Newswire

Message from hunger strikers in Curtin Detention Centre

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 20/01/2011 - 2:37pm

Thursday, 20 January 2011, 3:11 pm Press Release: Project SafeCom
"The continuous spin lines trotted out by the Department of Immigration to media representatives about the Curtin Detention Centre hunger strike, claiming that between 20 and 30 people are participating in the strike, amount to craven lies and callous misrepresentations, and they are eroding the Department's own ethical slogan that "people are our business" to the core," WA Human Rights group Project SafeCom said this morning.

Geography: 
Melbourne
Keywords: 
refugees
Project Safe
Curtin Detention Centre

Obama's signing Indigenous rights declaration just another trick

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 20/01/2011 - 12:14pm

By Charmaine White Face

President Obama's move in signing the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is only another trick by the United States against Native American nations and the rest of the world. As a representative to the UN for the Sioux Nation Treaty Council since 1999 and the debates on the Declaration since 2002, my information is first hand and not rumors or conjecture.

Hunger strike at Curtin detention centre

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 10:57pm

Hundreds of asylum seekers largely from Afghanistan are currently on a hunger strike at Curtin Detention Centre. Many fearing deportation back to war torn Afghanistan after the Australian Government this week struck a deal with the corrupt Karzai government on returning "failed" asylum seekers. One asylum seeker also attempted suicide. Despite attempts by Serco and the Immigration Department to play down the protest, messages form the asylum seekers have started to reach the outside world.
Related: Perth Indymedia -- Project Safe.com press release -- R.I.S.E. Press Release> -- Perth Now coverage -- Sydney Morning Herald coverage

Geography: 
Western Australia
Promotion: 
Feature
Keywords: 
protest
refugee

Anti-mining win for SA Aborigines

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 5:28pm

A South Austraoian court has denied Straits Resources and its joint venture partner, Argonaut Resources, the rights to explore a region around Lake Torrens.

Judge Sydney Tilmouth delivered a scathing judgment, saying the public interest in exploring a geological anomaly below Lake Torrens was only marginal. Lake Torrens is a salt lake about 60 kilometres north of Port Augusta.

The traditional owners, the Kokatha people, opposed the operation because of the significance of the area to them.

Queensland man threatened with arrest to stop him talking to politicians

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 10:12am

The following article from the World Socialist Website reveals the shocking story of how one man was threatened with arrest if he dared to raise his concerns with the PM or Queensland Premier. It also gives an interesting first hand account of both the suffering of ordinary people in this crisis and how people have had to rely on each other not the government for the most immediate support.

Australia: Grantham flood survivor threatened with arrest - By Richard Phillips - 18 January 2011

Keywords: 
Floods Queensland

Jan 15th Brisbane vigil marks 20th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 9:41am

On Sunday, despite the floods, a small group gathered in Brisbane to mark the 20th anniversary of first US led attack on Iraq. We joined others around the world gathering at the same time.

We remembered all those killed in the wars Australia has supported since then, especially those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I started with an overview of the wars in those countries. I mentioned Pope John Paul 11’s strong opposition to the first Gulf War, when he prophetically called it the “Seed of death”. The war helped spark a never ending spiral of violence- “war-terror-war-terror-war……..”

Geography: 
Brisbane
Keywords: 
peace
iraq war
Afghanistan war

History never repeats; or does it?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 1:24am

By Franny Peters-Little

Dear Folks,

For anyone interested in Aboriginal history and the Australian Constitution, here is an article I wrote about the 'memory' of the 1967 Referendum.

Today there are a lot of people divided over whether the 1967 Referendum was a good thing or a waste of time, which is strangely the sort of debate some have with the current issue of the Australian Constitution.

You can read the article at http://epress.anu.edu.au/aborig_history/passionate/pdf/ch04.pdf

OR

Botswana approves $3bn mine as Bushman water case gets underway

Submitted by Diet Simon on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 1:07am

Bushman mother and children at Gope, before
their eviction to a resettlement camp. ©Survival

SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL, January 18, 2011 -- Botswana’s government has green-lighted a massive $3bn mine in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve – in the middle of the Kalahari Bushmen’s appeal against the Botswana authorities’ refusal to allow them access to water there.

The Necessary Futility of Charity

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 12:48am

http://yabastamedia.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/the-necessary-futility-of-c...

(Ya Basta Media is an alternative collective of writers always looking for new contributors from a range of perspectives. Anyone can join, so those interested in having their work published please get in touch at yabastamedia@gmail.com)

Charity work is essential to modern day society, in pretty much every part of the world. Helping people in miserable situations when they are struggling to help themselves is often a life saver, and charitable giving undeniably supports millions of people in the world.

