SYDNEY – Texan Scott Parkin was deported from Australia last week after being deemed a threat to national security, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The activist had participated in protests against the Forbes CEO Conference in Sydney last month and was due to deliver a workshop on nonviolent protests when he was detained.
Parkin rejected government assertions that he was involved in violent political activity. "I am a student of mass social movements in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., and I think that these movements have shown us the way to achieve positive social change," he said.
In Los Angeles, Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told the Herald that the teacher would not be tracked by the agency when he arrived back in the United States. "As far as I’m aware, a U.S. citizen is welcome home," she explained.
Parkin was held in a Melbourne correctional center until his flight out of the country. In a statement released by Greenpeace, which is helping him challenge the Immigration Department’s decision to revoke his visa, Parkin said he was "still baffled" by the adverse security assessment. He added that he hoped Australians in the United States would receive similar treatment.
