Darkness at Noon

A few photos from today’s rally at the MCG:

Australian giving week starts next week.

OurCommunity.com.au have put together a site for it which is well worth a look.

So check out: http://www.givingweek.com.au/

It’s no secret that, at times, John Howard leaves me feeling positively homicidal. However there are times when you really must admire how politically astute he is. Take the opening pars of this article in today’s Age:

MAJOR new developments across Australia will not face compulsory assessments of their climate-change impact to win approval, with the Federal Government ruling out adding a “greenhouse trigger” to a key environmental law.

Instead, the Government will today push ahead with its changes to the law, which include creating new powers to detain people suspected of environmental crimes for up to a week without charge, a move largely aimed at illegal fishermen from overseas.

The changes would also give the Environment Minister more say on politically sensitive issues such as protecting threatened species and heritage sites, and make it harder for people to block developments on environmental grounds in court.

Who would have though you could further reduce someone’s civil liberties for environmental abuses?

That said, I’d like to see a “greenhouse trigger” built into a lot of laws.

Paul over at two peas, no pod has pointed us to the Guardian’s top 100 Green campaigners of all time.

There aren’t enough of these sorts of lists although I must admit I’d rather see a list of the unsung hero’s of the movement much like National Indigenous Times of Dissenting Indigenous Voices I mentioned back in May.

There has been a lot of criticism about the G20 protesters not providing a unified message and not being able to articulate why they have problems with the meeting. I think the G20 meeting attendees manage to explain that themselves:

Treasurer Peter Costello, who chaired the meeting, declared it “extremely successful”.

He highlighted its endorsement of a broad statement of support for “well-functioning markets” as the best way of giving countries future access to energy sources and new technologies needed to tackle climate change.

The finance ministers and bank governors, including US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and his counterparts from Europe, Japan, China and India, also gave each other a warning to tighten economic policies, to end the days of easy money and big deficits.

“We need to take advantage of the present strength in the global economy to get policy settings right,” they declared.

In comments directed primarily at the US, Europe and Japan, they warned of the potential for inflation, urged further “normalisation” of interest rates, and called on governments to improve their budget balances now so they could respond to any future slump in growth. “We are determined to implement these policies,” they warned.

I attended the G20 protests yesterday. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so can’t provide you with any photos. However even if I did have some photos you wouldn’t see much out of the ordinary as I saw no violence what so ever and just a pleasant little celebration of resistance.

The Age and others have reported about Anarchist group, the Arterial Block, who were causing a bit of a commotion. I saw none of this and can’t help but feel that the protests have been massively misrepresented. Most, the vast majority, were quite well behaved.

Moreover, the numbers reported are quite skewed. I’d estimate at least 5,000 people marching, possibly a bit more. From what I saw the Arterial Block were 20 or 30 at best. It’s hard to organise a group any bigger to partake in such activities where your body is on the line.

So, there were a few protesters that might have taken it too far. But please, lets keep it in perspective. There were 20 or 30 trouble makes, the rest were people with genuine concerns about the legitimacy of the G 20 meeting.

Well the G20 is warming up, so is Melbourne, and if those kooky climate change people have anything to say, so is the globe.

I’ve just been cycling around the Hyatt in Melbourne having a look at the area the cops have quarantined off just in case that nasty neo-liberal infection gets out. There isn’t much to show but I thought I’d post a few photos for your enjoyment:

The only real protest going on at the moment, a Christian group I believe:

Falun Gong always out in force, presumably saying hi to the Chinese delegates:

The guy on the right was a complete arsehole not happy about his photo being taken:

…and just for good measure, probably my favourite bit of art in the city at the moment:

The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice has just issued the following press release:

No Democracy at G20 Meeting

For Immediate Release 15/11

The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice expressed its concern today about the G20 meeting in Melbourne starting tomorrow.

The Melbourne-based social and ecological justice organisation joined with the chorus of community organisations, churches, unions, environment groups and others around Australia and the world in expressing its concern about the meeting and its agenda.

“Our key concern is that major decisions about the world’s economy are made at these meetings and there is a lack of representation from non-corporate interests,” director Hammy Goonan said today. “The meeting has no democratic mandate, and will make decisions that have broad reaching implications for all Australians.”

“If we are to move towards a just and sustainable world then meetings like this need to stop happening behind closed doors and a wider cross section of interests need to be represented,” continued Mr Goonan. “Exclusive meetings like this simply put barriers in the way of real progress being made.”

The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice have also shown clear support for the protests that will be occorring over the weekend and hope that they will be a peaceful, constructive display of defiance.

Hammy Goonan is available for comment on 0402 072 653

Well I’ve been back from overseas now for a little while and have been a bad person not blogging here. So to get my return to blogging kicked off I thought I’d post a few photos of some political stuff and some street art that I saw while I was travelling, starting with this stencil I saw in Rome:

In Venice, African immigrants are saying “no one is illegal”

Venice is also one of the cleanest cities I went to (well, except for the water) so I was surprised to see any street art at all, let alone this one:

In Berlin, street art can get to be 5 stories high:

Berlin’s “East Side Gallery” which is on what remains of the Berlin Wall:

Checkpoint Charlie:

I think this one was in London somewhere but I’m not 100% sure:

Protesting Israel’s attack on Lebanon with something like 250,000 friends in London:

Belfast:

…and Belfast again but a good indication of the changing themes of the murals:

…and Belfast again:

Bristol, this was done at least 3 stories above the ground:

Bristol again:

A group of Anarchists in Barcelona. I’m not sure what they were protesting but I asked a German friend who spoke a little Spanish (but no Catalan) said “I don’t know, I think they are protesting the rich.”

The next few are from Valencia:

Some street art in Granada:

Finally, a Buddhist Ronald in Bangkok: