GPJA#248: Workers strike & puplic rally Sky City \Saturday
GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER #248, August 1, 2008
Website http://www.gpja.org.nz/ Contact details: Forums – John Minto, Work: (09) 845 2132, Home 09 846 3173 jbminto@xtra.co.nz; Newsletter Editor – Mike Treen 0295254744 mike@unite.org.nz; Web page - media@ndu.org.nz Donations can be sent to GPJA, P O Box 7175, Wellesley St, Auckland. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter visit http://www.gpja.org.nz/ or click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.
To access the newsletter online go to: http://gpja.org.nz/ This will allow people to link directly through articles until we fix the problem with the newsletter format.
Kindly forward this newsletter to your friends and encourage them to join this mailing list @ http://www.gpja.org.nz/
Kia ora koutou,
SATURDAY RALLY TO SUPPORT SKYCITY WORKERS: BIG DAY OUT AT SKYCITY – 24-HOUR STRIKE BEGINS. The company is proposing a roll back of start rates to the legal minimum and a below inflation rise for the big majority.
Saturday, August 1, 10am-2pm, SkyCity, Wellesley St
Please circulate widely.
John Minto: Condoleezza Rice and her policies are not welcome here
http://johnminto.org.nz/condoleezza-rice-and-her-policies-are-not-welcom...
NZ students offer cash for Condoleezza Rice's "arrest": The Auckland University Students' Association has offered NZ$5,000 ($3,700) for any student making a citizen's arrest of Rice during her 36-hour stay that starts later on Friday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSWEL32578720080725
Minto bites the dust - photos
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/jyruQCp7SSh/Condoleezza+Rice+Visits+New+Z...
Fugitive Rice makes narrow escape in Auckland
http://www.indymedia.org/or/2008/07/910639.shtml
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HELP NEEDED FOR THE 2008 WHITE POPPY APPEAL
Volunteers are needed to help with CND's 2008 Hiroshima Day / white poppy appeal which will take place on Friday, 15th August. As this is the last year that white poppies will be sold around Hiroshima Day [*], your support for the 2008 appeal is particularly important. There are three ways you can help:
- having poppies and a collection box: at your work, school, church or other community place from 8th to 15th August. If you are outside Wellington and would like to help in this way, poppies and a collection box can be posted to you - please contact CND (see details below) as soon as possible to arrange this;
- making the poppies: in the week before the street collection, at CND's office in Wellington; and
- helping with the street collection: in Wellington on Friday, 15th August.
If you can help with any of the above, or would like to send a donation for this year's appeal, please get in touch as soon as possible - tel (04) 478 0947, or write to CND, PO Box 9314, Wellington 6141 (any cheque should be made payable to 'CND'). Thank you.
[*] From 2009, distribution of white poppies will revert from Hiroshima Day to ANZAC Day (the nearest NZ equivalent to Remembrance Day), and will be a national appeal with proceeds going to a peace scholarship fund. More information about that will be available from Peace Movement Aotearoa early next year.
SO YOU’D LIKE TO SEE OBAMA IN THE WHITE HOUSE …
but don’t know how you can help … Here’s your chance.
Help get American troops out of Iraq. “Tell an American to Vote.”
The Obama campaign needs New Zealanders who can pass on the message as the demographics show that American’s living abroad support Obama.
We need New Zealand volunteers who want to help publicize the website, www.VoteFromAbroad.org . This website makes it easy for Americans to register to vote from overseas.
Please urgently contact Ravaani Ghaemmaghamy (Ph 07 853 5468 / 027 493 4963 ravaani@clear.net.nz ) to find out how you can help the campaign.
ANZUS PLOUGHSHARES BOOK RE-PRINT PROPOSAL
As another way of promoting and explaining the praxis of Ploughshares actions I am interested in reprinting Ciaron O'Reilly's 1994 book "Bomber Grounded, Runway Closed: Prison Notes of a Gulf War Resister". Below is a review of the book - you can probably find others if you Google the title. The book is now out of print but Ciaron has the layout as a digital file and is willing to write an updated Foreword - Moana would do one too. The original production was 2,000 copies of the 255 page book. To print 2,500 copies in New Zealand it will cost about NZ$12,000. If we can sell them for $12-15+pp each - that will eventually raise about $30,000 for further Ploughshares stories (like a film and/or book about the ANZAC Waihopai Ploughshares) and the process of PS story-telling will continue.
