At least 49 protests were organised across the world and in seven locations across Australia on February 21 to say no to the US-led drive to militarism and war as part of the global anti-US bases action, called by World Beyond War.
Anti-war and peace activists gathered at the entrance to HMAS Kuttabal, Garden Island in Gadigal Country/Sydney, where speakers drew attention to the fact that the US has more than 750 military bases across 55 countries and territories, and that it has the most lethal weapons at its disposal. It is clearly the most dangerous government, even without Donald Trump at the helm.
Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition activist Pip Hinman kicked off the protest saying: “Today, it’s a radical idea that there could even be a world with no war or threat of war. But it’s what most ordinary people hope for and it’s an idea we need to keep prosecuting and organising to deliver.”
Abigail Boyd, Greens member of the Legislative Council, said: “Australia must not be dragged into conflict to serve the interests of another power. Because that is what AUKUS is and that is what the expansion of US military bases across this continent represents.”
She said politicians and media pundits tell us there is “simply no alternative”, “we have to choose sides” and that conflict is inevitable.
“But that’s the language of the imperial war machine: manufacture fear; present war as unavoidable and then silence democratic debate.
“As we speak … the US gathers its forces to assault Iran once more. And Australia is weaving ourselves closer and more intimately into that destructive system. US aggression risks driving the world into mass war and will drag us down with them. AUKUS is a war pact. It is not an alliance of equals.”
Matt Murphy, assistant national secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, told the protest that all the talk of “deterrence” is really just a cover for going to war.
He said he had been asked to inspect the original French submarines that Australia was to receive and that they were suited to the defence job. However, he said the SNN-AUKUS submarines “are clearly offensive weapons” and a war with China is not going to resemble the war in Afghanistan; it will affect the whole region irrevocably.
Catherine Dobbie Gott, from the Sydney Knitting Nannas, said it is “not reasonable to spend $382 billion on AUKUS but quibble for years about funding public schools properly”. The cost of just one of the submarines “would fund every cohort of students from kindergarten to year 12 from now until 2040”.
She said AUKUS puts us into “direct and imminent danger and enormous debt” and locks us into “an erratic US and its growing hostility to China. It ties us to the US military complex — which we see emerging everywhere … schools, universities, housing projects, airports and technology projects.”
Sha Reilley, co-convenor from Labor Against War (LAW), said Labor members are organising to push for an independent inquiry into AUKUS from its national platform. Both demands have also been endorsed by Labor’s Victorian and Queensland branches and will be put the NSW Labor conference in July.
In line with the public opinion shifting against AUKUS, Reilly said “there has been a perceptible shift among the Labor membership” in the last 12 months. LAW also wants Labor to sign the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which it had promised to do in 2018.
She said LAW wants federal and state governments to withdraw from AUKUS and adopt a non-nuclear, independent foreign policy; to pursue peaceful resolution of regional tensions; and to cement economic and political ties in the Asia-Pacific region.
Denis Doherty, from the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, and Peter Murphy, from Australians for War Powers Reform, also spoke about the need to sign and ratify the TPNW and leave AUKUS and the Force Posture Agreement.
In Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide, 30 people protested outside the Edinburgh Air Force Base on the city’s northern outskirts.
Renfrey Clarke reports that the protest condemned the funds going to the burgeoning defence complex to produce components for aircraft and other weapons systems used in the Gaza genocide. They were targeting the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton UAV, a massive, high-altitude spy drone, remotely controlled from the base. They fly 24-hour-long spy missions over East Asia and it is highly likely this surveillance data is distributed via Pine Gap.
The protest included speeches and chants against US imperialism and Australia’s military war crimes. It was organised by Disrupt Arms Traders and Independent and Peaceful Australia Network.
The HMAS Stirling Naval Base at Rockingham, south of Boorloo/Perth in West Australia, is the intended west coast base for nuclear submarines for US and British submarines on rotation and the future AUKUS class vessels.
Supporters of campaign group Stop AUKUS WA gathered at the Rockingham foreshore before walking 3.5 kilometres with banners and flags to the front gates of the naval base.
Speakers included Elizabeth Hulm and Sam Wainwright from Stop AUKUS WA, Dr Christopher Crouch, KA Garlick on behalf of Nuclear Free WA, Ellen Morrison from the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network, local resident and psychologist Dr Trudy Rosenwald, and long-time anti-war campaigner Jo Vallentine.
