|
Feature Articles |
Create or login to a User account? |
| Local News and Commentary |
|
|
News :: Civil Liberties & Human Rights : Law & Justice : Politics & Elections : Trade & International Relations : War & Peace |
|
The pursuit of justice for David Hicks |
|
by ke |
14 Apr 2006
Modified: 11:19:21 AM |
 Adelaide-born David Hicks has been incarcerated in the United States' notorious military prison at Guantanamo Bay for over 4 years. Unlike other countries such as Britain which have successfully negotiated the return of their nationals, the Australian Government has consistently refused to negotiate for a fair deal for Hicks, who now faces trial under the controversial military commision system. Hicks, who has a claim to British citizenship, achieved a victory on 12 April 2006 when the British Court of Appeals dismissed the UK Government's attempt to overturn his citizen's rights. In Adelaide on the same day a public meeting was organised by Fair Go for David, bringing together Hicks' legal counsels and his father to update the large audience on the progress of the campaign to bring him home.
Read the legal updates at the public meeting
Fair Go For David |
|
|
|
News :: Civil Liberties & Human Rights : Law & Justice : Police & Thieves |
|
Willful neglect by DFAT of Australian imprisoned in Argentina |
by karin eliot
Email: karineliot (nospam) gmail.com |
03 Nov 2005
|
 On 4 February 2003 Australian man Stephen Sutton was arrested in a joint Australian Federal Police/Argentine police operation in Buenos Aires.
After being held for two an a half years without charge, he was finally convicted of drug trafficking, and sentenced to 11 years in an Argentine prison. This conviction was despite ANY drugs being found on Stephen or in his hotel at the time of the raid.
Moreover, when Stephen was 15 he had a rare type of scalp tumour removed, and according to his family 'was never the same ... and seemed to stay in this age bracket'. This fact alone suggests it is more likely that, if indeed there is ANY connection between Stephen Sutton and the drug trade, Stephen was exploited by unscrupulous others, tricked into being an unwitting drug mule in what has been described as a 'transnational organised crime syndicate'.
Now Stephen Sutton is seriously ill in prison with tuberculosis, and being denied basic health care. His concerned family have been consistently fobbed off by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and even threatened with imprisonment themselves under the Privacy Act for discussing their own frustrations with the system.
Stephen's older sister Ann Cluse, from Salisbury Downs discusses her experiences dealing with government bureaucracies that appear completely uninterested in offering basic protection to an Australian citizen abroad in dire trouble.
Does being in prison mean you have lost all human rights?
Are there are other Australians imprisoned overseas enduring similar neglect from Australian Consular agencies?
Is this a systemic problem?
Read more....
background to Stephen Sutton's situation
Interview with Stephen Sutton's sister
Stephen Sutton support website
Letter from Stephen Sutton
Photo caption: Stephen Sutton with his niece Dee, in Australia |
|
|
|
News :: Nuclear issues |
|
Green-Black Alliance reborn in Quorn |
by Rig
Email: sievx01 (nospam) yahoo.com.au |
28 Sep 2005
|
|
As Australia’s uranium industry looks to expansion and the nuclear power debate ricochets around parliaments across the nation, Indigenous groups and environmental organisations concerned about the nuclear industry’s destructive impacts met in Quorn, in South Australia’s southern Flinders Ranges . |
|
Read the full article... (22 comments) |
|
Everything is Not Fine and Dandy in Port Augusta |
by Rig
Email: sievx01 (nospam) yahoo.com.au |
09 Jun 2005
|
The Baxter immigration detention centre is an obvious blight on the image of this town, however there is a more deep-seated conflict. This is the intensification of policing operations aimed at the town’s Aboriginal population and the underlying racist sentiment that drives it.
