#175: Antiwar reports / Unite House opening Fri

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER #175, March 21, 2007

Dear friends,

REPORTS ONJ ANTIWAR ACTION
Video: Auckland Protest Kicks Of Int. Opposition To Iraq Occupation - AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Global Peace and Justice Auckland organised a protest on Saturday as part of an International Day of Action calling for all foreign troops to be withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan. The international day of action marked the 4th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00291.htm
Iraq Invasion Peacefully Remembered At Parl't
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00344.htm
Why I Will March to Support the Troops and End the War
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00223.htm
Washington Encampment To Stop The War - Day 1
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00245.htm
Worldwide protests mark Iraq war: A series of anti-war demonstrations in countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain and Britain occured ahead of the fourth anniversary of the US-led war in Iraq.
http://snipurl.com/1dbzw
VIDEOS: March on the Pentagon: A portion of the march leaving from the Mall next to the Lincoln Memorial across the Memorial Bridge.
http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/138323/index.php

All GPJA supporters are invited to the CELEBRATION OF OFFICIAL OPENING OF UNITE HOUSE this Friday, March 23, 4pm-midnight, Level 12 - 300 Queen Street, Auckland. 4pm - (unveiling & blessing of the plaque); 4.30pm - pre-drinks; 5pm - Guest speakers: Matt McCarten, CTU, United Credit Union, Te Wananga O Aotearoa & others. Cake cutting. Light refreshments. Live music provided by KOTUKU. For catering purposes RSVP attendee numbers to lola[at]unite.org.nz

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise" : Adolf Hitler - German Chancellor, leader of the Nazi party

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." —": George W. Bush - 43rd US President

ANNOUNCEMENTS

PACIFIC BETRAYAL: THE MARCH ISSUE OF THE WORKERS CHARTER NEWSPAPER is out with up to date news of industrial action around New Zealand, columnists, film reviews, sports, letters etc This issue looks at the situation of Pacific people in New Zealand, Taito Phillip Field and the increase in poverty in the first 4 years of the current Labour government. You can get a copy sent to you be emailing your address to editor[at]workerscharter.org.nz We will send it out free but we hope you will subscribe for a year for $30.

Hi all, ARE YOU ANGRY THAT THE COPS ACCUSED OF RAPE WERE ACQUITTED?
So is Wellington singer-songwriter Don Franks. He has recorded a fabulous new song, and made it available to download for free from the internet. Called "One More Thursday in Black", it is available here: http://ndu.rata.co.nz/ The name of the song comes from a long-running, international campaign to end rape and violence against women. "Thursdays in Black" is supported in this country by many organisations, including Amnesty International and the NZ University Students Association. More info here: http://www.students.org.nz/index.php?page=thursdaysinblack

GREENS QUESTION PM ON HER UPCOMING MEETING WITH PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH
Green MPs hope that Prime Minister Helen Clark will make the most of her meeting with President George Bush in Washington next week and raise the issues which really matter. It seems, after a series of questions in the House on Wednesday, that this will not be the case.

When asked, by Keith Locke, if she would raise climate change, the United States' human rights record, and the war in Iraq, the PM replied: "The time for such meetings is always limited, and my intention is to focus on progressing areas for cooperation. I have made it clear that Iraq is not on my agenda to raise."

Keith continued by asking "What will she say to George Bush about the United States' barbaric treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, and the American Government's practice of rendering prisoners to torture in third countries". Again the PM rebuffed him saying "It is not on my agenda to raise issues of that kind with the President. As I have already observed, raising human rights issues is a two-edged sword." She said a US State Department report on New Zealand "drew attention to the level of violence against women. It drew attention to the poor socio-economic status of indigenous people, to attacks on Jewish cemeteries in our country".

Keith didn't accept this as an out, asking: "is she saying that the human rights violations committed by the United States at Guantanamo Bay and in the rendition programme are in some way comparable with the human rights issues raised in the United States report on New Zealand, and should not New Zealand take the high moral ground in an exchange of human rights standards between the two countries?"
Read Amnesty International's latest report on Guantanamo Bay detention facility
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510012007?open&of=ENG-USA

ZIMBABWE AND SRI LANKA: UNIONS UNDER ATTACK
We probably don't have to tell you that the regime of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe has launched a ferocious assault on the country's trade union movement. This morning we have launched a major online campaign to show our support for our brothers and sisters in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Please send off your message today:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c...
We've also received an urgent request for help from trade unionists in Sri Lanka, who are facing intimidation including threats of abduction. We name six trade union leaders who are being labelled as 'terrorists' and we are calling on the country's president to ensure their safety. (One of those brothers has a highly unusual name, by the way.) The campaign is here:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c...
Please pass this email on to your lists -- let's flood the inboxes of the governments of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka with our messages today. Remember: it is not enough to send off your own message. The campaign will only take off if you get other people to do as you have done and to mobilize your own union.

