[Marxism] 3rd Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference, Sydney, 24-28 March, 2005

[glparramatta <glparramatta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

3rd Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference, Sydney, 24-28 March, 2005
(APISC 2005)

[Please send an email to APISC2005@xxxxxxxxxxx, with the words I AM COMING in 
the
subject line, to register your interest in coming.]

Networking for campaigns against war and neo-liberal globalisation will be a
major focus of 3rd Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference in Sydney, 
March 24-28.

APISC 2005 is being organised by Green Left Weekly newspaper and website
(www.greenleft.org.au) and Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific
(ASAP) (www.asia-pacific-action.org) and is sponsored by a range of other
groups and organizations.

Social movement and political leaders and activists from more than 20
countries will be coming to Australia to speak at APISC 2005. Along with
scores of Australian speakers, they will be presenting reports and talks at
more than 150 workshops and feature sessions at the conference. It is
expected that up to 1,000 people will be attending.

STAN GOFF

The campaigning focus of the conference will be marked by an opening speech
at an evening public meeting to be addressed by STAN GOFF. Goff is a veteran
of Special Operations in the U.S. Army and now a prominent figure in the
anti-war campaigns by military families in the U.S. He is a member of the
co-ordinating committee of BRING THEM HOME NOW! He locates his opposition in
an overall framework critiquing U.S. foreign policy and the economic system
it serves. GOFF will be one of several U.S. activists speaking at the
conference.

DITA SARI

Another well-known anti-globalisation campaigner is DITA SARI. Dita Sari is
chairperson of the Indonesian National Front for Labor Struggles (FNPBI) and
was gaoled under the Suharto dictatorship for four years. She has been a
prominent campaigner in Indonesia against the IMF and World Bank devised
neo-liberal policies of the Indonesian government. She was a keynote speaker
at the last World Social Forum meeting in Mumbai, India. In 2001 she was
awarded Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the Magsayay Award.

Struggles in the Asia Pacific

Prominent among the international speakers will be representatives from the
movements for freedom and social justice in Aceh, West Papua, East Timor,
the Philippines, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Mauritius and Palestine. They
will be reporting on the struggles in their own countries as well as joining
the collective discussion on how to further global campaigns for justice and
an end to aggression.

We are also hoping for confirmation of participation of delegations from
Vietnam and Venezuela as well as from Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tahiti.
Activists from Europe will also be coming.

The conference will open on the evening of March 24 and will end late
afternoon March 28 and will be held near the center of Sydney. Apart from
the feature sessions and discussion workshops, there will be a conference
dinner, film showings, on site bookshops and social events.

APISC tradition of action

The APISC conferences have built up a tradition of integrating on the
gropund protest action, In 1998, hundreds of conference particpants left the
venue to join pickets during a major struggle on the waterfront. In 2002,
the conference suspended its agenda so everybody could join a demonstration
outside an immigration detention center to protest Australi's repressive
refugee policy. In 2005, the conference coincides with another major protest
against Australian government refugee repression and the conference will
again suspend some if its agenda so to organise a demonstration in Sydney.

Another Australia is possible

With hundreds of people from around Australia at the conference, the
opportunity will not be lost to further discussion to of local struggles and
issues. Australian progressive academics and intellectuals will join other
activists in workshops and feature sessions on the Australian economy,
politics, social conditions and the environment.

Past conferences

See http://www.dsp.org.au/apiaustralia/apsc98.htm#top (1998) and for 2002
http://www.dsp.org.au/apiaustralia/index.htm for information about earlier
conferences.

Register your interest now!

Send an email now to APISC2005@xxxxxxxxxxx and register tour interest. You
will be eligible for an early bird discount on registration if you register
by 30 December 2004.  Registration fees will be determined soon but they
will not be prohibitive. We will send you a registration form immediately.
When you email in provide your name, email contact and whether you or your
group would like to hold a workshop. (Please not because commitments to
overseas guests and sponsoring organizations, there may not be space to
accommodate all requests.)

Send off your email now!  Please put the words I AM COMING:  at the
beginning of the subject line in your email. Thank you.

Max Lane
Convenor
APISC 2005
















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