tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68710281242900484862024-03-16T12:09:52.959+11:00The Red Wombat HoleWe wombats don’t like being disturbed - if you irritate us, we sit on you until you die. The inanities of your world, like electric fences, or being hit by speeding cars, have never bothered us much.
But now you humans have gotten outta hand, with your wars and bombs and poverty and Global Warming and other such uncomfortable things, so we have decided to intervene.<br>
We can help you fix your problems, so we can go back to ignoring you. Ok?<br>
- The Revolutionary Wombats Association.Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.comBlogger533125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-38933002124723576252010-05-25T13:02:00.003+10:002010-05-25T13:20:05.136+10:00AVSN replies to SBS's anti-Chavez propaganda<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node%2F456"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><strong>“Power politics”: A reply to SBS TV’s political propaganda</strong></span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><strong><br /></strong></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style=""> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">The <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/about/id/600597/n/Power-Politics"><i style="">Dateline</i> program “Power politics”</a>, aired on SBS TV on </span><span lang="EN-AU">May 23, 2010</span><span lang="EN-AU"> (and on SBS2 on May 24) was one of the most blatantly biased reports on Venezuelan politics yet to be aired on Australian TV. The anti-Bolivarian line unashamedly pushed by reporter David O'Shea mirrors (in fact was shaped by) the most right-wing of </span><span lang="EN-AU">Venezuela</span><span lang="EN-AU">’s opposition parties.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">O’Shea’s key spokesperson for the supposedly widespread public disgruntlement with President Chavez and his government was Aixa Lopez. Lopez is presented as an ordinary citizen/mother of an asthmatic daughter/lawyer turned activist who set up the "Association of Victims of the Blackouts" out of fear for her child’s safety. What O’Shea fails to mention is that Lopez is also a long-term, committed activist for the political right, including holding the position of Women’s Secretary in the conservative Accion Democratica (Democratic Action - AD) party.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">Almost everyone interviewed by O’Shea are middle-class professionals with axes to grind, and he gives them free, uncritical rein. Their vague but vehement claims that the Chavez government silences dissent are ridiculous in a country where there is greater freedom of movement, speech and assembly than even in </span><span lang="EN-AU">Australia</span><span lang="EN-AU">.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">In this regard, O’Shea’s apparent refusal to absorb the significance of some of his own script is stunning. For example, just seconds after footage showing government critics freely demonstrating outside the ombudsman's office, anti-Chavez leader Vladimir Villegas is presented accusing the Chavez government of <span style=""> </span>“shutting down critics, restricting debate, trying to impose a political view that monopolises society and preventing dissidents from expressing their views, especially internally”.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">Just minutes after O’Shea reports that </span><span lang="EN-AU">Venezuela</span><span lang="EN-AU">’s government has recently armed 30,000 farmers and other ordinary people in national defence militias, Chavez is described as an “egotistical, militaristic totalitarian”. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">It doesn’t make sense. If Chavez is such a totalitarian, why would all members of </span><span lang="EN-AU">Venezuela</span><span lang="EN-AU">’s armed forces be required to pledge not harm their fellow citizens? Why would Chavez have led the radical reform of </span><span lang="EN-AU">Venezuela</span><span lang="EN-AU">’s military to include social and community work as part of military life? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">What does make sense is that, in the face of coup threats and plots, the alarming militarisation of surrounding countries by the </span><span lang="EN-AU">United States</span><span lang="EN-AU">, and Western TV stations like SBS actively promoting “regime change” in his country, Chavez wants an armed population. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">Before Chavez was elected in 1998, </span><span lang="EN-AU">Venezuela</span><span lang="EN-AU"> was ruled by only two parties: Democratic Action (AD) and Copei, the Christian Democrats. By contrast, the </span> <span lang="EN-AU">September 26<sup>th</sup>, 2010</span><span lang="EN-AU">, national assembly elections will be contested by around 10 major parties, as well as dozens of smaller parties. This is hardly a state that does not allow dissent.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">In fact, this <i style="">Dateline</i> program is very like the many aired daily in </span><span lang="EN-AU">Venezuela</span><span lang="EN-AU"> by the opposition, who own the licences for all but one state-owned and one community TV broadcasting frequency. Again, hardly evidence of a state that does not allow dissent. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">For a program supposedly focused on a basic service – electricity – it is remarkable that there was no mention of the many infrastructure projects the Chavez government has successfully undertaken: a huge expansion of public housing, schools, universities, hospitals and health clinics. Compared to 1998, more than 4 million more Venezuelans now have access to clean drinking water, and more than 5 million more Venezuelans now have access to sanitation.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style=""></span></span> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">It is even more remarkable that, having mocked the Chavez government’s public education campaign to reduce energy consumption, <i style="">Dateline</i> did not even mention the more significant attempts of the government and workers in the electricity sector to address the energy crisis. There was no mention, for example, of the two-day presidential consultation with the rank-and-file electricity workers in April, or the May 15 handover of control of various primary production plants to the workers.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">Setting aside the absurdity of implying that President Chavez is somehow responsible for the current drought in Venezuela, or that low-energy light bulbs are evil tools of communist dictatorships, it in evident in every election result since Chavez first came to power that the poor of Venezuela know they would be the last to get any electricity had this happened before Chavez was elected. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">And that is the nub of it: it is not Chavez the individual that fills the opposition with fear and loathing as much as the poor majority - the millions of <i style="">Chavistas</i> who are determined not to let themselves be driven back into an underclass of excluded and oppressed people. Despite undeniable obstacles and problems, in </span><span lang="EN-AU">Venezuela</span><span lang="EN-AU"> a large proportion of people are starting to play an active role in their shaping their society, organising collectively to overcome their problems through mass movements, social missions, communal councils, community media and so on. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">Rather than providing a well-researched, credible investigation of the social, economic and political situation in Venezuela, this <i style="">Dateline</i> program appeared, as one viewer’s comment on SBS’s website put it, to be little more than “an English version of the election launch for the Democratic Action (AD) Party … AD ruled Venezuela badly for 40 years. AD chose to boycott the last elections - their mistake. But now they are running for office with <i style="">Dateline</i>'s help!”</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">We suggest that SBS endeavour to repair some of the damage to its reputation by commissioning another <i style="">Dateline</i> report that strives honestly to document the views of some of the majority of Venezuelans, who have repeatedly re-elected Chavez with increasing majorities each time, and who support his efforts to put such vital resources as electricity and the media under their/public control.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">As another viewer commented on the SBS website: “For those who have missed out on dreams of a gravy boat ride or a green ticket to the </span><span lang="EN-AU">US</span><span lang="EN-AU"> I imagine that Chavez would be hard to swallow. For the people of the world who support … equality across all economic groups, Chavez is a hero. Chavez supports the poor, obviously the rich are going to cry, they will have to share. Viva Chavez!”</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="trebuchet ms" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.venezuelasolidarity.org"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span lang="EN-AU">Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network</span></b></span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="trebuchet ms" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.venezuelasolidarity.org"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span lang="EN-AU">http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org</span></b></span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="trebuchet ms" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span lang="EN-AU">May 25, 2010</span></b></span></p>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com158tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-13302917753924062922010-05-20T14:01:00.001+10:002010-05-20T14:03:22.509+10:00May 22: Socialist Alliance NSW State Conference & Election Launch<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Struggle, Solidarity, Socialism!<br /></span><br />Saturday May 22, 11am -5pm Redfern Community Centre, 29-53 Hugo Street, Redfern.<br /></b><br />Socialist Alliance members and supporters from Wollongong, Newcastle, Blue Mountains, Dubbo, Northern Rivers, Armidale, Sydney and Sydney West will gather to launch the Alliance's Federal Election campaign, and plan the Alliance's work in NSW. All-in sessions plus workshops on topics including Aboriginal and refugee rights; climate change action; union struggles; queer & womens rights + much more. All welcome.<br /><br /><b>Donation entry for the day $10/5.<br />Ph Paul 9690 1977, 0410 629 088.</b><br /><br />Draft agenda:<br /><br />11::00-11:15am Aboriginal community welcome<br /><br />11:15am-12:15pm Opening panel: A socialist vision for the Federal Elections<br />Featuring Socialist Alliance NSW based election candidates Rachel Evans & Soubi Iskander (NSW Senate), Jess Moore (Cunningham), Zane Alcorn (Newcastle), Duncan Roden (Parramatta) & Pip Hinman (Grayndler) outlining a grassroots vision that puts people and the planet ahead of profit.<br /><br />12:15-1:45 Educational & Campaign workshops<br />* Climate Action campaigning - the issue of our age<br />* Sexism & queerphobia under capitalism – our fightback<br />* Origins of racism & our campaigns for Aboriginal & refugee rights<br />* International Solidarity: Supporting red shirts: from Thailand to Venezuela<br /><br />1:45-2:30 Lunch<br /><br />2:30-3:45 Activist skills and Campaigns workshops<br />* Skills for using 21st century technology for social change<br />* How socialists get our ideas across<br />* Creative socialism - visuals and design to inspire change<br />* Lessons for community campaigning<br /><br />3:45-4 – Afternoon tea<br /><br />4-440 – Workshop report backs and adoption of proposals<br /><br />440-5 – Organising and building Socialist Alliance<br /><br /><b><br />Conference After-Party! Food, drinks, & post-conference festivities!<br />From 6:30pm @ 17 Holmesdale St, Marrickville</b></span></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-13699129378863842852010-05-20T11:21:00.001+10:002010-05-20T11:27:37.042+10:00The CFMEU car-bomb hypocrisy<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A former CFMEU insider writes:<br /><br />So my old workplace was attacked with a car bomb last week. There are not many people in this country who can make that statement! The attack occurred in suburban Western Sydney, missing by less than an hour a community group meeting in the building.<br /><br />A group of people stole a car, loaded it with canisters of petrol, smashed it through a three-metre high wrought iron gate and crashed it into the front doors of a three-storey office block. I had a look at the damage myself less than 12 hours after the attack. The picture to my eyes looked very Baghdad indeed.<br /><br />Amazingly, since the attack, not one state or national political figure has come out and condemned the violence. The reason? The target was the NSW headquarters of the construction division of the CFMEU.<br /><br />Imagine for a moment, if such an attack had been perpetrated on any other part of civil society. A church. An RSL. A scout hall even. Our political leaders would have been racing each other to the scene of the crime. Jostling to inspect the damage, crunch over the broken glass, comfort the staff, condemn the violence.<br /><br />It would have been (mis)named as a terrorist attack. Bi-partisan condemnation would have come from all levels of government. The papers would be full of it for days.<br /><br />Instead we get this ... silence.<br /><br />The attack got good electronic media coverage Friday but major papers such as the so-called "paper of record" in my home town, the Sydney Morning Herald, literally ignored the attack. For the readers of the SMH and The Australian, the attack just simply never happened. Not worthy of being reported on it seems. Middle-class indolence at its most revealing.<br /><br />But I am mostly angry at Kevin Rudd and our political leaders. Rudd and IR minister Julia Gillard have shown their true colours here. They are fakes. Shallow fakes. A serious attempt to terrorise and intimidate a key plank of our civil society and they are mute. Too busy seeking reflected glory from Jessica Watson, in Rudd's case. For these people, including Kristina Keneally, the puppet in NSW, condemning outrages must clearly never be about principle. This incident has demonstrated how there must always be a cynical political calculation behind every expression of sympathy or outrage. Some hollowman down in Canberra must have just done the calcs on Rudd or Gillard coming out on this and decided it didn't fit the government's "narrative." Or something. Best ignored.<br /><br />Clearly our political leaders are happy to associate themselves with a disaster when politically expedient, but run a mile when its not. That's not what leadership is in my book. What a bunch of frauds.<br /><br />The hypocrisy revealed in this incident is sickening. A bit of blue language on a building site and there are screaming headlines, a politicised Royal Commission (which could not find any of the corruption and organised crime in the building industry because it was only looking for it among the unions) and an industrial police with powers and an agenda that would make the Gestapo proud. But drive an improvised explosive device into a union office? Somewhere a cricket is audible in the silence.<br /><br />The shocking explanation is that what happened at Lidcombe simply does not fit with the anti-CFMEU agenda of the political and media elites in this country.<br /><br />The CFMEU has all sorts of problems, I should know I used to work there. But the reason a terrorist-style attack on its NSW headquarters can be ignored in this manner is because the union represents a danger to the political and media elites. Along with just a handful of other effective unions, it remains an example, an imperfect and flawed example, of ordinary people having a little bit of power in their working lives.<br /><br />That's why the CFMEU is fair game.</span></span></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-10018189435090338602010-05-16T13:13:00.001+10:002010-05-16T13:16:20.550+10:00“Reject the names invaders gave us”<div style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-size:85%;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:14pt;"><span style="font-size:6px;"><strong><img style="height: 263px;" alt="" src="http://f329.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=1%5f39805599%5fAFBFv9EAAQkwS%2b4cIwX7om2Sb8o&pid=2&fid=Inbox&inline=1" vspace="30" align="left" border="0" hspace="10" /></strong></span></span></p>Goodooga, northwest NSW, 15 May 2010 -- Aboriginal political activist Michael Anderson said today that the second New Way Summit held over the weekend of the 8-9th May at the Sydney University was very successful.<br /><br />While it was very difficult for many people to attend, the internet is very effective at getting to a large audience, Mr Anderson said.<br /><br />The issue of the continuing sovereignty of Australia’s Aboriginal nations was the centre piece of the weekend’s discussions and the summit decided that Aboriginal people must assert their continuing sovereignty by identifying their territory and clan country as it was before the British invasion.<br /><br />“People must reject the nominated names that the invaders gave to us and return to our original names,” Mr Anderson said.<br /><br />“It is not an easy task to throw away the names and tags that have been imposed upon our peoples throughout Australia, but it is a challenge that we as Aboriginal nations face,” says Mr Anderson.<br /><br />“The invader has imprisoned us within his society just with name tags that they own. By registering our children under their birth registration the oppressor gets to own our children and us,” the New Way summit was told.<br /><br />“Mabo Judgment number 2 exposed Australia’s weakness to hold claim over the Aboriginal nations. This is borne out by the Chief Justice alluding to the fact that the High Court of Australia was not the appropriate judicial location for this question to be answered as it belonged to another jurisdiction.<br /><br />“This means the only appropriate court is the world court and there is already a precedent in the Western Sahara case. In this judgment the International Court of Justice said that sovereignty always remains with the people,” said Michael Mr Anderson.<br /><br />“The existing Australian society and parliament assert a right of claim. Trying to get them to talk to us about a New Way forward and settlement on our claim to this country on equal terms for negotiations is like asking the thief ‘did you take it’. He will always find a way to say NO, I did not,” Michael Anderson argues.