NEWS: U.S Peace Activist Arrested In Australia - Threat to National Security

An American teacher and peace activist Scott Parkin, has been arrested in Melbourne after he allegedly received an adverse security assessment. Parkin was arrested on orders of the Australian Immigration department and his visa revoked alleging he is a threat to National Security. He may be deported according to Federal Attorney General Phillip Ruddock pending some legal moves that have taken place. Friends and colleagues of Mr Parkin have stated that he was in Australia speaking about the US peace movement and they are baffled by his arrest.



So now we are being censored further? Does this mean we are not allowed to here what the gentleman has to say? If he is in fact campaigning for peace what does the government have to worry about? Why does he have an adverse clearance assessment?

This case begs many questions but it seems few answers are being given. Yet more freedoms taken yet more tightening of the screws.

This cross-movement workshop and forum will be a chance for Melbourne activists to hear about and discuss emerging trends in organising for grassroots direct action campaigns.

Scott Parkin, an experienced community organiser, activist and trainer from Houston, Texas works with Houston Global Awareness, campaigning to get the corporate war profiteer Halliburton out of Iraq.

Houston Global Awareness are using a "People Power" strategy of direct action and popular education to exact social, political and economic costs on Halliburton for their operations in Iraq. In the spirit of the Serbian Otpor! movement, privatisation resisters in Bolivia and the Filipino "People Power" movements, Houston activists are using community dialogue, teach-ins, film screenings, counter-recruitment and nonviolent direct action to stop the war profiteers. The strategy targets key pillars of support in the occupation of Iraq.

Scott and local activists will discuss tools for strategic organising, including SmartMeme's "Battle of the Story", an activist framing strategy for media and messaging.
www.nonviolence.org.au...

Related News Links:
disobedience.nomasters.org

Houston Global Awareness

[edit on 10-9-2005 by Mayet]

I would really like to know what the hell is the problem with this guy?

He's a PEACE activist for gods sake.

Show me WHERE he's a threat to national security? Or is it with his anti-haliburton campaigns , Howard is afraid people might actually start thinking about things?

This just makes me burn and this is the kind of thing taking place that is moving us towards a police state.

I demand our government show me the test they applied to judge him and for him to recieve this assessment. Damn well make the information public if there is nothing to hide!

And if it's activism that this govt is afraid of.......... isnt it preferable to have NON-violent activism as opposed to violent activism? Arent we supposed to be against violent activism which is what terrorists are doing?

or have I missed something?

Howard is a coward.

Dont get me wrong, i think peace activists are great and such, but often times they make their points in a disruptive way, im sure there is more to this story than is written.

"I understand the decision was based upon a security assessment, and security assessments are not something about which I can comment in any detail."

Geez, can't Howard do anything original? I mean, first we get Patriot Act style laws being hastily introduced, and now we get information being withheld based on what amounts to "in the interests of national security". But wait, Howard has done something original, and even gone further than Bush has yet, by incarcerating peace activists. As I said in another of Mayet's articles, watch as Australians roll over like good little sheep as their civil liberties are slowly eroded.

*sigh* I guess we'll just have to wait and hope that the details behind his case come out so that we can assess whether or not the action was justified.

I happen to think most peace activists ARE threats to national security! They should all be deported... preferably to France. There they will never have to worry about fighting and/or winning wars, confronting evil, and freeing their fellow man from the clutches of tyranny.

Now, everyone please feel free to attack me for my opinion on this matter. Hey, at least my plan is allowing them to live, despite their uselessness and the harm they have caused throughout history.

Originally posted by Rasputin13
I happen to think most peace activists ARE threats to national security!

HOW are they a threat to national security? please qualify this

They should all be deported... preferably to France. There they will never have to worry about fighting and/or winning wars, confronting evil, and freeing their fellow man from the clutches of tyranny.

Yeah they will. France is also attacking civil liberties in banning the wearing of hajibs by moslem women in public.

