Peace protest planned at Nurrungar

February 17, 1993
Issue 

Peace protest planned at Nurrungar

By Chris Hannaford

A national peace demonstration and desert festival will take place at Nurrungar during Easter, April 9-12. Nurrungar is a US Star Wars base near Woomera in South Australia's far north.

The Gulf War, also known as the first space war, has led to new US military strategies: limited nuclear weapons (more than 3000) for intimidation, supplemented by "smart" conventional weapons using Star Wars technology.

United States military strategy will become more dependent on satellites and bases like Nurrungar and Pine Gap to wage conventional warfare with deadly accurate high explosive rockets and satellite communications.

Through the bases Australia becomes bound to US foreign policy without parliamentary or popular debate.

Nurrungar is the ground station for the US Defence Support Program (DSP) satellite. The DSP satellite acts as the "eyes" for Star Wars, tracking both conventional and nuclear missiles. During the Gulf War, Patriot missiles used information from Nurrungar to try to intercept Iraqi Scud missiles.

The latest DSP satellite was launched in November 1991 from the space shuttle at a cost of $300 million. The Star Wars budget was increased in 1992 by 29%, to over $US4 billion.

During the Cold War the US and Australian governments said we needed the bases to beat the Russians. Now they argue that we need bases to verify arms control agreements.

But there is no need for verification to be done from Australia. The USA has the capability to monitor arms control agreements through a constellation of other satellites, inspection of missiles on site and, of course, simple diplomacy.

Professor Desmond Ball (ANU) has said that "the maintenance of the Nurrungar facility simply cannot be justified on the basis of its contribution to arms control".

In 1995 the leases for Nurrungar and Pine Gap come up for renegotiation. If we do not end the leases on Nurrungar and Pine Gap in 1998, Australia will be bound to the foreign policy whim of every US president for the next 10-20 years.

The establishment of the Woomera Prohibited Area in 1947, for a rocket range and nuclear testing, was a key factor in the dispossession of Aboriginal land. Woomera and Nurrungar are on the traditional land of the Kokatha people. We can start the reconciliation process by returning their land. The protest and desert festival are being organised by the Peace Action Collective SA in coalition with the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition. For further details write to PEACE SA, GPO Box 1025, Adelaide SA 5001. Phone (08) 410 1197 or AABCC (02) 267 2772.

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