Massive anti-war protests in Australia, Feb 14-16

There was jubilation, satisfaction, anger and frustration on Australian streets on Feb 14-16 as the peace / anti-war movement felt its power. The media too recognised an historic moment in Australia's democratic history, but struggled to comprehend how it had come about. But as quickly as possible, the Howard government launched a counter-attack to denigrate the protesters, and to scale back the "acceptable" number of those protesting.

However, the numbers add up this way - 200,000 in Melbourne on Feb 14, 100,000 in Perth, 10,000 in Hobart, 10,000 in Canberra, 18,000 in Newcastle on Feb 15, and on Feb 16, at least 300,000 in Sydney, 100,000 in Brisbane and 100,000 in Adelaide. That alone is 838,000. But there were also unprecedented numbers in smaller towns and cities across the country, from Darwin to Townsville, to Armidale and Dorrigo. Bellingen, population 2,700, had over 3,000 turn out. Byron Bay had 10,000.

Protests across Australia encompassed large numbers of Liberal, National and Labor Party voters. Yet the Coalition and the Labor leaderships have chosen to attack or ignore the sentiment of the people, so clearly expressed.

This is also the global picture. Well over 10 million took part in anti-war protests on all continents. The Bush and Blair governments led the way in attacking this historic voice of the people, and the Howard government and its media hacks are following suit.

Now we are accused of giving comfort to Saddam Hussein, the monstrous abuser of human rights. The earlier arguments about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, or 'failure to comply with UN resolutions' have been largely abandoned, because they have failed to convince either the public or the UN Security Council. This desperate switch of arguments exposes the complete failure of the Bush, Blair and Howard governments to make a case for war. For if Iraq must be invaded because Saddam commits torture, murders his citizens and suppresses whole communities, then so must US allies like Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Israel and many more be invaded ... The Bush Administration may well wish for endless war, but this is actually total madness.

The Australian peace movement can play a vital role in forcing a step-down from invasion by the US. Even the US government will not go to war without at least Australian and British support. We must build on Feb 14-16 to persuade our government to bring the troops home and to oppose an invasion of Iraq.