Brisbane IMC

Gerry Georgatos
If you want to know the hearts and minds of a nation, of its consciousness, of its legislators, then day and night look into our prisons.

The two century old modern day prison experiment is failing, that is if we look at the spiralling incarceration rates, adult and youth, and if we look at re-offending rates, the recidivism.

My PhD research argues that people who enter the prison experience, who are incarcerated for relatively short or long terms leave the prison experience worse than they came in.

"You do not honor the dead through mindless flag waving, rewriting history or promoting new wars," said Hamish Chitts, East Timor veteran and spokesperson for Stand Fast -- a group of veterans and former military personnel who oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Related: Aborigines commemorated colonial battles and massacres in Australia | ANZAC Day Statement from Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group
Background: ANZAC DAY – Glorifying war and empire | The ANZAC Myth Booklet | Simpson and his donkey: the radical truth | 'Australia Day' and 'ANZAC Day' | ANZAC Day and the promotion of Militarism: WSWS

Gerry Georgatos
As my PhD progresses in researching Australian Deaths in Custody - I have visited Immigration Detention Centres - visited adult prisons - interviewed former detainees of the Immigration detention centres network - interviewed former prisoners of adult custodial jurisdictions.

In the lead up to the Queensland State Election on March 24, a group of Brisbane Anarchists launched an anti-election campaign. In the week prior to the election, anarchists began pasting up a couple of thousand anti politician and anti voting posters all throughout the city. Political party placards erected throughout Brisbane were torn down or defaced with anarchist and anti politician messages. Anti-voting and anarchist graffiti was scrawled and sprayed across walls, billboards, electricity boxes and telephone booths.

Greenpeace activists targeted a bulk coal carrier in Gladstone harbour early this morning. They painted 'reef in danger' on the side of the ship around dawn from two inflatable boats to highlight the massive expansion of coal port facilities and shipping through the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef. The action was undertaken to highlight the threat to the Greet Barrier Reef from industrial development and expansion to a UNESCO team visiting Queensland to assess the dangers to the Great Barrier Reef and it's World Heritage status.

Related: Greenpeace Report -Boom Goes the Reef: Australia’s coal export boom and the industrialisation of the Great Barrier Reef (PDF) | Greenpeace - Live Action! A painted picture for UNESCO

Today Julian Assange faces court again to appeal the order to extradite him to Sweden. If his appeal fails he will face court in Sweden within a fortnight.

This is Assanges tenth court appearance since his arrest for questioning in relation to sex crimes in Sweden, over a year ago. Assange has maintained that the charges are politically motivated by Wikileaks release of secret US government documents and video, particularly that that show US military engaged in war crimes.