Wednesday, September 14, 2005
LEFT-FRIENDLY TEXAN SEIZED
Professional protester Scott Parkin came to Australia from Houston to run protest workshops, meet local protesters, and, of course, to protest:
After attempting to disrupt the Forbes Global CEO conference launch on Tuesday, the demonstrators organised a mobile protest of about 80 people who roamed the city streets, blockading businesses they alleged were profiteering from the US-led war in Iraq.
The group, some of them wearing masks, initially protested outside KBR, a subsidiary of US firm Halliburton, which organiser Scott Parkin called “the poster child of war profiteering in Iraq”.
They then moved on to a branch of the ANZ bank, which is part of a consortium helping build the Iraqi banking system, pouring fake blood on the office’s front step and forcing it to close temporarily.
So we’ve got a guy here from Texas who’s meddling with local politics and business. Greens senator Bob Brown, who usually hates it when Texans interfere in domestic political debate, is all sad because the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has since pulled Parkin’s visa and plans to deport him. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock explains:
“The reason he’s in custody is because his visa has been cancelled. The reason his visa has been cancelled is because he’s received an adverse security assessment,” Mr Ruddock said on ABC radio.
“ASIO is responsible for protecting the Australian community from all forms of politically motivated violence, including violent protest activity, and they’ve made an assessment in relation to those matters.”
The exact details of that security assessment have not been revealed, not even to Parkin. Those aware of the assessment seem convinced of its seriousness:
A spokesman for Labor leader Kim Beazley said last night the Opposition would not oppose Mr Parkin’s deportation, following a briefing by ASIO.
Australia has long been too soft on so-called “peaceful” protesters who block roads, disrupt lawful businesses, and otherwise impose their will on others. How was Parkin even allowed to come here in the first place? It’s not as though he doesn’t have any priors:
Mr Parkin had been arrested in the United States at a protest against Exxon Mobile while he was “dressed as a fluffy tiger” ...
UPDATE. More bullying from the non-violent Left:
Actions yesterday in Melbourne successfully shut down even more ANZ bank branches in protest of ANZ’s Iraq war-profiteering.
Idiots. Still, this is a hopeful development:
Other acts of political defiance have included dozens of activists ‘handing themselves in’ for immediate deportation at AFP headquaters and DIMA offices in solidarity with Scott.