A decade of dissent

September 30, 1992
Issue 
73
Culture

A decade of dissent

A decade of dissent
By Greg Langley
Allen & Unwin, 1992. 232 pp. $19.95
Reviewed by Stephen Robson

On May 7, 1970, the federal minister for labour and conscription, Billie Snedden described the organisers of the moratorium the next day as "political bikies who pack-rape democracy".

On May 8, 100,000 people marched in the streets of Melbourne demanding the withdrawal of US and Australian troops from Vietnam. Greg Langley mentions that one placard carried by an elderly woman replied to Snedden: "I'm a pack-raping bikie".

Langley interviews participants in the antiwar movement, primarily from Melbourne and Sydney. Some were prominent in avoiding the draft. Some were activists in Save Our Sons, one of the organisations that campaigned against the draft, others in other aspects of the peace movement. There are even a few interviews with people who did the dirty work for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in spying on the movement.

The book provides useful background material, although the debates of the antiwar movement receive only passing reference.

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