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
**********
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.
**********
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