Protests were held today in several centres across the country to mark BHP Billiton's AGM in Perth. In Melbourne, members of Friends of the Earth ACE collective and activists representing the Indigenous peoples of Latin America held banners outside the company headquarters in Lonsdale Street and distributed pamphlets setting out the case against it.
On Friday the 5th November, around 200 people made their presence known and their voices heard on the steps of Parliament against the continued slaughter of whales and other marine mammals. Among those voicing their protest were students from Sherbrooke Community School, ranging from primary years to Year 12. Sherbrooke students are so enthusiastic about the environment and social justice and attend public rallies often.
Several hundred people took part in a rally and march organised by the Refugee Advocacy Network (http://refugeeadvocacynetwork.org)to demand an end to the policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers arriving by boat.
The stretch of High Street outside the office of ALP State MP for Northcote Fiona Richardson was more than usually noisy this morning as peak-hour motorists – and several cyclists - responded to the call from members of Darebin Climate Action Now who were picketing the office with placards opposing the projected HRL coal-fired power station in the Latrobe valley and calling for real action on climate change.
Rallies were held around Australia on Friday 29 October under the banner of ‘Jobs with Justice’ and an end to the Northern Territory Intervention as part of a National Day of Action. The rally in Melbourne attended by approximately 500 people ended with a sit-down at a major city intersection, bringing peak-hour traffic to a halt for over twenty minutes. Related: Youtube footage of sit-in -- Report on rally from Melbourne Ant-Intervention Collective -- More photos on Melbourne Protests Weblog
Andreas Weiland
PEACEFUL CIVIL RESISTANCE IN STUTTGART, DENUNCIATIONS AND A NEW ACT PROPOSED BY THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT
The Merkel administration has reached agreement among cabinet members that a new act will be submitted to parliament. It increases penalities for passive resistance to up to three years in prison while threatening throwers of bottles and stones with up to five years in jail.
From our correspondent in Paris -- http://www.internationalist.org/
Something New – High School and College Students Protest the Pension “Reform” – Why?
French Students Mobilize: “Sarkozy, You’re Screwed, The Youth Are In the Streets!”
To chants of “Coal, don’t dig it/ Leave it in the ground/ Time to get with it”, members and supporters of Darebin Climate Action Now marched from Northcote Town Hall to the office of local Labor MP Fiona Richardson to demand an end to the Brumby government’s pro-coal policies. They handed out leaflets calling on people to ‘Vote Climate’ in the upcoming election, and posing the question ‘Can we trust Labor on Climate?’, and also delivered a copy of Beyond Zero Emissions’ Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan to the office.
The callout:
Melbourne's Cross Campus Environment Network (CCEN) organised a rally on Monday outside the office of Premier John Brumby in opposition to energy
company HRL's plans to build a new coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley. Apart from a range of speakers condemning the plan, in the interests of
fair play they also invited a representative of the company to answer objections...
Nine years of Australian defence forces in Afghanistan was remembered by three flashmob die-ins: on the steps of Flinders street station, outside the old GPO, and at the State Library steps today in Melbourne.
Photos | Youtube video: Ninth anniversary of Afghanistan War remembered in Melbourne with a Flashmob protest
