October 15: occupy Aotearoa, occupy everywhere

The Occupy Wall Street protest has inspired plans for more than 1000 similar events in the US and around the World. Many occupations are planned to begin on Saturday October 15. 

 

In Aotearoa New Zealand, protests and occupations are planned not just in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, but even in New Plymouth and Invercargill!

Targeting Wall Street – the symbolic heart of financial capitalism – the protest has become the centre of attention for all those unhappy that the interests of corporations, not the basic needs of people, dominate society.

A central message of the protest is that no society can be truly democratic when the richest 1% use their wealth and power to control the rest of us.

Their slogan ‘We are the 99%’ sums up the idea that only unity of the majority can change this situation and bring about a real democracy, where everyone participates and every voice is heard and respected.

AUCKLAND

http://www.occupyauckland.org/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/183933556971/photos/#!/event.php?eid=200962876639610

NEW PLYMOUTH

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=227956857259804

WELLINGTON

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Wellington-Nz/253279161382607

CHRISTCHURCH

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=227956857259804#!/occupychristchurch

DUNEDIN

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Dunedin/141220149310691

INVERCARGILL

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Invercargill/161973997227660

Significant change in plan for December’s Gaza aid convoy

by Grant Morgan
Co-organiser of Kia Ora Gaza
13 October 2011

Almost three years ago Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza, codenamed Operation Cast Lead, killed over 1,400 mostly civilian Palestinians and laid waste to the coastal enclave.

Today, most Gazan families suffer from mass unemployment, medical shortages, polluted water, devastated housing, continual Israeli attacks and other dire conditions.

 Worst of all, Gaza’s 1.5 million population remains imprisoned by an illegal and cruel Israeli blockade.

Kia Ora Gaza is sending a four-person Kiwi Team on the sixth Gaza aid convoy organised by UK charity Viva Palestina. This multinational convoy aims to enter Gaza on the third anniversary of the start of Operation Cast Lead, 27 December.

“It is our intention with this convoy to try to increase the aid element,” says Viva Palestina in a statement issued yesterday. “We are also taking into account the fluid situation that has developed since the start of the Arab Spring and the fall of Mubarak.

”

“We are announcing therefore a significant change in the form that the convoy will take this time. Rather than travelling from London through Europe as before, we intend to purchase all aid and vehicles in Egypt itself.”

All volunteers, including our Kia Ora Gaza team, will travel to Egypt and join the convoy in Cairo on a date to be confirmed by Viva Palestina over the next few weeks.

This change in plan will play well with the Egyptian democracy movement which is hugely supportive of Gaza’s call to break the Israeli siege. It should help December’s convoy link up with Cairo’s democracy activists so there is a combined push to permanently open Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza. 

If the Rafah Gate can be swung open to all people and goods going in and out of Gaza, then the Israeli siege will be mortally wounded. That would be the most fitting response by the world’s humanitarians on the third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead.

Your donations can bring us closer to this objective. Kia Ora Gaza has launched a $50,000 Gaza Appeal to fund our Kiwi convoyers and their aid to suffering Palestinians. Please donate generously to our moral and historic mission.

Go to the sidebar of kiaoragaza.net to see how to donate.

Will capitalism survive the crisis?

by Geoff Fischer

Will the political institutions of capitalism survive the current economic
crisis? That is the question which many of us are being asked. The simple
answer is that those institutions (states or governing parties) which preside
over social systems in which wealth is evenly distributed are best fitted to
survive, while those which preside over divided, unequal societies face
extinction.

So where does New Zealand stand? To answer that question we need to
understand the basis of the New Zealand state, which arose out of the
colonial project of the New Zealand Company in the early ninteenth century.
The New Zealand Company was a private immigration company founded for the
explicit purpose of establishing a class-based British-dominated colonial
society in the south seas. The colonial project has subsequently evolved into
the concept that goes by the name of "New Zealand Inc".

