The Australian Government is hosting Talisman Sabre, a huge US-Australian military exercise which will see 15,000 US troops and 8,000 ADF personnel converging on the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in central Queensland during July. We oppose these war games because they:

* Are held on land which belongs to the Aboriginal people.

* They are designed to practice aggression and offensive military strategies, not to defend Australia or protect its people.

* They are intended to train Australian military personnel to take US military orders – the so-called “seamless interoperability”.

* The exercises will cost over $50 million, an obscene amount in these times of economic recession.

* They will cause serious environmental damage in a beautiful area near the irreplaceable Great Barrier Reef .

There are better things to do with our money!

Australia 's military spending is due to rise to $71 million a day following the recent Defence White Paper. This is an obscene amount in a financial crisis and when one million Australians are expected to lose their jobs. 70 per cent of Australians oppose more spending on the military.

Sponsored by Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, Communist Party of Australia, People for Nuclear Disarmament, Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition
Contact Denis on 0418 290 663, email denis@anti-bases.org

It seems an unlikely place from which to try to dominate the world…

A remote Air Force base in rural Nebraska, twelve miles south of Omaha. There's even a cornfield across the road.

But it's where George Bush was rushed for safekeeping on 9/11. And today, it's where the White House continues to wage its international ‘War on Terror' and to pursue its goal of dominating space.

Continued...

News that the Polish concert pianist, Krystian Zimerman, halted a recital in Los Angeles to make an impromptu speech berating US foreign policy should come as no surprise. Classical musicians may not be everyone's idea of radicals, but we should not forget that among the first into Wenceslaus Square , in Prague , during the people power demonstrations that brought down the Communist regime in 1989, was the entire company of the Czech Philharmonic. And here in Australia , principal players from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra are often ready to turn out, as the Sydney Soloists, for a good cause, most recently in partnership with the Sydney Peace Foundation to raise money to send medical relief to Zimbabwe. Continued

Military exercises are an unacceptable use of Australia’s unique environment and ancient cultural heritage. Australia is the oldest continent on the planet. We should be protecting it for future generations, not bombing it to pieces.

Two Chamoru representatives from Guam visiting Australia for a month-long international awareness campaign today accused the United States of glaring human rights violations of the indigenous Chamoru people.

“The new wave of U.S. militarization of Guam means to be decisive,” said Chamoru writer Julian Aguon in Sydney today. “It is not simply more of the same. Part of the U.S. military realignment in the Asia-Pacific region includes the controversial relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa, Japan to Guam. The move will have devastating consequences for the indigenous Chamoru people, who have been struggling for decolonization of their island home.

“The situation of Guam serves as one of the greatest indictments of U.S. democratic legitimacy, as Guam remains one of only 16 non-self-governing territories in the modern world. The military build-up now underway in Guam, which will include an influx of a military personnel population comparable in size to the entire indigenous population (55,000), is being done entirely without the input or consultation of the indigenous people and over their deepening dissent.”

Dr. Lisa Natividad, a professor at the University of Guam, stated that the new wave of military buildup will only worsen the well being of the Chamoru people, who already suffer from the classic symptoms of a colonial condition such as dramatic health disparities. “For example, rates of nasopharyngeal cancer among my people are 2,000% higher than in the United States, and the rate of diabetes is five times the national U.S. average,” Dr Natividad said.

“Although Guam is only 30 miles long, it contains 19 sites designated by the US Environmental Protection Agency as the most highly contaminated and toxic sites in the entire United States.” Dr. Natividad said. These toxins include radioactive and carcinogenic materials, dioxins, etc.

“We come to Australia in the hope of raising awareness about the human rights deprivations of the Chamoru people by the U.S, to build solidarity among the peace and justice groups here and throughout the Asia-Pacific region, who are all endangered by current U.S. militarization of the region,” she said.

What you can do:

Sign the on-line petition.

Send a protest letter to Duncan Kerr, Minister for Pacific Territories.

More about the militarisation of the Pacific in the
Summer 2007 edition of the AABCC Bulletin.