#358: Super Monday: 8.30 am + 5.30pm Free trade protest / 7.30pm Forum – Eyewitness in Gaza

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER No. 358, DECEMBER 3, 2010

MONDAY: PROTEST THE FREE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS DEC 6, 8.30AM AND 5.30PM
The fourth round of negotiations for a free trade deal between the US, NZ and 7 other countries will begin at the Sky City Casino on Monday 6th December at 9am. Join us for creative action on Monday 6th

1. outside the SkyCity Grand Hotel entrance, Federal St, from 8.30 am; and
2. outside the Voyager Maritime Museum, Corner Quay and Hobson StreetsAuckland Viaduct Basin from 5.30 pm.

7.30PM: GPJA FORUM – ‘EYEWITNESS IN GAZA”
Monday, December 6th, 7.30pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn.
GPJA December forum – “Eyewitness in Gaza” – Kiwi activists from the recent siege-busting ‘Viva Palestina’ international aid convoy to Gaza will report back at a special joint forum with Kia Ora Gaza. Check out the website: kiaoragaza.net (Note: If you would like a Kia Ora Gaza convoy member to speak at a meeting of your organisation, contact Roger at: mangere.east.access@paradise.net.nz or 021-2999491)

TUESDAY: PUBLIC MEETING 6PM DEC 7, ST MATHEWS IN THE CITY
To learn more about the TPPA negotiations there will be a public meeting at St Matthew-in-the-City, cnr of Hobson and Wellesley Sts, from 6-8 pm on Tuesday 7th December with Prof Jane Kelsey and commentaries from Hone Harawira MP, Andrew Campbell from FinSec, Sanya Reid Smith from Third World Network and others international speakers. Bring your friends!

TPA MEDIA STATEMENTS
NZ/ Aus PMs Urged to reject US investment demands next week Press Release: Professor Jane Kelsey and AFTINET http://tinyurl.com/2dc3q5m
GPJA: Protests planned for Monday against “free trade” Agreement http://tinyurl.com/26wf32n

NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS

FUNDRAISING REQUEST FOR BOUGAINVILLE
This is a request for help for the organisation with which I was a VSA volunteer for 2 years up to June 2010. Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency (LNWDA) was started by four Bougainville women at the height of the Bougainville “crisis” (civil war). Initially it was an informal, unfunded organisation which focused on providing practical help such as food, clothing and shelter to women and children affected by the conflict. The founders spoke out against the atrocities which were perpetrated including the sexual violence against women. They took leading roles in working towards peace, often at personal risks to themselves. Over time the agency formalised its structure as an NGO; was able to access funding from a variety of international aid organisations and adapted its functions to meet the changing needs in Bougainville
LNWDA currently provides counselling and support to women and families and awareness raising workshops on Gender, Human Rights and Violence against women. A weekly radio programme is also produced on these and related topics. Specific workshops are held with men to address violence against women. As one of the largest and longest established NGOs in Bougainville, LNWDA provides capacity building support to other, newer, organisations and takes a leading role in networking and co-ordinating with others. There are 11 staff based in the Buka office and 36 volunteer counsellors spread throughout the 13 districts of Bougainville. On November 2nd 2010 the LNWDA office building in Buka, Bougainville, burned down. In a situation with no fire services and no insurance this is a devastating event. They have lost all records, documentation, training materials, computers etc. – everything which is needed to operate their services apart from the commitment and skills of staff and volunteers.
I wish to assist them by raising funds in New Zealand. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) will accept donations on their behalf. Please be sure to note the payment is for Bougainville. Cheques, made to WILPF Auckland, can be sent to 3A Highwic Ave, Epsom 1051, Auckland Or Payments to WILPF bank account: BNZ 02-0240-0156143-000 Or Donations can be handed directly to me. Feel free to contact me if you would like any further information. Please forward this email to anyone else who may be willing to assist.
Many thanks for your support Lesley Young

