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Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
40% by 2020
Friday, July 24th, 2009Don’t Corrupt Aid
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Don’t Corrupt Aid is a campaign to keep New Zealand’s international aid focused on addressing poverty.
A number of International Development NGOs have concerns about the New Zealand Government’s intention to re-focus New Zealand’s International Aid and Development agency, NZAID, and the possiblility that NZAID may lose its sem-autonomous status.
This campaign results from comments made by New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully stating that New Zealand’s aid should change from ‘poverty elimination’ to a broader focus on economic development. Additionally, Mr McCully wants New Zealand’s aid agency NZAID to lose its status as a semi-autonomous body.
The Minister has instigated two reviews into NZAID which may result in the responsibility for aid being absorbed into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
How can I get involved?
The Don’t Corrupt Aid website has a Take Action page, which helps you formulate letters (differing in length depending on how much time you have) to send to Government ministers. Check it out!
Ship for World Youth
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
What is it?
The Ship for World Youth (SWY) is a global youth exchange program in which nearly 4,000 people from 62 countries have participated. Organised by the Japanese government, the purposes of the program are:
- to broaden the global view of Japanese young people
- to promote mutual understanding and friendship between Japanese and foreign youth
- to cultivate the spirit of international cooperation and the competence to practice it
- to foster young people with the capability of showing leadership in various areas of international society
The Ship sails each year, carrying 120 Hapanese youth and 150 youth from other countries. Living together with youth from different countries on board the ship for 50 days, participants engage in discussions and lectures by specialists as well as arrange various events such as national presentation and club activities. SWY visits eastbound regions (Oceania, North, Central and South American regions) and westbound regions (Southwest Asian, African, and Middle Eastern regions) countries every other year.
How can I get involved?
Each year, the New Zealand Government waits to hear if it has been invited to participate. If so, it posts the invitation out to all youth organisations that have registered interest with the Ministry of Youth Development. It also puts the application form on the Ministry of Youth Development web site, and the New Zealand Ship for World Youth Alumni Association ‘NZSWYAA’ will also have the application and information available on this web site.
After the invitation has been received, which will give the number of positions available, the dates for the program and the route, the Ministry then invites applications from young people involved in youth activity, you don’t have to be member of a youth organisation, but you need to show that you are actively involved with youth. After that the Ministry and the SWY alumni will short list the applicants, and members of the Alumni will interview those on the short list. The successful applicants will be notified of their success, and will begin to prepare for the program. You can also email us at the NZSWYAA to find out more if you have specific queries.
UNYANZ (United Nations Youth Association of New Zealand)
Friday, February 20th, 2009
What do they do?
UNYANZ serves as the Youth arm of the United Nations Association of New Zealand. It provides the opportunity for youth to express themselves, learn about the United Nations and provide positive solutions for the future.
How can I get involved?
UNYANZ provides many opportunites for young New Zealanders to learn about the operation of the UN and become involved in civil society in New Zealand.
By becoming a member, you can participate in events like the New Zealand Model United Nations. Held annually in Wellington, this event brings together over 250 high school students from all around the country to debate and represent United Nations member states. This is a great opportunity to learn more about how the UN works and also about world affairs. Similar events are run at a regional level in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland.
UNYANZ has also become active in Universities where studuents can involve themselves in Model Security Council events, including the New Zealand Model Security Council Competition.
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50 facts that should change the world
Thursday, February 5th, 2009By Jessica Williams
At the risk of sounding sensationalist…did you know that a third of the world is at war, 30 million people in Africa are HIV positive and more than 150 countries use torture.
The facts and information provided in this book is often missed, glossed over or hidden by government and the media. So to continue: cars kill 2 people every minute, landmines kill or maim a person every hour…
You can join our library and get books and DVDs out for Free!
Are you ready? Stand up and be counted!
Monday, November 3rd, 2008By Hannah Robson
Here in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond, we have strong opinions and are becoming more knowledgeable about politics, showing that we do indeed care. As the future generation, we are exercising our democratic rights and breaking out — trying to be heard!
People power
In the dictionary, democracy is “a government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.” In the words of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Did you know that young people make up nearly half of the entire population of the world? So WE are “the people” and WE have the power to make change globally.
In democracies like NZ our key democratic right is to elect our government - majority rules. Our voting age is 18, but around the world different countries have different voting ages.
