"Labor parliamentarians backed Opposition Leader Simon Crean's
change of tack on Australian troops in Iraq, after he dropped a call for
them to return home." ALP now anti-war in rhetoric alone. Pro-war in
practice.
In a move typical of the ALP, labor parliamentarians have backed their
leader's position of keeping the troops fighting the war in Iraq.
Crean's "support the troops" position has morphed into
supporting the fighting - while mouthing anti-war rhetoric.
The ALP will now do their best to thwart the Victorian Peace Network,
calling rally after rally and running the whole thing into the ground.
Attendees at recent rallies will have noticed the absence of direct
action, absence of empowering rhetoric, and minimal support for local
groups. Our task as protesters seems merely to stand around and listen to
speeches. We are to follow their lead, or lack thereof.
The focus will remain on "Howard's" war, while ingoring the
pro-war stance of Crean.
In this way the Victorian Peace Network can be used as a vehicle for
channelling votes into the ALP, while being ineffectual against the war.
Instead of keeping protesters disempowered by pointing them towards a
two-party system and looking only to the election late next year (what
use is that?), the Victorian Peace Network could be taking a proactive
stance.
How about having a speaker who actually gives people ideas of things that
they could do against the war. (Besides getting more people to the next
rally.)
Here are some ideas:
If you are from a local group you could make a banner for your group with
"come here to join us", and take it to the next rally. The
speakers will hardly promote your group - you'll have to do it yourself.
The time for protest alone is over.
We have a majority on our side, but the gevernment can just ignore us if
all we do is protest. Now is the time to move ( as they said in the
Vietnam war protests) "from protest to resistance".
It is now time to non-violently resist the war. Time to do things that
disrupt. That get it the way. So that next time the Government wants a
war, they stop and think -- is the war worth the disruption that comes
along with it?
If you have an idea for an action promote it yourself at the next rally.
If the action is not a protest, but actually involves resisting the war,
then it won't get announced from the stage. You could make leaflets, make
a large banner with the details.
Why not padlock shut petrol stations and put on a sticker "closed
for the war".
Why not shut down intersections? In San Francisco 1300 people were
arrested when war broke out. They chose 20 intersections to block and
shut the city down for over a day. A local group could shut down a local
intersection for a while. You can always move when the police arrive, if
you don't want to be arrested.
Offer help to anyone who is arrested. If there is support around for
people when they are arrested and face court, then more people will take
this risk.
There are many ideas around, just search the internet. But most
important, don't wait for the Victorian Peace Network to tell you what to
do. Stopping the war will take more than marching and voting.
Find some people you know who are anti-war (the majority of the
population) think up an action, and do it! Start small, but dream big.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=44654&group=webcast
