Members of Wollongong Against War and Nukes will be in Newcastle from the 28th to the 30th November, attending the Rising Tide Protestival and flotilla to block the largest coal port in the world in Newcastle. The fossil fuel industry has deep ties to the military industrial complex, and we want to draw the links between climate destruction, war, and genocide – and the fights against them. We encourage all our members and supporters to come along! If you do, you can find us at the following events:
Find the WAWAN marquee (Friday arvo to Sunday midday)
Cometalk about all the issues around War, AUKUS, and Nuclear – and their environmental impact. WAWAN, Hunter Peace Group and other activists will be there with information and inspiration.
Find us at the Militarism, Palestine and the Climate Crisis workshop (3:30pm – 5pm Friday 28th)
We will be speaking alongside other anti-war activists.
Visiting Fremantle WA in September gave an insight to their anti AUKUS struggles.
We joined about 40 activists protested outside the town hall before a “Community Consultation“ organised by the Australian Submarine Authority. The meeting was a farce, men in military uniforms replete with medals evaded concerns regarding nuclear safety, legal jurisdiction over American servicemen and environmental destruction.
Days later International Peace Day saw a large rally and march through Fremantle. Palestine was front and center and is an important cross over with the Anti War, Anti Nuclear and Anti AUKUS activism. Unionists for Palestine, Save Cockburn Sound and Climate Action had powerful links to make as well.
The existence of HMAS Stirling, huge dockyards serving naval vessels and facilities run by arms suppliers like Raytheon, BAE and Rolls Royce gives the busy industrial coast from Fremantle to Rockingham a very different feel to the Illawarra. Fremantle has been hosting submarines and US naval ships for 80 years.
Their struggle has a strong focus on opposing a US base, the threat of a Nuclear presence and the destruction of a beautiful and popular marine environment. But they are leaving no stone unturned and have a dedicated and articulate group of activists building a movement to cancel AUKUS, end the FPA and stop the 12 billion dollar Henderson military shipyard.
Forty local organisations and community groups are launching a joint Port Kembla Declaration opposing the establishment of a nuclear submarine base at Port Kembla, calling for the federal government to rule it out. The Declaration states…
“We recognise the unique health and safety risks that come with nuclear-fuelled submarines, and the potential impact of a major or minor incident on the broader community and the environment we all enjoy…We are concerned by the lack of community consultation and fear the federal government will override local dissent to impose a nuclear submarine base, as well as a nearby site to store associated long-lived and hazardous radioactive waste from Australian, US or UK submarines. We will not let this happen.”
It has been endorsed by union, health, faith, student, environmental, creative, service and social justice organisations, including three local ALP branches. Endorsers include the Maritime Union of Australia (Port Kembla), South Coast Labor Council, Illawarra Teachers Association, Southern Youth and Family Services, Good for the Gong, Healthy Cities Australia and the National Tertiary Education Union (UOW branch).
Tina Smith, President of the South Coast Labour Council said “We reject the idea of turning our region into a frontline for war games or nuclear escalation. The risks—environmental, social, and strategic—are too great, and the community has not been properly consulted” Gem Romuld, member of Wollongong Against War and Nukes said “Port Kembla must never be sacrificed for AUKUS. The Illawarra community has a proud historic and ongoing movement against war and militarism.
This Declaration makes it clear: we will not be sidelined for a nuclear submarine base.” Port Kembla remains a potential site for a nuclear submarine base. This Declaration comes as recent FOI revelations from former Senator Rex Patrick indicate a business case for a Port Kembla or Newcastle base is being prepared for the NSW Government, but with a high level of secrecy. Further, the federal government has recently announced a $12bn AUKUS spend on construction facilities for ships and submarines in WA, along with two payments of $800m this year to fund US naval shipyards, despite Trump’s ongoing review of the agreement.
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.
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.
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.
With Hannah’s death in June this year, Australia, indeed the world, has lost an exceptional and inspirational peace and justice activist. However, be assured she leaves a legacy as tenacious as she was in life.
The backbone of her activism was an unstinting commitment to communism. She joined the Communist Party of Great Britain at age twenty and, within a year of settling in Oz (1974), she was a member of the then Socialist Party of Australia. In recent years, she served periods as president and general secretary of the CPA.
A standout illustration of her activism is her contribution to First Nations’ struggle for justice. Having lived with the Gurindji people of Dagu Ragu, NT, for eight months and completing her thesis ‘The Land Rights and Civil Rights Campaign of the Gurindji at Wattie Creek’, her respect for First Nations’ culture and understanding of colonial injustices was acute. With every campaign she initiated, she highlighted its relevance to First Nations.
From the 1980s through to the 2020s Hannah, with her partner Denis Doherty, concentrated their peace activism through the Australian Anti-Bases Coalition (AABC). From her Sydney base, Hannah published articles, lobbied hard and organised street actions in Sydney and protests at US bases. She was an impressive networker, reaching out across Australia and abroad, from Guam, Japan, Sth Korea to NZ, UK, US.
Hannah brought prodigious intelligence and exactingness to peace work which would have been daunting had it not been spiced with an irresistible warmth. She was one of the peace movements wonder women! Vale Hannah!