Both Ciaron and Moana are very supportive of the idea: "It's such a good practical 'how-to' handbook for organising for folks, as well as a good read and still relevant analysis." - Moana
So, if I can find 5 people who have $2,000 that they could provide as a medium-term loan - hopefully 2-3 years or less - then I will put in $2,000 and we can get a new edition of the book printed and distributed. If this might be you, please email me (Manu Caddie): manu@ahi.co.nz and we'll start talking about how to make it happen. Have a great week. - Manu.
NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE 2008 ROGER AWARD.
You can send your nomination, and any supporting material, by 1/ Filling in the below form and e-mailing it to this address. 2/ Or by sending it by snail mail to the Roger Award, Box 2258, Christchurch. The nomination form and full details about the Award, including past winners, Judges’ Reports, etc, can be accessed online at http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/publications/Roger/in...
Murray Horton, Secretary/Organiser, CAFCA, Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa, Box 2258, Christchurch, New Zealand. cafca@chch.planet.org.nz www.cafca.org.nz
OCTOBER 15TH SOLIDARITY GROUP
Dear Friends: I am writing on behalf of the October 15th Solidarity Group, Wellington. We were formed in the aftermath of last year's state terror raids in Aotearoa/New Zealand. We are writing to groups and individuals to ask them to support our work.
Although the police failed in their attempts to lay terrorism charges, people are still facing charges under the Arms Act. The depositions hearing for these charges will begin on 1 September, and last for at least a month. This will require those charged to be in Auckland for a month, at their own expense.
As part of the effort to fight these politically motivated charges we are calling for an international day of action on Saturday 30 August 2008.
We would really appreciate your support in this work, in the following ways:
1. Support the international day of action, by signing our solidarity statement, distributing information among your members, and/or organising something in your area. The solidarity statement is pasted below and we will be using endorsers of the statement for publicity purposes. We can send posters and leaflets, just let us know what you need (you can see the resources we have produced at
http://www.october15thsolidarity.info/en/node/236.)
2. Offer financial support, we need money to print resources, and also to support those arrested and their supporters during the depositions hearing. You can mail a cheque to PO Box 9263 or deposit the money directly into our bank account: Bank: Kiwibank, Account
name: October 15 Solidarity, Account Number: 38-9007-0239672-000
3. pass this statement onto groups or individuals who are supportive and asking them to sign on. Please ask people to respond to info@October15thSolidarity.info if they would like to sign on.
This international day of action, and depositions hearing, are just one stage in this work. We hope that you and your organisation will continue to be involved. We're really keen to hear from others who are interested in this work. If you have any ideas, questions, or want more information, then please get in touch. My contact details are Valerie Morse 021-295-2138 or info@October15thSolidarity.info
Thank you, Valerie Morse
SOLIDARITY STATEMENT:
We demand the unconditional freedom of the people who are facing charges as a result of the state terror raids on 15 October 2007.
Attempts by the Police to lay charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act (TSA) failed but people are still facing politically motivated charges under the Arms Act. These charges are the result of a racist operation.
Police used the Terrorism Suppression Act and over $8 million to harass and punish political activists who they saw as supporting Tino Rangatiratanga.
The Police have arrested a few people but we're all targeted. The arrests of October 15h are aimed at intimidating and frightening all of our communities and cannot be tolerated.
We therefore call on everyone to stand up against this attack on our communities. We support the global day of action on 30 August 2008 and are mobilising to demand the unconditional freedom of the people facing charges as a result of the state terror raids.
The statement is also on our website http://www.october15thsolidarity.info There is currently no facility to sign up to the statement directly from the website, so we are asking supporters to email us at info@october15thsolidarity.info
VENEZUELA SOLIDARITY BRIGADE - NOVEMBER 2008
Register now for the next Australian solidarity brigade to Venezuela! November 20th-30th, 2008. The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network’s brigades to Venezuela are a unique opportunity to see first-hand an unfolding revolution. The Venezuelan people, led by President Hugo Chavez, have taken over more workplaces, set up more cooperatives, established hundreds of free public education and health programs, organised their neighbourhoods and taken big steps towards exercising popular power in their country. This year, on November 23, the regional elections for mayors and governors will take place across Venezuela, preceded by a huge campaign by the pro-Chavez sectors of the population to ensure that the revolutionary process is strengthened by the election results.
Participants in the AVSN’s November 2008 brigade will witness that campaign and the elections, as well as meeting with a wide range of community organisations involved in transforming Venezuelan society. The brigade itinerary will include visits to occupied factories and educational institutions, observing popular power at work in the communal councils and people’s banks, and speaking to government and grassroots organisations about the radical changes being implemented by the Venezuelan people.
