The right Australia-United States military alliance and the complexities of building an anti-war movement were discussed at the Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition conference. Jim McIlroy reports.
The tumultuous end of Indonesian strongman Suharto's 32-year regime in 1998 was punctuated by widespread riots with mobs targeting ethnic Chinese and a deadly crackdown on student protests. Twenty-five years on, the victims and their families are still fighting for justice.
Attendees looking for a perspective through which they can advance a fight against war will have been sorely disappointed by the official line advanced by speakers at the rally.
With more than 2,000 people in Wollongong, New South Wales, staging a protest on Saturday against the Australian government selecting Kembla Port as a possible destination of nuclear submarines, all Australian politicians supporting the nuclear submarine deal with the United States and the United Kingdom should take the local people's objection to the AUKUS deal seriously.