GAGARIN WAY – THEATRICAL DYNAMITE – ON IN AUCKLAND DECEMBER 1-11
Described as a ton of theatrical dynamite disguised as a mere Molotov cocktail, Gregory Burke’s award-winning play Gagarin Way has its Auckland debut this December.
Frisky Productions presents Gagarin Way at The Gagarin Way Garage, 181 Hobson Street, Auckland from 1-11 December.
Multi-award winning actor Gareth Reeves (I’m Not Harry Jenson, The Cult, Go Girls) makes his directorial debut delivering this explosive tale of two disillusioned factory workers, Gary and Eddie, who, awash with anti-globalist anger, kidnap a Japanese business executive in a plot to demonstrate their anti-corporate sentiments to the world.
However, the duo’s cunning plan goes awry when Frank – the business man they have abducted – turns out not to be a Japanese executive, Eddie forgets the balaclavas, the manifesto they wish to release to the waiting world is hazy and Tom – a young security guard with a degree in political science – accidentally gate-crashes the scene of the crime.
The four men find themselves confined in a claustrophobic factory store room and tension crackles. The audience is confronted by a visceral and fiercely comic explosion of ideologies and hopes as each man’s story emerges throughout the course of the play.
“I didn’t expect it to be a comedy,” Scottish playwright Gregory Burke explains, “ but when you consider the themes…Marxist and Hegelian theories of history, anarchism, psychopathology, existentialism, mental illness, political terrorism, nihilism, globalisation and the crisis in masculinity – then it couldn’t really be anything else.”
“To make a comedy of contradictions is the ultimate prank. To set it in the confines of a factory whereby the most cack-handed of empty gestures is exposed in all its farcical colours as playwright Gregory Burke has done is pretty close to genius” – The Herald (Scotland)
Gagarin Way premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2001, where it won a Fringe First, the Best of the Fringe First Awards and The Scotsman Readers’ Favourite Award. Following sell-out runs after its transfer to London’s National Theatre, it was named one of the best plays of 2001 by The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer and Mail on Sunday. Gagarin Way received a nomination for ‘Best New Play’ at the 2002 Olivier Awards and Gregory Burke was awarded the 2001 Critic’s Circle Award for ‘Most Promising Playwright’.
Gagarin Way stars a talented all-male cast featuring Will Wallace (The Cult, Jinx Sisters), Edward Newborn (Krapp’s Last Tape, National Theatre), Kevin Keys (August: Osage County) and Emmet Skilton (Home by Christmas).
Gagarin Way plays at The Gagarin Way Garage, 181 Hobson Street, Auckland from 1-11 December at 8pm (No show Sunday 5 December). Tickets are $25 (adult) or $20 (concession or group of 8+) and can be booked from www.eventfinder.co.nz For more information visit www.friskyproductionsnz.com/
Interviews with the cast and director are available. Please contact SWPR, Safia van der Zwan, safia@swpr.co.nz 021410318

WHAT’S ON IN AUCKLAND

Saturday, December 4, 2pm, QE2 Square, Downtown
Rally for Justice and Peace in Palestine, come and support justice and peace based on an end to 42 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 dismantling Israel’s annexation / apartheid wall in occupied Palestine. Starts 2pm, QEII Square, Customs Street and Queen Street intersection, outside Downtown Shopping Centre. Organised by the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, for more information contact email or go to this web site.

Saturday, December 4, 7pm, Cityside Hall, 8 Mount Eden Road, Auckland
Rebel Press warmly invites you to a: BOOK LAUNCH of The day the raids came: Stories of survival and resistance to the state terror raids. Music, food and readings. On October 15th, 2007 an estimated 300 police raided houses all over Aotearoa New Zealand and arrested people based on warrants issued under the Terrorism Suppression Act. Lives were turned upside down as the police searched for evidence of ‘terrorism.’ This book is a collection of oral history interviews of people affected by those raids and the aftermath: defendants, friends, family, supporters and other people subject to the state’s coercive powers on that day. The case is the first ever attempted use of the Terrorism Suppression Act, a piece of legislation enacted in response to the 9/11 events in New York and Washington DC. The terrorism charges were not brought, but the people arrested continue to face a long journey to freedom as the state seeks to punish political activists and to reinforce the status quo.
For more information, please contact ryankb@gmail.com

Sunday, December 5, 11am, Queens Wharf
Cycle Action Auckland has organised Bikes for Life – a public rally for action to improve cycling safety. Meet at 11am on Queens Wharf, Auckland. See www.caa.org.nz for details.