- Austria 16
- Sudan 17
- Japan 20
- Uzbekistan 25
Taking a stand
Young New Zealanders are becoming more politically aware. This could be because as a country we are known for not following the crowd on certain issues — we create strong opinions, and can usually back them up. Like the nuclear energy debate — although it is environmentally viable, New Zealand has maintained its nuclear free stance and is protecting the people from the potentially dangerous consequences. The New Zealand government has remained staunch on this issue, even under pressure from other nations, such as the USA, Australia and Britain. But young people have also realised that we can’t always wait for the government to lead the way. We have to stand up for what we believe in — we have to make changes, because in a lot of cases, the politicians have ignored the major issues.
Why now?
It is us, the young, who are going to be directly affected by such issues as global warming in the coming decades, so we need to make a stand now, for the future generations. Groups set up by young people all over the world are making that stand. KidsCall, has been touring the globe gathering messages from young people about the environment and climate change. They will be presenting the hopes and demands of young people to the world’s leading politicians at the G8 meeting in Japan in July 2008. Others are taking action locally. EcoWatch in Uganda, set up by young women, works with students to raise awareness of the threat of climate change and to empower people to live in an environmentally sustainable way.
Youth can swing elections
Whether it’s as voters or as activists, young people do have power. The youth vote was seen as the all important swing vote in the American Democratic Presidential candidate election, which favoured Barack Obama. Young people in the US are inspired by his message of change and feel he reflects a new generation (their generation!) and new thinking. And he takes young people seriously, speaking to them directly and encouraging them to get involved. Young people came out in huge numbers in the primary elections and showed they are a force to be reckoned with.
In Pakistan, students played a crucial role in pushing for governmental change — for democracy — even with the risk of arrest and other punishments. Their protests helped keep international attention on the issue, and although they may still be waiting for true democratic change, the students’ actions have awakened many Pakistani youth to the potential of their own power.
On the frontline
Young people want change; it’s in our nature. From women’s rights to civil rights, young people have been on the frontline, campaigning for their cause. Youth have never been the kind to sit back and just let things happen. Even the Prime Minister was young once — just like us! Yes — even Helen Clark was out protesting against New Zealand’s involvement in the Vietnam war back in the 1970s. But we need to remember that beliefs do change over time and we need to remind our politicians what it is like to be young. We need to make our voices heard.
Politicians seem to be realising the power of youth and are trying to become more “in touch” with us, using technology. In the upcoming elections in New Zealand and the USA, politicians are reaching out to young people via the internet, posting videos on YouTube and creating Bebo and MySpace pages. So, if they are taking us seriously, we should take ourselves seriously too. We have to actively participate in making a change — not just talk about it!
Are you ready to stand up and be counted?
TAKE ACTION
- Take a chance — run for your student council. Or, if you want your thoughts and ideas to be heard by national decision makers, join the Provoke Network at www.myd.govt.nz/ayv/provoke/
- Become a youth member of a political party
- Join a local student organisation or CREATE YOUR OWN! You want to change something? Research it, discuss it with others (be prepared for some debate!) and work to make the change
- Get involved with the World Youth Movement for Democracy www.ymd.youthlink.org
- Signup with the Just Focus network or join the discussions in the forum www.justfocus.org.nz
LEARN MORE
Find out about student activists around the world at http://studentresistance.wordpress.com
Download the Do-It-Yourself guide to youth activism at www.ywca.org.nz
Do you want to write to a politician, or organise a petition or a campaign? Check out the Take Action guides from the Ministry of Youth Development www.myd.govt.nz
This article was originally published in the Global Focus pages of Tearaway Magazine.
Preparing for life after oil
Friday, September 12th, 2008By Hannah Robson
What is the issue?
We all know about global warming and climate change and we all know about the rising price of petrol, but do you know that cheap’ oil WILL RUN OUT?! The world is so dependent on oil, but it is becoming increasingly expensive, we are running out of easily accessible oil and soon it will take more energy to extract it than it is actually worth.
Who is it going affect?
The consequence of Peak Oil is a potential energy crisis and, like global warming, will affect EVERYONE. Oil is used for so many things in today’s society, from the fuel in our cars to heating, food and clothing production, petroleum products are used to make plastics, fabrics, even cosmetics and medicines. Basically, your parents will start complaining about the cost of petrol and everything else (even more than they do now!), and from there petrol will become so ridiculously expensive that no one will be able to afford it. This is going to have a dramatic affect on us and change the way we live our lives. The cost of transport will mean we will travel less, trade fewer goods with other countries and we will have to give up or find alternatives for many everyday objects, from lip-gloss, to fertiliser to CDs!
What are people doing about it?
