Margie Pestorius

Nupress in the F35 Supply Chain

Stop Arming Israel – Arms Embargo Now – No Weapons for Genocide

Why are we picketing Nupress?

Nupress supplies five critical parts and ground equipment for the F-35 war plane. Israel has one of the largest fleets of F-35s in the world. Nupress parts go into a global pool that Israel gets priority access to. Israel has used F-35s in countless massacres of Palestinians, and in Lebanon and Yemen. The organisation, Workers in Palestine, has named Nupress as a company complicit in the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians.

What is a community picket?

Community pickets are a collective form of direct action. They are powerful because of the community that shows up and the clarity of the cause. Supplying components to machines that are used to cause mass casualties and death is something that must be opposed, on both moral and legal grounds.

What will happen at a community picket?

Community members will take up space around the Nupress factory to form a barrier to vehicles and workers. This may be physical e.g. through interlinking arms, or symbolic e.g. through holding placards, speaking to workers, chanting, etc. This picket will involve all these tactics which means people can choose what is safe for them. In this way, the picket is inclusive of families with young children and people with a disability, for example.

How do decisions get made?

We use a democratic process to decide the best ways to disrupt production at Nupress. We encourage people to be informed, ready to discuss tactics and be involved in decision making.

How will we organise at the picket?

There are different roles including worker liason, media liaison, police liaison, safety officer, etc. A convenor will initiate decision making processes for example how long to hold the picket. Affinity groups can act independently whilst ensuring respect for other tactics and groups. The key thing is holding firm to the goal of disrupting production at Nupress, in solidarity with Palestinian struggles and as a response to the call to end military supply to the genocide.

NUCLEAR POWER GENERATION IN AUSTRALIA

WAGE PEACE SUBMISSION TO INQUIRY

Wage Peace submission inquiry nuclear energy Download

Summary

WHO WE ARE p.1

A. DEPLOYMENT TIME FRAMES p.1-2 (original document)

Introducing nuclear power would be too slow to help decarbonise.

B. FUEL SUPPLY AND TRANSPORT OF FUEL p.2

The nuclear industry has a poor safety record for transport of nuclear materials

C. URANIUM ENRICHMENT CAPABILITY p.2-3

Australia has no uranium enrichment capacity.

D. WASTE MANAGEMENT, TRANSPORT AND STORAGE p.3

This remains unsolved

E. WATER USE AND IMPACTS ON OTHER WATER USE p.3

Evaporatively cooled nuclear energy plants use 25% more water than evaporatively cooled large coal -fired power plants

F. RELEVANT ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE CAPACITY, INCLUDING BROWNFIELD SITES AND TRANSMISSION LINES p.4

There is no capacity for uranium conversion or deconversion, nor for uranium enrichment nor for fuel fabrication.

G. FEDERAL, STATE, TERRITORY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS p. Nuclear power is illegal in Australia. p.4

H. RISK MANAGEMENT FOR NATURAL DISASTERS OR ANY OTHER SAFETY CONCERNS p.5-7 Nuclear energy has a very poor safety record and is unsafe due to the dangers of accidents during construction and transport of fuel, operation and decommissioning.

J. NECESSARY LAND ACQUISITION p.7

This could be problematic legally.

K. COSTS OF DEPLOYING, OPERATING AND MAINTAINING NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS L. THE IMPACT OF THE DEPLOYMENT, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS ON ELECTRICITY AFFORDABILITY p.7

Nuclear power would be uneconomic in Australia and far more expensive than continuing to build an energy system based on renewables.

M. ANY OTHER RELEVANT MATTERS p.7-8

RECOMMENDATIONS p. 8

That the committee rejects the option of nuclear power for Australia as it is would contribute to the proliferation of nuclear energy and also nuclear weapons. We also ask the committee to recommend that the AUKUS deal is revisited and annulled.

REFERENCES p.8-9

WHO WE ARE – WAGE PEACE

Wage Peace runs strong campaigns to disturb war and militarism in so-called Australia and organises and mobilises to end war culture.

We oppose nuclear energy proliferation, as it is closely linked to nuclear weapons proliferation – and also for all the reasons listed below.

A. DEPLOYMENT TIME FRAMES

Australian Chief Scientist Alan Finkel has pointed out that : “Any call to go directly from coal to nuclear is effectively a call to delay decarbonisation of our electricity system by 20 years.” (1)

Also, NSW Chief Scientist Hugh Durrant-Whyte, a former Chief Scientific Adviser at the UK Ministry of Defence, in a 2020 report prepared for the NSW Cabinet comments that introducing nuclear power to Australia would be expensive and difficult and that it would be naive to think a nuclear plant could be built in less than two decades.(2)

While there have been claims that small modular reactors (SMR) would be a great solution for climate change, Australian economist Prof. John Quiggin notes that even if SMR proposals “work as planned (a big if), they will arrive too late to replace coal power in Australia.” (3)

So nuclear energy is considered by these experts to be too slow to help us carbonise. –

B. FUEL SUPPLY, AND TRANSPORT OF FUEL

It is not true that Australia has an advantage , having large reserves of uranium. In the 2020 report referred to above, NSW Chief Scientist Hugh Durrant-Whyte noted that it is:

“important to dispel a significant myth propagated through the [NSW nuclear power] inquiry that having large local uranium reserves is a driver for low-cost nuclear power. Most costs associated with the manufacture of fuel has little to do with the cost of uranium. It has much to do with enriching the fuel, manufacture of fuel rods … reprocessing of the spent fuel and storage of waste.”(4)

Australia has significant uranium reserves but no capacity for uranium conversion or deconversion, no capacity for uranium enrichment, and no capacity for fuel fabrication.

Transport

Nuclear transport incidents and accidents are commonplace in countries with a significant nuclear industry. A British study (5) identified 806 radioactive transport incidents in the UK from 1958−2004 including incidents involving:

• medical and industrial isotopes (376),

• residues including discharged irradiated nuclear fuel flasks (111),

• irradiated fuel (101),

• radiography sources (78),

• radioactive wastes (63),

• uranium ore concentrate (33) and

• other(44).

There are no comparable studies of transport accidents and incidents involving radioactive materials in Australia. However numerous accidents and incidents have been reported over the years. ANSTO has acknowledged that there are 1−2 accidents or incidents every year involving the transportation of radioactive materials to and from the Lucas Heights research reactor site.

C. URANIUM ENRICHMENT CAPABILITY

Uranium enrichment is currently illegal in Australia (Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998; Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999).

