On Sep 29 2016, six “Peace Pilgrims” were arrested next to the Pine Gap Military base which is a key US military facility providing support for violent operations, drone strikes and the massive spy program revealed by Edward Snowden.
We were lamenting war and praying for peace and now we need your help and support:
- Join the Wage Peace Newsletter for updates, invitation to actions, call outs and Court dates. Share this information with your friends and networks.
- Donate to help us travel back and forth to Alice Springs as well as general costs in fighting this case. We would like to see people join us.
- Join us in Alice for the major case later in the year.
- If you are in Alice – support us by encouraging local involvement and making links. Contact Margaret@cairnspeacebypeace.org
#Endwarculture #NoMoreUSwars
When the six “Peace Pilgrims” faced court in Alice Springs, the charges were thrown out of court and the protesters freed because of what Local Court Judge Daynor Trigg called a “nonsense” piece of legislation. The law required direction from Attorney General George Brandis to arrest and lay charges. The six, have now been charged following explicit signed consent from Mr Brandis (see picture left).
Jim Dowling, Andy Paine, Tim Webb and Franz Dowling of Brisbane, along with Margaret Pestorius and Paul Christie of Cairns, are each charged with ‘Unlawful Entry’ under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952 (Cth). They face seven years in prison for these acts of faith, prayer and healing.
COURT HEARINGS 13th and 16th November 2017
The #PineGapPilgrims are heading back to Alice to face a jury in the Supreme Court in November. Paul Christie’s case starts Nov 13th and the other Pilgrims case starts Nov 16th.
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The peace pilgrims say they intend to put the Pine Gap base on trial. Defendant Andy Paine said “Pine Gap is a foreign military installation on Australian soil that is vital to the US surveillance state and is used to target drone strikes that kill civilians in foreign countries. Its actions should be a topic of debate among all Australians. Instead the base operates in virtual secrecy; hidden in the desert with no government accountability and extreme laws threatening anyone who dares to show what goes on there.”
Five of the “peace pilgrims” walked on to Pine Gap on September 29 last year; carrying musical instruments and conducting a lament for the deaths and suffering caused by Pine Gap. Pauli Christie entered alone on the October 1 with ceremonial objects and prayed for several hours in the creek bed not far from the main fence.
PINE GAP 4 (2005 – 2008)
One of the six, Jim Dowling, had previously entered Pine Gap in 2005 in a sensational case that ended with convictions overturned on appeal. This is the only previous instance of the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act being used to prosecute people.
The Pine Gap 4 in 2008 with Lawyers Russell Goldflam and Ron Merkel QC
At the appeal Ron Merkel successfully argued that the original Judge erred in not requiring the prosecution to prove that Pine Gap was necessary for the defence of Australia, as requested by the defendants. All convictions under the defence Special Undertakings act were then overturned. The defendants had already spent up to eight days in Darwin prison when this decision was handed down.
Later that year, the Government changed the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952 (Cth), to clarify the legal status of Pine Gap and make a challenge to its status as a “defence” facility like the one mounted by the Pine Gap 4 harder to mount. The amendments mean that the Commonwealth claims it has power to legislate about Pine Gap under both the ‘defence power‘ and the ‘external affairs power‘ of the Australian Constitution.
This may be seen as an attempt to limit the ability to question US activities on Australian soil by activists and academics concerned about the illegality and immorality of such a dominating war-making and surveillance facility. {see more complex detail here about the changes to the law.}
Many believe that if the government declared Pine Gap necessary for the defence of Australia then it probably is! (Even if we are bombing people thousands of miles away who have never even heard of Australia).
The silence and complicity of Pine Gap in breaking International Law and human rights agreements has been raised by such eminent public figures and academics as Malcolm Fraser former Prime Minister of Australia and Richard Tanter of the Nautilus Institute. The protesters are not alone in their concerns about the practices engaged in Pine Gap.
Ms Pestorius said, “We have seen escalating war for 16 years – some would say 60 years. The US economy is based around it. And Australia is chronically implicated. We can see no end.”
Mr Paine said, “With the unpredictability of a Donald Trump presidency hanging in the air and the US-Australia relationship already strained this week, we need to consider the consequences of our government’s unswerving loyalty to the US in military affairs. To do this and to bring what is done in secret out into the open is why we walked on to Pine Gap in the first place; this trial presents an opportunity for us to publicly do that again.”
There is considerable agreement that Pine Gap would be a nuclear target in the case of nuclear war.