Organisation and costs
The deadline for registering for the November 2008 brigade is September 1, 2008. Participants will need to book their own international airfares, but the brigade organisers are able to give advice and recommend a travel agent. Airfares should be booked as soon as possible, as they become more expensive closer to the departure date.
Accommodation, transport and English translation in Venezuela will be organised for brigade participants.
You will need to budget for a total cost of approximately $5000. This includes: (i) International airfare approximately $3500 (departing Australia). (ii) Approximately $500-1000 for accommodation (twin-share basis), food and other spending during your stay in Venezuela. (iii) $500 registration fee (for brigade organisation, including translators and transport). For more information, email brigades@venezuelasolidarity.org, or phone Lara Pullin on 0439 601 277 or Roberto Jorquera on 0425 289 394. (NB: Australian $ costs and ph numbers – but Kiwis welcome)
DOWN LOAD A BRIGADE REGISTRATION FORM http://venezuelasolidarity.org/files/novemberform.pdf
Brigade photos December 2006 http://venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node/68
Brigade photos May Day 2008 http://venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node/3509
Read an account of the 2008 May Day Brigade CLICK HERE http://venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node/3858
INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE “50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TRIUMPH OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION”
Dear Friends: Next year the Cuban Revolution will arrive to its 50th anniversary: 50 years of solidarity and friendship between Cuba and the peoples of the world. From October 5th through 19th this year, our Institute will welcome the “50th Anniversary of the Revolution” International Brigade and friends coming from all over the world will enjoy this unique opportunity to celebrate this important date in Cuba. We are looking forward to hosting you!!!!
Asia-Pacific Division, Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, Email: dasia@icap.cu Tlf: (53-7) 838 2430
INVITATION TO VENEZUELA EDUCATION STUDY TOUR
A Collaborative Exchange and Study Tour for Academics, Teachers & Students January 2009
Dear Friends and Colleagues, We would like to invite you to participate in the first Education Exchange and Study Tour of Venezuela. A number of educators here in Australia and internationally have become increasingly interested in the radical education reform currently taking place in Venezuela. The study tour will take place in January 2009 and will involve a range of meetings (seminars) and visits with educational groups, institutions, and community organisations. The details of the week are to worked out in conjunction with colleagues from the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, and local schools and community organizations in Caracas. For further details, to contribute ideas and/or to register your interest please contact the organising committee: Tom Griffiths Tom.Griffiths [at] newcastle [dot] edu [dot] au / Jo Williams Jo.Williams [at] vu [dot] edu [dot] au / Roberto Jorquera roberto [at] latinamericasolidarity [dot] org / Jorge Jorquera Jorge.Jorquera [at] rmit [dot] edu [dot] au
WHAT’S ON IN AUCKLAND
Friday, August 1, 4.30pm -5.30pm, NZ Superannuation Fund office, outside the AMP building, on the corner of Custom Street West and Albert Street, Auckland CBD
Everyday ordinary West Papuans stare ecocide and genocide in the face with nothing more than their commitment to freedom. Surely we can back them up with a little commitment of our own. Join the picket of the Superfund office on August 1 and tell the Superfund that our future and the future of the Papuan people is not in Freeport.
Organised by: Investment Watch Aotearoa New Zealand | investmentwatch.wordpress.com | nowarp@xtra.co.nz
Saturday, August 2, 10am-2pm, SkyCity, Wellesley St
RALLY TO SUPPORT SKYCITY WORKERS: BIG DAY OUT AT SKYCITY – 24-HOUR STRIKE BEGINS. The company is proposing a roll back of start rates to the legal minimum and a below inflation rise for the big majority.
Saturday, August 2, 2pm, Customs Street and Queen St intersection, Outside Downtown Shopping Centre
RALLY FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE IN PALESTINE www.palestine.org.nz
On the First Saturday of Every Month - next one on Saturday AUGUST 2nd 2008, 2pm, QEII Square.
Come support JUSTICE and PEACE based on:
1. End 41 years of Israeli Occupation of the West Bank & Gaza Strip (including East Jerusalem)
2. Right of Return for Palestinian Refugees.
3. Share Jerusalem.
4. Vacate all settlement colonies in Israeli occupied Palestine.
5. Stop Israel's annexation / apartheid wall in occupied Palestine
Tuesday, August 5, 6pm, Clubspace, AUSA Quad, off Alfred & Princess Streets. Auckland University..
