GPJA no. 300: September 17 2009

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND

NEWSLETTER No. 300, September 17, 2009

Website: https://gpjanz.wordpress.com/
Contact details:
Forums – John Minto, Work: (09) 845 2132, Home 09 846 3173 jbminto@xtra.co.nz
Newsletter Editor & Website – Mike Treen 0295254744 mike@unite.org.nz
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"EXPLOSIVE EXPRESSION"- CREATIVE RESISTANCE TO THE STATE TERROR RAIDS OF OCTOBER ’07. "ART EXHIBITION AND AUCTION."

Art Auction – 7pm, Saturday 17 October, Thistle Hall, Wellington – or bid online at http://www.october15thsolidarity.info/artauction For those in Wellington, there is a week of events (Tues 13 – Sun 18 Oct) commemorating the 2007 ‘terror raids’. These include the Exhibition Opening with Tame Iti, political music, a screening of the film ‘Tuhoe: a history of resistance’ and two free workshops on screenprinting and documentary making. For more info check out http://www.october15thsolidarity.info/ The ‘Operation 8’ raids on houses in Te Urewera and around Aotearoa targeted indigenous rights, environmental, anti-war and union activists. 18 people still face politically motivated charges. Funds raised will support those affected by the raids.

Hammer the Pokies: More hammers needed!!
Thanks for the positive responses to the appeal for people to join the campaign. We won’t be calling for action in the short term as we need to build numbers much higher. This campaign aims to enlist a minimum of 200 hammers (with people attached!) and take civil disobedience action to drive pokie machines out of our neighbourhood communities. 80% of the cases of gambling addiction relate to pokie machines in the community (aside from casinos) These are parasites on poverty and predominate in low-income areas of the country. They have to go. If you are prepared to join a crowd (min 200) and take civil disobedience action against pokie machines then please email John Minto jbminto@xtra.co.nz or Phone 8463173.

WHAT’S ON IN AUCKLAND

Friday, September 18, 5pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn
The Working Women’s Resource Centre and the Red Flag Social Club invite you to join with us to Celebrate Suffrage Day And the Launch of the WWRC Valuing Experience project. Speaker, Labour MP, Jacinda Ardern

Saturday, September 19, 1pm, 3rd Floor, Auckland Public Library
DISPLAY AT THE AUCK PUBLIC LIBRARY: If you have any archival material from 1969 – photographs, clippings, leaflets etc, please send to ‘Jumping Sunday ‘09’, PO Box 86022 Mangere East 2158, or contact us by return email. The library display, including unique film footage, will continue for 2 weeks during the festival.

Sunday, September 20, 1pm, Albert Park
Come and Celebrate the Liberation of Albert Park – Bring Friends & Family. September this year marks the 40th anniversary of the “liberation” of Auckland’s Albert Park as a free speech area. On Sunday September 21st, 1969, Albert Park was taken as a free speech area, with a jug band in the rotunda and music interspersed with speakers. At first the Auckland City Council vehemently opposed the events, which became known in the media as “Jumping Sundays”. However, as the crowds increased the Council backed down, Albert Park was recognised as a free speech area and for several years served as an Auckland version of Hyde Park in London. The legacy lives on, and the occasion is being celebrated with music and speakers this September: 1pm on SUNDAY 20th SEPTEMBER 2009. (Rain day: Sun. 26th Sept.) Other events are in the pipeline. A fuller history of the event and photos can be found on: If you want to be on the organising group email list contact: jumpingsunday@clear.net.nz

Monday, September 21, 7.30pm, The Peace Place, 22 Emily Place, Auckland City
Films at The Peace Place – DOES NON-VIOLENCE WORK? See: A Force More Powerful – Three short films on how non-violent resistance has overcome violent repression. PART ONE: 1. Nashville 1960 – Students organized to break the demeaning segregation laws; 2. India 1930 – Gandhi defied the British monopoly on salt production, and eventually gains India’s independence; 3. South Africa, 1980-1993 – Apartheid overcome by thoughtful planning and sacrifice. Length: 3 x 30 minutes.

Wednesday, September 23, 6.30pm Theatre 401, School of Engineering 20 Symonds Street, The University of Auckland
"The global financial crisis and the modern theory of the state" – Professor Gregory Claeys, Department of History Royal Holloway University of London visits the University of Auckland this month as a Hood Fellow. He will be giving the 2009 Chapman Lecture on Wednesday 23 September. Gregory Claeys is Professor of History of Political Thought in the History Department at Royal Holloway University of London. He has previously held teaching and research *positions at Cambridge University and in Germany. His research interests include the history of radicalism and socialism in nineteenth-century Britain, utopianism 1700-2001, Social Darwinism and Eugenics and British intellectual history from 1750 to the present. His main publications include Citizens and Saints: Politics and Anti-Politics in Early British Socialism (Cambridge University Press: 1989), Thomas Paine: Social and Political Thought (Unwin Hyman: 1989) and Machinery, Money and the Millennium: From Moral Economy to Socialism, 1815-1860 (Princeton University Press: 1987). He has also edited Utopias of the British Enlightenment (Cambridge University Press: 1994) and The Owenite Socialist Movement: Pamphlets and Correspondence (2006), 10 vols.

