Talisman Sabre begins with Tiger Ploughshare activist in court

Graeme Dunstan, the friend of the late Bryan Law who was charged for helping Law access the Rockhampton Airport during Talisman Sabre 2011so that he could disable a Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (AHR), will be in Rockhampton District Court for a bail mention.

At the court appearance it is expected that Mr Dunstan’s Legal Aid lawyers will be withdrawing from the case and Mr Dunstan will be proceeding with a not guilty plea and defending himself at the trial which will take place 19 August.

The smiting of the ARH by the late Bryan Law was a Ploughshare action within the tradition of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker movement in which peace activists fearlessly act out the prophecy of Isaiah (2:4) that we will “turn spears into pruning hooks, swords into ploughshares and study war no more”.

“Part of that tradition is to not flee or hide, but rather to take full responsibility for the action, take the matter to trial and let a jury decide on the morality of war and the preparation for war,” said Mr Dunstan.

“That’s what Bryan Law wanted and that’s what I must do to honour the courage and sacrifice of my friend.”

Mr Dunstan will be supported at the court house by the band of peace activists who have assembled in Rockhampton to protest what they describe as the Talisman Sabre war rehearsals.

After the court appearance Graeme Dunstan and friends will be celebrating the official beginning of Talisman Sabre 2013 with a Speak Out at the gates of Western Street Barracks.

Special guest will be Vince Emanuele, former US Marine, two-tour veteran of the Iraq War, and now a national board member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Vince is in Rockhampton on the final leg of a four city public speaking tour in which he has been addressing audiences about the connections between economic austerity at home, militarism abroad and ecological devastation globally.

The speech will be recorded and distributed on social media in Australia, the US and elsewhere.

Graeme Dunstan, Peacebus.com, 0407 951 688