From quite early on the state (originally the imperial authorities in London,
and latterly the colonial government in Wellington) presented itself as a
moderating influence upon the colonial project. However there have been
crucial moments in history when the state has left off being moderate or
neutral, to overtly ally itself with the commercial interests of the New
Zealand Company.

Wallstreet video: Nobody can predict the moment of revolution

Nobody Can Predict The Moment Of Revolution from ivarad on Vimeo.

US occupations: links

The Wall Street occupation, now nearing the end of its third week has sparked a series of protests across the USA. Like the revolutionaries in North Africa and the Middle East, the protesters have made extensive use of the internet, social media and communication technology. Below are links to three websites where you can keep up to date with the protests.

 OccupyWallStreet

https://occupywallst.org/

 http://www.occupytogether.org/

WE ARE THE 99 PERCENT

Stories from those joining the protest:

“We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent”

  

A spotlight on Wall Street greed

Doug Singsen and Will Russell report from New York City on Occupy Wall Street.

From Socialist Worker US

September 28, 2011

New York police on a rampage against demonstrators from Occupy Wall Street (Brennan Cavanaugh)

DAILY PROTESTS and an ongoing park occupation in the financial district of New York City are gaining growing national attention as an expression of anger against Wall Street greed--and now the brutality of police against demonstrators, after the NYPD savagely attacked a march from the encampment to Union Square on September 24.

The hundreds of people who have participated in Occupy Wall Street since it began September 17 are protesting economic inequality and the power wielded by banks and big corporations in U.S. society. The occupiers say they represent the 99 percent of society that is fed up with the massive wealth and corruption of the top 1 percent.

The initial demonstration drew some 500 people to Bowling Green Park, site of the famous Charging Bull sculpture that is a famous symbol of Wall Street. Organizers had hoped for thousands to turn out, but activists continued with their aim of establishing an encampment--it was set up in nearby Zuccotti Park.

The protesters renamed the park Liberty Plaza in homage to Tahrir (Liberation) Square in Cairo--the symbol of this year's Egyptian revolution. In a stroke of happenstance, it turned out Liberty Plaza was actually the original name of Zuccotti Park.

The number of regular participants began to build over the week that followed, but interest turned intense after the September 24 police attack on marchers from the encampment.

More than 1,000 activists had started the Saturday with a march on Wall Street, before turning around and heading north, peacefully marching more than two miles to reach Union Square. There, they were met by a massive police resistance.

Predictable and surprising: an overview of Mana policy

by Grant Morgan 

21 September 2011

The Mana Party's consolidated policy document was recently released (see below). Its contents are both predictable and surprising. Here's a concise overview:

The document is predictably strong on "bread and butter" issues for Maori and workers, but invisible on their political "agency" in changing the system. 

• There are eight references to Maori, 10 to worker/s, and three to union/s. All these references are solely economic in character. So Maori, workers and unions are not given any political role in a systemic transition away from capitalism, or even away from the current neoliberal stage of capitalism.
• Accordingly, there is not a single reference to "capitalism", "capitalist", "neoliberal" or even "class". And just one passing reference to "market". Despite the presence of many self-described socialists within Mana, no mention is made of the words "socialism" or "socialist". 
• Nevertheless, there are important policy assaults on financialisation, which is the central pillar of neoliberalism. So the document advocates the abolition of GST, the introduction of a financial speculation tax, reduced income tax for the poor and steeper income tax for the wealthy, a capital gains tax and other tax policies which would confront financialisation without mentioning the words "neoliberalism" or capitalism".
• Overall, the document is reasonable on immediate "bread and butter" issues, but sidesteps the questions of political economy and political "agency". The inference is that voters should leave politics in the hands of Mana politicians, since nobody else is given a system change role. My mark: B+. 

It is surprisingly weak on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and tino rangatiratanga. 

• The treaty/tino rangatiratanga are linked four times to constitutional matters. But these references are very brief and abstract, leaving no meat on these constitutional bones.
• Plus there are two references to the treaty in regards to economic matters.
• Overall, a disappointing result from a party whose main membership consists of flaxroots Maori steeped in Te Tiriti and tino rangatiratanga. My mark: C.

