Activist Calendar

Palm Sunday 2008 Meetings

Monday March 10th.
7pm at Kaleide theatre
RMIT, Swanston St, City
For more info phone 0433 695 693 or 0431 519 577
Or visit the Palm Sunday 2008 website

Everyone welcome!

Public Meeting:
U.S. Labor Against the War
Co-convenor Kathy Black

Wednesday March 12th.
7pm at Trades Hall
Crnr Lygon and Victoria Sts, City
Organised by Palm Sunday 2008
For more info phone 0433 695 693
Or visit the Palm Sunday 2008 website

USLAW was formed in 2003 in response to an unprecedented level of opposition among US unions to the war in Iraq. The organisation mobilises and represents trade union opposition to the war.

The USLAW mission statement advocates for “a just foreign policy” as an alternative to US wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. It notes that big corporations benefit most from the war while working people face the costs of declining government funds for social programs as well as attacks on democratic rights.

Black is a Philadelphia-based Occupational Health and Safety director at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. She has spent the last three decades in various roles in the US union movement.

In addition, she has been active in a range of progressive campaigns including Labor Against Apartheid, the Living Wage Coalition and the Campaign for Contraceptive Coverage. Black is currently one of six national co-conveners of USLAW and is the Philadelphia president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women

Palm Sunday 2008

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
State Library
Cnr Swanston & LaTrobe Streets

Marching through the city, and returning to the State Library for a performance by Martin Martini and the Bone Palace Orchestra

Organised by Palm Sunday 2008
For more info phone 0433 695 693 or 0431 519 577
Or visit the Palm Sunday 2008 website

Picket Kevin Rudd
at the United Israel Appeal Refugee Fund

Oppose Australian support for Israeli Apartheid!
Tuesday March 18, 6:30pm
at the main entrance to Crown Casino Hotel (cnr Whiteman & Queensbridge Southbank)

Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network has organised the picket in opposition to Australian bi-partisan support for Israel's system of apartheid, against the illegal Israeli siege of Gaza and in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

While at least 120 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza, Kevin Rudd moved a parliamentary motion on March 12 to honour Israel acknowledging Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day).

Australia is a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), which prohibits the punishment of protected persons. For the Australian Government to pass a motion in support of 60 years of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by Israel, particularly while Israel is involved in an illegal and brutal siege of Gaza, is a disgraceful violation of our international obligations.

On March 18, the PM will address the United Israel Appeal's (UIA) Refugee Fund Campaign Opening Gala Dinner.

Concerns have been raised that the United Israel Appeal Refugee Fund may be involved in violating International Criminal Court law by changing the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and displacing the Arab population within Israel.

About two-thirds of the United Israel Appeal Refugee Relief Fund Ltd goes to finance Jewish-only migration from around the world. Its sister organisation, the Jewish National Fund, secures land that can be leased only to Jewish people.

The UIARF is an organisation approved for tax deductibility. This is a clear abuse of tax-payers money. In 2006 the Australian arm of UIARF raised $42.5 million, making Australia the largest donor per capita to the UIARF.

It is inappropriate for our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to support an organisation involved in violating international law and abusing tax-payer money.

The Israeli Law of Return grants all Jews of the world the right to settle in Palestine, while depriving Palestinian refugees (who were forced to leave Palestine by invading Israeli forces in 1948/1949 and 1967) any right to return to their homes and historical land. This violates United Nations Security Council 181 and 194. The Palestinian right to self-determination as is asserted by international law, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and relevant resolutions of the Security Council and General Assembly.

For more information see:
“2001, Asem Judeh, Australia Submission to the Inquiry into the 1998 Statute of an International Criminal Court”

Organised by MPSN
For more info phone 0406 402 401 or 9639 8622.