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Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Green Left Weekly Activist Calendar 2013-10-23


	Green Left Weekly Activist Calendar

	October 23, 2013

Conference: Stand up! Fight back! Ideas to challenge Abbott's agenda

Saturday, November 2. Plenary & workshop topics: Workers, refugees, the environment: In the firing line but fighting back * What kind of feminism are we fighting for? * Beyond market solutions: Fighting for environmental justice * Towards a socialist Australia * No justice, No peace: Uniting to fight racism.Click for detailed agenda. 10am-5pm. Maritime Union of Australia Hall, 46-54 Ireland Street, North Melbourne (5 minute walk from North Melbourne Station). Full day: $15/$8 (Includes morning & afternoon tea); half day: $7/$4 (includes morning or afternoon tea) . Lunch available. Organised by Socialist Alliance. For more info ph 9639 8622.

This is the regular Melbourne activist calendar compiled by Green Left Weekly. Emailed to subscribers each Wednesday fortnight, it is a one-stop listing of the main left and progressive events in Melbourne and Geelong.

Since it began in early 1991, Green Left Weekly has offered an indispensable alternative to the lies of the big-business media and has helped build the various movements for social change. To subscribe toGreen Left Weekly, visit our secure online website for rates and payment or call our national hotline on 1800 634 206.

You can also contact us at the Resistance Centre, 5th floor, 407 Swanston St, City; ph 9639 8622. In Geelong we are at the Activist Centre, Trades Hall, 127 Myers St (opening hours: Mon 2-4:30pm, Fri 10am-4:30pm); ph 5222 6900.

New email address? Not already receiving this calendar regularly? Want to subscribe someone else? Let us know at Greenleft Melbourne.

Wednesday, October 23

Public meeting: Action on air pollution in the Inner West. 21,000 trucks travel inner West streets every day, through Yarraville, Seddon, Footscray, and Kingsville. Diesel trains are also prevalent & set to increase. Find out what diesel pollution means for your health and what we can do to clean up our air. Speakers: 1. Merryn Redenbach (Doctors for the Environment); Richard Di Natale (Greens senator & public health specialist); Samantha McArthur (Maribyrnong Truck Action Group); Colleen Hartland (Greens MP). 6:30pm. Acqua E Vino bar-restaurant, upstairs, 18a Ballarat St, Yarraville.

Friday, October 25

Memorial meeting for Doug Lorimer. Commemorating the life of a longtime socialist who died earlier this year. 6:30pm (for 7pm start). Upstairs, Bar Centrale, 162 Lygon St, Carlton.

Fundraiser: Rock for Refugees. This will be a very special night of music, dancing, sharing stories and most of all information about how you can get involved with grassroots refugee struggles. Featuring: New dub city; Flybz; Birdz. 7:30pm. Bar 303, 303 High St, Northcote. $8/$10 (solidarity). This is a fundraiser for RISE (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees).

Saturday, October 26

Rally: Defend the Fertility Control Clinic. The anti-abortionists '40 Days for Life' continues until November 3, and the Fertility Control Clinic is its chief Melbourne target. October 26 is also the anti-abortion zealots' monthly 'Rosary Parade'. In September, the prospect of a large defence scared them away. 9:30 am. 118 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne.

Sunday, October 27

Planning meeting: Stop the theft of public housing. Planning meeting and workshop for the November 9 'Stop the theft of public housing' street meeting at the State Library.1-4pm. Jika Jika Community Centre, cnr Plant & Union Sts, Northcote.

Monday, October 28

Planning meeting: Stop the East-West Tunnel: Recruiting other groups to the campaign.6pm. Elderly Citizenship Centre, Eddy Court, Collingwood. (Melway ref: 2C, 10H) Adjacent to Collingwood Station. Sponsored by VITAL (Victorian Integrated Transport Alliance). Please RSVP to Freda Watkin, Secretary, Yarra Campaign for Action on Transport (YCAT) on 0422 650 936 or emailFreda.