Monday, December 6th, 7.30pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn.
GPJA December forum – “Eyewitness in Gaza” – Kiwi activists from the recent siege-busting ‘Viva Palestina’ international aid convoy to Gaza will report back at a special joint forum with Kia Ora Gaza. Check out the website: kiaoragaza.net (Note: If you would like a Kia Ora Gaza convoy member to speak at a meeting of your organisation, contact Roger at: mangere.east.access@paradise.net.nz or 021-2999491)

Saturday, December 11, 4pm, St Columba Centre, 40 Vermont St, Ponsonby
A seminar with Rusdi Marpaung, Prominent Human Rights Activist and Senior Researcher and co-founder of Imparsial (Indonesia Human Rights Monitor). Chair: John Minto Global Peace and Justice Aotearoa (GPJA). Rusdi has just completed post Graduate studies in International Human Rights Law and Policy at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Rusdi brings a wealth of experience in challenging the Indonesian Government to uphold human rights over issues such as anti-terrorism law, post conflict management in Aceh, and the ongoing conflict in Maluku and West Papua. Rusdi was a colleague of the late Munir a key figure in the democratic struggle who was tragically murdered in 2004. This seminar will be preceded at 3-30 p m by the AGM of the Indonesia Human Rights Committee: Contact Indonesia Human Rights Committee Box 68-419, Auckland 1125 maire@clear.net.nz (Ample parking or take the Link bus)

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“Information is the currency of democracy.” – Thomas Jefferson.

“The job of the media is not to protect the powerful from embarrassment”: Simon Jenkins

BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND
John Minto: Inequality linked to social problems http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/blogs/frontline/4380261/Inequality-linked-to-social-problems
Social problems linked to wealth gap: study http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10689232
Andrew Bradstock: Equality the key to a better society http://www.nzherald.co.nz/government/news/article.cfm?c_id=49&objectid=10607495
Tapu Misa: Welfare report comes up short on answers http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10690690
Welfare reports worlds apart http://blog.greens.org.nz/2010/11/26/welfare-reports-worlds-apart/
No focus on jobs from Welfare Working Group http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1011/S00281/no-focus-on-jobs-from-welfare-working-group.htm
Lee gets stuck into Joyce over rail tunnel project http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10691225
ACC stocktake report out next week http://issues.co.nz/accfutures/Blog/ACC+stocktake+report+out+next+week
WikiLeaks reveals US snooping on NZ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10690975
16 Days of Activism & White Ribbon Day – Saying NO to violence against women http://staging.amnesty.org.nz/our-work/stop-violence-against-women/16-days-activism-white-ribbon-day
Hauraki Hui reaffirms Maori Women Leadership http://news.tangatawhenua.com/archives/8265
No time to cut social services when demand increasing, says PSA http://tinyurl.com/24zvkog
More Cost-Cutting to Early Childhood Education http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1011/S00101/more-cost-cutting-to-early-childhood-education.htm
West Papua: Uncovering the ‘hidden’ conflict – Maire Leadbeater is a spokesperson for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee (Auckland). She recently returned from West Papua, a nation that has faced repression since its occupation by Indonesia in 1963. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/46269
Survey Shows Stark Reality Of Government Ece Cuts http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/survey-shows-stark-reality-government-ece-cuts/5/74149
Willie jackson: Labour At a Crossroads http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/opinion/willie-jackson/4402223/Labour-At-a-Crossroads
No Firm Moves Toward New Left-Wing Party http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/no-firm-moves-toward-new-left-wing-party/5/73796
Matt McCarten: Swing to the right and Labour will be left out http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10690526
Students send message to Government http://scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1012/S00013.htm
Petition aims to overturn ACC law- National Foundation for the Deaf http://scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1011/S00317.htm
Axing inflation adjustments puts services at risk Thursday, 25 November 2010 2:22 pm | Age Concern http://scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1011/S00295.htm
Parents face $80 a week fees shock http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10691167

