Manslaughter Charges Announced in Palm Island Death in Custody

28/01/2007

Australia Day. Invasion Day. Survival Day. To indigenous Australians it is a symbol of the ongoing war and genocide of aboriginal people. Outside Parliament House when it was announced "Hurley is going to be charged with manslaughter," people cheered. At last the prospect of a small amount of justice in regards to the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomagee at the Palm Island Police Lockup, North Queensland.. [Read more...]

Robbie Thorpe summed up the mood in Melbourne: "Instead of celebrating the invasion help us stop this war and we can have a real day to celebrate together. Inclusive of all people in this country..." Robbie Thorpe on the Australian Genocide.

In Brisbane there was jubilation as Manslaughter charges were announced regarding the Death in Custody on Palm Island. [Second report]

Australia Day Commemorates the European Invasion | Indigenous Resistance Fighters Remembered | Indigenous Resistance in the Hidden Frontier War in Victoria

Ballarat: Eureka Australia Day Medals Awarded

5/12/2006

The fight to defend rights and liberties of the Australian gold-miners 152 years ago still resonates with activists today with the presentation of the Eureka Australia Day Medals by the Anarchist Media Institute.

The Military attack on the Eureka Stockade on 3rd December 1854 was commemorated in Ballarat with a Diggers March, a Dawn Lantern Walk, a vigil at the Eureka Monument (audio), a Dawn Oration (audio), and a 12km march through the streets of Ballarat to Bakery Hill and the old Ballarat Cemetery. [Full Story]

More Audio: Comments on the history of the Diggers Memorial (audio) and Soldiers Memorial (audio).

Reclaiming the Radical spirit of the Eureka Rebellion
Wikipedia: The Eureka Stockade

Eureka Dawn Walk: Justice for David Hicks

1/12/2006

The Eureka152 Dawn Lantern Walk will be conducted this year in Ballarat as a remembrance of the injustice being suffered by David Hicks. "David Hicks is an Australian citizen and a great great grandson of a Eureka stockader," said the Dawn Walk producer Graeme Dunstan. This year is Eureka's 152nd anniversary.

December 9 has been declared an International Day of Action for David Hicks. According to Major Mori, all it would take is for the Attorney-General to make a telephone call [to Washington] and David would be coming home. Major Mori has slammed the new Guantanamo Commissions after the US Supreme Court ruled the Military Commissions illegal.

Peacebus.com | Sedition Charter |
Eureka 2005 | Eureka 2004 (1, 2) | Eureka 2003

Autogeddon - a Comedy on Car Culture

07/10/2006

A comedy play about the end of the world by motorcar has become a cult hit in Melbourne. Autogeddon the play is based on an epic poem :

"Half the world’s paychecks are auto-related,
Half the world’s resources are auto-devoted,
And half the world will be involved in an auto-accident
At some time during their life.
Take the precaution of attaching the chrome fender to a car,
Hit someone over the head with it, and kill them?
Six months suspended.
Licence briefly withheld."
  Excerpt from the poem by Heathcote Williams.

autogeddon.com.au | Aussietheatre Review
Background Briefing 2003 - The Cars that ate Cities
CarFree Cities | Culture Change | Less Traffic | Worldcarfree.net
Public Transport Users Association | Critical Mass

Software Freedom Day Populises Gnu/Linux

12/09/2006

The third annual Software Freedom Day will be held on 16 September, with 15 teams around Australia set to celebrate open source and copyleft software such as Linux. Pia Waugh, President of Software Freedom International, said "You just need to Google the blogosphere to get a taste of the growing excitement across the planet. From Kenya, to Canada, to Malaysia, users, enthusiasts and supporters will be out in force sharing what they know and giving away goodies such as Free Software." [Read More]

Ubuntu: Freedom on the Desktop | Melbourne events | Linux Australia | Linux Users Victoria

Mabo Day Celebrated

3/06/2006

2006 marks the 14th anniversary of Mabo Day, the date when the High Court of Australia handed down its landmark decision in the Mabo case in 1992, finding that there was prior occuption and ownership of the land, thus overturning the doctine of Terra Nullius. It could form the basis for reconcilation based on justice between indigenous Australians and those who have settled here from Europe and other parts of the globe. [Full Story]

Make MABO DAY - 3 June - an Australian Public Holiday

Reclaiming the Origins of Mothers' Day

12/05/2006

"Mother's Day is coming up. But most of us don't know the origin of the day. It was not a day to thank your mother for what she does before shops made it that way. It actually started as "Mothers' Day" (note where the apostrophe is) and it was the day for mothers to march demanding end of wars and peace." says an Indymedia contributor. Accordingly, Women for Peace are organising a Mothers' Day Peace Vigil outside NIKE on Saturday.