LATIN AMERICAN AND ASIA PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY FORUM - OCT 11-14, 2007 - MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Dear Friend, We are writing to invite you to participate in the Latin American and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum - Fighting and organising globally against neoliberalism! (October 11-14th 2007). To read the conference call go to: http://venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node/100 The forum has been initiated by the organisers of several successful conferences and gatherings in solidarity with Latin America and the Asia Pacific, the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN), Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference (APISC) and the Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET).
We anticipate that this forum will be a unique and historic convergence of progressive and anti-imperialist groups from Latin America, the Asia Pacific and beyond. In order to ensure the conference is as successful as possible we are seeking the involvement and input of all interested individuals, institutions and groups. Written proposals for contributions, workshops etc are welcome and can be submitted in writing to the email below. Please distribute this invitation to your networks. In Solidarity, Lisa MacDonald (APISC) 0413 031 108; Lucho Riquelme (LasNET) 0402 754 818; Jorge Jorquera (AVSN) 0431 720 787. Further Information: Email solidarityforum2007[at]yahoo.com
To join our discussion group go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Solidarity-Forum-2007

MAY DAY WORLD BRIGADE OF SOLIDARITY WITH CUBA
Dear Friend: Please accept fraternal greetings on behalf of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples. Our Institute welcomes the second edition of the May Day World brigade of Solidarity with Cuba which will gather delegations coming from all over the world made up by friends who would like to share such a glorious date for workers with the Cuban people. As we would be pleased with your presence in the May Day World Brigade of Solidarity with Cuba, we are extending a heartfelt invitation for you to participate of it. We would like you to send us the confirmation of the arrival date, time, and flight. Asia-Pacific Division Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples. You can contact us through: dasia[at]icap.cu / alicia[at]icap.cu / funcionariosasia[at]icap.cu

WHAT'S ON IN AUCKLAND

Until April 21, Toi Rerehiko Gallery, 321 Karangahape Rd, (opp ANZ) Newton (Hours are 10am-6pm, Tues-Fri and 11am-4pm, Sat)
RESTLESS: Group exhibition by Brett Graham, Lonnie Hutchinson, Junior Ikitule & Dean Kirkwood, John Miller and Parekohai Whakamoe. Presented as part of the Auckland Festival AK07, Restless is on display at the new Media and Interdisciplinary Arts Centre (MIC) Toi Rerehiko Gallery, Newton, until April 21. Memories of the 1981 Springbok rugby tour protests that split New Zealand during Prime Minister Rob Muldoon's era were revived at the opening of the multimedia exhibition Restless in Auckland yesterday. http://www.tewahanui.info/news/070310_springbok.shtml The whole exhibition is on til April 21. Hours are 10am-6pm, Tues-Fri and 11am-4pm, Sat. For more details of the whole exhibition, see: http://mic.org.nz/mic/2007/restless/

Wednesday, March 21, 9am-4.30pm, Conference Centre Lecture Theatre (423-342), University of Auckland, 22 Symonds St, Auckland

WHERE TO FOR WELFARE? RECENT AND PROPOSED WELFARE REFORMS IN NEW ZEALAND. You are invited to an all-day forum which will present research on and debate recent and proposed reforms to New Zealand's social support system. The forum is being organised by the University of Auckland Public Policy Group and aims to attract a broad audience including a range of government, community and academic representatives from across New Zealand. Attendance at the forum is FREE but registration is essential. To register or for more information, please contact: Dr Louise Humpage, Sociology Department, University of Auckland at l.humpage[at]auckland.ac.nz or (09) 373 7599 x 85115