In the 2020 report referred to above, NSW Chief Scientist Hugh Durrant-Whyte noted: “Enrichment is very unlikely to ever be undertaken in Australia due to cost, skills and non-proliferation agreements. Consequently, we will still need to send our mined uranium overseas to be enriched and probably converted into fuel rods, which we will then need to ‒ import.”(6)

D. WASTE MANAGEMENT, TRANSPORT AND STORAGE

Australia has no national facilities for nuclear waste disposal, and no country in the world has an operating repository for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste.

There is one operating deep underground repository for long-lived intermediate-level nuclear waste − the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in the US state of New Mexico. However, the WIPP repository was shut for three years following a chemical explosion in an underground radioactive waste barrel in 2014, a result of inept management and inadequate regulation. (7)

Efforts to establish national radioactive waste facilities (repositories and stores) in Australia for low- and intermediate-level waste have repeatedly failed since the 1990s, resisted by many First Nations people. (8)

The amount of waste that would be generated has been underestimated by Opposition leader Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. He claimed that: “If you look at a 450-megawatt reactor, it produces waste equivalent to the size of a can of Coke each year.” (9)

In fact, according to nuclear expert Dr Jim Green, over 450 million empty Coke cans per year would be required to accommodate waste generated across the nuclear fuel cycle for the operation of one 450- megawatt reactor. Excluding front-end waste (at uranium mines and enrichment plants), 367,000 empty Coke cans per year would be required;and just the spent nuclear fuel alone would require about 11,700 empty Coke cans per year. (10)

Transportation of radioactive materials (including nuclear waste) also poses security risks.

E. WATER USE AND IMPACTS ON OTHER WATER USES

A World Economic Forum paper states that water consumption for nuclear power is 2,870 to 3,270 litres per megawatt-hour (l/MWh), far thirstier than coal (1,220 to 2,270 l/MWh) and gas (700 to 1,200 l/MWh).(11)

According to a report prepared by Dr Ian Rose for the Queensland Government (15), evaporatively-cooled large coal-fired power plants use around 1,850 to 2,000 l/MWh whereas evaporatively-cooled nuclear power plants use around 25% more water, or around 2,300 l/MWh. Water consumption per megawatt-hour for solar PV and wind power is near-zero.(12)(13)

On the basis of worldwide experience, it appears that the enormous water requirements for nuclear reactors severely limits non-coastal siting.

F. RELEVANT ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE CAPABILITY, INCLUDING BROWNFIELD SITES AND TRANSMISSION LINES

Australia has no capacity for uranium conversion or deconversion, no capacity for uranium enrichment, and no capacity for fuel fabrication.

The introduction of nuclear power to Australia would require the education and training of thousands of nuclear scientists, engineers etc., presumably at taxpayers’ expense.

Claims that converting coal power plants to nuclear plants will be straightforward and advantageous rest on shaky foundations. Coal-to-nuclear transitions could potentially reduce nuclear costs by using some existing infrastructure at coal plants, but nuclear power would still be far more expensive than firmed renewables (renewable systems with storage capacity). (15) No coal power plants have been repurposed as nuclear plants in the US or the UK, so purported synergies and cost savings are speculative.

Most or all of the owners of the sites targeted by the federal Coalition for nuclear reactors have no interest in supporting the development of nuclear power or in selling their sites. On the contrary, they are pursuing renewable energy projects and energy storage projects.

G. FEDERAL, STATE, TERRITORY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS

Nuclear power was made illegal in Australia under two pieces of legislation introduced under the Howard Coalition government:

• the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 and

• the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Any government seeking to pursue nuclear power would need Senate support not only to repeal existing bans but also to pass other legislation to facilitate the development of nuclear power.

Queensland, NSW and Victoria have legislation banning nuclear power. The federal government might have legal powers to override state/territory laws banning nuclear power, although costly and protracted legal challenges could be anticipated.

A federal government attempting to introduce nuclear power would also require the political cooperation of relevant state/territory governments because of the primary role of state/territory governments in managing energy systems, yet nuclear power is opposed by state governments in all five states targeted for nuclear reactors by the Coalition (including the incoming Queensland LNP government) (16). With the possible exception of SA, where the Liberal opposition supports consideration of nuclear power, there is bipartisan opposition to nuclear power in the five states.

The Dutton Coalition has made it clear that a Coalition government would be prepared to override and ignore local community opposition(17) – a risk to our democratic processes and social cohesion.

H RISK MANAGEMENT FOR NATURAL DISASTERS OR ANY OTHER SAFETY CONCERNS

Death and Illness due to Nuclear Disasters and Long Term Exposure to Low Level Nuclear radiation.

Controversy about Deaths Due to Nuclear Disasters.

Claims have been made about the safety of nuclear power using extremely low estimates of the final death tolls of the two worst nuclear power disasters, i.e. Chernobyl 433, and 2,314 from Fukushima (18) and ignoring deaths due to evacuation and trauma and also short and long term morbidity. This seems comparable to assessing the safety of a playground only looking at the number of deaths it has caused and ignoring any injuries!

The Chernobyl Disaster

In 2006, Tom Parfitt, in an article in the medical journal, the Lancet wrote ‘Some estimates of the number of deaths so far in the former Soviet countries range as high as 50 000, reflecting deep splits in opinion over the appropriate way to evaluate the long-term effects of the tragedy’. (19)

He reported in this article that ‘Specialists in the former Soviet Union suggest the international scientific community is ignoring local research which indicates a high rate of illnesses not usually connected to radiation—eg, cardiovascular diseases—among people who received low doses. They say this means the death rate from Chernobyl is much higher than was originally predicted.’

A later report published in 2009 by members of the Russian Academy of Sciences indicates that there could have been as many as 830,000 people in the Chernobyl clean-up teams . They estimated that between 112,000 and 125,000 of these – around 15% – had died by 2005. (20)

This report found ‘a marked increase in general morbidity in [contaminated areas] Increased numbers of sick and weak newborns were found in the heavily contaminated territories in Belarus, Ukraine, and European Russia.

‘Accelerated aging is one of the well-known consequences of exposure to ionizing radiation. This phenomenon is apparent to a greater or lesser degree in all of the populations contaminated by the Chernobyl radionuclides.’

It is likely that, contributing to the wide range of estimates of mortality are:

• different dose response models used by different researchers

• disagreement among experts about which diseases can be caused by radiation. • lack of transparency from the governments and officials.

