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GPJA #491 (1 of 2): What’s On & News from Aotearoa – 21/2/14

February 21, 2014 Leave a comment

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER No. 491, FEBRUARY 21, 2014

WHAT’S ON IN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND

Tuesday, February 25, 7.45-9am, St John’s Church Hall, Cnr Willis and Dixon Sts.
Start the Day for Equal Pay: A breakfast fundraiser to support. Email Suzanne McNabb suzanne.mcnabb or Nanette Cormack nanette.cormack to secure your ticket now. $20 for breakfast; $25 for breakfast and a glass of champagne; $10 for caregivers; $20 for a “solidarity” ticket if you can’t make it but want to show your support.

Tuesday, February 25, 4:30pm until 7:30pm, Alleluja Cafe, St Kevins Arcade, Auckland
CTU Stand Up and PSA Youth present: Precarious youth: Challenging insecure work. Guy Standing, author of the The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class and the soon to be released A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens, is visiting New Zealand in February and we’ve managed to secure him for a youth workshop in Auckland on Tuesday 25th February. Guy will talk about the growing underclass of young people in insecure work, people without stable employment or a clear occupational identity, and the reasons for this. It’ll also be a chance for Guy, young union members, and anyone else interested, to discuss how to challenge insecure work and what we need to do. Finger food will be provided and drinks can be purchased at the bar. Please invite anyone you think might be interested in attending this event.

Friday, February 28, 5.30pm, Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace, Wellington.
Trans-Pacfic Partnership Agreement: Political and Economic Implications. Come to hear Terence O’Brien and Dr Geoff Bertram discuss the above topic. The Trans-Pacific Partnership needs to be viewed in a wider context for its political and economic implications both globally and regionally; and NZ’s direct interest in these broader dimensions. Terence O’Brien will discuss New Zealand’s wider political and diplomatic interests, and Dr Geoff Bertram will look at TPP economic issues, in particular the Government’s claimed net benefits of $4-5 billion of annual gains which rests on a single economic modelling report which does not stand up to scrutiny. All welcome; If you would like to attend please register here. Please pass this invitation on to anyone else you think may be interested. Warm regards, Mike Smith, Chair, NZ Fabian Society

Saturday, May 10, 7.30pm, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington.
DREAMS LIE DEEPER – A CONCERT COMMEMORATING MINERS EVERYWHERE. The Orpheus Choir of Wellington, the city’s much-acclaimed symphonic choir, has programmed a major concert entitled Dreams Lie Deeper, as a tribute to miners the world over. It brings together three premières of choral music dedicated to miners, inspired by historical events that recall the tragedies, the struggles and also the rejoicing when rescue from a mining disaster was achieved. The theme of the evening will be dedicated to mining communities and a commemoration of events that have irrevocably changed the course of their lives.

The major work in the programme is the New Zealand première of 17 Days, by young UK composer James McCarthy. He was commissioned to compose a piece by Crouch End Festival Chorus, dedicated to the dramatic rescue of the Chilean miners in 2010. The work was premiered in the Barbican Theatre London in 2011 and received a standing ovation; a second performance last year was received with the same acclamation. It is a very moving expression of the tremendous emotion the whole world felt during those 17 days when the miners were underground and no word had yet been heard from them.

At our concert, the award-winning Wellington Brass Band and Wellington Young Voices, a recently established children’s choir in the city, join us in this very powerful presentation.

The second première is If Blood Be the Price, a work by New Zealand composer Ross Harris, inspired by the 1912 Waihi Miners’ Strike, and is set to a poem by NZ Poet Laureate Vincent O’Sullivan. The significance of the tragic consequence of the industrial action by those Waihi workers is indelibly written into mining history in this country, and the performance will be an evocative reminder of the working life of those who work under the ground.

