SAW – what we stand for
We’re Students Against War, an open, non-hierarchical collective made up of students, university staff and other supporters that, since the first day of semester in 2010, has been campaigning against military research at the University of Wollongong in NSW, Australia.
We operate with a quite unique participatory decision-making model which is at odds with prevailing notions of democracy – we don’t have any leadership and decisions are made by consensus of the whole group rather than by voting, so anyone is free to turn up and participate on a totally equal basis, and contribute as much or as little work for the group (whether sticking up a few posters, writing a media release or crashing a fashion show) as they like. So come along! We’re extremely welcoming of new members, and encourage everybody and anybody to join us.
At a weekend meeting in September 2010, we decided upon these rough objectives, which describe more or less what we’d like to achieve on campus:
- Force the university to completely terminate its relationship with the Defence Materials Technology Centre
- Bring about a total and permanent ban at UOW on the undertaking of any research for arms manufacturers, the Australian Defence Forces or any other military bodies, similar to the ban the university has on accepting money from or performing research for the tobacco industry
- Pressure the university to create an undergraduate subject on the history of the success of non-violent action in halting aggression and shifting authoritarian regimes in more democratic dimensions, rather than warfare
- Fight against war, militarism, racism and nationalism on campus and in society generally
Obviously these objectives are going to need some considerable fleshing out and development as our campaign grows stronger, and obviously it’s going to take an awfully long time to realise them, but we’re in for the long haul and are quite confident that we can achieve many or all of them! So if you think we sound alright, don’t just sit on the sidelines – join in and help us do it!
