In July this year the Talisman-Sabre 2011 (TS11) U.S.-Australian
joint exercises will take place on land and sea in many Australian
locations. An estimated 30,000 troops, the majority U.S. Military,
and their tanks, trucks, cars, troop carriers, ships, submarines and
other vehicles will descend on Bradshaw and Delamere training areas in
the Northern Territory and on Shoalwater Bay Training Area in
Queensland, as well as locations in the Coral, Arafura and Timor Seas
and ports and airports in Cairns, Townsville, Gladstone and Brisbane.
Every time this happens peace and environmental activists from around
Australia meet them for the biennial Peace Convergence. Why do we
oppose the war games? Here's a short synopisis:
1. TS11 takes place on indigenous lands and sovereignty has never been
ceded. The Darambal people of Rockhampton region are unlikely to ever
get land rights while the military control their land.
2. TS11 takes place in the Coral Sea and traverses the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park. If ordinary Australians can't fish there, neither
should the military be allowed to use sonar (known to effect whales
and other sea animals) or leak oil and dispose of their at-sea waste
there (the U.S. Are unrepentant about this practice).
3. TS11 take place in Shoalwater Bay, one of only three locations
where endangered dugong dwell in Australian waters. Injury from ships
or shock from undersea explosions pose a threat to their existence.
4. TS11, like all war games and war itself, is not environmentally
benign. Beside material damage to land and flora by tanks and troop
movements, all military activities are polluting, including the use of
'green' practice munitions.
5. TS11 live firing occurs in the water catchment for the town of
Yeppoon. Military toxins from munitions have been and continue to be
used in this catchment. Given the military's record on sexual
assaults recently, they are unlikely to confess to water and land
pollution and repeatedly ignore the issue in their documents.
6. TS11 is not required to do a legally binding Environmental Impact
Assessment. They do offer a Public Environment Report each two years,
but this is no more than a greenwashing exercise that ignores the
social justice issues.
7. TS11 brings many troops to the surrounding towns where drunkenness,
street crimes, drug use, prostitution and sexual assaults increase.
This is a familiar tale wherever U.S. Troops are based.
8. TS11 further ensconces Australia in a U.S. Alliance where
preemptive and unjust wars are the norm. The Australian Defence Force
admit it is about 'interoperability' with U.S. Troops.
9. TS11 is vehemently opposed by people living near the Shoalwater Bay
Military Training Area who have been ignore, insulted and buzzed by
military helicopters and faced with an ongoing barrage of bomb
vibrations all year round from the base.
10. TS11 is part of the training for ongoing wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan that have already claimed the lives of 27 Australian
troops, more than 3000 U.S. Troops and hundreds of thousands of
civilians, destroying their homes and livelihoods, contaminating their
land with depleted uranium and other munition toxins and driving many
of them to seek refugee status in Australia where they are likely to
be further abused.
Join the protests: www.peaceconvergence.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_115709255120251