Deaths in Custody Watch Committee (Western AAustralia) spokesperson, Marc Newhouse today announced a series of protest actions to be held following the Director of Public Prosecutions鈥 decision not to lay criminal charges against any of the parties responsible for the death in custody of Mr Ward in 2008. Mr Ward, an Aboriginal elder, died while being transported hundreds of kilometres across the WA Goldfields in a privately-operated prison van with faulty air conditioning.
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A national gathering of Aboriginal community leaders will expose what they describe as the 鈥渢reachery inherent in government policies targeting the civil and political rights鈥 of their communities.
The New Way Aboriginal Summit, being held in Melbourne from July 1 鈥 4 to coincide with NAIDOC Week, will host a press conference at 12.40 pm this Friday 2nd July at Trades Hall Council, the main summit venue.
Location: 'I have a dream' mural, King Street, Newtown
When: Friday July 2, 4.30-6pm
Representatives of local community organisations and political parties will take part in a community speak-out against racism on Friday July 2 in Newtown.
They will assemble under the 鈥淚 have a dream鈥 mural 鈥 featuring the legendary anti-racist Black American campaigner Martin Luther King.
Speakers participating include:
On June 5, New South Wales Teachers Federation state council voted to initiate a 鈥淪top the Privatisation鈥 forum to organise against the state government鈥檚 privatisation plans for the public sector.
The forum will invite participation from the Public Sector Association (PSA), Fire Brigade Employees Union (FBEU) and other public sector unions. After the forum, the federation will initiate a public sector delegates meeting to discuss and organise a public sector-wide response to the privatisation agenda.
June 21 marked the third anniversary of the Howard government鈥檚 鈥渘ational emergency鈥 intervention in 73 prescribed Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, the so-called Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER).
The federal Labor government passed the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Reform and Reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act) bill on June 21 鈥 exactly three years after the Northern Territory intervention was launched by the Howard-Coalition government.
Welfare quarantining:
鈥 Will be extended to include about 20,000 people in the NT, starting from July 1;
鈥 Can be applied to young people on Centrelink payments, people who have been on unemployment or parenting benefits for more than a year, or people referred by family services;
It is with great sadness that 麻豆传媒 Weekly reports the death of human rights activist Rosemarie Waratah Gillespie, 69, who unexpectedly died in Melbourne on June 21 from a stroke. An activist for more than 40 years, she was a human rights lawyer, activist, author, filmmaker, anti-capitalist, Indigenous activist and mother. Waratah lived in Port Kembla and frequently travelled to Sydney to attend meetings at Humanist House, where she was vice president of the Humanist Society. The society was just one of her many passions.
Professor John Mendoza, head advisor to the federal government on mental health, recently resigned his position, citing frustration at government inaction on one of Australia鈥檚 leading causes of death and disability.
The article below is abridged from a letter he sent to members of campaign groups GetUp! explaining his reasons for resigning.
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On June 18, I resigned my position as the head advisor to the government on mental health.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on June 22 the formation of a three-member panel to advise him on whether Sri Lanka committed crimes during the last months of its war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Reuters said that day.
On June 25, ABC News Radio reported 79 occupation soldiers had been killed so far that month, the highest number in any month since the October 2001 US-led invasion.
On June 23, US President Barack Obama sacked the commander of US-led occupation forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal 鈥 but not for the rising body count.
The sacking was in response to a July Rolling Stone article in which McChrystal and his aides regularly refer to civilian leaders of the occupying powers (including Obama) using terms such as 鈥渃lown鈥 and 鈥渇ucking gay鈥.
On June 1, part-Peruvian US actor and indigenous rights activist Q鈥檕rianka Kilcher was arrested for 鈥渄isorderly conduct鈥 after chaining herself to the White House fence while Peruvian President Alan Garcia met with US President Barack Obama.
Garcia refers to the Amazonian indigenous peoples of his country as barbaric savages. Kilcher had doused her body in black paint, symbolic of the oil killing the Amazon and its people.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa began its final round of 16 on June 26. it came amid the unrelenting drone of vuvuzela horns, the knockout of big teams such as Italy and France, and street protests by local residents angry at the 40 billion rand the government has spent on the corporatised event.
Meanwhile, South Africa鈥檚 poor suffer substandard housing and access to basic services.
Football, or 鈥渟occer鈥 in Australia, is the 鈥渨orld game鈥, played by millions of people around the world and watched by hundreds of millions more. But is it truly the 鈥減eople鈥檚 game鈥?
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