Wage Peace - Disrupt War

Strategic, bold, direct and discursive action to disrupt militarism in Australia and our region.

Disarm Australia

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

  1. 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.
  2. Divest and sever all ties with BAE Systems (corrupt) weapons corporation
  3. Publicly disclose the entire investment portfolio of James Cook University
  4. 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

Spotlight on Robotics in the Bush

Lil interviews a teacher from regional NSW – proving that STEM education doesn’t need to cost us our integrity.

#DemilitariseEducation

Spotlight on UNSW

Lil Barto interviews Midhat – student organiser fighting against militarism and towards global liberation at the University of New South Wales.

How did you come to be involved in organising? What’s your activist origin story? And what do you feel like it’s taught you so far?

Head shot of a young woman, Midhat, wearing a hijab and a keffiyeh - photo credit johnjasonmoore photography

I’ve been involved in organising through Solidarity Australia’s Sydney branch since January. As a Shia Muslim who grew up surrounded by stories of resistance, of standing up against injustice, emulating the mission of Imam Hussain – the grandson of the prophet who was killed in Karbala, Iraq fighting for justice – I knew I had to also make that my fight. I have to leave this world better than I found it. My interest in political theory early on in my teenage years helped guide my decision on my degree at UNSW, which is a bachelor of politics, philosophy and economics. My socialist politics were able to develop as I challenged my ideas through debate and essay. In saying that, I hadn’t had the opportunity to materialise my political theory into praxis. Hanging out with the Solidarity comrades helped direct my political conclusions, which grew and changed and I got more involved in activism.

One example of this was when there were plans for an all-in-loosely-dubbed ‘direct action only’ group that was beginning to form in the wake of October 7, and a few months into the re-invigoration of the Palestine movement in Sydney. One of the debates central to the group’s tentative formation was how the leadership should be structured, considering this was an collation of many existing Palestine and activist groups. One camp was for a Palestinian and Muslim leadership council that guided the decisions of the group and had veto power to reject decision. The other camp was for an open democratic environment where decisions aren’t directed by misguided identity politics—the Palestine movement is a call for a movement that can challenge imperialism and capitalism, systems that affect everyone. Despite being a staunch materialist and pretty well versed in socialist politics and Marxist theories, it wasn’t until I had to confront this situation and choose a camp that I realised there is still much to learn. Because of course we need open democratic organising! With the clarity of hindsight, this seems like an obvious conclusion but the fact that it wasn’t meant I still has much ahead of me- and boy was that a realisation to reckon with.

So can you tell me about what’s been going on at UNSW lately?

Midhat on the megaphone at a campus rally

After I became an official Solidarity member and began building Palestine actions, me and a few comrades opened UNSW Students Against War as a group on UNSW Kensington campus. Our first action was rallying outside of where UNSW had shamefully invited the Minster for the Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, to inaugurate a ‘nuclear innovation hub’ –

funded by the $380 Billion AUKUS deal. Pat Conroy himself was at the table in Washington when the details were being discussed and finalised. UNSW has ties with weapons companies like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Quickstep, involving students in the process of developing IP and research to sell to Israel. The funding of these projects, which allowed for the opening of facilities like the Nuclear Innovation Hub in February this year, comes from the $380 billion AUKUS deal, and its associated militarisation of universities. UNSW also has academic partnerships with Israeli universities, like the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which by way of their ‘Havazalot Program’ hosts training sessions for IDF soldiers on stolen Palestinian land.

My activity was centralised at UNSW, stalling every day amidst the short UNSW semesters, sectarianism we faced from other groups and a chronically de-politicised campus. We soldiered on – pushing for why we need students involved in the Palestine movement, why workers who have the potential to seize control of production should care about Palestine. I saw that come to fruition as my comrades got arrested at the ZIM rallies in Port Botany, the repression we faced from security at USYD and UNSW, having our posters torn down and thrown threats of suspension (two which actually carried through and my comrades were banned from campus), during the encampment the smears of mainstream media, threats from management, internal sectarianism and so much more.

And, beyond the obvious connection to the genocide in Palestine, what do you think the broader implications of a militarised education system are?

I think it would be a mistake to think that militarisation is new; it’s built into the makeup of universities as bourgeoisie institutions who serve the interests of capital. It’s through this apparatus that they normalise internships at Thales, or promoting joining weapons research by plastering 5 year old children with adverts, promising a life of prosperity and innovation. It’s a signal of capitalism falling into further crisis and the rise of fascism. No one wants to sing up to the military so let’s push weapons development. Let’s put tax payer money into furthering ourselves in the nuclear industry and not towards public housing or actual education or healthcare amidst the housing and cost of living crisis. We understand this sort of imperialism, so it’s our job to push that argument to workers and students.

It’s been fabulous talking to you Midhat, I’ll give you the last word – how would you like to sign off?

It’s been demanding work but it’s a fight we must continue, if ever want to see a free Palestine – if we ever want to free ourselves.

From Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada!

Step 1: Change the policy

There are over twenty programs operating in Australian schools which have ties to weapons companies, wouldn’t it be great if the Department of Education banned them?

We think so too, and that’s precisely where we started.

Unfortunately, because this sort of thing is managed at the state level, that means that a policy change would be needed in each state and territory individually. When we came to this work, only the ACT had a policy that recommended against engaging in industry partnerships, sponsorships, or other arrangements with weapons companies (it actually says “armaments” which we found delightfully old fashioned).