<br /><br />“What is the claim of ‘right’? It appears that this claim of right comes from the ‘Bible’ where Abraham was told by God that his children would go out and take the lands of others.<br /><br />“This is the basis upon which the Papal Bulletins were issued to England, France, Spain and others who set sail to locate other lands and settle them for their kings and queens and thereby assert a right of claim upon settlement,” said Mr Anderson.<br /><br />“In our case we have never ceded nor relinquished our sovereignty to the invaders, the British, nor have we treaties with the existing government,” Mr Anderson said.<br /><br />“These issues are the ghosts that haunt this country and we must lay to rest this question.<br /><br />“It is a very daunting task and I understand that people will say ‘what about the assault we are experiencing from these existing governments.<br /><br />“To that I reply: How many times can a dog stand being kicked? It is time to stand up and say ‘no more’.<br /><br />“Our people must have a long hard look at our current position and situation. You cannot stand on the sideline and be spectators.<br /><br />“We must get into the game, and not be cowards and wait for the players of defiance to play the game and when they take some yards from the opposition you step in and take this position from which you yourselves will benefit while tacitly siding in part with the enemy in fear of a loss,” Mr Anderson said.<br /><br />“There is a plan of action that the delegations will act on and these actions will be rolled out over the rest of this year.<br /><br />“We are one and we must work together; if we fail, all will be lost,” Mr Anderson said.<br /><br />The next New Way summit will be at the Melbourne University during the June Queen’s Birthday weekend, when the lead topic will be the British genocide of Aboriginal people and the ongoing war against Aboriginal people through assimilation and absorption. Another key topic to be discussed is the 'Treaty’.<br /><br />Michael Anderson can be contacted at 02 68296355 landline, 04272 92 492 mobile, 02 68296375 fax, ngurampaa@bigpond. com.au<br /></span></div>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-32729159732576826472010-04-14T09:31:00.001+10:002010-04-14T09:33:53.167+10:00Australians to vote on landmark Tamil Referendum<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE on 14 April 2010<br /><br />Australians to vote on landmark Tamil Referendum<br /><br />Thousands of Australians will convene on ballot boxes across the country this weekend to express their desire for an independent Tamil homeland.<br /><br />Human rights advocates and political figures have thrown their support behind the initiative organised by the Tamil Referendum Council of Australia (TRCA) and based on the Vaddukoddai Resolution (VKR), a mandate for independence drafted in Sri Lanka in 1976 by Tamil leaders that was rejected by the Government and led to full scale civil war.<br /><br />“The Australian government has done nothing to educate the public regarding the repression of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. The VKR referendum can help raise awareness of the situation that the Tamils have faced for decades” said Ian Rintoul, head of the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC).<br /><br />Over 10,000 voters have registered to vote, with thousands more to enrol in the coming days, according to CPI Strategic spokesperson Stephen Newnhman, a consultancy firm hired by the TRCA to co-ordinate the voting process.<br /><br />Polling booths will be set up in locations across NSW, Victoria and Queensland on April 17 and 18 with large numbers of voters from other states to submit postal votes.<br /><br />Pip Hinman, federal election candidate for Grayndler in NSW, described the event as an opportunity to “add to the pressure on the Australian government, which is currently turning a blind eye to the ongoing repression of the Tamil people”.<br /><br />“Together, we must use these polls to push the Rudd government to break completely from the former Howard government's racist refugee policy in which Tamils (and others) are being denied their basic human rights,” Miss Hinman urged citing the recent political furore surrounding Tamil asylum seekers.<br /><br />The referendum will be the first of its kind in the Southern-hemisphere, following democratically held referenda across Europe and Canada that have established an overwhelming mandate supporting the formation of a sovereign Tamil homeland in the island of Sri Lanka.<br /><br />The event takes place almost a year since the Sri Lankan government launched a brutal campaign in the island’s North East, slaughtering up to 40,000 Tamil civilians en-route to a crushing defeat against Tamil Tiger rebels.<br /><br />Seran Sribalan: 0406 123 503 www.vkr1976.com.au</span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-51678168436622823672010-04-13T12:34:00.000+10:002010-04-13T12:35:47.728+10:00A Vision for a Real Education Revolution<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-align: left; font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">6.30pm Tuesday April 20 (6pm for cheap dinner)<br />@ the Resistance Centre<br />23 Abercrombie St<br />Chippendale</span></p> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />Did you know that 2/3 of Federal education funding goes to educating the 1/3 of students who attend private schools? Today public education is being attacked on a number of fronts from under funding, league tables in high schools, to attacks on staff and student rights at University and TAFE. Come to this Socialist Alliance forum to hear from education activist fighting back for better quality education for all.<br /><br /></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Speakers* include:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">John Gauci</span>, Teachers Federation activist<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Susan Price</span>, UNSW NTEU Branch President<br /><br /></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">*Speakers will be appearing in a personal capacity.<br /><br />Ph 9690 1977 or Paul 0410 629 088 for more information.</span></span></strong><br /></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-11471776563810954242010-04-09T12:11:00.000+10:002010-04-09T12:14:20.390+10:00"Unite against racism" rally to challenge far-right<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><a href="%22Unite%20against%20racism%22%20rally%20to%20challenge%20far-right%20-%20http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=923">April 9, 2010 - for immediate release </a></span><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> An emergency "Unite against racism" rally has been called for 2pm this Sunday, April 11, outside Villawood Detention Centre. The rally has been organized by a coalition of anti-racism groups, in response to the far-right Australian Protectionist Party who are rallying at the same place to attack refugee rights. </span></p><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"The Protectionist Party are anti-refugee, anti-immigrant and racist," rally organiser Paul Benedek said. "They letterbox leaflets that scapegoat Africans, Muslims and immigrants for crime, unemployment and other social problems. They are big fans of Pauline Hanson and the British National Party, and target 'non-white' immigration, trying to whip up racial hatred." </span></p><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"Yet the major parties are also to blame. They have given a green light to racism, by also demonizing refugees & using migrants as scapegoats." </span></p><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"Racism kills. While the APP cowardly taunt refugees who are locked behind razor wire, with tacit support from Liberal and Labor, refugees face deportation to their deaths. Racist attacks on international students and immigrants are increasing." </span></p><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"This rally will be a peaceful show of support for refugee rights, for equality and justice. We stand with those desperate asylum seekers who have fled war and persecution – not cowardly blaming them for the problems in this country. We will let all racists know their message of hate is not welcome." </span></p><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Endorsements for the anti-racism rally include:</b> Refugee Action Coalition, Latin American Social Forum, Sudanese Australian Human Rights Association, Social Justice Group, <a href="http://www.socialistalliance.org/">Socialist Alliance</a>, Solidarity, Socialist Alternative, and Resistance. </span></p><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><b><u>Full details for the rally are:</u> </b></span></p><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><b>"Unite against racism – refugees are welcome, racism is not!"<br />Rally 2pm, Sunday April 11,<br />Outside Villawood Detention Centre, 15 Birmingham Ave, Villawood.</b></span> </p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> More details can be found on facebook at: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#%21/event.php?eid=109582062406674">http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=109582062406674</a></span> </p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The APP's anti-refugee rally is scheduled for the same place at 3pm. To get a sense of the APP’s racist views, just take a look at <a href="http://www.protectionist.net/2010/04/02/join-the-protectionist-party-in-celebrating-rudds-first-century/">their website.</a></span> </p><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> For more information or interviews about the anti-racism rally, contact Paul Benedek 0410 629 088 or James Supple 0438 718 348.</span></p>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com61tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-5523812638342237112010-04-09T11:11:00.000+10:002010-04-09T11:12:41.249+10:00Call for Sydney counter-mobilisation to far-right this Sunday<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >Please forward this rally to ALL people who would be concerned about the far-right taunting asylum seekers, many of whom have fled war and persecution, while they are locked behind the razor wire<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">UNITE AGAINST RACISM</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Refugees are welcome - racism is not!</span></span><br /><br />The Australian Protectionist Party have called a rally attacking refugee rights for this Sunday, April 11, at 3pm outside Villawood Detention Centre.<br /><br />The APP are anti-refugee, anti-immigrant & racist. They letterbox leaflets that scapegoat Africans, Muslims & immigrants for crime, unemployment & other social problems. However, the major parties are also to blame - they have given a green light to racism, by also demonising refugees & using migrants as scapegoats.<br /><br />Racism kills. Refugees are still being deported to their deaths. Attacks on international students and immigrants are increasing.<br /><br />We need a peaceful show of support for refugee rights, for equality and justice - and to let all racists know that their hatred is not welcome.<br />Rally Sun April 11, 2pm<br />At Villawood Detention Centre<br />15 Birmingham Ave, Villawood (nr Leightonfield Stn)<br /><br />Please forward this message, organise your friends, bring placards and banners in support of refugees and against racism.<br /><br />Supported by: Refugee Action Coalition, Latin American Social Forum, Sudanese Human Rights Assoc, Social Justice Group, Socialist Alliance, Solidarity, Socialist Alternative, Resistance.<br /><br />For information, to add your support, or if you have ideas for the rally, please phone Paul 0410 629 088 or James 0438 718 348 or email paul.benedek2@ gmail.com</span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-83049127581545729592010-02-27T19:09:00.000+11:002010-02-27T19:10:38.777+11:00I'm A Better Anarchist Than You, Some Thoughts on Vancouver and the Black Bloc by David Rovics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw_2_0HryjSK-QxZRWQ90HuobChdLnPg7F3QLY2fKXWIP6ok-5QBu4P-YiACs3jG5Iy7bxfqXmbOtTYSuSfRqfiXeZNKsKivo5lzCahKKyrm9mkCY5UGH8lXxf0B8XRLEGbQ_AIo3HCzk/s1600-h/dave.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img style="width: 245px; height: 229px;" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw_2_0HryjSK-QxZRWQ90HuobChdLnPg7F3QLY2fKXWIP6ok-5QBu4P-YiACs3jG5Iy7bxfqXmbOtTYSuSfRqfiXeZNKsKivo5lzCahKKyrm9mkCY5UGH8lXxf0B8XRLEGbQ_AIo3HCzk/s320/dave.bmp" border="0" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" >I love a good riot. The distant sound of things breaking, the smoke billowing from whatever is burning, the young men and women busily smashing whatever they can find into fist-sized pieces, launching the objects over the heads of their fellow rioters (if all goes well) and into the ranks of the black-clad police with their Ninja Turtle armour, translucent plastic shields and their array of far more sophisticated weaponry. I love the scent of tear gas (if I'm just on the outskirts of the cloud), it's exhilarating, the scent of possibility, of the situation's volatility, the thrilling uncertainty. The excitement of seeing the barricades get lit on fire, knowing that no police vehicle, no matter how well-armoured, is going to drive through that.<br /><br />They're going to have to put the fire out first, and until they manage to get some big hoses to the scene (which might require the participation of the fire department, which might not want to participate), this is our block. Maybe the police even retreat a couple times under particularly heavy volleys of rocks and bottles, the crowd surges and cheers, meanwhile the more experienced rioters stay busy gathering wheelbarrows full of more things to throw at the cops, knowing they'll be back soon. My neighbour says it's because I'm an Aries, but whatever it is, if I find myself in the midst of such a situation, the memories are all fond ones of the rush and the togetherness of the moment. It's a warm, fuzzy feeling, really.<br /><br />However, most people in most of the countries with which I'm fairly familiar – the US, Canada, England, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Japan – don't feel that way. For most people I meet riots are scary things and they don't care or notice much whether it was a chain store's windows smashed or a local one, whether only SUV's were torched or hybrids, too, whether any passersby got hurt in the process or not. The major news outlets don't pay much attention to what the underlying reasons for the rioting is – just enough about the situation for people to associate the riot with the cause and the cause with scary people who aren't like them.<br /><br />I've been home in Portland over the past couple weeks, not in Vancouver for the Olympics and the<br /><br />accompanying protests that tend to materialize when a gigantic corporate event and the international media covering it rolls into (and over) the town. By European standards the event the media was focusing on sounds like it was a pathetic little riot, a few smashed windows and overturned newspaper boxes, but it managed to attract the lion's share of Canadian and even international media coverage, as usual– it's sensational, but more than that it serves the purposes of corporate media outlets who, for political reasons, want to make most protesters look bad and don't want people going out to rock the boat in the first place.<br /><br />By my informal count traveling around, I'd say that most people in many countries are afraid to go to protests, even if their sympathies are with those protesting. They're afraid of what they've heard in the media about how things get out of control. They'd rather avoid lines of police in riot gear, and they feel unsafe at the thought that what they believed was going to be a nonviolent event might suddenly get scary when a small group of people decide to start throwing rocks through store windows.<br /><br />Some of the rock-throwing anarchists (as opposed to the far more numerous non-rock-throwing variety of anarchists) will now ask, who cares? Who cares if lots of people are afraid to come to protests because of us. They're “liberals” anyway (anyone who doesn't support your right to riot is a liberal, in case you didn't know).<br /><br />But here's the thing: we need a mass movement, and contrary to what certain popular primitivist authors like to say, a few thousand dedicated people are not going to accomplish much of anything, let alone revolutionary change, without the support of a mass movement. That is, whatever tactics you're using to organize resistance groups of any kind, the tactics need to be ones that don't completely alienate the general public (very much including the “liberals”). And the general public tends to be freaked out by groups of people committing acts of violence (or forms of property destruction that seem violent to them). In recent decades lots of people in lots of places have embraced all kinds of militant and often effective tactics – strikes, bus boycotts, sit-ins, building take-overs, nonviolent civil disobedience of all kinds. Those of any political persuasion who would say that tactics like these are universally ineffective are simply ignorant.<br /><br />Equally, there have been some pretty darn effective movements that have employed violence around the world over the past few decades and centuries, and you'd have to be an extremely ideological pacifist not to recognize that. But these movements that have employed violent means have used a lot more than rocks. It takes a pretty desperate situation (say, Cuba in 1959) for movements like that to garner popular support, and there's not a serious guerrilla movement anywhere that wouldn't admit that the fish need the sea in which to swim, or they quickly die.<br /><br />In the context of most modern, relatively well-off countries, it seems quite evident that rioting – even if it's not much of a riot – only impedes anyone's efforts at building a movement. It is, in fact, a much-used strategy of the police, as we've seen time and time again certainly throughout North America, Europe and elsewhere. I have no doubt that the first rock thrown is thrown by an undercover cop at least half the time in most situations. I also have no doubt that most of the young people participating in Black Bloc and advocating for “diversity of tactics” (translation: “don't tell me not to throw rocks, you oppressive, ageist liberal carnivore!”) are well-meaning people doing a lot of good work in their communities when they're not throwing rocks through windows. But whether or not they want to believe it, when they start throwing rocks during a march they are doing exactly the same work as the police provocateurs – I mean literally, not figuratively.<br /><br />Black Bloc: doesn't this make you wonder about what the fuck you're doing?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.davidrovics.com/">http://www.davidrovics.