Launch of the Port Kembla Declaration

Over thirty union, environmental and community groups have signed a public statement showing their concern about the potential siting of a nuclear submarine base in Port Kembla.

This statement, known as the Port Kembla Declaration, will be publicly launched with a press conference on Thursday 25th September at 10am. This statement demonstrates the broad and diverse opposition in the Illawarra to a local nuclear submarine base.

To add your group or organisation to the list, please read the Declaration here and follow the link to endorse.

As the US continues to review AUKUS and the Australian Government pushes ahead with its agenda to acquire nuclear submarines, Port Kembla remains under threat of military takeover, radioactive contamination and the elevated threat of conflict.

Please join us on Thursday 25th September at 10am. Dalfram Memorial, Port Kembla Heritage Park

August Actions for Palestine

WAWAN was proud to have stood alongside hundreds of thousands of others at the Nationwide March for Palestine on August 24th (once again, the Wollongong contingent became a protest before we had even left Wollongong Station and the train was filled with Palestinian music, “Free Palestine” chants, and lively conversations between activists), and later to join the South Coast Labour Council’s event Let Gaza Live: Blue Mile by Candlelight. It is more important than ever for us to build the movement against genocide, imperialism, and war locally and across the country.

Bisalloy Picket

Starting 21 September at 8pm, Wollongong Friends of Palestine have called another overnight picket of Bisalloy Steels in Unanderra. This is our chance to protest a company that is directly tied to both the genocide in Gaza and to AUKUS (they have contracts with Israeli arms manufacturer Rafael and supply American submarine manufacturer Newport News Shipbuilding), and to send a message to our government that the people of Wollongong demand that all ties to genocide be severed.

To prepare for the picket, training is being held on 16 September at the Corrimal Community Centre from 5.30pm-8.30pm. This skill share will cover democratic decision making, legal stuff and what to bring. More details here.

AUKUS: End it now.

Join us on Monday 15 September for this great webinar hosted by IPAN.

Hear 5 minute summaries from each state and the NT of the campaigns against AUKUS. Then join a discussion about the way forward.

UPCOMING EVENTS

WAWAN meeting

The next WAWAN organising meeting is on Tuesday, 16 September at 7pm. We’re meeting online via Zoom. We’ll be organising the launch of the Port Kembla declaration. Link to the Zoom meeting here.

People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port

This November, join with thousands as we stop coal exports from the world’s largest coal port at Muloobinba/Newcastle, on Awabakal and Worimi land and water. Join a group of WAWAN activists who will be travelling to Newcastle to take part in this protest.

Thurs Nov 27 – Tues Dec 2. More details here.

Rojava: Kurdish Autonomy in a Region at War

Join WAWAN from 5:30pm on Thursday 16 October for the next in a series of educational teach-in style events at The Servo Food Truck Bar in Port Kembla.

Eda Gunaydin is an essayist and scholar who writes about class, diaspora, and race. Eda will explore struggles for Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria, the fall of Assad, and the impact of Israel’s war on the wider region.

For more information see the Facebook Event page here.