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Students discuss Iraqi resistance
SYDNEY — On April 29, Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly journalist Rohan Pearce addressed a Sydney University Resistance Club forum on the growing resistance to the US occupation of Iraq.
"Those who believed that the 'liberation' forces would be welcomed were disappointed", stated Pearce. Discussing the US occupation authority's statement that power will be handed over to an Iraqi government on June 30, he said that the "majority of such a government would be effectively handpicked by the US. Even before the uprising [in Fallujah], the US looked unable to create a government that would have legitimacy in the eyes of the majority of the Iraqi population and still be pliant to Washington's demands. This now looks impossible."
Pearce affirmed that "our share of the task in ensuring the Iraqi people win and the US imperialists lose is to win the battle in this country to withdraw all Australian troops and Australian political support for the occupying forces".
Brianna Pike
Radical Brisbane book launched
BRISBANE — Launching Radical Brisbane, an Unruly History on April 29, co-editor Ray Evans said that Brisbane has not been just a sleepy, overgrown country town, but has a "rich and ongoing history of struggle, of mobilisation, and a spirited record of fighting for a better future".
Evans dedicated the book to "all those unsung radicals of the past, who struggled for that better future. Many the people of this city continue to struggle until 'radical Brisbane' is not just an ideal, but a reality."
Murri community leader Sam Watson spoke of the ancient history of the Brisbane area as a meeting place for Murris, and the more recent anti-racist struggles. Dan O'Neill recounted some of the people's actions against government tyranny in Queensland and Carole Ferrier stressed the hidden history of violence and brutality by the authorities, and the popular campaigns against these attacks. The launch was chaired by Brisbane City Council Labor alderman David Hinchliffe.
The book, which covers the "struggle for political and social justice" in Brisbane from the early 19th century to the 1970s, is available via .
Bill Mason
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, May 5, 2004.
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