AUSTRALIA....
Thursday, 1 November 2007
By Tara Ravens
DARWIN, November 14, 2007: The construction of a pit toilet on a sacred Aboriginal site by a contractor with the federal government's intervention will be investigated, says the Northern Territory government.
It is believed the toilet was built at the remote community of Numbulwar, about 600 kilometres south-east of Darwin.
Major General David Chalmers, who is overseeing the radical and sweeping reforms to combat child sex abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, on Monday said he would investigate the claim.
NT minister assisting the Chief Minister on Indigenous policy, Elliot McAdam, yesterday said the mishap raised serious questions about the Commonwealth's ability to engage with remote Aboriginal communities.
"It begs the questions ... in terms of the capacity of people associated with the intervention to be able to work in a real way with the communities and community members," he said.
Mr McAdam said the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA) would conduct an inquiry into the incident.
The AAPA is a twelve-member board established under the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act.
The act is legislation pursuant to special powers given to the Territory under Commonwealth legislation to protect sacred sites.
The Aboriginal lobby group Women for Wik yesterday said the construction of the toilet demonstrated "fundamental flaws" with the intervention process.
"This has occurred despite repeated assurances ... that sacred sites would be protected", said Olga Havnen, CEO of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT.
"The desecration of sacred sites is not something that can be repaired."
Eileen Cummings, former policy adviser to the NT chief minister, said the mishap demonstrated why there should be no changes to the permit system, which controls the access of non-Indigenous people onto Aboriginal land.
"You don't just go in and build something without talking to people. How can people know what is sacred and what isn't if they don't ask?" she said.
"I am not surprised that this could happen, given that the federal government is employing a deliberate policy of not consulting with Aboriginal communities.
"Even Telecom wouldn't put a line down without talking to the traditional owners." - AAP
National Indigenous Times
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Paul may have Sex Pistols endorsement
| - By Mike Aivaz and Muriel Kane When Jay Leno's interview of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on the Tonight Show was immediately followed by classic punk-rocker Johnny Rotten performing his song "Anarchy in the U.K." with the Sex Pistols, both men appeared to recognize a common bond. According to libertarian blogger Todd Seavey: "But what made the broadcast magic — and Leno himself noted it was fitting — was the Sex Pistols singing 'Anarchy in the UK' right after the Paul interview, with Johnny Rotten, after singing 'I want to be in anarchy,' adding a characteristically menacing but implicitly supportive 'Hello, Mr. Paul.' |  |
"And, as I’d hoped, the two of them shook hands just as the show ended. Since they’d implicitly bonded during the song, the moment avoided being awkward in the fashion of that famous Elvis-meets-Nixon handshake photo, which The Weekly Standard rightly put on its cover a decade ago to accompany an article on the idea that rock and conservatism, all wishful thinking aside, do not naturally mix."
"I am an antichrist, I am an anarchist, don't know what I want but I know how to get it," Rotten's lyrics went. Paul himself, although hardly an anarchist, has become known for his anti-government views, and he received cheers when he suggested at one of his rallies earlier this year that "there may even be an anarchist or two" in attendance.
Paul had previously told Leno, "I would save billions, if not hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining our empire around the world, and I'd bring our troops home and have enough money to cut our deficit. ... It was a mistake to go in[to Iraq]. ... Our national defense is in shambles. ... I don't think we're safer at all. ... Just bring the weapons home. We can defend this country. Nobody's going to touch us militarily. ... Our greatest threat is a threat to our civil liberties here at home."
From Raw Story CHECK OUT VIDEO OF RON PAULRon Paul site
American Militia Movement
Biofuels Conference Disrupted At Concerns Over Multi-National 'Greenwash'
This week Europe’s largest Biofuels event took place in Nottinghamshire amid growing concerns about severe impacts on climate, biodiversity and food production. The exhibition, featuring over a hundred trade stands, ran alongside a conference which opened on Wednesday with a key note speech from BP Biofuels’ Europe & Africa Director Oliver Mace, but was quickly thrown into chaos when a number of people dressed in suits marched onto the stage and pied the BP’s CEO for the ‘dangerous and dishonest’ greenwash and protest at the catastrophic effects of replacing climate-stabilising ecosystems with arable crops for biofuel feedstocks.