Hey, at least my plan is allowing them to live, despite their uselessness and the harm they have caused throughout history.

Could you please provide some examples so I know what you are talking about in this case?

Rasp

Send me a ticket and I'll be off! I'll reply with postcard from the Eiffel Tower if you insist.

Of course you might have to fight the United States to allow me to leave. We political prisoners are so bad here, they don't want to exile us. They want to protect the world from us. So they keep us here!

Lucky world? Lucky us?
Who knows.

France has been increasingly worried about there muslim poulation for years, this is just anotehr step in that, and they can make whatever laws they wish, including banning what they believe are symbols of terror, which unfortuntely currently includes the muslim bee-keeper suit, which I don't know the arab word for. As for here, I think they should be banned in schools and while getting drivers licenses, how can you tell who it is under it, it's just common sense people, and in school's because no one else can wear hats, so they shouldn't be able to either, and religion's aren't in schools so it's not an excuse to get around the policy.

Obviously its not a threat to National security its a threat to Gov agenda,but i would like to know what this guy is supposed to have said in referring to be a threat?

If he has been speaking out about Muslim extremists in this country have the right to be here and spread their hate for example i can understand why the Gov is a bit peeved at him,and why that could be construed as a threat to National security.

I`d like to know what its about though,interesting.

www.abc.net.au...

A small group of protesters upset at the possible deportation of a US peace activist has gathered outside a Melbourne jail.

American teacher Scott Parkin came to Australia in June on a six-month visitor's visa.

He was arrested yesterday after the Department of Immigration (DIMIA) revoked his visa because, the Anti-Deportation Alliance says, he is considered a threat to national security.

The Immigration Department has confirmed an American citizen is in custody, but has declined to comment on the case.

Mr Parkin's legal adviser, Marika Dias, says he has attended a number of protests in Australia but has done nothing wrong.

"It's very important to note that this is not about character, this is a separate ground under the migration legislation," she said.

"He was granted a visitor's visa [and] there were no security issues perceived at that stage.

"Scott has complied with that visa completely while he's been here. There's been no wrongdoing on his part."

Dan Cass, from Greenpeace, says Mr Parkin is Australia's first political prisoner.

Originally posted by Rasputin13
I happen to think most peace activists ARE threats to national security! They should all be deported... preferably to France. There they will never have to worry about fighting and/or winning wars, confronting evil, and freeing their fellow man from the clutches of tyranny.

Now, everyone please feel free to attack me for my opinion on this matter. Hey, at least my plan is allowing them to live, despite their uselessness and the harm they have caused throughout history.

France is more of a police state then the USA is You americans really should get out to see the world

[edit on 11-9-2005 by sardion2000]

why do you always jump straight to howard? and blame him for this

he does not see a person and decide if they are safe or not, asio does

howard is the leader of the liberal party, not the omnipresent, all seeing and knowing god of the government

This guy is a threat to national security, but thats because our nations are run by criminals. I guess police could be classed as a threat to criminal security couldnt they?

Peace activists and peaceful activists show up governments more than any terrorist ever could. How do you supress a non-violent campaign in a democracy? You cant wade in with the 101st and "Mission Accomplish" their ass now can you? No. In a democracy you label them "a threat to national security" which means you cannot talk about the case at all and have them either jailed or removed from the country.

Great ploy Ruddock and co. but what happens when this gentleman returns to America? Dont you think he might have something to say to the press on his return? Oh wait a minute...who owns the majority of American media? Ahhh yes...the darling of Australia's corporate world - Ruppert Murdoch.

Okay, first allow me to state that I disagree with the decision to both revoke Scott Parkin's visa and to arrest him. Having said that, there is at least one reason why ASIO or the Federal or State police may have done so.

During the recent protests against the Forbes Global CEO Conference at the end of August, protesters engaged in demonstrations and actions which, whilst not violent, were disruptive and not in the spirit of true legal protest, in my opinion. Protesters barricaded businesses in Sydney which they claimed were profiteering from the war in Iraq. They also poured fake blood on the steps of an ANZ branch, forcing it to close temporarily. Scott Parkin was the organiser of this protest.

