Activists from all over Australia converged at Pine Gap, the US spy base, 50 years since it was first established for a series of protests. Robyn Marshall reports.
Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN)
Beginning on September 26, International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, hundreds of peace activists converged on the Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility, less than 20 kilometres from Alice Springs, to expose its role in war, surveillance and nuclear targeting.
Early on September 29 peace activists blockaded the Raytheon facility in Alice Springs. Four activists locked onto the gates of the facility preventing employees from entering.
This action is one in a series of protests against the military-industrial complex that supplies the joint US-Australian military base at Pine Gap.
Three 鈥淨uaker Grannies for Peace鈥 set up breakfast on the road to Pine Gap on September 26 and invited military personnel arriving for work at the base to sit down with them.
The action is one of a series of events marking the 50th anniversary of the secret US military facility at Pine Gap, by groups advocating for the base鈥檚 closure.
The Pine Gap military spy base was established 50 years ago on the traditional lands of the Arrernte people, about 20 kilometres outside of Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory.
Pine Gap is supposedly a joint US-Australian defence facility, but very little of it is 鈥渏oint鈥 or 鈥渄efence鈥 related.
Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) released this statement on August 28.
Peace activists across the nation are united in anger at the prospect of Australia joining the US in bombing targets in Syria.
IPAN is a network of peace groups with affiliates in every state and territory. It has consistently opposed the use of military power to solve international problems and believes that Australia has lost its independence through too close an alliance with the US.
In November 2011, US president Barack Obama announced that the military focus of the US was 鈥減ivoting鈥 to the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, as part of this 鈥減ivot鈥, he announced that US marines were to be stationed in Darwin.
Following those announcements, a ripple of discontent spread around the nation. Numerous peace groups, academics, faith-based groups and unions began talking to one another about this 鈥減ivot鈥 and the threat it represents.
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