Tuesday, October 29

Conscience on Collins: 'I have a dream . . .' In honour of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous speech, Collins Street Baptist Church and Urban Seed have invited the speakers to share their dream for this city and society: Adam Bandt (Greens federal MP); Jessie Taylor (barrister & refugee advocate); Bob Maguire (‘Larrikin priest’ & social activist). $5/$10 (in support of Urban Seed).6pm. Baptist Church, 174 Collins St , City.

Public meeting: Australia & the nuclear umbrella: absurd, immoral & reckless. Speaker: Richard Tanter (Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability). Dyason House, 124 Jolimont Rd, East Melbourne. 6pm. For more information visit AIIN.

Wednesday, October 30

Rally: Abbott get your hands off our education and student unions. Student action against Abbott and Pyne’s ‘inquiry’ into higher education. We will assemble at Parliament House and then march to the Liberal Party HQ on Exhibition St. Stand up and fight back for your right to a fair and equal tertiary education. 12:30pm. Parliament, Spring St, City.

Friday, November 1

Film screening: Fallout. Documentary that explores the iconic filming of Nevil Shute's novel On The Beach in Melbourne in the late 1950s. Shute’s novel depicts the last huddle of humanity preparing to die as a cloud of nuclear fallout drifts towards Australia. 6:30pm. Cinema Nova, 380 Lygon St, Carlton. Presented by ICAN (International Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons). For more info visit ICAN.

Saturday, November 2

Conference: Stand up! Fight back! Ideas to challenge Abbott's agenda. Plenary & workshop topics on: Workers, refugees, the environment: In the firing line but fighting back * What kind of feminism are we fighting for? * Beyond market solutions: Fighting for environmental justice * Towards a socialist Australia * No justice, No peace: Uniting to fight racism. Click for detailed agenda. 10am-5pm. Maritime Union of Australia Hall, 46-54 Ireland St, North Melbourne (5-minute walk from North Melbourne Station). Full day: $15/$8 (includes morning & afternoon tea); half day: $7/$4 (includes morning or afternoon tea) . Lunch available. Organised by Socialist Alliance. For more info ph 9639 8622.

Sunday, November 3

Film screening: Mary Meets Mohammad. Tasmania’s first detention centre opens and local knitting club member Mary, a staunchly Christian pensioner, is not welcoming of the 400 male asylum seekers mostly from Afghanistan. Mohammad is a 26 year old Muslim asylum seeker detained inside the centre and an unlikely friendship develops between Mary and Mohammad after her knitting club donates woollen beanies to the asylum seekers. Mary finds many of her prior beliefs are challenged as her relationship with Mohammad deepens. 6:30pm. Premiere + filmmaker Q & A. (Then sessions twice day from November 7-13.) Kino Cinema, 45 Collins St, City. To book ph 9650 2100 or visit Mary meets Mohammad.

Wednesday, November 6

Public meeting: Workers power and international action. AAWL co-ordinator Pier Moro reports on his recent visit to India and the struggles of car workers at Maruti Suzuki. 6pm. Evatt Room, Trades Hall. Organised by Australia Asia Worker Links.

Thursday, November 7

Rally: Defend women's birthing rights. In defence of women's right to choose where and how to give birth — a core reproductive right. In Australia and around the world, women are denied this choice: women who assert this right and midwives who support them are threatened and punished with severe legal penalties. 10am. Women's Hospital, cnr Grattan St & Flemington Rd, Parkville. Organised by Campaign for Women's Reproductive Rights.

Saturday, November 9

Street meeting: Stop the theft of public housing. Both major parties want to privatise public housing, that is part of the National Affordable Housing Agreement of 2009 to which all states have signed up. But Australia has a housing crisis and public housing is a large part of the solution to that. The privatisation madness must stop. 1pm. Gather underneath statue of St Joan in front of the State Library, Swanston St.