The final focus of "Dreams Lie Deeper" will be on the tragedy that threw a whole community into turmoil and brought their plight into every New Zealand household overnight – the Pike River Mine disaster. The concert will showcase a new work by high profile and well-loved singer/songwriter, Dave Dobbyn, who has been commissioned to write both the lyrics and music for a tribute to the miners who lost their lives in the tragedy of 2011.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

"PEACE RESEARCHER" 46, DECEMBER 2013, ONLINE NOW
http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/prcont46.html

John Key Says Yanks Not Spying On Him – by Murray Horton
Spooky Bits – by Warren Thomson
The GCSB’s Legal Baseball Bat – by John Minto
GCSB Bill A Threat To Anti-TPPA Campaigners – by Jane Kelsey
Why Did The GCSB Cross The Road? – by Adrian Leason
The Rocky Tiger Ploughshares Trial – by Sean O’Reilly
The Challenge Of Climate Wars – by Dennis Small
CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account – by Warren Brewer, Organiser Account Treasurer
A Living Wage Is Our Issue – by Warren Brewer
Reviews – by Jeremy Agar: "Friendly Fire: Nuclear Politics And The Collapse Of ANZUS, 1984-1987", by Gerald Hensley; "The General: The Ordinary Man Who Challenged Guantanamo", by Ahmed Errachidi
Obituary: Bob Leonard – by Murray Horton. Tributes To Bob Leonard. Christchurch Memorial Meeting For Bob by Murray Horton

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’.

Auckland: Monday 24th February, 2-4pm, The University of Auckland, Owen G Glen Building, Grafton Road, OGGB 5 on Level 0. Hosted by University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology.
Wellington: Wednesday, February 26, 12.30-1.30pm, Lecture Theatre 2, Ground Floor, Rutherford House, Bunny St.

SOCIAL SECURITY—THE MUSICAL!

The story of New Zealand’s Social Security Act of 1938 is one of our great stories.

And now that whole story is coming up on stage in Wellington in Once We Built A Tower.

It starts in the Waitaki valley, North Otago.

In 1928 a hydro dam was being built across the Waitaki river, near Kurow, with hillside camps to accommodate its work-force.

A Waitaki Hydro Medical Association was established as a health insurance scheme for the workers and their families and a doctor, Gervan McMillan, employed as medical officer.

Dr McMillan began bumping into the local Presbyterian minister and subsequent Party leader Arnold Nordmeyer, and the headmaster of Kurow District High, Andrew Davidson.

All three were Presbyterians, committed Christians believing in practical Christianity.

It was the time of the great slump. The trio discussed the hardship and desperation that the people of the Waitaki valley and the whole of the country were suffering.

They came up with a plan for national welfare based on the medical scheme operating at the dam. The doctor presented this to the Labour Party in 1934 who endorsed it as Labour’s Social Security platform.

The following year the doctor and the minister stood as Labour Party candidates in the General Election and were elected in a Labour landslide.

Jerusalem!

… Then came the hard work bit.

Labour had won control of the treasury benches, but New Zealand was a country devastated by economic depression and with a stubbornly entrenched ruling class opposed to reform.

It took three years of hard graft by the doctor and the Presbyterian minister before the Labour government finally passed legislation aimed at ending poverty in New Zealand.

Set in the 30s, Once We Built A Tower takes us back to Labour’s roots—and with fabulous music: “It’s only a Paper Moon,” “Pennies from Heaven,” “Brother Can You Spare a Dime.”

A hydro dam is constructed on stage.

There’s a power station so cathedral-like it requires Gregorian Chant.

There’s the winner of the Miss New Zealand contest 1928 who goes to Los Angeles and a studio engagement at MGM but is disappointed, saying it’s all sex and drink and she doesn’t drink… There’s Frances Nordmeyer, who keeps seeing the 19th century prophet Te Maiharoa…

Best of all, there’s Ethel McMillan, wife of fast-movin’, hard-talkin’ Dr. Gervan, who once wrote of her husband, “Had I known he would turn out to be a flaming red revolutionary, I probably never would have married him!”

You couldn’t make it up! Socialist miserabilism it’s not!

Presented by 2013 Chapman Tripp Theatre Critics’ Award winners (“Guts, Determination, Kiwi Ingenuity and Inspired Profligacy with Zero Budget”) The Bacchanals, it’s a great night out!

Once We Built a Tower, Bats theatre, Wellington, March 11-15.

