On March 15, 2019 thousands of school students took part in rallies in Sydney and across the country to protest government inaction on climate change. While applauding these rallies, Nick Deane writes that concerns about climate change and the environment cannot be separated from concerns about militarism and war. Read the article here.
In response to the US led campaign to further destabilise Venezuela, an Open Letter was issued on Thursday, January 24, 2019. It has been signed by 70 scholars on Latin America, political science, and history as well as filmmakers, civil society leaders, and other experts.
The Open Letter notes that under the Trump administration, aggressive rhetoric against the Venezuelan government has increased with Trump administration officials talking of “military action” and condemning Venezuela, along with Cuba and Nicaragua, as part of a “troika of tyranny.” Continue reading Open Letter on Venezuela
On November 11th members of Marrickville Peace Group plan to attend the ‘official’ Remembrance Day ceremony at the War Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney. Whilst there, the group will display the slogan ‘Honour the War Dead by Ending War!’ and have a flyer with a message of peace ready for distribution.
Last year MPG members unfurled a banner with the same slogan at the Cenotaph. It caused some negative responses, so this year we aim to be more discrete. We intend hanging small (A5) placards, with the same slogan, around our necks.
MPG would be delighted if others choose to stand with the group.
The topic ‘Give ’em the boot! Time to close the US base in Darwin?’ was debated at Politics in the Pub on June 28, 2018.
Speakers at the event included Nick Deane (Give ’em the Boot Campaign) and Dr Andrew Mack (Lecturer in Political Economy of East Asia at the Boston University Sydney Academic Centre). YouTube videos of their presentations can be accessed here and here.
A public rally to symbolically destroy the Australian Military Sales Catalogue took place on June 30, outside the Queen Victoria Building. A small (and safe) fire was started for this purpose and the catalogue was destroyed page by page.
The catalogue is published by the Coalition government for the purpose of promoting the sale of Australian-made military equipment and weapons to other nations. Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne MP, has expressed the ambition of Australia joining the ‘Top Ten’ global armaments suppliers. View the YouTube video of the event here.
Read more about the opposition to the Coalition government’s new global defence strategy here.
The Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) takes place every year in mid-April. This day of action was originally proposed by the International Peace Bureau (IPB) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) with the primary goal of promoting a general awareness of the vast amounts of public money spent on the military.
Groups around the world who support GDAMS are calling for a major shift in budget priorities so that human development programs can be adequately funded. Continue reading Global Day of Action on Military Spending in Sydney – Sat. 21 April 2018
MPG has joined the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) in a campaign aimed at ousting the US marines from Darwin. Up to 2,500 US marines are arriving in Darwin during April. Under an agreement that will last until 2040, the marines are here ‘on rotation’ every year. The reasons for this extraordinary deployment have never been made clear and opponents argue that, rather than making the nation safer, they increase to likelihood of some future attack.
MPG has been letter-boxing in Sydney and Newcastle, asking people to donate old boots and shoes that will later be ‘given’ to the Australian authorities. Peace activists are demanding that the ‘Force Posture Agreement’ between the US and Australian governments be terminated. The campaign in NSW is being led by Nick Deane and Bevan Ramsden.
The arrest, detention and mistreatment of Palestinian minors by Israeli authorities has been well documented by international agencies such as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).1
It is reported that approximately 500-700 Palestinian children are arrested and prosecuted in the Israeli Military Court System every year.
Exasperated by this ongoing violation of human rights by Israeli authorities, MPG’s ‘ambassador’ in Tasmania, Jo Errey, decided to raise her concerns with her local member, Andrew Wilkie MP. Continue reading Palestinian children still victims of Israeli abuse
Members of MPG attended the Cenotaph in Martin Place for the Remembrance Day service on November 11, 2017. They displayed a banner saying ‘Honour the War Dead by Ending War!’ and distributed a flyer to explain why they were there. There was a generally positive response, but some of the military community clearly resented our presence and our message. Another photo.
MPG has written to Sen. Marise Payne, Minister for Defence, again on the topic of the US marines that are routinely stationed in Darwin. The letter argues that the strategic reasons that the Australian government has given for the deployment are not sufficient to justify this development. It argues that hosting the armed forces of a foreign country represents an extraordinary departure from what has happened in the recent past – requiring a special explanation. The full text of the letter can be read here.
On March 29, 2018, MPG wrote to the Minister again asking what assurance the Australian government has that the US marines would not engage in military action on orders from Washington. The fear is that Australia would be powerless to prevent such an eventuality, so that no such assurance can be provided. The full text of the letter can be read here.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
In an announcement on October 6, 2017, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said that ICAN had won the award “for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition on such weapons.”1 Continue reading ICAN wins 2017 Nobel Peace Prize
On 29 September numerous media outlets, including The Guardian and ABC News, reported that the head of the United Nation’s Special Political and Decolonisation Committee, Rafael Ramírez, had denied receiving a petiton which called for a free vote on self-determination in West Papua.
This seemingly contradicted Benny Wenda, the exiled West Papuan independence leader, who had told the media that 1.8 million West Papuans had signed the petition that Indonesian authorities had tried to ban and that it had been presented to the UN’s decolonisation committee on 26 September. Continue reading The truth about the West Papuan independence petition
On 26 September it was reported that the West Papuan People’s Petition, together with the Global Petition for West Papua, had been handed over to the United Nations by Benny Wenda, spokesperson for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).
Organisations and news services that covered the story included the ULMWP, The Office of Benny Wenda, Free West Papua Campaign, The Guardian (Australian edition) and the ABC. Continue reading Petition for West Papuan self-determination delivered to UN
Each year the United Nations’ International Day of Peace (IDP) officially takes place on September 21. To mark the occasion locally, members of MPG participated in a ceremony held in the Marrickville Peace Park (Richardson’s Lookout) on Saturday, September 16. Continue reading International Day of Peace – September 21
Representatives of groups affiliated with the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) met in Melbourne over the weekend of September 8-10, 2017. (MPG is an affiliate of IPAN and was represented at the conference by Nick Deane.) Continue reading 4th Annual Conference of the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network