Pine Gap Trial Update

Hi guys thought I would post an update from I got Jess about the Pine Gap Trial.
She is with about 30 people supporting the Pine Gap 4 in the Alice Springs Supreme Court who are on trial for the ‘citizen’s inspection’ of Pine Gap in December 2005.

Her quote of the Day:Mr Hilton Dembo QC, appearing for the Crown,
?I’m not quite sure what they mean by acts of civil disobedience but you don’t have to be violent to cause disruption.?
(great summary of non-violent direct action in my book!)

More info:
www.pinegap6.org
http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070528-Pine-Gap-protestors.html
Pix on Your local indymedia…. (syd, melb, bris, perth, adelaide)
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21815635-1702,00.html
[Read more]

Sorry Day Statement and Reconciliation Sunday resources

Ten years ago, moved by the findings of the Bringing Them Home Report into the plight of the Stolen Generations, the National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia issued its ?Invitation to the Nation?. This national statement invited all Australians to recognise that genuine justice and reconciliation can only come from an understanding of our shared history and acknowledgement of the realities of our present.

Reflecting on this statement, the President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Gregor Henderson, expressed his shame that life for Indigenous Australians is still marked by racism and dispossession.

• Read the full statement on the UnitingJustice website.
• Download a worship resource for Reconciliation Sunday from the Synod of South Australia
• Learn more about the Bringing Them Home Report on the HREOC website.

NCYC09 - Assistant Coordinator

Come join the team organising the largest event in the Uniting Church!

NCYC09 (National Christian Youth Convention, January 2009) is seeking an energetic Assistant Coordinator with experience in the Uniting Church, event organisation, and working with heaps of volunteers. You will liaise with venues, oversee marketing and volunteer teams, promote NCYC and perform general administration within the wider Centre for Theology and Ministry team.
Get your position description from
Merryn Gray: converge@ncyc.org.au or phone (03) 9340 8815.

Applications close 15 June 2007
http://ncyc.org.au

Theatre @ Risk

Call for script submissions for:
2007 Festival of New Writting

Theatre @ Risk presents a ten day festival of new works, ideas & discussions with rehearsed readings and performances of local, national and international writing.

We are calling for submissions of full length plays based on the themes of FAITH, HOPE & CHARITY. Plays must be no longer than 90minutes, feature no more than 6 actors and have been written within the past five years. We are especially looking for plays that have not received a professional production yet in Victoria. Submissions open to all Australian playwrights.

Up to six plays will be chosen by a panel of readers selected from both within and outside the company, and presented in a rehearsed reading at the Old Council Chambers, Trades Hall, during the festival period of Fri 7th - Sun 16th September, 2007.

Each author selected will receive a small royalties fee ($200) for the one-off playreading. A small travel allowance will be available to assist interstate playwrights to travel to the festival.

Please send scripts along with a submission fee of $15 to cover readers’ fees (money order/cheque to Theatre @ Risk or pay online ) to: Theatre @ Risk Festival of New Writing - Office 7, The Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne, VIC 3051

Sorry Day - Sat 26

Understand Us - Stand by Us

Sorry Day Melbourne 2007
Saturday 26 May, 10.30am

10.30am Melbourne Town Hall (Swanston & Collins Streets)
Stolen Generations Victoria Ltd Partnerships Launch

11.30am Melbourne Town Hall (Swanston & Collins Streets)
To begin the walk to the steps of the Victorian Parliament

12.15pm Victorian Parliament (Bourke & Spring Streets)
Speeches, Laying of the Wreath, Traditional Dancers

1pm Federation Square (Swanston & Flinders Streets)
Acknowledging 10 years of the Bringing Them Home report, entertainment, kids activities

ENQUIRIES: Contact Rob on (03) 9486 6122 or email stolengensvicsorryday@hotmail.com

The Stolen Generations Victoria Sorry Day Committee acknowledges the support of Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, the Port Phillip Citizens for Reconciliation, Reconciliation Victoria, Federation Square, Tjanabi @ Fed Restaurant and Latrobe University.

Avaaz - G8 Poverty Letter

This Friday, the finance ministers from the world’s eight richest countries will meet to plan the G8 summit. That morning, we will send them an urgent letter on global poverty, signed by key global figures: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson–and, we hope, you.

