Coffee liaison, from left DSC Kellie Paget, Sgt. Sherrin Howle, Snr Sgt Andrew Lahey and the Peacbus.com captain Graeme Dunstan, Urban Bits Cafe, King Street, Newtown, Sunday 5 September 2007 Praise and Gratitude, 12 September 2007 Chief Superintendent Peter Lennon Commander AEC Police Task Force Dear Chief Superintendent, I write to acknowledge the good liaison work done by Snr Sgt. Andrew Lahey in the preparations for the APEC protests, and in particular for the Ghost Dance which I produced in Hyde Park North on 7 September. Through out the negotiations Snr Sgt. Lahey was both courteous and helpful and his advice always proved trustworthy. Come the day the protest events in Hyde Park went smoothly and I had good and respectful relations with the police officers on duty there. I also want to praise the work of Inspector Neil Saville from the AVP Unit of APEC Command. Inspector Saville was on duty in Hyde Park on the afternoon and evening of Friday 7 September and he proved himself to be understanding and respectful of the theatre of the Ghost Dance and so minimized the police presence in the area. As part of the agreement in regard to bringing Peacebus.com into Hyde Park North, once in position I was required to surrender the ignition key. As a token of his goodwill and trust, Inspector Saville returned the key to me early in the night so that I would not have to search for him when it was time to leave. That consideration and kindness contrasted with that of another officer on duty there who confiscated an axe and a hand saw which I had on board as tools, the axe to drive in pegs to hold banner rigs safe in wind. When that officer went off duty, neither the axe noe the saw was not returned. Never to be seen again. So it goes. Further to my praise of Inspector Saville, I met him again the next day at the Stop Bush Rally when he was in the protest crowd assessing the threats to public safety there. Like other long time protesting associates of mine, I was concerned about a group of some 15 young males all dressed in black and wearing dark glasses, face masks and fake bandoliers. They were lined up in three ranks behind a costly, jet-printed banner with an obscure message. The group would not interact with other protesters or respond to direct questions. Neither I nor any of my associates recognized them from past protests. Everyone about found their presence menacing and I suspected them as being there with an ulterior motive: to wit to provoke violence and in particular provoke a violent reaction from police upon other protesters. Paid agent provocateurs in other words, but paid by whom I don't know. Inspector Saville acted wisely when he surrounded this group with police officers and forbade their participation in the march. Nearby was another performance group who identified themselves as "Billionaires for Bush". A mix of about 8 men and women, they wore evening dress and chanted slogans which were the obverse of those associated with the socialist block who were organising the rally, e.g. "Corporate greed, not human need." This could have been construed as provocative and Inspector Saville weighed the option of likewise preventing the group's participation in the march. The advice of other protesters near at hand was that the group was good humored and their intent satirical. Inspector listened and wisely decided to let them be. Many a smile was raised by the group's later performances and no-one was provoked to anger by them. Deciding who may or may not protest in public place is a difficult and delicate responsibility. That day on the ground and in the confusion of events, Inspector Saville showed himself to be a discerning judge of personality. In the respect and trust accorded to him by the young officers serving under him, I noted that they thought so too. One may be justly critical of the excessive presence of police at the APEC protests but I for one am grateful for the presence of Inspector Saville and his officers. For peace. For justice. For the Earth Graeme Dunstan Peacebus.com Ghost Dance Police Liaison, 2 September 2007 Yesterday, Father's Day, 9.30 am Graeme met with Snr.Sgt Andrew Lahey in Urban Bits Cafe in King Street Newtown for the final liaison session on Ghost Dance planning. Being a Sunday Andrew was wearing an open neck shirt, the casual look for the weekend. He began with an apology for re-scheduling the meeting from the day before. His son had crashed on the basketball court, whacked his head and Andrew had taken him to a clinic. A father's duty. No damage done, he reported, apart from the boy's injured pride. He asked about my father's day delight: the meeting with my daughter, her husband and the grandson's, recently arrived from London via New York state. Absolute joy! Andrew had two other officers with him, Sherrin and Kellie, and he introduced them to me as the go-betweens who would be on duty at the Ghost Dance. Andrew would be on duty too but his responsibility was for overall liaison for all protest groups. Heaven only knew what briefing Andrew had given them about Graeme, but it must have been good because their eyes and smiles were warm. We got down to business. First of all Andrew went over the