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Oppose proposed new Victorian laws. Write to politicians today before new law is passed. #Youthlaw needs your help!
On Tuesday 8th December the Upper House of Victorian Parliament will debate and vote on proposed new laws that give invasive powers for police which will impact on the everyday life of tens of thousands of Victorians. On 26 November (2009) the Government and the Opposition members in the Lower House of Parliament passed the proposed laws despite acknowledging they breach fundamental human rights.
Youthlaw seeks your urgent support to oppose this proposed law and request voting be deferred until politicians properly investigate and consult with community rather than rush it through Parliament.
The proposed ‘Summary Offences and Weapons Control Amendment’ Bill introduces new ‘move on powers’ for police that enable them to order any one to move away from public spaces even if they haven’t committed any crime. Interstate experience indicates these laws will target young people in particular.The Bill also allows the police to conduct random searches including strip searches of children under 18 in certain circumstances. Similar proposed legislation in WA has been sent off for investigation by an upper house Committee due to the public uproar about the impact of these invasive powers on the community.
If you don’t want laws that have proven to be ineffective, unfairly target young people and create unnecessary conflict between community groups and police then please send an email such as the one below, to the Government by Tuesday 8th December 2009.
SUGGESTED EMAIL MESSAGE
I AM WRITING TO URGE YOU TO OPPOSE THE ‘SUMMARY OFFENCES AND WEAPONS CONTROL AMENDMENT ACT’ BILL OR AT LEAST DEFER PASSING THE BILL UNTIL THERE HAS BEEN A PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS SUCH A LAW. THE INVESTIGATION SHOULD PARTICULARLY ENABLE CONSULTATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE, HOMELESS PEOPLE AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WHO ARE MOST LIKELY TO BE EFFECTED BY THESE LAWS.Please email to:
john.brumby@parliament.vic.gov.au
Premier, Leader of the government, ALP
ted.baillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au
Leader of the Opposition, Liberal party
rob.hulls@parliament.vic.gov.au
Attorney General, ALP
bob.cameron@parliament.vic.gov.au
Minister for Police and Emergency Services, ALP
peter.ryan@parliament.vic.gov.au
Leader of the National party
sue.pennicuik@parliament.vic.gov.au
Greens, Australian WhipPlease forward to all your friends and networks.
Please email me if you are interested in further information about this issue.
Tiffany Overall
Youthlaw
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Australian Government must demand Japan recall its whaling fleet immediately
The Japanese whaling fleet left port in Innoshima (Nov 19, 2009) en route to Antarctica with over 1000 whales in its sight. It will take the whaling fleet about three weeks to reach the Southern Ocean beneath Australia.
When they get there, the Government of Japan’s annual ‘research’ expedition to Antarctic waters plans to kill up to 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 of our beloved humpback whales.
“Japan’s so-called scientific whaling is nothing less than commercial whaling in disguise. You don’t need to kill whales to study them,” said Darren Kindleysides, Director of the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS).
This is the fifth whaling season for the Japanese Government’s controversial and confrontational ’scientific whaling’ program known as ‘JARPA II’ and the 22nd consecutive year Japan has hunted whales under the guise of scientific research. In that time, Japan’s whalers have killed more than 9000 whales in the Southern Ocean.
“Hunting hundreds of whales and calling it research breaks international law and defies the global ban on whaling brought in by the International Whaling Commission in 1986. How many more whaling seasons must be endured, how many more whales must die under this charade?” Kindleysides said.
This whaling season, the whalers are planning to kill 50 humpback whales - this would break a four decade ban on hunting humpbacks and has ramifications for Australia’s thriving whale watching industry.
“The whalers have our beloved humpbacks in their sights - the same whales that migrate to Australia during winter, the same whales that support our multi-million dollar whale watching industries on our east and west coasts.”
Research [1] has shown that whale watching is worth approximately $300million dollars a year in Australia, with humpbacks the backbone of our whale watching industries in many locations. Japan withdrew plans to kill humpbacks in 2007 and 2008 following international outcry and pressure from countries like Australia, but their self-appointed quota of 50 humpbacks in the 2009 season still stands.
With the recent change of Government in Japan, there are suggestions the Japanese Government is reviewing the funding for the annual whaling expeditions, a hugely subsidised and controversial hunt that has stained Japan’s standing on the international stage.
