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Happy New Year from the Melbourne Palm Sunday Alliance for a Peaceful and Nuclear-free Future!

With our news media dominated by foolish wars and current affairs debates full of nuclear foolishness, it seems apt that Palm Sunday this year falls on April Fools Day.

You and your organisation are invited to endorse the Palm Sunday national day of action, and organise Palm Sunday events in your location.

The Palm Sunday Alliance in Melbourne is made up of peace, faith, student, union, left, environmental, women’s and medical organisations that have come together out of concern about the serious pro-nuclear push happening in Australia and internationally.

We believe April Fools Day will be a good opportunity to send a unified messages to decision makers about the nuclear dangers we face, especially their out-dated and fool-hardy plans for nuclear power plants and waste dumps, (not to mention the embarrassing foolishness of Australia sitting under the US nuclear weapons umbrella for so many decades).

It's also an important time to tell the ALP and Kevin Rudd to not be the
fools of the nuclear industry. The ALP should take heed of public opinion before taking a decision to scrap their "No New Mines" policy at their National Conference this April . 78% of ALP voters don't want new uranium mines in Australia (or want uranium mining stopped altogether) and 66% of those polled don’t want any new uranium mines in Australia (or want uranium mining stopped altogether), only 22% support increased uranium mining .(Newspoll 30 May 2006). Wake up and read the polls Mr. Rudd!

Nuclear weapons proliferation is also causing a great deal of tension in our own region, especially since the nuclear test conducted by North Korea, and also in the Middle East where a terrible war which started on the pretext of 'stopping a mushroom cloud' and fighting non-existent weapons of mass destruction continues to rage.

For these reasons, Melbourne groups are meeting to plan and organise a number of events:

1 APRIL: a fun, kid-friendly gathering in Treasury Gardens at 1pm,
followed by a parade through the city to a festival in at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, to include Mayors, comedians (many of which are in town for the Melbourne Comedy Festival starting two days later), stalls and bands.

23 FEBRUARY a public meeting information sharing and media event a month
before Palm Sunday, on nuclear issues in Australia, which will include
substantive informative speeches interspersed with some lighter hearted
material, thanks hopefully to a comedian compare, (we are really hoping
Max Gilles will do this in wonderful role as John Howard, Helen Caldicott
has confirmed her participation), to be filmed.

2 FUND RAISING EVENTS: in order to print the posters and cover the costs
of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl (which is a considerable commitment for
organisations such as ours) several fund raisers will be organised, one
benefit gig with bands (18 Feb, Brunswick Club, Lygon Street), and another
being a nuclear pub quiz at Trades Hall (early/mid March).

The Alliance decided at a recent meeting to approach Michael Leunig to
design the poster for this national day of action. If he agrees, this
poster can be used by groups around the country also organising Palm
Sunday events, as a space will be left for location details. We believe
that a poster advertising this event and issue with his particular style
could very much help in sending a positive, hopeful and welcoming
invitation to a population that may feel despondent or even turned off
protests due to violence at recent events.

ENDORSEMENT

If you agree it's a good idea to mark Palm Sunday with a colourful
community event on April Fools Day to highlight the foolishness of nuclear
futures and can endorse these demands, we encourage you to endorse the
Don't Be A Nuclear Fool Palm Sunday effort, and to organize events and
actions in your own area.

1. Stop nuclear power in Australia: Renewables not reactors!
2. Stop uranium mining: Leave it in the ground!
3. Stop nuclear weapons: Put down that US nuclear umbrella!
4. Stop nuclear waste: No waste dump in Australia!

1. Stop nuclear power in Australia: Renewables not reactors!

Australia cannot afford and does not need nuclear power. In terms of water
usage alone, nuclear is unaffordable in the driest continent on earth,
however, the Prime Ministers hand picked nuclear panel proposes 25
reactors. Nuclear power has never been commercially viable without massive
taxpayer subsidies anywhere. Invest in renewable energy not reactors!

2. Stop uranium mining: Leave it in the ground!

Australia should stop exporting nuclear dangers at home and abroad by
ceasing the export of uranium from our 3 mines at Roxby Downs and Beverley
in South Australia, and Ranger in the Northern Territory. Massive
increases in uranium exploration is underway with plans to make Roxby
Downs the biggest uranium mine in the world. Australians living around
uranium mines are proven to have an increased cancer rate. Workers are
also not adequately protected - the uranium mining industry has a pattern
of not complying with their obligations. One notorious incident at Ranger
mine recently exposed 150 workers to drinking water containing uranium
levels 400 times greater than the Australian safety standard. Leave it in
the ground!

3. Stop nuclear weapons: Put down the US nuclear umbrella!

Australia should stop valuing and supporting nuclear weapons through
participating in the US nuclear umbrella. Nuclear weapons do not enhance
our security and are useless against today’s real security threats. Put
down the US nuclear umbrella!

4. Stop nuclear waste: No waste dump in Australia!

Australian’s do not buy the lie that nuclear reactors are a solution
climate change: building reactors emits large amounts of greenhouse gases;
they take too long to build and enough of them cannot be built to offset
carbon emissions in the next 20 years, the vital time period in which
change needs to take place. Nuclear waste that lasts for 250,000 years is
simply not green or clean!

So far the following groups are on board -

Medical Association for the Prevention of War,
Australian Conservation Foundation,
Friends of the Earth,
Environment Centre of the Northern Territory,
Peace Organisation of Australia,
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom,
Greenpeace
Australian Student Environment Network,
Nuclear Disarmament Party,
Global Climate Change Action,
Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific,
Socialist Alliance, Catholics in Coalition for Justice and Peace (CCJP),
Alice Action,
Arid Lands Environment Centre,
Stop the War Coalition
Nuclear Free Australia
Australian Peace Committee (South Australia)
Sustainable Living Foundation

Soon a basic website with information and the list of endorsers and events
around the country will be available here : www.NuclearFoolsDay.org

Please respond to this invitation if your organisation would like to
endorse Palm Sunday, or if you would like to receive email updates.

best wishes

Felicity Hill
Campaign Coordinator
ICAN - International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons
Medical Association for Prevention of War

www.icanw.org www.mapw.org.au www.ippnw.org

Phone: + 61 38344 1637
Fax: + 61 38344 1638
Mobile: + 61 43239 8261

Skype address: icanflick

Postal Address: MAPW, P O Box 1379, Carlton, Vic 3053, Australia
Visiting Address: MAPW Alan Gilbert Building, 2nd Floor, 161 Barry Street,
Carlton, Vic 3053

Listen to 3CR 855 AM every Friday morning at 7.45 for an ICAN update!
Streaming via www.3cr.org.au