Now before it is pointed out, I am aware of the fact that protest organisers do not necessarily condone the actions of those protesters who take things too far. I also acknowledge that the protests were not violent, although they were certainly disruptive and the police were more than justified in intervening, in my opinion.

Perhaps the Federal Police or ASIO feel as though Scott Parkin has not done enough to ensure that the protests which he organises, and for which he must assume responsibility, remain peaceful and comply with legal requirements.

Just a thought.

Edit
Sorry guys, forgot to add my reference to the story regarding the protest.

[edit on 11/9/05 by Jeremiah25]

Anarchist orginizations such as the Black Bloq crash protests with the express purpose of causing trouble. At the G8 in Montreal, they arrived in full riot gear with bullet proof shields marching in formation. Some of these groups are very well trained a funded, why should this guy pay the price for the actions of a few radicals who probably weren't even invited in the first place(They have operatives that let them know where and when)

Disruptive? Well oh my, Im sure the Chinese authourities deemed the Tianamen Square rallies to be disruptive as well. How about Gahndi's Salt March? Im sure that was classed as disruptive as well. Didnt that disrupt Britain's monopoly on the salt trade? It wasnt violent though so was justified.

Originally posted by Rasputin13
I happen to think most peace activists ARE threats to national security! They should all be deported... preferably to France. There they will never have to worry about fighting and/or winning wars, confronting evil, and freeing their fellow man from the clutches of tyranny.

Now, everyone please feel free to attack me for my opinion on this matter. Hey, at least my plan is allowing them to live, despite their uselessness and the harm they have caused throughout history.

Great to see freedom of speech is still value by those who would "free their fellow man from the clutches of tyranny."

I don't think they'd be too happy in France. France has more terror fighting experience and stricter anti-terror laws than just about any country in the western world, with all the restrictions on freedom of speech that seems to imply.

-koji K.

[edit on 11-9-2005 by koji_K]

As far as I'm concerned, tough. Any thing that makes these so called "peace activist" lives more miserable is fine by me.

That being said, I'm not necessarly for war. I have run into these idiots in the past, and I think a majority of them are loosers that need to get real jobs.

Yes, my experience was a bad one, I don't like getting yelled at by smelly hippies.

Any brand of fanatic, Muslim, Christian or Jew knows absolutely NOTHING of True Spirituality. Those who yell the loudest surely know the least. A true Spiritual man, on the other hand, is known more by what he doesn’t say and more by what his life says about him. Take the great Mahatma Gandhi. He freed an entire nation without ever firing a single shot. His faith and Spiritual understanding makes a mockery of the fanatical religious and patriotic finger-pointing zealots running around today believing that Jesus and Allah want us to nuke each other into oblivion. (This is exactly what Jesus spoke AGAINST!!!) All a bunch of Spiritually blind dumbed down sheeple all of you singing the Oscar Meyer song "My god's bigger than your god" or "My country's stronger than your country"
Obviously his God (Gandhi's faith & love) was much stronger than all of your so-called gods put together!! The gods that encourage each side to bomb the crap out of the other in his holy almighty name! (Praise the Lord...Hallelujah!!!)
Let's see your god's (Muslim, Christian, Jew) free an entire nation without any violence.... haa, they can't do it can they? Not very powerful gods are they? And as for patriotism just remember...every American who's crying for Arab blood would be bowing down to ALLAH and spitting on the American flag IF THEY had been BORN in an Arab country. And every Arab would be "flipping off" all the "Muslim scum" IF THEY had been BORN in America. Are all of you so ignorant as to believe that patriotism is the belief that YOUR country is always right simply because YOU were born there?
A reporter once asked Gandhi "What's your message?" to which the wise man replied, "My life is my message." Perhaps we should all just shut up and do the same!

Umm...Lapi7, what was the purpose of your rant, and what did it have to do with the subject at hand?