Friday, September 25, 6pm, Human Science Building Lecture Theatre 1 (HSB1) 10 Symonds Street, Auckland University
A ‘must see’ forum with Dr. Ron Colman from Canada – “HOW CAN WE AVOID FUTURE CRISIS” – With a NZ (GPI) Genuine Progress Index In “What Matters Most to New Zealanders” program. Dr. Colman, Executive Director of GPI Atlantic and international authority on the Genuine Progress Index, will conduct two forums (plus a NZ panel) – speaking on how the GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator) can be used as an early warning system for impending crisis – and provide a more accurate analysis and creative solutions – for New Zealand to become more resilient to approaching crisis. As George Monbiot has observed: “Climate breakdown, peak oil and resource depletion will all dwarf the current financial crisis, in both financial and humanitarian terms”. This forum is for all those who genuinely care for the stability and security of our children. Auckland Panel: Rod Oram; Nigel Haworth; Robbie Lawton; Karen Morrison Hume; Maggie Lawton. Contact: David Breuer, Founding Director, Anew NZ. Tel (09) 431-9146. breuer.d@ihug.co.nz

Friday, September 25, 7am-9am, Newmarket Room at the Ellerslie Event Centre, Ellerslie Racecourse, Auckland
Suffrage Breakfast commemorating Women’s Suffrage Day and Women’s Health Action’s 25th Anniversary. Click here to register online. Given that it is Womens Health Actions 25th Anniversary this year, we have invited Sandra Coney co-founder of the organisation to speak. Sandra will reflect on more than 25 years of women’s health activism focusing on what have we achieved for the “Little Health of Ladies” and what there is left to achieve? Celebrate Suffrage Day at this informative and entertaining event. Tickets are $35 each (GST inc.) or $330 for a table of ten (Includes breakfast). Book a table for your work colleagues or friends. For more information contact Womens Health Action on 09 520 5295 or email info@womens-health.org.nz We would love to see you at this event, please feel free to forward this email to your friends and colleagues and please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any queries or require any further information. Kind Regards, Isis Mckay, Email: isis@womens-health.org.nz Women’s Health Action, P O Box 9947, Newmarket, Auckland. Ph: 09 5205295, fax: 09 520 5731 Website: https://www.womens-health.org.nz

Gus Fisher Gallery – Saturday 26th September, 1pm, The Gus Fisher Gallery, The Kenneth Myers Centre, 74 Shortland Street, Auckland
Award-winning director and producer Annie Goldson is screening her early documentaries Framing the Panthers (in Black and White), Counterterror: North of Ireland and Death Row Notebooks at the Gus Fisher Gallery on Saturday 26th September at 1pm. Both documentaries deal with the aftermath of the US administration’s efforts to stifle movements for political change in the 1960s and 1970s. The screening is being held in conjunction with the visit of American artist Emory Douglas, the Minister of Culture of the Black Panther Party, who is in New Zealand as Elam International Artist in Residence. Goldson’s two early films on the Black Panthers were part of a series, which explored how the term “terrorism” was used to criminalize political dissent during the 1990s. As well as addressing the fate of the Black Panthers, Goldson and her collaborator Chris Bratton produced films in Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Puerto Rico. Counterterror: The North of Ireland (1990, 30 mins) which will also screen at the Gus Fisher Gallery examines an incident that exemplified what was called the British “shoot-to-kill” policy in the North of Ireland. Framing the Panthers (in Black and White) (1991, 30 mins) explores the framing of former Black Panther Party leader, Dhoruba Bin Wahad, who wrongfully spent 19 years in prison while Death Row Notebooks (1993, 20 mins) looks at the story of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther Party leader, who remains on Death Row in Pennsylvania. Emory Douglas, who has an exhibition at the Gus Fisher Gallery until 3rd October, has toured New Zealand over the last month and addressed “sell-out” audiences. Because of the demand, he is holding an additional public lecture in Auckland on Monday 21st September, 6.30pm in the ‘Glass Box’ Engineering lecture theatre, 20 Symonds Street. Douglas created the striking graphic images that came to represent the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 1970s. His powerful visuals addressed the effects of poverty, police brutality, and poor living conditions on the African-American community. Goldson’s last completed film, An Island Calling recently received its seventh award, Best Documentary at the Outtakes International Film Festival in Dallas, Texas. Last year it won Best Documentary at the Qantas Media Awards and the Grand Prix at FIFO in Tahiti. She is currently directing Brother Number One, a Pan Pacific production, which follows the story of Rob Hamill, the Kiwi rower whose brother was tortured and murdered in Cambodia in the late 1970s. http://www.gusfishergallery.auckland.ac.nz