On the bright side, there is precedent for such a policy, as certain industries are already banned in most states from having any “commercial relationships” with schools. These include tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and in some places, junk food. So thankfully for us (and for the children), we have already decided as a society that certain industries simply have no place in schools. Seems like a no-brainer to add weapons companies to that list right?

Now it starts to get tricky. Most of us who have been involved in grass roots activism before are probably familiar with two main types of campaign – the kind where you are trying to get a corporation to do or cease doing something, and the kind where you are trying to get the Government to do or cease doing something. But Departmental policies are not passed by Parliament, for all the world they seem to just spring into being fully formed – and it is not always clear who even has the authority, let alone the responsibility, to change or update them.

Cut to the annual national meeting of the Teachers Federation, July 2023. There is excitement in the air because everyone knows that a large anti-AUKUS motion will be put to the floor in the afternoon session. Who can say whether Department apparatchiks knew this and made a move to try to clear the air, but we received the news that morning that NSW had amended their sponsorships policy to add weapons companies to the prohibited industries list!

Queensland and Victoria soon followed, making these weapons-affiliated programs in breech of policy in all of the Eastern states of the mainland (best believe we’re coming for Tassie next!). This will be particularly awkward for iSTEM, an initiative of the Department itself.

While we harbour no illusions the campaign will continue to ensure that these policy developments are enforced, the Eastern states are home to roughly 80% of the continent’s population – and we now have policy in our tool kit for fighting the influence of the military industrial complex in the classroom.

Demilitarise UQ: A Petition to UQ from an Autonomous Student Group

This petition was constructed in May 2024 at the height of the Student Encampments. UQ students were camping out. An article comes out from Australian anti-militarist independent journal Declassified Australia pointing to millions being spent by the US Department of Defence.

Demilitarise UQ was a campaign by students at UQ aimed at exposing research arrangements with the US Department of Defence.

This petition demands that UQ pledge to cease receiving funding from ANY foreign government’s defence department. Boeing, a company that profits off of genocides in places such as Palestine and West Papua, has a centre at the St Lucia campus, and after a recent report from Declassified Australia detailing funding received from foreign governments, the lack of integrity of the University can no longer be questioned. 

The report confirmed that the United States Defence Department has funded $394 million to Australian universities via grants and contracts since 2007. The article revealed that the University of Queensland was the second-highest recipient of this funding during this time- at $60.5 million.  

The same institutions that educate our populous should not be allowed to profit off of violence, and it is urgent that their support of the military industrial complex ceases.

SIGN HERE TO DEMILITARISE UQ

The university requested to meet. Here’s the letter we sent back outlining the broader issues.

24/05/2024For the Queensland University Leadership

To: Andrew Flannery

Chief Operating Officer

UQ

Dear Andrew

Thank you for your response to Demilitarise UQ following delivery of our open letter. The letter has more than 1100 signs.  We would like to meet as soon as possible for a preliminary meeting before the UQ Student General Meeting on Wednesday. Please propose a date and time.

These are the issues for discussion:

  1. Boeing is the key profiteer in the genocide in Palestine. Bomb kit parts for Boeing made bombs are designed and made in Brisbane. UQ research would most definitely have been used for this killing instrument. Boeing is THE KEY profiteer from this genocide and has an invested interest in promoting and prolonging and wars in general.  
  1. The recent Declassified Australia report confirmed that the United States Defence Department has funded $394 million to Australian universities via grants and contracts since 2007. The article revealed that the UQ was the second-highest recipient of this funding during this time – at $60.5 million. The US Defence Department operationalises military research and weapons sales on behalf of the “military industrial complex”. US weapons have been overwhelmingly used to kill millions of civilians during this period. 
  1. We see alarming signs of “state capture” as described in the Confronting State Capture Report (2022) https://australiandemocracy.org.au/statecapture. It asserts that the hollowing out and repurposing of institutions is one of six key mechanisms by which private actors exercise power to shape policies in the service of their own narrow interest. E.g. Dr Greta Nabbs Keller is the deputy director of a “Defence Research Unit”. Greta Nabbs Keller is ex-military. In her position she has paved the way for Gen Mick Ryan to occupy an adjunct role as a “lecturer”. There is no academic consensus for his ‘opinions’. It is believed that he serves the Pentagon and weapons industry interests
  1. We are concerned that more Australian and US Defence Department, military and weapons industry money comes through the opaque UQ Corporation which is not accountable to the public or public education.
  1. We also see signs that the engineering department has been militarised. We have heard from students that potentially, most engineering academics are current and past military. Many are working in weapons development. First year engineers are recruited with a discourse on sustainability and ideal contribution to society.  By second year, they are funnelled via ‘projects’ to military and “space” oriented work. This perspective has been articulated in a letter to the Chancellor, by Adjunct Professor David Hood and Emeritus Professor Colin Apelt – both long serving members of the Engineering faculty (letter attached).
  1. Regarding “Defence” which is used as an excuse for this militarism: The climate crisis is the only real security threat for Australians. 
  1. UQ should demand proper funding from the government for the education of students.  

These are things that we think should be urgently addressed if the university is turned around from being a place that explicitly facilitates genocide.

Students for Palestine have a set of clear demands, which we fully support.  The university should have no ties with weapons companies, nor take money from foreign governments.

Yours sincerely,

Lachlan Booth

Demilitarise UQ

24-5-2024

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