In February of this year a STAR force team was used against Aboriginal people congregating on an area of foreshore. The STAR force team was deployed at the request of the Local Council and police. The Council cited serious public order issues as the reason for this aggressive action, however in the context of Port Augusta’s history of white settlement and Aboriginal dispossession, this seemed like yet another act in a long line of racially motivated abuses by the white land-owning establishment |
|
Read the full article... (18 comments) |
|
News :: Civil Liberties & Human Rights : Refugees & Asylum seekers |
|
Notorious isolation unit re-opened at Baxter |
|
by adele indy |
25 May 2005
Modified: 03:19:15 AM |
 Just in case you were thinking that the release last night of 3 year old Naomi Leong from the Villawood immigration prison marks a change for the better in Australia's brutal and unyielding treatment of refugees, think again. The ghosts of Tampa and SIEV-X are not so easily dispelled. The notorious 'Red 1' isolation compound in Baxter Detention Centre is being used again, after being closed since the February release of Australian Cornelia Rau who had been wrongfully held there for over two months. Ask any asylum seeker who has been locked up in "Management" at Baxter about their individual experience and you will hear reports of humiliation, physical and mental cruelty, and deprivation of basic human rights. An African asylum seeker was forcibly taken to Red 1 compound last Saturday (21 May). He has not been able to make any phone calls since being placed in the compound. Baxter refugees staged a protest on May 23 to highlight the situation of the man placed in Red 1. Mira Wroblewski, National Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) spokesperson, said her organisation is extremely concerned about this development. "Detainees who are psychologically fragile after years of detention, are again being punished by being placed in isolation units." RAR is concerned that detainees who are put into Red 1 compound have no right of appeal, and their placement in this compound is under the control of individual employees of GSL, the company contracted by the Australian Government to run detention centres. "GSL is able to operate with secrecy and its actions lack accountability", said Ms Wroblewski.
Meanwhile Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has used the controversial and illegal deportation of Australian citizen Vivian Alvarez to the Philippines 4 years ago to again push the barrow of the necessity of a universal identification system, claiming that its lack made it difficult to identify people who did not provide correct information to authorities. This is a highly spurious argument given the existence of extensive inter-linked government databases such as the Movements and Reporting System that contains details of ALL individuals' movements in and out of Australia, holding data from 1980.
LINKS:
Notorious isolation unit re-opened at Baxter
freed from life in detention
Cornelia Rau's first press conference (video)
more Rau digest from mainstream wires
Ruddock 'in dark' on Alvarez
Personal Information Digest-Border Control and Compliance Division |
|
|
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next Page |
| Regional features from Oceania |
| oceania :: features |
| AUSA: Students express concern for Filipino student activist |
| by Anonymous
|
13 May 2008 |
Auckland University Students' Association (AUSA) has today requested that Prime Minister Helen Clark call on Philippines President Gloria Arroyo to ensure the safety of a student unionist who has received death threats from the Philippines military.
Glaiza Dimapilis, the 19 year old president of the Philippine Christian University student council, and secretary general of the National Union of Students of the Philippines(National Capital Region), has received death threats from the Filipino military.
More: Student leader seeks writ to stop agents | Stop the Killings in the |
more...
|
| oceania :: features |
| Indymedia Journalists Targeted in Ecuador, Five Arrested |
| by Anonymous
|
12 May 2008 |
Ecuadorian police detained five journalists associated with Ecuador Indymedia late Tuesday night, May 6th. Four of the five were released from custody on Wednesday afternoon. The government says that the four activists were detained because of their relationship with the fifth detainee, Ecuadorian resident and Colombian national Antonio Alcívar.
The government at first refused to issue a statement on the matter or inform the detainees of the reason for their arrests. The Regional Foundation for Assistance in Human Rights (INREDH) noted that this was a violation of the detainees' |
more...
|
| oceania :: features |
| Aksi Menolak Kenaikan BBM |
| by Jakarta IMC
|
13 May 2008 |
| Peringatan 10 tahun Tragedi Trisakti  Hari ini 12 Mei, tepat 10 tahun peristiwa tertembak dan terbunuhnya mahasiswa Trisakti, ribuan mahasiswa kembali turun ke jalan. Lebih dari 5000 orang yang tergabung dalam pelbagai organisasi mahasiswa, ormas, buruh, rakyat miskin kota, dan organisasi kepemudaan, berunjuk rasa di depan Istana Negara, menolak kenaikan BBM, turunkan harga, dan menuntut pengusutan kasus tragedi Trisakti dan Semanggi.
