More than kangaroos on Swan Island

from w
This is not an April Fool joke but these activists could have gotten into more trouble with their protest. Lots of us do not like the building up of arms, the use of arms to solve problems but these four were very game. These days, protesters are few and far between, not like the olden days! I read also that they do have some Baptist connections but they call themselves as affiliated with the principles of Bonhoeffer who was extremely brave during World War 2. The journalist called them the 'God Squad' but that is a different group. The reference to kangaroos in my title is of course about the hundreds of kangaroos on the golf course on Swan Island.
from Geelong Advertiser today:
God squad takes on special forces at Swan Island
Kerri-Ann Hobbs
April 1st, 2010
PROTESTERS put their babies on the road in front of a top-secret base at Queenscliff yesterday as four people were charged with trespassing at the Army facility. The four Christian protesters snuck on to the SAS training centre on Swan Island, while others drew chalk outlines around themselves and their infants on the tarmac outside the base. The group that infiltrated the island, the Bonhoeffer Peace Collective, claimed it disrupted the island's switchboard and turned off a communication satellite dish to protest against the war in Afghanistan.

Army bosses said the group reached just the outer perimeter of the defence establishment, but activist Jessica Morrison said they reached the centre of the SAS and spy training ground.

Police said the group paddled boards to the island from nearby Queenscliff early in the morning."Two of them unveiled a banner and the other two went further into Swan Island where they were confronted by security," Acting Sergeant Robbie Adams said.

Ms Morrison, a university lecturer in Melbourne, declared the stunt had achieved its goal of disrupting work at the military base. "We attempted to open the front door of the main base centre," she said. "This is supposed to be a top-secret base but we managed to get to the front door of the main base centre. I would say that security is not the answer and Australia needs to think about what sort of defence policy it wants."

Army public affairs officer Ben Wickham released a statement saying the small group of protesters had positioned themselves outside the defence perimeter on Swan Island. "Victoria Police attended the scene and arrested the protesters," the statement said. "There are no reports of injuries or property damage. Defence is working with Victoria Police to ensure that no further protesters are located on the island."

Police said there may be more charges pending. Three men and Ms Morrison are expected to front Geelong Magistrates' Court later.
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from an Indi website about the Bonhoeffer Collective:
“In the week before the first Easter, Jesus blockaded the temple and turned the tables inside. Today we are imitating Jesus’ disruption”, the group said. “Sometimes you have to get in the way of injustice”.

“War can’t bring peace, it can only bring further terror, death and poverty,” the group said.

Rev. Simon Moyle (Baptist Minister), Jacob Bolton (Community Worker), Jessica Morrison (University Lecturer) and Simon Reeves (Social Worker) have called themselves the Bonhoeffer Peace Collective after Kevin Rudd’s favourite theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was also an antiwar activist.

“The followers of Christ have been called to peace. And they must not only have peace but also make it. His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. In so doing they overcome evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate.”— Dietrich Bonhoeffer