TELL TRIUMPH THAT FASHION REQUIRES FREEDOM: REINSTATE THAI UNION PRESIDENT NOW!
August 27, 2008
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Body Fashion Thailand, a subsidiary of Triumph International, has fired a union leader for wearing a political t-shirt. Thousands of workers are protesting her unjust dismissal.
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Take action now. Go to
http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/08-08-25.html#action
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On July 30, 2008, a Thai subsidiary of Triumph International, one of the world’s largest makers of intimate apparel, dismissed union president Jitra Kotshadej for wearing an unfashionable t-shirt. She wasn’t wearing the t-shirt at work, and it wasn’t the colour or the design of the t-shirt that caused offence. It was the message that caused the problem:
‘Those who do not stand are not criminals. Thinking differently is not a crime.’ The t-shirt refers to the abuse of lèse-majesté legislation to suppress political opposition and the right of people to refrain from standing during the royal anthem.
Work Justice advocates to be whipped - your help needed
August 25, 2008
Message from LabourStart:
Sousan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi, have been sentenced to jail terms and whipping for the “crime” of having participated in a May Day demonstration this year. [Read more]
Control Arms - Action & Game
August 25, 2008
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Peacemaking - a way to get involved
August 17, 2008
| September 5, 2008 | ||
| 6:00 pm |
About Talisman Sabre 09
In June 2007, 30,000 Australian and US troops descended on Shoalwater Bay on the central Queensland coast for a series of live-fire exercises including bombings and invasion tactics. They’re planning to do it all again in July 2009. At the same time, a new coal port has been proposed for an area inside the the Shoalwater Bay Training Area.
This is an invitation for you to be involved in planning to stop the Talisman Sabre military exercises in July 2009.
The Melbourne Peace Convergence Collective met recently to talk about what needs to be done between now and July 09 in order to make these exercises less likely to happen. We established two groups:
1. Movement building: This group decided to focus their attention and energy on getting as many people involved in protesting the military exercises as possible. This will primarily be done through education, public meetings, research and organisation. It would also involve liasing and networking with other peace groups to build a national movement to stop the Talisman Sabre exercises which fuel further wars of aggression, align us with US foreign policy, and are destructive to Australia’s ecology and national interest.
2. Strategic Direct Action: The direct action group decided to focus on training and equipping as many people as possible to be as disruptive as possible for as long as possible should all other attempts to stop the exercises fail. This will require both those who are willing risk arrest for nonviolent direct action, and significant support crew (people who can do media, legals, driving, logistics, etc). Ideally we would like this to be a nationally co-ordinated effort with people from every state.
We would therefore like YOU to join us on:
Friday September 5th at 6pm (bring some food to share) at 116 Little Bourke Street (Urban Seed), where both groups will meet to make further plans.
These are likely to be monthly meetings so if you can’t make this one, plan to be at the next one. Please forward this invitation on to anyone you think might be interested.
Even if you’re not planning to go to Shoalwater Bay in July 09, you’re welcome to be part of the planning and organisation process. We will need people in Melbourne involved as well.
For more information on the Talisman Sabre military exercises, go to http://www.peaceconvergence.com.
For questions etc email Kristy at kmhen7@gmail.com or Simon at smoyle@gmail.com, or just come along and find out more on the night.
Climate change hits the poor hardest.
August 14, 2008
The developed world has created the problem but the developing countries will feel the heat of climate change the most!
Everyone has heard about climate change but what is it really? What can we do about it? How can we take responsibility so that the impact will not be the hardest on those least able to cope?
This month JustAct looks at the Garnaut report and how the Make Poverty History campaign is responding to the climate crisis.
Check out how you can make a difference at www.justact.org.au
Antony and Tess [Read more]
ACF - Campaign to stop proposed uranium sales to Russia
August 14, 2008
Why would Australia sell uranium to Russia - a country that fails to comply with their nuclear disarmament obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty and has the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons?
