The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 75/No. 15      April 18, 2011

 
Communists in Australia
condemn Libya airstrikes
 
BY RON POULSEN  
SYDNEY, Australia—“The airstrikes on Libya are being carried out in the interests of the same capitalist ruling families that are out to bust our unions and impose austerity measures to boost their profits,” Robert Aiken told a March 27 rally here against the U.S.-led bombing assault. About 40 people joined the emergency picket outside Sydney Town Hall.

Aiken was one of two Communist League candidates in the March 26 New South Wales state elections. He stood in the Legislative Assembly district of Parramatta, along with Linda Harris in the district of Fairfield.

Supporters of the Communist League candidates distributed a campaign statement titled “Imperialist Hands Off Libya! Stop the Aerial Assault!” The statement condemned the insistent campaigning for a “no-fly zone” by Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd, supported by the Labor federal government, the Liberal-led opposition, and the Greens.

The Bankstown-Canterbury Torch carried a profile of Harris in its March 23 edition. “Economic wars and depression are devastating the lives of workers and farmers worldwide,” the paper quoted Harris saying. “The capitalist rulers have no solution to their crisis but more unemployment, homelessness, and attacks on workers’ rights and conditions. Working people need to take political power as they did in Cuba and re-organise society in our interests.”

Aiken made a fact-finding trip to Brisbane and Ipswich in February to learn about the ongoing impact on workers and farmers of the disastrous flooding across much of central and southern Queensland. The Communist League candidates call for canceling the debts of farmers and providing credit to those hit by the floods and a cyclone. They oppose foreclosure on any farm.

Introducing their campaign newspaper, the Militant, the candidates campaigned at factory gates. At Beak & Johnston, a meatpacking plant, campaign supporters followed up on discussions with workers—especially with immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East—about the mass revolts against capitalist tyrants across North Africa and the imperialist intervention in Libya.

Campaigning at a March 12 rally and demonstration marking the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Harris won a hearing among women unionists on the Militant’s coverage of worker-farmer solidarity with the public-sector unions under attack in Wisconsin. The action was centered on building support for the campaign to win equal pay for women workers. Union contingents helped swell the march to more than 1,500.
 
 
Related articles:
CIA squads on ground spot targets in Libya
Antigovernment protests challenge Syrian regime  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home