Anti-War

Issue 41 - February-March 2013

By Kim Bullimore

Since Wednesday Israel has carried out a massive bombing campaign against two million people trapped in the Gaza Strip. At the time of writing, 33 Palestinians, including six children, are reported killed. In addition, at least 250 civilians have been wounded.

Issue 40 - November-December 2012

By Andrew Martin

“You’ll notice in the last couple of months, the [Syrian] opposition has been strengthened.

Issue 38 - February-April 2012

By Andrew Martin

For a year, the Syrian government of President Bashir Assad has led a bloody crackdown on protests calling for democracy and freedom. Assad and his father Hefaz al-Assad have headed a repressive regime for four decades.The death toll continues to rise as troops loyal to Bashir use heavy weaponry against the opposition.

Issue 37 - December-January 2012

By Hamish Chitts

Partners in war crime:

Prime Minister Gillard and US President Obama leaving a press conference in Canberra. For the sake of world domination by US capitalists these two have supported and implemented plans that have cost the lives of millions of people.

Issue 36 - October-November 2011

By Hamish Chitts

As the corporate media and pro-war politicians launch an intensified propaganda campaign around the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to sell the war in Afghanistan it is important to examine the US response to these terrible events and the impact this has had on working class people in Australia and around the world.

Issue 35 - September 2011

By Doug Lorimer

The six-months-long military stalemate between the 42-year regime of Libyan despot Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and the imperialist-backed forces of the Benghazi-based National Transition Council was broken by the rapid advance of the NTC forces into Tripoli last month.

Issue 34 - August 2011

By Hamish Chitts

Every two years, parts of northern Australia are invaded by the joint Australian-US war rehearsals known as Exercise Talisman Sabre.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced protests during his visit to Australia and New Zealand in July. Below is the press statement for the Brisbane protest (pictured):

Tony Blair has the blood of millions of people on his hands. He is a mass murderer who should be rotting in a jail cell, not jet-setting around the world earning millions.

Issue 32 - May 2011

By Nick Everett

On the morning of March 20, waves of NATO jet fighters and bombers launched an air attack against Libya’s air force, air defence systems, airports, roads, ports and ground forces with hundreds of cruise missiles, under cover of UN Resolution 1973, pushed through the Security Council on March 17.

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialist Party adopted April 9.

Issue 31 - April 2011

By Kathy Newnam

The so-called humanitarian intervention in Libya is nothing of the kind. It is a war in which the US-led imperialist forces have used the widespread sympathy for the Libyan people’s uprising to justify the latest chapter in their war for empire.

By Hamish Chitts

Anzac Day has long been less about remembrance of the people slaughtered in wars for Australia’s capitalist class and their foreign friends and more about creating a culture of blind nationalism and militarism.

Issue 29 - February 2011

By Hamish Chitts

The Australian anti-war veteran group Stand Fast will be touring Michael Prysner in June. Prysner is a co-founder of the US anti-war veteran group March Forward!, an affiliate of the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, which organises against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars while fighting for social and economic justice in the US. March Forward!

Issue 28 - November-December 2010

By John Percy

Agent Orange is the code name of the dioxin-laced chemical used by the United States to defoliate huge areas of Vietnam and destroy food crops during its devastating war against the people of Vietnam. Between 1962 and 1971, the US military machine sprayed 80 million litres of chemical herbicides and defoliants in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

The Conference on Diego Garcia & Chagos held at Grande Riviere, Port Louis, Mauritius, bringing together 150 participants from 30 October to 2 November 2010, reached consensus that we will keep the following struggles firmly bound together, never bartering one against the other:

By Ram Seegobin

Mauritius – An International Conference on Diego Garcia and Chagos, organised by the socialist group Lalit, was held here October 30-November 2.

Issue 27 - October 2010

By Hamish Chitts

The owners of corporations, their media and their parliamentary stooges have deliberately created many myths over many years in order to justify their wars for profit. A vile mix of racism, xenophobia and nationalism is added to an almost religious awe surrounding the military and war.

By Barry Sheppard

San Francisco – In a qualitative escalation, the Obama administration has for the first time used the “war on terror” against socialists in the United States. On September 24, the FBI conducted a series of coordinated early-morning raids at homes and offices in Minneapolis, Chicago, Michigan and North Carolina.

By John Percy

“A Victory for all humanity” was how the cover of Direct Action welcomed the liberation of Saigon and final unification of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, and that was the theme of a series of seminars in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane organised in September by Direct Action and the Revolutionary Socialist Party.

By Hamish Chitts

Stand Fast, a group of veterans and former service people opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had two more successful barracks gate speak-outs against the war in Afghanistan: on September 9, outside of Brisbane’s Gallipoli Barracks, home of the Australian Army’s 7th Brigade, including the 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment currently deployed in Afghanistan; and on Sep

Issue 26 - September 2010

Reviewed by Chris Atkinson

The 30 Year War: Memoirs of War
The Gioi Publishers, Hanoi, 2009. 709pp.
Available from all Direct Action offices for $20.

On August 25 Vo Nguyen Giap celebrated his 100th birthday, accompanied by tributes and well wishes from the people of Vietnam and from revolutionaries around the world.

On August 13, Stand Fast’s Graeme Dunstan organised a highly successful speak-out in front of Townsville’s Lavarack Barracks, one of the Australian Army’s largest bases. There was a good turn out of local supporters, 14 in total including a British veteran of Cyprus, Jenny Stirling from the Greens and David Lowe from the Socialist Alliance.

By Hannah Middleton

“The Department of Defense already occupies one third of our lands and has harmed so much of our ocean. We cannot allow them to take more from our island and people. These projects will devastate our ecosystems, change our ways of life, and disregard our Chamorro culture. United we can stop this. Let’s stand together to protect our lands, ocean, and culture!”

Issue 25 - August 2010

By Nguyen Van Rinh

Five decades ago, on August 10, 1961, U.S. forces conducted the first spraying mission of so-called “herbicides” or “defoliants,” beginning the chemical warfare which lasted for almost 10 years (1961-71). The use of Agent Orange brought about untold human death and suffering, as well as environmental destruction to South Vietnam and surrounding areas.