NZ WORK RIGHTS
90-day employment bill passed http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4378279/90-day-employment-bill-passed
Unions vow to fight 90-day work law http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10689730
Union condemns attack on workers’ rights http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1011/S00275/union-condemns-attack-on-workers-rights.htm
Red faces at Green Cabs over fire@will http://blog.greens.org.nz/2010/11/17/red-faces-at-green-cabs-over-firewill/
NZEI: Employment Law Changes Penalise Workers http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1011/S00279/employment-law-changes-penalise-workers.htm
PSA: Employment law changes are regressive move for all http://tinyurl.com/2dk92ar
Maritime Union warns employment law changes will create backlash against Government http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1011/S00274/employment-law-changes-will-create-backlash-against-govt.htm
CTU: Fight against unfair employment laws does not stop here http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1011/S00273/fight-against-unfair-employment-laws-does-not-stop-here.htm
Proposed Pay Settlement Reached For Primary Teachers http://tinyurl.com/2wle7fo
Housing New Zealand suspends union members for taking lawful industrial action http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1012/S00015/housing-nz-suspends-union-members-for-lawful-action.htm
Student Bill support shows Government out of touch http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1012/S00014/student-bill-support-shows-government-out-of-touch.htm
MAF And ADECCO Deliver Bleak Xmas For Long-Serving Airport Workers http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/maf-and-adecco-deliver-bleak-xmas-long-serving-airport-workers/5/74106
Union angry at airport job losses http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=186768

PIKE RIVER
Union Says Workplace Safety Expert Should Be On Commission http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/union-says-workplace-safety-expert-should-be-commission/5/73945
EPMU Pike River Miners Families Support Trust http://www.epmu.org.nz/news/show/173213
Officials advised against check inspectors: Minister http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/137939/officials-advised-against-check-inspectors-minister
Rail and maritime workers mourn lost miners http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1011/S00577/rail-and-maritime-workers-mourn-lost-miners.htm
The Government has rejected calls to reinstate a system of on-site mine safety inspectors. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/pike-river-2010/62552/government-rejects-call-to-bring-back-mine-inspectors
Miners are a special people – EPMU – Video http://www.3news.co.nz/Miners-are-a-special-people—EPMU/tabid/309/articleID/187826/Default.aspx
EPMU Pike River Mine Update http://www.epmu.org.nz/news/show/173207

NZ ECONOMY

House building consents fall to lowest level since July 2009 http://www.interest.co.nz/news/house-building-consents-fall-lowest-level-july-2009

SFO says after 3 month investigation into Hanover Finance ‘reasonable grounds exist’ to believe fraud may have been committed http://tinyurl.com/36shuuy
Inequality in NZ: why wealth is accumulated in a dangerous way by Neville Bennet http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/opinion-inequality-nz-why-wealth-accumulated-dangerous-way
Gloomy NZIER outlook holds fears for jobs http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1011/S00326/gloomy-nzier-outlook-holds-fears-for-jobs.htm
Building consents keep falling – 20pc down since March http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10691039

“FREE TRADE” DEBATE
Release of Jane Kelsey’s Book on Trans Pacific Partnership And Media Coverage
The book No Ordinary Deal. The Trans-Pacific partnership Free Trade Agreement was launched in New Zealand and Australia in the past two weeks, with Lori Wallach as the guest speaker at meetings in 6 cities. The book is edited by Jane Kelsey and has 19 contributors, each with expertise in an aspect of the TPPA. The book is published in New Zealand by Bridget Williams Books and Australia and elsewhere by Allen and Unwin. The order form is attached. Please encourage as many people as possible to order it. Copies will be given to each delegation at the fourth round of TPPA negotiations in Auckland, New Zealand in the week of 6 December 2010. Coverage in Mainstream Media of the launch:
Opinion piece, Jane Kelsey: “Trading sovereignty for short-term advantage”,
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10686070
20 minute Video interview by prominent economic commentator and blogger Bernard Hickey of Lori Wallach and Jane Kelsey on No Ordinary Deal. http://www.interest.co.nz/news/free-trade-agreement-us-would-not-be-free-us-advocate-lori-wallach-explains
Radio 95Bfm: Hamish Fletcher Interview with Jane Kelsey ‘Deal or No Deal’
http://itunes.apple.com/nz/podcast/95bfm-the-wire/id78210833
DominionPost Vernon Small: ‘Trail of false steps on path to summit’ (hostile)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4333342/Trail-of-false-steps-on-path-to-summit
Morning Report Economics Reporter Nigel Stirling with Lori Wallach
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/20101112