While some people (mostly scientists and politicians) are focusing on new technology and other sources of energy, over 500 communities all over the world (including New Zealand) are facing the challenges of climate change and peak oil by looking for ways to become less dependent on oil and reduce their impact on the planet. These towns are known as Transition Towns and their aim is to create vibrant and thriving communities that are prepared for life after oil. There are dozens of these communities all over Britain, as well as the Sunshine Coast, Australia and New Zealand’s very own Waiheke Island, Orewa and Kapiti Coast. All up over 1,527,000 people are involved!
While this is happening at a local level there are also national and global principles in action. Nationally, some governments use energy rationing systems to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and globally, the Oil Depletion Protocol encourages nations to collectively reduce consumption, both oil producing and consuming nations.
What can we do?
There are lots more towns around New Zealand that have expressed interest in participating in this initiative. What about YOUR town?
The 12 steps of Transition
Curing our addiction to oil.
1. Get a team together — you need a group of keen and dedicated people to get the project going
2. Awareness raising - start informing people and get them talking about the issues, show some films like A Crude Awakening: the oil crash or An Inconvenient Truth, get some speakers in….make some noise!
3. Lay the foundations — find out what people are already doing in your community, start networking and build relationships with local businesses, schools and community groups.
4. Organise a Great Unleashing — have a (eco!)party and share your vision with the whole community.
5. Form working groups - get people focused on specific aspects of the process like food, water, transport, waste etc.
6. Try Open Space — bring everyone together and explore a particular topic or issue, with no agenda, no timetable, no coordinator and no minute takers, just let the ideas and discussion flow and see what happens.
7. Less talk, more action! Don’t just organise lots of meetings, show people what you are achieving.
8. Facilitate the Great Re-skilling — we seem to have forgotten how to do lots of things. Organise workshops on cooking, cycle maintenance, sock darning, gardening and food growing etc.
9. Make friends with your Local Government - Whether it is planning issues, funding or providing connections, you need them on board.
10. Honour your elders — Our grandparents lived in a lower energy society, before the age of consumerism and convenience. We could learn a lot from them.
11. Go with the flow — once your community is behind this it might not always go as your planned. Be flexible.
12. Create an Energy Descent Plan — Sounds serious doesn’t it? This is about combining all the work and plans so you cope as oil gets more and more expensive.
For more details on the 12 Steps to Transition and heaps more information go to www.transitiontowns.org.nz
TAKE ACTION
You don’t have to be involved in Transition Towns to take action, you could leave the car at home and catch a bus or train or walk— if you don’t need to drive, DON’T! — come on guys, you know the drill. Buy less, grow your own food, recycle. Don’t let the Peak Oil Crisis be another global issue that isn’t addressed until it becomes even more difficult Stop making excuses — it’s time to make ourselves aware and show we care!
LEARN MORE
Check out Beyond the Petrol Pump, by Omar Hamed
Borrow A Crude Awakening: the oil crash, An Inconvenient Truth, Syriana and loads more DVDs from the Global Education Centre
Check out the Green Party’s Peak Oil Campaign
Go to www.globalcool.org.uk and www.4million.org.nz for loads of ideas on reducing your personal carbon footprint
Check out some great tips for organic gardening at www.sustainablehouseholds.org.nz
The anti-vitamin bill
Friday, June 15th, 2007Anna Wu
There is currently a bill before Parliament that could significantly change the way all natural health products are regulated. Virtually everyone has used, uses or will use a range of therapeutic products and medicines in their lives. The Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill has had minimal media attention, but it is likely to affect more of us than the Anti-Smacking Law ever will.
Many people are opposed to the bill, but there have been recent attempts by the government to try and find a compromise.
What’s the Bill proposing?
The bill looks at creating a joint trans-Tasman (Australian and New Zealand) regulatory scheme for the regulation of natural health products products. Standards will be set to control their quality, safety, efficacy (whether the product does what it says it does) and performance. The manufacture, supply, import and promotion will also be monitored.
Who’s finding this Bill hard to swallow?
The National Party, ACT New Zealand, Greens, Maori Party and Independent Taito Philip Field are all against the Bill. In fact, in December last year the Bill’s first reading scraped through by only one vote. The public has also voiced their concern with several nation-wide marches this year organised and attended by 100s of people who oppose this legislation.
What are they worried about?
The Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill has been nicknamed the “Anti-Vitamin Bill.” Opponents believe the future of natural health products will not be so peachy if the Bill is passed into law. They feel that the interests of New Zealanders will be denied under a joint agency as we have different needs to Australians and products for use in our country would be required to comply with the standards set for the Australian market.
