4 July – Independence FROM America

4 July “Independence from America Day”

A great big “Well Done” to the crew at Swan Island.  http://swanislandpeace.org/convergence-2011/

I’m sorry for you about the weather, but you have chosen to live near Antarctica.  You have to take some responsibility for your situation.

I’m jealous of the numbers involved down your way, and the methodical preparation of coming activists for nonviolent action.  As an example of local action networked into a national event it’s very encouraging.

There are 6 of us now at Franz Jaegerstaetter House.  We’ve instituted daily prayer in the morning, and Ross is making the physical space a thing of beauty.

We marked 4 July as Independence from America day in the morning with a public speak-out in the East St Mall.  You can see Seven’s coverage of that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1acwy3wsELk You’ll see Ross and Culley joining in.

Indepence FROM America Day on the East St Mall, Rockhampton
Here we all are (Ross, Jim, Bryan, Culley) at the 4 July speak-out at East St Mall.

You can see a fabulous composite picture here:

In the evening we had a public meeting at the Fitzroy Power Boat Club, where a small but vital group of locals came to find out more about us.  These are the people we need to organise with to build an effective CQ (central Queensland) campaign.  People are worried that with the force posture review (and US basing in northern Australia) Rockhampton will become a garrison town for US Empire.  There were 4 local demographics represented, and each put forwards ways of communicating with their friends and networks.

Scott Ludlum and Jo vallentine made an appearance for the Greens, and Scott impressed everyone.  Local Green paul Bambrick was there, and spoke to the Party’s coming strategy and influence in national politics.  It was a good meeting in a good place (hardly cold at all).

According to our information, we should start seeing a big influx of US troops and equipment on the streets of Rockhampton.  We are prepared to meet that presence with civil disobedience.

There’s a whole bunch of other stuff we’ve been doing, and getting ready for but it’s late.  Tomorrow starts early.

Cheers

Bryan