Aksi di depan Istana ini dikoordinir oleh Front Rakyat Menggugat (FRM) dan BEM Seluruh Indonesia (BEM SI), yang diikuti oleh organ-organ mahasiswa |
more...
|
| oceania :: features | :: perth |
| Illegal Drilling on Aboriginal Site must be Stopped |
| | 12 May 2008 |
| From the newswire: Illegal Drilling on Aboriginal Site must be Stopped - 4 May 2008 - Ngalia Heritage Research Council has written to the Government to investigate illegal drilling by a local mining company (St Barbara Mines) on two Aboriginal sites near Leonora, Western Australia. "This company is drilling on previously recorded Aboriginal sites.We are very concerned that the company has not done the right thing by consulting with local custodians for these sites and has obviously acted illegally by entering upon these sites and started drilling. They can't be allowed to get away with it, the |
more...
|
| oceania :: features |
| Takaparawha: Maori Autonomy Thirty Years On |
| by Anonymous
|
11 May 2008 |
Last week marked the thirtieth anniversary of the reoccupation of Takaparawha/Bastion Point in Orakei, Tamaki Makaurau. As Ana comments,
the occupation certainly cemented the momentum and Maori drive for self determination, Takaparawha also showed the strength of solidarity with union placing green bans in support of the protest and support of many non Maori.It was a very visible reassertion of identity, pride & collective power. For a haapu that had been made virtually landless by the colonial imposition of Auckland, Takaparawha demonstrated the importance of fighting for the ahi |
more...
|
| oceania :: features | :: perth |
| SAVE UNDERWOOD AVENUE BUSHLAND |
| | 4 May 2008 |
| From the newswire: PUBLIC OPEN DAY FOR UNDERWOOD AVENUE BUSHLAND - Sunday May 4th 2008 - Underwood Avenue Bushland consists of 32 hectares of unique Banksia, Tuart and Jarrah bushland and forms a vital part of a bush corridor linking Kings Park, Shenton Bushland and Bold Park. This important urban bushland area is currently under threat of being cleared, fragmented, developed for housing and ultimately destroyed. Despite strong community opposition, The Environmental Protection Authority has recommended approval for UWA to develop and sell Underwood Avenue Bushland for a residential |
more...
|
| oceania :: features |
| May Day 2008 di Jakarta |
| by Jakarta IMC
|
3 May 2008 |
| 187 aktivis ditangkap polisi  Sekitar 20.000 buruh melakukan aksi longmarch menuju Istana Negara pada peringatan May Day 2008 di Jakarta. Mereka berkumpul sejak pukul 10 pagi di Bundaran Hotel Indonesia.
Sementara itu 187 aktivis Jaringan Anti Otoritarian dihadang dan ditangkap dengan tindakan represif oleh personil Polres Jakarta Selatan seusai demonstrasi di depan Wisma Bakrie, saat hendak bergabung menuju bundaran HI. Di Depok, 5 truk rombongan buruh yang hendak menuju Jakarta ditahan personel Polres Depok.
Foto-foto: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Video: Red Thursday
Baca Juga: Aksi May Day: 187 |
more...
|
| oceania :: features | :: perth |
| MayDay08 - The disaster of corporate capitalism |
| | 1 May 2008 |
| MAY DAY 2008 The Australian working class is under the most sustained attack on their living conditions - wages, hours, working conditions, safety on the job, their right to organise, right to health care, education, housing and employment, by the capitalist class and the institutions of capitalism. Corporate ideology says capitalism's long world economic growth is inevitable. But millions throughout the world experience the disastrous impact of the economic crisis on their lives. It is getting worse daily. Australia's working class already suffer from working under WorkChoices and right wing |
more...
|
| oceania :: features |
| Boikot Obor Olimpiade, Boikot Beijing! |
| by Jakarta IMC
|
8 Apr 2008 |
| 22 April Api Olimpiade tiba di Jakarta Solidaritas Global mendukung anti kekerasan Pemerintah Komunis Cina terhadap Tibet. Boikot Api Obor Olimpiade Beijing 2008. Sejak rusuh Tibet tiga pekan lalu, gerakan solidaritas dunia mulai muncul. Persis seperti aksi massa yang dipimpin para Biksu Budha di Burma, yang akhirnya mendapatkan dukungan secara Internasioal. Kedua momentum tersebut seakan-akan memilki kondisi yang sama, yakni ketertindasan, dikerangkengnya kebebasan HAM dan Demokrasi , Rakyat Burma dan Tibet. Walaupun mungkin terkesan terlalu berlebihan untuk menyetarakannya, namun pada |
more...
