Tomorrow, 12 March 2020, protestors arrested blockading the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Melbourne will once again face court. It comes at a time of increased police intimidation of protest participants. Spirit of Eureka has issued this statement in support of the IMARC protestors and against the attacks on democratic rights in Australia.

Democracy is under attack! Support the IMARC protestors!

Spirit of Eureka wishes to express our support and solidarity with those facing trumped up charges and police intimidation as a result of participation in the popular protests against the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) held in Melbourne in October last year.     

Hundreds of peaceful protestors blockaded and protested the conference which was attended by delegates representing some of the biggest and worst mining and fossil fuel companies in the world, such as Rio Tinto, BHP, Adani, and Newcrest Mining just to name a few. It is corporations like these that are directly responsible for the environmental vandalism and climate crisis the world is facing today.

Motivated by the urge to see a more equitable, just, and sustainable world, protestors felt compelled to confront those people and corporations whose unhinged desire for ever larger profits at any cost is to blame for the devastation of the planet and our futures.  

For exercising their democratic right to protest, they were met with hundreds of militarised and armed police, who proceeded to indiscriminately attack the peaceful protestors with batons and pepper spray, and to arrest anyone they could get their hands on. 

Make no mistake. The militarised police were acting as a direct agent in the service of the mining and fossil fuel corporations, and of the governments that do their bidding. The unprovoked and indiscriminate violence was a direct act of class war. 

Read more: Democracy is under attack! Support the IMARC protestors!

by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

A note of fraternal tension has been registered between the United Kingdom and Australia.  It began with Britain’s decision to permit China’s technology giant Huawei a role in the construction of the country’s 5G network.  While the decision is qualified to non-core functions, as UK officials term it, the irritations to the United States and, it follows, Australia, have been far from negligible.   

Members of the US Congress have been clear that letting Huawei into the stables of security risks future trade deals.  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a visit to the UK, has been equally insistent on the dangers. 

“When you allow the information of your citizens of the national security information of your citizens to transit a network that the Chinese Communist party has a legal mandate to obtain, it creates risk."

Read more: Intelligence Spats: Australia, Britain and Huawei

By Robert M.

The just announced $1.1 billion expansion of Tindal Airforce Base near Katherine in the NT is a further recruitment of Australia into US imperialism’s front line against rival China.
(Some news reports have mentioned $1.6 billion – this because apparently $500 million has already been spent. It's unclear whether the $1.1 billion is additional or in total).
 
The mainstream news-stories have highlighted the F-35 joint-strike fighter (which has been labelled the “flying heap of crap” for its unreliability and over-complexity) being based there as the main reason for the expansion. 

US long-range bombers secure a base at Tindal

But this is misdirection, as the real news is the increased rotation or possible basing of long-range US bombers (B-52's and B-1's) at Tindal. The B-52 can, and the more modern B1 (see photo above) often do, carry nuclear weapons, and their range is such as to bring most of China under threat. Along with the increase in the marine contingent at Robertson Barracks near Darwin, the Northern Territory is becoming increasingly important in the US ring of containment of China.

Read more: RAAF Base Tindal Expansion - Serving USA, aimed at China

In January this year, Humphrey McQueen sent a Letter to the Editor for the Canberra Times who published his blistering criticism of the Film, 1917. It was published under the title, "A Silly Fable".
We republish it on the SoE website for our readers' consideration.

The Editor

The Canberra Times

1917 is the greatest load of codswallop I can recall in a lifetime of movie-going. The script is improbable when it is not impossible.

Its premise is nicked from Gallipoli.

It would not be worth mentioning except that it won at the Golden Globes and in contention for the Oscars.

Not to waste more of everyone’s time than is necessary to expose this junk for what it is, I shall follow one thread.

Read more: Film Review: 1917 - A load of Codswallop