Global Peace And Justice Auckland

Newsletter #280, April ,2009

Website: http://www.gpja.org.nz/
Contact details:
Forums - John Minto, Work: (09) 845 2132, Home 09 846 3173 jbminto@xtra.co.nz
Newsletter Editor & Website - Mike Treen 0295254744 mike@unite.org.nz
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WHAT'S ON IN AUCKLAND

Open Daily 10am - 7pm, until April 14, Gallery 3, AUT, cnr Symonds & Mount Sts
Bad at maths? Get annoyed or angry for no good reason? Don’t get on with your sister, brother, aunty, budgie? Can’t wait to get your next coffee fix? Perhaps the interactive documentary-style Exhibition on Human Rights & Mental Health can put you straight about some of this…. Exhibition on Human Rights and Psychiatry. Hosted by: Citizens Commission on Human Rights withsupport of AUT St Pauls St Galleries.

Thursday, April 16, 6pm, Engineering Main Lecture Theatre 401-439, 20 Symonds Street, University of Auckland
FREE PUBLIC LECTURE: Judge C.G. Weeramantry "Rights and Responsibilities: A Global Cultural Perspective". Judge Weeramantry will be introduced by Hon Peter Salmon QC. Judge Christopher Weeramantry is a former Judge of the International Court of Justice and was its Vice-President from 1997-2000. He is internationally renowned for his landmark opinions on the illegality of nuclear weaponsand the recognition of sustainable development as a part of international law. Among many other honours, he is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (alos known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) and the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education (2006). This is the opening lecture of the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law Conference 2009: Property Rights and Sustainability - The Evolution ofProperty Rights to Meet Ecological Challenges, 16 – 18 April, 2009, University of Auckland. Tensions between individual entitlements to natural resources and collective needs and responsibilities are increasingly felt in New Zealand and globally. This conference will bring together leading academics, judges, policy analysts and practitioners to question our current concepts of propertyrights and ways in which they can be re-conceived to meet current challenges. Special students registration fees available. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION DETAILS: www.nzcel-conf.auckland.ac.nz OR EMAIL: Conference Organiser, Jane Kilgour at k.j.kilgour@paradise.net.nz

Thursday, April 23, 8pm, Tom Forde's Bar, 122 Anzac Avenue, Auckland
COME TO REGGAE FOR BLAIR PEACH - organised by Socialist Aotearoa. from the British Socialist Worker paper- "As the police rushed past him, one of them hit him on the head with the stick. I was in my garden and saw this quite clearly. He was left sitting against the wall. He tried to get up, but he was shivering and looked very strange. He couldn't stand. Then the police came back and told him,'Move! Come on, move!' They were very rough with him and I was shocked because it was clear he was seriously hurt." This was the shocking testimony of Southall resident Parminder Atwal, one of the witnesses to the murder of Blair Peach at the hands of the Metropolitan Police on 23 April 1979.

Friday, May 8, 7pm, St Colomba Centre, Vermont St, Ponsonby.(Doors open at 7pm and we start at 7:30pm)
YOUTH HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD: Hello, It is time for the exciting annual Youth for Human Rights Youth Awards. Please nominate any youth you know who you would like to receive an acknowledgement for their help & contributions. Open to all people under 24 yrs of age. Anyone who has been helping in the area of human rights or community related activities like Amnesty, Human Rights Film festival,community, school or university projects, United Nations Youth Association, church groups or related actions. Please email me their details before May 1st. Youth Awards will be 7pm Friday night May 8th 2009 at the St Colomba Centre, Vermont St, Ponsonby.(Doors open at 7pm and we start at 7:30pm). This is a fun night so enter as many youth as you can. Free parking on site, music, awards andentertainment with a light supper. This is our third annual youth awards and promises to be another excellent night. Kind regards, Dr Helen Smith, Director, Youth for Human Rights NZ

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

ANNOUNCEMENTS

NEW HORIZONS FOR WOMEN TRUST

The New Horizons for Women Trust administers a variety of awards that help women return to education and training and promote research on women’s issues. The Awards are sponsored by a number of supporting organisations and range in value. The Trust has two general award categories under which a number of awards are given:

* Second-chance Education Awards for women without qualifications currently studying at the tertiary level (at least $2,000). Download application form now. http://www.newhorizonsforwomen.org.nz/assets/2009-2nd-chance-application.pdf

* Research Awards for individual women or groups undertaking research into issues of interest to women (up to the value of $5,000). Download application form now. http://www.newhorizonsforwomen.org.nz/assets/09-Research-Application.pdf

Two specialised awards are also available from the Trust:

* The Ria McBride Public Service Management Award, provided by the State Services Commission and available to women in the Public Service (up to the value of $15,000).