|
| oceania :: features |
| The Life and Times of Melbourne Indymedia |
| by Melbourne Indymedia
|
14 Mar 2008 |
The Melbourne Indymedia collective met in February after a long hiatus to discuss its future. We decided that we did not have the energy required to continue the project and that therefore the collective had come to an end.
We are however keen to help others take up the challenge of producing an activist based, participatory news site, whether that be a Melbourne Indymedia, an Australia Indymedia or something all together new. We feel such a space is very much needed.
Several Melbourne Indymedia members expressed interest in mentoring such a project. If this interests you please contact us |
more...
|
| oceania :: features | :: manila |
| Indigenous Action Against Mining Hold Australian Firm At Bay |
| | 17 Jan 2008 |
| NUEVA VIZCAYA, Philippines- Tribal villagers up north Luzon blockaded the Australian mining company from further exploring minerals in their community, Friday noon, and forced the mining firm to leave the village. According to reports, hundred dozens of indigenous residents in Kasibu town ,"pushed away employees of a foreign mining firm and their earth-moving equipment that were supposed to start exploration in their community", said Inq.Net. The action held by local people has lead to an indefinite operation shut down of OceanaGold Philippines Inc.- an Australian company. Indigenous residents |
more...
|
| oceania :: features | :: manila |
| Letter to the Manila Indymedia Editor |
| | 4 Dec 2007 |
| To us members of the Progresibong Alyansa ng mga Mangingisda sa Pilipinas (PANGISDA), the curfew imposed by Malacanang last Friday was a stark reminder of Martial Law. In Central and Southern Luzon, the curfew prevented fishermen living in interior villages from going to the sea to fish and thus violated their constitutional right to travel freely. [ Read More ] Related Stories: [ Rise Up And Be Counted | Condemn Detention of Journalists | Workers Vow To Continue The Struggle ] |
more...
|
| oceania :: features | :: manila |
| Nine Filipinos Staged Mutiny In the High Seas |
| | 14 Nov 2007 |
| Roderick Sumang, Delter Algay, Edwin Lee, Jesus Manaqued, Sherilo Moraleja, Socrates Silan Jr., Dennis Tolentino, Noel Cusi and Jose Menpin -- all undocumented workers -- flew to Mauritius a month ago to work as crew members on the fishing vessel Ruei Thih Fa. With their Taiwanese captain Jui-yin Huang and nine other Chinese crewmen, they set sail from Mauritius' capital, Port Louis, on Oct. 31 and began work on Nov. 2, unaware that they were to fill 22-hour work days. On Nov. 5, their fourth day at work, they took action. Jolted awake by the captain's buzzer after only two hours of sleep, |
more...
|
| oceania :: features |
| Melbourne Indymedia Suspends Publishing |
| by Melbourne Indymedia
|
9 Oct 2007 |
 Open publishing has been suspended on Melbourne Indymedia as numbers in our editorial collective are insufficient to manage the site effectively and responsibly. We realise that MIM has played a vital role in reporting activist news from Melbourne, around Australia and internationally. To this end the present collective will be assessing options for how best to provide an activist news service in the future. If you wish to get involved, please contact us, or subscribe to our mailing list. |
more...
|
| oceania :: features |
| Indigenous Elder wins Environment Award |
| by Melbourne Indymedia
|
10 Jun 2007 |
 The Australian Conservation Foundation's (ACF) Peter Rawlinson Award was given to 'Uncle' Kevin Buzzacott, an Arabunna elder, on World Environment Day in 2007 for two decades of work highlighting the impacts of uranium mining and promoting a nuclear free Australia. Uncle Kev has been a tireless campaigner for indigenous rights including reclaiming the kangaroo and emu sacred totems from the Coat of Arms from Parliament House in Canberra and accusing the Federal Government of genocide. [Full Story] |
more...
|
|
|
|