agreements made so far. Yes, Hyde Park North would be available to the Ghost Dance from 5 - 11 pm. Yes, it was agreed that Happy Wheels with its load of poles, flags and lanterns, its PA and its props could enter the Park and stay there for the duration of the event. And yes, even though Graeme's media release and etters to the Deputy Premier, the NSW Minister for Police and the APEC Taskforce commander seeking to approach the fence and make it art had stirred up some snakiness, there was heaps of goodwill coming from senior police for the Ghost Dance. "Every time your name is raised, officers nod in approval," he assured Graeme. The agreements first then the disagreements. Andrew, the teacher of negotiation skill, was showing the girls how to do it. "No, you may not march ("Dance!" corrected Graeme) or leave the Park in any form of parade or procession." "No, you may not have a fire." "Yes you must meet the Sydney City Council rangers and negotiate the use of the Park and the care of the gardens." The police are to assist in these negotiations. Yes, yes, yes, responded Graeme. Tick, tick, tick. Done. Done. Done. Sherrin agreed to set up the meeting with the Council rangers and call Graeme. From the discussion Graeme understood that there would be many police officers on duty in and around the Park that night, but basically it was ours for a Ghost Dance 5 - 11 pm. Graeme explained his intention to assist the SEARCH Foundation with its APEC event in Hyde Park North earlier in the day, the Sydney People's Alternative to APEC, All People for Environment & Community, Peaceful Rally / Festival 11 am - 2 pm. See www.cpa.org.au/apec/syd_fest.pdf Andrew said that he thought that this association would be a good thing and agreed that Happy Wheels would enter Hyde Park to set up for this event from 9.30 am. Andrew gave a brief report on progress negotiations with other protest groups. He said the NSW Greens were wanting to do a street theatre piece involving about 35 people in Martin Place at 11 am, part of the Declared Area, and that their request for lightening up on this Declared Area was being taken with more seriousness that the same request from the Stop the War Coalition. Here the influence of parliamentary representation. Of the Stop the War Coalition he said that the dispute about assembly area and march route was going to the Supreme Court and likely the Stop Bush rally would get a no to marching. All in the hands of judges and barristers now. Of the SEARCH Foundation organisers he had nothing but words of praise. Likewise Falun Dafa. We got to small talk and the writing of memoirs in a few years time. "There are things I would love to tell you but cannot yet," said Andrew. "You ought to see your police file! And your ASIO file!" The girls grinned in agreement because they had seen both. The fruit of life time of protest, I wondered, if one would need a truck to move all the paper. The meeting took about 30 minutes and two rounds of coffee. Before we parted I got my camera out and Andrew called a waiter to take a group photo. "For the web site" Andrew explained to his colleagues. The girls joined the photo without hesitation. History in the making. And so we parted amicably, clear agreements made, everybody happy and the girls, my Ghost Dance minders, smiled broadly as we shook hands and departed. Graeme's respect for Andrew grows and grows. Letter to NSW Minister for Police: Lighten up, please. 30 August 2007 The Honorable David Campbell NSW Minister for Police Dear Minister, On behalf of those who want to express dissent at the way Sydney has been occupied and partitioned by APEC and its War on Terror, i am asking you to lead the way and lighten up. The threat of violent protest at APEC has been vastly overstated, the excessive security arrangements driven more by the Howard government's desire to suppress dissent that any real threat. On Friday 7 September 5-11 pm I am organising for the expression of some creative dissent in regard to Sydney APEC: to wit the Sydney APEC Ghost Dance. See www.peacebus.com/GhostDance Peacebus.com is well known to senior police in NSW and it has a long record of peaceful protest. I am pleased to report that Hyde Park North has been approved by the APEC Police Command as the assembly area for Ghost Dance. I am grateful for that. But we also want to dance as ghost and skeletons in the streets of APEC ghost city and more particularly go to the APEC fence and decorate it with people's art. Regrettably the APEC security planners have vetoed any dancing in the streets by ghost and skellies during APEC. They will allow us to assemble in but not leave Hyde Park. We will be all dressed up with no where to go. What we want is to approach, the fence and make it artful with images and text that expresses that dissent. Not all of the fence but enough to make our point. Please represent us in this. The APEC security arrangements are excessive and tyrannous. Back us in defending freedom of speech in NSW with this symbolic gesture. For peace. For justice. For the Earth! Graeme Dunstan Peacebus.com 0407 951 688 Letter to Chief Inspector Peter Lennon Commander, APEC Joint Task Force 26 August 2007 Superintendent Peter