• the chaos seen during and after disasters of this magnitude.

• political upheaval and now war in Ukraine.

No one disputes that the Chernobyl nuclear accident was both a humanitarian and economic disaster, with adverse effects being seen as far afield as Northern Europe – such as effects on the sale of sheep in Wales, as outlined in my introduction.

Fukushima

Japan is still in the early stages of recovering from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. The human impacts have been profound, particularly for the more than 190,000 evacuees (21) displaced by the nuclear disaster. Direct economics costs alone amount to many hundreds of billion dollars.(22) Chernobyl was a trillion-dollar accident.(23)

Sadly, the risk of another nuclear energy plant accident being catastrophic remains. Indeed this was confirmed by Dr Ziggy Switkwoski, the former chair of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, when he gave evidence to the Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy on 29/08/2019 on Prerequisites for nuclear energy in Australia . ‘After Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2001, the possibility of catastrophic failing within a nuclear system is non negligible.'(24)

Diseases linked with radiation

Some nuclear experts only look at cancer mortality when assessing radiation induced disease while there is some research linking low dose radiation with circulatory, age related and neurodegenerative diseases. (25)

Effects on Fertility

Research done in Israel concluded that ‘The overall fertility of Chernobyl-exposed women seems to be reduced as reflected by the lower number of children and their greater need for fertility treatments. Our findings raise concerns regarding the long-term implications of the Chernobyl disaster.'(26)

Long Term Effects of Nuclear Radiation

There is also some concern that the effects of low dose radiation have been underestimated. In a recent research paper, Dr Chris Busby found ‘a significant cancer risk associated with serving on a nuclear powered ship'(27).

Nuclear safety risk & insurance

It is noteworthy that insurance policies from some of Australia’s major insurers, including AAMI, CGU, Allianz, QBE and NRMA contain specific text excluding coverage for nuclear disasters. None of these will insure homes, cars or possessions against a nuclear accident or release. (28)

The conflict in Ukraine reminds us of the security issues that Australians would need to consider if nuclear power were to be introduced here. The Russian military’s seizure of the operating Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — at a time when some of the plant’s six reactors were operating — was the most dangerous incident so far. Off-site power to the Zaporizhzhia plant has been cut eight times since Russia seized control of the plant in 2022, increasing the risk of a major accident.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned in April 2024 that attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant raise “the very real threat of a serious nuclear accident, which could have significant health and environmental consequences”.(29)

No other energy system is as easily weaponised as nuclear power and reactors have been described as pre-deployed terrorist targets.

J. NECESSARY LAND ACQUISITION

The Coalition states that it has legal advice that it can use compulsory acquisition powers to seize land for its proposed nuclear reactors.

The Howard Coalition government illegally seized control of farming land in South Australia for a national nuclear waste dump in 2003. That land seizure was annulled following a Federal Court challenge.

K. COSTS OF DEPLOYING, OPERATING AND MAINTAINING NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS

L. THE IMPACT OF THE DEPLOYMENT, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS ON ELECTRICITY AFFORDABILITY

Nuclear power would be uneconomic in Australia and far more expensive than continuing to build an energy system based on renewables. Nuclear power would result in increased taxes and increased power bills. Taxpayer subsidies worth tens, perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars, would be required.

CSIRO’s May 2024 GenCost report clearly demonstrates the cost advantage of firmed renewables:(30)

* Large-scale nuclear: $155-252 / MWh

* Small modular reactors: $387-641 / MWh

* 90% wind and solar PV supply to the National Electricity Market including storage and transmission costs: $100-143 / MWh

A recent report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that nuclear power would increase power bills for a four-person household by $972 per year, and that the cost of electricity generated from nuclear reactors would be 1.5 to 3.8 times higher than the current cost of electricity generation in eastern Australia.(31)

M. ANY OTHER RELEVANT MATTERS

Weapons Proliferation

The contribution of civil nuclear power programs to nuclear weapons proliferation has been documented by nuclear expert Dr Jim Green. Some countries openly acknowledge this with French president Emmanuel Macron summarising: “without civil nuclear power, no military nuclear power, without military nuclear, no civil nuclear”.(32)

First Nations Communities

Over the past 25 years successive governments have unsuccessfully tried to establish a national radioactive waste repository and store against the wishes of Traditional Owners at multiple sites, particularly in South Australia and the Northern Territory.

In 2023, Dr. Marcos Orellana, the UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, visited Australia. His end of mission report noted that these struggles over proposed radioactive waste facilities have left “a legacy of division and acrimony in the communities” and that “alignment of regulations with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a critical step in the path towards healing open wounds of past environmental injustices”. (33)

The UN Declaration states that “no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent”.(34)

RECOMMENDATIONS

We therefore ask the committee to make the recommendations that:

1. . Australia rejects the option of nuclear power. Adopting nuclear power generation would bring us closer to a nuclear war, nuclear energy being linked to nuclear weapons proliferation.

Nuclear energy generation would also be a threat to our democracy due to the lack of community license, the culture of secrecy and the high level security required. The necessary siting of nuclear waste dumps would further fracture government relationships with and also relationships within First Nations peoples.

Nuclear energy generation and the resultant radioactive waste is also far too dangerous as can be seen by its sad history of the devastation of so many Eastern European and Japanese people’s lives. 2. Uranium mining is made illegal.

3. Australia withdraws from the AUKUS agreement due to the intractable issue of the waste produced, the loss of sovereignity and the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation both by Australia and other countries.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/22/heres-why-there-is-no-nuclear option-for-australia-to-reach-net-zero

2. https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/will-be-starting-from-scratch-report-paints-grim picture-of-australias-long-road-to-nuclear-power/newsstory/dec9f44aed1e82c65f224bb5dd34a959

3. https://theconversation.com/dutton-wants-a-mature-debate-about-nuclear-power-by-the-time weve-had-one-new-plants-will-be-too-late-to-replace-coal-224513

4. https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/will-be-starting-from-scratch-report-paints-grim picture-of-australias-long-road-to-nuclear-power/newsstory/dec9f44aed1e82c65f224bb5dd34a959

5. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7ebb6fed915d74e33f2126/HpaRpd014.pdf 6. https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/will-be-starting-from-scratch-report-paints-grim picture-of-australias-long-road-to-nuclear-power/newsstory/dec9f44aed1e82c65f224bb5dd34a959

7. https://theecologist.org/2014/nov/27/new-mexico-nuclear-waste-accident-horrific-comedy errors-exposes-deeper-problems