Protest: No coal port for Victoria, no port expansion for Hastings. Brown coal export ports have been proposed for Hastings, the Ninety Mile Beach and Corner Inlet. Gippsland communities concerned with the same threat will attend this action. It is supported by Quit Coal. 2pm. Fred Smith Reserve, Hastings foreshore. For more info visit WPPC

Public meeting: Trade unionist refugee activist strategy meeting. The aim of this meeting is to discuss how to build more effective networks between unionists and refugee activists in order to build greater support for the refugee campaign. Speakers: Kevin Bracken (MUA Victorian branch secretary); Jeannie Rea (NTEU national president). 1pm. ANF house, 540 Elizabeth St, City. Organised by Refugee Action Collective.

Tuesday, November 12

Public meeting: 17,300 nuclear weapons. Screening Maralinga Pieces, Genie in a bottle: Unleashedand The War Game. Speakers: Dimity Hawkins, Tim Wright (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) and Gisela Gardener. 7pm. Longplay Bar and Cinema, 318 St Georges Rd, North Fitzroy. Hosted by the ACE Collective.

Sunday, November 17

Rally: National day of climate action. 11am. Treasury Place, City. Organised by GetUp. For more info visit GetUp.

Monday, November 18

Rally: Canberra convergence to demand a fair go for refugees & asylum seekers. It's time to tell our parliamentarians to stop violating human rights and adopt compassionate policies that protect asylum seekers. Parliament House, Canberra. To join the bus from Melbourne, emailtrconcepts@netspace.net.au or ph 0409 252 673. Organised by Refugee Action Network.

Friday, November 22

Rod Quantock: Forty-five and counting. A walk down Memory Tollway (Rod remembers when it was a Lane) as Australia’s most seriously funny comedian reveals the things that have made him laugh for the last 45 years and sets a course for the next 45. Doors open 7pm (for 7:30pm start). To book visitTicketek.

Saturday, November 23

Rally: Equal marriage rights now. 1pm. State Library, 328 Swanston St, City.

Tuesday, November 26

Public meeting: Muckaty & radioactive waste. Screening Muckaty Voices and Into Eternity.Speaker: Dave Sweeney (Australian Conservation Foundation). 7pm. Longplay Bar and Cinema, 318 St Georges Rd, North Fitzroy. Hosted by the ACE Collective.

Friday, December 13-Sunday, December 15

Conference: How to make a revolution. Ideas for socialist youth. For young people across Australia and the world, these are difficult times. The newly elected Coalition led by the bigot Tony Abbott is rolling out a wave of cuts and attacks against young people, students, the LGBTIQ community, women, indigenous people, workers and refugees, while around the world governments and the ruling elite attempt to hold onto power against a rising tide of furious and marginalised young people.This is a conference to help young people who are ready and willing to challenge the system to develop a political understanding of the oppressive system we live under and a clear analysis of how to change it. Brisbane Activist Centre, 74b Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley. Organ ised by Resistance & Socialist Alliance. For more info ph 9639 8622.

Thursday, October 31

Warragul Public meeting: CSG information night. Speakers include: Mark Ogge (Australia Institute). 7pm. Warragul Community House, 138 Normanby St, Warragul. For more info ph Cathy or Judy on 5623 6032.

Saturday, November 9

Benalla Public meeting: Stop the boats, burn the boats or welcome the boats? Speakers: Julian Burnside & Pamela Curr (Asylum Seeker Resource Centre). This public forum will discuss the current political and social implications of seeking asylum in Australia and ways in which we might respond to the need for safe refuge in Australia. 6pm. FCJ College, Wedge St, Benalla.

Beyond Zero Emissions Melbourne branch. We meet on the third Monday of every month at Level 2, Kindness House, 288 Brunswick St, Fitzroy. For more info email Chitra Perez or ph 0401 087 085.

Friends of the Earth's Anti-Nuclear & Clean Energy (ACE) collective. Meets every second Tuesday. FoE office, 312 Smith St, Collingwood. For meeting times & more info email Zin.

Indigenous Social Justice Association. The Indigenous Social Justice Association was established in January 2005 campaigns to permanently stop Aboriginal deaths in custody. During 2013, ISJA will meet the first Thursday of every month. For more info visit ISJA.

