Community Announce: Brisbane: Peace Picnic to #ClosePineGap Mon Oct 3@ 12noon

[Ian Curr]

Grannies serve croissants on the road to Pine Gap...

You’re invited:  Peace Picnic in the Park to #ClosePineGap

 

Where:          Bunyapa Park (cnr Thomas & Vulture) West End Brisbane

When:           1200 noon Monday Oct 3, 2016 – Queen’s Bday Holiday

Who:             All Welcome!

 

 

Brisbane Food Not Bombs calls on the government to #ClosePineGap and stands in solidarity with people from around Australia protesting Pine Gap this week.   We invite the community to join us for Peace Picnic Monday Oct 3, in Bunyapa Park – the new park at the corner of Vulture and Thomas Street, West End (Brisbane).

 

Brisbane residents are among the many concerned citizens from around Australia converging in Alice Springs this week to challenge Australia’s military alliance with the US and to #ClosePineGap. 

Dawn Joyce, Andy Paine, Tim Webb, Franz Dowling, Jim Dowling, Rashid Omarjee and friends from IPAN – the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network are amongst those who have made the trek to the Centre to take part in a week of protest action and community events. 

 

For fifty years, Australia has leased Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap outside of Alice Springs to the USA. Pine Gap is a key part of the US spy satellite system used to collect intelligence on the Middle East and Asia and to commit drone strikes. It is also a centre for the indiscriminate mass surveillance of Australian communications and the sharing of that data with US spy agencies.

 

Earlier this week, Dawn Joyce (Brisbane) and other Quaker Grannies blocked the road to Pine Gap with a table of croissants and tea. Peace Pilgrims Andy Paine, Franz Dowling and Jim Dowling (all Brisbane) joined friends Margaret Pestorius (Cairns) and Teigan Evans (Melbourne) on to the site, while activists from Darwin and Melbourne blockaded the entrance to the Alice Springs office of weapons manufacturer, Raytheon.   Actions and a national peace conference will be held  over the weekend. For more information and to follow events, visit:  https://closepinegap.org/

 

Brisbane Food Not Bombs invites the community to show solidarity with those protesting unending war by sharing a meal together at Bunyapa Park.   All are welcome.  You are also welcome to bring something along to share. 

 

People around the country are doing picnics to show their support for the closure of Pine Gap.  If you are unable to make it to West End, why not hold your own?  Share your event and stay in touch with others via #ClosePineGap.

 

We hope to see you next Monday at 12noon at Bunyapa Park, West End (Brisbane) or see your event on #ClosePineGap!

 

For more information:  Holly:  0432713470        Robin:  0411 118 737

FB event:  https://www.facebook.com/events/529744657220765/

"What is Pine Gap?" essay from https://closepinegap.org/pinegap/:

 

Pine Gap is a joint United States-Australia military spy base located on Arrernte country near Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Pine Gap is one of the most important U.S. military bases outside of America, used in both surveillance and military operations. Although much secrecy has surrounded the base, information about its purpose has slowly come to light through leaked documents and research.

 

Pine Gap was originally built during the cold war to collect information on the testing of Soviet missiles. Today surveillance and intelligence gathering is still the major function of the base, including the interception of cell phones and satellite communications. It is thought that the US controls all of its spy satellites from Pine Gap.

 

Pine Gap collects data as part of the “Five Eyes” (FEVY) intelligence network, which enables it’s members- United States, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, and New Zealand- to collect and share information. Documents  leaked by Edward Snowden revealed that this included information collected on citizens.

 

Pine Gap provides the data that enables the targeting of U.S. drone strikes in countries with which the U.S. is at war, including Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. These drone bombings are known to kill

many more civilians than the people originally targeted, including hundreds of children.

 

US military and intelligence operates overtly and covertly on many fronts globally. The Australian government is complicit in the deaths, injuries and displacement of many people through its involvement in US-led coalitions in war zones, and in the facilitation of execution-style drone strikes. The Australian Government has allowed the US military, along with its private war industry contractors, to embed in Australia, on land that was never ceded by the traditional custodians, with no consultation of the people of Australia.