Jonathan Sri and Jean Cameron-Cronin at Right to Space
At a forum held in solidarity with Brisbane’s homeless at the ETU offices in South Brisbane last night, Jonathan Sri took up the challenge of a homeless person to “walk a week in my shoes”. Starting from today, December 16th Councillor Sri will spend a week on the streets, sleeping, eating and using the toilets that the homeless have to use. The challenge was issued to the entire audience.
Jean Cameron-Cronin talked about institutions acting to protect themselves from their clients: failing to house victims of domestic violence “in case the perpetrator destroys the property”; failing to shelter the mentally ill “in case they cannot pay the rent”.
Billed as The Right to Space – Building solidarity with Brisbane’s Homeless People, the event was organised by Unite, an anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist, anti-racist, feminist and environmentalist organisation, based in Fortitude Valley.
More details available through https://www.facebook.com/unitebrisbane/
The Wangan Jagalingou people are mounting another legal challenge to the Qld government
Activist groups around the country are preparing to defend the Wangan Jagalingou lands in the Galilee Basin from coal mines.
The recently approved Adani mine will provide less than 1,500 jobs and will consume 12 billion litres of water each year and create a hole in the ground 64 square kilometres in size.
Direct action on the site will not commence until initiated by local First Nations people.
A group known as Galilee Blockade is coordinating actions around the country, Get Up, World Wildlife Foundation, The Greens and Greenpeace have all announced their support for the Wangan and Jagalingou people, setting up petitions and running advertising campaigns.
The Cage encourages people to directly support the Wangan Jagalingou people as much as possible.
Sdyney Grammar students makde $750 malaria drug cheaply
Sydney Grammar School students have synthesized the essential malaria drug Daraprim that currently sells for $750. The anti-parasitic drug that was recently purchased by a wealthy wall street banker who increased the price from $13 to $750 as soon as he acquired control of the drug. The process developed by the Sydney students could be sold for $2 per dose if its equivalence is confirmed by the owner of the existing patent. Without that the new version drug cannot be sold until it is independently trialled. The project was led by academics trialling an Open Data approach to compete with Big Pharma. The current patent owner, Martin Shkreli, is facing investigation by Congress for his pricing behaviour and financial dealings.
Foreign Policy magazine (FP) last week reported that Mark Zuckerberg has failed in his most recent attempt to get facebook into China.
Zuckerberg has been courting Chinese officials to promote facebook’s new geographic filtering mechanism that allows governments to manipulate the information available to their citizens.
FP reports that the Chinese government is more concerned about positioning Chinese software such as WeChat in the global market. We Chat currently has two thirds of a billion users. Facebook has over one and a half billion.
Papuan students across Indonesia protest the murder of half a million of their people
West Papuan protestors in Jakarta were arrested and beaten by police on Friday following Pupuan Independence Day protests in response the ongoing massacre of West Papuans to make way for Indonesian coastal settlements, palm oil plantations and vast forest clearing. West Papua is home to the world’s largest gold mine and significant oil reserves, owned by American interests. Over half a million people have been killed by the Indonesian Government since it took control of the region in 1969.
International Workers Association wraps annual conference in Warsaw
The 26th International Workers Association Conference has just wrapped up in Warsaw. Delegates from Australia, the Americas, Asia and Europe met in the wake of the US election to hold their regular annual event in support of workers and the oppressed. A tour was conducted of memorials to the Polish anarchist’s significant role in fighting the Nazis during 1930s and 40s.
On the 2nd – 4th December 2016 there was a well attended congress of the IWA held in Warsaw, Poland whereupon it was resolved to reaffirm the aims, tactics and principles held by the IWA and to commit to strengthening and growing the international.
The congress has approved the creation of workplace organizer training and strategy for workplace activities groups. It was also decided to organize promotional events throughout the world to facilitate the dissemination of our ideas and encourage workers to join our ranks.
The congress also saw a number of new affiliations and, unfortunately, disaffiliations.
The CNT, FAU and USI have been disaffiliated as a result of a conscious disregard for process, statutes and dues of the IWA. The divisive and destructive attempts by of the CNT’s Confederal Committee in complicity with FAU and USI is nothing more than an attack on the very principles, tactics and aims of the IWA and anarchosyndicalism.
We denounce their attempts at appropriating the IWA’s name and creating a parallel organization to the IWA in the strongest terms possible.
We recognize the conflict within the CNT. We received declarations of support addressed to the congress by about 40 local unions from Spain (both current and former members of the CNT), and the congress was also attended by a number of observers from these and other unions who are concerned with developments within their organizations.
We remain in solidarity with one another and welcome those who are organising and fighting against exploitation to join us.