* The Sonja Davies Peace Award, to honour the work and achievements of Sonja Davies, and to promote women’s initiatives to advance the cause of peace ($2,500) Download application form now. http://www.newhorizonsforwomen.org.nz/assets/Sonja-Davies-application-form-Jan-09.pdf

The closing date for the available awards is 31 May 2009. http://www.newhorizonsforwomen.org.nz/

PEOPLES MOVEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE - PARIHAKA APRIL 24-27
A call out to individuals from communities all across Aotearoa to join in organising an ongoing project which aims to start a Peoples Movement actively addressing the Root Causes of Climate Change. Join us at Parihaka April 24th through the 27th for a weekend of tasting and devouring, information, discussions and workshops on climate chaos and climate justice. The bases of the gathering is toshare skills, up skill and take action. Some of the workshops are on topics such as permaculture, collective organising and direct action strategies. For more information please contact: climatecampnz@riseup.net http://www.climatecamp.org.nz/HOME.html To Register go to: http://www.climatecamp.org.nz/THE%20GATHERING.html

What is a Climate Camp?

Climate Camps have been successfully held in several countries. Each camp has generally covered the following themes: direct action, education, direct democracy, sustainable living and building a movement to effectively tackle climate change by both resisting climate damaging activities and developing sustainable solutions. The camps are a place for anyone to take action on climate change; foranyone who’s fed up with empty government rhetoric and corporate spin; for anyone who’s worried that the small steps we’ve been encouraged to make in our personal lives aren’t enough to match the scale of the problem; and for anyone who’s worried about our future and wants to do something about it.

How is this organised?

Previous camps have been organised in a community based and collaborative way. Before and during camp regional groups [Auckland group / Whangarei group / nelson group / Christchurch group / new groups] work and organise by making decisions together and sending prooposals to one another. This is different from coming as a representative of an organisation, and is far more democratic,sustainable and conducive to building a peoples movement. There are already many regional and issue based working groups up and running that you can join, maybe there’s one in your area, if not feel free to get in touch and start one up yourself.

Hope to see you at Parihaka!

CALL OUT FOR ART WORKS - OCTOBER 15 SOLIDARITY
The October 15th Solidarity group is seeking art works for an upcoming auction and exhibition. The five day event, to be held in Wellington, will be timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the raids (October 15th 2009). Funds raised will go towards legal fees and travel costs for those still facing charges as as a result of the state terror raids in 2007. The group believes in the powerof art as a voice of dissent, and calls for submissions that draw from any of the following: -the October 15th raids; -commentary on the 'war on terrorism'; -surveillance/police/prisons; -colonisation; -kaupapa Maori; -resistance. All artists will be asked to set a reserve price for their work. Please indicate your interest via email or post asap. Contact: Rachel Fabish info@october15thsolidarity.info October15th Solidarity, P O Box 9263, Te Aro, Wellington. More info: october15thsolidarity.info

UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGINOUS PEOPLES
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, petition update: the petition calling on the government to support the UN Declaration has now gone to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee, and the Committee has requested a written submission in support of it. The deadline for the written submission is mid April, and the final batch of signatures will be attached to it.Therefore the final deadline for return of signatures is Thursday, 16 April - if you have any signed petition forms, please make sure they are posted to Peace Movement Aotearoa, PO Box 9314, Wellington 6141 on Tuesday, 14 April at the latest. If you have any opportunity to collect additional signatures between now and then, that would be great - the form is available on the UN Declaration webpage at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/decrips.htm or from email pma@xtra.co.nz - thank you.