Lennon Commander APEC Police Command NSW Police HQ SURRY HILLS Dear Superintendent, As you will be aware I am organising an expression of creative dissent during APEC, specifically the Ghost Dance which will take place on the evening of Friday 7 September. See www.peacebus.com/GhostDance And I also plan to assist and support two other APEC protest events with the deployment of flags and banners: to wit the SEARCH Foundation's Rally and family Festival in Hyde Park North 11 am to 2 pm Friday 7 Sep and the Stop Bush rally when it assembles in The Domain after the march on Saturday 8 Sep. I have submitted a Schedule One for the Ghost Dance and met with Snr Sgt. Andrew Lahey in regard to negotiating its production. Andrew gave me confidence that Hyde Park North would be available as an assembly area though he has not been able to confirm that with me at the time of writing. May it be so. The Schedule One does not leave much space to describe the event which I intend to produce on Friday 7th, so I want to take this opportunity to spell it out. The event will NOT be large in terms of number of participants. My expectation is that it will not exceed 200. My traveling about and my meetings with other organisers and activists, suggest that the pre APEC media campaign to instill fear of protest and fear amongst protesters has had its impact and that many have been intimidated from mobilizing to express public opposition to APEC and its political agenda. The calculated cultivation of fear is the practice of tyranny so I cannot say that this is a proud moment for liberal democracy in Australia. But successful intimidation of mass crowd dissent during APEC seems to be the fact. My prediction is that the APEC protests will be small, much smaller that the S11 World Economic Forum in Melbourne in 2000. I also predict that, unless the police or agent provocateurs in the pay of government agencies perhaps unknown to you or I attack the protest crowd, the protests will be peaceful and orderly. In my travels I have heard no suggestion of violence from any organiser or likely participant. And this includes the organisers of the Stop Bush rally on Saturday 8th. It is my opinion the fears of violence put out by APEC planners to justify its huge and costly security arrangements are overblown. Especially so if Mutiny is cited as an example of a likely violent group. My not recent encounter with Mutiny suggests that it is an ephemeral network of student tricksters and that surprise occupations of corporate offices and maybe super-glue in locks is the limit of what might be construed as violent in their protest tactics. For Ghost Dance then, only the brave and the artful. We may be few but I expect we will make a vivid statement. Joyful, artful and safe, my credo. And since Friday evening will likely set the tone for the protests on the next day, I think it important and mutually beneficial that we work together closely to ensue Ghost Dance is a success in those terms. I am pleased to have Andrew Lahey as my police liaison on this task. My respect for his judgement and patience is huge and well documented. See www.peacebus.com/30A My plan is to be in Hyde Park North from 9 am Friday 7 so that I may array flags and banners for the SEARCH Foundation Rally and Festival. I want my vehicle to enter the Park and stay there for the duration of the event so that it's signage and rooftop PA may be of service. During the Rally and Festival I will set up work tables and make skellie masks in preparation for Ghost Dance in the evening. In the evening of Friday 7 April I plan to array candle lit lanterns. I have produced many a mass lantern event and the reason that I do is because the beauty of soft and flickering light of lanterns creates an enchantment and a calming in crowds. I also want approval to bring a brazier and firewood into Hyde Park so that we may have fire that participants can warm themselves by. As you know campfires create focus and conviviality. I also want to get hot and free food served there from such as Food not Bombs (I am still chasing them). This too will add to making the ambience in the Park relaxed and happy. During the evening I expect that the Peacebus,com PA will be used by speakers, poets and maybe musicians too. Other small PAs may be brought into the Park by rappers and other performance groups. An anarchic and spontaneous mix of street theatre performance and costume is what I expect. At about 7 pm I want Ghost Dance will take to the streets and dance to the APEC fence, preferably along Macquarie Street, but I am happy to negotiate the route. APEC fence is a deep offense to Sydney-siders and our object in approaching it is make that offense vivid. It will be a highly symbolic act. Our intention is NOT to breach the fence but rather to make it art by decorating it with statements and imagery of one kind or another. The Sydney APEC fence recalls the Berlin Wall and the tyranny that erected it and maintained it. The Berlin Wall fell soon after the people began to graffiti it and make their objection art. After making our statement at the APEC wall, I will lead the ghosts and skellies back to the fire, food and lanterns in Hyde Park North. The