Get informed on this issue and participate in this on-line campaign by sending an e Card to the Ministerfor Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith to reject a proposed treaty for sale of Australian uranium to Putin’s Russia, add your own views and ask the Minister to response to you – or Phone the Minister’s offices in Canberra Tel: (02) 6277 7500 and in Perth Tel: (08) 9272 3411.
Go to: http://www.acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=1880
ACF believes this flawed treaty will unacceptably weaken Australia’s policy and practice on nuclear safeguards, compromise our efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons and make Australia complicit in serious failures of the Russian state – where the rule of law, democratic values and human rights are not being observed. Read ACF’s Policy Brief on the Russian nuclear treaty.
The treaty was proposed and signed by then prime minister John Howard and Russian President Vladimir Putin at APEC in Sydney in 2007 and has been sent to a federal Parliamentary Inquiry by the new Labor federal government. This Inquiry may report back from mid-September and then Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith will decide Australia’s position.
Australia should not sell uranium to nuclear weapon states – like Russia – that fail to comply with their nuclear disarmament obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Russia maintains the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and is developing new weapons delivery systems.
This nuclear treaty would jeopardise the aims of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s new International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament to rid the world of nuclear weapons and would make the world less safe and more insecure.
Nuclear security risks far outweigh any claims for a nuclear expansion – see the ACF Policy Brief Reject the dangerous nuclear industry.
ACF is working with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW). For Australia to properly act on our international responsibilities and to take up a leadership role for the abolition of all nuclear weapons must involve the phase out of nuclear power and of Australia’s uranium mining and exports for the realisation of a nuclear free world.
In 2006 ACF and MAPW prepared a major report An Illusion of Protection: the unavoidable limitations of safeguards on nuclear materials and the export of uranium to China on the limitations of safeguards for the proposed export of Australian uranium. This critique applies equally to the proposed nuclear treaty for uranium sales to Russia which is based on the same set of inadequate Australian and International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
“The contemporary nuclear threat is a key medical and public health issue with Australia priming the pump through irresponsible uranium exports,” said Associate Professor Tilman Ruff, President of MAPW.
David Noonan
Nuclear Free Campaigner
Australian Conservation Foundation
Level 1, 157 Franklin St, ADELAIDE SA 5000, Australia
Ph 08 8211 6838
d.noonan@acfonline.org.au
www.acfonline.org.au
GetUp - Sevens Deadly Sins
August 12, 2008
Freedom of speech is alive and well in Australia, right? We thought so - until this weekend.
The Australian said it best yesterday: “Nothing has sucked the air from the lungs as much as Seven’s decision to drop an advertisement by GetUp… In a democracy, where freedom of speech is a given, Seven’s craven self-censoring efforts represent a gold-medal act of moral cowardice.”*
Ordinary Australians donated to put an ad to air featuring a Tibetan women asking the Prime Minister to raise the issue of Tibet when in China. The ad was booked, paid for and confirmed to air on either side of the Opening Ceremony - but it never showed.
In the Olympic spirit of fairness, we want to give Seven a chance to show they do support freedom of speech - by showing another GetUp Tibet ad during the closing ceremony. Click here to donate the funds needed to produce a brand new ad - now that the PM has left Beijing - that we will ask Seven to show during the closing ceremony:
www.getup.org.au/campaign/SevensDeadlySin
The Seven Network are having trouble sticking to a consistent story - first they denied GetUp had booked any ads at all, then, once we produced the confirmed booking sheets, claimed we’d booked another ad unrelated to Tibet. Now they’re claiming the ads weren’t shown due to time constraints. They’ve even accused GetUp of engineering this deliberately - check out evidence on our site that proves otherwise.
We have a great chance while the world’s eyes are on China to advance the cause of human rights - and Seven has a great chance to set the record straight on the issue of censorship, by allowing us to air another ad reinforcing the idea that once the Olympics finish the human rights issues remain. You can help make a stand by donating towards its production - and we’ll buy spots to air it on the other networks too:
www.getup.org.au/campaign/SevensDeadlySin
If we don’t speak out when one of the nation’s largest broadcasters puts its business interests before freedom of speech, we start down a slippery slope. Sometimes the human rights we thought existed as a given in Australia won’t be respected without our insistence on it.
