Please circulate widely. Apols for x-posting.
Chris Chaplin
Preston, Vic
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gibbins, Alison (Sen K. Nettle)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 9:56 AM
Subject: People for peace - Senator Nettle
On the eve of war Greens Senator Kerry Nettle gave the following
speech in the Australian Parliament, recognising the amazing
achievements of the peace movement and calling for a redoubled push
for peace in the face of war.
19 March 2003, Australian Senate.
"As we stand here talking, there are people who one week from now will
be dead because of decisions made here.
The vast majority of those who die will be ordinary people in Iraq who
like you and me who enjoy and treasure life. They participate in their
local community and they revel in the everyday joys of life. They
laugh, sing and play just like ordinary Australians.
This is why Australian people have no quarrel with the Iraqis, they
are people just like us. We feel connected with them, we understand
their fear for their families, and we empathise with their pain.
This is the raw fact that the Prime Minister has lost sight of. War is
about people, not abstract concepts.
It is about the deaths of ordinary men and women, not about
maintaining strategic alliances. Its people who will suffer, people who
die and people who are asked to do the killing.
People are the victims of war but ultimately it is the people who can
and will resolve this mess our so-called leaders have begun.
Ordinary men and women around the world have responded to this very
human reality. We have seen millions around the world come out and
reject this war and its humanitarian consequences. People have poured
onto the streets to show their support for the people of Iraq.
A new superpower has arisen over the last year, and I don't mean the
United States or George W Bush. The superpower that has been born in
recent world politics is public opinion.
This unprecedented movement is not controlled by the usual political
mechanisms of Parliaments and politicians. Yet it alone has turned
George Bush's arrogant plan to bully and bluster the world into
accepting war into an enormous US diplomatic failure.
This superpower, which has already achieved a great deal, will
continue to grow, and if there is to be any good come out of this war
then it will be to this power that will be responsible, not our
governments.
In Australia, wherever Mr Howard goes in public he is reminded by the
people of this wonderful country that he does not speak for them when
he sends young Australian men and women off to another war in the Gulf
and perhaps some to their deaths. We support the troops but we do not
support Mr Howard. When he sends off troops, he does so only in the
name of Mr John Winston Howard and in the shadow of George W Bush.
I was with hundreds of Australians confronting Mr Howard on Sunday.
Joining me were elderly men, war veterans wearing their medals to
remind Mr Howard of the horrors of war. There were young families, new
Australians and elderly women who have been the stalwarts of the peace
movement in their local community for decades.
Mr Howard underestimates the power of the Australian people at his own
peril.
War is a fundamental and unforgivable stain to leave on the conscience
of the Australian people. We will not forget Howard's action and we
will not forgive its horrendous consequences.
As Prime Minister Howard requested in his televised press conference
yesterday, have no fear, the Australian people will have their beef
with you at the next election!
The peace movement has strengthened its voice. As this country steps
into war, we will be strong in our determination to see Australia
- bring home the troops
- meet our humanitarian responsibilities in this war
- enforce accountability for every civilian death, like we do with
military deaths
- And be part of a renewed global commitment to peaceful
multilateralism.
The focus of the peace movement up to now has been to stop the war.
There have been tremendous successes along the way.
Those who expressed muted dissent when the United Nations passed
resolution 1441 have been emboldened to stand up more strongly and
refuse a second resolution. A host of countries and leaders around
the globe have found the courage to speak out against the most
powerful nation the world has ever known because of the support
offered by millions of people across the world.
What once appeared likely to be an international UN endorsed coalition
to wage war has been whittled down to just the US and its dazed
lackeys. Three morally bankrupt governments who are no longer enjoying
the support of their people.
The peace movement will call loudly for an immediate end to the war.
That call has been based on a vision of peace that is driven by
justice, not the rule of might.
We will continue to call for justice - the justice that demands those
who make war must face responsibility for the ongoing suffering and
disadvantage of the innocent victims. This means both injured and
traumatised individuals, and the crippled economy, environment and
infrastructure of Iraq.
Justice also means accountability for the decisions that have brought
us to this point and the politicians who have made these decisions.
It is clear that this war is illegal and immoral. At the thirteenth
hour, the Prime Minister is waving around his Minister's advice that
it is all OK. Every day a growing chorus of legal experts, foreign
governments and international bodies makes clear that any legal basis
to this strike is a sham.
The Prime Minister who commits Australian troops to an illegal war is
committing an illegal act. The Australian people know it and the
world knows it. Justice demands that he be held accountable.