activities in the Park after the Dance will be, I expect, inward looking and low key: songs and rap, conversations amongst friends about the fire, networking and planning for the next day and so on. I said 11 pm as the dispersal time. It may happen earlier, may go over time, but it will be effectively over for this old man way past his bed time. As you will be aware I am 65 years old and have had a career organising artful festivals and protest events that go back to the Vietnam War days. I am sure we would agree that the free expression of dissent is essential to the health of liberal democracy and that there will never be a government regime so perfectly in tune with the times and their demands that the need for dissent will disappear. This old man strives be an honorable elder, carry the fire and set a good example to young people learning the ways of artful dissent in these times. For peace. For justice. For the Earth! Graeme Dunstan Peacebus.com Ghost Dance Police Liaison, 27 August 2007 A fine spring day and Snr Sgt. Andrew was waiting for Graeme at the King Street cafe which has become their meeting place, his coat was off and his oh so white shirt gleaming. Ten minutes early, both of them eager for the meeting, eager to do the APEC business that needed to be done, eager for the conversation. Quality time! That he looked so relaxed was good news for Graeme. At the time APEC security planning is a day by day crises created on one hand by changing plans at the top (Laura Bush for example has now decided to stay home) and the mustering of dissent at the bottom. "Many are the challenges" and Andrew nodded but in a way that suggested that he had learned well that detachment and the occasional tuning out at meetings are exercises good for the health. He had come from negotiating with Falan Gong about their APEC plans, a public lecture in the NSW Parliament all booked and approved but in the exclusion zone, the so called Declared Areas. Ooophs! "Lovely people," Andrew said. "Soft spoken and such presence." Seems Andrew has become a police expert on negotiating protest and he enjoys the task because he meets such interesting people. Andrew reported that the negotiations with the unions for the Friday 11 am to 2 pm Rally in Hyde Park had gone well. Also his talks with the Greens organiser. But talks with Alex Bainbridge representing the Stop Bush rally were frigid and fraught with mutual suspicion and fear. Seems the police are hardening their line and are already their lawyers briefed and ready to smite any legal challenges. At core of it the Stop War Coalition want to assemble and march via Martin Place to the Domain. Martin Place is the HQ of the Commonwealth Bank and an APEC sponsor; also the address of the US consulate. Martin Place for this reason has been included in the Declared Area. Impasse and likely that the APEC Joint Command will ban all protest marches. As the Ghost Dance to the APEC fence, Andrew told me, was now banned and my plea for understanding and latitude rejected. But Hyde Park North in the area of the Archibald Fountain had been approved as an assembly area and we would be permitted to Ghost Dance in the Park, but not outside of it. Also banned was my request for a camp fire in Hyde Park. "Council By-laws," said Andrew. "APEC is a time of different rules and special exceptions from stuff like unobstructed passage in city streets and freedom of assembly," protested Graeme. "How about a special exemption for a fire in the Park that night?" No exemptions for the poor and powerless, it seems. And the exemptions for security plastic and adjustable at whim. The Declared Areas can not be would back but Andrew they can be wound forward at any time and make the city blocks from the Harbour south to Cleveland Street a Declared Zone through which no "prescribed person" may pass. Graeme thanked Andrew, and through him the APEC Joint command, the Howard and Iemma governments for their benevolent gift to the Ghosts of Hyde Park North that night. But did not give up on the Ghost Dance to the APEC fence and promised to take the matter up with the NSW Minister of Police, Watkins. "Very accessible", a Labor party member had told Graeme the night before. Talk about clutching at straws! Andrew grinned as the hopelessness of this dawned on Graeme. "Watch what you say about going to the Fence," cautioned Andrew. "There are lots of ears out there reporting and it may lose you Hyde Park North." Lots of ears and lots of paranoia. But bearing witness involves going to the boundary and being there in peace, speaking truth to power. So what we say at this time is that the Ghost Dance boundary is yet to be drawn. But there is heaps of goodwill for continuing exploration. Graeme is not expecting a big crowd for Ghost Dance, 200 maximum, is what he specified in the Schedule One notification of public assembly. Small crowd, big impact, easier to organise. In regard to the Stop War rally, Andrew is of the opinion that it will draw in excess of 5000; Graeme less optimistic by half. Graeme bases his estimates on the scant signs of mobilisation he notes as he travels; Andrew on the INTELL reports of spies and undercover agents. These suggest there is