Wednesday, March 21, 6PM, Amnesty offices, 1st floor, 145 Nelson St
MEETING TO ORGANISE SPEAKING TOUR FROM WEST SAHARA JOURNALIST MALAINAN LAKHAL JULY 15-25. For more info Ph Annalucia Vermunt, 09 525 7407hm, 027 4222764 mobile

Friday, March 23, 4pm-midnight, Level 12 - 300 Queen Street, Auckland
CELEBRATION OF OFFICIAL OPENING OF UNITE HOUSE
4pm - (unveiling & blessing of the plaque); 4.30pm - pre-drinks; 5pm - Guest speakers: Matt McCarten, CTU, United Credit Union, Te Wananga O Aotearoa & others. Cake cutting. Light refreshments.
Live music provided by KOTUKU. For catering purposes RSVP attendee numbers to lola[at]unite.org.nz

Friday, March 23, 8pm, Bluestone Room, 9 Durham Lane
ROCK AGAINST WAR. Good bands, koha entry. Contact Ryan Sproull wataki[at]gmail.com or 021 0275 5256 to help with leaflets and posters.

Wednesday, March 28, 7.30pm, Room 029, ClockTower Bldg No. 105, 22 Princes Street
MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT - Tutor: Mike Mc Roberts and Tuma Hazou. Class Number: 91136. Fee (GST incl): $22.50 International Fee (GST incl): $35.70 Class Limit: 70 Course Description: Coverage of the Middle East conflict is often criticised by both Palestinians and Israelis as being unbalanced and biased. This seminar will look at a number of issues relating to reporting including: What is the difference between "objectivity" and "balance" and how does a journalist achieve these in a conflict environment? Does (and should) the media provide the public with accurate information and background of the issues that lie behind the conflict so they have a better understanding of this region? Are there differences in the language used by journalists when reporting on Israel and Palestine and does this influence people's attitudes and beliefs? How does media coverage relate to the beliefs and attitudes of the newspaper readers, television and radio audiences? There will be an opportunity at th

Monday, April 2, 7.30pm at Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn.
April GPJA Forum - Friends of Tibet presentation. A film will be screened and a speaker from Friends of Tibet will talk about the current situation in the struggle for autonomy for the people of Tibet.

Monday, April 2, 7.30pm, Methodist Mission Hall, 370 Queen St, (Opp Town Hall).
ELECTRIFY NOW! FORUM - There is an urgent need to electrify Auckland rail. The system is based on old, polluting diesel trains, bursting at the seams at rush hour. The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) need to order $170m worth of new trains in the next few weeks, and this money could be spent on electric trains if the government promises to support electrification in the coming years. If not it means more diesels, more smoke, and more going nowhere. Support us in pressuring government to help finance the electrification of Auckland's rail system over the coming years. Green Forum is hosting "Electrify Auckland's Rail NOW!" a public forum on Auckland's transport system. With your attendance this meeting will help pressure the labour government into making the right choice, in time. Many notable and informed speakers have been lined up for this event, including Auckland Regional Council Chair Mike Lee and Councillor Joel Cayford, Green Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons and Cam Pitches from "Campaign fo

Wednesday May 2 - Wednesday My 9, Auckland Academy Theatre
NZ Human Rights Film Festival www.humanrightsfilmfest.net.nz

BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND
State Visit Signals Shift In NZ/US Foreign Policy
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00277.htm
What Is To Gain From A Cosy NZ/US Relationship?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00248.htm
'Declining participation rates for Maori cause concern'
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0703/S00341.htm
New Zealand Prime Minister Told - 'Insist Arroyo order end to killings, rights violations'
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?articl...
Ghali Hassan: New Zealand - Images And Reality
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00313.htm

TIMORE LESTE
East Timor hits potholes on the road to independence
http://etan.org/estafeta/07/winter/1timor.htm

ENVIRONMENT
Global warming is a 'weapon of mass destruction': Climate experts hit back after being accused of overstating the problem
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2368999....
Collapse Of Arctic Sea Ice 'Has Reached Tipping-Point' By Steve Connor
http://www.countercurrents.org/cc-connor170207.htm

WORLD ECONOMY
Global trade unions are demanding that this week's high-level session on cotton at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva must embark on a root and branch reform of trade in cotton instead of tinkering
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0703/S00334.htm
Power shifts in global oil business - The 'new seven sisters,' from Saudi Aramco to Malaysia's Petronas, have replaced the Western majors as rule makers in energy.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-ft-oil19mar19,0,2484697,full.story?co...