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, NZ government's position: was the subject of Q&A in parliament on 31 March, in advance of the Australian government's statement of support for the UN Declaration. The transcript of the Q&A, and subsequently the Australian government's statement, have been circulated through the HRN e-list, and are available on the UNDeclaration web page at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/decrips.htm

WHITE POPPIES APPEAL
White poppies peace scholarship appeal: This ANZAC Day, wear a white poppy to remember all of the casualties of war and to promote peace. Poppies are available from Peace Movement Aotearoa, along with 'Lest we forget: remembering peacemakers on ANZAC Day' bookmarks, for a donation which will go to the new peace scholarships - if you would like to order one or more, or if you can assist by havingpoppies with a collection box at your work, school, church or other community place during the week of the collection, 17 to 24 April, or by organising a special or one-off collection at your church, other place of worship or at any community group meeting around the time of the appeal, please email pma@xtra.co.nzas soon as possible, with 'White poppies' in thesubject line of your message

FORESHORE AND SEABED MINISTERIAL REVIEW:
Foreshore and Seabed Ministerial Review Panel: the Review Panel has started meeting with 'nationally significant interest groups' (which appears not to include hapu and iwi, but does include a predominance of corporate and recreational organisations), and the public submissions process is currently being finalised in terms of venues and so on. Peace Movement Aotearoa is currently putting togethera web page with information about the submissions process and other things, and will send out a message when that is ready later in the week.

WORLD PEACE MARCH FOR PEACE AND NONVIOLENCE
A meeting attended by 16 representatives of peace and human rights groups and individuals was held on 31 March. There are two Auckland co-ordinators for this event: Wende Jowsey and Audrey van Ryn. They would love to have more hands-on people to assist in the organization of the Auckland events and/or provide the feedback needed to make certain decisions. Date of next meeting re the World MarchAuckland Events is 28 April and probably at 7pm, venue to be advised - interested? - Pse contact Audrey or Wende - addresses below.... Audrey has drafted up a route and sites for the Auckland Peace Walk, which is one of the Auckland events, and is on Sunday 27 September from 9am, starting at the Viaduct Basin in the CBD at the start of the Coast to Coast walk, and ends on Maungawhau (Mt Eden).She is concerned to include in the walk the significant peace landmarks in the central city and would appreciate more input on the draft. Please ask her to email it to you (audrey@writeaway.co.nz) It is hoped that more youth groups will become involved in the March, so if you have contacts with such groups, please get them to contact Audrey or Wende (wende@jowsey.com) Around 70 people are expected to travel the entire distance of the March, which ends in Argentina. We hope to house them for their first night in NZ on an Auckland marae. Peace, human rights and other relevant groups are encouraged to endorse the March (endorsement form attached) and to suggest or make approaches to celebrities such asathletes, to be individual endorsers.

LOCAL GOVT SELECT CTTEE REPORTS BACK ON 'PUBLISHING CONTRACTS' - OPPOSITION TO AK 'SUPERCITY' GROWS!
Please pass on this urgent message to the CEO of your Council for urgent distribution to the Mayor and elected representatives. Also, please be advised that the Local Government and Environment Select Committee on Friday 27 March 2009, reported back to the House on Petition 2008/002 requesting that the House urgently amend the local Government Act 2002 to make it a mandatory requirement to ensurecouncils and council-controlled organisations are open to public scrutiny by using annual reports to record contracts issued to the private sector for goods, services, and people as a means of providing openness and accountablility in council operations, and to help ensure prudent stewardship of citizen and ratepayer resources. "Conclusion: We are mindful that the increasing range of servicesprovided by councils and the commensurate rises in rates have provoked public interest in the way councils spend ratepayers' money, especially in the current economic climate. We note that there appears to be no consistency across councils on the kind of information routinely disclosed and the means for making information readily available to the public. In our view, the petitioner raises validquestions about the accountability and transparency of local government operations.............." http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/SC/Reports/9/f/5/49DBSCH_SCR4282_1-Petition-2008-2-of-Penelope-Mary-Bright-and-189.ht Penny Bright, Media Spokesperson, Water PressureGroup, Judically recognised 'Public Watchdog' for Metrowater, water and Auckland Regional Governance matters. Ph (09) 846 9825; 021 211 4 127

BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND

Business interests trump democracy in super city http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion/frontline/2301048/Business-interests-trump-democracy-in-super-city

watchblog - the online tool for the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa http://www.watchblogaotearoa.blogspot.com/

