G20 Arrestee Solidarity Action

I'm not looking forward to the recommencement of this state/media circus, there are a number of us facing charges in relation to the g2o meeting in Melbourne 06.

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Charges range from Riot, Affray, Criminal Damage amongst many others. This is show trial for the state and the only good pr the victorian poaka are getting at the moment. With 23 of us the committal will drag on for five weeks, with trial in the County Court set for some time next year.

On Monday February 18, 23 people facing charges stemming from the G20 protest in November 2006 will be having the first day of their Committal hearing at Melbourne Magistrate Court.

The Ongoing G20 Arrestee Solidarity Network has called a rally in support of the arrestees. It is vital that we support other activists as they face state repression. In the spirit of solidarity we invite all who are interested to come and support the arrestees, and continue the struggle for a better world.

See you all there!

Where: Melbourne Magistrates Court (cnr of William and Lonsdale st)
When: Monday 18 February, 9:30 am

mail solidarity statements to:
afterg20(*)gmail.com

Related

• http://www.afterg20.org/
• http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/index.php?s=G20

Stealing Children is Genocide

Reg Edwards is comforted by family members after Kevin Rudd's apology on the grounds of Federation Mall

THEY were taken from their parents more than 40 years ago, a group of frightened children from Balranald, NSW, who were bundled into the back of a police car and driven away.

Memories of the "kidnapping", as Mick Edwards refers to it, returned for his family yesterday, as seven of his brothers and sisters gathered to hear the Prime Minister's apology.

Standing on the lawns outside Parliament House clutching a black-and-white photo of her late father, Nugget Edwards, Maria Edwards bowed her head as Kevin Rudd repeated the word "sorry" from a TV screen. Her sister, Alice, held her shoulders.

" 'Bout f…in' time!" yelled Mick, a football coach who has spent his life trying to control his anger about the past and a broken childhood in boys' homes. His brother Reg Edwards, who is a dialysis patient, stood quietly in the crowd — breaking down only later as he looked at a photo of his dead son.

Singer-songwriter Kutcha Edwards said the family came to accept the apology for all their relatives damaged by the removal — including their late mother, Mary, their father and a brother, Wally, who died from alcoholism at the age of 43.

"They went to their graves without hearing it," said an emotional Kutcha, before singing with the musician John Butler.

"We could have been different if we were left alone," said Arthur, the eldest of the Edwards, who remembers the removal clearly, and being interned at Swan Hill police station before being taken to institutions.

"Phone calls were made to social welfare about Mum not looking after us well. That was totally untrue, we were all loved," he said. "We used to walk to school every day on the riverbank holding hands. All of a sudden it wasn't to be.

"They thought they were doing the right thing taking us. They destroyed us."

	The "senior" denialists of Australian history, do not see, nor do they wish to see, the causal chains that begin with the incursions of settlers, the destruction of environments, the "rough work", the genocidal impulses of the squatters, the segregation-protection era of reserves, settlements and missions, the legislation which always proclaimed itself to be for "the physical, mental and social welfare" of the people, the dismissal of Aboriginal values and their evaluation as less than human, the creation of chronic dependency, and the (continuing) practice of institutionalisation, something which even Neville, a pioneer of forced assimilation, for once correctly saw all too clearly - "that coloured races all over the world detest". It is that very premeditated institutionalisation - whether on Christian missions, cattle stations, government settlements and reserves, assimilation homes, dormitories, juvenile facilities and prisons - that helps explain the degradation, disease and premature dying over these past two hundred years. http://blackgst.revolt.org/tatz.html gotta to agree that this 'apology' is sickening white liberalism and political spin at its worse. Justice for Aboriginal First Nations Now. Check out: http://ridwanlaher.blogspot.com/2008/02/sorry-is-not-enough.html http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/74909/index.php Harawira: Saying sorry is not enough

Say Sovereignty not sorry, you genocidal land thieving racists

With all the gubba politics aside, just all the mobs converging in kanberra, together is a beautiful and powerful thing. Robbie Thorpe and mob left the Kulin Nations this arvo and are heading to join the Mob around that Sacred Fire at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

Tutemohuta - Fires burning

Related:

