Anti-vaccination campaigners. Do they have a Taliban mentality?

I am tired of the unreasonable trendiness of the anti-vaccination campaigners who think that if they and their children live a healthy lifestyle then a disease like polio, which can be avoided by vaccination, will not affect them.

These unreasonable people do not, in the main, acknowledge that they are beneficiaries of "herd immunity" or what is now referred to as "community immunity".  They are on a level with the clerics in the north-wesgtern tribal areas of Pakistan where there are strong links to the Taliban which organisation has worked, and worked violently, to keep vaccinators out of the areas that they control.

Would the trendy anti-vaccination campaigners ever go as far as depriving communities of vaccination against polio and other highly infectious diseases that maim and/or kill? It is not beyond the realm of possibility - if they were assured they had the numbers.

What also irks is that they show a disdainful ignorance for the history of polio, particularly of those people still alive who contracted polio in the 1950s - those who have been crippled since childhood; those who have lived long enough to be affected by post-polio symptoms and illness.

For those who are anti-vaccination, I suggest watching the movie below.  It portrays what happens to one family who find themselves in the middle of an outbreak of diphteria.

Post-polio Australia

Nestle is nicking Pakistan's water. Please sign this petition >>>

Sign this petition!

* First name

* Last name

* Email

By signing, you accept our privacy policy.

We don't share your email address without your permission. We will send you updates on this and other important campaigns by email, but you can unsubscribe at any time.

15,121 signatures of 20,000

Nestlé is draining Pakistan to sell us bottled water.

---

Nestlé is draining developing countries to produce its bottled water, destroying countries’ natural resources before forcing its people to buy their own water back.

Now it's in Pakistan. Groundwater levels are plummeting, families are being driven into poverty, and whole areas are being rendered uninhabitable. 

But we've still got time to help before Pakistan's water supply is completely tapped out — and if we show Nestlé its heartless policies are sparking a global backlash, we can stop it from decimating more of our natural resources. 

Will you join us in demanding Nestlé stop draining Pakistan dry?

PETITION TO NESTLE EXECUTIVES: Stop stealing Pakistan's water and driving its people to poverty and starvation.

Ban Live Export National Rally - all capitals - this Saturday October 6 12 Noon

Join us in Melbourne this Saturday Oct 6  12PM Parliament House  If you care about animals and want to see them protected from cruelty, then please join us this Saturday as we rally side-by-side, right across the country, for an end to live export. As you read this, more than 10,000 Australian sheep await an uncertain fate in Pakistan. They have witnessed half their companions slaughtered in the most brutal ways — clubbed, stabbed and buried alive. Every day that passes, more and more animals are put at risk of extreme cruelty and abuse. Despite assurances from the Australian Government that cruelty in the live export trade would be addressed, animals continue to be neglected,brutalised, and have their throats cut while fully conscious. Tragedy after tragedy reveals that animals exported live will always be at risk. And yet, they continue to be sent. This sends the appalling message to the rest of the world that Australia accepts animal cruelty. The animals are depending on us — we must urgently let politicians know that caring Australians will not vote for political parties that support live export. This is your chance to join with others at a family-friendly event to rally for a kinder future for animals. I sincerely hope you can join us, Lyn White Campaign Director P.S. I realise that Saturday 6th October is short notice for a national rally. But I'm sure you'll agree that the latest shocking abuse of animals in the live export trade warrants a rapid response on a national scale. The Animals Australia team is pulling out all stops to create an event that our politicians won't be able to ignore. Unavoidably, this has meant that the launch of Make it Possible has been delayed one week. I'll keep you updated as our campaigns progress. All welcome! Hear from Animals Australia Investigator Lyn White, leading politicians; mass petition signing; campaign activities; family-friendly. 37 O'Connell St, North Melbourne Victoria 3051, Australia

Political prisoners in Pakistan : climate change and textile workers

Emergency speakout for jailed Pakistani activists

Free Baba Jan & the Hunza 5!

Political prisoners of the climate change crisis

Wednesday, June 27, 12:30-1:30pm. 

Cnr Bourke & Swanston Sts, Melbourne. 

Baba Jan is a Pakistani activist from a community that has fallen victim to climate change. He is also a victim of the 'War on Terror'. In January 2010 several communities were engulfed by flooding and landslides in the Hunza River valley, in the remote Himalayan Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan. These floods and landslides were the result of deforestation, soil erosion and climate change.

The lake was formed by a landslide in January 2010

in Gojal Hunza, Hunza, Pakistan

In 2011 Baba Jan, a member of the Labour Party Pakistan, was involved in organising protests demanding compensation for effected communities. Police repression of these protests included the shooting of two villagers (a father and son). 

In the aftermath, Baba Jan and four others were arrested and charged under Pakistan's Anti-Terror Laws. On April 28, Baba Jan was taken from his cell by elite security agencies and has since been subjected to beatings and torture.

Others charged under Pakistan's Anti-Terror Laws include the Faisalabad 6, who led a textile workers' strike, and textile worker unionists in Karachi. The Pakistani state's contribution to the 'War on Terror' also includes disappearing hundreds of civilians in border regions and collaborating with US drone strikes.

This speakout is part of an international week of action. For further background see Urgent appeal for Baba Jan, prisoner of climate change and Pakistan: International week of action for the release of Baba Jan. Sponsored by Socialist Alliance, Industrial Workers of the World (Melbourne), Socialist Alternative. Other endorsements welcome. For more info ph Tony 0437 237 010.