This war is a criminal waste - of human lives, of vast sums of money,
of natural resources, and of the ongoing health and stability of a
nation of people.
It is also a tragic waste of a historic opportunity to take a
different path. The Greens have repeatedly put forward a program for
peace and long-term stability in the region. Ours is only one of many
options that have been dismissed, ignored or misrepresented by a
Government that have been bent on a predetermined course of action.
We will not forget. We will not be drowned by the misinformation.
The vision for peace is clear even through the fog of war.
Once this fog has lifted, the world will also see the consequences.
George Bush's deceitfully-called war of liberation will inevitably
bring a massive humanitarian crisis.
Mr Howard has been over-enthusiastic about committing our troops to
war. But he is dismissive about committing Australian resources to
cleaning up the mess.
Mr Howard's crocodile tears for the human rights of the Iraqi people
only applies to the actions taken in the past - what about the actions
the is pursuing? He takes no responsibility for the human damage
caused by his own actions in the present and the future.
This Government spent $12m on fridge magnets that were returned in
their thousands by Australians who rejected their politics of fear.
Yet they have committed only $10m for rebuilding Iraq.
Estimates for the cost of rebuilding Iraq vary, but a figure of 150
Billion would be conservative. Australia has committed 1% of the
military force and yet toss less than 0.006% of the humanitarian cost.
That is simply disgusting.
In the short term our responsibilities to the people of Iraq include
meeting the needs of a population exposed to chemical contamination,
radioactivity from depleted uranium, unexploded cluster bombs,
psychological trauma, family breakdown, and lost educational
opportunities. All this compounds the damage caused to a generation
by widespread malnutrition from the cruel sanctions regime.
We are determined that Iraq will not be abandoned like Afghanistan,
nor must it become a US client state. The autonomy and dignity of the
Iraqi people must be restored despite the destruction they are about
to suffer.
The most wide reaching demand of the peace movement is for the
restoration of an international system of justice and cooperation.
This Government has been complicit in nothing less than tearing up the
compact that has kept the world from major conflict for the last 50
years.
However flawed, the United Nations system has spared us the worldwide
wars that plagued the first half of last century. Yet this Government
is rejecting the principles of international law and multilateralism,
and instead supporting the reinstatement of might is right as the
basis of international relations.
In supporting this principle, this Government shows that they have
forgotten the lessons learned by the Anzacs and by all those who lived
through previous wars. They have betrayed the message of those who
warned us from their own experience of the futility of war.
This Government is also responsible for the abandonment of any moral
high ground that western democracies might have occupied over the last
50 years. How can we be proud of a peace loving, fair go, democratic
tradition when our governments commit us to a war of aggression
against a massively weaker foe, against the wishes of its people,
against the will of international law? As a rich, educated, peaceful
country we have a responsibility to act in broader global interests.
In the past we have taken up this role, including playing a key part
in setting up the United Nations system we are now part of
undermining. This Prime Minister has made the decision to undermine
this international framework without the support of the Australian
people, without the vote of this Parliament, and in the face of global
opposition.
But perhaps the greatest tragedy of this insane situation is the
inability of the US and its allies to believe in the people of Iraq.
Much has been said about lack of alternatives to war, but never in
this whole sorry story has the US genuinely invested in the power to
the Iraqi people to decide their own destiny. Instead through a cruel
sanctions regime, they have starved and killed one of the brightest
and most dynamic peoples of the world and left them at the mercy of a
cruel dictator.
The peace movement continues to believe in the Iraqi people, and say;
Lift the sanctions now,
Support democratic organisations
Support human rights inspectors
Work within the international community to build a culture of peace in
the region and hope for democratic change.
If our warlike leaders had heeded this message 25yrs ago, or even
10yrs ago, and poured the same kind of resources that now fuel the war
machine into this people-centred solution, who can say that the Iraqi
people could not have been the agents of their own bright destiny?
War is not the only option, and never was.
It is sadly ironic how profoundly the current disregard for democracy
and concerted attempt to dismantle multilateralism has backfired.
Inspiringly, it has led to a revival of grassroots democracy and a
renewed commitment from the overwhelming majority of the world's
countries to negotiation and multilateral forums.
Despite the hypocrisy and cowardice of our political leaders the peace
movement still stands for hope. The new peoples superpower will not
be silenced."
[For more news & information about Greens policies on the war and many
other issues see www.greens.org.au.]
..
--
--
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
