The national conference of the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN), held over October 4–6, marked an important stepping stone in efforts to rebuild a peace movement in the face of the bipartisan drive to war embodied in the AUKUS agreement.
About 150 people from around the country attended, reflecting a diversity of groups and campaigns. They were united by a determination to halt federal Labor’s decision to join the US war drive on China and to instead promote peace, based on justice and environmental sustainability.
The conference began with an exposure tour of the sharp edge of militarism in Western Australia. Participants visited HMAS Stirling, the naval base in Cockburn sound where Labor wants to host nuclear-powered submarines and then the WA operations of weapons manufacturer BAE Systems in the Henderson industrial precinct.
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Senator Fatima Payman, Professor Lisa Natividad from Guam University and WA Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John addressed the opening public meeting, where the connection between AUKUS, Palestine, First Nations people’s rights, Pine Gap and the drive to war were made.
Discussions focused on the drive to war around the world, the detail of the AUKUS agreement, grassroots campaign responses and alternative visions of foreign policy, based on peace and justice.
A panel presentation by campaign group Stop AUKUS WA summarised various sites of struggle, from local government to universities, against Labor’s attempt to create a social licence for militarism.
The final day of the conference discussed the environmental consequences of war, the restriction on the right to free speech and protest and ways forward for the movement.
A number of the proposals for action against war were endorsed in a final session, facilitated by veteran anti–nuclear campaigner Jo Vallentine.
[Sam Wainwright is an activist with Stop AUKUS WA.]