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POLITICS-AUSTRALIA: You're Not Welcome, Critics Say to Bush
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY, Australia, Oct 21, 2003 (IPS) - As U.S. President George W Bush prepares
to go to Australia, critics are bent on showing him that not everyone in a
country that Washington considers among its firmest allies today is a fan
of U.S. foreign policy.
''It is good Bush is coming so that we can get out there and show him
that we don't like the way he is trying to run the world,'' Simon Turner, a
young protester who joined Sunday's anti-U.S. rallies here, said in an
interview.
Bush is due in Australia on Wednesday evening and is scheduled to
address a joint session of parliament in Canberra on Thursday.
A large protest is planned by peace activists at the Sydney Town Hall on
Wednesday evening and busloads of protesters are expected to descend on the
capitol on Thursday morning.
Police are busy erecting barricades to keep them at least a kilometre
away from the visiting president - or as one analyst put it '' beyond
rocket-launched grenade distance''.
A number of opposition members of parliament have said that they would
make some form of symbolic protest in parliament against the war of and
occupation of Iraq.
Andrew Wilkie, the former Office of National Assessments analyst who
quit his job in protest at Australia's involvement in the Iraq war, said
that ''just about every criticism of Bush can be attributed to our man
Howard'' because under him ''we've lost all leverage with the United States''.
On Sunday too, days after Bush, who is on a six-nation swing through
Asia, called Australia the U.S. government's ''sheriff'' in the region,
some 2,000 people gathered at Prince Alfred Park in central Sydney to show
just what they thought of Canberra's alliance with Washington.
They took part in a ''fall into line'' dance, where their only moves
were to the right and then to jump up when the vocalist called for it,
making fun of what they call Australian Prime Minister John Howard's
penchant for having Australia - the third nation after the United States
and Britain to send troops for the invasion of Iraq - do Washington's bidding.
Using typical Australian humour, the 'Day of Ridicule' included musical
acts, poetry reading, a competition for the best anti-Bush poster, a parade
of black puppets and short speeches from union leaders, peace activists and
entertainers.
Protesters lambasted both Bush and Howard, saying the Australia-U.S.
relationship serves the needs of U.S. corporations and not the Australian
people.
''Howard, we're not interested if your friendship with Bush is going to
govern us. Don't let it intrude on our lives,'' thundered Sharon Burrow,
president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, to cheers from the
audience of young people, trade unionists, peace activists, workers and
senior citizens on Sunday.
Last week, Bush told Asian and Australian journalists that ''we don't
see (Australia) as a deputy sheriff. We see it as a sheriff,'' a remark
that has become the focus of anger and jokes here.
It also drew fire across the region, with the Malaysian government
stating that the comments reinforce the view that Australia was acting as a
U.S. ''puppet'' in East Asia.
''We don't have a sheriff here, we have our own bonsai who does what
Bush tells him'' quipped Maree O'Halloran, president of the New South Wales
Teachers Federation.
''Bush is coming here to look after his interests, not because he loves
the Australian people,'' Jagath Bandara, national organiser of the
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, said in an interview.
He pointed out that one of the reasons for Bush's visit here is to
cement the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries that ''will
make the Australian workers worse off because our manufacturing and
television products will be taken over by American products''.
This restiveness over Australia's role after the U.S.-led 'war on
terror' symbolises something very different from what Bush claimed in his
interview, when he said that ''the great thing about Australia is that
they're not afraid'' about taking part in the war on Iraq, says Geoff
Kitney, a political analyst with the 'Sydney Morning Herald' newspaper.
''Not afraid! They are scared out of their wits,'' observed Kitney.
''We are more fearful of our neighbourhood and more convinced than at any
time since the height of the Cold War that our physical security depends on
the United States.''
At the same time, recent public polling, according to Kitney, has
indicated that there is widespread community support for Australia's
involvement in the Iraq war because of the belief that it has brought
credibility with the United States.
Many believe that this credibility will buy a stronger security
guarantee against any threats from the region, especially after the Oct. 12
Bali bombings, where most of the victims were Australians.
But there are costs to this thinking, Kitney explains. ''With our fear
(of the region), we have become less comfortable with dissent and division
of opinion,'' he explained.
It does not help that ''monopoly commercial media'' are so supportive of
Bush
and his policies and that alternative viewpoints are shut out of the
mainstream media, shrinking the room for criticism and debate, Rob Gowland,
Sydney district secretary of the Communist Party of Australia, said in an
interview.
''A foreign head of state is coming here and people are going out and
demonstrating against him. This is a controversial thing to do in this
country, because people usually don't do that here,'' he argued. ''But,
they are doing this on a large scale and the media is basically ignoring
it''. (END)
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