A newly formed group of Fremantle young people have set out to stop Australia’s involvement in US wars in general and the AUKUS alliance in particular via organising cultural activities. They are talking about having fun while combatting war.
Youth Against War and Fascism activists outside the venue for their July 5 event. L-R Patrick Truman-Healy, Aedan McLeod, Zoe Williams.
“The AUKUS deal commits Australia to giving the US and the British war industries $35 million a day for the next 30 years” Zoe Williams told me. “It’s a slap in the face; this money should be spent on public services, not war. The needs of our people should be priority, not the violent agenda of power-mad USA”.
Zoe and other young people formed the Youth Against War and Fascism on June 18.
Their first activity is a band night at the Buffalo Club on July 5 titled Independence from the USA. Stop AUKUS.
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“We hope this will be the beginning of a series of events designed to engage young people with the anti-war movement and reclaim power through creative expression,” she said. “Youth are at the core of this issue; it’s our futures at stake.”
The event will feature local bands Measures of Distance, Monstar, Goodbye Forever and Furety. There will also be poetry from Joni Boyd, Allan Boyd and Mena Tabeshfar. Newly elected Greens MLC, Sophie McNeill will be a featured speaker as will long-term Fremantle activist, Sam Wainwright.
“In particular, we want to alert people to the AUKUS deal and how it is locking us into the US war machine,” Williams said. “There is a US nuclear submarine base being built at HMAS Stirling, near Rockingham. It will be ready for war in 2027.”
“What’s worse is that, while everybody knows about the stupid submarine deal, AUKUS has other parts to it. They are called ‘pillars’ and hidden in them is the complete integration of Australian industry into the US military-industrial complex and what they call ‘interoperability’ of Australian military forces with the US military.”
“The way this is all set up means that when the US goes on one of its illegal, fabricated wars we will automatically be involved. There’s even talk of bringing the Taiwanese government into AUKUS. That would almost certainly cause a war between China and Australia.”
AUKUS has effects closer to home, Williams said.
“While young people are struggling to find a place to rent, trammelled by cost-of-living, and giving up hope of owning a home, the WA government is proudly involved in building hundreds of houses for the US military in Rockingham. Not just that but WA is prioritising building education, health, transport and other essential services for US personnel. That’s all detailed in the written submission from the WA government to the UK AUKUS inquiry. The needs of Australians are falling lower down the priority list, and our right to peace is being eroded.”
“All this is designed for a war with China and what for? We don’t want to have any part in this. We’ve just had state and federal elections, but nobody heard the ALP say that they were signing us up to this.”
“Roger Cook has just gone to the UK to speak to their parliamentary inquiry into AUKUS. The WA government’s written submission to that inquiry says that defence industries are going to be our second-biggest industry after mining, bigger than agriculture, all in the next couple of years. We will have mining in the north and radiation at Rockingham.”
“Surely that’s the biggest industrial and social restructuring WA has ever had? The mining industry took decades to develop, but all this war stuff is happening before 2027. Every aspect of our society will be orientated towards war, including our universities. Did Roger Cook explain that in the election? Young Australians want a future they can feel hopeful about. If the government can restructure on this vast a scale gearing to war, imagine what could be achieved if they were geared toward peace, justice and meeting the needs of our people.”
“We say money for jobs, not for war, money for housing, not for war and money for education, not for war. We say that Australia should be a friend to all nations and an enemy of none.”
“Australia should have nothing to do with genocide and illegal bombings. Our government has put us on the wrong side of history. We need to get out of the US war machine and young people can lead the way and have fun while doing it. We feel powerless and disenfranchised because deals like this are snuck past us with no consultation, but our solace lies in the same place as our power, in banding together to engage in creative expression. Creating fun, accessible spaces for youth is vitally important in combatting the depressing reality we are presented with.”
Information and tickets for the July 5 band night can be found here. The next Youth Against War and Fascism organising meeting is at 4:00 pm on Monday, June 30 at the Buffalo Club. YAWF can be reached at YAgainstWarandFascism@proton.me.
By Barry Healy
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