Radio Australia Pacific Beat Jemima Garrett ‘Concerns raised about Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal’ http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201011/s3066983.htm
Radio Australia Steven Long: ‘Trojan Horse’ trade deal threatens to undermine consumer protections in Australia’ http://www.abc.net.au/pm/indexes/2010/pm_20101115.htm
Transcript at http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s3067027.htm?site=sydney
Scoop (online news) Alastair Thompson: “No Ordinary Deal” Book Launch and PM Responses
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1011/S00125/no-ordinary-deal-book-launch-pm-response.htm
Radio Australia National Late Night Live Steven Crittenden: ‘Proposed Trans Pacific Free Trade Agreement’ http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2010/3069954.htm
NZ Herald Brian Fallow, economics editor: rade deals? Let’s look before we leap’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10688274
Radio New Zealand Chris Laidlaw interviews Lori Wallach: ‘American trade specialist rings the warning bells about a free trade agreement with the US.’
http://static.radionz.net.nz/assets/audio_item/0019/2435023/sun-20101121-0940-Lori_Wallach-m048.asx
Free Trade Informer No.1.pdf http://www.box.net/shared/gav908zv5p

CULTURAL DISSENT
Books: None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture http://tinyurl.com/23rvnja
Books: The state, social movements and revolution in Latin America http://links.org.au/node/2017
Books: The Story of Che Guevara: An Interview with Lucía Alvarez de Toledo http://alborada.net/lucia-alvarez-de-toledo-the-story-of-che-guevara
Books: Bringing slavery into the open – Silvia Giagnoni, author of the forthcoming book Fields of Resistance: The Struggle of Florida’s Farmworkers for Justice, reports from Montgomery, Ala., on a visit by a traveling museum that documents the conditions of slavery that still exist today. http://socialistworker.org/2010/12/01/bringing-slavery-into-the-open
Music: Standing on the shoulders of jazz giants – New Orleans is often regarded as the birthplace of jazz. Martin Smith spoke to jazz musician Christian Scott about growing up in the city, the devastation after Katrina and making music to move the listener. http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11478
Films: Animals United – Review by Stephanie Hanisch http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11492
Films: The Invisibles – Review by John Travis – Directors Marc Silver and Gael García Bernal, Out now http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11493

LAND, LABOUR AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Video: Capitalism is a doomsday machine – Derek Wall of the Green Left speaking at the Coalition of Resistance conference in London, November 27 http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3523
Video: The Rights of Pachamama – An emotional and inspiring video that was created as a joint project between five indigenous communities in Peru with the message: ‘We wish from out hearts that these rights we are proposing will be added to and that people across the world recover their harmony with our Mother Earth.’ http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3506
Climate change will cost a billion people their homes, says report – British scientists will warn Cancún summit that entire nations could be flooded http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/28/cancun-climate-summit-weather
An Almanac of Extreme Weather http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/opinion/28hedin.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all
Fighting Doom: The New Politics of Climate Change http://tinyurl.com/2ez8zg7
Climate talks: We must not allow Cancún to turn into Can’tCun – Rich, industrialised countries have warned us to keep our expectations low, but we will insist that they aim higher, says Bolivia’s UN ambassador Pablo Solon http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/30/cancun-climate-talks-pablo-salon
COP-16 day 2: the specter of tragedy and Klimaforum http://intlibecosoc.wordpress.com/
The Climate Inaction Conference – Most heads of state aren’t even bothering to show up in Cancún. Ordinary people must step onto the stage of history to organize to force the change that we want to see and that is so urgently needed. http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3534
Climate change will cost a billion people their homes, says report – British scientists will warn Cancún summit that entire nations could be flooded http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/28/cancun-climate-summit-weather
Battlelines drawn for Cancun climate summit: `Nature has no price!’ http://links.org.au/node/2011
The Warming Of Antarctica: A Citadel Of Ice Begins To Melt By Fen Montaigne – The fringes of the coldest continent are starting to feel the heat, with the northern Antarctic Peninsula warming faster than virtually any place on Earth. These rapidly rising temperatures represent the first breach in the enormous frozen dome that holds 90 percent of the world’s ice

http://www.countercurrents.org/montaigne011210.htm

FEATURES
WikiLeaks and the End of U.S. ‘Diplomacy’ http://tinyurl.com/299tbtq
“We Have Not Seen Anything Yet”: Guardian Editor Says Most Startling WikiLeaks Cables Still To Be Released http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/30/we_have_not_seen_anything_yet
Noam Chomsky: WikiLeaks Cables Reveal “Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership” http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/30/noam_chomsky_wikileaks_cables_reveal_profound
Assange Is Headed For Prosecution For Publishing The Truth About U.S. http://tinyurl.com/27esws4
World AIDS Day: A Focus for Action in the Workplace http://www.ituc-csi.org/world-aids-day-a-focus-for-action.html
Michael Lebowitz discusses the socialist alternative and human development http://links.org.au/node/2019
Oceans Of Blood And Profits For The Mongers Of War By Robert Fisk
http://www.countercurrents.org/fisk291110.htm