And it is predictably woeful on ecological matters. 

• There is not a single reference to "ecology" in the policy document. 
• There is just one passing reference to "ecological" in a sentence where it's buried under social, economic and spiritual issues.
• The word "environment" appears three times, but only in reference to our social/legal environment, not the world of nature. 
• The word "environmental" appears twice, but only in passing and buried under social, cultural and economic issues.
• The word "sustainable" is used three times each in reference to transport and housing, which of course intersect with the natural environment, but the linkage is weak in the document. Mostly there's an economic aura given to "sustainable", which also appears five times in direct reference to the economy. 
• Climate change is probably the gravest emergency facing humanity today, threatening catastrophes on a primeval scale. Incredibly, Mana's manifesto makes merely two references to climate change/global warming. And one reference is merely economic, referencing the monetary cost of climate change policies. The other reference is part of a general statement on a post-oil future.
• Overall, a disjointed, abstract and unconvincing approach to ecology. There's no sense that systemic alternatives to climate change and other capitalist erosions of the natural basis for life on Earth should be woven into every fibre of Mana's policy. My mark: C-.

Of course, we cannot define any party by way of its policy manifesto alone. Usually the social character and track record of party members, and especially party leaders, is at least as important. 

But my overall impression of Mana's consolidated policy document is of punches pulled and opportunities missed in the arenas of political economy, political agency and constitutional remodeling. And, regarding the life-sustaining world of nature, I see a party manifesto that is lamentably weak, despite several disconnected references to a "post-carbon world".

Therefore, my overall mark for Mana's predictable and surprising manifesto would be somewhere between a B- and a C+. 

I hope that Mana does well in this year's parliamentary election, though my hopes are based more on good people in the party than on this rather disappointing manifesto. 

I also hope that the Green Party and candidates from Labour's left wing do well at the polls, and that they get together with Mana to start forging a Left Bloc that at the very least begins to roll back neoliberalism and tackle climate change.

Irish Rugby Players for Irish Ship to Gaza

Derek Wall: Ecosocialism cuts to roots of ecological crisis

British-based economist, activist and writer Derek Wall is a member of the Green Party of England and Wales and is the author of several books on ecology and politics.

Wall will speak via video link at the Climate Change Social Change activist conference in Melbourne over September 30 to October 3. He maintains the ecosocialist blog Another Green World.

He spoke to Green Left Weekly’s Simon Butler about the politics of ecosocialism.

What are the most valuable insights ecosocialists can bring to discussions about the source of our ecological problems?

Ecosocialism, without being reductionist, cuts to the roots of the ecological crisis. The destruction of the environment is not an accident. It is not simply a problem of false ideas and it is not a product of inappropriate policies that can easily be dealt with by electing a new set of politicians.

The assault on the basic life support system of our planet, the basic biological cycles, climate being just one, is caused by our economic and social system. We live in a capitalist society and capitalism tends towards the destruction of the conditions necessary to sustain life.

Kiwis to join siege-busting convoy to Gaza in December

Statement by Executive of Kia Ora Gaza

5 September 2011

As the historic “Arab Spring” surge for democracy sweeps across northern Africa and the Middle East, the time has come for a renewed international push to finally break the cruel & illegal Israeli siege of Gaza.

The Egyptian people have overthrown the military dictator Mubarak and are demanding that the Rafah border gates with Gaza be permanently opened to allow for the free flow of people and goods.

In tune with this epic era, the Viva Palestina 6 international aid convoy to Gaza, due to depart London in early December, is set to become a major factor in breaking the siege for all time. The permanent opening of the border will be the greatest form of aid for the besieged 1.5 million Palestinian people of Gaza.

All of Viva Palestina’s previous land convoys have successfully entered Gaza. As well as bringing millions of dollars of desperately needed medical and humanitarian aid, VP has been told by people in Gaza and by supporters of the Palestinians in Egypt that they have helped play a role in highlighting the unjust policy of the now ousted Mubarak regime in maintaining the siege.