Melbourne Feminist Action Group. It's time to put women's rights back on the public agenda. We've started an open organising group and everyone's invited, from already existing women's rights groups and activist organisations, to women and men who may never have been involved in feminist action in their lives but just want to do something. For more info ph 0438 869 790 or email us.

Quit Coal: No New Coal Power for Victoria. A Melbourne-based collective which campaigns against expansion of the coal industry in Victoria. We believe this is important because building new coal infrastructure locks in decades of dirty, old technology, when we should be moving towards clean, renewable energy. Quit Coal meets each Wednesday at 6pm, at FOE, 312 Smith St, Collingwood. For more info visit Quit Coal or email us.

Refugee Action Collective. Established in 2000, RAC is a democratic, grassroots activist collective, representing a broad cross section of the community. It aims to mobilise opposition to Australia's inhuman refugee policies. For more info ph 0413 377 978 or visit RAC.

Victorian Climate Action Calendar. For a comprehensive list of climate action events in our state. To subscribe to the calendar email Monique Decortis. Weekly updates are e-mailed out and online updates are available at VCAC. To add an event to the calendar, please download the Event Template from the website. Feel free to forward the VCAC to other interested people.

Workers Solidarity Network. WSN believes that we, as workers, have the power to improve our working conditions and bring about positive social change. WSN believes that the only way to bring about a fairer share of resources in our society in by forming active unions and community organisations to fight for it. For more info visit WSN.

Yarra Campaign for Action on Transport: Stop the East-West Link – Support Doncaster Rail. For all information on the campaign against the East-West Tunnel (pickets, meetings, info) visit YCAT.

Sunday, 3 February 2013

Right me a river ... rivers as legal entities

Picture from here

My friend Denis over at The Nature of Robertson has just sent me the following. I find it mind-boggling in the Australian context. Would Australians ever let this happen here? I certainly think it needs consideration.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Your Honour, I appear for the Whanganui River” A river gets legal standing …

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2012/09/13/your-honor-i-appear-for-the-whanganui-river-a-river-gets-legal-standing/

I am not a Lawyer - but this might be a ground-breaking precedent.
Others can judge that, but it is worth considering.

Imagine the Murray Darling River taking Tony Burke to Court?

Denis Wilson

******************************

Bob Gosford | Sep 13, 2012 6:36AM | EMAIL | PRINT

A tribunal in New Zealand has recognised – perhaps for the first time in legal history – that a river has personality sufficient to allow it to be heard in a court of law.

As Kate Shuttleworth reported in the New Zealand Herald recently:

The Whanganui River will become an legal entity and have a legal voice under a preliminary agreement signed between Whanganui River iwi and the Crown tonight. This is the first time a river has been given a legal identity. A spokesman for the Minister of Treaty Negotiations said Whanganui River will be recognised as a person when it comes to the law – “in the same way a company is, which will give it rights and interests” … Under the agreement the river is given legal status under the name Te Awa Tupua – two guardians, one from the Crown and one from a Whanganui River iwi, will be given the role of protecting the river.

Saturday, 25 August 2012

Can governments stand against corporate human rights abuse and environmental damage?

Picture from here

AUSTRALIAN CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY NOW!

Oil giant Shell announces bid to drill off Ningaloo Reef

'No guarantee" shell won't damage Ningaloo Reef

Shell Oil exploration threatens one of the world's great wonders

Oil for lives? When governments help bad corporations

The East Timor - Nigeria Exchange to Study the Environmental and Social Effects of Petroleum Development -FINAL REPORT

Montara Oil Spill

Obama Admininstration Backs Shell in Supreme Court Case

by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog

August 24th, 2012

Project Underground poster on Shell

The Obama administration is backing Shell Oil after abruptly changing sides in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that could make it even more difficult for survivors of human rights abuses overseas to sue multinational corporations in federal courts. The case will be heard on October 1.

