GPJA #486 (1 of 2): Special Memorial for Nelson Mandela – Rugby Park Hamilton 8.30pm this Sunday

December 11, 2013 Leave a comment

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER No. 486, DECEMBER 11, 2013

Special Memorial for Nelson Mandela – Rugby Park Hamilton 8.30pm this Sunday
The time and place are very significant because it was events on 25 July 1981 on the field at Rugby Park Hamilton which brought such joy and jubilation to Nelson Mandela who by that time had spent 17 years in prison on Robben Island.
As we all now know when Mandela heard that this Springboks Versus Waikato rugby game (the first ever televised live to South Africa) had been stopped by anti-apartheid protestors invading the field he said the prisoners gripped the bars of their cell doors and rattled them around the prison in sheer delight. He said it was like the sun came out.
The timing of the event is to coincide with the burial of Mandela in his home town of Qunu.
There will be an opportunity for those who wish to say a few words as part of this event.
Speakers will include:

Former HART Chairperson John Minto
Green MP Kevin Hague

Discussion is underway for authorised access to the ground rather than the unauthorised access in 1981…
The facebook link to the event is here https://www.facebook.com/events/559889594085123/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

Regards,
John Minto
0220850161
johnminto

WHAT’S ON IN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND

Thursday December 12, 7.30pm, Unite Union, 6a Western Springs Rd, Morningside
Mandela, Apartheid and the South African Revolution – a Socialist Aotearoa forum
https://www.facebook.com/events/668693506484530/

Friday, December 13, 7pm, Unite Office, 6a Western Springs Rd, Kingsland, Auckland
Bernadette – a film. A fearless, fiercely articulate Irish Republican firebrand in a miniskirt, Bernadette Devlin became Britain’s youngest elected female MP at 21 in 1969. Her maiden speech was a stinging attack on the British in Ireland; and when Home Secretary Reginald Maudling claimed that the British army had fired in self-defence on Bloody Sunday she strode across the House of Commons and punched him. Veteran Irish producer Lelia Doolan, a significant mover and shaker herself, has worked for ten years to produce a rousing and thorough picture of this woman who was once recognisable throughout the Western world as the embodiment of politicised youth in revolt. She’s survived imprisonment, a near-miss assassination attempt and years of struggle within and on behalf of the Republican cause. She remains a committed activist and organiser. Doolan builds the film around her own interviews with an often wry, but enduringly passionate, Devlin. The wealth of archival footage should convince any newcomer to her remarkable story that she was once a riveting fixture on the nightly news and an unstoppable force for change

Wednesday, December 18, 5.30pm to 7pm, Community Hall, 30 The Terrace, Wellington

Hot Topics in Humanitarian Disarmament. You are invited to a public forum on: incendiary weapons, killer robots, and nuclear weapons. An update on recent international developments, future possibilities, and discussion on New Zealand’s position, with:

Mary Wareham: Advocacy Director, Arms Division, Human Rights Watch; Coordinator, Global Campaign to Stop Killer Robots; and Edwina Hughes: Coordinator, iCAN Aotearoa New Zealand and Aotearoa New Zealand Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Entrance via pathway on south side of St Andrew’s On The Terrace. Please RSVP to Peace Movement Aotearoa pma tel 04 382 8129 or at www.facebook.com/PeaceMovementAotearoa/events

The A4 poster for this event is available at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/hd-forum,wellington18Dec13.pdf

Friday, December 20, 6pm, People’s Cinema, 57 Manners St, Wellington

The Freedom Shop is ending the year with a film that is less overtly political and a little more entertaining, but not without a moral or two…. ‘What to Do in Case of Fire’ is set in Berlin. It’s 1987 and six young squatters are busy fighting street battles with police, smoking a lot of dope and then film themselves making a home-made pressure-cooker bomb. But the bomb is a dud and soon forgotten. However, 12 years later it does go off – but the group have long since disbanded and some of them are a bit more conservative and traditional than they used to be… So come and join us for the last film screening of the year – ‘What to Do in Case of Fire’. Time: Doors open: 6pm – Film starts: 6.30pm. Entry by Koha Links: http://freedomshopaotearoa.blogspot.co.nz/ – https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesCinema

January 24-26, 2014

CLOSE THE WAIHOPAI SPYBASE NOW! Organised by the Anti-Bases Campaign, P.O. Box 2258, Christchurch. E-mail abc www.converge.org.nz/abc

Saturday, January 25, 10am, Nativity Church Hall, 76 Alfred St, Blenheim

Blenheim public meeting on the morning of Saturday January 25th, on the wider issues of spying, to put Waihopai into context. We see this as a continuation of the 2013 protests and meetings about the infamous GCSB Bill (and its companion TICS Bill). SPIES AND LIES

WAIHOPAI AND GLOBAL SPYING. Speakers at that public meeting will be Jane Kelsey, John Minto and ABC’s Warren Thomson.

Murray Horton, ABC. Anti-Bases Campaign, Box 2258, Christchurch, New Zealand. abc / www.converge.org.nz/abc / https://www.facebook.com/AotearoaABC

ANNOUNCEMENTS

UNION ORGANISERS WANTED FOR SOUTH ISLAND AND WELLINGTON

Unite Union is looking to employ full-time and part-time organisers to be based in Wellington and Christchurch. Both organisers will have a primary repsonsibility for visiting, recruiting and representing workers in the fast food industry, cinemas, hotels and security.

Organisers need to have some experience as a union delegate, being an advocate for workers and beneficiaries or organising experience in community movements. A knowledge of current industrial law would be an advantage.

Applicants need to be computer literate. A current drivers licence is essential as substantial travel will be required.

Applications should be sent by email to Unite National Director Mike Treen mike by 5pm, Friday, December 20.

GUY STANDING VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND FEBRUARY 2014

Guy Standing, author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class in 2011 who spoke at several events in New Zealand early this year, is coming back to NZ in February 2014. His new book A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens is due to be published in April 2014. See here. This will focus more on ‘what can be done’. As you know the CTU also published a document on insecure work in October and that included recommendations for action. A number of events are being organised (details still being finalised) including:

· Monday 24th February, 2014 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. hosted by University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology.

· A seminar in Wellington on Wednesday 26th February (time to be confirmed)

· Discussion and brief presentation in afternoon of CTU National Affiliates Council at our 27th February meeting in Wellington

· Social event Friday late afternoon/evening in Wellington.

BEST ON THE WEB

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