What’s on in Aotearoa/NZ (10/12/15)

WHAT’S ON IN AOTEAROA

Thursday, December 10, 6.00 – 8.30pm (Light refreshments at 6.00pm), WG 801, Sir Paul Reeves Building, AUT, Wellesley Campus, Auckland
What chance for democracy in BURMA? Updates on Burma – come along to hear our speakers:
Stanley Saw – Burmese migrant in NZ since 1977. He works in administration at Auckland University. He is an observer and commentator on Burmese politics. He will give an overview of the situation in Burma, focusing on the November election.
Cicilia Dwe, Karen refugee, born in the Burma-Thai border. She arrived in NZ in 2001, aged 10, as part of the UNHCR programme. Recently a student, she will focus on the situation of the Karen people.
Rahmat Ullah, Rohingya refugee, a painter. He arrived in NZ in 2008 as part of the UNHCR programme. Originally from Arakan state in Burma. He will talk about the oppression of the Rohingya people.
Organised by the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Coalition (APHRC) in partnership with the Pacific Media Centre. For more information: Kevin McBride 021681686 Koha welcome

Saturday, December 12, St John’s in the City (Willis/Dixon Streets). Wellington
Our upcoming climate justice gathering, Change Everything, on Saturday 12 December, features some awesome inspiring activists and thinkers from around Aotearoa. We would love it if you would come along, as well as share this with your friends and supporters. Here’s a sneak peak of the day’s speakers and workshops. If you haven’t already registered to come, please do so here.
Resist: capitalism, colonialism & the climate. We’re kicking off the gathering by grasping at the roots of the climate crisis. Jean Kahui (Frack Free Kapiti), Pala Molisa (VUW) and Trish Tupou (co-convener, Pasifika Greens Network) will link up the history and experiences of people on the front lines of climate change with the ongoing global story of colonial and capitalist plunder and exploitation.
Build: anti-capitalism, decolonisation and the climate. A different vision for dealing with climate change starts with the idea of climate justice; this kind of justice recognises that the systems that created the problem are not going to solve it. Speakers James Barber (Oil Free Wellington), Frances Mountier (Oil Free Wellington) and Emily Bailey (Climate Justice Taranaki) address the limits of green capitalism, state vs community solutions to climate change, and why decolonisation is a just solution.
Work, poverty & housing: a climate justice vision. What’s the relationship of poverty, work and housing to climate change and injustice? Speakers Nadia Abu-Shanab (Auckland Action Against Poverty,) Conor Twyford (Union Climate Action) Jordan King (Renters United!) will talk about solutions that radically alter the current paradigm and provide real answers to climate change.
A direct action approach to climate organising. Political solutions to climate change have been extremely limited and ineffective. It’s time for us to take the action necessary to solve the climate crisis ourselves. Community climate organiser Urs Signer (Climate Justice Taranaki) will facilitate a workshop and discussion on how direct action can be an effective part of stopping fossil fuel extraction at the source.
Tino rangatiratanga, oil claims and resistance: This year, the Waitangi Tribunal said that the hapū of Northland never ceded sovereignty to the crown. Despite this, the government continues to act as if it has the right to auction off vast areas of land and sea there to oil companies for oil and gas exploration. Local people have been waging a massive campaign of resistance to Statoil (the Norwegian company granted rights), and now a formal claim has been lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal that the government is in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi over these permits. Activists Rueben Taipari and Heeni Hoterene will tell their story about confronting the company and demanding an end to exploration in their rohe.
Change Everything is being held at St John’s in the City (Willis/Dixon Streets).
The weekend of Change Everything will be the weekend that climate change negotiations in Paris end. It will be more important than ever to empower our own communities to take the action needed to address climate change, and to send a strong message to the oil (and other fossil fuel) industries who are planning to expand their fossil fuel extraction that they are not welcome in Aotearoa / New Zealand.
There will also be an action happening the following day. Further details about this are on our website and facebook. This and the upcoming action are public so please tell your friends and family!
We look forward to seeing you! The Oil Free Wellington crew

Saturday, December 12, 8pm, Thirsty Dog, Karangahape Rd, Aucklanmd
WHEN SINATRA WAS A RED!
Before One Direction, before the Rolling Stones, before even Elvis—there was Frank Sinatra, the first pop superstar.
No one sang like Frank.

In the 1940s, hip dolls fainted and swooned at his concerts.

