We are planning some peaceful responses to Talisman Saber 2017…. And hope you will join us! We know it is a hike up to Rocky so we are asking people to do something in their own region. Other than promotion and general solidarity/support our key ask is for you to take action on:
July 4: Independence from USA Day! #IndependenceFROMAmerica
This date is useful as it is iconic, TS17 will have started and the build up to live firing will be well underway, UN nuclear weapons ban negotiations should (?) still be on.
More about: July 4: Independence from America Day!
Will you join us? We would love it if you could commit to:
- doing something on July 4
- posting info, images of whatever you do on the event page & your own social media
- letting us put it out on our social/media sites!
If July 4 doesn’t work for you as an action day, promoting a selfie posting or letter writing campaign, a BBQ/picnic, trivia night etc would be great too!
Talisman Saber live exercises will go through July 8 -July 23/25 so there is plenty of time to do something else if you’d like! Ships and/or troops may also be in your neighbourhood before or after the exercises. Normally, some troops spend time in Brisbane, Sydney, Darwin and Townsville.
Please let us know how you would like to be involved!
What else is on:
Here’s a rough sketch of some things that are happening around Talisman Saber more generally:
- Proposed National Day of Action: July 4 Independence from America Day!
- IPAN Canberra Forum: War, Peace & Independence
- Rockhampton/Shoalwater Bay: July 7-9 Peace Weekend (various events including NAIDOC March/Expo, TS17 Open Day, vigil at Western St Barracks)
- Rockhampton/Shoalwater Bay: July 10-14 NonViolence Training/Camp
- Brisbane** & possibly Darwin Peace Actions
- Nuclear & US Alliance animation shorts (help wanted!)
- An information kit – flyer and Talisman Saber map are in the pipeline (help wanted – or stay tuned!)
- Plus your thing here
**July 12 & 13 All night candlelight vigil Gallipoli Barracks, Enoggera including liturgy focused on the Australian war in Afghanistan #bringourTROOPShome #bringourRAAFhome
Visit www.swordtoplowshare.net or contact ciaronx@yahoo.com for full program of events
We are having regular phone hook ups to discuss Talisman Saber. Please feel free to join us!
To get involved or for more information:
Phone: 0411 118 737 (Robin)
Website: www.peaceconvergence.org
Instagram: www.instagram.com/peaceconvergence/
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/peaceconvergence
Twitter: @peaceconvergenc
#nomoreUSwars #stoptalismansaber #independenceFROMAmerica #closethebases #PC17
Why protest Talisman Saber?
Between July 8-25, 33,000 US & Aussie troops will be practicing air, sea and land warfare at Shoalwater Bay Military Exercise Area near Rockhampton, outside Townsville and at other locations on the central Qld coast- including within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
They will engage in amphibious landings, bombing practice, urban warfare rehearsals, live firing, the use of sonar, on shore landings – and nuclear powered and nuclear-weapons-capable vessels. All in some of Queensland’s and the world’s most precious habitats.
Much of Talisman Saber takes place at Shoalwater Bay – just north of Rockhampton. The Shoalwater Bay Training Area encompasses some of Queensland’s (and Australia’s) most pristine coastal regions, including protected wetlands and waters of the Great Barrier Reef. It has some of Australia’s most important seagrass beds and is a home to endangered turtles and dugongs and migrating whales.
Talisman Saber 2017 will also use other locations of environmental importance such as Saumarez Reef, the Timor, Arafura and Coral Seas, Halifax Bay (off Townsville w/in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park) Cowley Beach (Qld – located within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA), public & private land at Stanage Bay (north of Shoalwater Bay) and habitats for endangered species such as the Northern Quoll and Gouldian Finch (Mt Bundy, NT near Kakadu).**
Fun Fact: The US military “produces 750,000 tons of toxic waste annually, establishing the United State military as the “largest single polluter of any agency or organization in the world.”[1]
In the pre-Trump era, it was clear that China had concerns about this show of military might in the region. With the Pacific Pivot in full swing, and a president calling for an expansion of the US nuclear weapons arsenal, the social, psychological and political ramifications of Australia’s continued military partnership with the US deserve needs to be reconsidered.
Talisman Saber is one facet of an expanding US military presence in our region, and Australia’s support for it. Australia already houses Pine Gap (US satellite base), allows US bombing flyovers, will station US troops in Darwin, hosts nuclear powered and nuclear-weapons capable war ships and opens both its civilian and military infrastructure to the US.
With changing economic and political priorities, the US is repositioning its global force and Australia is playing a vital role in both acting as launching pad for US military activity, as an ally in the field, and as the face of the US nuclear umbrella in the Asia-Pacific region. To our neighbours, Talisman Saber is an expression of US/Australia joint posturing – a show of potential and formidable force.
We need to send a clear message to both the White House and the Lodge that this is not acceptable!
Stop the exercises. Close the Bases. End the wars.
**Listed locations for TS17 are: Mt Bundy, Shoalwater Bay, Townsville, Halifax Bay, Cowley Beach, Stanage Bay, Arafura Sea, Timor Sea, Coral Sea, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Ports of: Darwin, Gladstone & Townsville, RAAF bases at Darwin, Tindal, Townsville, Amberley, Rockhampton Airport, and Defence accommodation at: Darwin, Robertson Barracks, Larrakeyah Barracks & Rockhampton.
Peace Convergence 
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