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

Pacific Islands Bullied by Australian, NZ Trade Officials, Say Experts

By Diane Cordemans

source: Epoch Times

AUCKLAND, N.Z.-Tactics employed by Australia and New Zealand to push Pacific Island countries into signing a free trade agreement are a form of “contemporary colonization,” said academic and respected analyst on Pacific Island affairs, Professor Jane Kelsey at a seminar in Auckland last week.

Pacific Island officials involved in the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) negotiations with Australia and New Zealand are worried that they are being pressured into signing an agreement that they do not fully understand, she said.

PACER is a framework for a free trade deal between Australia, New Zealand, and thirteen Pacific Island nations.

At a Forum Leader’s meeting in Nuie in August 2008, Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean pushed for free trade negotiations (PACER-Plus) to begin at this year’s Pacific Leaders Forum in Cairns. Trade officials were given a mandate to devise a plan for negotiations to begin.

This, experts say, signaled a more aggressive approach.

Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) Coordinator, Maureen Penjueli, and Communications Officer, Westley Morgan, say that Australia and New Zealand are fast tracking the process and ignoring wishes previously expressed by officials in Nuie for Forum Island Countries (FICs) to be well-prepared.

“Academics in the Pacific are predicting that 80 percent of Pacific manufacturing could close down under PACER-Plus,” said PANG last November, “leading to unemployment for thousands of workers.

“Most Pacific countries lack secure social nets, such as state welfare, to assist unemployed workers ... “These expected outcomes of PACER-Plus could leave many Pacific people faced with a bleak future.”

Vanuatu Minister for Internal Affairs, Patrick Crowby, said the issue cannot be fast-tracked if advisory institutions are not set up. “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,” he said to the Vanuatu Post recently.

Australia and New Zealand agreed to fund a Trade Advisory Office which could support national consultations and research, but only if the FICs did not seek funding from other quarters.

Professor Kelsey said the funding is inadequate. “It undermines claims that Australia and New Zealand are genuine about helping the Pacific develop trade policy to meet the regions’ development needs.”

“Those national consultations not only aren’t being funded but if Australia and New Zealand have their way there won’t be the time to do them properly anyway,” she said. “What we have seen, is a whole lot of behind the scenes practices that are highly manipulative.”

The FIC’s do not want to go into negotiations while some of their members are still negotiating other free trade deals-the Economic Partnership Agreement that Fiji and Papua New Guinea are involved in, and the World Trade Organization negotiations that Samoa, Vanuatu, and Tonga are involved with.

New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Murray McCully, announced earlier this month that foreign aid would no longer be directed to “poverty elimination” but linked to trade and economic development and should be compatible with New Zealand’s foreign policy.

This sort of pressure, says Professor Kelsey, places the Pacific Island nations in an even more vulnerable position.

The principal reason for Pacific Island nations participating in free trade negotiations is that they are hopeful that it will lead to the opening of more doors into Australia and New Zealand for temporary migrants. “That is seen as a lifeline,” Kelsey said. “It soaks up unemployment, helps the balance of payment, puts money back into villages and households, as well as potentially creating investors.”

“But until you get to the end of the negotiations, you are not going to know what is on the table, and the promises that you made in the process of those negotiations will be very hard to take off the table if you don’t get what you thought you might, at the end,” Professor Kelsey said.

Despicable treatment during free trade negotiations in the past have taught the Pacific Island nations to tread warily, says Professor Kelsey.

Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga have experienced “unconscionable demands” in their attempt to enter into WTO negotiations-the prospect of unfettered operations by foreign businesses, privatization and big cuts in tariffs that would reduce government revenue, she said.

“To date, only Tonga has agreed to pay that price, although a statement out from Vanuatu suggests that they might actually be getting a bit closer to doing so.”

The Pacific Island Forum’s member states are: Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Since 2006, associate members territories are New Caledonia and French Polynesia. Fiji was suspended on 2 May 2009.

Hikoi ki Tamaki

Yesterday around 10,000 people took to the streets of Auckland to oppose the National-ACT place governance of Auckland under the control of one 'Super City'.

We want the Crown to honour its exisiting agreements with Tangata Whenua.

To create better and more diverse representation in local government
To protect mana whenua rights

To protect the land, sea and people

http://ihiaotearoa.wordpress.com/

http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/77311/index.php

Special thanks to Ngahiwi Apanui for the use of Stand Up for your People & Resistance photography for the images

Solidarity Action Melbourne: Protest compulsory acquisition of Indigenous town camps

Solidarity Action Melbourne: protest compulsory acquisition of Indigenous town camps (more info below)

Jenny Macklin's office

Thursday May 28

11am

149 burgundy st, heidelburg

see you there

PLS pass on

Dear all,

Please consider endorsement of the following statement. Stop theIntervention Collective in Sydney is working with town camp
representatives, including Barbara Shaw from Mt Nancy camp, to build opposition to the federal government's draconian takeover policy.

Pasted below is also a media release from the Intervention RollbackAction Group in Alice Springs and media articles which give more detail of the takeover.

Endorsements are requested from individuals and organisations. Please circulate amongst your networks. Please reply to this address or stoptheintervention@gmail.com before 5pm on Thursday 28th of May to
indicate support.

