Now We The People Conference

Challenging the U.S. Empire: Australia for Peace and Justice The 2003 Now We The People conference was held on 23-24 August at the University of Technology, Sydney. Many Australian and international speakers talked about the need to oppose the new imperialism of the U.S.A. The participants included unionists, environmentalists, politicians from Australia and overseas, as well as peace, media, Indigenous, refugee and faith activists.

What should one expect when attending a conference, where almost everything is discussed, from social justice to the Trade Agreements? I expected an exchange of ideas, knowledge and insights. In addition I had secretly hoped that the conference participants would come up with action, with a campaign or a strategy to put an end to US imperialism.

The invited speakers were interesting and people went away enriched by the experience. The speakers and participants were incredibly diverse and collectively showed the strength of a movement of 'thinking' people, people of resistance, yet one could not simply define participants and speakers as 'left'. The diversity of backgrounds and communities was reflected in the diversity of issues tackled.

The core purpose of the conference was to develop a statement. This statement is to serve as a guideline for further political, grass roots action and discussion. It can be used as an educational tool, and as a basis to initiate discussion. Therefore the statement should be shared with as many people as possible, and especially people, who otherwise may not be exposed to this kind of information and discussion. Parts of the statements can be used as ice breaker at parties, raised as an issue at staff meetings, discussed in community groups, etc.

All participants agreed to meet again next year, provided it can be organised. Anyone interested in participating in the planning of the next conference and/or the work of NOW WE THE PEOPLE can log on to the web site at http://www.nowwethepeople.org and follow the links.

The web site contains other discussion starters and the papers of most speakers and workshop presenters from the Now We The People Conference in 2003.