[Marxism] Money for tsunami victims, not war

[glparramatta <glparramatta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

   Sunday, January 02, 2005

Socialist Alliance: Money for tsunami victims, not war

January 1, 2005

The initial response by the world's richest countries to the earthquake 
and tidal wave disaster in Southern Asia has been pathetic. While many 
of these countries have poured billions into invading and bringing 
misery to the people of Iraq, they cannot seem to find anywhere near 
enough money to seriously help the mainly poor people who have been made 
destitute by this natural disaster.

The US government pledge of $35 million contrasts sharply with the $152 
billion it has spent in its invasion and occupation of Iraq. Its initial 
pledge of $10 million was less than it spends in a single hour of 
occupying Iraq.

The British government has pledged only $1.7 million, while spending 
many billions in Iraq, and the European Union as a whole has pledged 
only $5 million.

Australia has promised $35 million and some practical assistance - 
despite spending close to a $1 billion on the Iraq war so far. In 
contrast, ordinary people in Australia have responded with humanity and 
solidarity. The people of Victoria alone pledged almost as much as the 
British government in one day.

The economic rationalists who run most of the world's governments 
obviously believe that killing people is more rational than saving 
lives. Its time to reorient their priorities to human need, not war and 
corporate greed.

Nearly 60 percent of Australians now believe the war in Iraq was "not worth
it". The Socialist Alliance has been campaigning for the withdrawal of 
all foreign troops from Iraq and we now call on the Howard government to 
immediately divert all the resources it is spending to assist the US 
occupation into helping the victims of the disaster in Asia.

Further, we will continue to demand that the Australian government end 
its material and diplomatic support for the Indonesian militarys war on 
the Achenese people, which is continuing despite the devastation of Aceh 
by the earthquake and tsunami. The ongoing war on the Tamil people in 
Sri Lanka must also end if the assistance to tsunami victims is to be 
fairly distributed.

http://www.socialist-alliance.org


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