Throughout the afternoon, people held a very visible protest outside the conference which was held at the Newark Showground, north of Nottingham. To coincide with the national Biofuels Conference, protestors from No Agrofuels UK blockaded the D1 oils refinery and offices in Middlesbrough to raise awareness of the detrimental impact of agrofuels. 18 Protestors chained the 3 gates to the refinery shut and 2 protestors were D-locked to the main gates. No vehicles were able to enter or leave the site and all work appeared to have been stopped. Several banners were tied over the gates including "No Agrofuels, Land 4 People, Food, Biodiversity" and "Climate Change Profiteers".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This morning a group of 15 climate change activists from protest group Food Not Fuel entered the Bio Fuel Expo & Conference taking place at the Newark Showground and took over the keynote speech. Oliver Mace, CEO of BP Fuels, the lead sponsors of the event received a cream pie in the face. Another campaigner was D-locked to the podium and various alarms were placed around the place. The hall was emptied and talks were cancelled. There were no arrests.
They were protesting against planned expansion of biofuels citing its contribution to deforestation and the fact that it will continue to contribute to climate change. The activists complained that biofuels on a large scale is greenwash and companies such as BP are ignoring its negative impacts on the environment.
Protester Michelle Lynch said, "What they are promoting is a replacement to fossil fuels, but the reality is that they are little better. Large scale plantations are not the solution; reducing our consumption is the only realistic way forward."
Another protester, Thomas Bradshaw pointed out, "Biofuels will be taking food from the mouths of the hungary when there are already 800 million people suffering from malnutrition. These corporations are effectively encouraging the erosion of valuable arable farmland and rainforests vital for combating climate change."
Notes:
1. The protestors argue that radical social change is needed to deal with the impact of peak oil and climate change, and that seeking solutions such as carbon trading and biofuels are not the answer, as the real problem is unsustainable economic growth.
2. The Bio Fuels Expo & Conference (www.biodiesel-expo.co.uk) is the largest of its kind in Europe, and brings together big industry players such as BP Fuels, Deloitte & Touche and many chemical, agricultural and manufacturing companies.
3. A comprehensive critique of biofuels can be found at Bio Fuels Watch (www.biofuelwatch.org.uk) who are a distinct group from Food Not Fuels, but are hosting their own demonstration against the Conference.
Biofuels & Fossil Fuels: Biofuels that are not produced by recycling waste oil are the direct product of large scale monoculture. Currently the amount of fossil fuels required to produce biofuels is greater than the amount of fuel you get out: you have to make the fertilizer, run the agricultural machinery, transport the feedstocks and fuels, and refine the plant matter into fuel.
Biofuels & Food: The land that is used to farm biofuels has to come from somewhere. If it is agricultural land used for food then there will be less food. Maize, Mexico's staple crop, have increased massively due to American demand for bioethanol. Adding to the number of people living below the poverty line.
Biofuels & Land use: If not agricultural land, then biofuels will be grown on virgin rainforest or wetland. 1/3 of all greenhouse gas emissions come from the destruction of living carbon sinks. The Amazon rainforest is the largest driver of the climate on the planet and expanding bioethanol plantations will push it to extinction. Wetlands, eg peat, contain more carbon that the whole atmosphere and cover just 1% of the worlds surface. The largest peat bogs in the world, in Indonesia, are currently being drained for palm oil plantations. If greenhouse gas emissions continue as they currently are we will go beyond the climate tipping point causing mass extinction of life on earth.
Biofuels & Local Control: The driving force beyond the expansion in biofuels are big corporations such as BP & Monsanto, and government - the very people who have got us into this mess. They are using biofuels as a way to continue their position of power into the post peak oil world. To stand a chance of survival the control of land must be by local people for local people.
The Solution: We will need to reduce our consumption to levels that we can meet ourselves. This WILL mean a reduction in luxuries, like the luxury to travel. Some biofuels will be used, but at a fraction of our current oil use. We need to end the search for technological solutions to economic problems. We need to localise our economy, produce our own food, make our own tools and use less. We need an end to economic growth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)