Prisoner amnesty urged

MEDIA RELEASE 16 July 2009

Prison Reform Group of Western Australia

Attorney General Christian Porter should give consideration to a prisoner amnesty similar to
that proposed by New Zealand’s Chief Justice as a way to stem the rising prison population.

Dame Sian Elias, who’s had more than 40 years in the criminal justice field, recently told the
NZ Law Society that she accepts “retribution is a proper response for serious crime” but
that “all the evidence and informed opinions seem to point to the futility of believing that
the causes of crime can be addressed by penal policy and the criminal justice process…
Penal policy is largely irrelevant to reduction of crime and making our communities safest”.

Citing a cost of $100,000 a year for keeping an offender in prison versus $10.04 for
maintaining someone on a community based sentence (NZ figures) Dame Sian went on to
say that “reducing sentence levels would reduce the prison population, not only by cutting
the length of prison terms but also by bringing more sentences within the bounds set for
community-based sanctions, including home detention”.

Suggesting the use of “direct tools to manage the prison population”, Dame Sian noted that
“other countries use executive amnesties to send prisoners into the community early to
prevent overcrowding.

“If we are not prepared to relax the pressures to contain risk in the discretionary decisions
as to bail and parole, the only other immediate options may be to confront the length of
sentence (effecting an overall reduction in sentence)… and early release amnesty,’ Dame
Sian concluded.

This is a view endorsed strongly by WA’s Prison Reform Group, which today called on Mr
Porter to give consideration to an executive amnesty for all prisoners with less than six
months left to serve on their sentences and for all women currently held in the Boronia pre-
release facility.

“Such a move would release the immediate pressure on WA’s overcrowded prisons,” noted
Group spokesperson Rex Widerstrom. “It would free up places at Boronia for women
currently held at Bandyup, and at the various low-security prisons and prison farms for male
prisoners confined in high security at Casuarina, Hakea and similar facilities.

“While it is the government’s duty to do what it can to prevent crime, as Dame Sian notes
the length of sentences actually has little or no effect on community safety.

“So against Mr Porter’s desire to be seen to take a vote-winning stance as ‘tough on law ‘n’
order’ must be balanced the huge social costs of being unable to build hospitals and schools
whilst the money is spent on more prisons.

“Many governments have provided amnesty at the lower end of the security scale without
incurring some sort of ‘rising tide of crime’ on their streets,” Mr Widerstrom noted. “We’re
not talking about releasing violent criminals who’ve done little or no rehabilitative work in
prison. We’re focusing the call for an amnesty on low security prisoners with exemplary
behaviour records whilst in prison, with six months or less to serve.

“The Attorney General clearly likes to be perceived as taking a tough stance on crime.
Tough it may be, but it’s clearly not effective” (see figures below).


ENDS

The March quarter 2009 national average daily imprisonment rate was 167 prisoners per
100,000 adult population. Western Australia reported a rate of 241 per 100,000 adults. And
that figure is rising, not falling, despite the present government’s stance.

Western Australia First Thursday July 2009 First Thursday July 2008
Total in prison 4419 3780
Sentenced 3711 2998
Remand 689 761
Aboriginal & TSI 1787 (40.4%) 1551
Women 341 275

Total in Juvenile Detention 144 166
Sentenced 84 79
Un-sentenced 60 87
Aboriginal & TSI 112 (77.8%) 125 (75.3%)
Young Indigenous 104 males 8 females
Young non-Indigenous 29 males 3 females

Contact: Rex Widerstrom 0400 133 854
or: Dr Brian Steels 0419 907 016

Link to original story (including a downloadable copy of Dame Sian’s speech):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10584828

ANTI INTERVENTION PROTEST FROM MP JENNY MACKLINS OFFICE TO CENTRELINK

Anti Northern Territory Intervention protest moves from Minister Jenny Macklin's Electorate office in Heidleberg, Victoria round the corner to the Centrelink office where Barbara Shaw from Mt Nancy Town Camp, Alice Springs in the Northern Territory is unable to access her low income due to the racially discriminatory welfare quarantining of Aboriginal Peoples' income in the NT.

SOS Students of Sustainability demonstrate with Barbara Shaw in support of Aboriginal Peoples living under the racist NT Intervention.

Victorian police brutality breaks up the non violent protest in Centrelink ...

Contact:
wgar.info
rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com
Stoptheintervention.org

Voices from the frontline: Pacific Islands speakers tour

During July hear first hand accounts of the impacts of climate change on our Pacific neighbours. Oxfam and Greenpeace have combined to bring local leaders from the Pacific nations of Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to Australia for a series of public meetings.

"The future of Kiribati is in our hands - we work very hard each year to support and help students to be successsful. But what is the future of our children when our country is being threatened by global warming?"

– Pelenise Alofa Pilitati, a speaker on the tour from Kiribati

All three of these low-lying island states are in grave danger from climate change. Sea level rise, tidal surges, salination of crops and fresh water, coral bleaching and loss of fisheries are already affecting these countries. Some Pacific islanders have also been forced to relocate because of climate change.

The realities of climate change in the Pacific underscore the urgent need for a global agreement on climate change. It is not too late to ensure that the Pacific has a future. To do this the Australian government must take strong action and commit to cut greenhouse emissions by 40% by 2020. To assist the Pacific and other developing nations to deal with the unavoidable effects of climate change the Australian government must commit to pay our fair share into a UN fund to assist developing nations cut their emissions and adapt to climate change.

