Christians Against ALL Terrorism in Brisbane have recently been attempting to exorcise the Raytheon Corporation from the dark spirits of greed, violence and deliberate indifference to injustice and human suffering.
After a series of three exorcisms, two arrestees were brought to court in late July and successfully defended a charge of 'disobeying a police direction' from the first exorcism. An hour later they were told that the charge of 'wilful damage' from the third exorcism had been dropped.
Unfortunately Raytheon is still producing weapons of mass destruction, so it looks like the exorcisms need to continue.

Links: Sydney Indymedia | Raytheon 9 | NZ Superfund Investments

While capital, commodities and rich people get to travel more freely around the world, workers’ freedom to move is increasingly restricted. Big companies can move freely to where labour is cheaper, for instance, but workers can’t move freely to where wages are higher. The Labour government favours free trade agreements, for instance, while imposing new racist immigration restrictions.

It’s in the interests of workers to support each other and make common cause for the maximum freedom possible. Come along to this workers’ forum and find out more about Labour’s new immigration controls and how we can fight them.

Christchurch Workers Party forum

7.15pm, Monday, August 25

Workers Educational Association (WEA), 59 Gloucester Street

Links: Assaulting Civil Liberties and Limiting Workers Freedom: The Immigration Bill | Immigration Bill Violates Convention against Torture

Protest: Wednesday, 20 August, 5pm-7pm at Sky City

It costs $990 to go along to a few sessions of the "Climate Change and Business Conference" being held at Sky City Convention Centre this week. But it doesn't cost you anything to tell the policy-makers and corporations that you are more interested in stopping dangerous climate chaos than making money out of it!

Links: Climaction | Conference Website

A tribal chief in Indonesian occupied West Papua launched a legal campaign on August 11 to get compensation from the US mining giant Freeport for environmental damage to his homelands.

Fabianus P., chief of the Kapiraya tribe, said tailings from Freeport's huge gold and copper mine in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province were causing more widespread ecological damage than was known, the PNG Post Courier cited the Indonesian Antara news agency in an August 13 report.

"He said several rivers in his tribe's Kaimana district had been polluted, killing wildlife and poisoning water sources for local people. Mine waste was also fouling parts of the Etna Gulf coastline. [More]

Links: Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific | Recent protests in Auckland against NZ Super Fund investments in Freeport

Monday 18 August - 4pm - Outside the Skycity Convention Centre 88 Federal Street Auckland

Protest the Lack of real action on climate change and demand real and adequate change.

This Monday the Climate Change and Business Conference will be held at the Skytower Convention Centre. Many business leaders from industries and companies that are the worst climate change offenders will be giving keynote speeches at the conference, including Don Elder, CEO of Solid Energy. Solid Energy is planning on destroying plenty of native bush, and fragile wetlands to mine coal at Happy Valley in the South Island. [Save Happy Valley Coalition]

New Zealand is known for its clean and green image, but the reality reveals something else. Emissions trading schemes are the new corporate 'solution' to rising emissions and unsustainable growth dependent on fossil fuels. Simply re-branding industries like the coal and oil industries and allowing 'offset options' for airfares does not change the reality of a warming world and changing climate.

Demand change, and call for real action and polluter pays, not public subsides and corporate wellfare for the largest polluters, like Fonterra, Comalco and NZ Steel.

See Socialist Aotearoa for more info.

Rangi Kemara and Tuhoe Lambert yesterday appeared in the Auckland district court seeking variations to their bail conditions.

The two Operation Eight defendants were seeking variation to their bail to allow them some limited association.

This request was denied by the Judge, who also ruled that no further detail of the proceedings were to be reported on.

October 15 Solidarity

"Kiribati people are their own failures, they weren't motivated. I couldn't get them to work," was the comment made to the Otago Daily Times by Garry Maxwell-Smith, the Marlborough contractor who crammed 22 people into a three bedroom apartment.

The Department of Labour was reportedly investigating Garry Maxwell-Smith and his company Fore-Vintage Contracting, for treating migrant workers like so much garbage. To top it all off, 60 or so Kiribati workers have been sent home penniless after the promised work has run out.

With the Pacific Forum in Niue next week, alarm bells should be ringing as Australia and New Zealand tighten their grip over the Pacific labour markets and plan to set up more schemes to tap into a vast pool of Pacific labour, which through seasonal work schemes can be mobilised and then dumped back into the labour pool with the ease of turning on a tap. Just 100% pure minimum wage labour. 100% New Zealand.

The future of the Pacific seems to be looking grim with these relevations, which come hot on the heels of leaked details of Australia attempting to bully Pacific nations into a free trade agreement which will no doubt "lead to rising inequality, losses in government revenue, job losses, a reduction in the quality and supply of essential services and the closing off of policy space that governments use to stimulate development."

Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua

Update 14th August: Greens on Campus will be holding an informal discussion with Mohamed tomorrow (Friday 15th August)at 11am in Cultural Space at the University of Auckland.

GPJA August Forum this MONDAY

Hear Mohamed Yeslem Beissat from the Polisario Front talk about the struggle of the Saharawi people of Western Sahara for self determination and freedom from Moroccan occupation.

MONDAY 18th August, 7.30pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn.

New Zealand has a strong connection with Western Sahara because we import phosphate mined by Moroccan-based corporations in Western Sahara in defiance of United Nations protocols. New Zealand's Illegal Trade in North Africa

Mohamed Yeslem Beissat from Western Sahara will speak about the struggle of his people for self-determination. Beissat is in the POLISARIO Front, Minister delegated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Charge for Africa. Beissat lives in the refugee camps of south-west Algiers where the Saharawi have built a government-in-exile and lead the fight for their land against Moroccan occupation. Beissat is in Auckland for a few days ahead of the Pacific Forum.

Recently Vanuatu and the Saharawi Republic established diplomatic relations at Ambassadorial level. [More]

Links: Australia Western Sahara Association | 2004 Polisario press release on solidarity in NZ