50 years on, the Vietnam moratorium campaigns remind us of a different kind of politics

May 8, 2020 5.54am AEST

 Paul Strangio, Monash University

Fifty years ago this month, hundreds of thousands of Australians assembled across the country to call for an end to the Vietnam War. The first of the moratorium campaigns, the demonstrations of May 8 1970 were the zenith of the anti-war movement in Australia that had been five years in the making.

The largest of the May 8 marches took place in Melbourne, confirming its status as the national capital of protest politics. An estimated 100,000 demonstrators clogged the city’s streets.

Despite scaremongering in preceding weeks by conservative politicians and large sections of the media about the threat of violence and mayhem, the event passed peacefully. Relieved and exultant, the movement’s leader, Jim Cairns, told the sea of protesters gathered in Bourke Street:

Nobody thought this could be done … The will of the people is being expressed today as it never has been before.

The moratorium movement was important in a number of ways.

First, and most obviously, it galvanised many ordinary Australians to join the protest actions, making a powerful statement about the collapse of support for the nation’s continued participation in the Vietnam conflict. Though the Liberal-Country Party government led by Prime Minister John Gorton obdurately dismissed the demonstrations and insisted they would have no material influence on its policy-making, it was no coincidence that 1970 marked the beginning of the withdrawal of Australia’s military forces from Vietnam. It was a policy reversal that mimicked the direction of the United States, which had witnessed its own massive anti-war moratorium demonstrations at the end of 1969.

Second, the demonstrations were a potent symbol of the larger culture of dissent that had flowered in the second half of the 1960s. The protests expressed a restless mood for change, and represented a key moment in the puncturing of the oppressive Cold War atmosphere that had dominated Australian public life for some two decades.

One contemporary observer of the moratorium marches captured their confounding spirit of anti-authoritarianism by referencing Bob Dylan:

Because something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mister Jones?

Two years later, much of the yearning for change would be channelled back into institutional politics with the election of the Whitlam Labor government. But in 1970, the streets had become a major outlet for political expression.

Vietnam moratorium march in Melbourne, May 8 1970. Australian Living Peace Museum

Third, the success of the May 1970 moratorium was a watershed in legitimising protest in this country. As the anti-war movement developed from the mid-1960s, it found its activities circumscribed by provisions of the Commonwealth Crimes Act, state laws and local government regulations that severely constrained the right to demonstrate. Under the terms of a Melbourne City by-law, for example, it was illegal to hand out leaflets in city streets.

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Atomic agency cites concerns over Iran testing sites, offers COVID-19 assistance

IAEA/Dean Calma

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi delivers his remarks at the opening of the International Conference on Nuclear Security ICONS 2020.

    

9 March 2020

Peace and Security

Iran’s nuclear capabilities moved back into the international spotlight on Monday as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that it had concerns about possible “undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities” in unregistered locations there.

The development follows Iran’s declaration on 5 January that its nuclear programme would no longer be “subject to any restrictions in the operational sphere”, in response to the decision of the United States in 2018 to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions.

In an appeal to Iran to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said that Iran had not provided access to the sites in question and had failed to clarify inspectors’ questions.  

“This is adversely affecting the Agency’s ability to clarify and resolve these questions and to provide credible assurance of the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran”, Mr. Grossi said. “I call on Iran to cooperate immediately and fully with the Agency, including by providing prompt access to the locations specified by the Agency.”

The rules governing how Iran’s nuclear programme is monitored are set out in the 2015 “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” (JCPOA).

It was agreed by Iran and the five members of the Security Council: China, France, Russia, UK and the U.S., plus Germany and the European Union.

The deal guarantees the IAEA’s regular access to Iran’s nuclear programme, in line with a  2015 UN Security Council resolution to ensure the enforcement of the JCPOA.

Following the US Administration’s decision to pull out of the deal, in July 2019, Iran reportedly breached its uranium stockpile limit, announcing its intention to continue enriching uranium.

In a speech to the IAEA Board of Governors, Mr. Grossi noted that despite concerns, the agency “has not observed any changes to Iran’s implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA in connection with this announcement, or in the level of cooperation by Iran in relation to Agency verification and monitoring activities” under that deal.

14 countries request IAEA help against COVID-19

Meanwhile, as the COVID-19 epidemic continues its global spread, the agency has offered to use science to tackle disease transmission.

Speaking in Vienna, Mr. Grossi said that scientists from countries requiring assistance would be given training in a technique using nuclear-derived machines which can identify the virus accurately “within hours”.

While the agency is not involved in controlling the disease in the same way as the World Health Organization (WHO), “we do have expertise and experience that help in detecting outbreaks of certain viral diseases and in diagnosing them”, he said.

The first training course will take place at IAEA’s Seibersdorf nuclear applications laboratories in a few weeks.

To date, the agency has received official requests for support from six countries in Africa, five in the Asia and Pacific region and three in Latin America.

In the past, the IAEA has helped to respond to viruses including Ebola, Zika and African Swine Flu.

Iran nuclear deal: a summary

• What is the Iran nuclear deal? The 2015 “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” (JCPOA), sets out rules for monitoring Iran’s nuclear programme, and paves the way for the lifting of UN sanctions.
• Which countries are involved? Iran, the five members of the Security Council (China, France, Russia, UK, US), plus Germany, together with the European Union.
• What is the UN’s involvement? A UN Security Council resolution to ensure the enforcement of the JCPOA, and guarantee that the UN’s atomic energy agency, the IAEA, continues to have regular access to and more information on Iran’s nuclear programme, was adopted in 2015.
• Why is the deal at risk? The current US Administration pulled out of the deal in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions. In July 2019, Iran reportedly breached its uranium stockpile limit, and announced its intention to continue enriching uranium, posing a more serious proliferation risk.
• Courtesy:UN News