Lawyers at EarthRights International, a Washington-based human rights law nonprofit, say they suspect that a new legal submission - which was signed only by the U.S. Justice Department - reflects tensions inside the government on how to deal with multinational corporations doing business in the U.S. Significantly, neither the State nor the Commerce Department signed on to the brief, despite their key roles in the case.

"It was shocking," Jonathan Kaufman EarthRights legal policy coordinator commented to Reuters. "The brief was largely unexpected, based on what they had filed previously, and pretty breathtaking."

At issue is the Alien Torts Claim Act (ATCA) - an 18th century U.S. law originally designed to combat piracy on the high seas - that has been used during the last 30 years as a vehicle to bring international law violations cases to U.S. federal courts.

Lawyers began using ATCA as a tool in human rights litigation in 1979, when thefamily of 17-year-old Joel Filartiga, who was tortured and killed in Paraguay, sued the Paraguayan police chief responsible. Filartiga v. Peña-Irala set a precedent for U.S. federal courts to punish non-U.S. citizens for acts committed outside the U.S. that violate international law or treaties to which the U.S. is a party. ATCA has brought almost 100 cases of international (often state-sanctioned) torture, rape and murder to U.S. federal courts to date.

In recent years, a number of ATCA lawsuits have also been filed against multinationals which has angered the business lobby. “Expansion of this problem into the international arena via ATCA promises nothing but trouble for U.S. economic and foreign policy interests worldwide,” wrote John Howard, vice president of international policy and programs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “U.S. national interests require that we not allow the continuing misapplication of this 18th century statute to 21st century problems by the latter day pirates of the plaintiffs' bar.”

No plaintiff against a corporation has won on ATCA grounds, although some have settled or plea bargained. In 1996 Doe v. Unocal, a lawsuit filed by ethnic Karen farmers against Unocal (now owned by Chevron) set a new precedent when a U.S. federal court ruled that corporations and their executive officers could be held legally responsible for crimes against humanity. Unocal contracted with the Burmese military dictatorship to provide security for a natural gas pipeline project on the border of Thailand and Burma. The suit accused Unocal of complicity in murder, rape and forcing locals to work for Unocal for free. Shortly before the jury trial was set to begin in 2005, Unocal settled with the plaintiffs by paying an undisclosed sum, marking the first time a corporation settled in any way a case based on the ATCA.

Another such case was filed against Chiquita, the global banana producer, by surviving victims of brutal massacres waged by right-wing paramilitary squads in Colombia. The paramilitary, who killed thousands of civilians during Colombia’s dirty war of the 1980s and 1990s, were on Chiquita’s payroll in the 1990s. Now-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder defended Chiquita in the case and won a plea bargain for them of $25 million and five years of probation.

Holder isn’t the only Justice Department staffer who defended a corporation in an ATCA case. Sri Srinivasan, recently nominated for the second highest position in the Justice Department, represented Exxon Mobil in a case brought against them by Indonesian villagers who survived alleged attacks, torture and murder by Indonesian military units hired by Exxon to provide security. Lower courts disagreed on Exxon’s liability under ATCA, and in 2011 an appeals court sent the case back to trial.

Which brings us to the case currently before the Supreme Court - Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. (Shell) - brought by relatives of nine Nigerian Ogoni activists who were executed in 1995 by a military dictatorship allegedly working in collaboration with Shell. For the last ten years, the widow of executed Dr. Barinem Kiobel and other Nigerian refugees have been trying to prove in court that the British-Dutch multinational oil company Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., or Shell Oil, conspired with the Nigerian military to illegally detain, torture and kill critics of Shell's environmentally destructive practices in the Niger Delta.

In February the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case to determine whether or not corporations - as opposed to private parties - could be sued under the ATCA. At that time the Justice Department, submitted a “friend of the court” brief that said they could.

Lawyers say that if the Supreme Court accepts that the case can be heard in U.S. courts, it will mark a significant step forward for human rights activists. It will also send a powerful signal to business that any violations overseas can be prosecuted if they do business in the U.S.

Then in June, the Obama administration, suddenly changed its opinion. The new brief from the Justice Department “read like a roadmap for getting rid of cases Srinivasan and Holder had worked on previously" EarthRights attorney Kaufman told Reuters.