Monday 28th SeptemberMonday, September 28, 7.30pm, The Peace Place, 22 Emily Place, Auckland City
PART TWO: Three more short films continuing the same theme as on Monday 21st. 4. Denmark 1940 – A country organized to resist the Nazi invasion without violence; 5. Poland 1981 – Shipyard workers organize for just pay and overcome their own repressive government and begin the downfall of the Soviet Empire; 6. Chile 1988 – A nation organizes to overthrow the dictator Pinochet. Length: 3 x 30 minutes

Thursday, October 1, 7.30pm, Socialist Centre, 86 Princes St, Onehunga A Socialist Worker Forum, with Green MP Sue Bradford and UNITY editor Daphne Lawless. The forum is part of the Bad Banks campaign.About the campaign:The operations of the Big Four Aussie-owned banks, ANZ National Bank, BNZ, Westpac and ASB, are harmful to the lives of grassroots Kiwis.The Bad Banks campaign has been initiated by Socialist Worker. We welcome other groups and individuals producing their own publicity that targets the banks.The initial thrust of the campaign will be educational, building towards campaign demands that reflect a dialogue between broad left activists and grassroots people.For more info, visit http://www.badbanks.co.nz/ Phone: 096343984. Email: svpl@xtra.co.nz

Saturday, October 3, 2pm, QEII Square, Customs Street and Queen Street intersection, outside Downtown Shopping Centre.
Rally for Justice and Peace in Palestine, come and support justice and peace based on an end to 40 years of Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (including East Jerusalem), the right of return for Palestinian refugees, sharing Jerusalem, vacating all settlement colonies in Israeli occupied Palestine, and stopping Israel’s annexation / apartheid wall in occupied Palestine. Starts 2pm, Organised by the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, for more information contact email or go to this web site.

October 7-8, Manurewa Marae, 81 Finlayson Ave, Manurewa, South Auckland
NA TA TATOU ROUROU – With Our Baskets the Children Will Prosper – A hui to build activism to end child poverty in Aotearoa. For registration details see the CPAG website at www.cpag.org.nz
Hui speakers: The following speakers/presenters have confirmed their participation. Di Grennell, Family violence prevention worker from Northland will talk about her experience of community based violence prevention programmes; Teuila Percival, A paediatrician at Kidz First Children’s Hospital in South Auckland will discuss the health needs of poor children & the challenges we face in addressing these; John Minto, Teacher and trade unionist will discuss equity in education; Shirley Maihi, Manurewa Primary school principal will talk about her progress in building community around a Decile 1school; Peter Sykes, Social worker from Mangere will discuss the role of community based social work in meeting the needs of poor communities & alienated youth; Paul Blair, Welfare advocate from the Rotorua Peoples Advocacy Centre will discuss his community activism as a welfare and ACC advocate; Nikki Turner, General practitioner, university senior lecturer & member of CPAG executive will discuss ways in which we can move toward community based health practice; Taz Harrison, Musician & television producer will talk about the role of music in social activism; Susan St John, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Auckland & CPAG Executive member will discuss welfare alternatives

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ROSENBERG SPPECH TO CAFCA AGM
This is Bill Rosenberg’s speech presented to the Annual General Meeting on September 7th. It is an excellent overview of the issue of foreign control over the 35 years of CAFCA’s existence, mixed with a critical analysis of CAFCA’s work over that period. The first link is to the text only version. The second one is to the PowerPoint slides. I would particularly recommend that you have a look at them, as they will not be published in Watchdog – for the simple reason that they are in colour and Watchdog is printed in black and white. A sample few of these graphs will illustrate the text version in the December Watchdog. http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/publications/Miscellaneous/Forward%20and%20Leftward%20-%20text.pdf

http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/publications/Miscellaneous/Forward%20and%20Leftward%20-%20slides.pdf

INVITATION TO JOIN MARCH ON GAZA, JA/1/2010. GAZA SHALL NOT DIE
Imagine hundreds of thousands of peaceful international and Palestinian marchers, led by Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, Diana Buttu, Norman Finkelstein, Noami Klein, Arun Gandhi, George Galloway, and other prominent opponents of the siege. Imagine them, approaching the Erez crossing under the eyes of the international media, breaking the siege for once and for all. This is the Gaza Freedom March! The Gaza Freedom March Campaign plans to take thousands of international marchers to Gaza on Jan. 1, 2010, and challenge once and for all the Israeli blockade at the Erez crossing. Go with them, or support someone else who’s willing to go. Events to raise money to help enable people to go on the March in Gaza are planned throughout the Fall. This group has many sister groups, to enable each group to have a local focus for organizing, and to avoid exceeding Facebook’s limit of 5000 for messaging group members. Please join the appropriate campaign group which is best targeted to your locale. All FB groups will be updated with the latest information. Please invite all your friends to this or the appropriate other FaceBook group. This Campaign needs the support of hundreds of thousands around the world! http://gazafreedommarch.org/article.php?id=5063 International Movement to Open Rafah Border intmorb@googlemail.com