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS
‘Bailout’ Capitalism: Two Years On http://tinyurl.com/378e9nj
The ultra-rich could solve this financial crisis
http://leap-lrc.blogspot.com/2010/12/ultra-rich-could-solve-this-financial.html
The new decline in US house prices – consequences for the economy and share prices http://ablog.typepad.com/keytrendsinglobalisation/2010/12/the-new-decline-in-us-house-prices.html
Samir Amin: Global currency wars, US imperialism and the global South http://links.org.au/node/2018
Global Poverty Doubled since 1970s: UN – The number of very poor countries has doubled in the last 30 to 40 years, while the number of people living in extreme poverty has also grown two-fold, a UN think-tank warned.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26918.htm
RSA Animate: David Harvey on the Crisis of Capitalism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0&feature=player_embedded#!

AFGHANISTAN
War in Afghanistan Reaches New Heights of Absurdity http://tinyurl.com/2dsbo9s
America’s Failed War in Afghanistan — No Policy Change Is Going to Affect the Outcome http://tinyurl.com/27rmp8o

AUSTRALIA
The desperate story of a Tamil refugee http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/46239
Ark Tribe cleared in building case, in first court test of watchdog’s coercive powers http://tinyurl.com/2amslks
Why calls for a ban on the wearing of the burqa help the racists http://links.org.au/node/2013
Charges dismissed for Swan Island antiwar activists http://indymedia.org.au/2010/11/29/charges-dismissed-for-swan-island-activists

BOLIVIA
Bolivia assails rich, carbon market at Cancun talks http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2010/12/bolivia-assails-rich-carbon-market-at.html

CHINA
China’s workers and the right to food http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/100937
Exacerbation of Corruption and Social Contradictions http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1957

CUBA
The Cuban Revolution: Challenges and Changes – A LeftViews article by Dave Holmes http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=1369
International Left Debates Cuba’s New Economic Measures by Richard Fidler http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=1378

HAITI
International Community Should Reject Haiti’s “Sham” Elections, CEPR Co-Director Says
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/
Haitian election descends into crisis as candidates declare fraud http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/haitian-election-descends-into-crisis-as-candidates-declare-fraud/article1816449/
Haitian human rights lawyer Mario Joseph slams elections http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/11/18/f-clibbon-mario-joseph-qanda-haiti-human-rights.html
Haiti: one more shameful UN betrayal: Cholera is just the latest disaster to be linked to the UN in Haiti – and the election won’t change the nature of the mission http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/23/haiti-shameful-un-betrayal

INDIA
Statement: Arundhati Roy A DECISION FOR KASHMIR’S PEOPLE – The novelist and international activist faces a police investigation into statements in support of freedom for Kashmir.
http://socialistworker.org/2010/11/29/decision-for-kashmir-people
They can file a charge posthumously against Jawaharlal Nehru too By Arundhati Roy http://www.zcommunications.org/they-can-file-a-charge-posthumously-against-jawaharlal-nehru-too-by-arundhati-roy

IRELAND
Fianna Fail/Greens cave in to EU/IMF on `bailout’; Left vows to fight austerity http://links.org.au/node/2009
Dubliners flock to protest against price of EU bailout http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10690693
Ireland should ‘do an Argentina’: The Irish people expected to pay in austerity cuts for their banks’ sins have another option. Reject the ECB and IMF, ditch the euro http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/22/ecb-ireland-bailout-argentina
Ireland on the Edge- a revolution televised http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.com/2010/12/ireland-on-edge-revolution-televised.html
ELEGY FOR THE CELTIC TIGER – Gone are the days when anybody who questioned the magnificence of the Celtic Tiger boom in Ireland could be dismissed as a begrudger.
http://socialistworker.org/2010/11/29/elegy-for-the-celtic-tiger
Chinese animation: Ireland forced to take EU bailout http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHUyCUPb8QU&feature=player_embedded

