Occupation:Students Occupy Military Research Centre at University

by Millie Robinson

On Wednesday the 20th of October,students from Students Against War,UOW Enviro Collective and Save UOW Music,occupied two offices of the Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC) in an attempt to stop military research. The DMTC,based at the University of Wollongong,is a military research centre working on materials technologies. The occupation was peaceful and musical in nature,with students linking the inconsistencies between UOW cutting the Music program and refusing to consider the University running off renewable power whilst simultaneously recording a budget surplus in the ball park of 5.6 million and having the money,time and energy to invest funding and staff into military research. As protester Alexander Brown from Students Against War pointed out “There is funding available,if we’re looking at developing military technologies but there isn’t the funding available for example for music and creative arts which help to create peaceful social relations.” Throughout the occupation,a number of students conducted radio interviews,film interviews and held a discussion with head of the UOW DMTC John Norrish,questioning the ethics of military research and the links between the research being carried out at UOW and Australia’s ongoing participation in the war in Afghanistan,a war which over 60% of Australians oppose.

To watch some of the music created,and talks held during the occupation and read more,visit www.studentsagainstwar.wordpress.com . There is also footage of the talks held between the students and John Norrish,head of UOW DMTC and photos of the creative interior décor the students created during the occupation. Links to the WIN news report on the occupation will be posted to the blog shortly.