Small businesses in the country’s natural health industry will be at risk. Multi-national corporations may find it easy to meet the new compliance costs but NZ-owned businesses could suffer. If local businesses close down it could reduce the range of products available to consumers and threaten innovation, as competition is reduced. Overall, the prices of therapeutic products and medicines will rise.
National: Health Spokesman Tony Ryall, “Every day New Zealanders are taking supplements. Every day they are trying to protect and improve their health. We want New Zealanders to know that the regime is low cost, not restrictive, and that their choices will be protected. But this legislation does the complete opposite.”
Another major concern is that the proposed trans-Tasman regulatory agency “will undermine the sovereignty of our Parliament.” Regulation will be transferred to an authority headquartered in Canberra “with an office in Wellington”. Because Australia took on patent obligations under the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, the Bill incorporates these obligations. New Zealand will inherit’ this whether or not it reflects our interests.
Green Party: Sue Kedgley, “It’s a sinister piece of legislation that would involve the New Zealand Parliament handing over its authority to an off-shore agency, set up under Australian law, headquartered in Australia and staffed mainly by Australians.”
Finally, opponents say natural health products are being unfairly targeted with no justification as they are actually extremely low-risk. The Government hopes the Bill will protect New Zealanders from dodgy medicines. Health Minister Pete Hodgson claimed that between 1996 and 2007, three deaths resulted from natural health products. However it was found that coroners in each case ruled the cause of death could not be attributed to natural health products taken.[1] In addition it was it pointed out that during this same period 8000 deaths were attributed to the adverse effects of pharmaceutical drugs, with a further 16,000 permanently disabled!
ACT NZ: Leader Rodney Hide, “It’s nuts.”
Who will benefit?
While supporters of the bill believe regulation will benefit the consumer, the Bills sceptics think its big business that will win out. When the 26 submissions on the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill were heard, the 7 that supported the Bill were from pharmaceutical industry based organisations and large Australian-linked companies with financial interests. A United States survey found most people held big Pharma (top-earning pharmaceutical companies in the world) in the same low esteem as tobacco firms.
The Anti Vitamin Bill gets sugar coated: Will that help it go down ?
Because the original bill did not have enough political support, the Government is in the process of consulting other parties about a compromise - a joint agency with Australia will still be established, but makers of New Zealand-based natural health products may choose to be regulated. Those opting out will have to be regulated under a domestic regime and are limited to producing within our shores. To expand business into Australia, they would have to comply with the trans-Tasman agency. This would allow small businesses and producers of traditional medicines to continue operating as usual.
According to Hon. Annette King (Minister of State Services), opponents have been “peddling misinformation” and earlier this year, before the compromise was made, she claimed “the preparation of therapeutic products as part of the traditional practice of medicines will be exempt from the regulatory scheme.” She also denied that “complimentary ingredients or finished products…will be subject to pharmaceutical style regulation.” If that was true, it is ironic that the “compromise” is proposing precisely what the minister was peddling in the original bill.
If you want to learn more or keep up-to-date with what’s happening with the Bill check out the links below.
Reference articles
“Bill risks medicine price rise” by Sarah Meads and Thomas Faunce
“Big Pharma not always Beautiful” by Richard Wachman
“Sugar coating for contentious medicines and therapeutic products bill” by Audrey Young
To Learn More & Take Action!
www.nzhealthtrust.co.nz
www.greens.govt.nz
UPDATE
Annette King and Minister of Health Pete Hodgson have announced that the Government is not proceeding, at this stage, with the legislation enabling the establishment of a joint agency with Australia to regulate therapeutic products. But the Therapeutics Products and Medicines Bill will remain on the Order Paper to be revisited when sufficient parliamentary support is available… So if you are opposed to this Bill keep taking action!
What is sexism? It’s a global problem
Friday, May 18th, 2007by Eliana Darroch & MZ
- It’s when a woman walks home from the bus and someone wolf-whistles at her
- It’s when we see half-naked women on billboards, usually advertising something completely unrelated like burgers
- It’s when magazines tell us, as men and women, how to behave, how to look and what to desire
- It’s when a woman feels unsafe to walk alone at night
- It’s when rape survivors are blamed for the abuse they have suffered, assuming “they asked for it.”