Our message: keep your promise to provide 0.7% of national income in effective aid to relieve extreme poverty. Millions of lives are at stake. The more people sign the letter, the more powerful our demand becomes. Click here to sign:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/g8_poverty_letter

[Read more]

Lk 4 - Bible Study

MorePraxis bible study works is a resource to prime a conversation and reflection on a passage. So reflect and think about the text, listen for God and your spirit. I hope the format is less like the normal comprehension styled Bible study, but rather that it feels like ideas are rasied and space is left for you and your groups to have a conversation. Currently, I am planning on posting one a fortnight - so if you have a passage that has been important to you then write one and post it. There has been some talk of a real time online discussion for this to happen we will need a few more takers. So if you are keen make it known

Watch Jedi Jesus tell Luke 4 here

Luke 4:14-30 - Jesus? Manifesto

Reflect:
Read the text and notice what grabs your attention. Key words? Ideas?
Read it again, now what stands out? What do you relate to? What do you disagree with?
Is there a story from your life it reminds you of?

Think:

?Considering this passage is understood in Luke as Jesus? first sermon, he did really well to have the audience want to kill him by the time he finished. Often we hear about the ?Spirit of the Lord bit? but not really hear why that caused such conflict. The practical outworking of this manifesto of ?Good News for the poor?, led Jesus to talk about racism in his home town. Racism can be a touchy subject in general, but talk about it with your family and their friends this Christmas and watch the temperature rise. When Jesus cites the gentile widow and the soldier whom God miraculously helps instead of anyone from Israel, he is naming God?s concern for all people even the ?hated other? The implications of the Good News was far more offensive to the people than a simplistic ?God loves everybody?. This Good News loves the poor, sick, blind, oppressed and imprisoned and stands with God against those whose concern is for themselves, whose actions or lack of action supports injustices/oppression and is an affront to those who think they have a mortgage on God and truth.? (Age)

Welcome to the conversation
What parts stood out for you, annoyed you or drew you to them?
What is echoed in your life and experience in this text?
Why did they try to kill him?
What issue would have a similar response from the people today?
What is your manifesto for life?
What else would be good to talk about???

Act:
Spend some time writing your own manifesto for your life. Print it out and try to live in a way that doesn?t get in the way of that dream. Revisit it and change it to keep it challenging and current.

If you are doing this with a group - Begin by asking people to spend some time alone writing their dream for the world or the ?manifesto? they would like to live by. It will provide a personal starting point for comparison and discussion.
download praxisbiblelk4.pdf

Youth Lead - Oz Green

Youth LEAD is an Oz GREEN initiative that is building a national network of young leaders who are working in their local community and beyond to build a life-sustaining society. Youth LEAD is achieving
this through leadership training and mentoring for youth-led, eco-social projects that forge pathways to sustainable futures. Youth LEAD begins where other leadership programs finish ? with young people
learning to be leaders by designing and undertaking their own projects.

Melbourne YouthLEAD
Moora Moora, Healsvile.
30 June - 2 July

Each Youth LEAD program involves a 3 day training and action planning residential workshop for participants aged 15-25. The workshop features skills training in:
? ecological footprint assessment and lifestyle analysis
? strategic questioning, deep listening and critical thinking
? rational and emotional intelligence
? creative thinking, values and visioning
? goal setting and action planning for changes and eco-social action

Contact us for more information or to register:
visit - OzGREEN
Wendy Hopkins: whopkins@ozgreen.org.au
Jana Michaels: janamichaels@gmail.com

Getup - Close the Gap Budget Action

Dear friends,

The Treasurer has distributed our $236 billion and the budget headlines are brimming with praise and prosperity. But hidden among the welcome news remains an untold budget scandal - an Aboriginal child born today is statistically likely to be outlived by a newborn in rural Bangladesh. And what was allocated on Tuesday night to address this baffling inequality? Just $30 million in additional annual health funding, or an extra ten bucks for every Indigenous Australian on top of last year’s budget increase.

We’ve stood together to right this kind of wrong before. In ‘67, Australians united to pass an historic referendum, affirming the basic rights of Indigenous Australians. But as long as diseases like leprosy, TB and blinding trachoma still afflict our people, that fight isn’t over. As we draw towards the 40-year anniversary of the ‘67 referendum on May 27 we want to give politicians an unflinching new mandate, backed by tens of thousands.

Don’t delay - sign the petition for Indigenous health equality now.

With an actionable health plan led by the Australian Medical Association and ample resources at our disposal, we can’t afford to waste any more time. Both the ALP and the Coalition must rise above election squabbling to close the gap. We’re presenting them this bipartisan petition on May 27 to mark the anniversary. Add your name if you haven’t already and share this campaign with friends. Together we’ll stand shoulder-to-shoulder to rise to the challenge of our generation.

www.getup.org.au/campaign/CloseTheGap

Thanks for taking action,

The GetUp team

The Budget

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