Geography: 
Global/International
Keywords: 
International
poverty
charity
development

WikiLeaks advisory board member Phillip Adams' statement on Wikileaks

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 18/01/2011 - 8:36pm

This is a statement from Australian broadcaster Phillip Adams. It was read at a WikiLeaks support rally in Sydney on January 15, 2011. Mr Adams is an Advisory Board member of WikiLeaks and a highly respected Australian media presenter.

Geography: 
Sydney
Keywords: 
Wikileaks
Julian Assange

Dole payments fall behind 30 advanced countries

Submitted by nader on Mon, 17/01/2011 - 11:42pm

TWO MILLION Australians are now living below the official poverty line.

In such an affluent society why is the ALP failing to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged? And why is there now a huge divide between the dole and the aged pension?

 - Welfare payments are dropping every year in Australia.

 - The basic unemployment benefit now stands at just $234 per week.

 - That’s $33 per day.

 - Our unemployment payment is now the lowest of 30 OECD nations.

 - The Dole for single people is $130 a week less than the aged pension.

Geography: 
Australia
Keywords: 
unemployment

2,200 protest at plutonium shipments from UK to Germany

Submitted by Diet Simon on Mon, 17/01/2011 - 2:06pm

About 2,200 nuclear opponents demonstrated outside the Grohnde power station in central north Germany on Sunday 16 January. The protesters, from very young to quite elderly, squatted outside the nuke in a symbolic action. They demanded that the federal and state governments scrap nuclear transport plans.

Keywords: 
protest
anti-nuclear
UK
Germany
plutonium

Protest underway at Eden woodchip mill

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 17/01/2011 - 11:18am

A protest is currently underway (17th January 2011)at the Eden woodchipmill. A tripod has been erected and police are in attendance. Below is a statement from one of the protestors from South East Forest Rescue.
WOODCHIPPING AND NATIVE FOREST LOGGING – IT’S JUST NOT CRICKET
This year marks the first official International Year of the Forests. As part of a summer campaign to raise awareness of the state of play regarding native forests on the south coast, today South East Forest Rescue have disrupted access to the Eden woodchipmill on Edrom Road. There is a person sitting in a tripod twenty feet above the ground.
Youtube clip of the blockade

Geography: 
New South Wales
Keywords: 
Eden
woodchipping

Revolution in Tunisia: People power topples Ben Ali regime

Submitted by takver on Sun, 16/01/2011 - 8:29pm

Tunisian President Zine El-Abedine Ben Ali has been overthrown by a people's power uprising that has built momentum over the last 4 weeks, culminating in a large rally and protest on January 14 that was attacked by riot police. Ben Ali attempted major concessions, but they were too little and too late. After 23 years in power, Ben Ali and family fled the country to Saudi Arabia, joining former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin who was also given refuge in this middle eastern state.

Geography: 
Global/International
Keywords: 
internet Censorship
revolution
Tunisia
Libya
uprising
people power

Appalled at the people on the constitutional committee

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 16/01/2011 - 7:44pm

Media release

Commentary by Michael Anderson, last survivor of the four founders of the Aboriginal Embassy and leader of the Euahlayi Nation.

Goodooga, northwest NSW, 18 January 2011

I am appalled at the announcement of the people who are to sit on this farcical constitutional committee to consider a proposal for the recognition of Aboriginal people in the Australian constitution.

Police brutality fronts antiracist demo in Newtown

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 16/01/2011 - 6:45pm

Today at 1pm, more than 100 people gathered at the Hub in Newtown to protest against racism in the area.

Following several community demonstrations against a mural that says, “say no to burqas” at nearby Station Street, the group decided to go to the mural in opposition to this racist statement. Together residents threw paint and pasted anti-racism posters over the mural, made noise and held banners with the statements, “fascists off our streets” and “racists out of Newtown”.

Keywords: 
police
fascism
racism
arrests
antiracism
enmore
mural

Wikileaks supporters rally in Sydney

Submitted by takver on Sun, 16/01/2011 - 2:18pm

About a thousand people rallied in Sydney on Saturday in support of wikileaks and Julian Assange. Assange is presently under house arrest in England fighting an extradition notice to Sweden over sexual assault allegations. Wikileaks continues publishing US diplomatic cables exposing the corruption of secret government policy and action, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Related: John Pilger's investigation into the war on WikiLeaks and his interview with Julian Assange | A Song for Bradley Manning | www.bradleymanning.org | www.wlcentral.org | WikiLeaks advisory board member Phillip Adams' statement on Wikileaks

Geography: 
Sydney
Promotion: 
Feature
Keywords: 
protest
free speech
Wikileaks
Julian Assange
more