In its submission filed in response to a Supreme Court order to re-argue whether or not ATCA applied to territories outside the U.S., the Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the suit against Shell. The brief’s authors stated that the ATCA was not appropriate for Kiobel or other lawsuits involving foreign corporations accused of collaborating in human rights abuses with a foreign government outside U.S. territory.

U.S. courts “should not create a cause of action that challenges the actions of a foreign sovereign in its own territory, where the [sued party] is a foreign corporation of a third country that allegedly aided and abetted the foreign sovereign’s conduct,” the Justice Department wrote.

However, the Justice Department stopped short of categorically barring all similar cases that occur outside the U.S. from ATCA eligibility, and it left ambiguous whether the current recommendation would prevent future ATCA lawsuits against U.S. citizens or corporations, or in cases where abuses take place on the high seas.

EarthRights International filed three Freedom of Information Act requests in July to look for evidence showing whether or not corporate interests and lobbying influenced the government’s decision to back Shell.

“If disclosed, this information will help reveal whether or not the business interests of Attorney General Eric Holder or Deputy Solicitor General Sri Srinivasan influenced the government’s position in Kiobel,” said Kaufman.

Further reading:

US government sides with Shell over victims of crimes against humanity

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

News from EDO - the Environment Defenders Office - 2012-07-31

EDO e-Bulletin

31 July 2012

HRL Dual Gas funding withdrawn

Last Friday the Federal Minister for Energy and Resources, Martin Ferguson, announced that the Federal Government was withdrawing its $100 million grant to energy company HRL to construct it's Dual Gas coal fired power station - the very same power station that the EDO assisted Environment Victoria and Locals Into Victoria's Environment in challenging in VCAT earlier this year. Read more

EDO runs important human rights test case

On 17 and 18 July the EDO acted in an important VCAT case about the degree to which privacy law and human rights apply to peaceful protesters. The EDO acted for Lisa Caripis, a climate change writer and researcher who had been filmed by police when she attended a peaceful protest at the Hazelwood Power Station in 2010. Read more.

Wild Law Workshop

Places are still available for the Wildlaw Workshop we're hosting for the Australian Wild Law Alliance. Register now

Wild Law or Earth Jurisprudence offers a positive vision for creating Earth-centered laws and governance structures to ensure human societies can live within ecological limits and support the integrity and health of the Earth. Read more.

Environmental Justice

The EDO launched a major report on Environmental Justice last Friday, at a day-long symposium attended by 70 activists, lawyers, academics and government representatives. The report marks the culmination of a year-long project. Read more.

Revised Murray-Darling Basin Plan progresses

On 9 July 2012 the Murray Darling Basin Ministerial Council presented its comments on the proposed Murray Darling Basin Plan to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. We understand that a further Proposed Basin Plan will be made public on 6 August 2012, after which the Ministerial Council has three weeks to provide any further comments directly to the Federal Environment Minister. Read more.

Pressure builds on coal and coal seam gas

Last week EDO lawyer Nick Croggon spoke at a public meeting on coal and coal seam gas in Fish Creek, Gippsland, in the latest of many public meetings that EDO lawyers have attended across regional Victoria, empowering local communities who wish to exercise their rights against coal and coal seam gas in their communities. Read more.

Victorian planning zone shake-up

The Minister for Planning, Matthew Guy, has announced proposals for sweeping changes to Victoria's planning zones, in a major shake-up of development controls. The changes include creating new residential zones to distinguish between low-density and high-density areas, and allowing more types of development (including agriculture) in Green Wedge zones.Read more

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Run Forest Run

Thanks to all who joined us at the Launch Party for Run Forest Run last Thursday, and made the night such a roaring success. And to all those who couldn't make it - never fear, there's still time to join our team! Read more...

VCAT workshop

The next VCAT Planning & Environment Appeals workshop will be held on Wednesday 22 August 2012. Learn how to most effectively participate and represent yourself in planning and environment matters before VCAT. Read more...