RESISTING TALISMAN SABRE
Peace Researcher 39 – January 2010
- Jessica
Morrison
New Zealand has been out of the ANZUS Treaty
since our nuclear free policy gave mortal offence to the Americans and
Australians in the 1980s, but ANZUS still exists and provides the excuse for
regular massive US/Australian military exercises in northern Australia.
There are always protests against them, by our friends in the Australian peace
and anti-bases movement. In 2009, 16 people were arrested. Ed.
War Games
For the last
six years the major biannual training exercises between the Australian and US
militaries have been dubbed Talisman Sabre. Despite the name, there is nothing
magic or sacred about these three week exercises – to build our
interoperability with the largest and most aggressive military force in the
world, as they continue to wage an illegal war in Afghanistan
and expand into Northern Pakistan. Held from
July 6-26, 2009 Talisman Sabre cost Australians an additional $A48million to
our already oversubscribed military budget. The 5,500 Australian troops were
joined by 17,000 US troops
who bombed our land and oceans, sunk boats just back from the offensive wars in
the Middle East, and practiced manoeuvres for
the wars.
The
exercises are primarily focused on Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area
(SWBTA) - an area the size of Belgium,
in central Queensland.
The base includes Ramsar*-listed wetlands, and a chunk of ocean cut out from
the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park.
It includes breeding grounds and migration routes for protected marine life
such as whales, dugongs and turtles. *
Ramsar is shorthand for the international Convention on Wetlands of
International Importance, named after the Iranian city where it was signed, in
1971. Ed.
Talisman
Sabre’s live fire component was also undertaken at remote sites of Bradshaw and
Delamere Ranges
in the Northern Territory, as well as the
Coral and Timor Seas. High explosive munitions are a key
part of the exercises, using nuclear powered ships, and in acquiescence to the USA, we do not even ask whether the US ships are
carrying nuclear weapons. The Minister of Defence stated "the United States forces have been advised that the
use of depleted uranium munitions in Australia is strictly prohibited"
– less than an ironclad guarantee that they are not brought to our shores.
Exercises include troops landing on foreign soil, dealing with local armed
resistance and taking control of a makeshift village. The official referee of
these exercises declared that the “insurgents” won these games – which, given
the resources and force used by the militaries, might signify the lack of
efficacy of their military strategies.
Resistance
Before the
exercises even began, two people in opposite sides of the country were arrested
for resisting the arrival of US warships. In Perth, former Senator and long
time activist Jo Valentine was arrested for “disturbing the peace” by holding
up a placard on the wharves, while in Cairns Terry Spackman (formerly of the Royal
Navy) was arrested seeking to undertake a Citizen’s Inspection of a US warship.
In the same week young people from Central Queensland
organised a Committed to Change
Festival - showcasing the many ways people can resist the
destructive aspects of our society – while also providing great music and
entertainment. Committed to Change is led by Renton Bishopric who had visited
Vieques – a Puerto Rican community whose resistance had evicted the US military
base on their island (which is actually
part of the US. Ed.). Leaders in Vieques had attested to the importance of
building communities of resistance and positive change to their campaign – so
the strategy was brought back to Australia.
In the week
leading up to the exercises beginning, Native American peace activist Judith
LeBlanc toured eastern Australia
to promote resistance to the exercises and the US wars of aggression. In Melbourne two groups organised solidarity vigils and
leafleting, including one sign which read "US stop bombing Australia".
In Rockhampton Dr Sue Wareham from the Medical Association for Prevention of
War spoke at a film screening of “Scarred
Lands – Wounded Lives”,
a documentary highlighting the horrendous environmental costs of war.
The military
commenced its exercises with a family fun day in the adjoining town of Rockhampton. Christian
protestors held a prominent die-in – to attest to the irony of parading war as
fun for any families. The Martin Luther King House of Christian Non-Violence
continued its action in the first week - blockading the main road of the
Rockhampton Barracks as they tried to move troops and equipment to SWBTA, then Jim Dowling and Ciaron O’Reilly were arrested as
they stopped a convoy of trucks with tanks and armoured troop carriers on the
road to SWBTA. Jim and Ciaron resisted bail and continued in custody until
joining resistance later in the exercises.