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/davidrovics">http://www.blogtalkradio.com/davidrovics</a><br /><a href="http://www.soundclick.com/davidrovics">http://www.soundclick.com/davidrovics</a><br /><a href="http://songwritersnotebook.blogspot.com/">http://songwritersnotebook.blogspot.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/davidrovics">http://www.myspace.com/davidrovics<br /></a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/davidrovics">http://www.facebook.com/davidrovics<br /></a><a href="http://twitter.com/drovics">http://twitter.com/drovics<br /></a><a href="http://davidrovics.guestbooks.cc">http://davidrovics.guestbooks.cc </a></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-6965560267779909752010-02-24T16:10:00.004+11:002010-02-24T16:36:13.585+11:00“Aborigines from across the country will fight nuclear dumping”<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><span lang="EN-AU"></span></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><span lang="EN-AU">Media Release</span></span> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span lang="EN-AU"><img style="width: 328px; height: 322px;" alt="" src="http://f329.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=1%5f38441804%5fAFRFv9EAAXgiS4SaPAq2eWX8NeY&pid=2&fid=Inbox&inline=1" align="right" border="2" hspace="20" />Goodooga, northwest NSW, 24 February 10 – Aboriginal people will be called from all over Australia to protest in the Northern Territory against any movement of nuclear waste across their traditional lands, an Aboriginal activist says. </span></b></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">Michael Anderson, chairman of an Aboriginal Summit Task Force recently elected in Canberra (pictured at right), says in a media release: “Nothing will move down the former American Vice-President Dick Cheney’s Halliburton railway line from Darwin to Alice Springs.”</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">Mr. Anderson was responding on behalf of a majority of traditional land owners to an announcement by </span><span lang="EN-AU">Resources and Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, that the Federal Government will pursue the first Australian radioactive waste repository at Muckaty Station, about 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">Mr. Anderson condemned the Bureau of Northern Land Council for “ignoring the majority of the traditional land owners who do not want their country, Muckaty Station, used for nuclear waste dumping”.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">He said the general Australian public fails to understand how much influence the federal government has over organisations such as the Northern Land Council, whose CEO is appointed by government. <span> </span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">“Aboriginal people are under siege from the tyranny of a Labor government who have no consideration whatsoever for our rights,” Mr. Anderson charges.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">“What we have here is a repeat of the Ranger uranium mine agreement fiasco. The arrangements that are being made are illegal and the government and the Northern Land Council know full well that the traditional owners have little to no chance of fighting against this dictatorship.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span></span>“But don’t underestimate our resolve as a resistance group. It is time the Australian government woke up and understands that they are pushing us into a corner and we will come out fighting with all that we have.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">“Our communications thus far with the traditional owners suggest that a fight is looming, and maybe then the Australian public will get the picture.”</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">Mr Anderson, the last survivor of the four Black Power activists who set up the Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra in 1972, says he is pleased that the unions are offering support. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">“The New Way Summit Task Force has been asked for their support to bring this matter to the attention of the public. The Task Force puts the Australian government on notice that like Noonkanber in Western Australia in 1979, we will call upon Aboriginal people to come from every part of this country and protest any movement of nuclear waste across our people’s traditional lands.” </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">“If the Europeans, Americans and China along with the rest of the world want to use nuclear power, then dump your rubbish on your own soil. You take it from us against our will and you now want to return it against our wishes.”<br /></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><img style="width: 245px; height: 149px;" alt="" src="http://f329.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=1%5f38441804%5fAFRFv9EAAXgiS4SaPAq2eWX8NeY&pid=3&fid=Inbox&inline=1" align="left" border="2" hspace="20" />Muckaty Station is the country of the mother of Barbara Shaw (pictured left), Alice Springs camps activist and a member of the Summit Task Force. Ms Shaw commented on uranium mining in the Northern Territory at the Canberra summit from 30 January to 1 February.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">She said only some people agreed to the dump “because they saw the dollar sign”. Although Elders had long warned that the radiation is dangerous, a lot more awareness needed to be created in the area. Listen to the extract at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.4shared.com/file/228500371/e1144837/Barbara_Shaw_MINING.html"><span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">http://www.4shared. com/file/ 228500371/ e1144837/ Barbara_Shaw_ MINING.html</span></a>.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">The Taskforce can be contacted through Michael Anderson at 02 68296355 landline, 04272 92 492 mobile, 02 68296375 fax, <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:ngurampaa@bigpond.com.au" target="_blank" href="http://au.mc329.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ngurampaa@bigpond.com.au">ngurampaa@bigpond. com.au</a></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">-o-o-o-o-o-o- o-o-o-o-o- o-o-o-o-o- o-o-o-o-o- o-o-</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span lang="EN-AU">Mr Anderson’s release in full:</span></b></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">As Chairman of the recently elected Aboriginal Summit Task Force, I condemn the Bureau of Northern Land Council for ignoring the majority of the traditional land owners who do not want their country, Muckaty Station, used for nuclear waste dumping.<br /></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">What the general Australian public fails to understand is how much influence the Federal Government has over organizations such as the Northern Land Council. In the first instance the CEO of the Northern Land Council is a Government-appointe d person as per the Federal Northern Territory Land Rights Act. This does not fare very well for its perceived independence. Aboriginal people are under siege from the tyranny of a Labor Government who have no consideration whatsoever for our rights.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">What we have here is a repeat of the Ranger uranium mine agreement fiasco. The arrangements that are being made are illegal and the Government and the Northern Land Council know full well that the traditional owners have little to no chance of fighting against this dictatorship. But don’t underestimate our resolve as a resistance group.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">The public must now realize what this Labor Government are doing to Aboriginal people, blackmailing them to sign over their lands for infra-structure development and housing, but the real issues are now coming to a head and this is just one example of what is coming.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">We do have rights and freedoms and it is time the Australian Government woke up and understands that they are pushing us into a corner and we will come out fighting with all that we have.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">It is pleasing to see that the unions are offering support and our communications thus far with the traditional owners suggest that a fight is looming and maybe then the Australian public will get the picture. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">The New Way Summit Task Force has been asked for their support to bring this matter to the attention of the public. The task force puts the Australian Government on notice that like Noonkanber in Western Australia in 1979, we will call upon Aboriginal people to come from every part of this country and protest any movement of nuclear waste across our people’s traditional lands. Nothing will move down the former American Vice-President Dick Cheney’s Halliburton railway line from Darwin to Alice Springs. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-AU">“If the Europeans, Americans and China along with the rest of the world want to use nuclear power, then dump your rubbish on your own soil. You take it from us against our will and you now want to return it against our wishes. No, the energy-hungry consumers need to look to a better way of doing business, and in this case bury your own nuclear waste in your own back yards; if you believe what you are told by your leaders that it is safe then you have no fears. </span></span></p>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-48949267285515137712010-02-04T11:40:00.002+11:002010-02-04T11:42:58.654+11:00Stop the harassment to solidarity activists in Australia<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><h3 style="margin: auto 0cm; text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" align="center"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=";font-size:12;color:black;" >PEACE AND JUSTICE STATEMENT</span></span></h3> <h3 style="margin: auto 0cm; text-align: right; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" align="right"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:12;color:black;" ><span>4 February 2010</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:12;color:black;" ></span></span></h3> <h3 style="margin: auto 0cm; text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:12;color:black;" > </span></span></h3> <h3 style="margin: auto 0cm; text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=";font-size:12;color:black;" >Take Action: Oppose to the attempts to criminalise International Solidarity</span></span></h3> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:black;">Peace and Justice for Colombia (PJFC) is deeply concerned about the recent questioning and interrogations of activists in Australia that for years have been working in solidarity with Colombia.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:black;">On 3 February 2010, a member of our organisation <span>Mr. Alejandro Rodriguez </span>was interviewed by the Australian Federal Police in an attempt </span><span>to obtain information on</span> individuals, <span><span style="color:black;">the Agricultural Workers Union of Colombia (FENSUAGRO) and about the activities of our </span></span><span style="color:black;">organisation. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:black;">Peace and Justice for Colombia is a solidarity organisation that promotes the respect of human rights of all Colombians and in doing so, we have been denouncing the violations of labour and human rights in that country under the regimen of Alvaro Uribe. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">It is very shameful that Australian Federal Police is aiding Uribe’s <span>regime that has been engaged in the systematic persecution of human rights defenders, journalists, labour leaders and the opposition. Still worse, there is evidence that </span>Uribe’s regime has been involved in drug trade and paramilitarism. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Peace and Justice for Colombia believes that the actions of the AFP in this particular matter, violates the rights of Mr Rodriguez who for years have been involved in solidarity work with Colombia and with Latin America, but also the AFP action supports the Uribe regime’s campaign against international solidarity expressed by Australian trade unionists, individuals and political organizations.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">PJFC<span style="color:black;"> requests that you and your organisation write to the Australian authorities to </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></span></p> <ul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><li> <div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;color:black;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Protest for the AFP cooperation with the Uribe administration<span></span></span></div> </li><li> <div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;color:red;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:black;">Condemn any attempts of Uribe to criminalise international solidarity with Colombia.</span></span></div> </li><li> <div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;color:black;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Demand that the Australian Government suspends its involvement with the Uribe regime until such time human and trade union rights are protected in Colombia.</span></div> </li></ul> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><span style="color:red;"> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Post or fax your messages and letters to: </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Hon Brendan O’Connor MP</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Minister for Home Affairs</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">PO Box 6022</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Parliament House</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Canberra ACT 2601</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Tel:<span> </span>(02) 6277 7290 or</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Fax: (02) 6273 7098</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Tony Negus APM</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Commissioner of the AFP</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">PO Box 401</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Canberra City ACT 2601</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Tel: (02) 6223 3000</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Copy your letters to:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Peace & Justice for Colombia,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Email: </span><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:pjfcolombia@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="http://au.mc329.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=pjfcolombia@gmail.com">pjfcolombia@gmail.com</a></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Yours in solidarity,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Peace & Justice for Colombia, PJFC-Australia</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.colombiasolidarity.net/">www.colombiasolidarity.net</a></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.freeliliany.net/">www.freeliliany.net</a></span></p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">For the respect of Labour and Human Rights!</span></p></span></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-3904373107227734712010-01-29T15:05:00.004+11:002010-02-01T14:17:06.790+11:00R.I.P. Alistair Hulett<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><center><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><object width="425" height="344"></object></span></span></span></center><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">January 29, 2010 -- Alistair Hulett died at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow on Thursday evening, January 28, 2010. Alistair's partner Fatima thanks all those who wrote in with messages of support in the past week since news of Alistair's illness became public. The response was overwhelming, and shows just how many people cared about Alistair and his music.</span></span></span></p><p align="center" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">* * *</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair, a truly great singer, songwriter, activist and socialist, will be greatly missed by us all.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair Hulett was born in Glasgow and discovered traditional music in his early teens. In 1968 he and his family moved to New Zealand where he established a reputation on the folk circuit with his large repertoire of songs and his interpretation of the big narrative ballads.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In 1971, at the age of eighteen, Alistair moved over to </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Australia</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. For a couple of years he sang his way around </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Australia</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">'s festivals and clubs before "going bush" for several years. During this time he began to write his own songs and, following a two-year stint on the "hippy trail" in </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">India</span></span></span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, he returned to </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Australia</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in 1979 to find the punk movement in full swing. He joined in with the garage ethos in a band called The Furious Chrome Dolls.</span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><center><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><object width="425" height="344"></object></span></span></span></center><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the early 1980s Alistair was again performing folk material around </span></span></span><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sydney</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and was a founding member of a five-piece punk folk outfit called </span></span></span><a href="http://www.roaringjack.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Roaring Jack</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, which specialised rocking Celtic reels and radical and revolutionary lyrics. Alistair was an active revolutionary socialist, with the International Socialist Organisation, and he and Roaring jack offered their talents for many benefits, rallies and demonstrations, in support of the antiwar movement and solidarity with workers in struggle.