News Round Up 20 April

20/04/2007

Forest Defence: Protests continue in Tasmania's southern forests, with two more activists arrested in the Upper Florentine valley on April 19. | Forest Defence Unit

Refugees: Australia makes WAR on Iraq and Iraqi Refugees. "While the Australian Government was organising refugee swaps with the US government, 60 nations met with UNHCR met in Geneva seeking a solution to the exodus of Iraqis from their war torn country who are struggling to survive in Syria and Jordan." said Pamela Curr at the JustFreedom blog. “Refugees are human beings, not products that countries can broker and trade,” said Bill Frelick, Refugee Policy director at Human Rights Watch. “The United States and Australia have signed a deal that bargains with lives and flouts international law.”

Food Politics: State Government authorises Victoria's first GM wheat crop. | Campaign to Stop GM Wheat

Student activism: Over 150 students blockaded a dinner party at Melbourne University on April 17 to protest at the administration’s plans to introduce cuts to courses, student and staff numbers next year.

Workers win dispute at Preston Motors: Another employer has been forced to negotiate with the relevent union in dispute through community assemblies and wider support as NUW workers voted to return to work after a month long picket. | Union Solidarity

Bring David Hicks Home. The 'Bring David Hicks Home' float entered by a contingent of university students and community activists in this year's Mardi Gras, won the award for most outstanding political comment. Some comentators say "the Howard Government has done a deal for the election year and are trying to cover up 5 years of shameful inaction over the abuse of an Australian citizen. A national Day of Protest will occur on April 21. | Fair Go for David

Bushfire: Victorian Alps in Flames

7/12/2006

"It is disturbing to see the piecemeal approach that is being used to tackle the bushfire menace in Victoria and the rest of Australia. Considering bushfires are set to become a permanent feature as greenhouse emissions increase, a national approach to the problem is a matter or urgency." said Joseph Toscano in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review. [Read more...]

CSIRO Climate predictions for Victoria
CSIRO: Protecting your home from bushfire

Their ABC - Ideological Push from the Right

18/10/2006

The ideological attack on the ABC has escalated this week with the new ABC managing director, Mark Scott, releasing a series of ‘upgraded editorial values’ for the national broadcaster. According to Jeff Sparrow on the Leftwrites blog, "I always thought the Friends of the ABC bumper-sticker a little weird. The ABC is a state funded broadcaster. By definition, it's not independent, as is now becoming painfully apparent." [Read More]

"The Australian Public Broadcaster -- 'your ABC' -- has been re-shaped to become a government media platform" said the Cleaves editorial team in a statement. "The public response will no doubt be more internet activity -- 'good one', Janet and Keith! Independent Media applauds your decision; we all look forward to an increase in readership," they wrote.

[Leftwrites Blog | Cleaves Independent Publishing]

Rigging the Two Party Electoral System

24/08/2006

The Howard government has introduced sweeping new electoral laws that aim to suppress any electoral challenge to the mainstream political parties. The cynically titled Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006 (on Austlii) automatically de-registers all non-parliamentary parties and blocks the registration of new ones, while systematically disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of ordinary voters. At the same time, it shields the rich and powerful from scrutiny as they dominate the finances and dictate the policies of the major parliamentary parties. [Full Story]

Greens Senator Christine Milne castigated the bill saying: "We should be making our electoral laws more inclusive, not less. We should be making our elections more fair, not less. And we should make sure that there is real equality in Australia and not a situation whereby the rich get richer and have greater influence the more money they spend. The more donations they can give, the more access they can get by buying themselves seats at the relevant tables, while the poor stay out in the suburbs unable to take advantage of the access that delivers results."

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission | Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule | Take me to your Lizard

Welfare Measures 'A kick in the Face to the Disabled...'

12/07/2006

The SUWA (Squatters and Unwaged Airwaves) program on Community Radio 3CR has reported on the changes to welfare that will adversely impact disabled and unemployed people. "In the midst of all the attention around industrial relations reform in recent months a key plank of the government’s plan to make the rich even richer has been largely ignored." said the statement from SUWA. The program reported on changes that will affect all new applicants for the Disability Support Pension, Sole parents claimants, and a case of bureacratic bungling adversely affecting an 80 year old pensioner.