“The Australian Government must demand Japan recall its whaling fleet immediately. It is time to tell the new Japanese Government to put their unlawful whaling program on ice. If diplomacy cannot prevent another season of whale slaughter in the Southern Ocean the Rudd Government must deliver on its election promise to pursue legal action against Japan before international courts and tribunals to end whaling once and for all,” concluded Kindleysides.
[1] Research undertaken by the International Fund for Animal Welfare evaluating the economic value of whale and dolphin watching in Australia.
Media Contact:
Darren Kindleysides (AMCS Director): +61 (07) 3393 5811 or 0422 396 077
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South Park Season 13 Whale Whores
Preview – it’s the Japanese!
Things turn bloody when the Japanese attack the Denver aquarium!
Ok, you’re right it is South Park highlighting the issue of dolphin slaughter in Japan – watch.
PS. Save Japan’s dolphins.
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Primitive: A New Multi-Platform Media Artwork
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s new multi-platform media artwork Primitive was commissioned by FACT in partnership with Haus der Kunst, Munich and Animate Projects, London. The work is a combination of:
- a multiple- screen video installation
- a music video
- a short film for cinema
- an online film
- an artist’s book.
“This will be the first solo exhibition in the UK by the Thai artist, which forms part of the AND Festival, Primitive is set in Nabua in the Renu Nakhon district of Thailand, which suffered violent clashes between communist communities and the Thai military in the 1960s. Communist suspects were brutally tortured during attacks and those who managed to escape fled to the jungle where they disappeared forever. Nabua’s story undeniably has echoes with the current political turmoil in Thailand, as freedom of expression is still restricted and Thai security forces continue to engage in extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrests, with new cases of ‘enforced disappearances’ emerging during 2008.”
Read more about Primitive at FACT.
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Chinese hack into film festival site
CHINESE hackers have attacked the Melbourne International Film Festival website in an intensifying campaign against the screening of a documentary about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.
The sabotage comes as festival organisers confirmed federal and state police had been called in, private security guards were being hired to protect film-goers and festival staff, four Chinese-language films had been withdrawn and a long-term Hong Kong-based sponsor had pulled out of the event.
The hackers broke into the festival’s website early yesterday, just hours after Premier John Brumby officially opened the 2009 festival at the Arts Centre.
The hackers replaced festival information with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans and were last night continuing to disrupt the site by spamming.
“We like film but we hate Rebiya Kadeer,” one message says and calls for an apology to the Chinese people.
More from The Age
GG note: The controversial “Ten conditions of Love” is Sold Out at the Festival.
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International Whores Day
Yes it’s a legitimate day of recognition for sex workers. Sex workers will protest outside NSW Parliament House (June 02,09).
The Scarlet Alliance wants anti-discrimination laws to protect sex workers, saying at the moment its members are the victims of unfair bias from banks, lenders, local councils and in advertising.
Sex worker Ivy McIntosh said people in her profession were being overcharged when they placed ads in local papers.
“I’m paying too much for a measly two inches,” she said in a statement.
“Sex work is legal in NSW.
“Why am I charged hundreds of dollars to advertise in local papers when other trade occupations are charged less than $100?”
The sex workers will dress in red and carry red umbrellas in the demonstration for International Whores Day, which started in France in 1975.
Source The Age
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etoy.QUEER-LABS
We know there’s a little gay guy in everyone. But the etoy.BUREAUCRATS forgot to celebrate this fact!
etoy.CORPORATION SA wishes to apologize officially for not consulting the etoy.QUEER-LABS before setting this year’s GENERAL MEETING date.
Shame on the chairman and all his board members: the 6th of June 2009 is the day of the EUROPRIDE PARADE & FESTIVAL in Zurich! EuroPride is this year’s biggest gay event in the world: a celebration and political demonstration for acceptance and tolerance, against discrimination and against the creation of taboos and violence on grounds of sexual orientation. Political speakers include the politician and publicist Daniel Cohn Bendit, the mayor of Zurich, Corinne Mauch, and the Moldovan human rights activist Mihaela Copot.
The chairman proposes triple voting rights for all etoy.SHAREHOLDERS who can show probable cause that they practice/tested same-sex romance and/or participate in the general meeting as cross-dresser/gender-bender.