8. https://www.apln.network/projects/voices-from-pacific-island-countries/the-politics-of-nuclear waste-disposal-lessons-from-australia

9. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-s-claim-nuclear-waste-would-be-size-of-coke can-hard-to-swallow-20240621-p5jnmy.html

10. https://jimkgreen1.substack.com/p/drink-up-peter-dutton-needs-one-billion 11. https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/foe/legacy_url/1868/Water-energy-2009CERA.pdf 12. https://web.archive.org/web/20070908215425/http://thepremier.qld.gov.au/library/office/Nuclea rPowerStation261006.doc

13. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/045802/meta

14. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032119305994

15. https://www.acf.org.au/power-games-assessing-coal-to-nuclear-proposals-in-australia 16. https://reneweconomy.com.au/coalition-in-a-panic-about-response-to-confused-and-unpopular nuclear-power-plan/

17. https://johnmenadue.com/duttons-nuclear-thuggery/

18. https://ourworldindata.org/what-was-the-death-toll-from-chernobyl-and-fukushima 19. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(06)68559-0/fulltext 20. https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04822.x 21. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fukushima-residents-return-despite-radiation/ 22. https://www.jcer.or.jp/english/accident-cleanup-costs-rising-to-35-80-trillion-yen-in-40-years 23. https://globalhealth.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2016_chernobyl_costs_report.pdf 24. https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=COMMITTEES;id=committee s%2Fcommrep%2F3abfb90c-9215-4b65-a5d2-32d112e8cd46%2F0001;query=I

25. 1. Sharma NK, Sharma R, Mathur D, Sharad S, Minhas G, Bhatia K, Anand A, Ghosh SP. Role of Ionizing Radiation in Neurodegenerative Diseases. Front Aging Neurosci. 2018 May 14;10:134. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2018.00134. PMID: 29867445; PMCID: PMC5963202. 2. Yang EH, Marmagkiolis K, Balanescu DV, Hakeem A, Donisan T, Finch W, Virmani R, Herrman J, Cilingiroglu M, Grines CL, Toutouzas K, Iliescu C. Radiation-Induced Vascular Disease-A State-of-the-Art Review. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2021 Mar 30;8:652761. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.652761. PMID: 33860001; PMCID: PMC8042773.

26. Cwikel J, Sergienko R, Gutvirtz G, Abramovitz R, Slusky D, Quastel M, Sheiner E. Reproductive Effects of Exposure to Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation: A Long-Term Follow-Up of Immigrant Women Exposed to the Chernobyl Accident. J Clin Med. 2020 Jun 8;9(6):1786. doi: 10.3390/jcm9061786. PMID: 32521764; PMCID: PMC7356322

27. Busby, C. (2020). High Cancer Risk in US Naval Personnel Serving in Nuclear Powered Ships. Cancer Investigation, 38(3), 143–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/07357907.2020.1731526 28. https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/nuclear-power-uninsurable-and-uneconomic-in-australia/ 29. https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-221-iaea-director-general-statement-on situation-in-ukraine

30. https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/energy/GenCost

31. https://nuclear.foe.org.au/wp-content/uploads/CivMil-CaseStudies2010.pdf 32. https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2020/12/08/deplacement-du-president-emmanuel macron-sur-le-site-industriel-de-framatome 33. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/eom_-_08_sep_2023_-_final_.pdf 34. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

BAE grooming Year 6 kids

Professor Ngiare Brown, Chancellor,
James Cook University
Professor Simon Biggs, Vice Chancellor,
James Cook University,
Far North Queensland, Australia
2024-10-15

Dear Professor Simon Biggs,

BAE Systems weapons corporation has close ties with JCU. JCU has invested in BAE
Systems weapons corporation. JCU has partnered with BAE Systems weapons
corporation.

The ‘Ideas Centre’ recently held a technology workshop targeting 11yr old students in
Year 6, Primary School. Many of the facilitators were BAE Systems employees. They we
wearing BAE Systems t-shirts. And another was an employee of HMAS Cairns. Is this
appropriate??? No, this is not appropriate!

Queensland Education guidelines ban sponsorship and other promotional activities by
certain sectors deemed inappropriate. These include the tobacco industry and the
weapons industry.

BAE System is the world’s seventh largest weapons manufacturer. U.K. company BAE
Systems manufactures the M109 howitzer, a 155mm mobile artillery system that the
Israeli military has been using extensively, firing tens of thousands of 155mm shells into
the Gaza Strip.

Some of these shells are white phosphorus bombs, the use of which is forbidden in
densely populated civilian areas and potentially amounts to a war crime.
BAE also manufactures electronic missile launching kits and other components for
Israel’s F-15, F-16, and F-35 fighter jets, which the Israeli Air Force has used extensively
in all of its attacks on Gaza, including in 2023.

International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC)
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel has likely committed
genocide and its investigation is ongoing. When there is a likelihood of genocide,
national governments who are a Party to the ICJ must take steps to prevent genocide.
It follows that universities and other institutions in those countries must also take steps
to prevent genocide including not collaborating with weapons corporations who are
arming Israel.

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has recommended arrest
warrants be issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of
Defense Yoav Gallant for war crimes. Israeli agencies Mossad, Shin Bet and others have
been surveilling and harassing the Chief Prosecutor and former Chief Prosecutor of the
ICC for the past nine years ( https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-have-waged
9-year-war-against-icc-tapping-its-communications/ ) The US has also campaigned to
intimidate the ICC so it will not issue the arrest warrants.

It is in this context of genocide and war crimes that JCU must reflect on and reconsider
its collaboration and partnership with BAE Systems which, aside from long-running
allegations of corruption, is a key supplier of weapons systems to Israel.

BAE Systems weapons corporation supplies the Israeli military with a wide variety of
weapons, including components for combat aircraft, munitions, missile launching kits,
and armored vehicles. BAE technologies are also integrated into Israel’s main weapon
systems, including fighter jets, drones, and warships. These weapons are often gifted to
Israel through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Financing program.

For years, these weapons have repeatedly been used against Palestinian civilians,
resulting in numerous casualties as well as mass destruction of homes and civilian
infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and water and electric systems. These
attacks include war crimes that Israel has committed during several major military
offensives against the Gaza Strip, which has been illegally blockaded since 2007:
2022 (“Operation Breaking Dawn”): Within three days of an unprovoked offensive, Israel
killed at least 33 Palestinians, including 17 civilians. Evidence of war crimes was
recorded by Amnesty International.

