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dear peace making friends
I plan to take Peacebus to Darwin and during June and July do some grass roots resistance organising to the newly established US Marine base there.
This is an appeal for support.
It seems to me that the decision by the Gillard government to invite the US Marines to base themselves in Darwin and be in joint command of Australian troops there (and the same time deny it is a US base) is a deep offense to the Australian sense of sovereignty and independence, a deep compromise of national security and a manifest preparation for war in the Pacific.
This is NOT the will of the people. To the contrary it clearly demonstrates that the Gillard government to be more loyal to the US Embassy than it is to the people.
Another nail in the coffin pf the ALP.
But all the parliamentary war parties, Labor, Liberal and National, are so deep in the pockets of the US Embassy, so confused and deluded by past lies, so confident that their spin doctors and the Murdoch commentariat will carry them through, that they are blind and deaf to their vulnerability to electoral blowback.Ê
A sustained grass roots campaign to shut the base down can be expected to bring on big changes.
Not that i am in no illusion about the magnitude of the task; after all it took the Japanese more than 25 years of campaigning to eject the US military for Okinawa.
But the journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step and i am proposing an early step be a popularly supported Peacebus Mission to Darwin this June - July.
The aim is to travel to Darwin in a very public way - mural on Peacebus and actions along the way to get noticed. For example i propose to launch the mission before the end of May at a Speak Out outside Lavarack Barracks, the big army garrison in Townsville, and publicly call for the support of serving people for our campaign to shut the US base.
And when in Darwin, i will seek support from the Larrakia people and from concerned Darwin residents, union activists and others to organise a campaign which occupies public space and is visible and vocal in calling for the Marines to be deported and the US military banished from this land.
"Shut the Darwin US Marine Base. No more US wars!" my slogan.
This as a service for peace: peace in the Pacific, peace in our times and peace for future generations.
To the task I bring lots of experience and lots of skills in grass roots community organising. i am happy to give the task my all. But i will need lots of help.
First up i need your spiritual support. Please understand my frailty and solitude and give me your prayers and blessings. Email me cheer, speak fondly of me to friends, be my witness.
Second i need publicity support. I will maintain a blog and post photos, reports of actions and so on. But i will need help to propagate them, for friend to tell friend, to post and re-post in networks, wide raging and over lapping.
Third i need cash support for petrol to get there and back ... and money for repairs along the way if needed.
I am proposing that the Peacebus Mission to Darwin be launched at a Speak Out at the gates of Lavarack Barracks in Townsville before the end of May. With Bryan Law at my side, God willing.
Townsville to Darwin is about 2500 km. At 7 km per litre and an average cost of petrol @ $2.50 per litre, that's about $880. One way.
Here is an account for direct deposits.
May it have the blessing of your generosity.
May the fruit of the action be the closure of the US Mariine base in Darwin.
May this camapign be the beginning of the end of the US/Australia Alliance which costs us so dearly in terms of hijacked tax dollars, wasted blood and the perverted neoliberal social and economic policies imposed upon us via their puppet governments.
For peace.
Graeme Dunstan
Peacebus.com
0407 951 688
19 May 2012
Peacebus set up for a SpeakOut outside Defence HQ Canberra
for the Global Day of Action on Military Spending, 17 April 2012.
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