Sleepwalking into War? IPAN Conference 2024

Today we continue looking at the AUKUS military pact and in particular the tightening of the relationship between Australia and US military operations.As Vince Scappatura points out in his article 'Australia’s evolving nuclear posture: avoiding a fait accompli' published in Pearls and Irritations on the 12 October "AUKUS epitomises Australia’s geostrategic transformation and evolving nuclear posture within the US alliance. The significance of this transformation is reflected in the fact that Australia will soon become ‘the only ally in the world to host and support military operations by forward-deployed US strategic bombers and SSN attack submarines’. This comes in addition to hosting mature US expeditionary Marine capabilities and a more recent rotational presence of US Army personnel and permanent associated support infrastructure.  Perhaps more significant than providing a ‘vast military launchpad’ for multiple forms of US power projection is the developing role of the ADF to seamlessly integrate with American military forces and to provide what is approaching full-spectrum support operations, including for nuclear missions."Countering this was a focus of the recent Independent and Peaceful Australia Network 2024 Conference 'Sleepwalking into war?' We hear Dr Lisa Natividad from Guam where the US has both airforce and naval bases speaking at a public meeting to open the conference at the Perth Library on Friday 4 October.  Lisa Natividad is a professor of social work and Chamoru Studies at the University of Guam. She is a founding member of the Pacific Indigenous Women’s Network and I Hagan Famalao’an Guahan.  She has been affiliated with the International Peace Bureau and the International Network of Women Against Militarism. We then catch up with long-time peace and anti-nuclear campaigner and former Independent Senator for Nuclear Disarmament Jo Vallentine to discuss the outcomes of the conference.You can read the conference decalaration here.