2021 (“Operation Guardian of the Walls”): During this assault, Israel killed at least 261
Palestinians, including 67 children and 41 women. At least half of the fatalities were
civilians, and more than 2,200 additional Palestinians were injured. Evidence of war
crimes and possible crimes against humanity was published by Palestinian human
rights organizations Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights;
Amnesty International; and Human Rights Watch. The International Criminal Court
announced that it will examine these cases.

2014 (“Operation Protective Edge”): During this 50-day assault, Israel killed at least
2,131 Palestinians, at least 1,473 of whom were civilians, including 501 children and
257 women. At least 11,000 Palestinians were wounded, including 3,374 children.
Evidence of war crimes was published by Palestinian human rights organizations Al-Haq
and Al Mezan; Israeli organization B’Tselem; Amnesty International; and Human Rights
Watch.

2008–2009 (“Operation Cast Lead”): During this 22-day assault, Israel killed at least
1,385 Palestinians, including at least 308 children, and wounded at least 5,000 more.
The majority of casualties were civilians. Evidence of war crimes was published by the
UN’s Fact-Finding Mission, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.
JCU must divest from weapons corporations linked to the ongoing genocide and war
crimes in Gaza/Palestine, such as BAE SYSTEMS, or JCU must be regarded as complicit
in the violations of international humanitarian law – ie genocide, war crimes and ethnic
cleansing.

We call on James Cook University to

Cease and desist from organising ‘technology workshops’ aimed at primary
school and secondary school students that are in any way related to weapons
corporations or the military.
Divest and sever all ties with BAE Systems (corrupt) weapons corporation
Publicly disclose the entire investment portfolio of James Cook University
Adopt a resolution not to invest in, or partner with, any weapons corporation but
rather invest in non-violent industries and corporations which can contribute to
humankind in a positive way.

Sincerely,
Geoff Holland on behalf of World Peace Now ॐ (since 2014)
Margie Pestorius on behalf of Wage Peace – Disrupt War

Nth Qld Tungsten in Palestine

Tungsten from Mt Carbine mine far north Queensland has been co-opted by US manufacturer Elmet Technologies which manufacture tungsten cubes for fragmentation bombs made by Israeli weapons company Elbit systems. The tungsten is used to manufacture tiny cube shaped shrapnel for devastating injuries and death to Palestinian civilians, including countless children.

North Queensland people converge on Mt Carbine tungsten mine over US Department of Defence deal for war profits.

Monday 25^th of November 2024 – MEDIA ALERT

On Saturday the 30^th of November peace activists and groups from across Far North Queensland will converge on the Mt Carbine tungsten mine for a non-violent direct action and 15-minute silent peace vigil remembering the more than 15,000 Palestinian children killed in Gaza since October last year.

What: World peace vigil – 15 minutes silence
When: Saturday the 30^th of November 4:30pm-5:30pm
Where: EQ Resources Mt Carbine mine front gate on Mulligan Hwy
Who: Peace activists and groups from across far north Queensland several of whom are available for interviews over the phone or on the day.

This convergence was inspired by a front-page story published in ‘The Express’, a local Mareeba newspaper on the 11^th of September, titled ‘Mt Carbine tungsten deal critical to world security’.

Our action is intended to create more awareness in the local community and around the world about the origins of unethical products of war just like the tungsten exported from Mt Carbine. These products end up in the bodies of innocent civilians including children and used for maximum destruction of people’s homes and infrastructure in war crime atrocities such as those witnessed in Gaza by Israel.

The peace vigil is in response to the mine owner EQ Resources finalising a deal with the US Department of Defence in August that would secure these minerals ‘critical’ to weapons manufacturing and war profits for the life of the mine. The deal was done using the ‘US Defence Production Act (Title III)’ classifying Queensland minerals as a ‘US domestic source’. This enables the company to take advantage of grants and funding streams from the US government amounting to billions of dollars to expand the mine over the next decade with the US as exclusive customer, and under the guise of ‘world security’.

It is understood by participants that the mine provides local job opportunities and that ethical tungsten products do exist such as those used in medical, renewable technologies and aerospace industries. However, the issue we seek to highlight is that the majority are military applications that are fundamentally wrong and cannot be attributed to ‘world security’. They are designed to destroy ‘other’ human beings and property for war profits at the whim of American military might.

The wolfram ore concentrate from Mt Carbine will be sent to US tungsten and molybdenum fabricator Elmet technologies where it will be turned into warhead parts, tank parts and ‘tungsten cubes’ used to inflict horrific injuries on civilians including children in Gaza for well over a decade. The mysterious organ-shredding and bone-smashing cubes have been documented in reports by Amnesty International since 2009. Less than a week ago, on the 20^th of November, Dr Mohammed Tahir an orthopaedic surgeon in Gaza found one of these 3mm tungsten shrapnel cubes that had penetrated his patient’s body causing permanent paralysis of his right arm.

In another recent case, on the 15^th of November 2024, Australian citizen Ranem Abu Izneid studying dentistry near Jerusalem in a non-combat zone, had her dormitory shot to pieces by the Israeli Occupational Forces using what Dr Ameriah Fakhouri from the Palestinian Australian and New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA) described as ‘a type of exploding bullet’. This bullet caused shrapnel to lodge in Ranem’s face, neck and chest causing her to lose her right eye. The investigation into this incident may find the shrapnel still lodged in Ranem’s face contains tungsten, as found in similar cases.

Our message at the world peace vigil will be clear – that the Mt Carbine mine is:

“Tungsten – source of American war profits, of warheads, tanks and shrapnel cubes, and of Israeli war crimes”.

Media contacts: Daniel Jones, Mount Molloy business owner 0472515962 Media contact: Alan Isherwood, Free Palestine Tablelands 0493 539 550 Media contact: Geoff Holland, Free Palestine Far North Queensland 0499658764

Guardian Article

Israeli weapons packed with shrapnel causing devastating injuries to children in Gaza, doctors

Chris McGreal Thu 11 Jul 2024 21.00 AEST

This article first appeared in the Guardian with research by Chris McGreal. We reprint it here as an organising tool. Please visit the original article for more pictures and advertising and such. And pay for the Guardian! It’s very helpful research

Surgeons who worked in European and al-Aqsa hospitals describe extensive wounds caused by ‘fragmentation’ shrapnel experts say is designed to maximize casualties.