The democratic revolution in Egypt opens the prospect of ending that siege for good. The convoy will be working in partnership with humanitarian organisations in Egypt to help bring that about before another year of unnecessary suffering is inflicted on the Gazans subsisting in what British prime minister David Cameron described as the world’s largest open air “prison camp”.

Kiwi Team invited to join historic mission

Kia Ora Gaza has been invited to send a New Zealand contingent to join this historic international mission. A 6-person Kia Ora Gaza team took part in the Viva Palestina 5 aid convoy, which broke through the siege in October last year, so we have a proven track record.

Our target: $70,000

Kia Ora Gaza is launching a nationwide fund-raising appeal to send another team of 6 Kiwis to join this siege-busting convoy from London.

Our target is $70,000 which will cover flight costs and purchase of NZ convoy vehicles and humanitarian aid.

We have less than 3 months to do so. Our success depends on the generosity of spirit of humanitarians like yourself.

Kia Ora Gaza is a charitable trust whose entire funds go to the sole benefit of the people of Gaza. All helpers are unpaid volunteers. All our accounts are subject to audit by a professional auditor (donating his services free) who is independent of our Board of Trustees.

Please send your donation by direct credit to our bank account: Kia Ora Gaza, 03-0211-044718-000, Westpac Bank, Onehunga Branch.

(Then email office@kiaoragaza.net with your deposit details so our Board of Trustees can send you an e-receipt.)

Or write a cheque for “Kia Ora Gaza” and post it to Kia Ora Gaza, PO Box 59007, Auckland.

Volunteer applications

Kia Ora Gaza invites New Zealanders to apply to be part of our 6-person Kiwi Team to Gaza. Application emails, containing your contact details, skill levels and personal history, should be sent to office@kiaoragaza.net by Monday 19 September.

Applications are open to New Zealanders from a wide range of backgrounds. You will need a current international car licence, hold a New Zealand passport and have no criminal history. You will be:

• a co-operative “team player”,
• passionate for peace and justice in Palestine,
• reasonably fit & healthy,
• over 23 years old,
• prepared to share your convoy experiences at public meetings & in media interviews,
• able to cope with difficulties & challenges,
• able to cover your personal expenses (estimated to be NZ$3,000).

Other ways everyone can help
Forward this notice to all your friends and ask them to do likewise.

If you have a blog, facebook page or Twitter – make the story viral.

Join the Kia Ora Gaza facebook group.

Attend or organise support meetings or fund-raising events.

Ask your church, mosque, marae, union or community group to offer a donation & message of support.

Visit our website kiaoragaza.net for regular updates.

Gaza: uneasy UN report and another aid convoy

The Palmer Commission, headed by former NZ prime minister Geoffrey Palmer, was appointed by the UN secretary-general to examine the Israeli attack on Gaza aid ship Mavi Marmara in May 2010. Nine humanitarian volunteers, eight of them Turkish and one Turkish-American, were killed by Israeli special forces who stormed the vessel in international waters during the dark of night.

After a number of delays, the final report by the Palmer Commission is due for release tomorrow (Friday, 2 September 2011). According to media reports, its conclusions look likely to be an uneasy compromise between Israel and Turkey, both represented on the equally balanced commission.

As we await the official release of the Palmer Commission's report, Kia Ora Gaza is sending you a backgrounder on Israel's disputed, but clearly bloody, seizure of the Mavi Marmara. It's from Gisha, the Israeli-based Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement (previously published on our website kiaoragaza.net). This legal opinion may help you identify where the legal facts lie in a tragedy which has been, and still remains, highly disputed and incredibly propagandised.

As well, Kia Ora Gaza is pleased to announce that we expect to take part in another international aid convoy to Gaza within the next few months. We will announce more details as planning is finalised. We are now calling for your donations to help fund our mission, made more important by the Arab Spring and the subsequent possibility of levering open Israel's terrible blockade of Gaza.