Party Calls for Iwi to Exercise Rangatiratanga
http://uriohau.blogspot.com/2007/06/maori-land-protests-to-go-on-after-13.html

Taame talks Mana-motu-hake @Waitangi 2008

Taame talks Mana-motu-hake @Waitangi 2008

thanks again TinoRangatiratangaTV

Orpheus Day Disrupted by Anti-Colonisation Activists

thanks to:

http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/74892/index.php

The 9th February saw a disgraceful act of colonial glorification by a deep-rooted racist community of locals and backed by ignorant politicians and do-gooders of the Mangere Bridge community and wider Manukau district. Orpheus Day is an event to commemorate the shipwreck of HMS Orpheus, a military ship that was bound for land confiscation, cultural genocide, treaty breaches and the bloody and tragic invasion of the Waikato. This year anti-colonialist Māori, Pākehā and Tau Iwi activists disrupted this event.

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The 9th February saw a disgraceful act of colonial glorification by a deep-rooted racist community of locals and backed by ignorant politicians and do-gooders of the Mangere Bridge community and wider Manukau district. Orpheus Day is an event to commemorate the shipwreck of HMS Orpheus, a military ship that was bound for land confiscation, cultural genocide, treaty breaches and the bloody and tragic invasion of the Waikato. This year anti-colonialist Māori, Pākehā and Tau Iwi activists disrupted this event.

The ‘festival’ had the aim of getting youth involved to celebrate and commemorate the lives lost in the shipwreck of HMS Orpheus. The ‘festival’ was dismal in turnout and offensively ignorant as expected. Like last year, there was no involvement from the local iwi who have been opposed to this event from the beginning.

Starting with a marching band of a paid bagpipe brigade, followed by a contingent of St Johns youth and the local walking club, protesters made a mockery of the event by leading the march with Tino Rangatiratanga flags and a banner with the slogan- ‘Colonisation: The REAL Tragedy’.

Notable characters such as recently appointed mayor or Manukau, Len Brown, Mayor of Waitakere, Bob Harvey and the benefactor of the cannon on whose property it sits, Wynona Stevens, made inappropriate speeches about the great loss incurred by the sinking, rebutted by hecklings and chants from Maori sovereignty activists and Radical Youth. After speeches, men dressed in colonial military regatta fired their guns and raised a New Zealand flag; people hummed along to the Maori version of the national anthem, follower by a hearty chorus of the English version. The public was then invited to proceed down to the festivities across a knoll, where a baking competition, an all female barbershop cortette and more colonial British military gunfire would barely hold the attention of the 20 or so members of the public who considered today’s event relevant or worthwhile.

Commemoration of the Orpheus also involved the firing of a cannon, situated on a Mangere Bridge resident’s front lawn. The half-scale replica of a traditional colonial cannon was due to be fired at 1:30pm after speeches, but protestors stood in front of the cannon preventing it from being let off until most people had left the ‘festival’. This cannon is a symbol colonial destruction and mass murder.

Those involved the organising of the event alleviated the community action funds of all but the remaining matter of dollars for a fizzer of an event- thousands were given to the group organising who claimed at a community board meeting that the event could not go ahead if the money was not granted- the money then went to paying St John to participate and hiring the marching bagpipe brigade as well as hiring a singing cortette.

Pitched as a youth based event to educate and involve the community, the event itself on the day could not have been further from this; the average age being round the 60 year old mark and those youth who did attend were part of a paid contingent or those protesting against the shameful event. No schools were invited to the event and most of the community did not know it was on. It is unlikely to for the event to continue next year due to the disruption from protestors and the poor turnout from the community.

People in the community were told that local iwi had approved the day and indorsed the celebrations- that was not the case and tangata whenua of the region were and still are offend by the notion of firing a cannon to commemorate the loss of what was essentially, a raiding party, here to steal, kill and destroy.

