Feature Clip - Muppets

Happy New Year

Clipping an angel’s wings

http://cpt.org/

28 December 2009

HEBRON REFLECTION: Clipping an angel’s wings

by Johann Funk

She is the vision of innocence, peering up into the dull eyes of a soldier towering over her.  She can only be four or five years old.  Black slacks with a green striped short skirt fanning out beneath her short black jacket indicate that she is a kindergarten student.  She strains to hand the backpack, which is half her length, up to the soldier who orders her to stop.  He systematically opens every zipper and plunges his hands into each pocket before handing the backpack back.  It slumps to the ground.  The little girl carefully closes the zippers and with considerable effort slings the backpack onto her back; the young soldier, who has moved on to the next search, has already forgotten her.  She stumbles as she hurries to catch up with her friends.  This encounter is a significant part of her education under the Israeli occupying power, which seeks to clip her fragile wings.

I feel helpless, angry and sad all at once.  What can I do?  I observe, I document, I report but it is not enough, it is never enough to change significantly the severity of the occupation, let alone to end it.  I rationalize that what I do is part of a larger struggle but this answer is never completely satisfying.  My angel at Qitoun Checkpoint is still dehumanized as an enemy, invisible to international geopolitics, despite my feeble efforts.  All I can do is reflect, pray and enter into the suffering God must experience when he sees what is done in his name for the sake of Israeli settlers in Hebron.

avvaz action - Copenhagen

Dear Friends,
With three days to go, the crucial Copenhagen summit is failing.

Tomorrow, the world’s leaders arrive for an unprecedented 60 hours of direct negotiations. Experts agree that without a tidal wave of public pressure for a deal, the summit will not stop catastrophic global warming of 2 degrees.

Click below to sign the petition for a real deal in Copenhagen — the campaign already has a staggering 10 million supporters - let’s make it the largest petition in history in the next 72 hours! Every single name is actually being read out at the summit — sign on at the link below and forward this email to everyone!

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

An Avaaz team is meeting daily with negotiators inside the summit who will organize a spectacular petition delivery to world leaders as they arrive, building a giant wall of boxes of names and reading out the names of every person who signs. With the largest petition in history, leaders will have no doubt that the whole world is watching.

Millions watched the Avaaz vigil inside the summit on TV yesterday, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu told hundreds of delegates and assembled children:

“We marched in Berlin, and the wall fell.
“We marched for South Africa, and apartheid fell.
“We marched at Copenhagen — and we WILL get a Real Deal.”

Copenhagen is seeking the biggest mandate in history to stop the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. History will be made in the next few days. How will our children remember this moment? Let’s tell them we did all we could.

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

With hope,

Ricken, Alice, Ben, Paul, Luis, Iain, Veronique, Graziela, Pascal, Paula, Benjamin, Raj, Raluca, Taren, David, Josh and the whole Avaaz team.

Feature Clip - Singing Silent Monks

Christmas with a Difference

The Urban Seed mob are organising a “Christmas with a Difference” stall in the Bourke St mall over the next 3 Wednesdays from 11:30am. It would be great if you could forward this info around to your networks.

WHAT??? Mostly an information stall with ideas about how to do Christmas gift giving in a way that considers our own
over-consumption, the environment and the poor - ethical gift giving if you like. It will include the TEAR useful gift catalogues, ideas
around having a “buy nothing christmas” as well as environmentally friendly and ethical gifts. Getting into people minds some broader
ideas about Christmas than just buy, buy, buy…

CHRISTMAS CAROLLING: We will also be doing some Christmas Carolling with a difference from 1pm on each of those days - I have attached a
copy of the carols. It would be great to get as many along particularly for the carol singing as possible to get some noise
happening.

WHEN?? from 11:30am on Wed 9, 16 and 23. We will probably aim to finish up about 2:30. Probably set up on cnr Swanston and Bourke
outside Strandbags I think…

HELP!!?? You can help in a couple of ways
- block out 1/2 an hour in your diary to come and hang out and be availabe to chat to people about some of the ideas and spruik a bit or
just be a physical presence…
- at about 1pm we will do some “carolling with a difference” - it would be fantastic to have a good bunch of people to come and sing
along. Please bring your friends, kids, pets… etc. This will draw some attention to the ideas.
- forward this email on to your networks.

Hope you can make it for some fun fun fun!!!

Virginia.

Holy Hardware (Batman!)

Congratulations! Good News! Just Holy Hardware campaign is getting places in ensuring Christian products are not made in exploitative conditions.

Below are words from the public liturgy on Saturday. More>info & to Join the campaign http://www.justholyhardware.org.au/ check the morepraxis flickr pool for more photos

Public Liturgy

Today we gather to celebrate the holyhardware campaign and Australia place in ensuring Christian goods are not made in exploitative conditions. We do here outside a key player in Christian Retail who like us does not want christian products made in slave labour conditions. Surely the practice of our faith should not enslave the poor!