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For the next five years the Jacks made a startling impression on the Australian music scene. Their first album, </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Street</span></span></span><span class="SpellE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Celtabillity</span></span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, was released in 1986 and reached No. 1 on the local </span></span></span><span class="SpellE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">indie</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> charts. By the time the second album, </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Cat </span></span></span><span class="GramE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Among</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Pigeons</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> was released in 1988 the band was headlining in major Australian rock venues, as well as opening for overseas acts including Billy Bragg, the Pogues, and The Men They Couldn't Hang. The </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Cat </span></span></span><span class="GramE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Among</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> The Pigeons</span></span></span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> was nominated for an Australian Music Industry Association (ARIA) award and was released in </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Europe</span></span></span></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> by the German label</span></span></span><span class="SpellE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Intercord</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair's solo work was always a part of the Jacks' live shows and offers to appear at festivals and clubs in his own right drew him further back into the folk orbit. By 1989 his songs were being extensively covered by several stalwarts of the Australian folk establishment</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="SpellE"></span>. The demise of Roaring Jack coincided with this period and after the release of their third album, </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Through</span></span></span><span class="GramE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Smoke of Innocence</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, the band decided to call it a day despite another ARIA nomination.</span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair's first solo CD, </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dance of the Underclass</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, was recorded in 1991. Completely acoustic, with contributions from other members of </span></span></span><span class="GramE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Roaring</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Jack, the album was instantly hailed as a folk classic and proved to be the turning point in Alistair's return to the folk fold. His position as one of the most influential musicians on the Australian scene was now beyond dispute. In the </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">UK</span></span></span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> his song, "He Fades Away", was picked up by Roy Bailey and by June Tabor and later by Andy Irvine</span></span></span><st1:city st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><st1:place st="on"></st1:place></span></span></span></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. All three performers recorded uniquely different but thoroughly compelling interpretations of the song.</span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Rather than follow with more of the same Alistair recorded his solo CD with a return to the punk fuelled energy of the days with </span></span></span><span class="GramE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Roaring</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Jack. </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the Backstreets of </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Paradise</span></span></span></st1:place></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> was a collection of songs originally intended as the next Jacks' release and rather than let the songs go to waste Alistair formed an acoustic outfit called The Hooligans to complete the cycle. The album caught some of Alistair's new found admirers among the purists unawares but during the next two years The Hooligans won them over with blistering live performances at every major folk festival in Australia. In the meantime Alistair continued his solo gigs with an ever growing reliance on the traditional songs that have always formed the backbone of his writing.</span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In 1995 Alistair compiled a collection of songs that owed little to punk and everything to the folk revival that inspired him in the sixties. </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Saturday Johnny and Jimmy The Rat</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> was originally intended as a solo affair in homage to the likes of Ewan MacColl, Jeannie Robertson and Davie Stewart, as well as an acknowledgment of the time when the folk movement was a vital political and musical force.</span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At the time Dave Swarbrick was living in </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Australia</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and Alistair toyed with the idea of inviting </span></span></span><span class="SpellE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Swarb</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> to join him in the studio. Nothing more would have come of the notion had it not been for a phone call from a friend saying that </span></span></span><span class="SpellE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Swarb</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> wouldn't mind working with the bloke who had written "The </span></span></span><span class="SpellE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Swaggies</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Have All Waltzed Matilda Away". Thus was forged a musical partnership that has won acclaim from audiences and critics alike.</span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Following a hugely successful Australian tour the duo returned to the </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">UK.</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> A triumphant </span></span></span><span class="SpellE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">perormance</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> at </span></span></span><span class="SpellE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sidmouth</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in 1996 was broadcast by the BBC and was followed by a live in studio session a few weeks later. Since then Alistair and Dave have toured extensively in the </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">UK</span></span></span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, returned to </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Australia</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> for another successful tour and recorded their second album together. </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Cold Grey Light of Dawn</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> was enthusiastically received and gathered some impressive reviews</span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></p><center><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><object width="425" height="344"></object></span></span></span></center><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair, having returned to live in Scotland, continued to work solo and with Swarb. He wrote and performed three workshop presentations. "From Blackheath </span></span></span><span class="GramE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><st1:street st="on"><st1:address st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Trafalgar Square</span></span></span></st1:address></st1:street><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">" looked at "insurrection and resistance in the </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Disunited</span></span></span></st1:placename><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><st1:placetype st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Kingdom</span></span></span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">" from the Peasants' Revolt to the poll tax riots. "The Fire Last Time" was a study of the protest song movement of the 1960s and "Red </span></span></span><span class="SpellE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Clydeside</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">" examined the working class unrest on the </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Clyde</span></span></span></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> between 1915 and 1920.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair, based once again in Glasgow, </span></span></span><a href="http://socialistalliancesydney.blogspot.com/2008/12/alistair-hulett-david-rovics-live-at.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">toured Australia in a double bill with US singer/songwriter David Rovics in December 2008-January 2009</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, playing benefits for Australia's leading radical newspaper, </span></span></span><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/" target="_blank"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Green Left Weekly</span></span></span></i></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Two more solo albums, </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In Sleepy Scotland</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and more recently </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Riches And Rags</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, confirmed Alistair Hulett’s position as one of the most consistent songwriters, musicians and interpreters of the tradition in Scotland. </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Folk On Tap</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> called him "One of the defining voices of Scottish music" and a reviewer in the influential music magazine </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">fROOTS</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> wrote: "Hulett is at once an intense singer, radiating conviction, and a genuinely imaginative lyricist."</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In partnership with 1960s veteran Scots folksinger Jimmy Ross, Alistair Hulett presented word and song presentations with powerpoint visual images at various events and festivals around the UK. Alistair and Jimmy shared a common political perspective, with both being deeply involved in socialist politics, and this bond was evident in the scripts they prepared together for these presentations. The three they have performed so far are titled </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Which Side Are You On? The Life And Times Of Pete Seeger</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ewan MacColl And The Politics Of The British Folk Revival</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ireland – A History Of Struggle In Song</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Most recently, Alistair Hulett joined with several Yorkshire based musicians to form a five-piece, semi-electric band called</span></span></span><a href="http://www.themalkies.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Malkies</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. This was Hulett’s first return to working with a full-time band since Roaring Jack called it a day in 1992. Their debut album was </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Suited And Booted</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (2008).</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair toured Australia for the last time in late 2009, and again </span></span></span><a href="http://enpassant.com.au/?cat=713" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">made his talents available to the socialist cause</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sources: </span></span></span><a href="http://www.folkicons.co.uk/alisbio.htm" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://www.folkicons.co.uk/alisbio.htm</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, </span></span></span><a href="http://www.alistairhulett.com/biography.htm" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://www.alistairhulett.com/biography.htm</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.alistairhulett.com/biography.htm" target="_blank"></a></span></span></span><a href="http://www.roaringjack.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://www.roaringjack.com/</span></span></span></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Reviews of Alistair Hulett in </span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Green Left Weekly</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">:</span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/2002/483/28685" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Revolutionary music from 'Sleepy Scotland'</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/1992/64/2794" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Album puts Hulett among the best</span></span></a></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Please leave your comments at the </span></span></i></b><a href="http://links.org.au/node/1484"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">article at LINKS</span></span></i></b></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Also:</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;color:#000000;"><div class="post-body entry-content"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; "><h2 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><a href="http://hintadupfing.blogspot.com/2010/01/vale-alistair-hulett.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Vale - Alistair Hulett</span></a></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><a href="http://enpassant.com.au/?p=6461" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair Hulett – friend and comrade</span></a></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; "><a href="http://links.org.au/node/1484" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair Hulett: `A truly great singer, songwriter, activist and socialist'</span></span></a></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); line-height: 20px; "><a href="http://togsplace.blogspot.com/2010/01/vale-alistair-hulett-1952-2010-musician.html" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Vale Alistair Hulett, 1952-2010, musician, writer, activist, socialist, Comrade and friend by John/Togs Tognolini</span></span></a></span></span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; "><a href="http://songwritersnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/01/alistair-hulett-has-died.html" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alistair Hulett has died</span></span></a></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="letter-spacing: -1px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><a href="http://www.readjunk.com/news/music/rip-alistair-hulett-roaring-jack/" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">RIP: Alistair Hulett (Roaring Jack)</span></a></span></span></span></li><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></span></div></ul></h2></span><div style="clear: both; "></div></div><div class="post-footer" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10px; "></div></span><p></p></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-63001636091477552222010-01-29T11:04:00.002+11:002010-01-29T11:06:57.757+11:00Asylum seekers protest on Christmas Island<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 12:07 AM<br />MEDIA RELEASE<br /><br />MASS TAMIL ASYLUM SEEKER PROTEST HITS CHRISTMAS ISLAND<br /><br />In scenes reminiscent of the early protests that rocked Woomera, Port Hedland and Baxter, under the Howard government, a mass protest by Tamil detainees at Christmas Island began at 4.30pm Christmas Island time, on Thursday, 27 January.<br /><br />The protest is supported by all the Tamils detainees but, “We are hopeful that the Kurdish, Iranians and Arabs people will join us,” a Christmas Island detainee told the Refugee Action Coalition.<br /><br />At 4.30 around 60 asylum seekers began marching around the path inside the detention with placards saying, “How Long Do we have to wait’, “Oceanic Viking 6 weeks, Christmas Island 6 months”, and “Protection Not Detention.”<br /><br />The protest coincides wit h the visit to the island by Senator Fielding and Opposition spokesperson on immigration, Scott Morrison.<br /><br />“People are sick and tired of waiting so long for their the applications to be processed. There are scores of Tamils now who have been waiting for six months and much longer. The government has no explanation for why Tamil asylum seekers are having to wait so long. As their placard says, processing on the Oceanic Viking was done in<br />six weeks, ” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.<br /><br />“They are also angry at the people being charged for last year’s so-called riot and being put into the Red Compound management units.<br /><br />“Australian of the year, Professor Patrick McGorry, was right when he called detention centres ‘factories for mental illness’ Perhaps Julia Gillard and Chris Evans will face up to the fact that Christmas Island is just as much a mental illness factory as Woomera or Baxter.<br /><br />“There is no adequate torture and trauma counseling available and medication of the detainees is increasing. A government with a humane policy towards asylum seekers would close Christmas Island,” said Ian Rintoul.<br /><br />There will be more protests in the days ahead. The detainees said they will maintain their protest “until we get answers.”<br /><br />The protest also comes after detainees were told that under a new rule, management would no longer allow detainees to have mobile phones. Detainees in mainland detention centres are allowed to have mobile phones, and Christmas Island detainees have been allowed to have phones for months.<br /><br />Meanwhile, it is expected that the two Australian refugee activists detained by Indonesian immigration authorities will return to Australian on Saturday morning. Tamil community activist, Sara Nathan will arrive in Sydney (Flight QF 042) at 7.40am. She will be available for media comment/interview at the airport.