Dates and Venues

Sydney
When: Thursday 23 July, 7 – 8.30pm (registration from 6.30pm)
Where: Mitchell Theatre, Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, 280 Pitt St, Sydney
Speakers: Reverend Tafue Lusama and Pelenise Alofa Pilitati

Brisbane
When: Tuesday 28 July, 6.30 – 8 pm (registration from 6pm)
Where: Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane Room
Speakers: Marstella Jack, Reverend Tafue Lusama, Pelenise Alofa Pilitati, Sam Reuben (Torres Strait Islands) and John Kris (Chair, Torres Strait Regional Authority)

Melbourne
When: Thursday 30 July, 6.30 – 8pm
Where: Melbourne Town Hall, Supper Room
Speakers: Marstella Jack, Reverend Tafue Lusama and Pelenise Alofa Pilitati

Cairns
When: Sunday 2 August, 4 - 5.30pm
Where: TBC

Other climate change talks

Solving the Climate Crisis Talk
When: Saturday, 25th July, 1pm
Where: Theatre G, Australian Museum, 6 College St, Sydney
Speakers: John Hepburn and Pelenise Alofa Pilitati
The talk is free with general entry to the Museum. General entry is $12 (adults) and $8 (concession).

The Perfect Storm - Australia's role in dealing with the triple crunch of the global financial crisis, climate change and rising food prices
ALP Conference Forum by Oxfam Australia and the Centre for Policy Development
When: Friday 31 July, 6 – 7.30pm
Where: Sussex Room, Crowne Plaza, 150 Day Street, Darling Harbour, Sydney
Speakers: Sharan Burrow, Andrew Hewett, Reverend Tafue Lusama, Ian Dunlop and Ben McNeil

The speakers

Pelenise Alofa Pilitati - Chairperson Church Education Director's Association in Kiribati (CEDAK), Managing Director, Kauaoki Foundation Enterprise, Kiribati

Pelenise says that climate change is about survival for the people of Kiribati. "The future of Kiribati is in our hands - we work very hard each year to support and help students to be successsful. But what is the future of our children when our country is being threatened by global warming?"

Reverend Tafue Lusama - Chairperson Tuvula Climate Action Network, Program Secretary Church of Tuvalu Dept Peace and Justice, Pastor, Christian Church of Tuvalu.

Tuvalu has already seen significant internal relocation of citizens as a result of climate change and could be the first nation in the world to disappear because of rising sea levels. Reverend Tafue is a compelling advocate for action on climate change.

Marstella Jack - Former Attorney General, Federated States of Micronesia

Marstella has recently returned from the United Nations Intersessional meeting on climate change that took place in Bonn. She is acutely aware of why these global negotiations are so important for Pacific nations.

How you can help

• Attend the speakers tour
• Demand our government take action to save the Pacific

source: http://www.oxfam.org.au/campaigns/climate-change/take-action/pacific-speakers-tour/

We hope that these series of community forums will generate enough public support and media interests, leading up to the Pacific Islands Heads of Government Meeting in Cairns (Australia) in August, 2009.

Please forward this to your friends and networks.
Thank you for your support

G20 Trial

I will be facing a jury trial on the 30th of June in the Melbourne County court for charges relating to the G20 protests in Melbourne 2006. So this will be my final post until the completion of the trial.

If you can please come to the trial to support or wherever you are raise awareness about the implications of a neoliberal agenda will mean to the peoples of the Pacific.

For those of you in Aotearoa there will be a Solidarity Demonstration Tuesday June 30, 12:30pm at the Australian Embassy, 72 Hobson Street, Wellington. Bring NOISEMAKERS, banners, placards, etc

See Also

Solidarity with G20 arrestees! Stop the Neo-liberal free trade madness in the Pacific for more information

and

Update from the Sydney G20 Solidarity Collective

Trade Winds to Blow Pacific Away

Published on newmatilda.com (http://newmatilda.com)

---

18 Jun 2009

Trade Winds to Blow Pacific Away

When he meets with Pacific nations today, Simon Crean can choose to help them develop — or he can keep pushing Australia's free trade agreement onto them, writes Adam Wolfenden

Australian trade is on a mission. Come August when it hosts the Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns, the Rudd Government is looking to announce another feather in its free trade cap: the Pacific.

Today in Apia, Samoa, Trade Minister Simon Crean is meeting with his counterparts from the Pacific and New Zealand to discuss the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations or PACER Plus. PACER is a framework for a free trade agreement — the Plus signals a development add-on.

With the August forum approaching, the window for Australia to win agreement from the Pacific on starting negotiations is narrowing. Australia is the biggest aid donor to Pacific Island states and the Pacific ministers are acutely aware of upsetting them.

What’s the hurry here? The Pacific, while certainly cautious about entering into negotiations with Australia and New Zealand, hasn’t explicitly refused them either. Rather, as they’ve outlined in their contributions to an unreleased PACER-Plus "Roadmap" they’re asking for more time — and for the capacity to actually evaluate the potential impacts of the negotiations.

They want time to consult with their populations, to run studies to see what the impacts would be, to explore whether or not the broader benefits of new trade agreements will outweigh the broader costs. All this sounds sensible enough, doesn’t it? But the Australian Government doesn’t agree, apparently.

Although the Rudd Government’s election platform included a promise to evaluate the social, environmental, regional, cultural and regulatory impacts of any trade agreement in the Pacific before proceeding with negotiations, it’s full steam ahead with PACER Plus. Not only is the Government breaking its own election promise, it’s also pushing forward with a rushed agenda that will mean other countries have to follow a similar unevaluated process.

For the past few months Crean has been flaunting the AusAid-funded study that found that PACER Plus would increase trade flows by 30 per cent. It seems very attractive — how could anyone at the bargaining table refuse a 30 per cent increase in trade flows? What the study doesn’t show is which way the trade will flow — and that’s the pickle. Pacific Island nations already have duty-free access to Australian markets. If PACER-Plus is about removing "barriers" to trade, it’s about reducing Pacific import taxes.

For the Pacific, these import taxes are a key source of revenue. A study by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat revealed that Pacific governments stand to lose up to $10 million each in government revenue if PACER Plus is adopted — which equates to 17 per cent of government income for Vanuatu and Tonga. Whilst Simon Crean suggested recently on a tour through the Pacific that this can be replaced by other taxes, such as a GST, the International Monetary Fund has recognised in its report Tax Revenue and (or?) Trade Liberalization that such taxes only ever recover about 30 per cent of the revenue previously gained through import taxes.

Pacific governments are still waiting to find out what this means for the provision of essential services. In a statement to the press, Vanuatu Internal Affairs Minister Patrick Crowby asked "How will the government fund its essential public services if we lose out on vital revenue? Depend on aid donor money? I don’t think so. These are issues that Pacific Island countries need to seriously think about."

It doesn’t end there. Reduced taxes will mean that imports from large-scale producers like Australia and New Zealand are cheaper, which will in turn undermine local manufacturing. Professor Waden Narsey from the University of the South Pacific has predicted that under PACER Plus, 75 per cent of Pacific manufacturing will be forced to close down, costing thousands of jobs. With the preliminary research already suggesting such major impacts, it’s easy to see why Pacific nations are concerned — especially with unemployment on the rise throughout the fragile global economy.

Pacific Island nations don’t only lack detailed research on the potential impacts of PACER Plus, they are facing a shortage of negotiators in the lead-up to the Forum in August. There are certainly very capable officials in the Pacific but their capacity is stretched to the limit. Pacific Island nations are currently negotiating trade agreements with the European Union; they are also in the middle of planning the expansion of an Islands-only trade agreement to include services as well as goods.

In response to this, the Pacific has set out in the draft PACER-Plus Roadmap that prior to the launch of any negotiations with Australia and New Zealand, an Office of Chief Trade Advisor be established to help Pacific countries identify shared objectives and act as the point of contact for negotiations. This would alleviate some of the capacity constraints that already disadvantage the Pacific. But of the $11 million in funding that Pacific nations requested to set up the office, Australia and New Zealand have offered only $3 million and objected to the Pacific raising funds from elsewhere — effectively killing any chance that the office could do its job properly. The Pacific cannot make responsible decisions without having the time and capacity to assess the impacts first.

With so many unknowns, why would the Pacific agree to starting negotiations this year? Already we’re seeing the debate politicised. Tonga and Papua New Guinea have both come out recently saying the Pacific should enter into negotiations. While those two countries may actually believe that is the best thing to do, I’m sure they can also see benefits in very publicly coming out in favour of what the regions biggest aid donor thinks just before the meeting. Pacific countries are understandably wary of biting a hand that feeds.

There is a serious question hanging over the intentions of Australia and New Zealand.If the actions of the two biggest nations in the area are in the interests of Pacific development (as they continually insist they are), why does PACER Plus look so much like a free trade agreement? The global economic crisis — as well as the food and climate crises — have shown the failure of the free market. The Pacific so far has been slow to embrace neoliberal ideology. Given the scale of the recent global financial disasters, it would seem like the time to start exploring other options.

If Australia and New Zealand are serious about supporting development in the Pacific, they will stop insisting that undercutting Pacific production with cheaper imports from the bigger neighbours will help the region. The Pacific already enjoys duty free exports to Australia and New Zealand. What’s needed is not reciprocity but a genuine process of consultation and discussion around what kind of future the Pacific wants.

Australia and New Zealand need to start looking at how they support that on the terms that the Pacific Island nations help to set.

---

Source URL: http://newmatilda.com/2009/06/18/trade-winds-blow-pacific-away

Links:
[1] http://www.iit.adelaide.edu.au/docs/Final PACER Report 12_06_08.pdf
[2] http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=9554
[3] http://newmatilda.com/[www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2005/wp05112.pdf
[4] http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9640&Itemid=26&change=71&changeown=84
[5] http://newmatilda.com/2009/06/10/disappearing-nations-sovereign-interests
[6] http://newmatilda.com/2008/08/20/pacific-development-burger-lot

Self Determination Not Invasion, Get Up Stand Up for Indigenous Rights

On Saturday 20th June supporters of Aboriginal rights in Melbourne will be marking the two-year anniversary of the Northern Territory intervention with a solidarity rally in the CBD, Featuring speakers: Gary Foley, Robbie Thorpe, Aletha Penrith an Alice Springs town camp resident, + others. Performers: local Indigenous hip hop artists Little G, Mr Morgz, Alter Egoz, and Tjimba and the Yung Warriors.

Nathan Lovett-Murray, founder of Payback Records, has organized local Indigenous hip hop artists to perform at the rally. “Little G, Mr Morgz, Alter Egoz, and Tjimba and the Yung Warriors will be at the rally raising their voices against the discriminatory policies of the government, and in support of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory having control over their lives,” said Nathan.

“We have organized the rally in order to show our disgust and opposition to the Rudd Government’s expansion of Howard’s racist intervention policy, and to stand in solidarity with the Indigenous people of this country. We will also be holding a public meeting as an opportunity for people to learn more about the effects of the NT intervention and the direction the Rudd Government is taking it, the meeting will also involve workshops and planning for the campaign. The governments attempt to take Aboriginal land, close homelands, and wind-back hard-won Aboriginal self determination will not be ignored here in Melbourne.