Aotearoa Indymedia, AUSA and the Indonesia Human Rights Committee present: LOGGING IN WEST PAPUA
When you have seen these films you will want to support the IHRC campaign against the import into New Zealand of kwila from West Papua! Three important short films about the impact of logging on indigenous communities in West Papua. These unique films were made by the communities themselves with some support from Church and environmental organisations.
1. “The tears of Mother Mooi” - documents the negative impacts of of logging on the indigenous Mooi people in Sorong West Papua. The film shows how the local people use the forest - their mother- for their essential resources. The film gives voice to their long struggle against the conglomerates and deforestation.
2. “Gaharu - Blessing or disaster “ - impact of the harvesting of gahuru trees on a community.
3. “Destiny my land” - impact of defrostation on communities in Bituni Bay- including an alternative model of community logging. Explains why resistance is so difficult in a militarised environment.
Entry by koha
Friday, August 8, 10pm, RISING SUN – 373 Karangahape Rd
SOLID TERRITORY ALBUM LAUNCH 08/08/08: Cost: Koha: Over 30 Indigenous artists have joined forces to release the first ever Aboriginal and M?ori Hip Hop Compilation. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island artists Astronomical, Dizzy Doolan and Maupower will hit the stage with local natives, Horomona Horo, Revolution MC's, Miss bMe, Upper Hutt Posse, Dam Native and DJ's Exile, the Morning Steppa and Mr Rivers on Aug 8th, 10pm @ the Rising Sun - 373 K Rd to celebrate the launch.
Saturday, August 9, 5-7pm, Auckland Domain Wintergarden
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom CANDLE FLOATING CEREMONY to commemorate Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All Welcome. There will be crane-making, and music. Candles will be supplied. Contacts Helen Yensen 5200 179 or Joan Macdonald 360 8001
Friday, August 22, 6pm, The Peace Place: 22 Emily Place Auckland
"ANSWERED BY FIRE" An compelling mini series from Australia's ABC co-produced with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation- set in East Timor at the time of the 1999 independence referendum.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“For what is the crime of burglarising a bank, compared with the crime of building one?" --Bertolt Brecht
"We kill at every step, not only in wars, riots, and executions. We kill when we close our eyes to poverty, suffering, and shame. In the same way all disrespect for life, all hard-heartedness, all indifference, all contempt is nothing else than killing. With just a little witty skepticism we can kill a good deal of the future in a young person. Life is waiting everywhere, the future is flowering everywhere, but we only see a small part of it and step on much of it with our feet." - Hermann Hesse, German poet and novelist.
BEST ON THE WEB
NEW ZEALAND
Bishops on "poverty in an affluent society"
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0807/S00303.htm
CTU Critique - National's Employment Policy
http://union.org.nz/policy/ctu-critique-nationals-2008-employment-policy
Bailey Kurariki Holding Up Against Huge Odds
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0807/S00328.htm
Matt McCarten: Bid to close KiwiSaver loophole sparks discrimination row
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10523641&p...
Nats receiving money from racing industry: Hager
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0807/S00306.htm
Gordon Campbell on the Select Committee’s handling of the Immigration Bill
http://election08.scoop.co.nz/gordon-campbell-on-the-select-committees-h...
Gordon Campbell on the Killing of Local Manufacturing
http://election08.scoop.co.nz/gordon-campbell-on-the-killing-of-local-ma...
FEATURE
Global Trade Talks Collapse - Prospects for a global free trade agreement were dashed this week as negotiations in Geneva collapsed in bitter acrimony and mutual finger pointing
http://www.countercurrents.org/auken310708.htm
WTO Talks, A Tsunami Averted - It was a close call. Till the last minute, suspense became overbearing. Glued to our seats and teetering on the brink of fear, with abated breath we awaited the outcome of the last minute efforts to save an unjust an inequitable "Doha round" deal. And as news started to trickle in signaling the collapse of the WTO mini-Ministerial, a sigh of relief emerged. After all, a tsunami has been averted
http://www.countercurrents.org/sharma310708.htm
Latin America's struggle for integration and independence
http://links.org.au/node/540
An Era Of Disparity
http://www.countercurrents.org/aziz220708.htm
Attack of the Global Pirate Bankers - In the last thirty years, fueled by the globalization of financial services, lousy lending, capital flight and mind-boggling corruption, a relatively small number of major banks, law firms, accounting firms, asset managers, insurance companies and hedge funds have come to launder and conceal at least $10 trillion to $15 trillion of private untaxed anonymous cross-border wealth.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20348.htm
Concentration, Cartels and Free Trade Buccaneers - Cargill, the agrofood giant whose former Vice-President drafted the original text of the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture, has never shied from using its market position to manipulate prices up and down (often simultaneously) to extract maximum value at every point along the food chain while preaching the gospel of "free trade". So the recent EU raids on their European offices come as no surprise.