ITALY
Italian Students Protest Against Education Changes http://www.zcommunications.org/contents/174173

KOREA
Wrong country blamed for artillery exchange on Korean peninsula http://gowans.wordpress.com/
Who’s to blame for the Korea crisis? http://socialistworker.org/print/2010/11/29/blame-for-the-korea-crisis
Obama’s Bush Doctrine In Korea By Shamus Cooke http://www.countercurrents.org/cooke301110.htm

PACIFIC
Tongan general election, 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongan_general_election,_2010
Tongan leader Akilisi Pohiva talks to the Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10690775
Tongan leader pledges grip on MPs’ expenses http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10690767
Power to the people http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10690314
Decline and defiance at the Athens of Tonga http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2010/11/decline-and-defiance-at-athens-of-tonga.html
West Papua: Uncovering the ‘hidden’ conflict – Maire Leadbeater is a spokesperson for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee (Auckland). She recently returned from West Papua, a nation that has faced repression since its occupation by Indonesia in 1963. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/46269
Instead of a report from Tonga http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2010/11/instead-of-report-from-tonga.html
Tapu Misa: King deserves praise for democracy boost http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10689159
Goodbye Fiji Water? Bottling Company Announces It’s Shutting Down Goodbye Fiji Water? Bottling Company Announces It’s Shutting Down http://tinyurl.com/23tyl6l
Fiji Water Reopens Plant After 48-Hour Tax-Protest Shutdown http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/12/01/fiji-water-reopens-plant-after-48-hour-tax-protest-shutdown#ixzz16uZc5rxn

PAKISTAN
Pakistan Unilever Workers Protest for their Demands http://www.marxist.com/pakistan-unilever-workers-protest-for-demands.htm

PALESTINE
There is no “Talibanization” of Gaza http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11639.shtml

PORTUGAL
Poverty Fuels Anger During General Strike in Portugal http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/features/article_1601310.php/Poverty-fuels-anger-during-general-strike-in-Portugal-News-Feature

SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka Execution Video: New War Crimes Claims By Channel 4 News http://www.countercurrents.org/channel4011210.htm

UK
Cartoonist Chris Bird’s take on the actions of a violent minority guilty of wrecking property and endangering human life in the pursuit of a political agenda rejected by the majority of voters. http://tinyurl.com/22qpq8q
Thousands march for troops out of Afghanistan http://tinyurl.com/2a38bf2
London – Police Fail To Kettle Student Protest http://www.thegabber.org/?p=115522
Video: Why students are protesting http://tinyurl.com/37u7rfq
John McDonnell MP speaks to Coalistion of Resistance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl0PMdUMOPw&feature=player_embedded

USA
Compromise on Social Security and Medicare? Why My Center-Left Friends are Wrong By Dean Baker http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/20/compromise_on_social_security_and_medicare_why_my/
800,000 workers losE their unemployment insurance http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/12/01/republicans-pull-the-plug-jobless-help-dies/
Obama Imposes Pay Freeze On 2.1 Million Federal Workers By Tom Eley
http://www.countercurrents.org/eley301110.htm
Why Poverty Spreads Across America By Sherwood Ross
http://www.countercurrents.org/ross301110.htm
Firms See Long-Sought Goal in Sight: Major Pay Cuts
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6694/
Along the Minimum-Wage Battle Front http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/along-the-minimum-wage-battle-front/
Robert Reich: The Big Economic Story, and Why Obama Isn’t Telling It http://robertreich.org/post/2060506381

VENEZUELA
Hugo Chavez’ Address By Fidel Castro http://www.countercurrents.org/castro301110.htm

