52.
ARTWORK: Natasha Tareen
opposing aukus at anu NICK REICH The announcement of the AUKUS security pact last spring was a hawkish move driven by the Australian government. The AUKUS pact is a joint security agreement between Australia, the UK and the US to facilitate sharing of military technology and more joint exercises to combat the rise of China. It represents an escalation in Australia’s long and bloody history of imperialist aggression in the IndoPacific region. It will herald more advanced and destructive weapons such as nuclear submarines and hypersonic missiles entering the Australian arsenal, as well as an increased presence of larger and better-equipped armies from the UK and the US on Australian soil. The pact has led to the establishment of a nuclear science academic program at ANU, thus there is a particular onus on ANU students and staff to build an opposition to AUKUS and our government’s imperialism more generally. This has begun to happen within the student union (ANUSA) and the staff union (NTEU), with motions in opposition to AUKUS having been passed on both bodies in the face of minority right-wing oppositions. This is an important precedent. The campaign against AUKUS and imperialism should take up the following political positions.
