Newswire

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

Contents:
Public Forum (23 April): The NT Intervention is a fraud
Next Aboriginal summit in Sydney, May 8-9
Jobs With Justice for Aboriginal Workers
Other Aboriginal Articles

PUBLIC FORUM (23 APRIL): THE NT INTERVENTION IS A FRAUD:

- Special STICS compilation on the Forum

[STICS - Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney]

Stop the Intervention:
Forum: The NT Intervention is a fraud
http://stoptheintervention.org/forum-the-nt-intervention-is-a-fraud
"A National call out launched by

On May Day in Melbourne – the refugee rally was dwarfed by another gathering of largely young people – about one thousand people took part in the Zombie Shuffle. Is this a subversive cultural statement about the zombification of our corporate, consumerist society? Or is it actually a manifestation of a braindead culture obsessed with meaningless spectacle? What does it say for the left that this “rally of the undead” was much bigger than the refugee rally happening at Trades Hall literally at the same time?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsmczany/sets/72157623849116805/

A new monthly anarchist zine has been launched - Melbourne Black. The free zine is being published in both paper and online form and is free. It aims to be a voice for promoting anarchist theory and to help make anarchists a strong and vibrant part of the Melbourne left. Printed copies will be available in Melbourne from Barricade/Loophole, MARC, New International, Sticky and elsewhere

By Amnesty International Australia

Our Government recently made the appalling decision to flat out stop processing the asylum claims of people fleeing war in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

And despite thousands of you sending messages to Immigration Minister Chris Evans within hours of the decision, party leaders still won’t budge - each side clinging to an ugly game of politics with utter disregard to the cost in human suffering.

As they continue to put politics over people, we must make the human cost of their inaction very, very clear.

By Survival International

Demonstrators gathered outside the headquarters of oil giant Repsol-YPF on 30 April to protest at its plans to explore for oil on uncontacted tribes’ land. Repsol, holding its AGM today, refuses to accept that the uncontacted tribes exist.

On 13 March 2010 five women aged from 37 to 69 began walking from Brisbane to Canberra to take a message to the prime minister. The message conveys the hopes and dreams of the Australian people, asking that we take steps towards a nuclear free future.

While Kevin Rudd announced a crackdown on tobacco advertising and increased sales tax on cigarettes, attention was diverted from the elephant in the livingroom: climate change and addiction to coal. At the same time Friends of the Earth Australia denounced the development of two new coal export terminals near Bowen in North Queensland, insisting the expansion of Queensland's biggest contributor to climate change must come to an end. Adding an extra $2 sales tax a pack to cigarettes is a diversion from the real problem: Australia's multi-billion dollar addiction to coal. What Kevin Rudd needs to do is put a $35 per tonne carbon levy on coal to send a significant message to business and the public on climate change and public health.

Related: Punishing the people who stand up for the common good | Conservationists and scientists angry at Rudd retreat on climate | Crikey: Pity the coal lobbyists are more powerful than the tobacco lobbyists

Indonesia’s plans to seize 1.6 million hectares of indigenous West Papuans’ land for large scale agriculture has been condemned at a high-profile event at the UN in New York.

http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/5886