Thousands Rally for the Forests
04/06/2006
More than 15,000 people called for the Bracks Labor Government to stop old growth logging in Victorian forests in a rally through Melbourne streets on the eve of World Environment Day. Alec Marr, national director of the Wilderness Society, said "This is a massive issue and the size of this crowd and the support we have today goes to highlight the issue and shows just how much of an emotional issue this is." [ Full Story and Photos]
Wilderness Society |
Friends of the Earth Melbourne |
Goongerah Environment Centre
Mabo Day Celebrated
03/06/2006
2006 marks the 14th anniversary of Mabo Day, the date when the High Court of Australia handed down its landmark decision in the Mabo case in 1992, finding that there was prior occuption and ownership of the land, thus overturning the doctine of Terra Nullius. It could form the basis for reconcilation based on justice between indigenous Australians and those who have settled here from Europe and other parts of the globe. [ Full Story]
Make MABO DAY - 3 June - an Australian Public Holiday
Residents Organise while Labor Councilors sell out
02/06/2006
Despite pressure from the local Union
Solidarity group and other residents, and opposition from its two
Greens’ members, the Labor dominated Moreland City Council voted on May
22 for the Council CEO to negotiate the tendering out ( PDF)
of the Coburg Leisure Complex with Belgravia, YWCA, and Leisure
entertainment in that order. [ Full
Story]
At a well attended meeting
on the 17th May organised in opposition to Federal Industrial
relations laws, the community urged "Moreland City Council (to) enter
into negotiations with the Australian Services Union over a mechanism to
bring the Coburg Leisure Centre back "in-house"." Residents and
workers fear the contract will be granted to Belgravia Leisure which
will result in lower wages
and working conditions and reduced services.
May Day in Melbourne
01/05/2006
Celebrations have taken place aross Melbourne over the weekend and today to mark May Day, the traditional day to recognise worker's struggle. In Broadmeadows, on Sunday, community and worker's groups marched and heard speakers focus on the issues of health care, toxic waste and the Federal Government's new Industrial Relations laws. [ Full Story] On Monday, in central Melbourne, a May Day picnic was held at the 8 hour monument, across from Trades Hall, while outside Her Majesty's Theatre a group gathered to mark the 120th anniversary of the Australian Anarchist movement. [Full Story]
[The beginnings of May Day in Australia | wikipedia | Euro May Day 2006]
Seditious Intent: Short Film Collection
24/04/2006
Seditious intent is an online collection of 17 short films all dealing with the Australian Government’s draconian new anti-terrorism laws. The laws make it an offence to:
- bring the Sovereign into hatred or contempt;
- urge disaffection against the Constitution, the Government of the Commonwealth or either House of the Parliament;
- urge another person to attempt, otherwise than by lawful means, to procure a change to any matter established by law in the Commonwealth;
From the slick to the raw and edgy, ranging from fiction, faction, animation, claymation, subverts to adverts, all the Seditious Intent videos are available on the web for you to download, watch, share or screen. [ Full Story]
You can check out the collection at Spinach7 or EngageMedia.
Further info on the sedition laws: Civil Rights Network | Wikipedia
Lake Cowal Easter Protest Halts Mine
20/04/2006
Mining operations at Barrick Gold's Lake Cowal Project in western NSW were stopped for over five hours on Easter Sunday when a group of nearly one hundred protestors walked on to the mine site to highlight concern over the mine’s safety and social implications. The group, including Wiradjuri traditional owners and a cross section of locals and others from around Australia, were part of Easter protests against the newly opened gold mine. [ Full Story]
[Desecration of Sacred Site | Save Lake Cowal | Cyanide Watch | The Lake]
Indigenous Camp eviction looms
09/04/2006
The Camp Sovereignty protest site in Melbourne's Kings
Domain Gardens faces the threat of eviction after
police visited the camp on Friday morning. The camp was
established for the Commonwealth Games to serve as a
base for actions coordinated by the Black GST campaign
to highlight the on going resistance of Indigenous and
non Indigenous people to the illegal occupation of the
Australian continent.
[ Full Story]
Background
[Black GST |
Camp Sovereignty Established]
Government Shuts Down Political Web Site
1/04/2006
from the newswireOne week before the third
anniversary of the criminal invasion and occupation of
Iraq, the Australian government forced the closure of
a satirical web site that powerfully exposed several
key lies told by Prime Minister John Howard to justify
participation in the US-led war. [ Full
Story]
[Propaganda Matrix | Richard Neville
| The Speech that disappeared]
Desecration of Sacred Site - Lake Cowal
26/03/2006
from the newswireLooking down on the mine with its open-cut pit, which is still only at about 7% of its total depth, and the cryptic markings of the unlined tailings dams, I reflected on a famous quote by Mark Twain: What's a definition of a gold mine? A hole in the ground owned by a liar. [ Full Story]
[Lake Cowal Corroboree planned for Easter]
Student protests and occupations in France
20/03/2006
More than a million students and workers took to the streets in France over the weekend to demonstrate against the imposition of new industrial
relations laws that particularly
impact young workers. The rallies follow weeks of unrest that have seen railways blockaded, airports disrupted, and up to two thirds of France's universities occupied. [ Full
Story]
[Libcom blog: Unrest in France
|
Paris Indymedia]
Camp Sovereignty Established
13/03/2006
The Stolenwealth Games protest camp has been established in Melbourne Kings Domain Gardens in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games. The camp will serve as a base for actions being coordinated by the Black GST campaign to highlight the ongoing resistance of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to the illegal occupation of the Australian continent. Ceremonies were opened with the lighting of the Aboriginal Sacred Fire for Peace and Justice from ashes brought from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.
[ Full Story]
Reports
[Getting to the Camp | What's on | Stolenwealth Games Convergence Begins]
Peace Activist found Not Guilty of Obstruction
07/03/2006
Christains Against All Terrorism member Sean O'Reilly was found not
guilty in the Alice springs Magistrates court on March 3rd. O'Reilly had
been charged with obstructing police while holding an anti-war vigil
outside the Pine Gap Military facility in December last year. [ Full
Story ]
My
Brother is in Court
Citizen
inspection shuts down Pine Gap.
melb-imc
(top)
|
Greenpeace and other environmental organisations have 
The article, 
"Mother's Day is coming up. But most of us don't know the origin of the day. It was not a day to thank your mother for what she does before shops made it that way. It actually started as "Mothers' Day" (note where the apostrophe is) and it was the day for mothers to march demanding end of wars and peace." says an 
Update 12 May: 