Israeli-made weapons designed to spray high levels of shrapnel are causing horrific injuries to civilians in Gaza and disproportionately harming children, foreign surgeons who worked in the territory in recent months have told the Guardian.

The doctors say many of the deaths, amputations and life changing wounds to children they have treated came from the firing of missiles and shells – in areas crowded with civilians – packed with additional metal designed to fragment into tiny pieces of shrapnel.

Volunteer doctors at two Gaza hospitals said that a majority of their operations were on children hit by small pieces of shrapnel that leave barely discernible entry wounds but create extensive destruction inside the body. Amnesty International has said that the weapons appear designed to maximise casualties.

Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon from California, worked at the European hospital in southern Gaza in April.

“About half of the injuries I took care of were in young kids. We saw a lot of so-called splinter injuries that were very, very small to the point that you easily missed them while examining a patient. Much, much smaller than anything I’ve seen before but they caused tremendous damage on the inside,” he said.

Weapons experts said the shrapnel and wounds are consistent with Israeli-made weapons designed to create large numbers of casualties unlike more conventional weapons used to destroy buildings. The experts question why they are being fired into areas packed with civilians.

X-ray of the damage done to a 15-year-old’s leg by fragmentation shrapnel, some of which is still lodged in the bone. The surgeon said: “The shrapnel entered from the left into the tibia bone and exited through the fibula to the right of the image. Our word for very smashed bone is ‘comminuted’. Bone comminution does not get greater than this.” The surgeon has put in a stainless steel plate screwed into the tibia. Photograph: The Guardian

The Guardian spoke to six foreign doctors who have worked at two hospitals in Gaza, the European and al-Aqsa, in the last three months. All of them described encountering extensive wounds caused by “fragmentation” weapons, which they said have contributed to alarming rates of amputations since the war began. They said the injuries were seen in adults and children but that the damage done was likely to be more severe to younger bodies.

“Children are more vulnerable to any penetrating injury because they have smaller bodies. Their vital parts are smaller and easier to disrupt. When children have lacerated blood vessels, their blood vessels are already so small it’s very hard to put them back together. The artery that feeds the leg, the femoral artery, is only the thickness of a noodle in a small child. It’s very, very small. So repairing it and keeping the kid’s limb attached to them is very difficult,” Sidhwa said.

Mark Perlmutter, an orthopaedic surgeon from North Carolina, worked at the same hospital as Sidhwa.

“By far the most common wounds are one or two millimetre entry and exit wounds,” he said.

“X-rays showed demolished bones with a pinhole wound on one side, a pinhole on the other, and a bone that looks like a tractor trailer drove over it. The children we operated on, most of them had these small entrance and exit points.”

Perlmutter said children hit by multiple pieces of tiny shards often died and many of those who survived lost limbs.

“Most of the kids that survived had neurologic injuries and vascular injuries, a major cause of amputation. The blood vessels or the nerves get hit, and they come in a day later and the leg is dead or the arm is dead,” he said.

Sanjay Adusumilli⁩, an Australian surgeon who worked at the al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza in April, recovered shrapnel made up of small metal cubes about three millimetres wide while operating on a young boy. He described wounds from fragmentation weapons distinguished by the shards of shrapnel destroying bone and organs while leaving just a scratch on the skin.

Explosives experts who reviewed pictures of the shrapnel and the doctors’ descriptions of the wounds said they were consistent with bombs and shells fitted with a “fragmentation sleeve” around the explosive warhead in order to maximise casualties. Their use has also been documented in past Israeli offensives in Gaza.

Trevor Ball, a former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said the explosive sprays out tungsten cubes and ball bearings that are far more lethal than the blast itself.

“These balls and cubes are the main fragmentation effect from these munitions, with the munition casing providing a much smaller portion of the fragmentation effect. Most traditional artillery rounds and bombs rely on the munition casing itself rather than added fragmentation liners,” he said.

Cubes removed from a child by Sanjay Adusumilli, an Australian surgeon working at the al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza. Photograph: Obtained by The Guardian

Ball said the metal cubes recovered by Adusumilli are typically found in Israeli-made weapons such as certain types of Spike missiles fired from drones. He said the doctors’ accounts of tiny entry wounds are also consistent with glide bombs and tank rounds fitted with fragmentation sleeves such as the M329 APAM shell, which is designed to penetrate buildings, and the M339 round which its manufacturer, Elbit Systems of Haifa, describes as “highly lethal against dismounted infantry”.

Some of the weapons are designed to penetrate buildings and kill everyone within the walls. But when they are dropped onto streets or among tents, there is no such containment.

“The issue comes with how these small munitions are being employed,” said Ball. “Even a relatively small munition employed in a crowded space, especially a space with little to no protection against fragmentation, such as a refugee camp with tents, can lead to significant deaths and injuries.”

Amnesty International first identified ammunition packed with the metal cubes used in Spike missiles in Gaza in 2009.

“They appear designed to cause maximum injury and, in some respects, seem to be a more sophisticated version of the ball-bearings or nails and bolts which armed groups often pack into crude rockets and suicide bombs,” Amnesty said in a report at the time.

Ball said that weapons fitted with fragmentation sleeves are “relatively small munitions” compared with the bombs that have a wide blast area and have damaged or destroyed more than half the buildings in Gaza. But because they are packed with additional metal, they are very deadly in the immediate vicinity. The shrapnel from a Spike missile typically kills and severely wounds over a 20-metre (65-ft) radius.

Another weapons expert, who declined to be named because he sometimes works for the US government, questioned the use of such weapons in areas of Gaza crowded with civilians.

“The claim is that these weapons are more precise and limit casualties to a smaller area. But when they are fired into areas with high concentrations of civilians living in the open with nowhere to shelter, the military knows that most of the casualties will be those civilians,” he said.

Busy street scene with cars, vans and a young man pulling a cart. A large banner with the Palestinian flag stands above buildings in the background

‘I panic when my phone rings’: the plight of Palestinians in Jordan

In response to questions about the use of fragmentation weapons in areas with concentrations of civilians, the Israel Defense Forces said that military commanders are required “to consider the various means of warfare that are equally capable of achieving a defined military objective, and to choose the means that is expected to cause the least incidental damage under the circumstances.

“The IDF makes various efforts to reduce harm to civilians to the extent feasible in the operational circumstances ruling at the time of the strike,” it said.

“The IDF reviews targets before strikes and chooses the proper munition in accordance with operational and humanitarian considerations, taking into account an assessment of the relevant structural and geographical features of the target, the target’s environment, possible effects on nearby civilians, critical infrastructure in the vicinity, and more.”

