Lies, torture, refugees and deportation ...
Where to for asylum in Australia?
Held Thurday 25 August 2005
Phil Glendinning, Director, Edmund Rice Centre
Kate Gauthier, A Just Australia

China: new Giant in the world economy
impacts on Australia and the world
Held Tuesday 2 August 2005
Dr Joseph Halevi, Political Economy, University of Sydney
Dr Patricia Ranald, AFTINET

Pictures: Emma Marshall

The menu on the left gives access to:

• some key facts about the war: the reality of Weapons of Mass Destruction, the double standards applied to "defying the UN", the horrendous consequences of this war, the relevance to the War against Terrorism, the real impact this war will have on our future safety, and some background to how we got into this mess
• some ideas on what you can do to express your feelings and try to impact on what politicians do in our name
• useful links to other websites
• the draft Charter for a Democratic Australia

"Make no mistake about it: the choice is indeed between two visions of the world.

To those who choose to use force and think they can resolve the world’s complexity through swift and preventive action, we offer in contrast determined action over time. For today, to ensure our security, all the dimensions of the problem must be taken into account: both the manifold crises and their many facets, including cultural and religious. Nothing lasting in international relations can be built therefore without dialogue and respect for the other, without exigency and abiding by principles, especially for the democracies that must set the example. To ignore this is to run the risk of misunderstanding, radicalization and spiraling violence. This is even more true in the Middle East, an area of fractures and ancient conflicts where stability must be a major objective for us.

To those who hope to eliminate the dangers of proliferation through armed intervention in Iraq, I wish to say that we regret that they are depriving themselves of a key tool for other crises of the same type. The Iraq crisis allowed us to craft an instrument, through the inspections regime, which is unprecedented and can serve as an example. Why, on this basis not envision establishing an innovative, permanent structure, a disarmament body under the United Nations?

To those who think that the scourge of terrorism will be eradicated through the case of Iraq, we say they run the risk of failing in their objectives. The outbreak of force in this area which is so unstable can only exacerbate the tensions and fractures on which the terrorists feed."

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, in speech to the UN security council on the eve of war (19 March 2003).

© Cathy Wilcox, SMH, 26/3/4