Palm Sunday 2008 events:

On the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq -
Palm Sunday rally for peace and nuclear disarmament
Stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan!
End uranium mining!

2pm, Sunday 16 March
meet @ State Library
Cnr Swanston & LaTrobe Streets

March through the city and return to State Library to enjoy the gypsy rock music of the fabulous Martin Martini and The Bone Palace Orchestra

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Public Forum: US Labor Against War co-convener Kathy Black
7pm Wednesday 12 March
Trades Hall
Cnr Victoria Pde & Lygon Streets, Melbourne
More info about Kathy Black and US Labor Against the War can be found here.

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Organised by the Melbourne Palm Sunday Committee 2008. For more information contact Jessica Morrison 0431 519 577 or Katie Cherrington 0433 695 693 or visit www.iraq5yearstoolong.info/melbourne

Endorsements so far:
Medical Association for Prevention of War; International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons; Nuclear Free Australia; Peace Organisation of Australia; Melbourne Stop the War Coalition; Justice & International Mission Unit (Vic); Uniting Church (Vic/Tas); National Union of Students; Pax Christi; Melbourne University Student Union; Resistance; Socialist Alliance; Friends of the Earth; Socialist Alternative; Edmund Rice Center for Justice; Unity for Peace; Victorian College of the Arts Student Union; Solidarity; Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice; Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); Campaign for International Co-Operation and Disarmament; Civil Rights Defence; Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth (FAMSY); Swinburne University Students Union; Lyn Allison (Australian Democrats); Maritime Union of Australia (Aust/Vic); National Tertiary Education Union (Vic); Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (Vic); CEPU – Postal Division (Vic); Victorian Greens; Australian Education Union (Vic); Australian Student Christian Movement; Geelong Trades Hall Council …
(more endorsements welcomed)

Further information:

Palm Sunday is a traditional day of rallying for peace and social justice. This year Palm Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Iraq war has claimed the lives of over a million Iraqis and nearly 4000 US soldiers, and the senseless killing in Afghanistan is continuing. It's time for the wars to end and to allow the people of Iraq and Afghanistan to decide how best to run their country.

Public opinion in Australia and the United States is overwhelmingly opposed to both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has pledged to pull out only a third of the troops from Iraq and is considering increasing the troop numbers in Afghanistan. We need to send a clear message for the withdrawal of ALL troops.

This year's Palm Sunday also supports nuclear disarmament and an end to uranium mining in Australia. 26,000 nuclear weapons remain in our world, each threatening the survival of our planet and ourselves. Australia must take the lead on international disarmament efforts and stop exporting bomb fuel - uranium. In addition to nuclear weapons threatening global annihilation, Depleted Uranium is currently being used in Iraq, believed responsible for countless birth defects and increased cancer rates.

There are plans for Australia to become the worlds biggest exporter of uranium by the year 2013. The uranium is primarily planned to come from Roxby Downs in South Australia. They will need a water desalination plan as large as the one planned for Sydney for the 150 million litres of water used per day. The radioactive tailings dam will be huge. It is planned to produce a Melbourne Cricket Ground worth of nuclear waste every day for the next 100 years. The sale of Australian uranium encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Kathy Black is a co-convener of US Labor Against War, a coalition of unions in the US that campaign for an end to US occupation of foreign countries. She has been invited to tour Australia by Palm Sunday committees in Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Wollongong, Melbourne, Geelong and Tasmania. See www.uslaboragainstwar.org for more info.

www.iraq5yearstoolong.info/melbourne