Hip guys copied his looks.
Even Donald Duck dressed like Frank!
Today he’s remembered as an entertainer who sided with Republican politicians like Nixon and Reagan, hung out with mobsters and swaggered about Las Vegas with his cronies singing, “I did it my way…”
But there was another side to Sinatra, an early radical Frank.
He emerged from a political and historical context—the great flood of poverty-stricken European immigrants washed up on the shores of America at the end of the 19th century, the catastrophic economic depression that followed in the 1930s, then a world war meant to establish a peace worth fighting for…
At the height of his popularity, in the 1940s, Sinatra was branded a Red, a commo—ol’ pinko eyes.
He was one of the first major stars of the era to stand shoulder to shoulder with the poor and the oppressed.
While Bing Crosby was crooning to a Republican tune, Sinatra was backing Roosevelt’s New Deal of state-funded work schemes and nationalised industries.
Asked by a reporter in 1946 what he considered the biggest problem America faced in its post-war world he replied, “Poverty… Every kid in the world should have his quart of milk a day.”
The great bandleader Duke Ellington remembered Sinatra in the 1940s as being the leader of the campaign against race hatred.
All of this, and all Sinatra’s great songs, will be remembered at Bloomsday Productions’ December show at the Thirsty Dog on Karangahape Road, Saturday night, December 12—the very day Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, one hundred years ago in 1915.
A century later to the day, Linn Lorkin & Friends will be celebrating Sinatra— “You Make Me Feel So Young”… “Old Devil Moon” … “One For My Baby, And One More For The Road” … and the Popular Front, the United Auto Workers’ sit-down strike in Michigan, the Westfield Freezing Workers’ stay-in strike in south Auckland…
Frank Sinatra, born Dec. 12, 1915, nine-time Grammy winner, died in 1998 at the age of 82, remembered by Linn Lorkin & Friends, Thirsty Dog K Rd, Saturday night Dec 12, 8pm

Sunday, December 13, 10am to 1pm, Unite Union Office, 6A Western Springs Road, Kingsland, Auckland
Kia ora koutou, State Housing Action network is taking the initiative to call together as many housing groups as possible for a meeting on 13 December. The date is not ideal but we think it’s important to have a discussion before the end of this year as to how we can better co-ordinate opposition to government housing policies in 2016. I’ll be circulating the invite as widely as I can and it would be good if others can do the sam. It’s not an attempt to get large numbers of people but to get as many reps. of groups together as possible to look at how we can better co-ordinate together in 2016 to challenge government policy and put the housing crisis for low-income families to the forefront of public debate. Warm regards to everyone. John Minto. Convenor. Ph 0220850161

Friday, December 18, 2-4pm, Owen G Glen Business School, CaseRoom3 (260-055), University of Auckland
Temporary Migration and Urban Incorporation. Principal Investigator: Francis Collins (Geography, University of Auckland). Research Findings and Collaboration. The project on ‘Temporary Migration and Urban Incorporation’ is exploring the lives of people in Auckland on temporary study and work visas, their experiences in the workplace and their aspirations for the future. In this meeting initial findings from a survey and interviews with students and workers will be presented. The aim of this project and the meeting is to establish a knowledge base for further research and action in relation to temporary migration policy, the lives of migrants and their place in Auckland and Aotearoa-New Zealand. Potential future research and action collaborations include: Employment and workplace issues; Work and study; Housing and settlement; Migrant incorporation; Transitions to residence. If you wish to attend please RSVP to Francis Collins (f.collins) by December 15th.

January 22-24, 2016
Come To Waihopai Spy Base Protest,
http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/waihopai/2016/Waihop69.pdf

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Applications for 2016 Peace Scholarships open on Human Rights Day
White Poppies for Peace

Applications for White Poppy Peace Scholarships for research during the 2016 academic year open today – Human Rights Day – on the sixty-seventh anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The Peace Scholarships are awarded to assist students at any tertiary education institution in Aotearoa New Zealand with the costs of research that includes analysis of militarism, militarisation, military deployment or armed conflict (as outlined below) – historically and / or in the present. Preference is given to research focussed on Aotearoa New Zealand, although applications for research focussed on the Pacific will be considered. Information about how to apply for the Peace Scholarships is included below.

How to apply for a Peace Scholarship
Guidelines for applicants are available at peacescholarship The deadline for applications for Peace Scholarships to assist with research in the 2016 academic year is Friday, 11 March 2016.