Related

• http://www.conscious.maori.nz
• http://www.radicalyouth.org.nz

Broken Promises

Does The US Honor Its Treaties? What Insights Do The Lakota Have For Hawai`i About The Akaka Bill? Watch & Find Out!

thanks to koanifoundation

http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/

No Justice No Peace-Hone Harawira Talks @ Parihaka 2008

thanks to Tinorangatiratanga TV

Waitangi Day-Kulin Nations 08

In the Kulin Nations, Waitangi day for the whanau started with our tamariki holding our Tino Rangatiratanga flag A beautiful testament to 168 years of our Haapu and its resistance and struggle against colonial rule.

Peoples from all struggles gathered outside the NZ settler consulate on Waitangi Day.

After a welcome from our elder Nan Old (Taranaki), Cheryl (ISJA) read the Aboriginal Trent Embassy Declaration, as peoples resident in Melbourne that support Indigenous struggle we wanted publicly acknowledge and affirm the Sovereignty of Aboriginal Nations in Australia.

Sina read a statement from Te Ata Tino Toa, companera Tia Taurere, "The Tino Rangatiratanga flag symbolises the long tradition of struggle and resistance by Maori against colonisation and the Crown sponsored theft of Maori land and resources. It is a symbol used by Maori who continue to resist the pressures of colonisation and cultural and economic genocide. Such a concept embraces the spiritual link Maori have with 'Papatuanuku' (Earthmother) and is a part of the international drive by indigenous peoples for self determination."

Sina then set about shattering settler fairytales & mythology reminded the whanau gathered, that the Treaty of Waitangi still remains to be honoured 168 years after its signing. The NZ Settler Governments refused to sign the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous peoples and the recent human rights abuses of the peoples of Tuhoe by nga poaka on behalf of the NZ settler state.

Just like the crap served up on here recently on stray alia Day, what is the nz settler state celebrating? We are definitely not celebrating our lack of, Tino Rangatiratanga, Mana Motuhake, Sovereignty or Self Determination. That’s for sure.

Rayna Fahey (Green Party, Radical Mamma, Pakeha Anarchist) then spoke about decolonisation and anti racism, affirming Indigenous rights is about human rights and respect, “ Respect for people and respect for our environment, and what it means to live up to treaty obligations as a settler.

Marisol Salinas (Mapuche, Environmentalist) gave the solidarity of the Mapuche peoples for the Maori struggle for self-determination. The Mapuche are under siege by the Chilean state as they seek to defend heir lands from the greed of multi nationals and corrupt, racist governments.

Nick Chesterfield (Kaurna Nation) a seasoned campaigner for Indigenous rights in the Pacific, notably of late Nick’s mahi with West Papua has been inspiring.

He gave an awesome korero about Aboriginal Sovereignty, Indigenous Unity in the pacific region and the challenges we face as we resist colonisation in the Pacific.

We were then honoured to have the Aboriginal Tent embassy represented by long time freedom fighter Robbie Thorpe (Krautungalung, Gunnai Nation) addressed us. “Land thieving, colonising, genocidal racists,.” This is invasion, and colonisation means for Indigenous peoples. He then reiterated how crucial it is for us to support each other’s struggles in the Pacific. . Robbie gave good serve against the four setter gubbaments and their refusal to affirm Indigenous human rights to Self Determination at an International level. Shame all right.

With a large Australian Federal Police presence Robbie reminded us that in the Pacific Australia and NZ & Amerikka are the biggest colonisers. Sina expanded on the role the AFP has in the Pacific and how the have built up over the past 10 years their presence in the pacific, they are a deployable paramilitary police group, resourced to the hilt. They are as Kevin Carmody sings, “ terrorists dressed in uniforms under the protection of their law”. The use of paramilitary police style repression & humans rights abuses in Tuhoe recently looks like part of an over all picture of state/police repression of Indigenous peoples thorough the Pacific at the movement. Are our human rights the price we have to pay in the Pacific for Settler, Trade & security agreements and arrangements?

With the Mob converging on Kkkanberra for the opening of the Gubbament, Indigenous rights are gaining momentum both here and throughout the Pacific and the world. We are standing up, we are unified; there’s a change in the wind for sure.

