Australian Anti-War Activist Joan Coxsedge's September 26, 2016 Letter

The following letter from Australian anti-war and Latin American solidarity activist Joan Coxsedge--who is also a former member of the Victoria state parliament--originally appeared in an Australian-Cuban solidarity group's newsletter   

“September 26, 2016

“Dear Comrades,

“Hope you’re all OK and managing to cope with the morally bankrupt brigade that claims to govern us. Turnbull preens in front of the global media, giving god knows what away to our US masters, who bomb and bluster to enforce their domination, with the most bizarre deal agreeing to accept Central American refugees while ignoring those in our own backyard.

“A genuinely independent media would help expose some of the lies and wholesale corruption so endemic in every layer of society. Instead, we get regurgitated rubbish spewed out by the Pentagon and the US State Department.

“America’s Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Powers, even shocked me with her furious response when she was forced to attend an emergency session of the UN Security Council to explain why US planes - and Australian - had attacked the Syrian Army, with 83 killed and at least 100 wounded, an egregious violation of the shaky ceasefire. Instead of apologizing for a deliberate attack on the army of a sovereign state, she came across as an obnoxious schoolyard bully. And she’s still at it, doing her damnedest to start WW3. 

“Her Washington bosses have gone even further by claiming to support ‘freedom fighters’, the so-called ‘moderate’ rebels, when Blind Freddy knows that there’s no difference between the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’. They’re all part of a terrorist front of illegal armed militants that the US, NATO (the US), Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar and Turkey (and Australia) have given arms and money to for five years. The battle for Aleppo is their last stand.

“Given the grim prognosis for the regime-change conspirators, the US and Turkey appear to be ratcheting up for direct military intervention. A horrible prospect.

“Whatever their political beliefs, I doubt that few Syrians wanted the US to turn their bustling 5000-year old civilization into a desolate moonscape full of homicidal fanatics.

“The name of the country under attack might change but the story has the same terrible outcome. Firstly, the US uses its well-tried pattern of labeling their targets as tyrants, butchers, modern-day Hitlers who commit horrific acts against their own people, shutting up any opposition. But Assad did not invade Iraq and kill one million people. George W did. Assad did not support jihadists to destroy Libya, kill half-a-million people, ignite a race war and create a massive refugee crisis. Barack Obama did.

 “The conflict in Syria is not a civil war. It’s regime change orchestrated by the world’s standout regime-changer, which has toppled more than 50 sovereign governments since the end of WW2. The Syrian war began in 2009 when Assad rejected a Qatari plan to transport gas from Qatar directly to European energy markets via terminals in Turkey to ensure global gas domination. Washington was furious and immediately launched its clandestine proxy war. WikiLeaks clearly showed in secret cables and reports that the moment Assad said no to the pipeline, he signed his own death warrant.

“At its epicenter, Iraq. In a 2015 interview, Noam Chomsky described the US invasion as ‘the worst war crime of this century’. But the war criminals have run free. Another Cheney is running for Congress, another Clinton is running for president and Howard still supports what he did.

“Blair is something else again. While Bush went home to paint pictures of himself, Blair went on a Clintonite mission to get rich while promoting more death and destruction. He cut a deal with Murdoch to allow media monopolies in exchange for press support, he took money from a car-racing plutocrat in exchange for allowing tobacco ads at car races, he peddled BAE jets to Indonesia for killing people in East Timor, sold BAE air traffic control systems to Tanzania which has no air force, privatized schools and hospitals, anything that can make a buck. As if all that’s not enough, he accepted the position Middle East Peace Envoy to Israel and Palestine…

“But the US has learned nothing about anything. Obama has just rewarded the most extreme anti-Palestinian Israeli prime minister with a huge increase in funding, from $US3.1 billion a year to a record $US3.8 billion over the next ten years. Rewarded for what? For the 1948 catastrophe? For the Sabra-Shatila massacre in cahoots with their brutal Lebanese Christian phalange allies? No-one ever got charged with that one. Or any of the other brutalities and daily humiliations and the illegal stealth of Palestinian land. On top of that, Israel has made no secret of its preference for violent Sunni sectarians. And yes, it’s al-Qaida.

“So good on the Women’s Boat to Gaza, an act of solidarity from a range of western women to show their support for the brave women of Gaza, trapped in what is described as a giant open-air prison. The ‘skipper’ is Australian Madeleine Habib.

“I was quite heartened to see Fidel Castro is still out and about. Obviously frail, but recently he held an hour-long meeting with Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe to talk about nuclear dangers. Abe described Cuba as a ‘great influence among all non-aligned countries’. We say, hear, hear and Viva!

“Joan Coxsedge"