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT THE TELECOM WORKERS
How can I help? You can: – Call 0900 STAND TALL to make a $10 donation to the support fund.
– Make a donation at any BNZ branch or by online transfer to this account: 02-0568-0177685-00, Reference: Telco
– Start fundraising on your site for more information call 0800 1 UNION.
– Email Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds (the $5 million dollar man) at paul.reynolds@telecom.co.nz to tell him to get Visionstream to come to the table.
– Show your support by ringing talkback, talking to your friends and workmates and writing letters to the editor about this dispute and what it means for Kiwi workers. For more information you can visit the campaign site here http://www.epmu.org.nz/telecom

LIBERATION OF ALBERT PARK – ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 1PM SEPTEMBER 20
September this year marks the 40th anniversary of the "liberation" of Auckland’s Albert Park as a free speech area, on September 21st 1969. An event with bands and free speech is planned for the afternoon of September 20th to celebrate the anniversary. Everybody is welcome! Remember – September 20, 1.00pm – Albert Park. Albert Park Photos: http://pym-vietnamwaractivismhistory.blogspot.com/ Contact: jumpingsunday@clear.net.nz Speakers include Tim Shadbolt & Sue Bradford. Entertainers: The Frank E. Evans Band, Graham Brazier (‘Hello Sailor’), ‘Starfish Magic’ with Dave Neumegen (Arif Usmani), Tigi Ness (‘Unity Pacific’), & special street theatre performance! We are also hoping to track down Alistair Riddell (‘Space Waltz’ singer) who played in the ‘Mad Dog Jug Band’ in 1969. If you know how to contact him, please let him & us know.ALSO! DISPLAY AT THE AUCK PUBLIC LIBRARY: Come to the launch 1pm on Sat 19 September (Floor 3). If you have any archival material from 1969 – photographs, clippings, leaflets etc, please send to ‘Jumping Sunday ‘09’, PO Box 86022 Mangere East 2158, or contact us by return email. The library display, including unique film footage, will continue for 2 weeks during the festival.

CALLING ALL NEW ZEALANDERS: JOIN THE NEXT SOLIDARITY BRIGADE TO VENEZUELA! DECEMBER 1-9, 2009
Organised by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network. Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution led by President Hugo Chavez is shaking up global politics and inspiring millions of ordinary people with the evidence that a better – a peaceful, democratic and socially just – world is possible.
* Whereas in Australia and Aotearoa, public health, education and infrastructure is being run down or privatised, in Venezuela, major industries are being nationalised and put under workers’ control, and universal access to health, education and social welfare is now guaranteed.
* Whereas in Australia and Aotearoa, workers are being sacked, and wages and conditions are being eroded under the guise of “weathering” the economic crisis, in Venezuela, wages are increasing, and union membership and organisation is growing.
The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network-organised brigades to Venezuela are a unique opportunity to see an unfolding revolution first-hand. The AVSN warmly welcomes the participation of New Zealanders on the brigades. Participants in the December 1-9, 2009, brigade will visit worker-controlled factories and cooperatives, free public education and health programs, and community media outlets. They will observe “popular power” at work in communal councils, and speak to a range of grassroots organisations, unions and government representatives about the radical changes being implemented by the Venezuelan people.
The AVSN has organised nine solidarity brigades to Venezuela, involving more than 165 participants. These study/solidarity tours are inspiring experiences, providing an opportunity to observe and understand why Venezuela’s goal of creating “socialism of the 21st century’’ is transforming the world.
Brigade organisation and costs: The deadline for registering for the December 2009 brigade to Venezuela is October 31, 2009. Participants will need to book their own international airfares, but the brigade organisers can help with advice. Accommodation, transport and English translation within Venezuela will be organised for brigade participants. You will need to budget for a total cost of approximately $4000. This includes: international return airfare and taxes; accommodation (twin-share basis); transport and food in Venezuela; and the brigade registration fee ($500 for workers, $300 for full-time students or pensioners). Reports and photos from previous AVSN brigades are posted at http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org. For more information, please email brigades@venezuelasolidarity.org

27TH SOUTHERN CROSS BRIGADE TO CUBA
"A better world is possible": The Cuban people have proven that there is another way. ICAP (the Cuban Institute for Friendship between Peoples) provides, through its Brigades, the opportunity for people from all over the world to experience and participate in the Cuban revolutio.

