence, upholding the peacemaking role of the United Nations and the rule of international law, and seeking more just economic relationships between nations.

July 13, 2007

Speech by Doug Cameron to the Sydney Palm Sunday 2005 Rally - March 20

Speech by Fayez Lababedi to the Sydney Palm Sunday 2005 Rally - March 20

Speech by Rose Jackson to the Sydney Palm Sunday 2005 Rally - March 20

Palm Sunday Rally and March for Peace on the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq

Sunday March 20, 2005, 2 pm

Prince Alfred Park, Cnr Victoria Rd & Church St, Parramatta

part of the global day of action

Palm Sunday Service and Multi-Faith prayers for peace, led by Bishop Kevin Manning, 2pm

2.40pm march to Parramatta Town Square

Speakers:

Doug Cameron (ACTU Vice President)
Fayez Lababedi (Dep chair, Arab Council Australia)
Prof Stuart Rees (Sydney Uni Peace Centre)
Rose Jackson (President, Sydney Uni SRC)

Performers: Susan Andrews & Shimmer; Urban Guerrillas

MC: Genevieve Lemon

Iraq War Dead - speech by Senator Faulkner, March 16, 2005

Reading the Iraqi Elections

The millions of Iraqis who came out for the elections were voting their hopes for an end to violence and occupation, and a better life; their hopes are not likely to be met.

The coming wars

By Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker

Media release for the December 10 Vigil for Human Rights in Iraq

December 10 is International Human Rights Day

Iraq Human Rights Facts:

• Some scientific estimates put Iraqi casualties at over 100,000 since the invasion began on March 20, 2003 (Lancet report)
• Twenty Iraqi medical staff and dozens of other civilians were killed when a missile hit a clinic on 9 November
• It is estimated that half of Fallujah's residents fled before the recent assault on that city
• In August 2004 the Iraqi interim Government reintroduced the death penalty
• The detention of American conscientious objectors such as Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia.
• US inflicted torture and degradation of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib
• "The occupation of Iraq has led to the revival of (extremist) Islamic groups in Iraq who are terrorising the whole society" -Union of Unemployed in Iraq
• Iraqi's regularly detained incommunicado with no access to family, lawyers or even the Red Cross

This information sourced from Amnesty International reports unless otherwise stated. See http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-irq/index for more reports of abuse

Organised by the Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition

Covenors: Rev Dr Ann Wansbrough, Bruce Childs, Dr Hannah Middleton

Download the A4 poster to promote the December 10 Vigil for Human Rights in Iraq

Iraq sovereignty statement presented to Howard, Latham

Twenty-nine Sydney organisations and 164 individuals sent a call to Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Mark Latham last Friday to act immediately to withdraw military forces from Iraq and transfer sovereignty quickly to the Iraqi people through a direct United Nations transition. This statement was coordinated by the Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition.

"We have sent this people's statement to our political leaders because the issue of Australia's participation in the illegal invasion of Iraq is not being faced properly in this election. The situation that Australia is responsible for in Iraq is now clearly a huge failure, spiralling out of control," said Bruce Childs, a convenor of the Coalition.

"Over one million Australians came out onto the streets in February 2003 in protest against our government's decision to support the Bush Administration plan to invade Iraq. We have never given up our rejection of this criminal, deceitful war. We know we have been vindicated by all that has so tragically followed," said Bruce Childs. "We want our democracy to correct this huge mistake now."

This 'people's statement' comes in the wake of the Statement of the 43 distinguished Australians' and the 'Statement of the 56 doctors', and is broadly in sympathy with them.

The Coalition is circulating a poster for the elections, urging people to 'Vote for Peace on October 9'.

Solidarity Message to US Anti-War Protest, New York, August 29

Over one million Australians - over 5% of the people - came out onto the streets in February 2003 in protest against our government's decision to support the Bush Administration plan to invade Iraq. We have never given up our rejection of this criminal, deceitful war. We know we have been vindicated by all that has so tragically followed.

We in the Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition - a broad grouping of peace, trade union, faith-based, women's and other community organisations - send our strongest sentiments of solidarity to the anti-war movement in the United States of America as it mobilises to call for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in front of George Bush's Republican Convention in New York on August 29.

We join with you, with our call for the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq and a rapid, UN-sponsored transition to genuine Iraqi sovereignty.

We strongly support your democratic right to assemble and march and to rally in Central Park in your great city. We completely condemn the Mayor of New York and the Bush Administration for their attempt to take away your basic democratic rights.

We have national elections due in November too, and are working hard to defeat the war policy here. We hope your massive rally on August 29 rolls on to the defeat of Bush in November.

For a world of peace and justice!

Sponsoring Organisations: Women's International League for Peace & Freedom; Maritime Union of Australia NSW; NSW Teachers Federation; UnitingCare NSW/ACT; Pax Christi Australia NSW; MSC Justice & Peace Centre; North Shore Peace & Democracy; Western Sydney Peace Group; Sydney Politics in the Pub; Labor for Refugees; Greens (NSW); Australian Democrats NSW; Progressive Labour Party; Australian Peace Committee; Communist Party of Australia (M-L); Evatt Foundation; SEARCH Foundation; Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition; Quaker Peace & Justice NSW; Communist Party of Australia; Labor Council of NSW; Newcastle Trades Hall Council; Catholics in Coalition for Justice & Peace; People for Nuclear Disarmament NSW; Columban Centre for Peace; Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; Construction Forestry Mining & Energy Union NSW; Liquor Hospitality & Miscellaneous Workers Union NSW; Medical Association for Prevention of War.

Send your own solidarity message via the contact page on the United for Peace & Justice website: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/contactus.php

Anglican Bishop asks for forgiveness for supporting the war on Iraq

Sr Susan Connelly speech at Palm Sunday 2004 rally, Sydney

Sharan Burrow, ACTU President, speech to Palm Sunday 2004 rally

Rev Ray Williamson, Secretary, NSW Ecumenical Council, speech to Palm Sunday 2004 rally

Randa Abdel-Fattah, Palestine Human Rights Campaign, speech to Palm Sunday 2004 rally

Andrew Wilkie, former intelligence analyst, speech to Palm Sunday 2004 rally

Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition speaks out for Hanan Ahrawi receiving the Sydney Peace Prize

Andrew Wilkie speech at 'Don't Be Bush Whacked' Oct 19

Sharan Burrow speech at 'Don't Be Bush Whacked', Oct 19, 2003

Maree O'Halloran speech at 'Don't Be Bush Whacked', Oct 19, 2003

Limericks deployed against Bush visit

Over 170 limericks were written for the 'Don't Be Bush Whacked' hoedown in Sydney on October 19. Click on the link to read them.

Campaign for Justice for Hicks and Habib

These men deserve the right to a fair trial and basic human rights.

Sign an online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/7august/petition.html

Email a politician: Actions for Justice for Hicks and Habib

Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition www.nswpeace.org
Fair go for David PO Box 634, PROSPECT EAST, SA 5082 www.fairgofordavid.org

• *Download flyers and invitations in "Downloads" section. More information in "Features"

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