Jim Dowling was one of the four Christian
peace activists who “invaded” the top secret US
spy base at Pine Gap, Northern
Territory, in December 2005. They were convicted and
fined but then, in a landmark decision with global significance, were acquitted
of all charges upon appeal. See Peace Researcher 36, August 2008, “Pine Gap Spybase ‘Invaders’ Acquitted: Huge Defeat
For the Covert State”,
by Murray
Horton, http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr36-167.html.
Ciaron O’Reilly, Australian by birth, peace warrior throughout the world, was a
member of the Anti-Bases Campaign committee for several months in the mid 1990s
and was arrested at a protest at the US
military base at Christchurch
Airport. He last featured
in Peace Researcher 33, November 2006, “Anti-War Protestors Acquitted Of Disarming US Plane
In Ireland: Former ABC
Activist Among Them”, by Murray
Horton, http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr33-137a.html Ed.
The national
Peace Convergence began the next weekend beginning with both visiting activists
and locals. Participation in the massive NAIDOC Day (National Aboriginal and
Islander Day Observance Committee) parade helped the protests to be grounded in
respect for indigenous people and solidarity with their ongoing struggle for
justice. The public meeting was honoured by a welcome by Auntie Jeanette Yow
Yeh who is planning a Children of the
Pacific conference in 2010 for indigenous people in the region to
gather to promote a nuclear free future for all children. Judith LeBlanc spoke
from a North American perspective, inviting all to continue to act with
conviction. Jake Lynch from Sydney’s Peace and
Conflict Centre described an escalating culture of war in the USA – which
needs significant analysis. Hamish Chits, an Australian Army veteran, talked
about the detestation faced by personnel in facing wars, and called on us to
support the troops by demanding they come home from wars of aggression.
Putting Themselves In The Line Of Fire
The first
action of the weekend was a mass hokey cokey where great-grandmother June
Norman was arrested for crossing police lines on a road to the SWBTA – putting
her whole self in and shaking it all about. The other main action included a
blockade of the Rockhampton Barracks where Sydney chaplain Frank Vavasour was arrested climbing
the fence. As well as these actions including arrestable components, there was
a night time vigil at the Barracks with the Peace Bus’s lanterns providing a
beautiful backdrop to the evening. Locals organised a march and peace concert
on the Sunday – providing a chance for a public and creative show of resistance
to war and demonstrating a positive alternative.
In the lead
up to Talisman Sabre, a senior Defence official, Air Commander Meier, stated,
in the Senate Estimates: "Essentially, if we know there is an unauthorised
person into the Commonwealth land at Shoalwater
Bay, Bradshaw or any of
the other exercise areas, the exercise is stopped". Boosted by this, three
groups of people made incursions into the base. The first group entered on the
first day of the live fire phase of the exercises. Calling themselves the Bonhoeffer 4 (named after
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous German theologian who was executed by the Nazis
for his role in the WW2 Resistance, and PM Kevin Rudd’s favourite person of the
20th Century) – they declared their presence by releasing helium
inflated giant red balloons. The military did not stop exercises when alerted
to their presence, and the group were detected by US military personnel on the
second day. The group remained in custody overnight, and pleaded guilty in
court the next day. All were charged with trespass, and two of the group who
stayed on the road when asked to move were also charged with “assault or
obstruct a police officer”. Two groups entered the base several days later. One
group was the Jägerstätter 3 – named after Franz Jäggerstätter, an Austrian
farmer who was killed because he refused to fight with the Nazis, and who is in
the process of being canonised as a saint by the Catholic Church. The Grana 4
were named after a 12 year old girl who was the sole survivor in her family of
a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) aerial bombing in the current war
in Afghanistan. The seven people all came out voluntarily after a time - with
the last two spending 11 days inside the base. Two people walked out of the
base undetected and travelled home. One came out and held up traffic on a major
road, holding a banner. Another stood on a rocky outcrop and spoke to troops
for some time before they came and got him. All have stories of meeting and
talking with troops, or witnessing parts of the games.