Codepink: Mother's Day 2006: A Call for Peace!
Mothers' Day Proclamation (1870) by Julia Ward Howe
The origins of Mothers' Day by Ruth Rosen in the San Fransisco Chronicle

Seditious Intent: Short Film Collection

24/04/2006

Seditious intent is an online collection of 17 short films all dealing with the Australian Government’s draconian new anti-terrorism laws. The laws make it an offence to:

• bring the Sovereign into hatred or contempt;
• urge disaffection against the Constitution, the Government of the Commonwealth or either House of the Parliament;
• urge another person to attempt, otherwise than by lawful means, to procure a change to any matter established by law in the Commonwealth;

From the slick to the raw and edgy, ranging from fiction, faction, animation, claymation, subverts to adverts, all the Seditious Intent videos are available on the web for you to download, watch, share or screen. [Full Story]

You can check out the collection at Spinach7 or EngageMedia.

Further info on the sedition laws: Civil Rights Network | Wikipedia

Political Amnesia and Howard's Ten Years

05/03/2006

From the newswire
"The mainstream press's analysis of "Ten Years of Howard" has involved a massive dose of political amnesia. A pattern of Government lies and racism is all but ignored. Instead Howard is lauded for his "mainstream" values and for keeping down interest rates." according to one Indymedia correspondent. [ Full Story ]

On Friday night Howard's 10 year party in Toorak was gatecrashed. (More photos)

Obscene Tax Payer Funded Rites for Capitalist Monarch

16/02/2006

Kerry Packer is dead, but even in death he rips off the tax-payer. "Eulogies at today's taxpayer-funded service will be read by the Prime Minister, John Howard, the cricket commentator Richie Benaud and the actor Russell Crowe." (SMH 17 Feb 2006) The Packer family sent out invitations to a thousand select people. Sydney Activist, Peter McGregor, sent out his own invitation for a dis-memorial event encouraging activists to celebrate...[Full Story]

Irony: New Public Holiday Feb 17th | Packer Parasite Carks It
Sydney Indymedia

Bullying Behaviour: Breaking The Boys Code

30/01/2006

With the start of the school year, bullying behaviour will become more visible. A good time to explore the specific dynamics of bullying, bullying's history and our responses to bullying. Andrew Lavin dissects a number of key factors concerning the development of understandings of masculinity and male social order among boys, as shaped by homophobia and homophobiaphobia. [Full Article]

Bullying No Way | SSAFE in Schools

Police Censor 'Burning Flag' Artwork

27/01/2006

In a late night raid police confiscated a work of contemporary art, 'Proudly unAustralian', by artist Azlan McLennan from the Trocadero Art Space in Footscray. The seditious image is of the Australian flag burning. The police acted after 'members of the public' complained about the work.

Gallery executive Michael Brenner told the ABC it is not his job to censor art. "On Friday, when no-one was actually present at the gallery, I understand Footscray police officers gained access to the space through a neighbouring business and removed the flag, leaving behind a business card with the neighbouring business which was then passed on to an artist who shares a studio at Trocadero artspace, who consequently called us to tell us this work had been removed by the police," Mr Brenner said. [Full Story]

Review of Proudly UnAustralian
Slackbastard blog on Azlan McLennan

Packer Parasite Carks It

27/12/2005

Kerry Packer, media tycoon, Australia's richest man, one of Australia's largest landholders and one of the most influential as the major shareholder of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited media empire, died on the 26 December. "Yes it is a great late pressie for Chrissie to hear that despite all their money even the rich must die." said a newswire contributor. [Discuss]

AWU, Packer and Working Class Media
Sydney IMC: Kerry Packer, Oz media mogul: The difference between success and greatness?

Eureka Leading Light Lambasts Howard Government

06/12/2005

Brian Walters, President of Liberty Victoria, lambasted the Howard Government for numerous examples of the denigration of human rights and civil liberties in Australia at the annual Eureka Lantern Dawn Walk. The event is part of the 151st anniversary commemoration of the Eureka Stockade rebellion in 1854, that also included the inaugural Eureka Australia Day Medals to activists whose actions reflect the principles outlined in the Eureka Oath, and Sedition Sunday event.

In related news, the Law Council of Australia has published full page ads in the corporate media attacking the anti-terror laws. Law Council President, John North, said the laws were flawed because they allowed people to be held without charge. "There's no amount of tinkering with those laws that can save the badness of that particular law," he said. [More]

Peter Lalor and the Eureka Stockade: What happened to the Australian radical tradition? by Dr Barry Jones
Liberty Victoria | Peacebus.com | Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion

Sedition takes hold in lead up to Eureka Anniversary

02/12/2005

Former 'Sovereign' Queen Victoria was seen making her own statement against the government's attempts to silence dissent this past week in Ballarat with a sign reading 'sedition is sexy'. This was the most recent of a number of actions in the lead up to the commemoration of the Eureka Stockade this coming weekend that will incorporate the 'Sensational Sedition Competition'. The event gives participants an opportunity to be creative in their dissent against the anti-terror laws. [Full Story]

Background:
Peace Bus
Reclaiming the radical spirit of Eureka in 2004
Activist Rights: Terror Laws and their impacts
Civil Rights Network