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Issue No. 174 | 11 April 2003 |
Might Does Not Mean Right
Interview: Picking Up The Peaces Unions: The Royal Con National Focus: Around the Grounds Economics: The Secret War on Trade International: United Front History: Confessions of a Badge Collector Politics: Stalin�s Legacy Review: Such Was Not Ned�s Life Poetry: Osama's Top Recruiter Satire: Woolworths CEO Denied Bonus After Company Posts Profit
Judge Puts �Predator� Before Workers Mexican Chain Gangs Win NSW Work STOP PRESS - Brewery Goes Flat Cameron: Feds More Interested in Iraq Working Hours Benefit Millions Journos Urge War Crimes Prosecutions Unions Support Displaced in Iraq
The Soapbox The Locker Room Culture Postcard
Unfair Dismissals More Angry Trots Tom's Tirade
Labor Council of NSW |
Editorial Might Does Not Mean Right
In the war script being written by the Murdoch press, the US victory in Iraq has not only blown Saddam's regime out of existence, it has also cluster-bombed the peace movement, leaving only a bunch of extremists, cowards and misguided apologists for a despised despot This view is reinforced by images of cheering Iraqis, those who survived their 'liberation', who now dance on the ruins of their oppressor's treasures and choose to welcome the Marines rather than offer themselves as target practice. All of which leaves this weekend's Palm Sunday peace march looking a little past its use-by date. Surely the deed is done, we can get back to normal life under the American Empire and spend our Sunday at SCG watching the Swans get beat. Attractive as this is, I will still march on Sunday. I will march for the thousands of Iraqis killed in the process of the liberation, of the children maimed and slaughtered in the military mismatch of the century. I march for the journalists taken out in the cross fire - and some in the cross-hairs - to give voice to my anger that the champions of democracy have committed these calculated crimes against the Free Press. I will march because it is now so apparent that Iraq's much-hyped weapons of mass destruction, if they existed, were possessed by a tin-pot dictatorship that lacked any capacity to use them. I will march because I do not want to live in a world where the international order is defined, set and enforced by a cabal of executives straddling the corporate and political wings of North American society. And I will march because I'm frightened by what a world without a global consensus mediated through the United Nations holds in store for this and future generations. I may not be joined by the hundreds of thousands who took to the street before the war, but I will be there, because my concerns about American unilateralism have only been reinforced over the past few weeks. I will be joined by religious leaders, of all denominations, who have led the moral stand against this adventure. I will be joined by those in community peace groups who have not been swayed by the propaganda dished out by embedded journalists and their media masters. And I will be joined by my comrades in the trade union movement, who see internationalism - not imperialism - as a condition precedent for improving the working lives of their members. The War in Iraq may be coming to end, but there is still a Peace that must be won - it involves humanitarian relief, a massive rebuilding of infrastructure and the creation of workable government - rather than another CIA-installed despot. There are many uncertainties ahead; the impact of the fall of Saddam on the ethnic mix inside Iraq, particularly the Kurds; the effect of the injection of US capital to rebuild what they have destroyed; the grab for oil riches and, of course, the unresolved issue of Palestine. The way these issues are handled by those in control will have a big impact on global stability for the coming decade. On their performance to date, there is little ground for confidence. We were right to march against the war on February 26 and nothing that has happened since then has made us wrong. We must continue to speak out to demand our leaders act with vision, intelligence and decency to address the world's problems, rather than use mismatches of power to impose their will like a lone gunfighter in some warped version of a global corral. The need for a vibrant, vocal and committed peace movement is more urgent today than ever before. Peter Lewis Editor
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