This is an update on a conference which was mentioned on Leftlink briefly
late last year. Please pass it on to addresses and lists where it might be
of interest.
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The past year has seen a worrying escalation in Australian militarist
sentiment, with talk of conscription or national service, the imposition of
the so-called Timor Tax to fund an expansion of both the Army and RAAF's
overseas capacities, and clear bipartisan intent to raise the military
budget--all this against the backdrop of Australian military involvement in
both East Timor and Bougainville.
This is taking place alongside a regional and global trend of using armed
force to settle political and economic questions--from the Balkans to
Chechnya, from Aceh to the Taiwan straits.
That is why a conference has been called to examine the challenges and
tasks facing those in Australia opposed to such developments. The
conference, Australian Militarism in an Increasingly Dangerous World, will
be held in central Sydney on Saturday, May 13, 2000. It has been endorsed
by the Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament, the Central
Coast Peace Forum and Socialist Worker.
Speakers include:
* Graeme Cheeseman (lecturer at the Australian Defence Force Academy,
co-editor of The New Australian Militarism, Pluto, 1990).
* Ji Ungpakorn (lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok).
* Tom O'Lincoln (co-editor of Class and Class Conflict in Australia,
Longman, 1996).
* Jude McCulloch (lawyer and police powers activist)
* David Glanz (editor, Socialist Worker Review)
* Jim Green (nuclear researcher and Green Left Weekly journalist)
For more information, or to endorse the conference, email
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or write to Anti-militarism conference, GPO Box
1473N, Melbourne 3001, or ring David Glanz on 0418 316 310. A fuller agenda
with details of venue, cost, childcare, accommodation, etc, will be
available soon.
Draft agenda
9am Registration and coffee
9.30am Plenary: The revival of Australian militarism
11.30am Workshops
--Putting militarism in context: Australian imperialism
--Lessons from the anti-Vietnam War movement
--Militarism on the campus: unis as military researchers
--Australian militarism: a historical overview
2pm Plenary: Australia in Asia--playing the role of US deputy?
3.45pm Workshops
--Unions and the fight against militarism
--East Timor ... humanitarian militarism?
--Australia and nuclear proliferation
--The militarisation of the police
5.15pm Final plenary: Where now for anti-militarists?
--
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