book launch and exhibition, hosted by House Conspiracy. by Federica Caso

On Sunday 9th of August 2020, House Conspiracy joined forces with the Peace Pilgrims of Queensland to speak against Pine Gap, the US military base located on Australian territory in Alice Spring, and Australian militarism. We organised an event called Peace Crimes, taking the name from Alice Spring journalist Kieran Finnane’s new book Peace Crimes: Pine Gap, National security and Dissent.

The event was organised by our own Federica Caso and the Peace Pilgrim Margaret Pestorius. The event included an exhibition with archival material belonging to the activists who broke into Pine Gap in 2005 and 2016 to protest Australia’s involvement in modern techno-warfare and the book launch of Kieran Finnane’s Peace Crimes: Pine Gap, National security and Dissent (available at The Queensland University Press). 

The exhibition was held under the House in our newly renovated exhibition space. The real value of this show is in the historical significance of the material that it gathered. For example, there were posters dating back to the early 1980s which document the long-standing tradition of anti-militarism in Queensland, through to newspaper articles from the early 2000s written in response to the Peace Pilgrims breaking into Pine Gap. These newspaper articles give us a sense of how the action of the Peace Pilgrims was framed in public discourse. 

One of the posters in the exhibition is of the feminist movement against war that was particularly active between the 1960s and 1980s in collectives such as Save Our Sons, Women Against Rape in War, and The Anti-Anzac Day Collective. While anti-war feminists have lost momentum today, women such as Margaret Pestorious, founder of Wage Peace, and Kieran Finnane author of Peace Crimes, propel forward the power of women against war and militarism. They spark conversations and galvanise support for direct actions, the latest of which was waged against Boeing in Brisbane for their involvement in the production of militarised drones and artificial intelligence. 

On an artistic level, the exhibition showcased one of Kristian Laemmle-Ruff's famous photos of Pine Gap from the series "Mind the Gap." The photo was sent by Laemmle-Ruff to House Conspiracy for this exhibition and it represents Pine Gap in a long landscape frame at dawn. In the opening of her book, Kieran Finnane explains that this photo was important for her because it helped her visualise not only the base itself, but also the long walk that the Peace Pilgrims had to face to reach the base when they broke into it in 2016. The soft and dark light of dawn captures the sinister aura of the base and conveys its hidden purposes. In the photo, the base is behind shiny metal bars. This composition evokes a sense of powerlessness before the secret operation of Pine Gap. Who is behind bars is not the base but the viewer. And yet, images such as Laemmle-Ruff's are so important to bring to sight and light the hidden and dark operation of Pine Gap. As Finnane’s explains in her book, great institutional effort goes into keeping the operation of Pine Gap secret, including keeping it out of sight from Australian citizens. As such, we have a duty to see and question. 

There were other photos of less aesthetic quality in the exhibition such as those taken by the Peace Pilgrims during various anti-militarism operations in the 2000s. 

The exhibition also featured the coat that the Peace Pilgrims used to protest Australian militarism bearing the insignia “Citizens’ Inspection Team.” This is the uniform that the Peace Pilgrims wore when they broke into Pine Gap. The insignia “Citizens’ Inspection Team” clearly conveys the belief of the Peace Pilgrims that it is their duty as citizens to keep their government accountable in matters of war and national security. They did not act in the spirit of causing troubles, but to manifest the relationship of accountability between citizens and democratic states sanctioned by the social contract. 

The exhibition and book launch attracted a large crowd, which due to COVID restrictions had to be divided into two events. The large number of attendees demonstrates that anti-militarism is still in the heart of Brisbanites.