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The newly completed banner prepared for the protests which will take place outside the Parliament when US President Obama addresses a joint sitting on 17 November, unveiled on Capital Hill 31 October.
Media Release 16 November 2011
Big Show of Dissent to the US Alliance expected
@ Australian Parliament, 17 Nov 2011
President Obama comes to Canberra and the peace abiding city is locked down with the security restrictions of a war zone.
"He brings the War of Terror with him," says protest organiser Graeme Dunstan of Peacebus.com. "He is, like Bush before him, that kind of president."
And despite of restrictions and the fear beat ups, hundreds are expected at an artful carnival of dissent will greet US President Obama when he comes to address the joint Sitting of Parliament tomorrow, 17 November.
"The Gillard governments' obeisance to the US and its endless wars is deeply troubling to many, many Australians."
"So too is the intention of the Australian government to compromise Australian sovereignty by surrendering to the US demands for more military bases on Australian soil and joint command of Australian Defence Forces."
"The Sydney Stop the War Coalition is sending a contingent of 50 in a bus, the Nimbin HEMP Embassy is already on the ground with its Big Joint to protest the US Drug War, and there will be many other groups with different issues but the same central message - end the US Alliance," he said.
Christine Assange, mother of Julian, will be speaking out at a Speak Out cranking up in Federation Mall from 10 am. Also Mamdouh Habib, victim of US sanctioned torture.
Greens MP are also expected to speak to the crowds who and when yet to be confirmed.
Another citizens' SpeakOut against the US Alliance will crank up from 12.30 - 2pm in Federation Mall.
Speakers will include: Kim Sattler, UnionsACT, Ric Kuhn, ANU academic, Linda Pearson, Stop the War Coalition, Humphrey McQueen, historian, Kellie Tranter, journalist, lawyer and human rights activist and Vivienne Porzolt, Jews Against the Occupation. Plus lots of time for open mike.
Graeme Dunstan (69) is a veteran anti war organiser who as a student in 1966 was the organiser of the Welcome LBJ Committee which organised the 'bastards" who stopped the motorcade.
For this protest Dunstan is organising a Drone Attack on behalf of Stand Fast, veterans and ex service people against the War on Afghanistan. He has made a small fleet of cardboard drones for the occasion.
More information
Graeme Dunstan 0407 951 688
Pip Hinman, Sydney Stop the War Coalition 0412 139 968
Here one of the cardboard drones prepared for the Stand Fast Drone Attack welcome for President Obama 16 November 2011
Media Release 8 November 2011
Excited to be dissenting
to the Obama Australia mission
An anonymous top Canberra diplomat says US President Obama is excited, "champing at the bit"Êabout coming to Australia and the US ambassador, Jeffrey Bleich,Êsays the business of his visit is regional security.
"Read Kevin Rudd for that anonymous diplomat and read more US bases, more US wars and more spending on US armaments for regional security," says Obama visit, protest organiser Graeme Dunstan of Peacebus.com.
"None the less we Australians, less enchanted by the US - Australia Alliance, are genuinely excited about the opportunity Obama's visit creates to make our dissent visible and vocal."
"Sixty years of the US Alliance and what have we got?" asks Dunstan. "Endless war."
"That and successive Prime Ministers who sound like Daleks programmed to respond with a single sentence: "Stay the course. Stay the course... "
"In the spirit of the times, we dissenters willÊOccupy Capital Hill and conduct a citizens SpeakOut against the US Alliance when Obama comes to the Parliament 17 November."
"A colourful carnival of protest it will be'" says Dunstan. "Lots of issues, lots of placards and banners, lots of voices, lots of color, movement and theatre."
Groups involved include Unions ACT, Sydney Stop the War Alliance, Medical Practitioners for Prevention of War, Women in Black, Stand Fast veterans and ex-service people, Jews against the Occupation, Nimbin HEMP Embassy, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and supporters of Julian Assange.
"The day will begin before Obama arrives with speeches to the crowds from MPs dissenting to his war agenda. Then the mike will be open and we will hear what the people have to say," says Dunstan who is also promising a Stand FastDrone Attack while Obama is addressing the Parliament.
The day will close with a more structured lunch time Citizens' SpeakOut 12.30 - 2 pm. Speakers will include: Kim Sattler, UnionsACT, Ric Kuhn, ANU academic, Linda Pearson, Stop the War Coalition, Humphrey McQueen, historian, Kellie Tranter, journalist, lawyer and human rights activist and Vivienne Porszott, Jews Against the Occupation.
Further information
Graeme DunstanPeacebus.com 0407 951 688
Design courtesy Softly Price of Mighty Nice. Downloadable here.
Page one Canberra Times report 8 November 2011
Media Release 7 November 2011
Who is PM Gillard trying to impress?
"Who does PM Gillard think she is impressing when she dons helmet and flak jacket to visit Kabul?" asks Stand Fast veterans and ex-sevice people against the war in Afghanistan.
If that is a statement about how safe the Afghan capital city is after ten years of war, why would Australians want to stay another day longer?" asks Graeme Dunstan of Stand Fast.