What does the Brigade entail?
Join the Southern Cross work/study tour and support Cuba in the most direct manner by working (picking fruit or pruning fruit trees, etc) and then visiting schools, hospitals, urban agriculture projects, etc You will experience at first hand the cultural, political and social conditions in revolutionary Cuba. This year we will be having a closer look at Cuba’s innovative approaches to the environment and climate change. Children are welcome on this tour as are older participants. Our Cuban hosts take great care of visitors of all ages. The main features of the Brigade include:
* Talks on various aspects of conditions in Cuba given by prominent Cuban speakers;
* Working with Cubans;
* Visits to places of interest (eg schools, hospitals, factories);
* Opportunities to explore Havana independently;
* Visits to provincial centres;* Homestays and visit to Las Tunas Province

Unbeatable value – $1000. (Includes: All meals, accommodation, excursions and transportation in Cuba during program). Not included:
– Air travel to Cuba – get in early to book your flights! (Check out Aerolineas for cheap flights. There are now also weekly flights with Continental from Los Angeles to Havana.)
– Compulsory travel insurance
– Any additional nights stay in Cuba prior to commencement of the Brigade or following the conclusion of the program (prior to the flight home). Inexpensive accommodation is available – opportunity for independent tourism

Contacts: NZ Paul Maunder (03) 732 4010 email wkcultur@ihug.co.nz; Ina Lawrence (09) 303 1755 email inashina@clear.net.nz Australia Robert Cooper – National Coordinator of the 27th Southern Cross Brigade – 0408 624 629, email robert@conceptis.com.au or write to PO Box 6139 Kingston ACT 2604.

WAIHOPAI SPYBASE PROTEST JANUARY 22-24, 2010
The Waihopai spybase was dragged into the public spotlight in April 2008 when three Ploughshares peace activists penetrated its high security and deflated one of the two domes concealing its satellite dishes from the NZ public. The Anti-Bases Campaign was happy to support this non-violent direct action anti-war activity (which is yet to come to trial). The public face of New Zealand’s role as an American ally is the NZ military presence in Afghanistan. But New Zealand’s most significant contribution to that, and other American wars, including the one in Iraq, is the Waihopai electronic intelligence gathering base, located in the Waihopai Valley, near Blenheim. It is controlled by the US, with New Zealand (including Parliament and the Prime Minister) having little or no idea what goes on there, let alone any control.
First announced in 1987, Waihopai is operated by New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in the interests of the foreign Powers grouped together in the super-secret UKUSA Agreement (which shares global electronic and signals intelligence among the intelligence agencies of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and NZ). Its two satellite interception dishes intercept a huge volume of civilian telephone calls, telexes, faxes, e-mail and computer data communications. It spies on our Asia/Pacific neighbours, and forwards the material on to the major partners in the UKUSA Agreement, specifically the US National Security Agency (NSA). Its targets are international civilian communications involving New Zealanders, including the interception of international phone calls. Post- 9/11 the GCSB and Waihopai now spy further afield, to those regions where the US is waging wars. The codename for this – Echelon – has become notorious worldwide as the vast scope of its spying has become public. New Zealand is an integral, albeit junior part of a global spying network, a network that is ultimately accountable only to its own constituent agencies, not governments, not citizens.
Join us for the weekend of anti-war protest at this spybase. Come prepared for roughing it and camping out. We provide the food (we cater for vegetarians but vegans will have to bring their own). Bring sleeping bag, groundsheet, a tent, torch, water bottle, eating utensils, clothing for all weather, and $40 (or $20 unwaged) to cover costs. No open fires.
How to find our camp at Whites Bay: turn off SH1 at Tuamarina (9km north of Blenheim or 20 km south of Picton) and drive to Rarangi on the coast. Follow the steep Port Underwood Road over the hilltop before descending to the Whites Bay turnoff. There is a DoC public camp at the bay with basic facilities. ABC has to pay a fixed charge per head.
This will be the first Waihopai spybase protest since the Domebusters’ courageous 2008 citizens’ deflation action. Waihopai does not operate in the interests of New Zealanders or our neighbours. Basically it is a foreign spybase on NZ soil and directly involves us in America’s wars. Waihopai must be closed.