“The Rudd Government’s approach to Indigenous people is dominated by hypocrisy and blackmail! With one hand they sign the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people, and with the other they refuse to re-instate the Racial Discrimination Act, instead expanding the policies of the intervention and forcing Indigenous people to give up their land in return for desperately needed housing and services,” said Marisol Salinas from the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective

Rallies are also being on the 20th of June @:

Darwin 11am Raintree Park

Sydney 10:30am Belmore Park

Brisbane 11am Queen's Park

Perth 12 noon Wesley Church

Adelaide 12 noon Parliament House

See Also:

rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/

stoptheintervention.org/

Update from the Sydney G20 Solidarity Collective

Trials of the three remaining arrestees from the anti-G20 demonstrations in Melbourne 2006 will begin on June 30 at the County Court of Victoria. We urge people to come to Melbourne to show their support and political solidarity to the arrestees.

These trials do not mark the first of such kind, but more importantly, they do not mark the last. We need to build a strong culture of providing meaningful political solidarity to those targeted by the state.

About the trials

The first person to face court is a mother from Melbourne – all the prosecution are saying she did was wave a flag and yell, and she is fighting riot charges, as well as charges of affray and criminal damage. Her trial begins on June 30.

On July 13 two men from Sydney go to trial. They are facing charges of aggravated burglary, which can carry a 25 year jail term, for allegedly walking into offices on ‘Corporate Engagement Day’ with nothing more than glitter and water pistols.

One of them then has another trial after that for allegations of assaulting police.

All of these trials will be in front of a jury in the County Court in Melbourne.

What were the G20 protests?

In November 2006 the G20 (the finance ministers from the 20 richest countries) met in Melbourne. Protests against them began on Friday with ‘corporate engagement day,’ which targeted offices including defence force recruiting, a company called Tenix, which is a military contractor, and branches of ANZ bank, which is profiteering from the occupation of Iraq.

The next day thousands of people defied police intimidation to protest in the streets of central Melbourne for a variety of reasons, including opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the neoliberal agenda being pushed in the Pacific through agreements like PACER. A few hundred people diverged from the rally, ran around a bit, dismantled some barricades and smashed the windows of a police van.

Arrests began the next day. All up 28 people were charged. One person, Akin Sari, is currently in jail serving a 28-month sentence. Most of the other arrestees pleaded guilty to reduced charges and got fines, suspended sentences and/ or community based orders.

Regardless of your opinion of the protests, it is important to realise that the police response and the severe charges given were unprecedented and out of all proportion. It was an attempt to isolate and intimidate people and discourage political activity.

Solidarity

With people coming together for the trials, we want to take the opportunity to talk to one another. One afternoon on the weekend of July 18^th and 19^th, there will be a discussion about developing and improving a culture of political solidarity in the face of state repression, using the current example arising post-G20 2006. Following this, a similar discussion will happen in Sydney during August. The dates and locations are yet to be finalised: please contact us for more information.

Please come to support people in the courtroom if you can. If you have money, please donate to the solidarity fund so we have money if it’s needed for legal and other support costs.

These political prosecutions are part of a much broader attack – and their outcomes, and how we deal with them, will affect all of our abilities to act on our opposition, whatever tactics we use.

For more information email: afterg20@gmail.com or call Lou on 0413 556 590.

To donate to the solidarity fund:

Melbourne University Credit Union Limited

Account name: G20 Arrestee Solidarity Network

cuscau2sxxx (only if transferring from overseas)

BSB 803-143 A/C number: 13291 (all transfers)

PALESTINE & US HEGEMONY

Exploring the achievements of resistance and discussing shifts in US foreign policy

6pm, Thursday July 9^th

Friend Meeting House, Euston

Speakers:

HIZBULLAH REPRESENTATIVE

(video link from Lebanon)

HAIFA ZANGANA

(on Iraq)

DR AZZAM TAMIMI

(on Palestine)

NADINE ROSA-ROSSO

(from recogniseresistance.net, on the role of the anti-imperialist movements in the West)

DYAB ABOU JAHJAH

(IUPFP International Director, video link from Lebanon)

JOHN REES

(from Stop the War, on the role of the anti-war movement)

Chair: Sukant Chandan (Chairman of the British section of the IUPFP)

Following from Obama’s historic speech in Cairo on June 5^th, this meeting will discuss the following issues:

* How has the Palestinian, Iraqi and Lebanese resistance

impacted on US plans for world hegemony?

* Is the US in strategic retreat?

* What does the Obama phenomenon mean for the peoples of the South?

Organised by the British section of the

International Union of Parliamentarians for Palestine

http://iupfp.org/

Contact:

07709 112 126

sukant.chandan@gmail.com

G20 Defence Fundraiser

Aboriginal Rights Solidarity Rally & Public Meeting

On Saturday 20th June supporters of Aboriginal rights in Melbourne will be marking the two-year anniversary of the Northern Territory intervention with a solidarity rally in the CBD, Featuring speakers: Gary Foley, Robbie Thorpe, Aletha Penrith an Alice Springs town camp resident, + others. Performers: local Indigenous hip hop artists Little G, Mr Morgz, Alter Egoz, and Tjimba and the Yung Warriors.

Nathan Lovett-Murray, founder of Payback Records, has organized local Indigenous hip hop artists to perform at the rally. “Little G, Mr Morgz, Alter Egoz, and Tjimba and the Yung Warriors will be at the rally raising their voices against the discriminatory policies of the government, and in support of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory having control over their lives,” said Nathan.

