#198, August 21, 2007 Help save Ali Panah!

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER #198, August 21, 2007

Website http://www.gpja.org.nz/ Contact details: Forums – John Minto, Work: (09) 845 2132, Home 09 846 3176 jbminto@xtra.co.nz; Newsletter Editor – Mike Treen 021 211 5530 / 09 845 4027 mike@unite.org.nz; Web page - media@ndu.org.nz Donations can be sent to GPJA, P O Box 7175, Welesley St, Auckland. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter visit http://www.gpja.org/ or click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.

Dear friends,

RECENT MEDIA COMMENT ON PANAH CASE
Anglican Archbishops ask for mercy for Ali Panah
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0708/S00253.htm

HELP SAVE ALI PANAH - Four things you can do to help Ali Panah:
(1) Sign the petition initiated by concerned Anglicans
http://justice.anglican.org.nz/action/ali-panah-petition/
(2) Email Minister of Immigration David Cunliffe and the prime minister (with copies to us) to request Ali be given a temporary visa until it is safe for him to return to Iran. David Cunliffe dcunliffe@ministers.govt.nz Helen Clark pm@ministers.govt.nz
(3) Get your union, church or community group to issue a media release in support of Ali Panah
(4) Advertise and attend a picket outside Auckland hospital in Park Road at 12 noon this Saturday (18th August)
BACKGROUND
Iranian Ali Panah is on the 33rd day of a hunger strike in protest at his detention without trial or charge for the past 18 months. He was transferred from Mt Eden prison to Auckland hospital last week. He is refusing all food as well as a drip and is taking water only. He is weak, becoming emaciated and confused.
Ali arrived here several years ago and applied for refugee status. His application was declined and he was arrested 18 months ago and detained at Mt Eden Prison to be deported. However it is not safe for him to return to Iran so he has refused to sign papers applying for an Iranian passport.
As a Christian convert (before he came to NZ) his life would be in danger. Ali has the strong support of his New Zealand employer, his Anglican vicar and fellow parishioners as well as the Iranian community in New Zealand.
Amnesty International says that in cases like this the government should issue a temporary visa until it is safe for Ali to return to Iran. David Cunliffe is refusing to use his discretion under the Immigration Act to do this.
We are requesting all organisation and individuals to support this request.
Please act urgently.
Mike Treen (mike@unite.org.nz) 021 211 5530
John Minto (john@unite.org.nz) Phone 0064 9 8463173 or 0064 9 8452132

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." : Albert Einstein - (1879-1955) Physicist and Professor, Nobel Prize 1921

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HELP END SECRET CONTRIBUTIONS TO POLITICAL PARTIES IN NEWZEALAND
Please spend a few minutes to make a difference to a new law tackling the influence of big money and secret money in our elections. Just click the link below to have your say to the Parliamentary committee overseeing the law. Public pressure is vital to ensure we take secret money out of our elections.
http://cog.org.nz/

REPORT ON NZ OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION - the advance unedited edition of the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the NZ government's compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination has just been released - the text is copied below, and a formatted printable pdf file is available at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/CERD71-Obs.pdf
Background information on the Committee, the Convention, links to the NGO parallel reports, the government reports, media releases and more is available at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/cerd71.htm - that page will be updated with new statements and releases as they become available over the next few days.

RAJ PATEL, AUTHOR OF ''STUFFED AND STARVED - MARKETS, POWER AND THE HIDDEN BATTLE FOR THE WORLD FOOD SYSTEM'', will be visiting New Zealand September
20-26. He will be giving public talks and leading activist workshops in Christchurch (Friday 21 / Saturday 22), Wellington (Monday 24) and Auckland (Tuesday 25/Wednesday 26). Raj's visit is a unique opportunity to hear and to work with an intellectual and activist from the frontline of the struggle against unjust, unsustainable globalisation. If you are able to publicise Raj's visit to your networks/members please get in touch, and we will send a poster and full programme. Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Christine Dann for Fair World Links. (Raj's visit is organised by Fair World Links and supported by Christian World Service, THE Council for International Development, the Development Resource Centre, Nature's Organics, Oxfam, Trade Aid, and World Vision. So far - if
you/your organisation would like to make a donation towards the tour then cheques (made out to Fair World Links) can be posted to P.O. Box 46, Diamond Harbour 8941, or money can be deposited in Kiwibank account Fair World Links 389002 0983080 00 50) Contact: Christine Dann christine.dann@clear.net.nz