Thanks for being a part of the solution,
The GetUp team
PS - Last night the ABC’s Media Watch featured the sad story of the censored GetUp ad - you can watch it here.
*’Seven at home in a moral pollution‘ The Australian, 11 August 2008
HIROSHIMA DAY RALLY FOR PEACE AND A NUCLEAR FREE FUTURE
August 5, 2008
| August 9, 2008 | ||
| 1:00 pm |
Saturday August 9 th
1pm
State Library
NO URANIUM MINING
NO WAR, NUCLEAR WEAPONS
NO NUCLEAR WASTE DUMPS
More info about whats going on here http://www.nukefreeaus.org/
Micah Challenge - Offering Letters
August 4, 2008
An Offering of Letters
Micah Challenge is calling Christians all over Australia to pick up their pens to fight poverty. The “Offering of Letters” campaign asks churches and other Christian groups to prayerfully write a letter to the Prime Minister calling for compassion, generosity and justice for 1.2 billion people who live in extreme poverty. The letters will be delivered to Mr Rudd during the Micah Challenge National Gathering, Voices for Justice, in October.
In 2006, more than 1300 letters were sent to local MPs and they had a big impact. This year, we are encouraging Christians to write to the Prime Minister urging him to turn his words of support for the Millennium Development Goals into tangible action. It should take about 15 minutes to construct a hand-written letter letting him know that Christians care about poverty and injustice.
“The Offering of Letters can have a powerful and positive impact”, said Micah Challenge National Coordinator, Amanda Jackson. “We want every church, home group, theological college and school in Australia to be involved”.
The Chair of the Micah Challenge Steering Committee, Rev Paul Perini, is also urging Christians to make an Offering of Letters. “We can help save lives and offer hope to thousands of families if we take the time to write letters. I think God would want us to act”, he said.
The Offering of Letters kit for 2008 can be downloaded now at www.micahchallenge.org.au . It includes all the information you need to write a letter to the Prime Minister, as well as a sample letter and responsive prayer you can use with your group. You can also download a PowerPoint presentation that can be utilised to explain the campaign.
“Just as we offer our money and our time to God, we can also offer our voices on behalf of the voiceless” said Amanda Jackson. “This is part of our worship, and gives us the opportunity to ‘do justice and love kindness’ and take up the challenge of Micah 6:8”.
Join the celebrations
July 31, 2008
After campaigning with others on refugee and asylum seeker issues since 2001, TEAR, UCA, RAC, GetUp and all the rest can join the celebrations.
(Ben’s take from the tear network below)
The Immigration Minister has proposed changes to make detention of aslyum-seekers a last resort and put in place clear boundaries so that it cannot be indefinite and unreviewable.
Asylum seekers coming by boat to one of the places that the previous Government excised from Australia’s migration zone will now also have access to assistance and review of their cases – rights the former
policy stripped them of.
We are very supportive of the Government’s proposed changes. We hope and pray that we will never again see people (including many children) locked up for years, with all the associated mental and physical harm,
while they seek protection in Australia.
A new, humane policy
The Government has decided to take a risk-based approach to deciding whether an asylum seeker should be detained or not. If a person poses no danger to the community, they will be allowed to remain in the
community until their status is determined.
You can read the Minister for Immigration’s entire speech here
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/speeches/2008/ce080729.htm
The Minister outlines the values that will inform the new policy as well as some of the practical details.
Children will not be detained in an immigration detention centre. People who arrive by boat at excised places, which include Christmas Island and Ashmore Reef, will be detained soley for health, identity and security checks. People who arrive by boat at excised places will now have access to legal assistance and an independent review of unfavourable decisions. Only people who pose a risk to the community or who have repeatedly refused to comply with their visa conditions will be detained. Once in detention, a detainee’s case will be reviewed every three months to ensure that further detention is justified.
Thank the Immigration Minister
Send an email now
Senator.Evans@aph.gov.au
thanking the Immigration Minister for these changes. Ask him to
make these policy changes law so that no future Government can return
to detaining children, or keeping people in detention indefinitely and
without review.
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