SRI LANKA
Illegal and unfair treatment of displaced
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0703/S00350.htm

PAKISTAN
Protests Mount Against Musharraf
http://www.countercurrents.org/pak-jones200307.htm
Pakistan's President At His Dictatorial Worst By Tarek Fatah
http://www.countercurrents.org/pak-fatah170307.htm

INDIA
Deaths In Police Firing In Nandigram By Amnesty International
http://www.countercurrents.org/amnesty150307.htm

ISRAEL/PALESTINE
This Time, Israel Is Missing An Historic Opportunity - Fulfilling a 60-year old Israeli dream and an American unwavering strategy, the 22-member League of Arab states are now in consensus on a potentially groundbreaking Arab Peace Initiative (API), which pledges their collective and full recognition of the Jewish state and full-fledged permanent peace in return for withdrawing the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to 1967 lines, the establishment of an independent Palestine with eastern Jerusalem as its capital, and an agreed, just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue in accordance with United Nations Resolution 194, but both Washington and Tel Aviv are not forthcoming
http://www.countercurrents.org/pa-nasser150307.htm

PHILIPPINES
Satur Ocampo now on the run - Hits gov't try to destroy party-lists
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?a...
Ka Satur comes out for US Senate hearing - on YouTube - House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo made true his promise to participate in the US Senate hearing
on extrajudicial killings besetting the Philippines. While Philippine officials are spending undetermined amounts of precious taxpayers' money, Ocampo preferred the less expensive and modern way - by coming out with two videotaped messages addressed to US citizens and the international community.
http://youtube.com/bayanmunadotnet

VENEZUELA
President Bush's Trip to Latin America Is All About Denial
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=12348§ionID=20
Tim Giago: Venezuela steps up for Indian nations
http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/001929.asp
Video: Hugo Chavez, Up Close and Personal - Walters Engages in Candid Talk With One of Latin America's Most Influential Leaders
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2957787

AFRICA
Africa Action Releases New Report on International Failure to Protect Darfur
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0703/S00222.htm
Into Africa - Increased U.S. military presence in Africa may simply serve to protect unpopular regimes that are friendly to its interests, as was the case during the Cold War, while Africa slips further into poverty
http://www.countercurrents.org/hallinan200307.htm
The Political Economy of Diamonds: A few years before 9/11, the world's curiously selective conscience was shocked by images from the little West African country of Sierra Leone. There, an insurgent group fond of hacking off hands and feet with machetes funded its war by exploiting slave labor in diamond fields,
http://www.counterpunch.com/naylor03162007.html

ZIMBABWE
They brutalised my flesh but will never break my spirit: 'I never realised Mugabe and his criminal team would go this far. But I do not seek to be a martyr. Please help us to achieve change'
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2362776.ece
The wasteland - inside Mugabe's crumbling state: At the end of a week that saw protests violently crushed, Chris McGreal reports from Bulawayo on a nation sliding into chaos http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,,2036161,00.html

IRAQ WAR
A Good Kicking - Video - Torture Goes Unpunished - The Panorama special called A Good Kicking investigates the torture of seven Iraqi civilians in 2003 while held in British custody in Basra. One man, a hotel receptionist called Baha Mousa, died and had 93 injuries on his body. soldier, who asked to have his identity protected, told Panorama: "What I saw in that cell wasn't interrogation. It wasn't detention. It was torture as far as I am concerned. It was brutal. It was barbaric."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17344.htm
Third of Iraqi children now malnourished: Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Iraq say that malnutrition rates have risen in Iraq from 19 percent before the US-led invasion to a national average of 28 percent four years later.
http://snipurl.com/1dbzs

WAR ON FREEDOM
Closing The Gap Between Torturer And Victim - John Pilger reports on new revelations that torturers in America's 'war on terror' were directed personally by the US secretary of defence. He argues that the historical antedote to such barbarity is the new exuberant democracy movement in Latin America
http://www.countercurrents.org/pilger160307.htm
The Confession Backfired - By Paul Craig Roberts - The first confession released by the Bush regime's Military Tribunals--that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed--has discredited the entire process. Writing in Jurist, Northwestern University law professor Anthony D'Amato likens Mohammed's confession to those that emerged in Stalin's show trials of Bolshevik leaders in the 1930s.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17336.htm

ENDS

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