In Sydney, the statement will be delivered to the federal Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek, at her office, 111-117 Devonshire Street Surry Hills this Friday May 29 at 12:30pm. We will hold a protest at the office and encourage supporters to join us. Protests are also being planned in Alice Springs and around Australia.

in solidarity
Paddy Gibson
Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney
0415800586

Statement Opposing the Commonwealth’s Proposal to Compulsorily Acquire
the Alice Springs Town Camps

We recognise the right of Tangentyere Council and town camp residents to self-determination. Town camp residents have called upon governments to address overcrowding and poverty in their communities over several years. More often than not, their demands have been ignored.

We support the recent decision by the Council to reject the Commonwealth’s proposal that would transfer control of housing and tenancy management to the Northern Territory Government. Representatives from all town camps voted to maintain community control. This is vital because of a long history of neglect and indifference to the needs of Aboriginal people by Northern Territory Housing. People rightly fear eviction and rent-increases that are beyond their capacity to pay. It is critical that Aboriginal people have the power to shape their own destinies.

We condemn Minister Macklin’s proposal for the Commonwealth to compulsorily acquire the town camps of Alice Springs. We call on the Commonwealth to respect the independence of the Tangentyere Council and to act in good faith in all of its negotiations with the Tangentyere Council.

We recognise the long struggle for land by both town camp residents and Aboriginal land holders throughout Australia. We condemn the Federal Government’s policy of withholding funding for desperately needed housing in Aboriginal communities, before Aboriginal people relinquish control of their land.

It is disgraceful that the party who championed the first land rights legislation in Australia is holding impoverished Aboriginal
communities to ransom. This Government has lost its moral compass. We offer our full support to the Tangentyere Council in their struggle.

---------------

Media release *For immediate release 24 May 2009* Media Release

Takeover of Aboriginal Land marks Opening of Reconciliation Week

Today Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin marked the opening of Reconciliation Week by announcing that Alice Springs town camps will be compulsorily acquired. The announcement has been met with outrage by town camp residents. The move comes after Tangentyere Council, acting on behalf of town camp residents, rejected a 40 year lease deal which precluded all Aboriginal control and management of camp housing which would put decision-making and resources into the hands of
Territory Housing.

The community housing model proposed by Tangentyere Council and the ability of residents to have input into housing management has been flatly rejected by the government. The community housing model was to be run by the Central Australian Affordable Housing Company, which Minister Macklin helped establish in March last year but has now been
rejected in favour of a government takeover.

Residents represented by Tangentyere are opposed to Territory Housing management of the camps due to the high rate of evictions and predicted rent increases under government management. Many Aboriginal people who have been former residents of NT Housing, have already experienced evictions, with the most common reasons being for cooking
kangaroo tail in the backyard or for having relatives from the bush visit. People are concerned they will have nowhere to go if evicted from town camps under Territory Housing, which already has a three year waiting list for new occupancy.

“This is an appalling decision by the federal government. It marks the start of a takeover for all Aboriginal communities who reject government leases. If the government were genuine about consultation with communities it would not be blackmailing people with long-term leases and the threat of compulsory acquisition” said Hilary Tyler from the Intervention Rollback Action Group in Alice Springs.

“You can’t take someone’s land without free, prior and informed consent. It is very hypocritical of the Government to endorse the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples when the Intervention contravenes at least 26 articles. By keeping the Racial Discrimination Act (1975) in place it goes to show the Government of Australia is in fact racist.” says Barbara Shaw from Mt Nancy town camp.

A rally of town camp residents targeting both the NT government and federal government over its announcement of outstation closures and the compulsory acquisition of Alice Springs towncamps will take place later this week in Alice Springs.

Contact: Barb Shaw on 0401 291 166, Hilary Tyler on 0419 244 012 or
Lauren Mellor on 0413 534 125

Or visit www.rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com

----------
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/25/2579858.htm?section=justin

Town camps takeover illegal: lawyer

The Commonwealth's threat to compulsorily acquire Aboriginal town camps in Alice Springs breaches international law, a prominent lawyer says.

The Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, says "the time for negotiation is over" after the Tangentyere Council rejected a $100 million Government bid to lease the camps for 40 years in exchange for new infrastructure development.

There are up to 3000 Aboriginal people living in the 18 town camps, with 188 houses and 72 tin sheds accommodating them.

Ms Macklin has given the council an ultimatum: sign the lease by July 5 or have the town camps compulsorily acquired.

"There is a period of notice of just over a month and during that notice period Tangentyere can reconsider their position, come back to the table," she said.

But lawyer George Newhouse, who is representing several town camp residents over a separate matter, says the forced resumption of leases would go against the Government's commitments to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

"The Government can correct poverty without resuming people's land," he said.

"There is no other group or people in this country that has to give up their land to get basic government services.

"You don't have to give up your land to get an education. You don't have to give up your land to get social services. You don't have to give up your land to get basic healthcare."

Mr Newhouse has warned forced acquisition will have a massive impact on the Budget. "This action is going to cost the Government hundreds of millions of dollars.

"The Government's been talking about paying rent to Indigenous land owners or lease owners, but since the Warrigal case, the Government's going to be required to pay just terms compensation.

"And that's more than just rent and it's more than just the unimproved land value."