Apocalypse: NZ Rearranges Deckchairs While Ice Shelf Collapses As the Wilkins ice Shelf draws closer to collapse in Antarctica, the New Zealand Government continues to contribute absolutely nothing towards progress on a climate deal in Bonn. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0904/S00047.htm

Less than an hour: One of the oldest tactics in spin is releasing bad news late on a Friday afternoon, when the media is too keen on the weekend - and too far past its deadline - to pay attention. Unfortunately, our spin-obsessed, PR rather than policy government now seems to be applying this idea to legislation. Back in 2003, the then-Labour government passed the Parole (Extended Supervision)and Sentencing Amendment Bill, amending the Parole Act and Sentencing Act to allow extended supervision of high-risk child sex offenders. Under the law, those convicted of and who had already completed their sentence for a "relevant offence" prior to the bill coming into force could be subjected to residential restrictions equivalent to home detention for the first twelve months, and ongoingconditions such as reporting, treatment, and electronic monitoring for up to ten years after the completion of their sentence. The Attorney-General at the time rightly warned that this constituted double jeopardy and unreasonable search and seizure in violation of the Bill of Rights Act. Parliament passed it anyway. Now the government - no doubt motivated by David Garrett - has decided thatthat does not go far enough. So today it introduced a Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill, giving the parole Board the power to impose electronically monitored home detention for up to 24 hours a day for the full ten years of an ESO - which, remember, is imposed after the completion of any sentence. http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2009/04/less-than-hour.html

Gordon Campbell: The G20 Rescue Package And McCully’s Washington Trip Barack Obama came to London seeking a fresh spending package to revive the global economy and – despite European objections that tighter regulation and not more money was the way to go http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2009/04/03/campbell-g20-package-mccully%e2%80%99s-washington-trip/

John Minto: West Papua, A Neighbour Needs Our Help Neles Tebay (pronounced Tibuy) is a charming man. His eyes sparkle mischievously as he speaks and his thick accent and dark Melanesian skin add resonance to his words. With his mobile face and lively eyes he reminds me of Desmond Tutu. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0904/S00035.htm

Unions urged to oppose migrant 'scapegoating' http://pacificmediacentre.blogspot.com/2009/04/unions-urged-to-take-stand-against.html

ECONOMIC CRISIS

VIDEO:Marxist Geographer David Harvey on the G20, the Financial Crisis and Neoliberalism http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/videomarxist-geographer-david-harvey-on.html

European Workers Rebel as G-20 Looms - At companies, including Caterpillar in France and Visteon in Northern Ireland, workers have occupied offices and detained bosses. http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0401/p06s10-woeu.html

REVIEWS

Arrogant? Moi? He might be amused by The Wire's success in Britain but he isn't surprised by it. After all, David Simon isn't one for modesty. Oliver Burkeman meets him http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/28/david-simon-the-wire-interview

CUBA

Fernando Martínez Heredia: Ideas don't have owners - “Dogmas conspire against the expansion and deepening of socialism,” states the winner of the 2006 National Social Sciences Award. http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs2353.html

Cuba urges artists to be critical in order to defend the utopia, Abel Prieto says - this analytical spirit is often in line with our efforts to eliminate the very bureaucracy we have created, holds the Minister of Culture. http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs2364.html

FRANCE

Another left is possible: The protests in France and the New Anti-Capitalist Party http://links.org.au/node/967

GREECE

Greeks Stage Walkout Tied to Summit http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/world/europe/03greece.html?_=1&ref=global-home

PACIFIC

Reporter For The "Voiceless" Wins Diversity Award http://pacificmediacentre.blogspot.com/2009/04/reporter-for-voiceless-wins-diversity.html

PALESTINE / ISRAEL

On the road to apartheid http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2533161.htm

Why American academics must join boycott of Israel http://www.icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu=5&submenu=1&item=663

An unhelpful discourse on Israel - The following article is written by Israeli/American peace activist Jeff Halper for the Australian Jewish News [1] but the paper refuses to run the piece, despite spending weeks attacking Halper and his supporters in its pages: http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/2009/03/31/an-unhelpful-discourse-on-israel/

ENDS

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