HELP NEEDED: COMMUNITY FUNDED FEATURE FILM – "THE Z NAIL GANG"

From the director of the Greens Election Campaign Advert in 2011, Anton Steel, comes a community resourced feature film based on the anti-mining protests in the Coromandel in the 1980s The film depicts how a disparate community coming together united to defy the government & multinational mining operations. This film is an action-comedy that is light hearted but opens the door to the debates around current decisions being made by government in relation to mining & drilling. Anton plans to release this film in October this year, pre-election. This film is being made completely differently from the conventional film making methods – it’s got a zero budget and we’re using an Asset Based Community Development model, drawing on the strengths, talents and resources of the community around us and our wider networks to support its production. This is where you come in – we’d love to invite you to financially contribute ($5 upwards) to this film being made – here’s a link to a video for more details. Anton & Kylie Steel Ph: 027 2867993, www.znailgang.net.nz

MURRAY HORTON SPEAKING TOUR: MARCH-MAY 2014 – WHO’S RUNNING THE SHOW? AND IN WHOSE INTERESTS?

We want an independent Aotearoa, based on policies of economic, military and political self-reliance, using Aotearoa’s resources for the benefit of the people of Aotearoa.

This country needs people power to let the world know that Aotearoa is not for sale.

Murray Horton, spokesperson for the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) and the Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC), will speak on:

People’s Rights Before Corporate Profit
Public Service Not Private Profit
An Independent Foreign Policy
No Unjust Secret Treaties

See below for the national itinerary (as of January 2014). Full details will be publicised when all the details have been finalised. You can check out details of this speaking tour (such as venues, speaking times and local contact people) at http://tinyurl.com/cafcatour

ITINERARY

Monday March 31 – Dunedin

Tuesday April 1 – Timaru

Wednesday April 2 – Ashburton

Monday April 14 – Takaka

Tuesday April 15 – Nelson (2013 Roger Award event)

Wednesday April 16 – Blenheim

Monday May 5 – Auckland

Tuesday May 6 – Whangarei

Wednesday May 7 – Kaitaia

Monday May 12 – Hamilton

Tuesday May 13 – Te Awamutu

Wednesday May 14 – Thames

Thursday May 15 – Waihi

Monday May 19 – Ohope & Opotiki

Tuesday May 20 – Gisborne

Wednesday May 21 – Clive

Thursday May 22- Palmerston North

Monday May 26 – Whanganui

Tuesday May 27 – Paekakariki

Wednesday May 28 – Wellington

CAFCA & ABC, Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa, Foreign Control Watchdog, Anti-Bases Campaign

Box 2258, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

cafca

abc

www.cafca.org.nz

www.converge.org.nz/watchdog
www.converge.org.nz/abc

Facebook (CAFCA) http://tinyurl.com/cafcafb

Watchblog: http://tinyurl.com/watchblog

twitter:@NZN4S

Facebook (ABC) https://www.facebook.com/AotearoaABC

APPLICATIONS FOR 2014 PEACE SCHOLARSHIPS OPEN ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

Applications for White Poppy Peace Scholarships for research during the 2014 academic year opened today, Human Rights Day, on the sixty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The Peace Scholarships comprise at least two grants that are awarded each year to assist students at any tertiary education institution in Aotearoa New Zealand with the costs of research that includes analysis of one or more of these topics: the impacts of militarism, militarisation, military deployment and / or warfare; alternatives to militarism, militarisation, military deployment and / or warfare; opposition to militarism, militarisation, military deployment and / or warfare; military recruitment practices and messaging; state construction of national identity based on militarism and militarisation; the military-industrial complex; or media coverage of militarism, militarisation, military deployment and / or warfare. Research may be on the historical and / or present-day aspects of any of the above topics. Information about how to apply for, and support, the Peace Scholarships is included below.