Are you able to donate to Kia Ora Gaza's next mission to aid the 1.5 million innocents of Gaza and break Israel's inhumane and unlawful siege? If you can spare some cash, please make a direct payment to our bank account:
Kia Ora Gaza, 03-0211-0447718-000, Westpac Bank, Onehunga branch (Afterwards, email office@kiaoragaza.net with your deposit details so our Board of Trustees can send you an e-receipt.)
Or else write a cheque for ‘Kia Ora Gaza’ and post to: Kia Ora Gaza, PO Box 59-007, Auckland. (And enclose your address or email so we can send you a receipt.)

Thank you,

Grant Morgan

Co-organiser of Kia Ora Gaza PO Box 59-007, Auckland, New Zealand 021 2544 515 office@kiaoragaza.net kiaoragaza.net

Taking inspiration from Iceland: a People's Constitution for Aotearoa?

by Vaughan Gunson

The article below tells the largely untold story of the Icelandic people beginning to throw off the shackles of neo-liberal capitalism.

Following the collapse of Iceland's banks in 2008, and the attempt by elites to make the people pay the cost, a struggle for a new constitution emerged. A process facilitated by the use of the Internet to encourage widespread participation and maximise democratic decision making.

This is not only inspiring, but points to a possible line of strategic advance for broad left forces in other countries reeling from the global financial crisis. We know that constitutional struggles have played an important role in the revolutionary processes in Latin America, most particularly Bolivia and Venezuela.

The time is approaching where it could possible for the broad left in New Zealand to push forward constitutional change that explicitly challenges neo-liberalism and makes steps towards a sustainable, democratic and equitable society.

Tax Justice petition presented to Parliament

Photo: http://www.nogstonfood.org/

from NZ Herald

Inclement weather today did not stop tax campaigners from presenting to Parliament a 40,000-signature petition calling for GST to be removed from food and a tax placed on financial speculation.

Tax Justice coordinator Vaughan Gunson had intended to join campaigners from as far afield as Whangarei and Dunedin to hand over the petition on the steps of Parliament to Labour's Mangere MP Su'a William Sio, who would then present it to the House.

But he was unable to fly into Wellington and the petition was instead handed over by Wellington campaign organiser Grant Brookes.

Union representatives, Green Party co-leader Russel Norman, Mana Party leader Hone Harawira, and Maori Party MPs Rahui Katene and Te Ururoa Flavell also attended the handover.

"It was great to see them willing to receive our message and to present it to their colleagues in Parliament, and we certainly conveyed our views fairly and strongly,'' Mr Brookes said.

He said polls showed most people wanted GST off food, while he thought people were of the feeling that the wealthiest New Zealanders did pay their fair share of tax.

Mr Brookes was hopeful a broader Tax Justice coalition could emerge, which he said was achievable given the breadth of organisations present today.

Mr Harawira said any move to bridge the wealth divide and reduce inequality was worthy of support.

"GST is a tax that targets the poor because they don't have much money to spend, and nearly everything that they spend gets hit by GST,'' he said.

"On the other hand, financial speculators deal in millions of dollars every day on the world's financial markets, and don't pay anything.''

Labour Party leader Phil Goff this morning said his party supported removing GST from fresh fruit and vegetables, but had not budgeted for changes beyond that.

"We have a fiscal situation that would limit the amount of work that we would be able to do in that area.''

- NZPA

Building an eco-socialist network in New Zealand

Statement by Socialist Worker central committee

11 August 2011

The crises of global capitalism, coupled with catastrophic climate change and peak resources, is going to bring about profound social, ecological and political upheavals.

There is evidence of this happening globally already. We can point to the Arab Revolts that have toppled US-backed regimes and the emergence of anti-neoliberal movements of workers and young people in a number of European countries. Part of the context for these revolts is the global financial crisis, which is ongoing and will unravel further, impacting severely on the lives of grassroots people around the world.

While the current political situation in New Zealand is a big step away from mass revolt, the forces at work in this country are similar. Masses of ordinary people are hurting, there’s simmering anger towards politicians and other corporate elites, and there’s growing concern at the ecological catastrophe that humanity faces. The political quietism will not last indefinitely.

