WAWAN members joined a couple hundred people at the South Coast Labour Council’s Vigil for Gaza. A silent procession down Crown St and Burelli St ended with a speech from former mayor Gordon Bradbury, reminding us that we must fight for the rights of all people, especially right now the Palestinians, to live in peace and safety.
This week, the USA has announced a review into AUKUS. Though some have suggested Trump will scrap the agreement, it is likely that the review will demand even more money from Australian taxpayers be used to subsidise the American war machine. Trump’s administration has already demanded Australia increase defence spending in order to contribute to a future US war with China. This war alliance, whether it is named AUKUS or something else, must be rejected.
As the South Coast Labour Council says in their recent statement: “We demand that our local members of parliament and the Government they are part of immediately rule out Port Kembla as a nuclear submarine base or military facility and this dangerous farce called AUKUS be buried once and for all.”
From 16 June to 30 August 2025 Wollongong City Library will host an exhibition of images and objects commemorating the history of peace movement activism in Wollongong. An online version of the exhibition is already available and can be viewed now at the library’s Illawarra Stories website.
As part of the exhibition, the library’s oral history volunteers interviewed a number of local peace activists. Their stories are also available to listen online.
The exhibition also features a series of events. WAWAN member Alexander Brown will be giving a talk about the local Peace Movement at 5pm Monday 28th July at Wollongong Library. For details, visit the library website.
Alexander will also be performing some Japanese kamishibai stories at the library as part of the exhibition. This performance, aimed at children and the young at heart, will include a story commemorating 80 years since Hiroshima.
There will also be a peace crane origami workshop with a local artist at the library.
Happening from 26 July to 10 August, 2025.
WAWAN has been offered a two week residency at the Wollongong Art Gallery as part of the current “Greetings from Wollongong” exhibition. The Gallery have kindly given us the use of a beautiful space and we have lots of exciting plans.
As part of the program, we will be designing and making badges, screen printing t-shirts, tote bags and tea-towels and making and decorating paper lanterns for the Hiroshima Lantern Parade.
Sunday 3 August will be a free concert of music and words for peace and against war and AUKUS in the large Bluescope/Chambers Gallery.
Saturday 2 August will be a dedicated kids activities day and also after school through the week.
Look out for our detailed program of events coming soon.
It’s a great opportunity for you to join us in creating activism which is fun, collaborative and effective. Come and contribute, enjoy and learn. To get involved in this project, join our online organising meetings on Monday nights. Online meeting link here.
The results of the recent Federal Election show a strident rejection of Donald Trump and his wannabe copycat Peter Dutton. Unfortunately, returned PM Anthony Albanese hasn’t got the message. On the campaign trail, Albanese went out of his way to praise the US Alliance and talk up how friendly he was with the warmonger-in-chief, so much so that after the election Trump told reporters: “Albanese, I’m very friendly with. I don’t know anything about the election other than… the man that won is very good. He’s a friend of mine.”
We need to demand that the Labor government cut ties with Trump, who has greenlit the now open annexation of Gaza, drafted an imperialist carve-up of Ukraine, and has ratcheted up the vicious state oppression of minorities like immigrants and trans people.
Across the country, students, unionists, and community activists will be holding protests on the 24th of May. In Wollongong, the protest will be held at 2PM at the amphitheatre in the Crown St Mall. WAWAN encourages all our members and supporters to be there to stand against racism, imperialism, and war.
Hundreds of people joined the community picket outside Bisalloy Steels in Unanderra on 8 May. Starting before 6am, the picket lasted until 3pm – disrupting the production of steel during this time.
Part of the day’s activities included a mock trial of Bisalloy for its crimes in profiting from war and genocide. On the same day, Wollongong activist Jeremy Kerbel was found not guilty of charges of assault stemming from a protest that occupied the Bisalloy office more than a year ago.
Kerbel told the Illawarra Mercury that he had a “clear conscience” and that he was “protesting against Israel’s violence” in Gaza.
“Bisalloy on the other hand are profiting on that violence. They are the ones who should be on trial. Their business model is sickening – there is blood on their hands,” he said.
“We anti-Zionist Jews stand together with Palestinians and all people of conscience in condemning Israel. We call on Bisalloy and the Australian government to immediately cease trade with the genocidal regime.”
Read the Mercury article here.
WAWAN joined the Wollongong May Day March tonight to march for workers rights and show our opposition to war. Peace is union business!
Tuesday, 11 March marked 14 years since a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The disaster was classified by officials at Level 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, the highest possible rating and one that was only ever reached by Chernobyl. The disaster caused widespread radioactive contamination of the surrounding area and led to the displacement of nuclear refugees. Approximately 25,000 are still unable to return home. The extensive damage caused to the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station means that decomissioning is ongoing and is expected to take at least 40 years.
Huge volumes of contaminated water are generated by the need to continuously cool the damaged fuel rods as well as groundwater and rainwater that flows onto the site. In August 2023 the Japanese government began dumping contaminated wastewater into the Pacfic Ocean and had dumpted more than 78,000 tonnes by the end of 2024. This has been met with widespread protest by Japanese fishers, neighbouring countries, and many Pacific nations.
Yet despite the tremendous cost of the disaster in human, ecological, and economic terms, the lessons have not been learned. The Japanese government continues its official support for nuclear power and here in Australia, the Liberal-National Coalition under Peter Dutton are advocating for Australia to build its own nuclear reactors. There is also a bipartisan consensus by the major parties to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
Don’t Nuke the Climate have produced modeling to show what a Fukushima-like event would do to each of Dutton’s proposed nuclear reactors <NuclearPlume.au – Mapping the Fukushima radiation plume in aus>
Today we held a speakout in Wollongong against Trump and the AUKUS alliance.
We want $368+ billion spent on health and education, not nuclear submarines
We want peace, not war
We want our children going to school in Port Kembla to be safe, not at risk from a nuclear radiation leak
We will keep organising and speaking out until we scrap the plan to build a US military base in the Illawarra!
Thanks to the South Coast Labour Council, NSW Teachers Federation, Wollongong Friends of Palestine and The Greens NSW for supporting this action today.
WAWAN invites you to join us for our end of year event for 2024. Come along and celebrate a year of antiwar actions with other activists.
BYO picnic rugs, food, and drink.