Global Poverty Project campaign launches in Aotearoa

I’ve been a little busy lately, for one reason or another, and neither been attending many events, nor blogging about green stuff.

I’ll make amends with a quick description of an event I was invited to by the Wellington Activation Manager for the Global Poverty Project, Sarah Wood, which took place at the Banquet Hall of Parliament last night.

MP’s Jackie Blue (N) and Steve Chadwick (L) spoke, as the hosting MP’s and Chair and VC of the Parliamentary Committee to Effect Change on Women’s Issues, and welcomed the organisers of the Global Poverty Project to Wellington, and also to Aotearoa/New Zealand, as they begin the launch of their campaign here.
In Australia, it’s fronted by Hugh Jackman, no less, and has had endorsements from Bono and other celebrities, but you can look at the website here.

In Wellington, we were treated to a very well-presented launch by Hugh Evans, a young man who first experienced the priviledge of his birthright when he was taken to the Phillipines by World Vision as a 14 year-old schoolboy. He realised then that most of the things he took for granted about his life (home, access to schooling, his parents’ jobs) were essentially an accident of birth – if he had been born at the same time, in another place, his life might have been like that of the teenagers he met, who survived by selling scavenged metals on the Burning Mountain rubbish dump that he visited.

The presentation is travelling around New Zealand, visiting the major cities.
It’s back here in Wellington on Friday 28th August, at Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus of Victoria University of Wellington. Lecture Theatres are on the ground floor, there’ll be signs to guide you to the right one(s).
RSVP to
newzealand@globalpovertyproject.com
so they have some idea how many lecture theatres they’ll need! They requested that for today as a deadline, but if you find this late, Sarah is a very accommodating person and may let you off.

 

Supersizemypay 2.0

On Friday, I went to a cheery Campaign launch in Wellington for the latest Unite! minimum wage increase call – to raise the minimum to $15/hour.

We gathered at the Southern Cross in Abel Smith St, to be welcomed by Don Franks MC-ing, and a warm-up performance by the Union Choir, who sang stirringly and melodically.

Union Choir at Unite! Campaign launch

There were a few more speeches after the intro, then a time of social chitchat and networking was enjoyed by all.

Details of the new campaign can be found at Unite! website.

 

Tamils march around Wellington, the press doesn’t seem to care.

In contrast to the media frenzy I witnessed over the S92a Petition being presented at lunchtime yesterday, only a couple of media representatives were on hand to record this. At least Scoop posted something vaguely accurate – although there were more like 200-plus Tamils, including children in the count, which I confirmed by asking one of the organisers.

The combined Tamil communities of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Palmerston North gathered in Wellington on Thursday (19th February 2009) to march through town and around to the British and Indian High Commissions, and the American Embassy, before arriving at Parliament to entreat the Government to issue a statement condemning the actions of the Indian Government in their military actions in Northern Sri Lanka against the Tamil peoples.

After waiting patiently while another group of petitioners were addressed on Parliament steps, the crowd stood waving banners and chanting “Free Tamil Eelam”, and “Help Us”.
Green Party MP Keith Locke came to address the crowd from the forecourt.

A dvd of footage taken during recent military actions against Tamil communities in northern Sri Lanka was being distributed to interested media, in order to show the kind of warfare occurring, and conditions in which the wounded and dying were being managed.
The hand-held, shaky images, with voiceover by the cameraperson, are powerful and ultimately very disturbing. There are no UN or Red Cross personnel allowed in Tamil-held parts of Sri Lanka, so there are few medical supplies, no adequate water or sterile situations for examining wounded and dying civilians brought to treatment stations.
The footage shows children screaming hysterically at the feet of sheet-wrapped corpses, traumatised by the bombing they have just survived, as much as the violent death of a parent just witnessed.
Children found by a camera operator, sitting in a dirt trench behind a collapsed house, the most minimal bomb shelter you can imagine, crying with fear and traumatised, waiting for older siblings or parents to return. Not leaving, because they have been trained to stay until they are told to come out …

More information about actions taking place in other countries at the links below.

Tamilnet
British Tamils Forum
Canadian Tamils site

 

An open dig at the “intelligence services”

The Sunday Papers have had a field day, following up on the stories about Maire Leadbetter and Keith Locke’s SIS files, which have dribbled on in the DomPost at a relatively slow pace for the past couple of months, and the exposure of Rob Gilchrist which came out about six weeks ago.

Anthony Hubbard at the SST has made some good points here, and the story has been mirrored, with slight variations over at the Herald on Sunday.

In a comment on the post at Indymedia a week ago, I jokingly suggested that every activist in NZ should request their file, to clog up the SIS admin systems.
The folk at Oct15th Solidarity have followed up on that in their latest newsletter, which is downloadable from the website, providing the addresses for anyone to write in and demand, as is their right under NZ citizenship, to have any information kept on them released. Invoke the Official Information Act, if you so desire.

Given that so far, they are known to have targeted politicians, eco-activists, animal rights groups, peace activists, and I dare say, those whose names have been attatched to policy discussion documents or website fora; if everyone who thinks they might have been a subject of investigation writes in, they could be tied up answering the mail for some months.
Finally, a use of public money that is transparent and accountable …

 

Yay!

The special votes are finally in, and along with them new Green MP, Kennedy Graham:

The Greens gain a new MP and National lose one with the special votes now counted.

There were 270,965 special votes – that is people who voted in advance, from outside their electorate or overseas.

The results were released by Chief Electoral Officer Robert Peden on Saturday afternoon.

The Greens picked up about 0.3%, or about 70,000 more party votes.

That gives them a ninth MP – Kennedy Graham. He has been attending Caucus and preparing to become an MP as it was always likely he would make it in. The Greens traditionally do well on special votes.

70,000 votes out of 270,000 specials cast is nearly 26 percent.  Which apparently was a misprint by NZPA/TVNZ.  It looks like we got about 23,000 votes or roughly 9.1 percent. That suggests the Greens’ twin overseas vote and late enrolment vote campaigns were both very successful.  It seems kind of appropriate the Graham should be reliant in part on overseas votes for his seat in Parliament given his work towards global disarmament and peace.

Nice work Kennedy!