February 9, 2010
Byron Shire Echo – Ph 02 6684 1777
Byron Shire Echo January 3, ArticlesTerrie Wells talked to peace activist Scott Parkin, who was mysteriously deported from AustraliaMad, bad and dangerous to knowEntering into almost mythic proportions is the US peace activist, Scott Parkin, who was deported from Australia on September , , for being deemed a threat to national security. I spoke to him on the phone while he was waiting to catch a plane at Houston Airport and put it to him that the deportation must have come as a surprise. took me into detention. Were you cut off from outside Were you allowed to communicate I was able to communicate with my lawyers and I was able to communicate with the Amer ican Consulate. Although I was not allowed to call them, they would come in. I had a friend or two that Yeah, it took me completely were able to come in and see off-guard and left me com- me. pletely bafed. Welcome to Australia. Then you Then you were escorted out of were deported, accompanied the country with a guard that by the two guards you had to you had to pay for. pay for and theres been claims that the reason you were Two guards and I had to thrown out is that you were pay for their tickets to and going to teach participants at from Los Angeles from Melbourne and I had to pay for workshops to throw marbles their accommodation in Los under police horses and to help protesters escape from the Angeles. clutches of police. Are these Why did you come to Aus- claims true tralia No, they are completely ridiculous. I said this a lot in I came mostly just to vacation and backpack in your the Australian media, Id country, snorkel and surf and never ever harm an animal. I stuff like that. Im an activist, think these animals are abused an anti-war activist and I also enough by the police when wanted to network with local they use them as crowd conactivists and give some talks trol. I denitely wouldnt do about what we were doing in anything to urge protesters to hurt them and as for us unarthe US, so I did. resting people or springing You refused an interview with people from the clutches of ASIO, which I understand is the police, I have several times when I was in Australia, got your right. up and said that was a bad idea. Certainly in the United Correct. States that leads to things like And that was when you knew assault on a police ofcer. they had an interest in you. Greens Senator Bob Brown Yes, definitely, and then spoke passionately about your three days later, not ASIO but situaton, hes very concerned DIMIA surrounded me and about what your deportation their links to the Bush adminYeah, its like one segment of our country goes and istration. bombs and kills and another Well, Dick Cheney, former segment comes and rebuilds CEO of Halliburton, is the and prots from it. Vice President of the United States. Since Bush and Would you come back to AusCheney have been in power tralia, Scott Halliburton has received over billion US in noSure. bid contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq and the Do you get this kind of attenlogistical support of the ille- tion in America gal occupation going on in I have got a little bit of Iraq. To me and many other people in the US its just like attention, but nowhere near a revolving door of corporate the attention I did in Ausinuence going in and out of tralia. A friend of mine who the White House and we helped a lot when I was in jail have worked really hard on said I was the Cindy Sheehan trying to raise awareness on of Australia, and she was the that issue. I think weve met one who did media for Cindy some success. I mean Halli- Sheehan so shed be the one burtons still in Iraq, but to know. Halliburton is also a household name that is synony- Cindy was the one at Camp mous with corruption and Casey at Bushs ranch in Houcronyism in this country at ston. I believe his approval ratthis point. ings at an all time low. What is it that Halliburton do I read somewhere that he was lower than Richard Nixon at the height of Watergate. Currently his approval rating with African Americans in the US is 2. Today October , the 2,th American soldier was killed in Iraq and there are protests springing up all over the US today and Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war mother, the mother of a slain soldier, is chaining herself to the White House today.meant to democracy in Australia and he claimed that you were espousing the values of Mahatma Gandhi. And Martin Luther King. What were you going to teach in the workshops I talk about the sort of things Gandhi and King talked about. I talk about how to de-escalate a situation where youre having to deal with amped-up police or amped-up counter protesters or delegates to a trade meeting. I talk about how to put your body on the line in the most safe and secure way, where you wont get beat or hurt or anything like that. I dont talk about how to react violently back to the police. I talk about theories of nonviolence and what is violence and get people thinking and talking about that sort of thingYeah, military counter recruitment because theres an aggressive push in the US to get young people into the army, into the military. Yeah, I did talk about that. Thats one of the key pillars. I talked about how families and clergy go into schools and try and counter the military recruiters that come around. They talk about peace as opposed to selling these kids on war. Weve come to think that the reason you were deported is because of your work as an anti-war activist and your involvement with Global Exchange. Actually my group is Houston Global Awareness. Ive worked a lot with Global Exchange though, but Im not part of that organisation. You do a lot of work on Halliburton.It has been suggested someIve been campaigning on where that you may have been teaching counter recruitment. Halliburton for two and a half years. Military counter recruitTell us about Halliburton and mentThey do a number of things. Theyre in the oil infrastructure in Iraq, they provide services which help support that, like piping and engineering and stuff like that. They also own a company called KBR, or Kellogg, Brown Root, which provides a lot of logistical support they do laundry, food services and cafeteria services, and deliver things around Iraq.They are also the ones who have the contracts to help build these permanent bases over there in Iraq Terrie Wells presents The which the US is currently Shakedown as Red Terra, Friimplementing. days 9am-am on .9 Bay FM. The Friends Of Scott Its a growth market really, Parkin website is at after warfare. tparkin.org.HIVAIDS crisis on our doorstepThe HIVAIDS epidemic in Papua New Guinea could rival the catastrophic situations in the very worst affected countries in Africa unless immediate and largescale actions are taken by the international community to counter the threat. This is the stark warning from Australian