The Bombings Stopped
At no point
did the military admit the presence of groups, avoiding publicly admitting any
changes to their plans. However, in stark contrast to previous years, where the
last phase of the exercises is marked by large explosions, once the Bonhoeffer
4 announced to Police that they could hear the bombings - the bombings stopped,
and weren't heard again during the exercises. Perhaps the exercises were significantly disrupted and curbed from the
cumulative effect of all the actions - this is always hard to determine outside
the military. What is clear, however, is that the Government cannot depend on
silent compliance from Australians as long as they continue to escalate
military spending and involve themselves in wars of aggression.
For footage
and photos see www.peaceconvergence.com
In December 2009, just a couple
of days before Christmas in fact, Jim Dowling and
Ciaron O’Reilly had to appear in court in Rockhampton. Here is Jim Dowling’s
report, specially written for Peace Researcher, on Christmas Eve (much appreciated). Ed.
Nuremberg
Principles
We started
with a half hour picket outside court with the banner: “What have you done?
Your Brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth. Gen 4” and a picture of a
child bombed in Iraq. After
being informed that the magistrate was not the “nice” one we expected and that
even the Police were in fear of our new Magistrate, we were a little more
nervous. However, we were greeted with a smile from the Magistrate, and he
certainly treated us with respect throughout. The Christmas spirit, perhaps.
Three police
officers gave evidence which we accepted. I asked all three officers if they
had heard of the Nuremberg Principles of International Law. I explained to
each how an officer was obligated not to obey/enforce a law which facilitated a
war crime. None had heard of the Nuremberg Principles, but the Magistrate
certainly had! He cited a Northern Territory High Court case where the
defendant had argued that he had a right to trespass at Pine Gap to stop a war
crime. The issue was to get a number of mentions. Ciaron and I gave evidence
about how we came to be there that day, our understanding of the war crimes
being prepared for by the exercises, and our duty as Christians to offer
nonviolent resistance to them. We described some of the horrors of the
slaughter of civilians in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
The Magistrate listened patiently.
During
cross-examination we largely agreed with the prosecutor’s questions. Then he
asked us if we agreed we were impeding the safe progress of the trucks carrying
US military vehicles. I could not agree with this, and pointed out there was
nothing safe about military vehicles preparing for war. Ciaron claimed trucks
are only dangerous when they are moving! Ciaron also asked me how long I spent
in the Police Station cells (a very important question in relation to
sentencing). When I replied four days as we refused to sign for bail, the
Magistrate said he was surprised we “found the accommodation so salubrious”.
“I’ve been in worse places”, I replied.
In my
summing up, the Magistrate and I had a little discussion about the Nuremberg
Principles again. He claimed he had no jurisdiction to override the Northern
Territory High Court decision which said the Nuremberg Principles could not be
used in Australian Law, as they had not been written into our law books. I
pointed out that the Nuremberg Principles were there to override any nation’s
laws, and that they were formulated for that very reason. The German judges who
were sentenced to long prison terms at Nuremberg
were only obeying their own laws which facilitated war crimes. I believe
the idea was having an impact on him but he stuck to his line, and did so again
when I brought it up one more time at the sentencing.
Sentenced To
Time Already Served
We were found guilty by lunch time.
The magistrate did not bother to look at our previous history, when he
announced he would give us time served, and impose no further penalty. The
prosecutor did not object. There was certainly no antagonism from anyone in the
court, and I am sure quite a deal of sympathy. As Ciaron keeps pointing out the
nation is largely disengaged from the war. When we get a chance to point out
some of the horror of it, and the need to act against it, we can have an
impact. Hopefully our small actions have served to do that.