OLDER ANNOUNCEMENTS

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM ‘CONVERSATION’, AUT DECEMBER 4-5
Barbara Dreaver joins keynote speakers for investigative journalism conference. Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver is the latest keynote speaker to join the Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology conference – New Zealand’s first – at AUT University on December 4/5. She has broken many stories around the region and investigated many key issues. She joins Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times and an Asia-Pacific investigative journalist; New Zealand investigative journalist Nicky Hager and Professor Wendy Bacon, director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism and who runs an environmental investigative journalism programme.
As well as the main conference, the Pacific Media Centre is also hosting a masterclass in investigative journalism for student journalists and younger journalists facilitated by a team of international investigative journalists and a specialist peace journalism seminar organised by Dr Heather Devere of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and Rukhsana Aslam, a peace journalism educator from Pakistan.
Exhibitions of photojournalism by a collective facilitated by Kunda Dixit and New Zealand social issues photographer John Miller (featuring Ngatihine) plus workshops about groundbreaking documentaries by Jim Marbrook and Selwyn Manning are also part of the programme.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity. Registration for the conference is now open. AUT webpage for the conference: http://www.aut.ac.nz/study-at-aut/study-areas/communications/news-and-events/media,-investigative-journalism-and-technology-conference-2010
Conference website (and registration details): http://www.ciri.org.nz/conference2/index.html
• Asia-Pacific and NZ keynote speakers
• Investigative updates, challenges and documentary film workshops
• Investigative photojournalism
• Frames of War photo exhibition
• Masterclass in investigative journalism

Plus:
• A special seminar on peace journalism
• General papers on media, society and technology
AUT University Conference Centre, 9am, Saturday, December 4-Sunday, December 5, 2010.
Practitioners, journalists, academics, researchers, activists, students who work in the creative industries and the public are invited to participate in a Fourth Estate “conversation” at the inaugural Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology Conference 2010.
A legacy of the conference will be the establishment of a collaborative and supportive group dedicated to investigative journalism in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Keynote speakers:
• Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times and visiting New Zealand as the PMC’s 2010 Asian Journalism Fellow, sponsored by the Asia New Zealand Foundation;
• Professor Wendy Bacon, director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism,
• New Zealand investigative journalist and author Nicky Hager.
• Jim Simon, assistant managing editor of the Seattle Times, leader of a team of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists.
Also featured: Frames of War, Dixit and colleagues’ photojournalism exhibition of the 10-year Maoist War in Nepal (opening at 6pm, December 4); Jim Marbrook’s documentary work on the environment and mining conflict in New Caledonia; John Miller’s photojournalism on the Ngatihine forestry issue; Shailendra Singh on investigating corruption in Fiji; and Patrick Matbob on investigative journalism in Papua New Guinea.
Conference chair: PMC director David Robie david.robie@aut.ac.nz
Inquiries – conference organiser: Andrea Steward anj_steward@hotmail.com
Pacific Media Centre www.pmc.aut.ac.nz

JOIN THE MAY DAY 2011 SOLIDARITY BRIGADE TO VENEZUELA! APRIL 25TH – MAY 4TH, 2011
The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network invites you to observe first-hand the inspiring Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela. The sweeping social changes being carried out by Venezuela’s “people’s power” movements are radically transforming life for the majority in that country – workers, women, Indigenous people, young people and all those who have suffered the injustices of poverty, exploitation and exclusion that accompany corporate globalisation. Along the way, this remarkable revolution is showing the rest of the world that a more rational, socially just and sustainable future is possible.
A special feature of the 2011 May Day brigade will be the opportunity it offers to observe the developing workers’ participation and workers’ control that is a vital part of the Venezuelan revolution, with visits to worker-run factories and cooperatives, and meetings with trade union and community management representatives in a variety of sectors and regions. The brigadistas will also observe Venezuela’s grassroots democracy in action, with visits to the social missions, communal councils and communes. They will meet and speak with grassroots activists in the free, high-quality public health and education services; sustainable development projects; community controlled media; and women’s and Indigenous organisations. Joining the huge May Day rally in Caracas on May 1st will be a another highlight.
This brigade is the 12th solidarity and study tour organised by the AVSN. Participants’ reports and photos from previous brigades are available at http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org
Registration and costs: The deadline for registering for the 2011 May Day solidarity brigade is February 28, 2011. Participants will need to book their own international airfares, but the AVSN can help with advice (please do not book without contacting us to confirm the dates). The AVSN will organise all accommodation, transport and English-Spanish translation for the brigade. People joining from Australia will need to budget for a total cost of $3500-4000, which will cover international return airfares (between $2200-2600 from Australia); all food, transport and accommodation (on a shared basis) during the brigade; and the brigade registration fee ($500 for workers or $300 for full-time students, unemployed and pensioners).
For more information about this or future brigades, please email brigades@venezuelasolidarity.org or phone Lisa Macdonald +61 413 031 108, Roberto Jorquera +61 425 182 994 or John Cleary +61 407 500 839.