Major General Burr is an Australian Army officer, who is also deputy commander of the US Army in the Western Pacific. Here is a photo of him in Mongolia, during US/Mongolian exercises.

MPG has written to the Minister of Defence, seeking an explanation of General Burr’s role. Which government does he serve? To which country does he owe allegiance? Is he the servant of two masters? How does this arrangement work? And doesn’t it rest on the presumption that Australian and US military interests always coincide precisely?

Marrickville Peace Group is utterly dismayed by events taking place in the Gaza strip. A statement issued by the group can be viewed here.

Jo Errey, a member of the group, has written a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) drawing attention to the ceasefire conditions sought by Hamas. Details of these ten conditions can be found here. (The SMH failed to publish Jo’s letter). Continue reading Statement and letter on Gaza and the ceasefire →

As its contribution to Refugee Week, MPG has joined forces with the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) to host a screening of the documentary movie ‘Mary Meets Mohammad’. This event will take place on Thursday, June 19 in the old Marrickville Town Hall (96 Illawarra Road in Marrickville) at 6.30pm. See the trailer here. Full event details here

MPG was proud to contribute to a recent visit to Australia by ex-US marine Vincent Emanuele. The group provided accommodation for Vince whilst he was in Sydney and took him down to take part in the ‘Canberra Peace Convergence’.

A brief report of Vince’s activities whilst he was in Australia can be read here. (Photo: Vince Emanuele, right, and Nick Deane collecting signatures on the F-35 petition. Click photo to enlarge).

Concern about the F-35 JSF continues to grow, with reports of its many problems – not to mention the huge expense. A petition sponsored by the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network – NSW (IPAN), calling for the agreement to purchase the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to be scrapped, was handed to Senator Lee Rhiannon early in August. More than 1,700 signatures were collected. Continue reading Don’t Buy the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter →

MPG has joined other community groups in the Marrickville area to form the Gallipoli Centenary Peace Campaign.

The group is concerned about the anticipated avalanche of propaganda associated with the centenary of WW1 – which appears to have started already with this year’s ANZAC commemorations. As part of the ‘Canberra Peace Convergence’, one member of the group joined the party marching under the banner ‘Lest We Forget the Frontier Wars’. The party was prevented from entering the Australian War Memorial by the AFP. (See photo). Continue reading Gallipoli Centenary Peace Campaign →

In February 2014, Australian diplomatic cables, ministerial submissions, government talking points and emails released under freedom of information laws, revealed Australia led secret diplomatic efforts to sabotage a New Zealand-led campaign that would lay the foundation for negotiating an international agreement to ban nuclear weapons. Such a ban would put these weapons in the same category as chemical and biological weapons that are already banned under international law.

Read about Australia’s exercise in diplomatic sabotage here.

Not being happy with the response from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s office, MPG has prepared another, very detailed letter to the Minister on drones. Read this letter here and the response received from the Minister’s office here. Additional information about MPG’s campaign against drones can be accessed here.

In the lead-up to the eleventh anniversary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq on Thursday March 20, the Campaign for an Iraq War Inquiry has written to Federal parliamentarians expressing concern that there has not been an inquiry into how the Australian government decided to commit our armed forces in that war.

The campaign is urging the government to create an independent Australian inquiry to investigate the process whereby Australia became involved in the Iraq war. The campaign is also encouraging politicians to consider how that decision-making process should be changed in future.

Read the Campaign for an Iraq War Inquiry’s letter to parliamentarians here.

Since December 2012, the MPG has been corresponding with the Minister for Foreign Affairs (previously Senator Bob Carr, currently Julie Bishop MP) over the legality of the use of drones in the so-called ‘war on terror’. See our Drones page for more information on this correspondence and links to the letters exchanged.

Harry Leslie Smith is a survivor of the Great Depression, a WW2 RAAF veteran and, at 90, an activist for the disadvantaged and for the preservation of social democracy.  In a recent article published in The Guardian he wrote “… the solemnity of remembrance has been twisted into a justification for conflict.”

Read the full article here.

The annual Marrickville Festival was held this year on Sunday 14 September. MPG’s presence was conspicuous with its ‘No More War’ submarine on display.

During the week 3 to 11 October 2013, Sydney hosted the International Fleet Review (IFR). This review was part of the celebrations to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the entry of the first Royal Australian Navy fleet in Sydney Harbour, on 4 October 1913.

On the Monday public holiday, 7 October 2013, members of MPG and other groups gathered outside the ‘Sea Power Conference and Exposition’ in Darling Harbour. These groups came together to demonstrate against the sale of sophisticated weaponry in the Exhibition Centre – the serious business side of the International Fleet Review.

Read the article on the IFR and the demonstration published in the Inner City Weekender here.

To mark the International Day of Peace (IDP) on September 21, MPG raised the issue of eliminating nuclear weapons. The group believes that Australia could make better use of its position on the UN Security Council to further this cause. Read the article published in the Inner West Courier here. The group has a supply of booklets on the topic of nuclear weapons, supplied by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Contact Nick Deane if you want to know more.

An open letter addressed to the new PM and signed by nine prominent persons (including ex-PM Malcolm Fraser) was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on September 14, 2013.

The open letter invited the “prime minister-elect Tony Abbott to tell the Australian people whether he believes that a prime minister should continue to have the authority to take Australia into international armed conflict on her/his own, or whether he would support a bill requiring parliamentary debate and approval before the Australian Defence Force is deployed overseas in combat.”

The open letter was signed by Paul Barratt, John Menadue, Malcolm Fraser, Professor Ian Maddocks, Professor Peter Baume, Gary Woodward, Professor Ramesh Thakur, Elizabeth Evatt and Kellie Merritt. 

Read the whole open letter here.