- It’s when women are destined to have a life of up to 2/3 less pay than men and significantly more difficulty in advancing in their jobs
- It’s being EXPECTED to be strong and tough, or to be sweet and defenceless
- It’s assuming a nurse will be a woman and a doctor will be man
- It’s when a woman playing with children is seen as a natural maternal activity, but a man playing with children is regarded with suspicion
It happens everyday, it’s all around us and worst of all, many of us pretend it doesn’t exist —Sexism
Sexism is the oppression or discrimination of a person based on their sex or gender. It reinforces attitudes and behaviour based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles in our society. Sexism can be anything from pay inequality to a music video that portrays women as sexual objects. Sexism affects us all, but particularly women, as it is engrained in our patriarchal (male-dominated) society. Sexism is an attitude that can affect women in almost every aspect of their lives and can prevent them from achieving their potential.
Language
Sexism manifests itself in our society in many different ways, from the accepted gender roles to the language we use. When you think of the word “master” and “mistress”, which meaning holds more power? They both mean the same thing, apart from the gender that is attached to it. What about bachelor or spinster? Which would you rather be? Almost anything can become an insult if you add like a girl’ to the end of it. “Ahhhh you throw like a girl.” Music videos, TV programmes and the mass media give women a variety of labels from ho’ to chick’ or doll’. There are also many words used to describe people who do not conform to socially accepted gender stereotypes, like poofter’ or tomboy’.
Beauty
Media and advertising is a powerful medium in our society and virtually impossible to escape. Everywhere we go, we are bombarded by sexist images that subject women to a certain ideal of beauty. While using women’s bodies to sell you something, the airbrushed images tells us what beauty is. Women start to measure themselves against these impossible and unrealistic standards. The cosmetic industry uses women’s insecurities to their own advantage, by selling us products to help us achieve this beauty ideal. The underlying message of many ads is, “you’re not beautiful unless you buy our product.” These insecurities can develop into lack of self esteem or even psychological disorders, often related to eating. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are eating disorders suffered mostly by women. One in four girls may suffer from the symptoms of an eating disorder and 52% of teenagers begin dieting before the age of 14.
Aotearoa New Zealand
Globally Aotearoa New Zealand has led the way in promoting women’s equality, being the first in the world to give women the vote and first in the world to simultaneously have a woman governor general, woman mayor and elected female prime minister. Although many improvements on the position of women have been made, sexism still exists in this country in many forms. Women are still associated with passivity, weakness, submissiveness and being emotional. They’re often seen or treated like sexual objects. Men are stereotyped to be aggressive, powerful, strong and rational. Particularly in New Zealand culture, men are expected to be tough and rugged and not show emotion. These stereotypes are blatant sexism, but are usually accepted- subconsciously or not.
We still have a long way to go. Women all over the world still struggle for justice, equality and respect. Next time you see sexist behaviour- don’t just accept it! Do something about it, challenge this behaviour and let people around you know that sexism will no longer be accepted or tolerated.
Five Facts
- The majority of people worldwide who live in absolute poverty (that is, living on less than one dollar a day) are women.
- Women do 75% of the world’s work, including unpaid, yet own only 10% of the world wealth.
- Out of over 180 countries, only 11 are currently led by women.
- 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence at some point in their lives.
- Female graduates are likely to earn less than their male counterparts and take, on average, twice as long to pay back their student loans. (Meaning they could pay up to 20% more for the same education!)
Learn More
Women’s Rights - Human Rights Commission
Prejudice
Violence against Women, Global Bits Issue 09
Eating Disorders
Take Action!!
Be informed, read, think about the language your use, be respectful, discuss issues around gender, sexuality and discrimination
Challenge your friends and your own stereotypes
Help create an atmosphere at work, school or home that doesn’t tolerate sexism
Learn more about human rights and go along to the Human Right’s Film Festival
A version of this article was originally published in JET magazine.
Eco-prisoners: From the US to the Pacific
Friday, May 18th, 2007By Cameron Walker
Many of the world’s environmental problems have been caused by multinational corporations and states in their constant drive for profit and control of humanity. Across the globe there have been many brave acts of resistance against those exploiting both humanity and the environment. Unfortunately as global awareness of environmental issues increases so does repression of those brave enough to stand up.