Register to take part in the protest ($40 waged / $20 unwaged). Writre to: CLOSE THE WAIHOPAI SPYBASE NOW! Organised by the Anti-Bases Campaign, P.O. Box 2258, Christchurch. E-mail cafca@chch.planet.org.nz www.converge.org.nz/abc Make all cheques to ABC

NOMINATIONS FOR 2009 ROGER AWARD
Nominations are now open for the 2009 Roger Award for the Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in Aotearoa/New Zealand, which is organised the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa and GATT Watchdog. You can download the nomination form (in either Word or PDF) from http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/publications/Roger/index.html Nominations close on October 31, 2009. Send your nomination to: The Roger Award, Box 2258, Christchurch; e-mail cafca@chch.planet.org.nz

AUCKLAND HERITAGE PEACE WALK
9.00am Sunday 27 September, QEII Square – New Zealand is the starting place for a World March for Peace and Nonviolence which will travel around the globe with stops in 90 countries, beginning with an event in Auckland, to be followed by the official launch in Wellington on 2 October. The World March was initiated by the organisation World Without Wars. The objectives of the World March are: •To give a voice to the majority of world citizens who want peace by having them send out a unified signal •To create global awareness of the urgent need to condemn of all forms of violence and bring about real peace •By highlighting the work of individuals and organizations around the world to end violence and promote peace, citizens who are moved to support this work will be empowered to do so. Aotearoa-New Zealand was chosen in recognition of: •The nonviolence traditions of Moriori and Parihaka •Being the first country to grant women the vote •Being the only country to have a Minister for Disarmament •Our inclusion of peace studies in the school curriculum and the establishment of Peace Cities •Our moves towards peaceful resolution of past injustices to Tangata Whenua and other ethnic communities
•Our nuclear-free status •Our government’s support for the UN. The Auckland Heritage Peace Walk Launch is Auckland’s welcome to the international participants in the World March. The walk will visit various peace landmarks around the central city, ending at St Matthew-in-the-City with performances, exhibits, music and speakers. Sites on the walk include: • Rainbow Warrior mural, Marsden Wharf
• The Peace Place, Emily Place • Memorial – Tiananmen Square Massacre , Maclaurin Chapel, Princes St, • Albert Park – the band rotunda • Gateway sculpture, Victoria St • Suffragette mural, Khartoum Place. Local individuals and groups have endorsed the World March including: Helen Clark, Jim Anderton, Jacinda Ardern, Phil Goff, Phil Twyford, Sir Paul Reeves, Kerry Prendergast, Dr Kate Dewes, Marion Hancock, Kevin Clements, Pauline Tangiora, Moana Manipoto, Yulia, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Disarmament and Security Centre, The Peace Foundation, Oxfam, United Nations Association of NZ. We are seeking further endorsements as well as participation in the Auckland Heritage Peace Wal. Auckland co-ordinators for the volunteer team organising the Auckland events: Audrey van Ryn: 368 1516 audrey@writeaway.co.nz and Wende Jowsey: wende@jowsey.com www.worldmarch.co.nz www.theworldmarch.org

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Our only political party has two right wings, one called Republican, the other Democratic. But Henry Adams figured all that out back in the 1890s. ‘We have a single system,’ he wrote, and ‘in that system the only question is the price at which the proletariat is to be bought and sold, the bread and circuses.’" : Gore Vidal – The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

" The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism – ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power. " : President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND

Being Spied on? A proposed new law, the Search & Surveillance Bill 2009, currently before the Parliament will greatly expand the powers of the state to conduct surveillance and require people to provide information. This trend of increased State surveillance has serious implications for political activists http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcs4s9vq_12c5tq7pfp

Keith Locke’s speech against the Search and Surveillance Bill on its first reading http://www.greens.org.nz/speeches/keith-lockes-speech-against-search-and-surveillance-bill-its-first-reading

The Innocence Project have announced that they are taking on Alan’s case and applying for a "Royal Prerogative of Mercy, effectively a pardon from the governor-general" – to read more about this follow this link to the stuff.co.nz news website: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2779008/Group-asks-for-murder-case-review The Investigator aired on TV1 revealing new details about the crime and evidence and statements all leading to the conclusion that Alan Hall is -clearly- innocent of this crime. http://tvnz.co.nz/the-investigator/alan-hall-innocent-2854397 http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/hunt-policeman-over-historic-murder-probe-2863249

New Zealand has a new blogsite promoting free and frequent public transport, it’s called Fare-Free New Zealand. Go to http://farefreenz.blogspot.com/ The editors welcome any NZ or international stories relating to the campaign for fare-free public transport. Send to farefreenz@clear.net.nz The call for free public transport is being made internationally by environmentalists, campaigners against climate change, Green parties, and eco-socialists. It’s a campaign focus that makes lots of ecological, economic and political sense. And it’s a grassroots response to the threat of climate change that challenges the pro-market illogic of the pollution market (otherwise known as carbon or emissions trading).