Tau Iwi Report of Waitangi Day 08 – Liberators Not Terrorists

On Waitangi Day, thousands of tangata whenua, pakeha and tau iwi marched together in the hikoi to the treaty grounds with Tino Rangatiratanga and Mana Motuhake flags flying behind the Kotahitanga flag. A large contingent from Tuhoe was leading the hikoi, including some of the Urewera 17 activists. Key issues raised during this year’s Waitangi Day were the Resource Management Act, the Foreshore and Seabed legislation and the October 15 "anti-terror” raids.

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On Waitangi Day, thousands of tangata whenua, pakeha and tau iwi marched together in the hikoi to the treaty grounds with Tino Rangatiratanga and Mana Motuhake flags flying behind the Kotahitanga flag. A large contingent from Tuhoe was leading the hikoi, including some of the Urewera 17 activists. Key issues raised during this year’s Waitangi Day were the Resource Management Act, the Foreshore and Seabed legislation and the October 15 “anti-terror” raids.


In the lead up to Waitangi Day, there were public forum discussions on environmental issues, the Resource Management Act and the contested role of runanga in Maori affairs. Comment from the floor questioned the legitimacy of the RMA process, the extent to engage in it, and the fact it is still the state’s agenda. The panel maintained that at least since 1991 there has been this mechanism to input via consultation and the Courts. A First Nations woman from North America spoke passionately about the recent United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and how crucial it is that people utilize the requirement that states seek the “free and informed consent” from indigenous peoples prior to any development

A woman from Ngati Kuri spoke about the struggle to stop the $6.5 million development project at Te Rerenga o nga Wairua (Cape Reinga). A hikoi was planned to leave Waitangi towards Te Rerenga Wairua today against development of sacred Maori land and the devastation on native flora and fauna. www.ngatikuri.tk/ The “Department of Constipation, of Confiscation” plans to build a Visitors center for tourism on this sacred and iconic land. “We will all be locked out of the Cape… tell the stories of our tupuna’s foot steps, our tupuna’s traditions, and the culture before you started marketing our culture and stories to the world. Promises of big spending on the Cape facilities whilst the local village of Te Hapua still suffer and struggle for the derelict buildings, roads, schooling, housing etc. 6.5million dollars could be better spent on the social development of the people of the Far North.”

February 5th, the politicians had their opportunity to electioneer and gain the Maori vote for this year’s election. Five questions were asked to each politician present. 1) Why should Maori vote for them? 2) What are they going to do about the Maori seats? 3) Giving the rising number of other ethnicities, what policies do you wish to introduce to protect Maori rights? 4) Would your party be looking at repealing the Foreshore and Seabed legislation? 5) How does your party’s treaty settlements fully address Maori grievances? All the parties replied with quite typical answers, when they could be heard through the heckling and booing. One staunch woman called them all “capitalist rip off merchants”. John Key’s speech included no practical policies that would benefit Maori but told the crowd, “I’ll tell you what’s best for Maori” – neo-liberal ‘opportunities’, colonial education, training and capitalism. (Yes the rich white man always knows what’s best). The repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed legislation has been pulled out for further discussion this year but National and Labour are adamant in retaining their 2004 position.

On the morning of Waitangi Day, a panel of speakers from Tuhoe including Tame Iti discussed the police raids on October 15 and promoting Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe. “We need to be confronting the issue, it’s not going to go away. The question of Mana Motuhake, the right of Maori to govern themselves in this land is what the Treaty is all about!” said Annette Sykes. The support and fund raising for those affected by the October 15 raids continues. A new CD compilation has been released called “Tu Kotahi – Freedom Fighting Anthems” to fundraise for the organizations involved in supporting the Urewera 17. www.freedomfigherscd.org.nz

Related

• http://www.tuhoe.net/
• http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~the-farm/

