More speakers for Asia Pacific conference
International speakers for Asia Pacific conference
By Jo Brown
More than 30 international guest speakers are now confirmed for the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference in Sydney, April 10-13.
New confirmations have been received in the last fortnight from Abdul Hamadi from Indonesia's National Democracy Struggle Committee; Kimitoshi Morihara from the Japanese Communist Party's international department and Norio Okada from the Japanese Press Service; Gerry Arances from Kamalayan in the Philippines; and Jomo Sundaram from Malaysia.
Other new confirmations include representatives from Spain's United Left and Turkey's Freedom and Solidarity Party, and Pierre Rousset from the Revolutionary Communist League in France.
Green Left Weekly's correspondent in Russia, Renfrey Clarke, will present a workshop on the Asian republics of the former Soviet Union.
More speakers from local solidarity campaigns have also been confirmed, including the Australia-West Papua Association and the Bougainville Freedom Movement. The Minerals Policy Institute and the CFMEU have confirmed a workshop on the role of mining companies in the region.
The public meeting and conference launch on Thursday, April 9, at 7.30pm on "Crisis in Asia: Building Solidarity" will feature Tamara Bobb Dupont from the Polynesian Liberation Front in Tahiti; Anna Sarasvati from the People's Democratic Party in Indonesia; Jayanta Rongpi, a socialist member of parliament in India; Yoon Youngmo from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions; and Peter Boyle from Australia's Democratic Socialist Party.
More than 200 people have registered for the conference so far, including activists in student organisations, native title groups, women's groups, refugee networks, trade unions and solidarity groups around Australia.
For more information about the conference contact your local Resistance Centre (listed on page 2), call the conference organisers on (02) 9690 1230, or visit the conference web site at