<br /><br />For more information contact Refugee Action Coalition Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713</span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-276219064513968132010-01-23T22:08:00.001+11:002010-01-23T22:10:07.094+11:00Feb 14 - 6th Anniversary of TJ's Murder<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 2.25pt; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-width: 2.25pt; border-left-style: solid; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: red; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-width: 2.25pt; border-top-style: solid; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 2.25pt; border-right-style: solid; background-position: initial initial; "><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: red; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: yellow; "><strong style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">International justice for Tj day</span></span></strong></span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 6pt; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-width: 6pt; border-left-style: solid; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-width: 6pt; border-top-style: solid; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 6pt; border-right-style: solid; background-position: initial initial; "><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">On the sixth anniversary of TJ’s murder</span></span></span></b></tt></pre><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Rally</span></span></span></b></tt><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">, </span></span></span></b></tt><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Sunday, 14</span></span><sup style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> February 2010, 10:30 a.m.</span></span></span></b></tt><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></b></tt><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "></span></span></span></b></tt></pre><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Gather at the fence line.</span></span></span></b></tt></pre><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Cnr George and Philips Sts Waterloo</span></span></span></b></tt></pre><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">March to The Block</span></span></span></b></tt></pre><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></b></tt></pre><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SPEAKERS</span></span></span></b></tt><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "></span></span></span></tt></pre><pre style="text-align: center;margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">A Hickey Family Member</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></b></tt><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Aboriginal Leaders</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Raul Bassi</span></span></b></span></tt></pre><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Open microphone for concerned Community members</span></span></span></tt></pre><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; border-bottom-width: medium; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: initial; text-align: center; border-left-width: medium; border-left-style: none; border-left-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: yellow; border-top-width: medium; border-top-style: none; border-top-color: initial; border-right-width: medium; border-right-style: none; border-right-color: initial; "><tt style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Rally organized by ISJA. Supported by STICS, Socialist Alliance and Socialist Alternative</span></span></span></tt></pre></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "></span></span></span></p><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span><span class="body" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-transform: uppercase; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SOVEREIGNTY TREATY </span></span></span></b></span><span class="body" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-transform: uppercase; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SOCIAL JUSTICE</span></span></span></b></span></span></div></span></span></span></pre><pre style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 115%/normal monospace; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; white-space: pre; text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">NO </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">MORE</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">BLACK DEATHS<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-transform: none; "><span class="body" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-transform: uppercase; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></b></span><span class="body" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-transform: uppercase; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">IN</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">CUSTODY</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></pre></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-9705310333406908612010-01-23T20:32:00.003+11:002010-01-23T20:35:39.329+11:00"Talk to us or expect a tsunami"<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; "><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><img border="0" hspace="15" alt="" align="left" src="http://f329.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=1%5f37654205%5fAFFFv9EAAI9DS1qMeQrjrlzoCDc&pid=2&fid=Inbox&inline=1" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; " /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">“Talk to us or expect a tsunami”</span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Goodooga, northwest NSW, 23 January 10 - - In this year of a federal election, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Labor Party had better be prepared to talk to the Aboriginal Nations, or face a tsunami-type backlash, says the convenor of an Aboriginal summit in Canberra from the 30th of January to the 1</span></span><sup style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">st</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> of February.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">“We will not lie down and take it anymore,” Michael Anderson writes in a media release.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Delegates are coming from all over Australia, notably Perth, Kalgoorlie, Darwin, Sydney, Melbourne, north Queensland and the bush, he says. “They’re telling me they’re tired of government controls.”</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The summit is open to the media and Mr Anderson says SBS Radio, the National Indigenous Radio Network and national Aboriginal TV have indicated they’ll cover it. Proceedings will also be streamed live on the internet.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Mr Anderson calls on elders and youth to find solutions to problems created by Great Britain and “maintained by the colonial state of Australia”.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">“If the Australian public truly wants us to bridge the gap and address the disadvantages, then I call upon and urge all people who call themselves Aussies to stand behind us and help us get the message across to those whom you elect to give us a voice and let us deal with the issues that state and federal governments know are of their doing.”</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The release lists the issues troubling Aboriginal people:</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">rise of racism;</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">attacking the poor through Minister Jenny Macklin’s welfare quarantining;</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">using children as a way of winning the hearts and minds of the Australian public so as to justify their assimilation policy of forcibly removing children from their families;</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">shutting down most of the self-determined Aboriginal programs;</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">using government-nominate d and -approved Aboriginal collaborators to impose their will through the so-called Aboriginal advisory panels represents the work of troubled and desperate administrators;</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">to continue to use police to daily terrorise our children on the streets is a criminal act of the state;</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">to police Aboriginal communities through a programme to make Aborigines fear authority are the actions of a dictator state;</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">to maintain an operation of welfarism to control the lives of the Aboriginal people is the also the act of a dictatorship;</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">removing children and giving them to non-Indigenous people to raise without their Aboriginal heritage and language is an act of genocide by the state;</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">·</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">to deny Aboriginal land rights is a continuation of British colonialism</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">- and the list goes on.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">“We are and continue to be sovereign independent Aboriginal nations; the land is ours and always will be. The wealth that has been extracted from the land does not help Australia and we, the traditional owners, get poorer and are forced to live on the state’s welfare system.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">“The Australian public have always trusted in the words of the governments that what they were doing was in the best interest of the Aborigines, but the public have no idea of the pain and suffering that we have to continue to endure. The dysfunctionalism that permeates through our communities cannot be dealt with through bricks and mortar alone.”</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Mr Anderson, the last remaining founder of the Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra in 1972, writes, “We know who we are and from this day forth there will be no words such as Aboriginal or Indigenous, for I am a Euahlayi Dthane, a Black man of the Euahlayi Nation through my mother. Through my father I am a Gumilaroi Murri. This is what we now need to tell the state leaders of this country and we need to demand that when they talk of our issue and our nations they need to identify who and what nation they talk of. This must be a demand that we stand by.”</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Mr Anderson’s release in full:</span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">In this year of a federal election Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Labor Party had better be prepared to talk to us, the Aboriginal Nations, or face a tsunami-type backlash.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The rise of racism; attacking the poor through Minister Jenny Macklin’s welfare quarantining; using children as a way of winning the hearts and minds of the Australian public so as to justify their assimilation policy of forcibly removing children from their families; shutting down most of the self-determined Aboriginal programs; using government-nominate d and -approved Aboriginal collaborators to impose their will through the so-called Aboriginal advisory panels represents the work of troubled and desperate administrators; to continue to use police to daily terrorise our children on the streets is a criminal act of the state; to police Aboriginal communities through a programme to make Aborigines fear authority are the actions of a dictator state; to maintain an operation of welfarism to control the lives of the Aboriginal people is the also the act of a dictatorship; removing children and giving them to non-Indigenous people to raise without their Aboriginal heritage and language is an act of genocide by the state; to deny Aboriginal land rights is a continuation of British colonialism - and the list goes on.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">We are and continue to be sovereign independent Aboriginal nations; the land is ours and always will be. The wealth that has been extracted from the land does not help Australia and we, the traditional owners, get poorer and are forced to live on the state’s welfare system.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The ‘New Way’ summit I have convened to Canberra from the 30th of January to the 1</span></span><sup style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">st</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> of February is a call to our elders and youth to find solutions to problems that have been created by the foreign state of Great Britain and are maintained by the colonial state of Australia.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">If the Australian public truly wants us to bridge the gap and address the disadvantages, then I call upon and urge all people who call themselves Aussies to stand behind us and help us get the message across to those whom you elect to give us a voice and let us deal with the issues that state and federal governments know are of their doing. The Australian public have always trusted in the words of the governments that what they were doing was in the best interest of the Aborigines, but the public have no idea of the pain and suffering that we have to continue to endure. The dysfunctionalism that permeates through our communities cannot be dealt with through bricks and mortar alone.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">We know who we are and from this day forth there will be no words such as Aboriginal or Indigenous, for I am a Euahlayi Dthane, a Black man of the Euahlayi Nation through my mother. Through my father I am a Gumilaroi Murri. This is what we now need to tell the state leaders of this country and we need to demand that when they talk of our issue and our nations they need to identify who and what nation they talk of. This must be a demand that we stand by.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">As the leader of my nation, the Euahlayi of north-western New South Wales and southern central Queensland, and as the convener of this New Way Summit, I call upon the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, once again to take notice to this summit, for it will lay the foundation for the confrontation that Australians constantly say they never.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The spirits of our ancestors, who fought the white man, are always with us as we have gone from one fight to the other. They are always reminding us that blood was shed every year since the British invasion of our ancestral lands. No Australian history wants to talk of this but we will now remind them that we have survived and we will fight and Australia needs to be aware of the anger that is inside many of our pre-existing diverse nations.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Using the divide of full-blooded Aborigines against the Aboriginal castes has been the backdrop for division as was devised by the governments and their advisors, but do not count on this anymore, for we all share the same shocking history of white oppression and rule over our lives and the way we have done business since the coming of the white man. This will end at this New Way Summit.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">We will not lie down and take it anymore.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Outcomes of all discussions at the summit will be available for perusal and comment every day at</span></span><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.wgar.info/" style="line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">www.wgar.info</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. Live streaming will be accessible at </span></span><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wgar" style="line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://www.ustream. tv/channel/ wgar</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Michael Anderson can be contacted at 02 68296355 landline, 04272 92 492 mobile, 02 68296375 fax,</span></span><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:ngurampaa@bigpond.com.au" target="_blank" href="http://au.mc329.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ngurampaa@bigpond.com.au" style="line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">ngurampaa@bigpond. com.au</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><img border="0" src="http://f329.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=1%5f37654205%5fAFFFv9EAAI9DS1qMeQrjrlzoCDc&pid=3&fid=Inbox&inline=1" width="575" height="410" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; " /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></p></span></div>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-68252364413135608662010-01-23T19:03:00.002+11:002010-01-23T19:45:31.417+11:00From Tortuga to Somalia - Piracy and Anti-Imperialism<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Via Duroyan Fertl at </span></span><a href="http://hintadupfing.blogspot.com/2010/01/from-tortuga-to-somalia-piracy-and-anti.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Hintadupfing</span></span></a></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div class="post-body entry-content"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_woq1BksbCEXEnQSHggFAlxj_Uck5BxqJaS6Zu0MP02tJasIfmVBpaM0MwD3hVAIRGIIm5UlChqIzOO6l1tcbcIu1fcSt-Jo7oNXyEc2LhMxNHj8rdPlh88hR55EhGKHd6oK32uRdSE/s1600-h/pirata-somali_p.jpg" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_woq1BksbCEXEnQSHggFAlxj_Uck5BxqJaS6Zu0MP02tJasIfmVBpaM0MwD3hVAIRGIIm5UlChqIzOO6l1tcbcIu1fcSt-Jo7oNXyEc2LhMxNHj8rdPlh88hR55EhGKHd6oK32uRdSE/s320/pirata-somali_p.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429791277338762786" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 167px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">There is a delicious irony in the recent news - reported by </span></span><a href="http://aporrea.org/internacionales/n149313.html" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Aporrea.org</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> - that the Somali "pirates" have offered to donate a significant proportion of their booty to the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Claiming to have connections all over the world, the Somalis promise to deliver the money undetected by Western "enemy" governments.<br /><br />But why have they made this offer? The first connection that springs to mind is, perhaps, the piracy itself.<br /><br />While the Somali youth based out of Eyl and other small towns in coastal Somalia are the modern face of seafaring piracy, Haiti is the traditional stomping ground of the swaggering buccaneers of legend (if we ignore, of course, the tame pets of the major capitalist powers such as Sir Francis Drake).