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Reorganising the Sydney anti-war movement for the next phase[This letter was sent to over 80 organisations to invite them to participate in the formation of the Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition.] The people of Sydney, and the Walk Against The War Coalition, made sure that the Howard government, George W Bush and Tony Blair knew that the majority of people here opposed their crusade against Iraq, and that the Iraqi people and the United Nations Security Council members knew that the majority wanted a peaceful resolution of the crisis. The Walk Against The War Coalition organised that campaign between October 2002 and April 2003 under the simple slogans of No War on Iraq and No Australian Involvement. That very simplicity, and the end of overt military action in Iraq, means that we need a new framework to respond to the developing situation after Bush's conquest of Iraq and to the global scale of the Bush Administration's strategy. During the campaign against the war on Iraq we also had some significant conflicts within the Coalition, with the worst relating to the 'Books Not Bombs' protests on March 26 and April 3. Those conflicts concerned our responsibility to participants for the conduct of protests and how to build an inclusive Coalition. The enclosed draft Charter for a Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition has been worked out over the last two months by some Walk Against The War Coalition sponsor groups to address these challenges. Please read the draft Charter carefully and accept it as an invitation to be a founding sponsor of the new Coalition. Invitations have been sent to the great majority of groups who made a constructive and effective contribution to the Walk Against the War Coalition campaign. We propose that the founding meeting take place on Monday July 7 at 6.00pm, and that the draft Charter, as amended, be adopted at that meeting and the first Coordinating Committee be elected there. If you have any proposals to amend the draft charter, please forward them to Peter Murphy and Ann Wansbrough by July 4. If you want to discuss this proposal in any way before the founding meeting, please phone Bruce Childs on 9386 1240. For Peace and Justice, Bruce Childs (Palm Sunday Committee, Evatt Foundation), Amanda Tattersall (NSW Labor Council), Claude Mostowik (MSC Justice & Peace, Pax Christi), Arthur Chesterfield-Evans MLC (Aust Democrats), Dr Gillian Deakin (Medical Assoc for Prevention of War), Rev Ray Richmond (Palm Sunday Committee), Rev Dr Ann Wansbrough (Uniting Care NSW/ACT), (Babs Fuller Quinn (WILPF), Bruce Cornwall (CPA-ML), Hannah Middleton (CPA), Denis Doherty (Anti-Bases Campaign), Dave Barrington (Politics in the Pub), Win Childs (Politics in the Pub), Trude Kallir (WILPF), Andrew Ferguson (CFMEU), Dave McElrea (CFMEU), Phil Davey (CFMEU), Tim Ayres (AMWU), Anna York (NUS NSW), Jan O'Leary (Progressive Labor Party) Peter Murphy (SEARCH Foundation). ...................................................................... supports the Charter, and associated Structure for the Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition, Operating Rules and Guidelines for Events. It undertakes to provide Delegates who will work within this framework and to withdraw from the organisation if the Coordinating Committee determines that it has committed repeated breaches. It agrees to pay the membership fee of $100 / $50. Signed: ............................................. Name of Signatory: ........................................................... Organisational Position: ...................................................... Name(s) of Delegates: .............................................. ........................................... Date: .................................... PO Box A899, Sydney South NSW 1235 Fax: 9211 1407 |
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© Walk Against the War Coalition 2003. |
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