Anarchia

From Aotearoa Indymedia:

Animal rights activists protested outside the Ministry of Agriculture offices in Wellington today. The protest was a reaction to the news that Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton is overruling parliamentary legal advice and supporting the use of battery cages.

While it was a small protest called without much notice, it seemed to really upset the Ministry of Agriculture, who seemed offended that we named and shamed David Bayvel of MAF. Several MAF staff came out and took photos and video film of protesters and scuttled back behind the police when challenged.

Despite overwhelming public opposition, Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton, has yet again interfered with the democratic process to protect
the profits of the egg industry.

Parliament’s Regulations Review Committee recently ruled that battery cages do not comply with the Animal Welfare Act, and they must be phased out over time. Jim Anderton has overruled the committee and says he will ignore their advice, ignore science, and ignore public opinion. Instead he defends the cruel egg industry and will allow them to continue cramming birds into tiny cages for their entire lives.

Protesters said today “It’s time we stopped tolerating these spineless apologists for the animal abuse industries. Jim Anderton and the rest of the Labour led government have done nothing to help these animals, despite overwhelming public opposition to factory farming for years. The faceless bureaucrats at the Ministry of Agriculture who advise the Minister are also to blame. People like David Bayvel, Director of Animal Welfare at MAF, who hasn’t done a thing for animals since he got the job”.

If you want to really help animals, forget the politicians, forget lobbying, and help us to hit the industry where it hurts - in the pocket.
Boycott battery eggs and get involved in our campaign to expose and disrupt factory farming!

And here’s some photos I took at the demo:

Here’s some photos and a short video I took at the Wellington rally against Wayne Mapp’s proposed 90 day no rights for workers bill. Reports on the rally and activities in other parts of the country can be found on Aotearoa Indymedia.

Click here to view a short video of cleaners from the Clean Start campaign drumming before the rally.

So, yesterday, I finally managed to get three things into the same place that had been eluding each other for quite some time - my camera, it's USB cable and a computer. So, I've now been able to get a whole lot of photos off my camera and onto here. Here's some from a trip I took with friends over New Years. We visited Pelorus, Motueka, Marahau (where we spent New Years eve) and a few spots in between. Thanks to all the great drivers that picked us up, especially the big yellow school bus - I still have the postcard you gave us.

So, while flicking through some of my old photos, I figured I'd pick 10 of the ones that made me smile to chuck up on here. From various times and various places in various parts of the world (ask in comments if you want to know specifics…)

A tour of destruction: the Wellington City Bypass.

On a related note, their will be a tour of this area as part of the May Day Weekend events - leaving from Kensington Gardens (in between Kensington St and Victoria St) at 11am this Saturday.

There’s lots happening this weekend - for more infomation, visit the Wellington May Day Website.

Around 30 people came to the protest outside the Wellington Town Hall, with topics ranging from GE to the “War On Terror”, from the Foreshore & Seabed theft to worker’s rights. It was a fairly lively and energetic protest, which always makes things a lot more interesting, with a number of people having their say on a number of issues.

Many bloggers were on the other side of the picket lines, inside the congress, such as Jordan (Just Left), Caleb (Some Other Guy), Conor (Constar), Greg (NZ Political Comments) and probably more.

A handful of National Front members showed up, handed out flyers and attempted to look staunch. They ran off after only about 40 minutes, perhaps it got too loud for their poor ears?

Cheers to everyone who came along and made it what it was.

The person with the “NO FEES” sign was from NZUSA, not the National Front

More at Indymedia

The following is an article that I wrote for the latest issue of SNAP!, a local anarchist broadsheet that you’ll find stuck up on walls around the central city, and in a few other locations. Also below are photos I took at the march/rally.

Over 150 people marched from Civic Square to the US Embassy last Saturday in protest against the United States’ continued illegal occupation of Iraq on the second anniversary of the invasion.

Marchers hailed from across the leftist spectrum, from Anarchists to Campus Left, from the Anti Capitalist Alliance to high school students, all came to voice their anger over the US’ continued flouting of international law and human rights in the interests of its corporate masters. As the march moved down Lambton Quay, several paint bombs were thrown at the ANZ Bank, in protest over its involvement in and profit from the war in Iraq. All the way, two plainclothes police kept a close eye on the marchers, with one taking a considerable number of close-up photos of activists with a high powered zoom lens.

At the embassy several speeches were made, then protesters were invited to vent their frustration by throwing rotten fruit at an activist dressed as George W. Bush. Police warned protesters not to get any fruit on the embassy, so one activist stood facing away from the embassy and threw a tomato. He was arrested and dragged away by police. The crowd sprung into action, surrounding the police and their vehicle to ensure that the arrested protester would not be taken away.

Shouts of “let him go!” and “false arrest!” filled the air for half an hour, until the police were forced to give in and release the activist without charge. Once again, people power proved triumphant over abusive police behaviour!

About 15 people camped overnight outside, and 2 went on a hunger strike in solidarity with the people of Iraq and those arrested in an Auckland anti-war protest.

More photos at http://flickr.com/photos/asherg/sets/204421/.

Edit - April 3rd: Made the photos smaller to reduce loading time. Sorry about that.