BASSETT! TROTSKY! From the personal library of the Hon Michael Bassett, Labour cabinet member and historian, lefty in the swinging sixties when he wrote his PhD thesis on the American Socialist Party and was active in the Auckland University Princess St Branch of the Labour Party,
eventually a cabinet minister in the notorious 1984-1990 Lange-Douglas government, and then all the way on his right-wing trajectory into the ACT Party — the classic three volume Isaac Deutscher Life of Trotsky (Oxford University Press 1963, hard cover, first edition) signed and annotated by the young rebel Bassett! In immaculate condition! $500! A historical gem and a fund-raiser for Workers’ Charter!
Help Michael Bassett and Leon Trotsky fund the workers’ paper! Contact Workers Charter for details: editor@workerscharter.org.nz

TAMAKI MAKAURAU DECLARATION AGAINST CORPORATE CONTROL AND FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE Kia ora, Between the 9th and 11th of September, 2007, the Auckland War Memorial Museum will host the second annual United States New Zealand Partnership Forum. This forum is a meeting of US and NZ corporations as well as representatives from both governments to develop closer economic, political and military ties between the two countries. The organising body of the forum, the NZUS Partnership Council was formed around pushing for a neo-liberal free trade agreement between the two nations. In response to this forum, a broad network of activists, union organisers, environmentalists and social justice campaigners have formed the Our World Is Not For Sale campaign. Our campaign aims to raise public awareness about the negative effects of a free trade agreement with the US. On Monday September 10, we intend to march to the forum and protest the selling off of Aotearoa/New Zealand and the world. Below is a declaration for organisations to sign-on to regarding the Our World Is Not For Sale campaign. If you wish to add your organisation or group name to this letter, please send your details to the secretariat of the campaign, the A Space Inside Collective, email: aspaceinside@gmail.com - the deadline is 25 August. Thank you.
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Tamaki Makaurau Declaration against Corporate Control and for Global Justice
We, the below signed civil society organisations and peace & justice groups resolve:
1. Aotearoa is not for sale- Free trade agreements only perpetuate unfair and unbalanced trade rules. A free trade deal would mean that US corporations would be able to sue the government for threatening their profits. This could be by not privatising schools or hospitals, by subsidising life-saving medicines, or refusing to allow imports of genetically modified organisms.
The government of New Zealand has no right or democratic mandate to sign trade agreements that undermine the ability of New Zealanders to control our economy and further open up our public resources and institutions to corporate control.

2. Peace and justice are not for sale- We believe that it is ethically repugnant to seek to negotiate a trade agreement with a government that continues to occupy and terrorise the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Trade agreements should not be negotiated with governments violating international laws and treaties.
The government of New Zealand should not be tightening economic, military or political relations with a nation that continues to flout international law and regularly violates the United Nations Charter by pre-emptive attacks on soveriegn nations.
3. Our world is not for sale- A US-NZ trade agreement is a stepping stone to a fully deregulated global economy where powerful corporations have more power than governments and civil society organisations. The sort of global economy advocated by the USNZ Partnership Forum does not provide for environmental protection, labour rights or even local democracy.
The government of New Zealand must end its role in creating, through the World Trade Organisation, free trade agreements and its support for the IMF and World Bank a global economy that perpetuates social injustice, devastating poverty and exploitation.
4. The environment is not for sale- The corporations involved in pushing for a free trade agreement between New Zealand and the US, only seek to open up our unique and fragile ecosystems to destructive industrial development. A free trade agreement will mean that environmental protections could be removed as they constitute "barriers to free trade".
The government of New Zealand must ensure that its participation in international treaties does not compromise our ability to manage our environment sustainability and our ability to protect our ecosystems from being spoiled.
For global justice and against corporate control,

