What is planned, when
and where.
We plan to stage a protracted and sustained demonstration
in favour of peace.
We aim to do this by maintaining a presence in the vicinity
of the office of the United States Consul General in Sydney, that is, outside
the MLC Building in Martin Place.
This presence is to be maintained on a continuous number of
working days, leading up to the anniversary of the invasion (20th March).
The starting date has yet to be fixed as it will depend on the number of
groups showing interest. February 20th has been suggested as a target (the
attraction of this is that it is twenty working days before the anniversary,
so gives a little echo of the event’s title).
The objective is to visibly demonstrate the continuing, deeply
felt opposition to the invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq across a
very broad section of the Sydney community.
Numerous ‘Peace Groups’ have expressed an interest
in the idea. By individual groups taking ‘ownership’ of individual
days, the presence can be continuous without any one group becoming over-committed.
Each group involved need only make a moderate contribution (one day) but
the overall impact of bringing all these together should be considerable.
Some term the idea a ‘vigil’, or it may resemble
a picket line. In fact it is to be neither of these. We will make no attempt
to alter access to the building, and the ‘presence’ will only
last for office hours (i.e. no camping out !).
The focus of the event is to be the anniversary of the invasion.
It’s target is to be the US Government, the prime mover
in the whole, sorry affair.
The appeal is to the hundreds of thousands of thoughtful and
compassionate people in the community who know that the Iraq war was a monumental
mistake that has caused untold suffering and made the world less, rather
than more, safe for all of us.
The event should provide an avenue for all those who feel
concern to give that concern some expression. It should help to re-kindle
enthusiasm for the peace movement. It should remind governments that they
are faced with solid opposition. It should let fellow peace activists
in other parts of the world (especially in the USA) know that the peace
movement is vibrant in Sydney. It should also play an important role
in building up the major demonstration called for 18th March.
When we said that going to war was wrong in 2003,
we were right.
We are still here, and we are still right !
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