What can eco-socialists do today to prepare our forces for the historic challenges in front of us?

Socialist Worker believes the time is right to encourage further cooperation among people who identify as eco-socialists. Across the New Zealand’s existing left parties and socialist groups there are people who broadly share a common political perspective, who want to work towards a sustainable, equitable and democratic future.

But equally importantly, there is probably thousands of people not currently belonging to any political party or organisation who broadly share an eco-socialist vision.

We think it’s necessary, and possible, to cohere and grow the network of eco-socialists in New Zealand. For this reason, Socialist Worker has started trialing an eco-socialist network sign-up sheet. (To view the sign-up sheet click here.)

While it’s very early days, there are some encouraging signs that people are interested in joining an eco-socialist network.

In the near future we want to set up an eco-socialist website/discussion forum on the Internet. We envisage this new site being free of any party branding and that it would evolve, we hope, into a forum jointly run by a number of organisations and individuals.

Such a web presence would maximize the sharing of information and ideas relevant to an eco-socialist vision. The site would connect with people through email newsletters and social media.

Socialist Worker believes that building a broad eco-socialist network in the short term will be one practical “here-and-now” foundation for a mass-based broad left movement in the future.

An eco-socialist network would complement other positive developments on the left, particularly the emergence of the Mana Party, which is uniting a flaxroots Maori movement with radical left activists from socialist and union backgrounds.

An eco-socialist network would also build on the closer cooperation between leftists that we’ve seen in recent years around campaigns like $15ph Minimum Wage, NZ Not For Sale, Kia Ora Gaza, Tax Justice, and Anti-Mining/Oil Drilling.

An eco-socialist network could look to achieve these goals:

1. Draw people together across parties and organisations who self-identify with the word “eco-socialist”, and thus be a force for breaking down barriers and opening up democratic debate, so essential to building a broad movement for change;

2. Facilitate open discussion about all aspects of the political struggle in New Zealand and globally.

3. Foster increased cooperation around anti-neoliberal campaigns initiated by a range of groups and organisations;

4. Work towards launching popular strategic campaigns that target neoliberalism and bring activists into contact with broad layers of grassroots people.

5. Encourage a dynamic analysis of the crisis of global capitalism and its impact on material conditions in New Zealand, from which sound political strategies can emerge that provide us with realistic pathways towards a sustainable, equitable and democratic future.

While there is a lot to work out in practice Socialist Worker believes a web-based eco-socialist network has considerable potential.

We would like to invite interested individuals and organisations to contact us directly about supporting and getting involved in this initiative. Contact Vaughan Gunson, email vaughangunson@ecosocialist.net or ph/txt 021-0415 082.

For more on the crisis of global capitalism, which compels the eco-left to join together, read Capitalism's terminal crisis and the global cooperation of eco-socialists by Grant Morgan.

In solidarity,

Socialist Worker’s central committee:

Bernie Hornfeck
Bronwen Beechey
Daphne Lawless
David Colyer
Don Archer
Grant Brookes
Grant Morgan
Len Parker
Peter Hughes
Vaughan Gunson

Hone Harawira on Mana Party AGM

by Hone Harawira
published in the Northland Age
09 August 2011

On Saturday MANA held its inaugural AGM in Auckland. People came from all round the country, we had a great day and now we’re rolling on to the General Election in November as the free and independent voice for Maori, for workers and for the poor.

If the poor voted for MANA we would win half the seats in parliament. We aim to give them the voice they deserve.

MANA will represent a newer, more honest, and more principled way of doing politics.

We will promote policies that highlight the Treaty as the foundation of our nation, and the basis by which we can provide immediate relief to those in need and long term change that will return the power to ordinary working families.

We will not compromise on principle, and neither will we sit politely by while government's sell our nations assets, and price our people into poverty.

And we will promote candidates chosen for their unremitting fight for justice, their track record in advocating for Maori issues, and their leadership in the struggle for human rights.

