BY
TOM FLANAGAN
LISMORE — In what many participants described as the biggest political event in this town's history, 5000 people — about a ninth of the town's total population — overflowed Spinks Park to say no to any war on Iraq.
Lisa Yeates, well-known local singer and political activist of 25 years, began the event with a compelling musical and political presentation, highlighting the impact of the use of depleted uranium weapons in the last Gulf war and Australia's involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle.
Other speakers included NSW Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, Reverend Cameron Venables of the Anglican Church, Peter Lanyon, a Labor Party candidate in the March 22 NSW elections, and Socialist Alliance candidate for Lismore Nick Fredman.
After a street march, in which protesters carried giant Bush and Howard puppets and hundreds of banners and placards, the anti-war protest clogged Lismore's CBD for an hour to hear further speakers. These included World War II veterans Arthur Pike, who saw action on the Kokoda Trail, and Phil Davenport, who was a pilot and POW. The silence of the crowd as both veterans spoke was an indication of the intense attention their anti-war messages received.
One rally participant, Barbara Elliot, a Socialist Alliance member from Collins Creek, said “it brought back memories of marching against the Vietnam War 30 years ago — it was the same feeling, and people have found their voices again”.
Upcoming anti-war actions in Lismore include the March 5 student strike against the war and the International Women's Day rally on March 8.
This student strike has been endorsed by the Lismore No War group and the Southern Cross University branch of the National Tertiary Education Industry Union. An announcement of the planned student strike at the rally by Resistance member Matt Egan was received an enthusiastic response and dozens of high school students put their names on contact lists to help with the strike.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, February 19, 2003.
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