“We have organized the rally in order to show our disgust and opposition to the Rudd Government’s expansion of Howard’s racist intervention policy, and to stand in solidarity with the Indigenous people of this country. We will also be holding a public meeting as an opportunity for people to learn more about the effects of the NT intervention and the direction the Rudd Government is taking it, the meeting will also involve workshops and planning for the campaign. The governments attempt to take Aboriginalland, close homelands, and wind-back hard-won Aboriginal self determination will not be ignored here in Melbourne” said Joe Lorback from the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective.

“The Rudd Government’s approach to Indigenous people is dominated by hypocrisy and blackmail! With one hand they sign the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people, and with the other they refuse to re-instate the Racial Discrimination Act, instead expanding the policies of the intervention and forcing Indigenous people to give up their land in return for desperately needed housing and services,” said Marisol Salinas from the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective

“Jenny Macklin’s treatment of Alice Springs town camp residents is absolutely disgraceful. She has smeared Aboriginal run organizations, such as Tangentyere Council, in an attempt to take the land and control from them. Rather then acknowledging the fact that the lack of housing and infrastructure in the town camps is due to a complete lack of funding, she is instead giving total control over the town camps to the Northern Territory Government which has continually failed them” said James Brennan from the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective



The Solidarity Rally will take place on Saturday 20th June at 12pm in the State Library The public meeting also on Saturday will be at 3pm at Trades Hall Meeting Room 1.

Rallies are also being on the 20th of June @:

Darwin 11am Raintree Park

Sydney 10:30am Belmore Park

Brisbane 11am Queen's Park

Perth 12 noon Wesley Church

Melbourne, Australia - ACTION ALERT IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF PERU

- stop violence and unnecessary deaths now!

Honoring our fallen brothers and sisters victims of the Bagua massacre of June 5 and 6, 2009.

Our condolences go to the people of Peru, to the relatives, friends and communities of the Indigenous activists who were killed in a tragic event that should have never occurred.

Thursday June 11, 2009

12:30

GPO Corner Bourke & Elizabeth Sts.

Melbourne - City

Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET)

www.latinlasnet.org

www.latinamericansolidaritynetwork.org

More Info call Sue Leigh 0466 480 331

or write to lasnet@latinlasnet.org

Endorsed by; Chilean Popular & Indigenous Solidarity Network, Colombia Demand Justice Campaign, Alliance for Indigenous Self-Determination, Anarchist Black Cross, City of Yarra Community and Workers Solidarity, Apolinario Serrano FMLN Committee Melbourne, more endorses waiting and welcome

"Amazon Indigenous peoples are not first class citizens in Peru"

Peru's president Alan Garcia, justifying his attacks on civilians using snipers and bombs, which has caused between 35 to 85 deaths and hundred of injured and disapears.

_______________

PLEASE ORGANISE A PROTEST AT Peru Consulates, Embassy or

anywhere you think is posible in Australia

The message is simple: stop genocide, stop violence, respect human rights, avoid useless casualties, promote dialogue and respect Indigenous peoples rights in Peru, stop using U.S. free trade policies to destroy the lives of millions of peoples in Peru, promote popular democracy, peace, justice, self-determination, dignity and equality.

Contact the government of Peru

Demand to cease the State of Emergency and martial laws that are a threat to other communities that are still protesting. Demand the end of violence against Indigenous peoples of the Amazon and Andean regions, to restore peace and to restart dialogue so Indigenous peoples can keep their lands and the environment can be protected.

Send a Message to the President of Peru:

http://www.amazonwatch.org/peru-action-alert.php

President of the Council of Ministers of Peru, Yehude Simon Munaro

ysimon@pcm.gob.pe / Fax +51 1- 716- 87-35

President of the Congress of Peru, Javier Velásquez-Quesquén

jvelasquezq@congreso.gob.pe

Embassy of Peru in Australia:

embassy@embaperu.org.au

Public Ombudsman Office of Peru

centrodeatencionvirtual@defensoria.gob.pe

Contact the UN and OAS human rights organizations

UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

indigenous@ohchr.org

UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

wgeid@ohchr.org

UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom expression

freedex@ohchr.org

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

indigenous_un@un.org

IACHR Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

cidhoea@oas.org

ACHR Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Expression

cidh-expresion@oas.org

Talking points

Few minutes of your time can make a huge difference!

Indigenous peoples rights must be respected by Peru, included in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2007.

The right of consultations with Indigenous peoples is included at the ILO 169 Convention. This must be done with respect and honest intention of defending the rights of all Peruvian citizens and not only the interests of multinational corporations.

This massacre is a direct result of an abusive implementation of policies included in the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement, by Peru’s president Alan Garcia who used it as an instrument of corporate corruption and collusion in the genocide of the Indigenous peoples.

The Peruvian government is presenting this tragedy as if it was caused by the Native peoples, which is not truth. Amazonian peoples protested without violence for almost 2 months, until the Police attacked them. All the casualties are unjustified and should have never happened.

The Peruvian media which is mostly biased and controlled by the government and corporate interests, is reporting that Police officers were kidnapped and massacred by the Indigenous peoples, but is not reporting about the abusive attack on civilians, and snipers and helicopters shooting at civilians including children. Witnesses have said that dead bodies were burned down and thrown to the rivers, and that police prevented civilians from rescuing injured protesters.

In the last 56 days, Amazonian Indigenous peoples of Peru are fighting to protect their territories, as the government of Lima has passed decrees that lease 73% of the Amazon forest and allow extractive industries corporations to take over their land, without previous consultation. The Amazonian peoples are requesting especifically for Lima to repeal those decrees.