London riots: ‘There’s uprisings everywhere – the whole world. Everyone’s fed up’

Riot police with batons drawn on the streets of Hackney on Monday (Pic: Guy Smallman)

The following eyewitness reports from Tash Shifrin, Jonny Jones, Ali Alizadeh, Steve Henshall and Sam Bogg, were published on the British Socialist Worker website.

Riots of the poor and dispossessed spread through Britain this week. The police struggled to crush an uprising against their own racist brutality and poverty. 

The riots reveal the deep-seated social tensions at the heart of Tory Britain.

The streets weren’t the police’s any more—they belonged to the angry, disenfranchised and the poor.

A young African-Carribean man pointing to the police told Socialist Worker, “These people are supposed to protect us—when I see them at night I run the other way. How can any of us feel safe when they’re shooting people?”

Australian pro-Palestine activists arrested in dawn raids

Melbourne Palestine solidarity activists released the statement below on August 9.
from Green Left Weekly

Raids carried out at dawn this morning by police have seen several pro-Palestine activists arrested, in the most severe crackdown on civil liberties in decades.

The activists are being targeted because of their involvement in protests against chocolate shop Max Brenner, a chain store with strong ties to the Israeli military. The protests are part of the worldwide Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which aims to draw attention to the ongoing genocide committed by the apartheid regime in Israel against Palestinians.

Campaign organiser Omar Hassan said: “This crackdown on the right to protest should be of concern to all Victorians. The lengths to which the Baillieu government is going to eradicate criticism of Israeli apartheid and criminalise dissent are unprecedented. We need to be clearly saying; demonstrating is not a crime. Taking action in support of Palestine is not a crime.”

The activists were arrested for breaching bail conditions imposed following arrests at a previous pro-Palestine protest at Max Brenner. The bail conditions, which prohibit arrestees going within 50 metres of a Max Brenner shop, are themselves a serious curtailment on the right to protest. The arrestees have been told they will be held until September 5.

Hassan said: “Actions taken against South African businesses by anti-Apartheid protests were important in generating opposition to that racist regime. To outlaw similar actions today can only be motivated by a desire to protect the reputation of Israel, and represent an unacceptable attack on our right to express dissent and show solidarity with oppressed people around the world.”

For more information about the arrests and on-going BDS campaign, go to http://boycottisrael19.wordpress.com/

Bolivia's fight for sovereignty over military

by Federico Fuentes
from Green Left
7 August  2011

Speaking to CNN en Espanol on July 27, Bolivian President Evo Morales said “When presidents do not submit to the United States government, to its policies, there are coups.”

His comments are backed by attempts by the US and Bolivia’s right wing to bring down his government.

Recently released WikiLeaks cables prove the US embassy was in close contact with dissident military officers only months before a coup attempt was carried out in September 2008.

But the close relationship between the US and Bolivia’s military has a long history.

Tim DeChristopher interview: Time to be honest

Nick Buxton speaks to Tim DeChristopher, an activist shaking up the mainstream US environmental movement

from Red Pepper

Tim DeChristopher caused consternation among oil executives and their US government cohorts in December 2008 when he won 14 bids at an auction of oil and gas leases in Utah – worth $1.8 million dollars – and then announced he had no intention of using or paying for them. It turned out he was a 28 year old economics student from Salt Lake University, who came to the auction to take direct action to keep fossil fuels in the ground in an area known for its natural beauty.

Tim DeChristopher’s official statement at his sentencing hearing

By Deb Henry

from Peaceful Uprising

Tim DeChristopher [pictured] addressed the court and the judge today. This is what he said:

Thank you for the opportunity to speak before the court.  When I first met Mr. Manross, the sentencing officer who prepared the pre-sentence report, he explained that it was essentially his job to “get to know me.”  He said he had to get to know who I really was and why I did what I did in order to decide what kind of sentence was appropriate.  I was struck by the fact that he was the first person in this courthouse to call me by my first name, or even really look me in the eye.  I appreciate this opportunity to speak openly to you for the first time.  I’m not here asking for your mercy, but I am here asking that you know me.