The UN children’s agency, Unicef has said that “staggering” numbers of children have been wounded in Israel’s assault on Gaza. The United Nations estimates that Israel has killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza in the present war of which at least 8,000 are confirmed to be children, although the actual figure is likely to be much higher. Tens of thousands have been wounded.

In June, the UN added Israel to a list of states committing violations against children during conflict, describing the scale of killing in Gaza as “an unprecedented scale and intensity of grave violations against children”, principally by Israeli forces.

Many of the cases recalled by the surgeons involved children severely injured when missiles landed in or near areas where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in tents after being driven from their homes by the Israeli assault.

An X-ray of a man with tiny pieces of shrapnel (the white specks) in his body. Photograph: The Guardian

Perlmutter described repeatedly encountering similar wounds.

“Most of our patients were under 16,” he said. “The exit wound is only a couple millimetres big. The entrance wound is that big or smaller. But you can see it is extremely high velocity because of the damage it does on the inside. When you have multiple small fragments travelling at insane speeds, it does soft tissue damage that far outweighs the size of the fragment.”

Adusumilli⁩ described treating a six-year-old boy who arrived at the hospital after an Israeli missile strike close to the tent where his family was living after fleeing their home under Israeli bombardment. The surgeon said the child had pinhole wounds that gave no indication of the scale of the damage beneath the skin.

“I had to open his abdomen and chest. He had lacerations to his lung, to his heart, and holes throughout his intestine. We had to repair everything. He was lucky that there was a bed in the intensive care unit. But, despite that, that young boy died two days later,” he said.

An American emergency room doctor now working in central Gaza, who did not want to be named for fear of jeopardising his work there, said that medics continue to treat deeply penetrating wounds created by fragmentation shards. The doctor said he had just worked on a child who suffered wounds to his heart and major blood vessels, and a build up of blood between his ribs and lungs that made it difficult to breathe.

Sidhwa said that “about half of the patients that we took care of were children”. He kept notes on several, including a nine year-old girl, Jouri, who was severely injured by shards of shrapnel in an air strike on Rafah.

“We found Jouri dying of sepsis in a corner. We took her to the operating room and found that both of her buttocks had been completely flayed open. The lowest bone in her pelvis was actually exposed to the skin. These wounds were covered in maggots. Her left leg she was missing a big chunk of the the muscles on the front and back of the leg, and then about two inches of her femur. The bone in the leg was just gone,” he said.

Sidhwa said doctors were able to save Jouri’s life and treat septic shock. But in order to save what remained of her leg, the surgeons shortened it during repeated operations.

The problem, said Sidhwa, is that Jouri will need constant care for years to come and she’s unlikely to find it in Gaza.

“She needs advanced surgical intervention every one to two years years as she grows to bring her left femur back to the length it needs to be to match her right leg, otherwise walking will be impossible,” he said.

“If she does not get out of Gaza, if she survives at all, she will be permanently and completely crippled.”

Adusumilli⁩ said fragmentation weapons resulted in high numbers of amputations among children who survived.

“It was unbelievable the number of amputations we had to do, especially on children, he said. “The option you’ve got to save their life is to amputate their leg or their hands or their arms. It was a constant flow of amputations every day.”

Adusumilli operated on a seven year-old girl who was hit by shrapnel from a missile that landed near her family’s tent.

Men holding their dead children in shouds

A 15-year-old malnourished boy with a pinhole wound in the middle of his chest. Photograph: The Guardian

“She came in with her left arm completely blown off. Her family brought the arm in wrapped in a towel and in a bag. She had shrapnel injuries to her abdomen so I had to open up her abdomen and control the bleeding. She ended up having her left arm amputated,” he said.

“She survived but the reason I remember her is because as I was rushing into the operating theatre, she reminded me of my own daughter and it sort of it was very difficult to accept emotionally.”

Unicef estimated that in the first 10 weeks of the conflict alone about 1,000 children lost one or both of their legs to amputations.

The doctors said that many of the limbs could be saved in more normal circumstances but that shortages of medicines and operating theatres limited surgeons to carrying out emergency procedures to save lives. Some children endured amputations without anaesthetic or painkillers afterwards which hindered their recovery alongside the challenges of rampant infections because of unsanitary conditions and lack of antibiotics.

Adusumilli said that, as a result, some children saved on the operating table died later when they could have been saved in different conditions.

“The sad part is that you do what you can to try and help these kids. But at the end of the day, the fact that the hospital is so overcrowded and doesn’t have the resources in intensive care, they just end up dying later on.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/11/israeli-weapons-shrapnel-children-gaza-injured

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EQ Resources Ltd

CODE OF CONDUCT

5.2. Good Corporate Citizenship

5.2.1. The Company recognizes that it operates in an environment which impacts on various interests in the community. In pursuing corporate responsibility, the Company will:

(a) always consider the environmental, sociological and economic impacts of our operations;

https://eqresources.com.au/site/pdf/a2bad77f-08d1-4b27-9016-e645ab29e866/Code-of-Conduct.pdf

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Doctor operating in Gaza finds ‘tungsten cube’ used in Israeli explosive weapons

22 Nov 2024

Dr Mohammad Tahir, a London-based orthopaedic and peripheral nerve surgeon on a medical mission in Gaza, said he found a small tungsten cube “designed to explode and cause maximum damage” while operating on a Palestinian man injured by an Israeli explosive weapon.

The small cube had severed a nerve in the victim’s arm, causing likely permanent paralysis, according to Dr Tahir.

An unidentified weapon packed with unusual “cube-shaped shrapnel” has killed or wounded Palestinian civilians in the Gaza war, according to an Amnesty International report from February.

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Tactical Disruption Works

I’m guessing that anyone who reads Pearls and Irritations knows that Land Forces, Australia’s largest weapons expo, was held in Melbourne from 11 to 13 September in the face of strong opposition. Given the blanket coverage, it’s likely the great majority of those in the city also knew this was happening, as well as a great many across the country. Going by the coverage by the likes of Al Jazeera and BBC, and feedback we’ve had from Mexico, Indonesia, Colombia, and more, it’s reached plenty of international audiences as well. The country’s largest weapons fair has been well and truly held up to the light.

This was first published on Pearls and Irritations, 20th September, just following the Disrupt Land Forces Expo. Since then there have been some major wins. Written by a close associate of the Wage Peace team it outlines the importance of physical disruption to interrupting the social license of the “Harms Dealers”.