Indigenous peoples do not oppose progress and private investment. They want to protect their land, their families and the environment, they want for corporations to respect their traditions and ways of living.

There have been years of protests since the signing of the Peru FTA by then presidents George W. Bush and Alejandro Toledo. Indigenous peoples have tried to dialogue, but the Lima government refused to listen and even prevented a national referendum in 2006.

As a way to protest and demand to be heard, the Amazon Indigenous peoples started popular strikes, oil facilities takeovers and road blockades in 8 regions of the country. This was replied by the Garcia administration by sending police and military forces to repress the protesters violently. People in Bagua responded burning down government buildings and lootings have also occurred.

Indigenous peoples value the land as a part of a our system of life, we don't own the land but we belong to it. There will not be a way for the government of Peru to impose its corporate benefiting laws because Indigenous people will defend their territories.

After the recent bloody attack, violence has slowed as today Sunday June 7. The military has taken over control of the region in conflict, but Lima has issued a warrant arrest for Alberto Pizango, the most prominent leader of the Amazon Indigenous peoples and his whereabouts are unknown at this moment.

Unfortunately, other leaders are also being prosecuted by the government and there is a possibility of future attacks of the military on other Indigenous communities. WE MUST ACT NOW!

UPDATES: links to stay updated with the current situation in Peru:

[Eng] English [Esp] Spanish

Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana – AIDESEP is the leading Amazon Indigenous peoples rights organization in Peru. [Esp]

http://www.aidesep.org.pe

Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indigenas - CAOI [Esp]

http://www3.minkandina.org/

Amazon Watch - a non profit working directly with Amazon peoples in strike: [Eng]

http://www.amazonwatch.org

Enlance Nacional – an independent internet news channel in Peru with correspondents in the Bagua region. [Esp]

http://enlacenacional.com/

Servindi - Indigenous news from Peru. [Esp]

http://www.servindi.org/

Facebook group "Solidarity with Peru / Solidaridad con Perú / Solidarité avec Pérou"

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=89605273186&ref=ts

Q'orianka Kilcher On-Q Initiative:

http://www.takepart.com/blog/author/qoriankakilcher/

Mp3 Interview with Indigenous leader Tupac Enrique Acosta who just returned from Peru:

http://www.7genfund.org/current_actions/calls-to-action/special-peru-crisis-news-update-interview-with-tupac-enrique/

Peruanista - a bilingual blog about Peru, written in the U.S. with translations of news coming from the emergency regions. [Esp] [Eng]

http://peruanista.blogspot.com/2009/06/alert-massacre-in-peru-police-shoots-at.html

Freshman Senators Stand Against Modified NAFTA Expansion Politics of Pushing Trade Agreements Reflected in Peru Trade Vote of New Members. [Eng]

http://www.citizenstrade.org/pdf/CTC_Senate_Peru_4.pdf

Twenty one organizations of Immigrant rights advocates, unions, civil rights and faith-based organizations signed a letter to the US Congress opposing the US-Peru FTA and warning of threats to Indigenous peoples and the Amazon forest. [Eng]

http://peruanista.blogspot.com/2007/11/urgent-please-call-congress-to-stop-us.html

Trade Deal with Peru Fails to Measure Up for Development. [Eng]

http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/press_releases/archive2007/trade-deal-with-peru-fails-to-measure-up-for-development

Please send this information

Forward this to all your contacts, we are trying to spread the word and raise awareness.

In defense of life, human rights and our mother earth

we demand respect for the rights of the Indigenous peoples and for the preservation of our planet!

VIDEOS of Peru's civil war - guerra civil peruana

VIDEO - Conspiración internacional: respondiendo a Alan García y la televisión manipulada de Lima

VIDEO solidaridad en EEUU con indígenas amazónicos de Perú: “no se rindan ustedes tienen la razón”

ALAN GARCIA MUST RESIGN: criminal poised to continue Indigenous slaughter and disintegrate Peru

ALAN GARCÍA DEBE RENUNCIAR: criminal continuará masacre indígena y desintegrará la nación peruana

U.S. ACTION ALERT IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF PERU - stop violence and unnecessary deaths now!

El utero de la mula

Analyzing Aldo Mariategui racist mastermind or the Simon Romero's reference in the massacre of Peru

Afro peruanos son el 10% de población en Perú - tres jóvenes afros opinan sobre el legado y realidad de la resurgente comunidad negra peruana

Most U.S. news reports biased on the Amazon massacre of Peru - UDPATE on the Bagua crisis: bodies being burned down by Police - attacks continue

SHOCKING photos and videos of the racist massacre of Bagua in Peru - IMPACTANTES fotos y videos de la masacre racista de Bagua en Perú.

Protests in NYC Washington DC and Los Angeles against genocidal Alan Garcia attacks and solidarity with Amazon Indigenous of Peru

Protestas en consulados de Perú en EEUU contra ataques genocidas de Alan García y en solidaridad con indígenas amazónicos peruanos

ALERTA: Masacre en Perú - Polioy – escribe al Presidente y Congreso

VIDEO reporte desde Amazonas, Perú: caos, violencia y muertes - Defensoría e Iglesia Católica se pronuncian

Monday, June 8, 2009

VIDEOS of Peru's civil war - guerra civil peruana

Beware, these videos are extremely graphic. Just in case you thought that we were exaggerating. This is racist genocide. Was this necessary? Were these the barbaric savages that Alan Garcia was referring to? Was this part of the U.S. military presence in Ayacucho, bringing "humanitarian" help? Most importantly, Why is president Obama still silent? Why is the U.S. government allowing this? After all these people are dying because of the damned U.S.- Peru Free Trade Agreement. Talk about change and hope, Mr. President!

