[SA-Ho] "War criminal Bush must be stopped" + events

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a safe and enjoyable Christmas and New Year. We are in the process of planning our first events for the year. Our first Socialist Alliance meeting for the year will be held on Saturday 27th January at 3:30pm in the Activist Centre, 225 Murray St, Hobart. Our first Red Cinema film screening will be on Sunday 4th February at 4pm, details to be announced.

There is also an Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network Meeting this Wednesday 17th January at 6pm at Unions Tas in Elizabeth St, North Hobart, which will include report-backs from Tasmanian brigadista Melanie Barnes, and planning future events. All welcome.

Below is a media release put out yesterday by SA, and a news article about the upsurge in the anti-war movement in the U.S. The Hobart Peace Coalition is also planning a support action in late January, details to be advised.
In solidarity,

Susan Austin

"Serial war criminal Bush must be stopped": Socialist Alliance media release

And from AAP news today:

Friday January 12, 09:54 AM

Activists plan to block Bush's Iraq plan

Anti-war activists plan to mount thousands of protests and a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to block President George W Bush's plan to send more US troops to Iraq, organisers said.

Angered by what they described as Bush's defiance of a public that has turned against the Iraq war, activists said they plan to take to the airwaves, the internet and the streets to pressure Congress to deny funding for the planned troop increase.

"Last night's speech is clearly fuelling a surge of anti-war sentiment and activism," said Tom Andrews, a former Maine congressman who now heads the anti-war group, Win Without War.

Activists have scheduled 1,000 protests for Thursday night in all 50 US states, ahead of a January 27 march around the US Capitol that organisers expect to draw hundreds of thousands of participants.

The liberal grassroots organisation MoveOn plans to fund television ads criticising Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, a backer of the troop increase and likely presidential candidate, in Iowa and New Hampshire, where the first contests of the 2008 presidential race will take place.

The group will also fund anti-war bus advertisements in Washington, executive director Eli Pariser said.

Organisers said the entire campaign will initially cost $US7 million to $US9 million ($A9 million to $A11.6 million).

Separately, another anti-war group, International ANSWER, plans an anti-war march to the Pentagon on March 17.

An ABC News-Washington Post poll taken after Bush's speech found that 61 per cent of Americans oppose his plan to send 21,500 extra troops to Iraq, while 36 per cent support it.

Public disgust with a war that has killed more than 3,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis helped Democrats win control of the US Congress in November's elections.

Democratic leaders plan nonbinding votes opposing the troop increase, but appear reluctant to cut off funding for the plan.

Anti-war activists said they would lobby Democrats to take that step with thousands of phone calls, emails and letters to the editor.

"Members of Congress may not always be able to see the light, but they can always feel the heat," Andrews said.

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