a big contingent coming from Melbourne. But to be an informer is to live in fantasy land and be paid to produce reports. And create fantasies. Andrew told Graeme that it was shadowy and menacing fringe elements who let democratic front committees promise peaceful protest while they, hidden away, plot and plan the opposite. Graeme said that in all his days of protest organising, he had never once sighted or got a whiff of such a beast and suggested this was the stuff of US thriller movie plots. Graeme's on the road survey of APEC protest organisers tells him that no violence is being planned. "The only person that talks to me about violence at APEC is you," he said. It was true. Andrew threw back his head and laughed. But there is a dangerous truth here. The more the police talk up violent scenarios, the more likely they are to create them by projection and act them out. More likely violence will come by a police assault possibly brought on wired and over reacting, possibly brought on by agent provocateurs. And agent provocateurs Graeme saw in action at the s11 World Economic Forum blockade. Good news from Andrew was that Chief Superintendent Steve Cullen, commander of the Operations Special Group (read: riot busters) was seeing Ghost Dance as no threat. Given Graeme's less than friendly encounter with Steve at the 30A protests this was doubly good for him to hear. Andrew had put his liver on the line to achieve this. Seems they had met at a confab of senior police and, a bottle of red and six stubbies later Steve had seen the light and humour of Peacebus.com. From Andrew I got to understand that the excessive secirity arrangements are being driven, not by the NSW Government and its police but by the federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, tyrannically bent on squashing any expression of dissent that might leave the Howard government or any other government with egg on their faces. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& A call from my mate Bob this morning tells me that the Monday night planning meeting of the Stop Bush rally had attracted over 100 people including a majority young people and it went on for 4 hours. A number of caches were reporterd as coming from melbourne. Likewise the anarchist meeting was well attended. Furthermore I am getting calls about the Ghost dance. Optimism rises again. maybe the excess of the security attangements is fueling new resistance. May it be so. For peace. For justice. For the Earth! &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tuesday 21 August 2007 Called Snr Sgt Andrew Lahey at about 9.30 am on his mobile to confirm the Hyde Park North assembly area. He told me had had a late night dealing with a would be suicide hanging from the outside of the wire cage of a rail way over pass. And that on top of that he had been called early start answering calls and advising on the media put out by the Stop the War rally organisers in regard to the disputed route of their APEC march on 8 September Andrew cwas unable confirm the Hyde Park assembly area as promised the day before, so we adjusted the relevant paragraph of media alert to read: "Mr Dunstan reports that Sydney police have received the Ghost Dance action favorably and that he confident that Hyde Park North will be approved as an assembly area." Andrew said that approaching the APEC Fence is a big no-no, that the Declared Areas, as laid down from on high without any consultation with dissidents, cannot be moved. I said we will go as close as we can get and let's keep talking. Andrew asked as a matter of urgency that I submit a Schedule One form, the standard notification of intention to assemble in public place, then wait an hour or so and before putting out the media alert. And so I did, walking up to Newtown Police station to get the form and fill it in. The Newtown Sgt knew of me from his stint in Nimbin. Said he had applied to go back. He happily faxed the Schedule One off to the APEC Police Command and other interested parties. I had written that the purpose of the proposed assembly is "a creative expression of dissent to the APEC agenda of more corporate greed, more corrupt government, more resource piracy, more war and more nukes. Let the dead dance!" It also wrote that the Ghost Dance would assemble in Hyde Park North from 3 pm on Friday 7 September and proceed at about 7 pm to the APEC Fence via a route to be negotiated with the APEC Police Command, return to Hyde Park North and disperse at 11 pm. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Monday 20 August 2007 dear Ghost Dance friends, This morning at 9.30 am I met with Snr Sgt Andrew Lahey, highest paid negotiator in the NSW Police Service. And a mate. Andrew and I had had an intense, challenging and absolutely fruitful interaction during the organising of the 30A protests against the August 2004 Forbes Global CEO Conference. Forbes was a precursor and a try out for APEC: likewise a gathering of the rich and powerful, a neo liberal War on Terror security operation involving some 2000 police, and likewise putting up fences and occupying the Opera House and Circular Quay precinct. We met in the same King Street cafe that we used during 30A. Our first meeting had been in a Newtown park and during it Andrew's partner went into labor. But so committed to peaceful liaison was he, that he chose to stay with us radicals and the job rather than rushing away to his wife. At the time I had respected his commitment and chastised him. Andrew tells me that when he reflects on the joy of that boy, his son now two years old, he remembers our meeting ... and smiles. Since 30A Andrew has become a much respected police negotiators and he has written and delivered training courses on the subject. Win-win outcomes, peaceful and safe, are his bread and butter. What better man to be dealing with on APEC protest organising? An expert in his field. And he considers me a friend. God bless him. Andrew assured me that my Peacebus.com work was well known and respected by many senior NSW police including the new Sydney Area Commander, Superintendent Dave Owens and the head of the Operations Special Group, these the trained, head busting riot cops. That's very good news. See www.peacebus.com/OSG All, he said, were giving Peacebus.com and the Ghost Dance their thumbs up. The APEC police command may have fears about some groups which their INTELL tells them are coming to protest at APEC, but no worries or fears about Peacebus.com. Here the good fruit of artful and peaceful protest past! Tomorrow morning I expect Andrew to confirm that Hyde Park North will be available on the evening Friday 7 September as an assembly area. He will also come back to me with a route for a Ghost Dance parade that starts in Hyde Park and returns there. I have proposed 11 pm as a finishing time. The Search Foundation also has approval to present a Rally/Festival in that same location earlier in the day. I am proposing to support that event with flags and also to conduct a community arts Ghost Dance mask and costume making workshop in the park. And stay on into the evening, lighting lanterns when the sun goes down. I want to invite Food Not Bombs to offer food that night. Creative dissent is what i want to foster and I am seeing Ghost Dance as being chaotic and amazing with spontaneous street theatre. Lots of it. Lots of drums. Lots of costume. Lots of dance. Best we can, For sure I know that evening of APEC when the Ghosts dance, Friday 7 September, we will have the blessings and goodwill of many, many Sydney citizens, including many, many police officers. That night by the Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park North will be the safest and most artful place to be in Sydney. Joyful, artful and safe, our credo. Kindness and friendliness, our path. Building community. Building resistance. For peace. For justice. For the Earth! Graeme Dunstan 20 August 2007 PS I will update the flyers tomorrow link a new poster design to www.peacebus.com/GhostDance PPS Pass the good news onto friends. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Wednesday 15 August 2007 Best news of the day for Ghost Dance organising was a call from Snr Sgt Andrew Lahey, who rang about 3 pm to set up a meeting to negotiate public place for the Ghost Dance. Pip Wilson was driving me south at the time. We got the call at a rest area new Port Macquarie. Good news! Graeme had worked with the Andrew as chief liaison officer on the 30A Forbes Global CEO Conference of August 2004 which was precursor neo-liberal Sydney city lock-down. See www.peacebus.com/30A Andrew was most positive about the Ghost Dance and suggested that Hyde Park North would be available as an assembly area. We will meet and negotiate the details in Sydney on Monday 22 August. For peace. For justice. For the Earth! &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& 15 May 2007 Chief Superintendent Peter Lennon Commander AEC Police Task Force webgreetings Chief Superintendent, I make contact to give notice of an APEC protest event and to open liaison for its production as an artful, peaceful and safe event. The event I speak of will be named something like the APEC Ghost Dance and it will compromise of a costumed gathering, parade and street party of ghouls, skeletons and ghosts on the evening of Friday 7 September. An occupation of public place by ghosts in the APEC induced ghost city of Sydney. While the rich and powerful live the high life behind police lines, our protest on the streets will be an artful reminder that the consequence of their neo-liberal economic policies, their unrestrained corporate greed and their resource piracy is environmental catastrophe, war. famine, plague and mass death. Rather than speakers at a microphone, the vision of the event is more like samba bands and wild dancing in the streets, the doomed singing up the dead. At this time I cannot say how many people will be engaged either as ghosts or witnesses of ghosts on the night. That depends on how skillfully the event is promoted. We do best we can. Let's begin talking about how. For peace. For justice. For the Earth Graeme Dunstan Peacebus.com 0407 951 688 Skillful dissent is my vocation, see www.peacebus.com/30A Attached a photograph of me under a backpack skellie at the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, 3 March. Imagine an army of such skellies descending on APEC.