Matt McCarten: Labour gets back to basics http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10596904

John Minto: User-pay night classes will spell end for many courses http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/john-minto/2483880/User-pay-night-classes-will-spell-end-for-many-courses

You don’t understand; it’s not about the money – like hell it isn’t http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/john-minto/2738938/You-don-t-understand-its-not-about-the-money-like-hell-it-isn-t

Video of the protest outside Hell Pizza in Quay Street, Auckland, after their use of a racist advertising campaign. Omar and Joe explain why it’s not a joke. http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.com/2009/09/racists-go-to-hell.html

Politicians fiddle while climate collapses http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blogs/frontline/2866347/Politicians-fiddle-while-climate-collapses

Phil Goff’s new focus sounds the same http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/2865500/Phil-Goffs-new-focus-sounds-the-same/

Open Letter/ Oia Request To John Key – Who Lobbied For The Rodney And Franklin Boundary Changes? http://www.nbr.co.nz/horses-mouth/open-letter-oia-request-to-john-key-who-lobbied-for-the-rodney-and-franklin-boundary-ch

Public Address 17/09/09 – Where the crazy comes from – Russell Brown’s Hard News – The October issue of Vanity Fair magazine includes this year’s "New Establishment" list. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein tops the list, while the usual suspects — Jobs, Bezos, Murdoch, Buffet, the Google founders — jostle around in the Top 10. But further back, at 81, there’s a new… http://publicaddress.net/6175

Greenpeace Palm Kernel Deforestation Images http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0908/S00300.htm

Greenpeace Block Palm Kernel Feed Shipment http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0909/S00185.htm

ECONOMIC CRISIS

Priceless: How The Federal Reserve Bought The Economics Profession http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/07/priceless-how-the-federal_n_278805.html

Whose Economic Recovery? Has The US Economy Really Been Pulled Back From The Brink? http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23462.htm

US credit shrinks at Great Depression rate prompting fears of double-dip recession – Both bank credit and the M3 money supply in the United States have been contracting at rates comparable to the onset of the Great Depression since early summer, raising fears of a double-dip recession in 2010 and a slide into debt-deflation. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/6190818/US-credit-shrinks-at-Great-Depression-rate-prompting-fears-of-double-dip-recession.html

Why Capitalism Fails – The man who saw the meltdown coming had another troubling insight: it will happen again http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23493.htm

FEATURES

Chomsky: What America’s ‘Crisis’ Means to the Rest of the World http://www.alternet.org/story/142471/chomsky%3A_what_america%27s_%27crisis%27_means_to_the_rest_of_the_world?page=entire

Flushing Blackwater: Comment By Jeremy Scahill – Blackwater, the private mercenary company owned by Erik Prince, has been thrust back into the spotlight by a series of stunning revelations about its role in covert US programs. Since at least 2002, Blackwater has worked for the CIA in Afghanistan and Pakistan on "black" contracts. On August 19, the New York Times revealed that the company was, in fact, a central part of a secret CIA assassination program that Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090914/scahill

REVIEWS

Michael Moore’s "Capitalism: A Love Story" Will Find a Ready Audience http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/09/michael-moore-documentary-capitalism

The Italian Cinema And The Left – On Rediscovering Roberto Rossellini-Filmmaker – By Gaither Stewart http://www.countercurrents.org/stewart120909.htm

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan by the Numbers: Measuring a War Gone to Hell – Maintenance cost for the force of 450,000 Afghan soldiers and police U.S. generals dream of creating: approximately 500% of the Afghan budget. http://www.alternet.org/story/142521/afghanistan_by_the_numbers%3A_measuring_a_war_gone_to_hell

Obama’s Quagmire Looks a Lot like Vietnam http://www.alternet.org/world/142565/obama%27s_quagmire_looks_a_lot_like_vietnam/

Fighting Rages Across Afghanistan As US Military Buildup Continues By Patrick Martin http://www.countercurrents.org/martin140909.htm

BOLIVIA

Bolivian Vice President defends MAS government’s record in office – Interview with with lvaro Garca Linera, Vice-President of Bolivia, by Maristella Svampa, Pablo Stefanoni and Ricardo Bajo. Translation and notes by Richard Fidler http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2009/09/bolivian-vice-president-defends-mas.html

Evo Morales: "Wherever a US base exists, there are military coups" http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2009/09/evo-morales-wherever-us-base-exists.html

CUBA

Cuba: The US embargo against Cuba: Its impact on economic and social rights – For nearly half a century, the USA has unilaterally imposed an economic, commercial, and financial embargo against Cuba. This document reiterates previous Amnesty International recommendations calling for the lifting of the US embargo. The document highlights the detrimental impact of the US embargo on the efforts by UN agencies and programmes supporting the Cuban government in the progressive realization of economic and social rights. In this report, Amnesty International focuses on the right to health by highlighting how the trade and financial sanctions affect the provision of health care in Cuba. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR25/007/2009/en