<br /><br />It was - at one point - the pirate capital of its age </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">par excellence</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. The </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Île de la Tortue</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> (Tortuga) which lies just north of the larger island of Hispaniola - of which Haiti is the western half - was used as a base for French, British and Dutch-hired "privateers" to disrupt and loot Spanish shipping form the Americas. While the British moved to Jamaica, and the Dutch moved elsewhere, the French remained active in the area.<br /><br />In their off-season, these pirates wandered into the largely uninhabited western end of the Hispaniola to hunt and barbeque - earning them the name </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">boucanier</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> ("the open fire men"). Gradually French settlements were set up in the region, the area was ceded by Spain to France in the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Treaty of Rystwik</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> in 1697, and the country's history as a slave colony began.<br /><br />But the pirates had little do with the slave revolution led by Toussaint l'Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines in 1803 that made Haiti the first and only successful slave rebellion in history, even if they were the pioneers of the nation that later became Haiti.<br /><br />More pertinent and important than the pirate connection is the </span></span><a href="http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2010/01/haiti-and-struggle-against-imperialism.html" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">sisyphean struggle</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> that Haiti has fought ever since. Like so many African and "Third World" countries, Haiti has borne the brunt of centuries of Western oppression - through economic, political, and occasionally military imperialism.<br /><br />Such was the resentment of their former French masters that they ganged up with the US to starve Haiti into paying "reparations" - a bankrupting 90% of the country's budget, payable for the forseeable future. When Haiti failed to pay, the City Bank offered to "swap" the debt for a long term loan that kept the country on its knees and was only paid off in 1947.<br /><br />Haiti in the Twentieth Century has seen little more than starvation, poverty, and a series of invasions (including the US occupation of 1915 which used locals for target practice training, as well as more recent "peace-keeping" forces), dictatorships,</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">coups d'état</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">, and the forceful imposition of "Shock Doctrine" neoliberal economic policies.<br /><br />As a result, Haiti has remained at the bottom of the pile - the poorest nation in the Americas, where children don't just make mud pies, they eat them out of desperation and hunger.<br /><br />It is perhaps only partially coincidental, but the main Somali pirate town of Eyl - lying on an isolated and mountainous part of the Somali coast - was a centre of Dervish anti-colonial organising in the early Twentieth Century.<br /><br />There certainly are parallels between the piracy of Somalia, and that of Tortuga. Most importantly, both are responses to the effects of capitalist exploitation.<br /><br />The present-day Somali pirates are largely young men - aged between 20 and 35 - looking for an alternative to the war-torn, lawless and impoverished reality of a Somalia which has borne the brunt of the same Imperialist, colonial and economic forces for decade after decade, destroying the hopes of independence, and ruining the dreams of everyday Somalis.<br /><br />The pirates are popular with much of the local population - not only for redistributing much of their booty, but for bringing a sense of order, almost of law, in a country where both these terms have no meaning.<br /><br />Their presence prevents the further contamination of formerly pristine coasts (Somali seas have been widely used as dumping grounds for toxic waste), the looting of the area's rare reefs and the corrosion of local living standards caused by the massive destruction of local fisheries by illegal European and Asian trawlers. In fact, Somali "piracy" began as small defensive raids by impoverished fishermen against the despoiling of their waters by these fishing fleets.<br /><br />So it is especially refreshing to see the piratic internationalism expressed by the Somali buccaneers, who typically redistribute their loot amongst relatives and the local population.<br /><br />As a pirate spokesman said in making the offer to the Haitian people:<br /><br />"The humanitarian aid to Haiti must not be controlled by the U.S. and European countries - they don't have the moral authority. They are the ones who have been pirating humanity for years."</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">*******************</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial, -webkit-fantasy;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Also:</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">* </span></span><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/822/42317" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Haiti needs emergency relief, not military intervention — add your name to open letter</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">* </span></span><a href="http://links.org.au/node/1011" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Who are the real pirates in Africa's waters?</span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">* </span></span><a href="http://links.org.au/taxonomy/term/215" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Updates on the Haiti disaster and struggle at LINKS</span></span></a></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p></span></div><div style="clear: both; "></div></div><div class="post-footer" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10px; "></div></span></div>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-78906219177033200292010-01-22T18:58:00.002+11:002010-01-23T20:49:13.685+11:00Protest Feb 13 - Stop the NT Intervention<span><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Stop the NT Intervention - Sorry means you won't do it again. </span></span></strong></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><p style="text-align: center; font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Protest: Saturday, February 13, 2010 </span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">9 am</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> LaPerouse point, Bunnerong Rd for the walk against racism to join the Redfern rally.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">1pm</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> rally at The Block, Redfern</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Speakers include: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br />Irene Fisher, Sunrise Health (NT)<br />Pastor Ray Minniecon<br />Mal Tulloch, CFMEU<br />Angeline Penrith<br />Jeff McMullen</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Performers: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br />The Black Turtles<br />Nadeena Dixon<br />Michael Donovan<br />More tba</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Supporters include: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br />NSW Aboriginal Land Council, NSW Reconciliation Council, ANTaR NSW, CFMEU, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning Research, Mudgin-Gal, Babana, Reconciliation for Western Sydney, Guriwal Aboriginal Corp., FBEU, MUA, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Councils, Illawarra LALC, Bahtabah LALC, Narromine LALC, La Perouse LALC</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Stop the NT Intervention<br />End the income quarantine - stop the national expansion<br />Land rights, not leases<br />Self-determination, not assimilation<br />Aboriginal controlled housing, jobs and services for all communities </span></span></em></span></p> <p style="text-align: center; font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">On February 13, 2010 there will be a national day of action against the NT Intervention and for Aboriginal rights. </span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">This will mark the 2nd anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations, when Prime Minister Rudd committed the government to, "a future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again".</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">But ongoing NT Intervention policies reek of the same paternalism and commitment to assimilation that created the Stolen Generations.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The Intervention has been a $1.5 billion disaster. The government has taken control of Aboriginal lives and land - but has not yet built a single house. Shamefully, communities will not receive housing until they sign 40-year leases over their land. This policy is expanding nationally.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The income quarantine is leading to greater poverty and social dislocation. Government statistics show reports of domestic violence are up 61%, substance abuse up 77% and 13% more infants have been hospitalised for malnutrition.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Minister Macklin has said the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act has "denied dignity" to Aboriginal people. But her changes to Intervention legislation will see the RDA suspended until December 31, 2010.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Rather than do away with failing policy, new legislation will allow the compulsory welfare quarantining to be extended to "areas of disadvantage" around the country. This will start across the NT from July 2010. Draconian measures such as compulsory acquisition of Aboriginal land and extreme police powers have been rebadged "special measures" under the RDA.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Racism is not a special measure.</span></span></strong></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The demonisation of Aboriginal people at the core of the Intervention is leading to increased racism across Australia. Indigenous incarceration rates have risen 10% in the past year. Juvenile detention now stands at 30 times the national average. Aboriginal organisations everywhere face aggressive mainstreaming.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Aboriginal people have consistently demanded an end to the NT Intervention measures and resistance is growing.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Turning around the unacceptable disadvantage facing Aboriginal people requires massive increases in resourcing of community controlled organisations - not more racist laws.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">No more broken promises - its time to break the intervention </span></span></strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: center; font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Organised by </span></span><a href="http://www.stoptheintervention.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></em></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Contact:</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Jean 0449646593 or Mon 0415410558</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">For the </span></span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">poster of the protest:</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><a title="13-Feb-2010-Poster" href="http://stoptheintervention.org/uploads/files_to_download/Protest-13-Feb-2010/Poster-13-Feb-2010-col.jpg" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">please click here</span></span></a></span></p> <div style="text-align: left; font-family:trebuchet ms;"> <p><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">For the </span></span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">leaflet of the protest for downloading, printing, distribution:</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><a title="Leaflet-Feb-13-Protest" href="http://stoptheintervention.org/uploads/files_to_download/Protest-13-Feb-2010/Feb13_BW_leaflet_final.pdf" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">please click here</span></span></a></span></p> <p><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">For STICS' Fact Sheet about the new </span></span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Legislation</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: </span></span><a title="Legislation Fact Sheet" href="http://stoptheintervention.org/uploads/files_to_download/Legislation_Fact_Sheet-09.pdf" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">please click here</span></span></a></span></p> <p><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">For STICS' Fact Sheet about the </span></span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Government's "Consultation" Process</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: </span></span><a title="Consultation Fact Sheet" href="http://stoptheintervention.org/uploads/files_to_download/Consultation_Fact_Sheet-09.pdf" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">please click here</span></span></a></span></p> </div> <div style="text-align: left; font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></span></div> <div style="text-align: left; font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; line-height: 12px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: underline; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">National Actions in other cities on 13 Feb 2010</span></span></strong></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Adelaide:</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> 1 pm, at the steps of Parliament House, Speakers: Donna Jackson of Larrakia/Wulna descent, local Kaurna and Ngarrendjeri people. Launch of book "This is what we said". Contact Alitja 0431112898, organized by STICSA</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Alice Springs:</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> 10 am Gathering on Church Lawns in the Mall, Speakers on Key Issues. Launch of book: "This Is What They Said", Followed by a March through the CBD, Contact Barbara 0401 291 166 or Marlene (08) 8952 5032, for further info: </span></span><a title="IRAG" href="http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: underline; background-color: inherit; color: rgb(24, 80, 124); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Melbourne:</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> 2pm Maysar,184-186 Gertrude St Fitzroy, March to Parliament House, for further info</span></span><a title="Anti-Intervention Collective Melbourne" href="http://www.maicollective.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: underline; background-color: inherit; color: rgb(24, 80, 124); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://www.maicollective.blogspot.com/</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">, for the poster: </span></span><a title="Melbourne Flyer" href="http://www.stoptheintervention.org/uploads/files_to_download/Protest-13-Feb-2010/Feb13-Melbourne.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: underline; background-color: inherit; color: rgb(24, 80, 124); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">please click here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Perth:</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> 12 noon, Wesley Church (cnr. William & Hay Sts), contact Natasha 0434 303 248 or Sanna 0417 852 628</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div></span></b></span></div> <div style="text-align: left; font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-91774039021368206462010-01-22T15:02:00.003+11:002010-01-22T15:06:23.184+11:00Venezuelan English-language newspaper launched<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; "><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><b style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">ANNOUNCING VENEZUELA’S FIRST AND ONLY ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER, THE CORREO DEL ORINOCO INTERNATIONAL<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "> </span></span></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Caracas, 22 January 2010 – This Friday, Venezuela celebrates the launching of its first and only English language newspaper, the Correo del Orinoco International. While in the past other English-language publications have existed, none remain in circulation today, and no others have been created during the Bolivarian Revolution.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Editor-in-Chief Eva Golinger explained, “This will be the first newspaper of its kind in Venezuela. We will produce news and information for an international audience, but from the Venezuelan perspective. Most of the news that’s out there in English comes from international news agencies that report with a biased perspective and tend to ignore important human interest stories that paint a positive picture of the Chávez government.”</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">“Our most important mission is to combat the massive media manipulation and information blockade against Venezuela and to inform the international community about many incredible events taking place daily inside Venezuela that rarely receive attention from the corporate media”, commented Golinger.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The original Correo del Orinoco was founded by Venezuela’s liberator, Simón Bolívar on June 27, 1818. It served as a principal source of information during the time of independence and the creation of the Venezuelan Republic. Bolívar encouraged writing and reporting as a form of “artillery”, termed by him as the “Artillery of Ideas”.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">One hundred ninety one years later, the Correo del Orinoco in Spanish was relaunched as part of the Venezuelan people’s effort to combat corporate media misreporting and disinformation campaigns against the Venezuelan government and the Bolivarian Revolution, nationally and internationally. Today, the Correo del Orinoco is a widely-read and referenced daily paper, reporting on political, social, economic, judicial, cultural and international events of importance to the Venezuelan people, with a balanced and informative tone.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">In times of Simón Bolívar, the Correo del Orinoco was published not only in Spanish, but also occasionally in English and French. Today this tradition is continued with the creation of the first foreign language version of the Correo del Orinoco International, a weekly paper in English for distribution nationally and internationally.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">“Issues and stories of how social and economic justice are being built in Venezuela today will be our priority”, added the editor, Eva Golinger.