http://www.iuf.org/een598
Sentient Like Me: Ape Rights And The Myth Of Intelligence Amongst Speciesists - Animal liberationists are seeking an end to the abject torture the human species inflicts on billions upon billions of non-human animals simply to achieve goals and to satisfy needs that could be attained and reached by other means. There is no push for “equality” in the sense that fear-driven speciesists like Saletan and Smith assert. Animal liberation seeks to assign basic, reasonable rights to sentient non-human animals to prevent them from enduring the horrifying unnecessary suffering we humans inflict upon them for our personal gain, amusement and satisfaction
http://www.countercurrents.org/miller280707.htm
ENVIRONMENT
Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse 'Imminent'
http://www.countercurrents.org/lean130708.htm
Russian Ice Camp In Rapid Shrink
http://www.countercurrents.org/shukman130708.htm
Questioning EU Policies On Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Dr.Peter Custers
http://www.countercurrents.org/custers110708.htm
AFGHANISTAN
The killing of 78 Afghan civilian by US occupation forces probed: More than half of those killed in the three recent U.S.-led airstrikes -- which occurred in a three-week span in three provinces in eastern and western Afghanistan -- were women and children, according to Afghan and Western officials. 78 have died in three separate incidents this month alone, officials say
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25844505/
Ex-US Official Charges Afghan Leader Protecting Drug Trade: A former U.S. State Department official charges Afghanistan's drug trade is being protected by the country's top officials.Thomas Schweich wrote in an article posted on The New York Times website Thursday, that U.S. efforts to eliminate Afghanistan's poppy crops have been repeatedly thwarted by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
http://tinyurl.com/5whbct
Death To Afghanistan - America is going to do for the people of Afghanistan what it has already done for the people of Iraq. The United States, claiming to save them from evildoers, will kill many thousands more Afghans than it already has. Iraq is a political loser for Republican candidate John McCain, but the system demands constant feeding of the insatiable military industrial complex. Afghanistan fits the bill perfectly
http://www.countercurrents.org/kimberley290708.htm
BOLIVIA
Bolivia: Tensions rising as vote looms
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/760/39276
Divided nation faces historic vote on whether to boot its leftist leader
http://www.gnn.tv/articles/3780/Total_Recall_in_Bolivia
BURMA
Burma After Nargis : Devastated, Depressed And Dejected By Nava Thakuria
http://www.countercurrents.org/thakuria130708.htm
CUBA
"Cubans' right to leave the country should not be denied" Interview with Mariela Castro
http://latinamericasolidarity.org/?q=node/124
Speech by Cuban President Raul Castro on July 26
ECUADOR
Ecuador assembly backs draft constitution : A special assembly on Thursday approved a new draft constitution granting Ecuador's "leftist" president broad powers, including the ability to dissolve Congress and set monetary policy, and freeing him to run for office through 2017.
http://tinyurl.com/6kaz3h
Ecuador's president now in neocon crosshairs: Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has now found himself, like his ally Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, in the neocon crosshairs for ordering Ecuador's Deposit Guarantee Agency (AGD) to seize control of some 200 companies belonging to fugitive Ecuadorian banker brothers William and Roberto Isaias.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3528.shtml
KOREA
Urgent Appeal for Solidarity with South Korean activists
http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.com/2008/07/urgent-appeal-for-solidari...
PALESTINE
Jeff Halper's An Israeli in Palestine (Part I)
http://zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18237
Jeff Halper's An Israeli in Palestine (Part II)
http://zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18265
SRI LANKA
Black July 1983 defined Tamil nationalism
http://www.eelamnation.net/headlines_details.php?secid=71&newsid=3976
USA
"Torture Memo" Gave Legal Cover to Interrogators
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0807/S00297.htm
Obama, The Prince Of Bait-And-Switch - John Pilger describes the denigration of the of civilian casualties in colonial wars, and the anointing of Barack Obama, as he tours the battlefields, sounding more and more like George W. Bush.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20347.htm