Alan Garcia genocidal, resign already! Alan Garcia genocida, ya renuncia! .

VIDEO - Conspiración internacional: respondiendo a Alan García y la televisión manipulada de Lima

El descalificado presidente peruano ha dicho que las protestas indígenas son producto de una conspiración internacional. Andrew Miller de la ONG Amazon Watch explica los motivos de la protesta de los indígenas amazónicos y andinos de Perú, y responde a mentiras del gobierno peruano y la prensa manipulada de Lima. Este video lo hice luego de la vigilia en la Embajada de Perú en Washington, DC, el viernes 5 de enero de 2009, en protesta contra la violencia genocida y racista del gobierno de Alan García, y en solidaridad con los indígenas amazónicos y andinos de Perú.

Mientras tanto, anuncian protesta en Australia!

Solidarity Action demo/protest for Amazonia Indigenous Peoples in Perú Thursday June 11, 12:30pm GPO City, Corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets City - Melbourne Bring banners, placards, flags, music instruments, anything to make solidarity noise Call initiated by Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET), endorses are welcome write to: lasnet@latinlasnet.org

Basta de violencia, no más muertes ni desaparecidos.

Mientras tanto en Lima...

VIDEO solidaridad en EEUU con indígenas amazónicos de Perú: “no se rindan ustedes tienen la razón”

"Alan García se tiene que disculpar con todos los peruanos y dialogar con los indígenas peruanos" "El TLC con México y EEUU ha causado perdidas de territorios a pueblos indígenas mexicanos y el TLC con Perú es muy parecido, va a perjudicar a los indígenas peruanos" "El gobierno peruano debe aprender de la historia" "Que los pueblos indígenas no se rindan porque ellos tienen la razón" "Gobierno de Perú debe respetar las leyes" "Estamos tristes y angustiados por los pueblos indígenas pero gracias por su lucha porque están protegiendo a todos cuidando el ultimo pulmón del mundo"

Este video muestra imágenes de la vigilia realizada en la Embajada de Perú en Washington, DC, el viernes 5 de enero de 2009 el mismo día de la matanza de Bagua. Esta protesta es contra la violencia genocida y racista del gobierno de Alan García, y en solidaridad con los indígenas amazónicos y andinos de Perú. Basta de violencia, no más muertes ni desaparecidos. Hoy comienza una jornada semanal de protestas en las embajadas de Perú en el mundo, y de acciones de apoyo a los pueblos amazónicos de Perú. No están solos hermanos indígenas, la lucha continua. .

ALAN GARCIA MUST RESIGN: criminal poised to continue Indigenous slaughter and disintegrate Peru

Thursday June 11, 2009

12:30 pm

GPO Corner Bourke & Elizabeth Sts.

Melbourne - City

www.latinlasnet.org

www.latinamericansolidaritynetwork.org

More Info call Sue Leigh 0466 480 331

or write to lasnet@latinlasnet.org

_

Call for picket of Peruvian Embassy on Friday

Press Release
Wellington Zapatista Support Group/Latin America Support Committee
For Immediate Release
09 June 2009

New Zealand Groups Condemn Peruvian Massacre of Indigenous Peoples

Click for big version

Click for big version

The Wellington Zapatista Support Group and the Latin American Support Committee express our deepest concern and anger at the violent repression on 5th and 6th June of indigenous peoples peacefully manning a blockade in Bagua, a remote area of the Northern Amazon region of Peru. The dawn raid against several thousand sleeping Awajun and Wambis indigenous peoples, who were forcibly dispersed by tear gas and real bullets, resulted in up to 100 deaths.

We also deplore the package of unconstitutional legislative decrees of President Alan Garcia that preceded the massacre, designed to bring Peruvian law into line with the demands of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The decrees will open communal rainforest lands and resources to oil drilling, logging, mining, and large-scale farming without consultation with indigenous inhabitants, and not only violate Peru's constitution and international law, but also cause irreparable environmental degradation to the ‘lungs of the planet.’

We note that two of the decrees were thrown out by the Peruvian Congress last September, and that in recent weeks the constitutional committee of the Peruvian Congress ruled that decrees 994 and 1090 were unconstitutional. We note also that the Office of the Peruvian Ombudsman has filed a demand with the constitutional tribunal on the unconstitutionality of decree 1064. Further, the decrees are in violation of the International Labour Organization´s Convention 169 on indigenous peoples, which calls for the protection of communal lands and for previous consultation for any activity or sale of them, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We are aware that Roman Catholic bishops in the Peruvian Amazon have issued a statement endorsing the legitimacy of indigenous complaints.

* We demand an immediate end to the repression of Peru’s indigenous peoples;

* We demand the immediate repeal of the nine decrees imposed on the Peruvian people by President Garcia;

* We demand the immediate cancellation of the Arrest Order on sedition chargesissued in respect of AIDESEP president Alberto Pizango for allegedly inciting the violence, a thinly-veiled attempt to criminalise the leader of a peaceful and legitimate social movement;

* We demand the formation of a "Multi-sectoral Commission" to investigate the atrocities of 5 and 6 June 2009, with participation from all parties in Peru's congress, the Peruvian Ombudsman, and the Organization of American States (OAS).

Picket The Peruvian Embassy
40 Mercer St Wellington

FRIDAY 12th June 12-2pm

For more info go to http://www.amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=1829
http://www.latinamericapress.org/articles.asp?art=5871
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/08/2592391.htm

Community Safety Network

This is an invitation to individuals, groups and organisations that are interested in forming a ‘Community Safety Network’.