CHILE

The other September 11: US backed coup in Chile, 1973 – An excerpt from John Pilger’s documentary The War on Democracy, which recounts the involvement of the United States government in the brutal 1973 military coup that overthrew the democratic socialist government of President Salvador Allende — paradoxically on September 11. It ushered in a regime of torture and tyranny. Alsosee director Ken Loach’s moving contribution to the 11"9’01 project. http://links.org.au/node/1242

HONDURAS

Interview with Honduras resistance leader: `The US is sustaining the coup’ http://links.org.au/node/1236

PACIFIC

A new website that has been established this week – Pacific.Scoop (published by the AUT Pacific Media Centre): http://www.pacific.scoop.co.nz I hope you visit it and make use of it – and alert your colleagues to it. Feedback always welcome. It has primary education outcomes as a resource and outlet for student journalists around the region, such as this: http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2009/08/follow-an-astronaut-and-reach-for-the-stars-harawira-tells-maori-youth/ But it will also be publishing some cutting edge stuff by more established journalists and commentators, such as this: http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2009/08/jailed-union-leader-calls-for-probe-into-%E2%80%98terrible%E2%80%99-prison-conditions-for-kanaks/

Hypocrisy over Fiji while East Timor atrocities are ignored http://cafepacific.blogspot.com/2009/09/hypocrisy-over-fiji-while-east-timor.html

A DIFFERENT COUP www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/2856756/A-different-coup

Truth behind our poverty http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=64272

Bainimarama vows not to be ‘bullied’ by Australia, NZ http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2009/09/bainimarama-vows-not-to-be-bullied-by-australia-nz/

PALESTINE

Israel’s Arab Citizens Call General Strike By Jonathan Cook – The increasingly harsh political climate in Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government has prompted the leadership of the country’s 1.3 million Arab citizens to call the first general strike in several years http://www.countercurrents.org/cook100909A.htm

Eviction By Glen Johnson – Mohammad Hannoun is twelve years old. He loves swimming and playing chess. He goes to school in Shuafat, East Jerusalem, where he studies English and Arabic. A rotund boy, he often smiles and makes jokes. At 5.30am on 2 August 2009, Israeli forces stormed his family’s home of 53 years. They dragged Mohammad outside, passing him from soldier to soldier. They left him on the sidewalk outside his home. He saw his father: Saleem, a gentle man with grey hair, being made homeless. He saw his uncle dragged outside. He saw all of his family’s possessions get loaded onto a truck and taken away. And, from the sidewalk, he saw Jewish settlers carry their belongings into his East Jerusalem home. Mohammad was made a refugee. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0909/S00074.htm

Palestine’s peaceful struggle – A few weeks ago, in the dead of night, dozens of Israeli soldiers with painted faces burst violently into my home. If only they had knocked, I would have opened the door. They arrested me. My wife, Lamia, was left alone with our four children. My youngest, 3-year-old Khaled, woke up to the image of Israeli soldiers with painted faces who were taking his father away. He has not stopped crying since. A few nights ago he woke up in terror, sobbing: “Daddy, why did you let the soldiers take me?” That’s the way our children sleep–in a constant state of fear. http://palsolidarity.org/2009/09/8383

UN presses for prosecutions in damning report : The report called on the UN security council to require Israel to launch "appropriate investigations" into the violations detailed in the report within three months. If no investigation is launched within six months, it said the security council should pass the case to the prosecutor of the international criminal court http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/15/israel-blamed-for-gaza-war-crimes

Israel grants immunity to soldiers over misdeed: The Israeli Knesset is working on a bill to grant more immunity to Israeli soldiers as the number of Palestinian lawsuits against the Israeli army hits a record high. http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=106221&sectionid=351020202

SRI LANKA

Harrassed Tamils languish in prison-like camps in Sri Lanka http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/13/tamils-camps-sri-lanka

Starvation, rape, killings, torture in Sri Lanka camps, Murphy tells Australia parliament http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30230

UK

Most Britons want troops withdrawn from Afghanistan – new poll: Sixty per cent of Britons want the UK military to withdraw from or reduce its presence in Afghanistan, according to an international poll released today which showed that the British are the most hostile in western Europe to their troops’ presence in Afghanistan. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/10/poll-british-military-withdraw-afghanistan

USA

John Pilger: Obama Is A Corporate Marketing Creation

Former Boss of Occupied Chicago Factory Jailed – Republic workers captured the attention of the world when they occupied their plant on December 5, 2008 calling for the severance and vacation pay they were due. http://www.alternet.org/story/142624/former_boss_of_occupied_chicago_factory_jailed

A Decade With No Income Gains By David Leonhardt – The typical American household made less money last year than the typical household made a full decade ago. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/a-decade-with-no-income-gain/?hp

Obama Brings Gitmo And Rendition To Bagram (And Not The Geneva Conventions) http://www.alternet.org/story/142686/obama_brings_gitmo_and_rendition_to_bagram_%28and_not_the_geneva_conventions%29

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