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR THE THE ROGER AWARD
Nominations are now open for this most prestigious and keenly contested annual Award (won by Progressive Enterprises in 2006; the previous winners are: Westpac/BNZ, Telecom, Juken Nissho, Carter Holt Harvey, TransAlta Monsanto and TranzRail – 3 times). Nominations close on October 31.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0706/S00327.htm

INVITATION TO JOIN THE NEXT AUSTRALIAN SOLIDARITY BRIGADE TO VENEZUELA
November 23 - December 3, 2007 - The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network’s brigades to Venezuela are a unique opportunity to see first-hand the unfolding revolution in that country. The Venezuelan people, led by George Bush’s arch-enemy, President Hugo Chavez, have taken over more workplaces, set up more cooperatives, established hundreds of free public education and health programs, organised their neighbourhoods and taken big steps towards exercising “popular power” at every level of their society. Participants on the November-December 2007 brigade will meet with a wide range of community organisations involved in transforming Venezuelan society, visit occupied factories and educational institutions, see participatory democracy at work in the communal councils and people’s banks, and speak to government and grassroots organisations about the radical changes being implemented by the Venezuelan people. This brigade will include a special focus on justice for Indigenous people, and will include visits to Indigenous communities and meetings with Indigenous activists and leaders. Accommodation, transport and English translation in Venezuela will be organised for participants, and the AVSN can help you book your travel to and from Australia. The total cost, including return international airfares, is around A$4500. The deadline for registering for the November-December 2007 brigade is August 31. If you are interested in being part of this inspiring and educational experience, please complete the registration form at www.venezuelasolidarity.org, email brigades@venezuelasolidarity.org

VISIT CUBA THIS SUMMER
Cuba consistently makes the news: whether it is it’s health care system (see Salud or Sicko), its response to its oil crisis, its environmental programmes, or by remaining a political opponent of US imperialism for forty years. It is also the home of salsa and its music is world renowned.
Registrations are open for the 25th Southern Cross Brigade to Cuba. Members of the Brigade, which is made up of Australians and New Zealanders, spend approximately four weeks in Cuba, leaving 27th December and returning 24th January. The all up cost is $5500, including airfare, spending money and all accommodation and meals. Members of the Brigade often stay longer in Cuba as private travelers or move onto other countries in the region. For further enquiries and registration e- mail Ina at inashina@clear.net.nz or Paul at wkcultur@ihug.co.nz (03 732 4010).

LATIN AMERICAN AND ASIA PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY FORUM - OCT 11-14, 2007 - MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Dear Friend, We are writing to invite you to participate in the Latin American and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum - Fighting and organising globally against neoliberalism! (October 11-14th 2007). To read the conference call go to: http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node/325 Further Information: Email solidarityforum2007@yahoo.com To join our discussion group go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Solidarity-Forum-2007

WHAT’S ON IN AUCKLAND

Sunday, August 26, 4pm, Pompallier Centre, 30 New St Ponsonby
A SOLIDARITY EVENING - Your chance to meet the following important people and learn about their activities for justice and peace. Malahayati from Aceh: Womens Rights Activist. Veronika
from West Papua, Catholic Justice and Peace worker. Naing Ko Ko, pro-democracy activist and former political prisoner from Burma (Federation of Trade Unions Burma) now living and studying in Auckland. Short addresses from each will be followed by a light meal and a time to socialise. All welcome - contributions to the meal are very welcome. IHRC maire@clear.net.nz Box 68-419, Auckland

September 10, 12 noon, Aotea Square, Queen St
PROTEST MARCH TO THE US-NZ PARTNERSHIP FORUM – Tell Helen Clark: - Don’t support the US wars of terror in Iraq and Afghanistan; - Don’t sign trade agreements that give away our right to control our own economy; - Justice and human rights in the Pacific is not for sale. Contact A Space Inside Collective aspaceinside@gmail.com Ph 021 150 3597 http://ourworldisnotforsale.wordpress.com/