Links: On Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/notes/peace-movement-aotearoa/applications-for-2014-peace-scholarships-open-on-human-rights-day/605258732854833 Formatted version – http://www.peacescholar.org.nz

VENEZUELA BRIGADE REPORT

Dear friends of Venezuela, Attached info In solidarity, Lisa Macdonald,

JOIN THIS YEAR’S AUSTRALIAN SOLIDARITY DELEGATION TO VENEZUELA DECEMBER 2 – 13, 2014

Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network. Registrations are now open for the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network’s 2014 solidarity tour to revolutionary Venezuela.

http://links.org.au/node/3700

OBAMA – FREE THE CUBA 5 – SIGN NOW

Why this is important. Freedom for Five Cuban anti-terrorists unjustly imprisoned in the US.

The objective of the Five was to protect innocent lives in Cuba. The Cuban Five collected evidence of terrorists’ plots from Cuban American groups in Miami, which was then presented to the FBI. On June 17, 1998, a historic meeting was held in Havana. There, Cuban officials implored U.S. law enforcement officials to act on evidence presented, in order to end the cycle of terror. Instead of arresting the terrorists, the FBI rounded up the Cuban Five.

Fernando González, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández, and Ramón Labañino were arrested on September 12, 1998, and placed in solitary conﬁnement for 17 months. They were charged with failure to disclose themselves as foreign agents, to several counts of conspiracy. The Cuban Five were denied the right to an unbiased jury trial. The jury was intimidated, witnesses were bullied by the prosecution, and defense lawyers were denied access to some evidence. The Cuban Five were unjustly sentenced to four life terms and 75 years collectively.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Obama_Administration_Free_the_Cuban_5/

FOREIGN CONTROL WATCHDOG 134 JANUARY 2014

Corporate Welfare: Government Ensures Every Day Is Christmas For TNCs by Murray Horton
2013 Roger Award Finalists Named by Murray Horton
Ten Ways The TPPA Binds NZ’s Future Choices www.itsourfuture.org.nz
Have Economists (And Politicians) Learned Anything? Five Years Since The Lehman Brothers Collapse by Bill Rosenberg
Westpac Finances Bathurst: Foreign Bank Funds Foreign Coal Miner To Destroy NZ Biodiversity & Global Climate by Jeanette Fitzsimons
Staking Out Our Future: The Travails Of Global Capitalism by Dennis Small
The Politics & Economics Of Breakfast: Where Does Our Peanut Butter Come From? by Liz Gordon
State Leadership In New Zealand Economic Development by Brian Easton
2013 CAFCA Annual General Meeting Minutes, CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account: Financial Report 2012/13 by Warren Brewer
A Living Wage Is Our Issue by Warren Brewer
Reviews by Jeremy Agar: End This Depression Now by Paul Krugman;

Prosperity, Poverty, Or Extinction? Humanity’s Choices by Allen Cookson;

World Investment Report 2013 United Nations Conference On Trade And Development.

The GCSB’s Legal Baseball Bat by John Minto
Obituary by Murray Horton: Bob Leonard

http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/34/index34.html

2013 ROGER AWARD PEOPLE’S CHOICE

Cast your vote at http://tinyurl.com/rogerPC

The organisers of the Roger Award for the Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in Aotearoa/New Zealand in 2013 invite you to have your say by voting online for the People’s Choice winner. This is an online poll only; the field is restricted to the seven finalists for the 2013 Roger Award listed at the People’s Choice Website, along with brief information about why each of them was selected; the People’s Choice winner will be announced at the same April 15th event in Nelson at which the Roger Award judges announce their winner. The judges’ choice is the actual winner of the Roger Award and, as always, will be accompanied by a detailed Judges’ Report and Financial Analysis. There will be no equivalent reports about the People’s Choice winner. Please help to publicise this. Spread the word. Here is the December 2013 press release listing the seven finalists and why they were selected; plus some details about the Roger Award.
Murray Horton, Secretary/Organiser

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Arthur Taylor subject to cruel inhuman treatment – Ombudsman: chief executive implicated. http://brookingblog.com/2014/02/16/arthur-taylor-subject-to-cruel-inhuman-treatment-ombudsman-chief-executive-implicated/

Obama Reveals Key Misleading On Spying http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1402/S00138/obama-reveals-key-misleading-on-spying.htm

Deep sea drilling: The spirit of Mururoa? http://fightback.org.nz/2014/01/24/deep-sea-drilling-the-spirit-of-mururoa/