In addition, etoy installed the position of agent.PINK who can be contacted to delegate voting rights in case the celebration schedule cannot be synchronized with the etoy.MEETING-PLAN. —> use: gay@ir.etoy.com
kisses from etoy …leaving reality behind.
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Call for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi taken to prison to face new charges. Take action now to demand her release!
Amnesty has drafted a letter which enables you to send a message of protest to Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Nyan Win. Please take the time to defend the rights of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other prisoners of conscience.
There are more than 2,100 known political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, is the best-known. The co-founder of Myanmar’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi is also one of the country’s best-known political figures and campaigners for human rights.
Source: Amnesty USA.
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TANK MAN TANGO – A Tiananmen Square memorial
June 4 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the massacre of protestors at Tiananmen Square. You are invited to participate in a memorial made of dancing bodies in cities around the world.
On 4 June, forget to forget. Do the Tank Man Tango.
Sydney
Rehearsal of the steps choreographed from the footage of the man who defied the tanks in 1989.6pm, 3 June 2009
Performance Space @ CarriageWorks – 245 Wilson St Redfern/Darlington, Sydney, AustraliaPublic memorial event: 4 June from 5pm, place TBA
Followed at 7pm by 649 exhibition at Serial Space, 33 Wellington St., Chippendale, NSW
Singapore
Tank Man Tango, The Substation, 45 Armenian Street, Singapore Thur 4 June at 8pm, The Substation Theatre: collective public performance of the Tank Man TangoFri 5 June, Substation Gallery, 11am–9pm: public art installation of paper statues of the “Goddess of Democracy”
Weimar events – hosted by ACC Galerie, Burgplatz 1+2, Weimar, Germany 4 June (Info TBA)
More cities around the world to participate. Forget to forget website.
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Scientology attempts to ban picketers due to their HIV status
Los Angeles, CA (1-12-09) – In a shocking new tactic attempting to ban peaceful protesters from picketing the Scientology compound known as “Gold Base” near Hemet, CA, Scientology lawyers have obtained medical information regarding two protesters, and are using their HIV positive status in an attempt to prevent them from picketing at the location.
Worldwide pickets against Scientology have surged in the last year, and Scientology has been fighting to stop them, especially near the Hemet compound. Scientology has used tactics ranging from physical attacks [1], false reports to police [2], and the emission of an estimated 110db organ note from loudspeakers in an attempt to drown out the protesters’ chants. [3]
The latest tactics, however, are downright sickening, illegal, and an insult to members of the LGBT community and HIV patients worldwide.
Attorney Graham Berry and activists “Angry Gay Pope” (AGP) and “Happy Smurf” (a former Scientologist) are openly homosexual. Scientology, which policy states that homosexuals are “low on the tone scale” and should be “disposed of quietly and without sorrow” [4], has obtained AGP and Happy Smurf’s private records and discovered that they are HIV positive. [5]
Scientology is lobbying for the passage of a county-wide ordinance restricting protesting at “Gold Base”. [6] Scientology considers the presence of the two HIV+ men to be a threat to the well-being of the alleged 500 “church workers” at the Base, and is seeking to restrict protests in a move that may constitute an restriction on 1st Amendment rights of activists in Hemet.
This is not the first time Scientology has openly spoken out against homosexuality. At the 2008 Toronto Gay Pride Parade, Scientologists made false claims of being able to cure homosexuality. [7]
Recently the Church of Scientology of California donated a generous sum of money to aid in the passing of Proposition 8, a law that banned marriage between homosexual couples. [8]
For more information on the protesters being discriminated against at “Gold Base”, see http://angrygaypope.com and http://www.grahamberry.com.
References:
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1RUQ7xwz3Y
[2] http://rinf.com/alt-news/activism/scientology-injunction-denied-against-anonymous/2783/
[3] http://vimeo.com/2721512
[4] http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/dispose.htm
[5] http://forums.whyweprotest.net/123-leaks-legal/breaking-news-riverside-ordinance-35565/10/#post687069
[6] http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scientology10-pg,0,5285738,full.story
[7] http://www.queerty.com/scientologys-anti-gay-push-thwarted-at-toronto-pride-20080710/
[8] http://www.xzonenews.com/Hypocritical%20Church%20of%20Scientology%20Says%20Ban%20Gay%20Marriage%20-%2020081024.htmFor more information on Chanology visit:
http://www.whyweprotest.net
http://forums.whyweprotest.net
http://marcab.org
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