Peace Drive from Foreign Ministers Electorate to Canberra
Macclesfield activist Mr Andrew Dykstra is going to drive his car, adorned with peace messages from hundreds of people, from Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's electorate to Parliament House in Canberra.
Mr Dykstra likens recent events in Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's electorate of Mayo to the words of a song that state "From little things, big things grow." He said "We are putting this theory to the test." He was feeling distraught and disempowered when war began to rain on Baghdad, and decided to spray paint peace signs and slogans on his car on the way to the peace protest staged at Parliament House in Adelaide on the first night of the war. He then decided to take his car to the Battunga Country Growers Market at Macclesfield on the Sunday, and turn his vehicle into a mobile peace petition. Overwhelmed by the success of this venture, Mr Dykstra got up on stage and declared that if he got enough signatures and messages of peace, he'd drive the car to Parliament House in Canberra, to let Mr Howard know that people where he comes from don't support the war, and won't relent till the killing ceases. A bit later, an elderly woman asked him if he really would go to Canberra, and then commented that he'd need money for petrol, and dipped her hand into her purse and left coins on the roof. Over 500 signatures and $180 later his car has become a mobile peace petition. "I refuse to be disempowered by a government that does not represent me or anybody I know" he said. "If nothing else, I need to peacefully stand up for what I believe in, and not give up the dream that our opinions can be heard and actually taken into account." Since the original signing, public support has steadily grown, with a local internet expert creating a website (www.peace-drive.org), and many locals rallying behind the idea, to turn it into a national and even international peace drive. "My objective is to get a convoy from all over Australia to circle Federal Parliament in peace" he stated. He continued "Interestingly enough, the humble car to many represents power and oil, so it's quite poetic that this symbol be graffitiied with peace signs and messages, and employed as a mobile message for peace in troubled times."
-- ENDS --
Contact for enquiries
Notes for editors- PeaceDrive.Org (http://www.peace-drive.org/)grew from an inspiration to paint peace messages on a car prior to driving to a peace rally on the steps of the South Australian Parliament on the day war started.
- Photos of Mr Andrew Dykstra's car, covered in peace messages, are available for use in conjunction with this story from http://www.peace-drive.org/car.html
- For a more extensive description of how the peace drive came about see http://www.peace-drive.org/about.html
URL of this release: http://www.peace-drive.org/media/pr-2003-03-28.html
|