In establishing a network around the term ‘safety’ we need to be clear about what we mean when we use that term. Threats to our ‘safety’ equally come in the form of exploitative work, institutions such as Centrelink, police, courts and prisons, as it comes from within our own communities.

As well as pursuing and supporting positive community safety initiatives, resisting and challenging these institutions are also important and legitimate strategies.

We are not interested in participating in, or developing new forms of social control.

Ideally the Community Safety Network will become a space for collaboration between groups, organisations and individuals seeking to work on specific campaigns and projects. It will also hopefully play a role in generating a grass roots politics that can both challenge the push for more police and prisons, and that can recognizes the role that these institutions play
in reproducing poverty, racism and violence.

The first meeting will be on Saturday June the 13th at the Footscray

Community Arts Centre - 45 Moreland Street, Footscray @ 2pm.

All welcome, including the kids!

At the meeting we’re hoping to have an open ranging discussion about what people would like to see the network doing.

The following people are also gonna come to give a specific talk about their work:

• A representative from the Federation for Indian Students in Australia

• Tamar Hopkins will speak briefly about the network launching a Police Accountability Campaign

• Umer will give us a run down on the work of the newly formed Melbourne Copwatch

• Phoebe Barton will give us a brief on the work currently being undertaken by the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People and the Decarceration Network

Some ideas that have been floated for the Network are:

That the CSN facilitates a campaign for an independent police accountability body

That the network establishes a alternative police complaints mechanism that is capable of anonymously receiving reports of police misconduct, collating and publishing that information, and refering people to available support services.

That the network publishes a website that can act as a hub for news; hosts the alternative complaints mechanism; is capable of uploading stories and videos from the streets; and can connect people who are looking to get involved in this kind of work.

That the CSN acts as a mutual support network for people and communities that are experiencing both state and non-state violence

see yas down there!

Black ban called on private prison companies

Media Release

“Justice Action has notified the five multinational private prison companies tendering for Parklea Prison that it is calling for a black ban on all products manufactured in the prison if they are to be given control. They can forget about getting profit from slave labour” said JA spokesperson Brett Collins.

“The Australian offices of GEO, SERCO, GS4, SODEXO, and Management and Training Corporation have been faxed and emailed a letter warning them that regardless of the Report of the Legislative Council Inquiry due this Friday, they will get total opposition from the community” said JA Coordinator Michael Poynder.

“Of the 453 submissions before the Inquiry, only eleven, including the multinationals and the failed Commissioner support privatisation. All the major organizations, and those within the prisons - the officers, teachers, nurses and prisoners agree that imprisoning citizens is a core government responsibility inappropriate for a profit centre. We want less crime and less imprisonment. The Rees Government has lost its direction and authority” said Mr Collins.

“The companies’ lack of morality is clear. Not only is it a breach of ILO Convention 29 against slavery, recent reports show that the judiciary is undermined taking bribes to fill cells. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?_r=2&ref=us. The leading company GEO ex Wackenhut, has just been fined $42.5 million for allowing and covering up an horrific and gruesome death of a man due for release” said Mr Poynder.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Prison_company_to_pay_425_million_in_beating_death.html

“These companies only understand the effect on their bottom lines as the students’ campaign in the US with Sodexho showed. They will limp back out of here with their tails between their legs. They were stopped at Cessnock and haven’t yet understood no” declared Mr Collins.http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/archives/2000.04.21/news/sodhexo.html http://www.geocities.com/bsplat/

comments: Brett Collins 0438 705003
Michael Poynder 0401 371077


JUSTICE ACTION
Trades Hall, Suite 204, 4 Goulburn St, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
PO Box 386, Broadway NSW 2007 Australia
T 612 9283 0123 | F 612 9283 0112
E ja@justiceaction.org.au
http://www.justiceaction.org.au

Student Union President condemns police brutality against student protesters

Swinburne University Student Union president Damian Ridgwell this morning condemned a violent police attack on student protestors assembled in the intersection of Swanston and Flinders Streets. The students had been peacefully protesting on Sunday afternoon and into the night against a recent upsurge in violence against Indian students in Melbourne.

“Thousands of students rallied yesterday, responding to a series of vicious attacks on Indian international students” said Mr Ridgewell this morning. “Many thousands stayed peacefully in the intersection outside Flinders St Station until late into the night. They were addressed by Chief Commissioner Simon Overland, who failed to address the students’ concerns in any meaningful way.

“Then at about five am this morning, around a hundred police assembled and proceeded to violently attack the remaining protestors. The protestors were sitting on the ground with arms linked. Rather than prising the students loose, the police mounted a vicious assault. I witnessed police officers stomp on a student’s chest, other police officers repeatedly punched students in the face. A sitting protestor was knocked unconscious by repeated punches to the head by a policeman. At least one baton was drawn and used to smash a protestor’s legs, while the front row of students was threatened with capsicum spray.

“Already we know that one proster has been admitted to hospital who had their thumb broken during the police attack.

“Students were asking for nothing more than basic safety”, continued Mr Ridgwell. “We were asking for staff on trains, more residential accomodation on campus, a community education program to challenge the racism that international students face. Instead of having their legitimate demands addressed, students have been treated to yet another brutal assault -- this time from Victoria police.”

Mr Ridgwell called on trade unions and others in the community to rally behind the Indian students. “Politicians have been stirring up racism against refugees, Muslims and Aboriginal people for years. Now Indian students are paying the price. This is the time to take a public stand against the scourge of racism.”

For comment phone Damian Ridgwell on 0408 369 182