"Who does PM Gillard think she is impressing when she meets with Afghan President Karzai?"
The recently sacked US Major General Peter Fuller has said the Karzai government is corrupt . Hamid Karzai certainly does not enjoy the confidence of the Afghan people, no matter how many photo opportunities Julia Gillard performs for the media.
"And who does she think she is impressing when she vows that Australian troops will "stay the course until the mission is completed?"
Certainly not the majority of the Australian electorate who recently polled at 72% wanting troops out of Afghanistan.
When it comes to Afghanistan, over and over again PM Gillard shows herself to be more loyal to the US President and his endless wars than to the people of Australia who elected her to office and provide the taxes to keep Australians troops engaged in this murderous and futile activity.
End the lies. End the wars. End the US Alliance!
When the US President Obama comes to address the Australian Parliament on 17 November, Stand Fast veterans and ex service people will be greeting him with a Drone Attack. (See media release below)
Further information
Graeme Dunstan, Drone Maker, 0407 951 688
Hamish Chitts, spokesperson for Stand Fast 0401 586 923
Media Release 1 November 2011
No more deaths in Afghanistan.
Bring the Troops home.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has urged Australians not to be overly concerned about the incident that left three Australian soldiers dead and five wounded in Afghanistan on October 29.
But dissident veterans and ex-service people say that Gillard is dangerously deluded if she thinks what has happened lacks significance.
"The shootings by a dissident Afghan Army trainee took place on parade, visible, calculated and with a very clear message," said Graeme Dunstan of Stand Fast - a group of veterans and ex-service people against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"First, after all the kill and capture raids and all the arms dumps seized, Afghanistan is no safer for Australian soldiers now than it was 10 years ago when Australians first arrived as invaders. They remain invaders and are hated as such.
"Second, the much touted training and mentoring program is fundamentally flawed and now dead in the water. How can one train an army to fight if they can't be trusted with live ammunition?" Dunstan asked.
The US-NATO "mission" in Afghanistan is a failed counter insurgency strategy that has cost 32 lives of Australian troops, put more than 900 on compensation for injuries sustained, and wasted some $9 billion in tax revenues, said Dunstan.
The cost of the war to Afghans has been much higher. While exact figures are not recorded, estimates are that at least 60,000 have been killed, including many women and children.
Pip Hinman, a spokesperson from Sydney Stop the War Coalition, said: "Corruption and poverty is becoming more deeply entrenched - in no small part because the US-NATO-Australian armies are supporting and protecting corrupt and hated war lords - such as Matiullah Khan.
"The PM says being in Afghanistan is in 'our national interestÕ. But who benefits exactly?
"Julia Gillard has to listen to the majority of Australians who are no longer convinced that the troops should be. Leading democratic voices in Afghanistan - such as Malalai Joya - also say that they can defeat the fundamentalists politically, but not while a war is raging.
"Australians are increasingly opposed to being involved in wars to 'maintain' the US-Australia alliance", said Hinman.
"Nothing has been gained in 10 years of war and nothing will be gained by Australian soldiers staying another day longer", said Dunstan.
[Stop the War Coalition and Stand Fast have called a protest against the US-Australia war alliance when US President Obama addresses the Australian parliament on November 17.]
Logo courtesy Nick Brajkovic, Graphic Design Working Group, Occupy Canberra.
Media Release 21 October 2011
Dissenting vets and ex service people
prepare a Drone Attack Welcome for Obama
When US President Obama comes to address the Parliament on 17 November, veterans and ex-service people will be making visible their dissent to his wars, and to Australian engagement in them, with a drone attack.
"While the drones in the Parliament will be lining up to show obeisance to the US Alliance, we dissenting veterans and ex service people, family and friends of Stand Fastwill be outside droning in recall of Obama's war crimes."
"In particular, we will bear witness to the drone attacks which Obama has ordered in wars, declared and undeclared, in six countries now," said Stand Fast organiser and drone maker Graeme Dunstan.
For Capitol Hill the drones will be cardboard and not the least aerodynamic.
"I have no expectation we will get anywhere near Obama that day, but we will have some fun trying," said Dunstan. "It will all be part of the fun and action to expected in the carnival of dissent which will occupy Capital Hill that day."
Duntroon dropout, Mr Dunstan, 69 years, is a longtime anti war activist. As a student he was one of the bastards who stopped US President Johnson's motorcade in Sydney in 1966. More recently he was part of a Ploughshare action which disabled a Tiger Attack helicopter at Rockhampton during the US Australian wars.
Photo opportunity
Graeme Dunstan is now in residence at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Canberra, where he will be making his drone fleet. He is presently painting a banner for the event. Design attached.
Further information
Hamish Chitts, Spokesperson Stand Fast 0401 586 923
Graeme Dunstan 0407 951 688
www.peacebus.com
Above the design of the Obama banner Graeme is working on, revised since the first edition which prepared for the first deferred visit of Obama in 2003. It did not name all the wars and all the countries upon which Commander in Chief Barack Obama has ordered drone attacks in 2011. Design courtesy Softly Price of Mighty Nice.
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