Jeff free’ Luers, currently serving a 22 year 8 month sentence in Oregon, USA, is one of these eco-prisoners. On June 26th 2000 he decided to take part in “an act of resistance designated to raise awareness and draw attention to a problem that affects every human being, every animal, every plant, and every form of life on this planet. I am speaking of global warming, air, soil and water pollution” 1
Luers torched three SUVs at a Chevrolet dealership. The damage to the SUVs was so slight that they were later repaired and sold. Luers’ harsh sentence was entirely political. His support website has a large list comparing his sentence with those handed down to people convicted of shocking crimes, such as murder and rape. One man, who had previously served time for murder, was convicted, of raping several young girls and sentenced to 13 years prison by Karen Tracey, the same prosecutor in Luers’ case. On the 14th of February 2007 the Oregon Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Jeff Luers will be remanded back to court for resentencing. Hopefully his sentence will be shortened. To keep informed about this see Jeff Luers’ website below.
Since the election of the Bush Administration there has been growing repression of radical ecological and animal rights activists. In 2002 the FBI declared the Earth Liberation Front’ (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front’ (ALF) the nation’s biggest domestic terror threats, despite the fact that they’ve never hurt people. Many activists have been arrested and imprisoned for frivolous reasons, in what is being described as the green scare’.
Across the majority world large numbers of people have been imprisoned for daring to stand up to multinationals destroying the environment. In West Papua, which has been the scene of violent Indonesian Military operations since 1962, there has been large scale repression against students protesting the operations of US mining company Freeport McMoRan. Every day Freeport’s Grasberg copper and gold mine dumps 700,000 tonnes of mining waste into Papua’s rivers. According to the New York Times this has destroyed nearly 90 square miles of wetlands, which were once ‘one of richest freshwater habitats in the World’. This has angered many indigenous West Papuans, so Freeport pays the Indonesian Military to provide security. The Military has murdered many mining opponents.
On March 16th 2006 university students set up blockades in Papua’s capital, Jayapura, demanding the closure of the Freeport mine. The Military and Brimob (paramilitary police) violently attacked the demonstrators, leading to clashes in which three policemen and one soldier died. Brimob entered the university arresting scores of students, who were then beaten, tortured and forced to admit to taking part in the killings. Students’ families were also targeted. One student, who has since fled to Papua New Guinea, told an Australian human rights activist “After the March 16 clashes Intel [Brimob] arrested my mother, then took her from the house to the university. They wanted to kill her in front of the university but she was struggling and shouting hard, and so they took her to POLDA [Police Station] and tortured her, burned her with cigarettes and beat her up for three days at the gaol”.2 Some of the students have since been given lengthy prison terms, even though no evidence to suggest they took part in the killings was produced. Hundreds are still in hiding.
The New Zealand Government have been accused of not doing enough to expose the crisis in West Papua and could be seen as complicit in the destruction of West Papua. The NZ Super Fund invests taxpayer money in Freeport McMoRan. On May 14th 2007 an Indonesian Military officer started a 7 month NZ Defence Force Command Staff course at Trentham Army Camp, near Wellington. During the occupation of East Timor, Indonesian soldiers used to learn counter-insurgency’ skills from the NZ Defence Force. Human rights activists have called for NZ not to repeat the mistakes of the past by cutting all NZ military ties with Indonesia.
As young people we need to ask ourselves do we aspire to join the big corporations and governments destroying our world or will we stand in solidarity with Jeff Luers, the Papuan students and all those bravely resisting the destruction of our planet?
Take Action
Free Jeff Luers
Write a letter of support to Jeff in prison:
Jeffrey Luers, #13797671
Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP)
2605 State Street
Salem, OR 97310
Join his support campaign’s email list to receive updates about the case, writings from Jeff and ideas to support. Sometimes the campaign does a shout out for supporters to do little things, like buy Jeff a book. If you have spare money you can always donate to his legal fees fund.
Freeport and West Papua
Get in contact with one of the group’s protesting against the NZ Super Fund’s unethical investments.
The Indonesia Human Rights Committee in Auckland has been campaigning for the NZ Super Fund to dump all its Freeport shares. Check out the IHRC Press Release.
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Auckland held a demonstration in March against the Super Fund’s investments in arms companies and Freeport. See the report.
Get in contact with Students For Justice in Palestine
Write a letter to the NZ Super Fund calling for it to dump Freeport McMoRan:
NZ Super Fund
P O Box 106607
Auckland 1143
New Zealand
Join the campaign to cut all NZ military ties with Indonesia.
Contact Indonesia Human Rights Committee in Auckland. Peace Action Wellington have also called for NZ Military ties with Indonesia to be cut.
Learn More
www.freefreenow.org/
www.infopapua.org/
Report - Protest and punishment: political prisoners in Papua, Human Rights Watch, February 2007
References
1 http://freefreenow.org/whois.html
2 http://freewestpapua.com/node/78?
Image of Grasburg Mine from Canada’s West Papua Action Network