Who is Scott Parkin?

Why is it that of all the supposedly numerous terrorists scurrying round Australia, the government decided that American anti-corporate activist Scott Parkin - was the one to get both alert and alarmed about?

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Parkin `failed [the Dept of Immigration's] Character Test'. Attorney General Philip Ruddock has refused to say exactly why this has come three months into a six month visa which was presumably given lawfully. As his lawyer told AM this morning (transcript's not up yet), the only explanation can be his participation in the protest against the Forbes CEO conference, given that Parkin is a well known opponent of the Halliburton corporation.

But who exactly is Scott Parkin, and why is he so bloody dangerous?

I did a bit of Googling. Yes, I found a few articles by Parkin opposing Hallburton (such as this). I also found links to the The Houston Global Awareness Collective, a group for which Parkin is a community organiser, and whose stated aims are to get Halliburton out of Iraq, to get America out of Iraq and Afghanistan and discourage them from invading other countries, to support community based mobilization, and to advocate for direct action and popular education as tools for social change.

Are we scared yet?

I found a few articles about his attendance at protests in the US. He's also been doing some workshops up and down the east coast of Australia on direct action, including with the Australian Greens. He appears to be affiliated with a group called `SmartMeme, who describe themselves as `a group of skilled, creative and dedicated change agents ... [working] to build a culture of strategy, vision, and change, connecting struggles for democracy, peace, justice, and ecological sanity.'

Crikey ... I'm shaking in by boots here! This crazy mother was obviously over here to blow up the lot of us! Shee-yut! Stop the hunt for Osama! He's shaved his beard and changed his name!

All of this hyperbole is, of course, a backwards way of saying ... how on earth is the Federal Government getting away with deporting this bloke? Half of Newtown fits this bloke's profile, and I'm not sweating when I'm looking at their backpack on the bus. This is an utter joke and a travesty of justice. And this is happening BEFORE the new, stronger, better, fatter anti-terrorism laws come in ... I'll leave you with this frightening thought from yesterday's Insiders

PHILIP RUDDOCK: The fact is that visas can be revoked on character grounds. Character grounds can go to a person's criminal record or they can go to broader issues of security and if there is an adverse security assessment that's not a matter about which I would be able to comment.

BARRIE CASSIDY: His supporters say, though, he's a '60s peacenik and no threat to security.

PHILIP RUDDOCK: I'm not going to comment on matters about which assessments are made by competent agencies. The only point I'd make is that in relation to those matters there are provisions by which the decisions can be challenged if people are inclined to do that.

DIMIA, a `competent agency'? AHAHAHAAAA !!! There was always the possibility I'd leave Australia in disgust (my brother already has), but now I know the truth: we'll all gradually get booted out til there's nobody left but Liberal voters.