Related: Low Wage or No Wage

Ethics of Human Body Exhibition Questioned

7/06/2006

The article, The Amazing (freak show) human body exhibition by Simon Willace', has touched a raw nerve drawing a response from Body Worlds. Willace has retracted statements connecting Body Worlds with The Amazing Human Body exhibition, but still raises pertinent questions about the origin of the bodies in the exhibition touring Australia. "What bothers me now is that the show that is coming to Melbourne is allowed in Australia at all without being investigated or cleared by an ethics committee." said Simon Willace in his latest article, Body Worlds v Simon Willace.

Redtail Group Australia Pty Ltd, a private company registered in 2002, is the organizer of The Amazing Human Body exhibition, according to the exhibition website.

Related:
The Organ Trail | Australian Surgeons Condemn "Horrific" Organ Trade

Laws Proposed against Protests That Cause Economic Loss

21/02/2006

from the newswire
Peter McGauran, the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, said that he is developing new legislation aimed at protests involving his portfolio. With specific reference to the recent protests about live sheep exports, he said that the legislation would be framed around the ‘intent to cause economic loss’. Protests and protestors that are shown to cause an economic loss to an industry would be held ‘criminally and civilly liable’ for such losses.... [Full Story]

On 11th February animal activists attempted to stop the export of 50,000 sheep from Devonport, Tasmania, which involved 40 protesters chaining themselves to the dock and laying on the ground in an attempt to prevent trucks loading sheep. Twelve protesters were arrested. Animal activists have lodged a formal complaint with Tasmanian Police over their treatment at protests. Despite intensive port security, activists succeeded in scrawling "Death Ship" on the side of Al Messilah, bound for Kuwait.

Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania | Live Export Shame

Democracy For Sale at Corporate Rates

07/02/2006

A new Federal bill proposed by the Howard Government will see the limit for disclosed donations increase from $1,500 to $10,000. "This legislation does nothing but pervert our democracy,” Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice Director Hammy Goonan said. "By increasing the disclosure threshold for a donation to a political party from $1500 to $10,000 you are essentially announcing that our government's policies can be bought."

It has recently been revealed that British billionare Lord Michael Ashcroft donated $1 million dollars to the Australian Liberal Party.

Democracy Watch's Brad Pedersen said, "the proposal is an invitation for corruption. As both the ALP and Liberal parties each have 9 state, territory and national branches across the nation, a donor can make a donation of $9,999 to each of the 9 branches without their identity ever being disclosed. So the total anonymous donation can be as high as $89,999. More concerning is that an anonymous donor can do this once every year, thereby making a total donation over a 3 year parliamentary term of $269,997, all without detection." [Full Story]

Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice | Democracy Watch | Democracy4Sale

Augusto Alcalde on Zen and Social Change

04/01/2005

Augusto Alcalde is a committed social activist and participates in struggles for social justice, including those of indigenous peoples. When visiting Australia, he often gives talks (1,2,3) and coordinates encounters on these struggles and their inspiration, and on current social justice and freedom movements in Argentina, particularly the MTD Solano (Autonomous Workers Movement). In these meetings, Augusto seeks to address the creation of a new world with healthy values and actions in all fields of relationship. In an interview in Jan 2004 he briefly outlined the connections between Zen, The Religious, Social Change and Activism.

Alcalde has been deeply involved in Zen practice for over thirty years and is an acknowledged teacher in both Chinese and Japanese Zen Buddhism. He brings a particularly creative approach to Zen teaching and is concerned with the development of a form of Zen practice appropriate to lay people, as an alternative to the monastic model that has evolved in traditional Asian societies. For ten years Alcalde has been a teacher with Clifton Hill Zendo and will participate in a zen program in January 2005.

[El Topo | Buddhist Anarchism]