Ghetto Moto

Tino Rangatiratanga-Our Song of Freedom

Self Determination Version of Bob Marleys Redemption Song By Majic & Robbie

The Meaning of Tino Rangatiratanga

The word rangatiratanga comes form the word rangatira which is most often translated as chief. Rangatiratanga which refers to chieftainship, approximates to oversight, responsibility, authority, control, sovereignty. It is a word used in the Lord's prayer for kingdom, which is a word very close in meaning to sovereignty. The word tino is an intensive or superlative, meaning variously: very, full, total, absolute. So tino rangatiratanga approximates to total control, complete responsibility, full authority, absolute sovereignty.
The term tino rangatiratanga was used in the Declaration of Independence of 1835 which recognised Nu Tireni (New Zealand) to be a sovereign and independent nation where power and authority rested with the rangatira. The English version of that declaration stated that "all sovereign power and authority resided entirely and exclusively" in the rangatira.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi of 1840 also used the term tino rangatiratanga with the promise that it would be guaranteed to Maori. In the words of the English translation of the Maori version of the Treaty, the Queen agreed to the rangatira and the iwi retaining full chieftainship (tino rangatiratanga) of their lands, their villages and all their taonga including the Maori way of life.

Tour of Oppression: Waitangi Day procession

View of Alexandra Barracks, Mount Cook, Wellington

Press Release: Media Statement

Tour of Oppression: Waitangi Day procession in Wellington From: October 15th Solidarity - Poneke

Members of the October 15th solidarity crew invite you to join on a Waitangi Day procession from Waitangi Park to the Mount Cook Prison Barracks to commemorate victims of Crown violence and acknowledge the continued colonisation of Aotearoa New Zealand. We will also be drawing attention to the continued prosecution of the ‘Urewera 16’ who still face a political trial on charges under the Arms Act. We will be leaving the south west corner of Waitangi Park at 4pm on 6 February. We invite you to bring tino rangatiratanga flags or other appropriate banners and placards.

The area now known as Mount Cook is defined by the hill, Pukeahu, where there was a pa prior to the arrival of the New Zealand Company. Settlers renamed it after Captain James Cook. Mount Cook was the main Armed Constabulary depot from 1869. Between 1882 and 1900 there was a maximum security prison, which became a military barracks circa 1902. As a site for both the Armed Constabulary and the prison, the Mt Cook barracks on Buckle Street was a centre of colonial oppression and occupation.

The October 15th Solidarity crew is a grassroots community group that formed in response to the nation-wide raids. The group has been working on five common points:

-Free the prisoners -Drop the charges -Support Tino Rangatiratanga and Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe -Repeal the Terrorism Suppression Act -Justice for all those raided on October 15th

For more information, check out www.october15thsolidarity.info and www.indymedia.org.nz

ENDS

"Interior of the Alexandra Barracks, Mount Cook, Wellington"
1930

Keetley Expired?

MICK Keelty, the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, protesteth too much

Has federal police boss reached his use-by date?

Sushi Das
January 31, 2008

. And embarrassingly for him, his protests are becoming more preposterous and hysterical.

The most unpalatable element of his accusation this week that journalists have misinformed the public over counter-terrorism cases and undermined the judicial system is his shameless hypocrisy.

And his call for a media commentary blackout on the reporting of these cases until all legal avenues have been exhausted raises the question: on which hilltop does Keelty stand when he makes such demands of Australia's robust democratic institutions?

In Keelty's ideal world there would have been no public scrutiny of the Mohamed Haneef case, which collapsed spectacularly after the AFP and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions made crucial mistakes — mistakes that were revealed by the media. The Indian-born doctor was charged last July with providing a mobile phone SIM card to a terrorist organisation. The charges were later dropped because of lack of evidence.

Let's refresh our memories over key events. There was the incorrect assertion that Haneef's SIM card was found in the exploded jeep at Glasgow airport. This claim was used to support the ongoing detention of Haneef.

First Keelty tried to blame the prosecutors and then he tried to blame the British police for providing wrong information — a mistake the British police say they corrected before Haneef was charged.

The AFP knew the SIM card was not in the jeep when they laid the charges and they knew the prosecutor misinformed the court. The AFP did not immediately correct the mistake. In fact it did not seek to correct information in the public domain until the ABC revealed the SIM card was recovered hundreds of kilometres away in Liverpool — exactly where Haneef had left it. This was followed by Keelty's garbled comments about the SIM card being in "in the vicinity of London" and "still at Glasgow". His subsequent failure to entirely dismiss an Indian "dossier" alleging Haneef had links to al-Qaeda was plain dirty.

When charges against Haneef were finally dropped, Keelty tried to blame the DPP, saying police were obliged to charge Haneef on the prosecutor's advice. The DPP presses charges based on evidence put forward by the police.

