Love against the machine

At the beginning of June, Land Forces, the largest weapons expo in the Southern Hemisphere was held in Brisbane/Meanjin.

The weapons industry is full of well-documented corruption. People often refer to the revolving door of personnel between the military, government and arms industry. One example of this in Australia is the ex-defence minister, Christopher Pyne, walking straight out of his government position and into a lucrative position in the arms industry. These people profit directly from war. They make profits on and the violence perpetrated in West Papua, Yemen, Kurdistan and Palestine. These weapons are also a major contributor to environmental degradation and cause of climate change.

Based on this knowledge, the Catholic Worker community joined other local and interstate groups in protesting the Expo. In the 6 months leading up to it there were protests held at various weapons manufacturers in Brisbane. In the days leading up to the expo 5 people were arrested for stopping deliveries of tanks and AV equipment. During the 3 days of the actual Expo a continuous protest was held and various actions took place to #DisruptLandForces. This zine tells some of those stories, as well as others.   Read more…