As has the role Victoria’s Labor Government played in supporting and funding this, and the participation of the biggest weapons corporations coming to town to promote and sell instruments of mass slaughter in billion-dollar deals. This includes Israeli corporations, who — from first-hand accounts — were actively highlighting the fact that their equipment has been used on Palestinian civilians, in war crimes, at a time of genocide in Gaza, as part of their sales pitch.

Without the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation, this level of exposure would not have taken place, and the deals would have gone ahead in a quiet ambience of corporate comfort.

A great many people worked for months to make this happen. Or rather, they worked for years: this is the third Disrupt Land Forces, with previous ones in Brisbane in 2021 and 2022. Those were, in turn, built on sustained practices of direct action fostered over years by multiple movements – peace and anti-militarism, [First Nations justice], environment campaigns, and others in international solidarity. These practices were developed by key groups and individuals who saw Australia’s accelerating militarisation over the last decade and more, and began working in response.

This is not just disruption for effect: in Aotearoa, campaigners used disruption to shut down the weapons expo there, the National Security Forum, in 2019; it hasn’t come back since. Campaigners in the UK have forced the closure of the weapons factories of several Israeli corporations. Back in the 1990s, the AIDEX weapons fair was cancelled in Canberra after a blockade by thousands.

Now, in Melbourne, we closed key streets for four days. We raised the cost for the government, to around $30 million – now they’re considering not holding such an event in the same place again. After disrupting the previous two expos in Brisbane, we have started to shift it out of Victoria as well.

This is a beginning, not an end. Direct action, with exposure as its first step, has a track record.

And we need it. Australia’s new wave of militarisation is profound, and its full scope is perhaps still not properly appreciated. Whether it’s offering increasing stretches of land up north for US troops in their “pivot to Asia” over a decade ago; or aiming to become a top-10 global military weapons exporter; or wholesale subsidising of and subordination to the US military with AUKUS, the scope is immense.

We now have all the biggest multinational weapons corporations setting up shop here, expanding and building the tools for mass killing, and sending both those weapons, and those profits, overseas. Any serious analysis of this business makes clear that profit, not defence — however you define that — is their motive; how can it not be, for listed companies. Even for those with a “defence” world view, this primacy of profit is a fundamental conflict of interest; repeated reports of large-scale corruption, from bribes and fraud all the way through to the endless “revolving door” jobs for mates, highlights the point.

And Gaza. Tearing the mask right off to show what this truly means. The spreading realisation that has grown by day, by week, and by month, of just how deeply integrated Australia is in this genocidal assault. The clear view of the role of weapons corporations, and the support they receive from the state, that makes possible — inevitable — exactly this genocide and others. The war on Gaza is their business model. It’s what they export.

That is why we called for an arms embargo on Israel, and an end to the arms trade. To stop the current genocide, and prevent the next from starting.

In November 2024 the Victorian Government has also pulled out of a partnership, with significant money flow, with Israel weapons dealer Elbit.

Disrupt Land Forces, or DLF, was an invitation to collaborate, with over 50 groups and many individuals joining and taking on their own actions, able to get support from the whole. We had two principles – no harm to living things, and no policing of each other: if you didn’t personally like a particular approach or strategy that others were using, ask them about it rather than judging.

Wednesday, the first day of the expo was dramatic. We gathered to try and physically stop delegates from entering to make their billion-dollar deals, but then had police horses and the riot squad charging us, firing foam bullets and flash grenades, and releasing OC spray sometimes so thick it became a burning pink blanket. News stories hyperventilated about violent protesters injuring police; take a look at the broadcast footage though and almost all you see, is police being violent to us instead.

Funny, that. Anyone up for an inquiry there?

It was a joy, a pleasure, to finally get to oppose this awful weapons fair. It felt good to stand up and say what we were there for. And most of all, it felt wonderful to do this with a large number of people. This was community creation: in between rolling high-energy and often intense actions, we gathered at our base, shared and planned, learned and created; the kitchen crew was celebrated, feeding bodies and souls. And while some of the street actions got the mainstream headlines, in this space, and others like it over previous months, is where we connected and strengthened the very meaning of why we were here.

The DLF launch happened in June, and featured stories from many frontline communities – those forced into confrontation with the military system just to preserve their lands and lives. We heard First Nations stories in Naarm; stories from Palestine; from West Papua, Western Sahara, Iran, the Philippines, Chile, and the Mapuche peoples of southern South America. And while the expo started on Wednesday, our events began on Sunday, with the Peace Fire at Camp Sovereignty in the centre of Naarm. Elders from Victoria and several places across the continent came to tell the truth about the colony’s Frontier Wars, and about the ongoing repression, and resistance, of First Nations people here. Other Peace Fires were lit in West Papua and around this continent, and streamed to us online, their stories also shared.

A chant over months of solidarity with Gaza has been, “we are all Palestinians”. These stories told something of how much that resonates for communities across the world, how many layers of meaning that sentence can hold.

The dramatic headlines are, perhaps, all most people saw, but DLF events were far more varied. A couple of examples: Thursday night one group held a Vigil for Gaza by the river, in which those present wrote the names of children lost to the genocide on small paper kites on display. Friday, we wheeled out a West Papuan canoe, modelled on the one refugees travelled in to get to Australia in 2006, and performed a traditional dance, marking this government’s complicity in and contribution to that ongoing brutal occupation in our near neighbourhood. Friday also closed with several of us dressed up in a zombie dance, mirroring the business of death inside the expo, with others waving Wanted posters of the bosses from weapons corporations like Thales, Boeing, Elbit Systems, Rheinmetall, Lockheed Martin, and more.

In the lead-up to the mobilisation, one of the organisers pointed out how this was a chance for those of us in more privileged positions, to put our own bodies on the line for a change. More than 150 of us were injured, a couple badly enough to need hospital treatment. (Again: inquiry, anyone?) This is serious harm; and yet at an important level the danger for most was still symbolic by comparison: the tear gas and rubber bullets fired at us on Wednesday are a world away from the devastating destruction of Gaza, West Papua, and so many other places under assault. But to do this even in a small way was affirming: a determination to stand with communities whose places have become frontlines because of the very weapons being sold here. Driven by love and by rage, solidarity as an act of care.

Exposure is the first step. We need to take this further. The invitation to join is always open.

Disrupt Land Forces is running an appeal to support those arrested and charged, or fined during the mobilisation.

You can donate here:

Disrupt Land Forces Legal Costs