Last year Keelty attacked the media for making police investigations difficult and he savaged Haneef's barrister, Stephen Keim, for leaking a transcript of the AFP's interview with Haneef. Everyone's to blame but him.

Then in a speech to the Sydney Institute this week, he attacked media manipulation of public sentiment, acting in the defensive manner of someone who believes he has no case to answer. The AFP has many media spokespeople and they all want to spin the news their way.

At least when Keim gave the transcript to The Australian, he owned up to it. He took responsibility.

But who has taken responsibility for the "secret information" about the case that police claimed could not be divulged — the innuendoes, smears and leaks that look suspiciously like they came from the police themselves?

In calling for the creation of a "society of editors" that police and intelligence chiefs can use to brief the media in an off-the-record forum to set matters straight, Keelty displays that he knows little of the competitive media environment. It would take only one editor to breach the rules, one leak to a blogger, one whisper in the wrong ear.

Keelty's boo-hoo-hoo antics belie the AFP's woeful record on the Haneef case. The cops got clobbered and they know it. Keelty just can't handle it, so he lashes out at the media because there is no one else to blame.

The saddest thing about this whole drama is that Keelty has a reputation for being a good cop. He is respected by many in the force and applauded for the AFP's expert handling of matters after the Bali bombings.

The AFP has done excellent work catching terrorists in conjunction with the Indonesian police. He was unfairly pilloried for stating the plain truth after the Madrid bombing when he said Australia's involvement in Iraq had made the threat of terrorist attacks worse, and he even got slapped down when he said climate change posed a threat to national security.

One might have expected, after heading the AFP since 2001, through some tumultuous times for Australia's crime fighting forces, that he might have been mentioned in this year's Australia Day honours.

Since the AFP failed to remain independent and above politics as Howard government heavies weighed into the Haneef case to exploit popular insecurities, it's hard to see how the AFP under Keelty is going to redefine itself.

And redefine itself it must, to some degree, under the Rudd Government, which has signalled that while it is not about to soften tough counter-terrorism legislation, it will broaden its national security strategy to include a new focus on social policy to build bridges with the Islamic community.

On the domestic terrorism front, things have been going awry for Keelty for some time. But sheeting the blame home to the media, the very same media that his spin doctors seek to manipulate, is unworthy of his office.

If he hasn't already lost it, he is on the precipice of losing the public's trust. Perhaps the time has come for Keelty to hand in his badge.

Sushi Das is a senior writer.

Email: sdas@theage.com.au

Related:

• http://uriohau.blogspot.com/2007/09/presence-of-australian-federal-police.html
• http://uriohau.blogspot.com/2007/09/policing-neighbourhoodaustralias-new_28.html
• http://uriohau.blogspot.com/2007/09/climate-change-biggest-security-risk.html

Striking Workers in New Caledonia Battle the Cops and Bosses

Workers of the USTKE union battle cops and bosses after a union member was fired for theft. The union rejects this accusation, claiming the worker is being victimized. Jef Costello writes:

“Workers at Carsud, the bus transport system for the capital Nouméa and surrounding areas, went on strike over the dismissal of a colleague for gross misconduct. Workers began a general strike, rotating between different regions, on January 9th. Some 200 police were sent against the strikers occupying the buildings at around 2am. Workers picketing the roundabout were attacked with tear gas grenades, rubber bullets and batons. Those who couldn’t get away in time claim to have been beaten in the back of the police vans. Workers responded by throwing stones at police. They overturned and burned two police vans as well as the director’s car.

Clashes continued all night and well into the next morning in what police described as ’scenes of guerilla warfare’. Seven police and two gendarmes reported minor injuries, as did dozens of workers. Up to 63 arrests were made with at least 12 strikers held on remand, mostly for charges of armed assault on police officers and criminal damage and are set to appear before a judge tomorrow (Jan 22nd)... The union has denounced the refusal of the company to negotiate. The high commissioner for the province, one of France’ overseas territories, said after the night’s violence: ‘they are using the tactics of crooks and thugs and I will punish them as such.’”

(Infoshop News, LibCom.org, 01/21/08)