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The Correo del Orinoco International will be available in print this Friday, January 22, and next Friday, January 29, as a free insert in the Spanish-language daily edition. The English-language paper will be formally launched as a separate publication on February 4, and then will be available every Friday at newstands across Venezuela. International distribution of the print edition is a future goal, but initially, it will be available in digital format on the Spanish-language website, also to be launched February 4.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; "><span style="line-height: 1.22em; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">This week’s trial edition is available at: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><a href="http://centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/correo_del_orinoco_internat.pdf">http://centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/correo_del_orinoco_internat.pdf</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">.</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-37579925828774772982010-01-21T17:54:00.003+11:002010-01-21T18:02:23.182+11:00Brisbane: Red, Green and In-between<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJ97B9qdZHBxqv3uOR9imlUZEeVxHuHN1xYdBWBeoCjDpobQEwpGkUfqatgOyRXY0hJIBSGTNuMfPvDRvIvd2GSwNU3LyRRZNGwtXA67sJxzdl-mr5nA8-6i3Pj15gki68UUX9GmY6B4/s1600-h/asslhconf.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 223px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJ97B9qdZHBxqv3uOR9imlUZEeVxHuHN1xYdBWBeoCjDpobQEwpGkUfqatgOyRXY0hJIBSGTNuMfPvDRvIvd2GSwNU3LyRRZNGwtXA67sJxzdl-mr5nA8-6i3Pj15gki68UUX9GmY6B4/s320/asslhconf.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429084760712457618" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Red, Green and In-between:</span></span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Reviewing Labour and the Environment in Historical Context</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Please find attached a </span></span><a href="http://asslh.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/Red-Green-Conference-Flyer-colour-FINAL.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">flyer (with registration form)</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> for a Brisbane conference on unions and the environment, past and present, with keynote speakers Tony Maher, Jack Mundey, Ian Lowe (and many more). The one-day event is being hosted by the Brisbane Labour History Association (BLHA) and sponsored by, among others, the Qld Council of Unions and the Qld Conservation Council</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Register now. See </span></span><a href="http://asslh.org.au/branches/brisbane/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://asslh.org.au/branches/brisbane</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> for full details.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">This conference will address:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> * The history of the interface of environmental and union campaigns,</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> * How working people and unions can contribute to environmental campaigns,</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> * How the environment movement can engage more meaningfully with unions, and</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> * What kinds of red/green activism could be helpful for the future.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">When:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Saturday 6 February 2010 – registration 8.30am. Conference 9am – 6pm</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Where:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Queensland College of Art, 226 Grey Street, Griffith University, South Bank, Brisbane</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Could you please distribute electronically to all friends and work colleages</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Kind regards</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Ross Gwyther</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Brisbane Labour History Association</span></span></div>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-34163326567831970732010-01-15T14:41:00.000+11:002010-01-15T14:43:14.547+11:00An urgent appeal from the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/821/42249">Green Left Weekly</a>, 14 January 2010<br /><br /></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Thousands may have been killed and tens of thousands left homeless. This is a moment in which your solidarity is of critical importance.</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><br /></span></span><div id="articleCntent"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Haiti's grassroots movement — including labor unions, women's groups, educators and human rights activists, support committees for prisoners, and agricultural cooperatives — is attempting to funnel needed aid to those most hit by the earthquake. Grassroots organizers are doing what they can — with the most limited of funds — to make a difference. Please take this chance to lend them your support.<br /><br />This is a time for all of us to act.<br /><br /></span></span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">What can you do?</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><br />Since its inception in March 2004, the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund has given concrete aid to Haiti’s grassroots democratic movement as they attempted to survive the brutal coup and to rebuild shattered development projects. We urge you to contribute generously, not only for this immediate crisis, but in order to support the long-run development of human rights, sustainable agriculture and economic justice in Haiti.<br /><br />During this period, if you or anyone you know are planning to make a donation to assist those in need, please consider the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund<br /><br />More information, and to make a safe online donation, please go</span></span><a href="http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/1_12_10.html" style="color: rgb(108, 108, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">here</span></span></a></div><div><br /></div></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-34835076042224577362010-01-15T14:37:00.002+11:002010-01-15T14:39:52.624+11:00NSW: Free EDO Seminars - Climate Law after Copenhagen<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana, Arial;font-size:13px;"><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">How can global warming be kept to 2 degrees, as proposed in the Copenhagen Accord?</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Free public seminars with the Environmental Defender 's Office Northern Rivers.</span></span></p><ul><li style="margin-left: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">An insider 's view of the Copenhagen summit.</span></span></li><li style="margin-left: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The implications of Australia's proposed CPRS and alter natives.</span></span></li><li style="margin-left: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Recent Australian and international climate change court cases</span></span></li></ul><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', Arial;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Where: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">PORT MACQUARIE, Sea Acres Rainforest Centre, Pacific Dve</span></span></p><p><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">When: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">5.45 for 6 pm sharp to 8 pm, Thursday 4 February 2010</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', Arial;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Where: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">BELLINGEN, Uniting Church Hall, cnr Waterfall Way + Ford St</span></span></p><p><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">When: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">5.45 for 6 pm sharp to 8 pm, Friday 5 February 2010</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', Arial;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Where: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">BALLINA, Richmond Room, Regatta Ave</span></span></p><p><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">When: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">5.45 for 6 pm sharp to 8 pm, Wednesday 10 February</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', Arial;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Where: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">MURWILLUMBAH, CWA Hall, 20 Queen St</span></span></p><p><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">When: </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">5.45 for 6 pm sharp to 8 pm, Thursday 11 February</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', Arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Light refreshments provided. No booking necessary. Presented by the EDO NSW Northern Rivers office</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">For more information please call Mark Byrne on 66228470 or email </span></span><a href="mailto:edonr@edo.org.au" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(7, 77, 143); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">edonr@edo.org.au</span></span></a></p><p><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Please note that the science supporting anthropogenic climate change will NOT be debated at these seminars</span></span></em></p><p><a href="http://tracking.involve.dload.com.au/?ADMwMDAxQzAwNDEzNjMyMzY4Yy0wOTVlLTRhZmMtOWY2MS1kMmM4MTAzYTJhNjMvMjU1ODAwNzFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmVkby5vcmcuYXUvZWRvbnN3L3NpdGUvcGRmL3NlbWluYXJzLzEwMDExNHNlbWluYXJzX2ZlYjEwLnBkZg==" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(7, 77, 143); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://www.edo.org.au/edonsw/</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><wbr>site/pdf/seminars/</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><wbr>100114seminars_feb10.pdf</span></span></a></p></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-68779566502101477622010-01-13T17:26:00.001+11:002010-01-13T17:28:31.663+11:00Daniel Bensaïd: militant, intellectual, friend<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><p style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><a href="http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?auteur9" title="François Sabado is a member of the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International and an activist in the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) in France. He was a long-time member of the National Leadership of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR)." class="rcol" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(178, 34, 34); ">François Sabado</a>, in <a href="http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1791">International Viewpoint</a></span></span></em></p><p style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Daniel left us today, Tuesday the 12th of January 2010. Born in 1946 he gave his life to the cause of defending revolutionary Marxist ideas right to the end.</span></span></strong></p><p style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">He was one of the founders of the Jeunesse Communiste Révolutionnaire (JCR - Revolutionary Communist Youth) and the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (LCR - Revolutionary Communist League, French section of the Fourth International)</span></span></p><dl class="spip_document_2839 spip_documents spip_documents_right" style="text-align: center; float: right; margin-left: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 1px; width: 320px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><img src="http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/IMG/jpg/db234.jpg" width="320" height="213" alt="" /></span></span></dl><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">A leader of the May 68 movement, he was one of those people with a very sure feeling for political initiative. He had been one of the leaders of the 22nd March Movement. Grasping the dynamic of social movements, in particular the link between the student movement and workers’ general strike, he was also one of those who understood the necessity of building a political organisation, of accumulating the forces for building a revolutionary party.</span></span></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The quality of Daniel’s intelligence was to combine theory and practice, intuition and political understanding, ideas and organisation. He could, at the same time, lead a stewarding force and write a theoretical text.</span></span></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">He was one of those who inspired a fight which combined principles and political boundaries with openness and a rejection of sectarianism. Daniel, his own political convictions deeply rooted in him, was always the first to want to discuss, to try to convince, to exchange opinions, and to renew his own thinking.</span></span></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">As a member of the daily leadership of the LCR from the end of the 1960s to the beginning of the 1990s, he played a decisive role in building a project, an orientation which combined daily activity with a revolutionary outlook. A good part of his theoretical and political work was focused on questions of strategy, and the lessons of the main historical revolutionary experiences.</span></span></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Daniel was profoundly internationalist. He played a key role in the building of the LCR in the Spanish state in the Franco period. In those years he played a major role within the Fourth International, in particular following closely developments in Latin America and Brazil. He contributed largely to renewing our vision of the world and to preparing us for the upheavals of the end of the 1980s.</span></span></p><dl class="spip_document_2838 spip_documents spip_documents_right" style="text-align: center; float: right; margin-left: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 1px; width: 340px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><img src="http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/IMG/jpg/jcrleaders.jpg" width="340" height="207" alt="" /></span></span><dd class="spip_doc_descriptif" style="clear: both; width: 340px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Revolutionary election campaign 1969: Daniel Bensaid, Alain Krivine, Henri Weber</span></span></dd></dl><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">From the 1990s until the end, while continuing his political fight he concentrated on theoretical work: the history of political ideas; Marx’s Capital; the balance sheet of the twentieth century and its revolutions, first of all the Russian revolution; ecology; feminism; identities and the Jewish question; developing new policies for the revolutionary left faced with capitalist globalisation. He regularly attended and followed the Social Forum and the global justice movement.</span></span></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Daniel ensured the historical continuity of open, non-dogmatic, revolutionary Marxism and adaptation to the changes of the new era, with the perspective of revolutionary transformation of society always in his sights.</span></span></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Although seriously ill he overcame it for years, thinking, writing, working on his ideas, never refusing to travel, to speak at rallies or attend simple meetings. Daniel set himself the task of checking the solidity of our foundations and passing them on to the young generation. He put his heart and all his strength into it. His contributions, at the International Institute in Amsterdam, in the summer universities of the LCR and then of the NPA, at the Fourth International youth camp, made an impact on thousands of comrades. Transmitting the experience of the LCR to the NPA, Daniel decided to accompany the foundation of our new organisation with a relaunch of the review </span></span><i class="spip"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Contretemps</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> and forming the “Louise Michel” society as a place for discussion and reflection of radical thought.</span></span></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Daniel was all that. And in addition he was warm and convivial. He loved life.</span></span></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Although many “68ers” turned their coats and abandoned the ideals of their youth, Daniel abandoned none of them; he didn’t change. He is still with us.</span></span></p><p class="spip" align="justify" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><i class="spip"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Translated by Penelope Duggan</span></span></i></p><blockquote><div class="border2" style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 1pt; margin-right: 1pt; margin-bottom: 1pt; margin-left: 1pt; padding-top: 3pt; padding-right: 0pt; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0pt; border-top-width: 1pt; border-top-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-color: initial; "></div></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 6pt; line-height: 12pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><img src="http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/puce.gif" width="8" height="11" alt="-" /></span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">François Sabado is a member of the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International and an activist in the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) in France. He was a long-time member of the National Leadership of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR).</span></span></em></p></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-29413887717280915762010-01-08T13:30:00.002+11:002010-01-08T13:33:08.756+11:00Israel marks the new year with another war crime<span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Via the </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paltelegraph.com/hot-topic/3551-breaking-news-israeli-f16s-attack-northern-western-southern-and-middle-gaza-now">Palestine Telegraph</a><br /><br /></span><h2 class="contentheading" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.paltelegraph.com/hot-topic/3551-breaking-news-israeli-f16s-attack-northern-western-southern-and-middle-gaza-now" class="contentpagetitle"> </a></span></h2><blockquote><h2 class="contentheading" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.paltelegraph.com/hot-topic/3551-breaking-news-israeli-f16s-attack-northern-western-southern-and-middle-gaza-now" class="contentpagetitle">Breaking News: Israeli F16s attack Northern, Western, Southern and Middle Gaza Now </a></span> </h2> <div class="article-meta" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="createdate"> Friday, 08 January 2010 00:31 </span><span class="createby">Added by PT Editor Sameh A. Habeeb </span></span> </div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ></span><p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="margin: 3px; float: left;" src="http://www.paltelegraph.com/images/stories/gaza/IDF_F16Image2.jpg" alt="IDF_F16Image2" height="247" width="350" />Gaza, January 8, 2010 (Pal Telegraph)- A massive explosion took place few moments ago western Gaza City, in Tal Al Hawa neighborhood. Eyewitness reported that Israeli F16s launched an aerial attack midnight. The attack was followed by a series of air raids.</span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Palestine Telegraph reported that a number of air raids took place northern Gaza Strip while no new reported about the attacks yet. The attacks also targeted the southern and middle areas of Gaza Strip.</span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Medical sources reported no casualties till this moment while ambulances hurried to the targeted area.<br />A number of F16 can be heard at the moment and a case of panic and fear spread amongst the civilians who were in a sleep.</span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The attacks came amid a very densely populated area where around 150 thousands Palestinians live.<br />Israeli army launched a number of attacks last week killing a number of Palestinians.</span></p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Via Ayman Quaider and Sameh Habeeb</span></p></blockquote><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-8822967004878837072010-01-08T12:06:00.006+11:002010-01-08T13:35:33.740+11:00Left Unity in Australia: two steps forward...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpaE1s_T202HE2LVblfg0DMmW2jJlZP8vEzO7l1Am15dhEcnj7ZbJR_5o_W4KDmvznYCMYgA592MOxdsCv8eZowcTmaCkj7HJ9AY3chleP79A8N3Z83LL_mzzCYxH2O6mpnRRDjIWmFfA/s1600-h/7thconf3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpaE1s_T202HE2LVblfg0DMmW2jJlZP8vEzO7l1Am15dhEcnj7ZbJR_5o_W4KDmvznYCMYgA592MOxdsCv8eZowcTmaCkj7HJ9AY3chleP79A8N3Z83LL_mzzCYxH2O6mpnRRDjIWmFfA/s320/7thconf3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424187083123344514" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >There is truly no rest for the wicked.<br /><br />The wombats are still tired from the extraordinary events of the weekend - in particular, the <a href="http://socialist-alliance.wikispaces.com/Seventh+National+Conference">Socialist Alliance's 7th National Conference</a>, held in Sydney for the first time. But we are obliged to dive head-first back into the battle for social justice and sustainability.<br /><br />For those who missed it, the Bureau of Meteorology (one of my favourite outfits, truth be told) has released its <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/climate/change/20100105.shtml">Annual Australian Climate Statement 2009</a>, which does nothing to calm our fears about climate change, and indicates that 2009 was the second hottest year in Australia on record (and the 5th hottest year world-wide).<br /><br />Also worth noting is the impending court decision against Chevron Texico in <a href="http://ecuador-rising.blogspot.com/">Ecuador</a>, for causing near-apocalyptic pollution-related harm to that country's rainforest. Chevron is facing over US$23 billion in damages. The "Amazonian Chernobyl" continues to unfold, and Chevron seems poised to appeal any decision against it. Readers should head on over to <a href="http://chevrontoxico.com/">Chevron Toxico</a> for background, sign the <a href="http://chevrontoxico.com/news-and-multimedia/2009/1217-letter-from-atossa-soltani-to-new-chevron-ceo-john-watson.html">sign-on letter/ petition demanding action</a> and watch the new film "<a href="http://chevrontoxico.com/crude/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Crude</span></a>".<br /><br />But the big news of the week (well, not really, <a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/will-earth-really-be-wiped-out-by-a-local-supernova.html">the REALLY big news is that we're all going to die in a supernova as the nearby binary stars of <span style="font-style: italic;">T Pyxidis</span> reach the Chandrasekhar Limit in mass and go "bing badda boom", bathing us all in a deadly Gamma ray burst in a couple of millennia. Maybe.</a>) came out of the Socialist Alliance conference.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">After several years of a tentative fox-trot with other affiliates who opposed any such move, the </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.dsp.org.au/node/235">Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP)</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> has formally dissolved/ merged itself into the </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.socialist-alliance.org/">Socialist Alliance</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span><br /><br />Now, to many on the "left" (by which we mean to include all those self-described "vanguards" of <span style="font-style: italic;">circa</span> three people, as well as the more genuine outfits and individuals), this is either:<br /><br />1) irrelevant, because the DSP already controls the Socialist Alliance;<br />2) irrelevant, because the DSP had already dissolved into the Socialist Alliance;<br />3) irrelevant, because both groups are counter-revolutionary/ Pabloite/ class-collaborationist/ Stalinist/ reformist/ {<span style="font-style: italic;">insert random unsubstantiable insult here</span>}/ etc;<br />4) irrelevant, because the best vehicle for achieving socialist change is via the Greens/ ALP;<br />5) irrelevant because {<span style="font-style: italic;">insert name of your grouplet here</span>} is the one true revolutionary organisation.<br /><br />Etcetera, </span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >etcetera, </span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >etcetera.</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" > None of the above is, of course, true. These views largely serve the sole purpose of quarantining existing groups from engaging with the reality of the Socialist Alliance, the class struggle in Australia, and the need for a new, broad, socialist working class party.<br /><br />Negative views (and very genuine imperfections) aside, the decision on the weekend could actually be a (<a href="http://samforhilton.blogspot.com/2009/10/first-socialist-elected-to-fremantle.html">another</a>) very interesting and beneficial development, both for the Socialist Alliance, and for the left in Australia more generally. Amongst other things, it removes the DSP from the picture, handing over that group's assets to the larger Socialist Alliance and providing more human resources by removing the need for DSP members to build a parallel organisation.<br /><br />While <span style="font-style: italic;">individual</span> DSP members will no doubt maintain their political views, and put them forward in the Alliance, in can also be hoped that the death of the DSP may encourage those with paranoiac ideas of a "DSP takeover strategy" to (re)affiliate to the Socialist Alliance.</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" > A more successful Socialist Alliance, which welcomes the affiliation of other left groups and individuals, can only strengthen the socialist left in Australia, providing a unified-yet-pluralist and coherent alternative to the disaster which is capitalism.<br /></span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><br />Of course, there are those who will decry this move by DSP members a retreat from the "leninist" model of party-building, and even from Marxism. I disagree, and perhaps in a further post, I'll return to that claim in order to refute it. But suffice to say that <a href="http://links.org.au/node/1407">the "Leninist Party" model being constructed by most little left groups today has extraordinarily little to do with what Lenin did in Russia</a> (whatever your views on his successes and flaws).<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >One of the many (somewhere well over 200) members and delegates who attended the energetic and exciting conference, Ben Courtice, has put together a couple of (</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >somewhat contrarian</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >) analyses of the changes (<a href="http://bccwords.blogspot.com/2010/01/left-unity-seize-time.html">here</a> and <a href="http://bccwords.blogspot.com/2010/01/discussionocracy.html">here</a>), not all glowing of course, but interesting reading nonetheless.<br /><br />The new, improved, Socialist Alliance now has the opportunity to revivify the fragmented left. In one sense, the ball is firmly in the court of other left groups to meet the challenge of creating a genuine socialist alternative </span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >in Australia</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >. If <a href="http://solidarity.net.au/">Solidarity</a>, <a href="http://sa.org.au/">Socialist Alternative</a>, the <a href="http://www.socialistpartyaustralia.org/">Socialist Party</a>, or anyone else, wants to affiliate, the door remains open, and we will welcome them.<br /><br />However the Socialist Alliance is not going to be held hostage to the nightmare of the past - a viable, non-sectarian and pluralist socialist alternative must be built, regardless of the involvement of historical divisions. The potential for socialists to present that alternative is greater - and more important - now that ever.<br /><br />As Olivier Besancenot, the <a href="http://www.npa2009.org/">Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste</a>'s "Red Postie", pointed out recently: <a href="http://links.org.au/node/697">"</a></span><a href="http://links.org.au/node/697"><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >It’s in these times of economic crisis that we will have to show just how useful we really are."</span></a>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871028124290048486.post-36354308141765345872010-01-06T15:45:00.001+11:002010-01-08T13:35:56.607+11:00Australia: New era of left unity as DSP votes to merge with the Socialist Alliance<div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" id="node-1444" class="node sticky"> <div class="content"> <center><embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" wmode="transparent" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FSmilingAlexB%2Falbumid%2F5422345726560520113%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="350" width="420"></embed><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.tools4noobs.com/picasa/">Made with Slideshow Embed Tool</a></span></center> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">[The following speech, to the opening rally of the seventh national conference of the <a href="http://www.socialist-alliance.org/" target="_blank">Socialist Alliance</a> on January 2, 2010, was delivered by <b>Peter Boyle</b>, former national secretary of the <a href="http://www.dsp.org.au/" target="_blank">Democratic Socialist Perspective</a>.] </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Comrades, </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">My job tonight is to make the unusual – if not unexpected – announcement that the Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP) decided today at its 24th congress to effectively dissolve into the Socialist Alliance and to transfer all that it has built up, over some four decades of its existence, to the Socialist Alliance. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Sadly, it is an unusual and rare thing for socialist groups, like the DSP, to break from the idea that they are the “true” party of socialism, with the sole correct political program, and seriously embrace left unity. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">I say this not to boast but more by way of an apology and excuse for the DSP taking so long to take this step. After all, the Socialist Alliance was launched in 2001 and now it is 2010! I want to thank Comrades Bea Bleile, Dave Kerin, Sam Watson, Pat Eatock, and our many other partners in the Socialist Alliance for their patience and encouragement. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">We may have taken a long time to take this step, but at least we can say that when the decision was taken by the DSP today, it had overwhelming support from the DSP members. And this support was also so enthusiastic that we can anticipate that this enthusiasm will be felt in the seventh national conference of the Socialist Alliance over the next three days. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Energy </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">There's a lot of energy unleashed by this historic decision of the DSP – energy that will give the Socialist Alliance a big boost in the year ahead. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">This was the right thing for the DSP to do. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">The Socialist Alliance presents an historic opening for the left in Australia because it is an opportunity to unite in a new socialist party socialists from different political traditions, some from pre-existing socialist groups and others who are not members of those groups. And, among those proud members of the Socialist Alliance are some important leaders of the working class and other oppressed groups: people like Comrade Craig Johnston, who went to jail for fighting for workers' rights; and veteran Indigenous activists like Comrade Sam Watson and Pat Eatock ... </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Indeed, in the Socialist Alliance today, thanks to our Indigenous comrades, we have an historic opportunity to restore the powerful collaboration between the socialist and the Aboriginal movement, a collaboration that made its mark on the history of Australia, through epic struggles like the Pilbara Aboriginal stock workers strike in the 1940s and the Gurindji walk-offs in the 1960s. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Campaign to link up with working-class leaders</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">If socialism is not just to be a good idea then it has to become a movement of the working class and other oppressed groups. And it flows from this that to build the socialist movement we have to wage a permanent campaign to link up with the activists and leaders of the working class and oppressed groups who are fighting capitalist oppression. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Of course socialist groups can and do link up with other activists in movement campaigns, in various “united fronts” around specific issues, such as the campaigns against “Work Choices” or Work Choices Lite, or for Aboriginal people's rights. But when the activists and leaders of such movements want to join us in the broader and ongoing struggle against the capitalist system itself then what is our duty? Surely it is to unite with them in a party to wage such a struggle, a socialist party. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">To build such a socialist party we must be prepared to look for agreement before disagreement. That's just commonsense. And if we find – as we have in the Socialist Alliance – that we have 80-90% political agreement, then, it is a “no-brainer”: we need to be in a common political party! </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">But what about those outstanding differences among socialists? What about the 10% (or perhaps even less) that we don't agree on? Surely, the sensible thing is to not let this stand in the way of us working in a common party for real change. Surely, we have a better chance of resolving the differences that need to be resolved after we have gone through a period of collective struggle to advance what we agree on. Surely, in the process of that struggle we'll draw some lessons collectively that will deepen our political unity. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Blind Freddy can see that there is still a lot of work ahead of us before we unite the notoriously fractious left. If you roll up to any protest action in any major city, you will still be confronted with a smorgasbord of socialist groups, each harbouring the illusion that it is the true party of socialism with the correct socialist political program. What a sad sight! </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>DSP decision to merge </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">However, we've made a start in uniting more of the left in the Socialist Alliance. And today, another significant step towards unifying the left has been made with the decision of the DSP to merge into the Socialist Alliance. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">In the wake of this decision, we can anticipate that more more people will join the Socialist Alliance or step up their commitment to the project. As Comrade Dave Kerin said tonight, the DSP's decision opens the way for others like him to take a further step in commitment to the Socialist Alliance. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Earlier today, the members of the DSP ended a stage in our political organisation and embarked on a new stage. This was both a break from our past as well as a change that grew out of our collective political experience. We said good bye to a party to which we have devoted a tremendous amount of loyalty, energy, sacrifice and indeed the life-long commitment of many comrades over many years. However, we are not mourning this end. Rather we are celebrating. We are celebrating our transfer of that same commitment and energy to the Socialist Alliance. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">In his greetings to the DSP congress, Comrade Abelardo Cueda, the ambassador of revolutionary Cuba to Australia, summed up the broad political situation today in one poetic sentence: “Today the capitalists cannot sleep and they cannot dream ...” But we, he added, have a dream of a radically different world. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">We embrace that profound reality. We have a dream of a radically different world, a world based on solidarity and sustainability. And at this seventh national conference of the Socialist Alliance, we have greater means to plan and organise the struggle to advance the transformation of that dream into a reality. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Long live the Socialist Alliance! Long live left unity! Long live the power of the people!</span></p> </div></div>Red Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744776958733427709noreply@blogger.com0