Amazing Grace was written by John Newton a repentant former slave ship captain who became a priest. Newton was also the mentor to William Wilberforce, the great crusader for the British abolition of slavery. You can find books and the movie about the life and faith of these Christian activists in Christian and normal stores.

In late November (2007) the US National Labor Committee (NLC) released a report, Today Workers Bear the Cross, exposing the Association for Christian Retail (ACR) for selling crosses manufactured in a Chinese sweatshop. Here is a case study & some facts.

“The products had to be finished by the 25th [of April] and all of the workers in our department had been working until three o’clock in the morning. We had been working non-stop for just about 16.5 hours. We were making crucifixes…. At 8 am, the morning of the 26th, it seemed as if our heads had just hit the pillows before out coworkers began to call for us to get up and get back to work again. The manager arranged for me to load the boxes for shipment. I, along with everybody else, was busy moving things into the truck. In total, we had close to 300 boxes of crucifixes and other things as well. Everything was so heavy; each box was about 20kg! We were so tired. My shoulders, legs and waist went weak. While we were moving the boxes of crucifixes, one of my coworkers suddenly cried out: “Jesus, take pity on me! I’m going to die of exhaustion.””

The NLC report found that crucifixes are being made at the Junxingye Factory in Dongguan, China, and the conditions were as follows;

▪ Factory employed 300 – 400 women as young as 15

▪ Employees forced to work regular 14 to 15.5 hour shifts a day, seven days a week

▪ When an order is due a shift can be extended up to 25 hours

▪ All overtime in the factory is mandatory and anyone who does not carry out the required overtime loses a full day’s wages

▪ It is common for workers in the factory to work over 100 hours a week, which includes 51 hours of overtime

▪ Workers in the factory are paid as little as 30 cents an hour, just over half the legal minimum wage in China. After fees deducted for room and board, the workers pay can drop to just 11 cents an hour

▪ Workers in the factory are housed in primitive dorm rooms sleeping on narrow double-level metal bunk beds that line the walls. There is no other furniture

▪ The workers get no paid sick leave, no paid maternity leave, no paid holidays and no health insurance, all of which are required under Chinese labour laws.

▪ Anyone who gets sick and misses work in the factory loses two-and-a-half days pay for each day they miss

▪ Workers fear they may be handling toxic chemicals, paints and solvents, whose fumes sting their eyes and skin contact causes rashes, but the factory management refuses to provide even the names of the chemicals, let alone their potential health hazards.

The report states that the ACR has no code of conduct for their members, and no factory monitoring program.

A bible reading from James 5:4

“Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.”

These cries have found the ear of of God and the Church we are part of the response that it should not be so.

In July 2009 The National Council of Churches in Australia officially affirmed the statement “A Fair Trade in Christian Goods” and encouraged its use alongside the “Christian Goods Standard”.

Yesterday (Friday 4/12/2009) Word made public it’s global purchasing policy including it commitment to “not use compulsory or involuntary labour, slavery or debt bondage”.  Also, Word has begun dialogue with the Justice and international mission (JIM) unit to work towards ensuring standards are implemented. The JIM unit is the lead group working on this campaign for the wider church.

I have presented Word’s CEO Craig Moulton with the shirt affirming our shared value that “People are not Equal to Money”

The HolyHardware Campaign to end exploitative condition for christian product policies have been adopted a pickup up in the US. Now with the key retail partners, advocates and churches support - Australian can now lead the way in the next steps of global action. Ensuring the standards are mpliment  by wholesaler and the factories. Thank you to all willing to engage this issue thus far both here now, who have joined with us on past actions and the very many who are signed up as part of the campaign. Thankyou

Let us pray in silence for our part in allowing slave labour and our part in ending it.

The Prohet Micah said. “What does God require of You? Do Justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God. “ Micah 6:8

Amen - please thank the manger and staff inside.

UpperRoom - Christmas

Christmas, Consumption, Sustainable bits and bobs

The upper room project meets the first Monday of each month (6:-8:30pm) to engage with spirituality and justice as struggled with and fought for by the Prophets and Jesus. We meet upstairs in the Shine Café/Bar (74 Kingsway Glen Waverley) with gallery space, discussion corners, opportunity for practical response and pondering space.

We hope the upper room will be

Space to rest/relax with your tribe

Be challenged by the prophetic call of compassion

Connect with heartbeats for living

There will be food, wine and friends plus

Please bring your friends - all are welcome

This month Upper Room -   We have Jonathan Cornford from Mana Gum coming to share some environment/sustainable living ideas. Also, we will have the Everything in Common and Tear gift catalogues, environmental christmas info idea, maybe some share appeal gift tags for asylum seekers you know the usual. (Plus, There could be a buy nothing christmas action to conspire with too.)

Facebook event if your on it

Cya All there.