The G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane underscored just how embroiled Australia has become in the wars and intrigues being waged by the United States in every part of the world. From the new US-led war in Iraq and Syria, to the provocations against Russia in Ukraine, to the US “pivot” against China in Asia, the Abbott government, with the full support of the Labor opposition and the Greens, is serving as Washington’s diplomatic attack dog and military partner-in-crime.
Australian imperialism has been deeply involved in the continuous series of US-led aggressive wars since the first Gulf War against Iraq in 1991. Since 2001, it has been a key US ally in the fraudulent “war on terror,” sending troops to the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 that were aimed, not at saving the world from “weapons of mass destruction,” or promoting “democracy,” but at establishing US dominance over strategic territories and oil resources in Central Asia and the Middle East. Australian troops have now been sent back to the Middle East, under the pretext of defeating Islamic State “terrorism.” The real agenda is to assist the US objective of overthrowing the Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian regime, as a precursor to war against both Iran and Russia.
In Asia, Australia is at the very epicentre of US provocations against China. Reprising his speech before the Australian parliament exactly three years ago, in November 2011, US president Barack Obama used his address to a meeting at the University of Queensland to threaten China with war if it refused to submit to US economic and strategic demands. Behind the backs of the population and with no public debate, the US operates critical communication and spy facilities in the country, along with several bases hosting US marines, warships and aircraft, while the Australian military is being thoroughly integrated into the American war machine.
The unprecedented campaign being waged by the entire political and media establishment to glorify Australia’s role in World War I and other past wars is aimed at undermining deeply-held anti-war sentiments in the working class and preparing yet another generation of youth to become cannon fodder in new and even more disastrous military catastrophes.
The SEP and IYSSE public meetings will examine why the entire Australian political establishment is collaborating with the Abbott government’s aggressive, imperialist foreign policy, and explain its connection to the breakdown of global capitalism and the ever-widening assault on social and democratic rights. We will elaborate the only political perspective upon which war can be opposed: the fight to mobilise the Australian and international working class to overthrow capitalism—the system responsible for war, poverty and repression—and establish world socialism. We urge all those workers and youth opposed to militarism and war to attend.
Newcastle
Wednesday, December 10, 7.00 p.m.
Joy Cummings Centre
Corner of Scott & Pacific Streets
Newcastle
(One block up from Newcastle Station)
Tickets: $3/$2 concession
Melbourne
Thursday, December 11, 7.00 p.m.
Blue Room (First Floor)
506 Elizabeth St, Melbourne
(opposite Victoria Market)
Tickets: $3/$2 concession
Brisbane
Saturday, December 13, 2.00 p.m.
South Brisbane Croquet Club
91 Cordelia Street
South Brisbane
(Intersection of Cordelia & Glenelg Streets,
15-minute walk from South Brisbane railway station)
Tickets: $3/$2 concession
Sydney
Sunday, December 14, 2.00 p.m.
University of Sydney Camperdown Campus
Carslaw Lecture Theatre 173
(Enter from the City Road main gate for car parking)
Tickets: $4/$2 concession
Perth
Sunday, December 14, 4.00 p.m.
Victoria Park Centre for the Arts
12 Kent St, East Victoria Park
Tickets: $3/$2 concession