Thursday, September 13, 7.30pm, Auckland Centre University of Otago House 385 Queen Street (Free Parking ) PROF WILLIAM HARRIS - POLITICAL STUDIES - MIDDLE EASTERN SCENARIOS IN THE 21ST CENTURY Part of a series of free public lectures starting May 10 at the University of Otago Auckland Centre. http://www.otago.ac.nz/aucklandcentre/whatson/index.html

Sunday, September 23, 3pm, St. Matthew-in-the-City, crn. Hobson and Wellesley Streets
United Nations International Day of Peace –Celebrates the declaration of Auckland Peace City and the 20th Anniversary of Nuclear Free New Zealand legislation. Also, SGI Exhibition launch for ‘Creating a Culture of Peace: The Right to Human Security’. The event includes Interfaith Choirs, music and youth readings, plus Mayor Dick Hubbard and local MPs. Event organised by UNANZ, Ak. Interfaith Council and Soka Gakkai International. More info. contact Laurie Ross on 811 8696 laurie-ross@xtra.co.nz

24th Sept. – 5th Oct. – Exhibition ‘Creating a Culture of Peace: The Right to Human Security’ produced by Soka Gakkai International as part of the United Nations Decade for Peace. Available for public viewing at AUT Library foyer in Wellesley Street.

Wednesday, September 26, 12-2pm, AUT Student Quad
Special lunchtime event to mark the annual U.N. International Day of Peace. Speakers, music, information stalls. More info. contact Laurie 811 8696

BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND
UN Report Raises a Broad Range of Issues
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0708/S00261.htm
Maori Party Unsurprised at UN bad report card
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0708/S00327.htm
Benefit denial may be more widespread
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0708/S00342.htm
Orangutan And Grim Reaper Protest Outside ANZ
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0708/S00331.htm
Skycity should repay stolen money - Problem Gambling Foundation - Today would be the ideal time for Skycity to refund the $700,000 stolen from a charity and gambled away in front of casino staff says the Problem Gambling Foundation
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0708/S00268.htm

AUSTRALIA
The ABC’s JTV program did a story on young people and trade unions. Reporter Steve Cannane spoke to several people including Anthony Main Secretary of UNITE, Jeff Lawrence Secretary of the ACTU and Danielle Archer from the Young Unionist Network in Victoria to get some different points of view.
http://www.abc.net.au/jtv/video/segment_HACK.htm?clip=unionism

VENEZUELA
Scaling the heights Alice O'Keeffe - RSS Venezuela's pioneering classical music programme for children has produced world-class artists such as the young conductor Gustavo Dudamel. It has also quietly transformed the social fabric of the country.
http://www.newstatesman.com/200708090026
Chavez Proposes Changes to Venezuela’s Constitution to Pave Way for Socialism
http://www.bolivariancircle.org/?q=node/291
Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela Prepares to Elect Congress Delegates
http://www.bolivariancircle.org/?q=node/285

CUBA
An Interview with Doug Morris Reflections on Cuba By RICK SMITH
http://counterpunch.org/smith08182007.html

PALESTINE
Occupation 101 - An award-winning documentary film on the root causes of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The film depicts life in occupied Palestine
under Israeli military occupation.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18145.htm
Hamas is ready to talk - by Mousa Abu Marzook, deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2149424,00.html
A Man-Made Ruination: Can You Hear the Cries from Gaza?
http://www.counterpunch.org/karkar08152007.html

UK
The most important protest of our time
http://www.newstatesman.com/200708160010
Born equal?
http://www.newstatesman.com/200708090024

JOHN PILGER
The old Iran-Contra death squad gang is desperate to discredit Chavez - Democracy and hope in Latin America have been revived by Venezuela's leader. But the forces allied against him are formidable
Good Ol' Bill, the liberal hero - Entering the "grotesquely paid presence" of Bill Clinton
http://www.newstatesman.com/200708090019
"It never happened..." - Concealed during the Alan Johnston kidnap crisis was the fate of a Palestinian cameraman shot by the Israelis. The BBC, desperate to deny charges of "bias", refused to follow the story.
http://www.newstatesman.com/200707260028
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2150484,00.html