Global Peace And Justice Auckland Newsletter #36

Website http://www.gpja.pl.net/ Contact details: Forums - John Minto, (09) 8463173 mailto:jbminto@xtra.co.nz; Newsletter Editor - Mike Treen 0212547440 / 3616989 mailto:miket@pl.net Web page - Geraldine Peters (09) 3570655 mailto:bern@ihug.co.nz Donations can be sent to GPJA, Private Bag 68905, Newton, Auckland. All communication regarding the GPJA mailing list (email or snail) should be addressed to mailto:gpjamailinglist@xtra.co.nz

WHAT'S ON IN AUCKLAND

NEWS MEDIA MONTH

Monday, June 2 (Queens Birthday) 7.30pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd. GPJA FORUM with David Robie, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Auckland University of Technology, talking on "THE INVASION OF IRAQ - AND HOW THE MEDIA WAR WAS WON AND LOST".

Tuesday, June 17, 7.30pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Newton. SPECIAL GPJA FORUM with Bill Rosenberg, researcher and writer on foreign investment, trade and New Zealand's economic relationship with the world, speaking on "WHO OWNS NEW ZEALAND'S NEWS MEDIA. CAN WE AFFORD TO LET THEM OWN OUR NEWS?"

Wednesday, June 18, 12noon-1pm, WT1406, School of Communication Studies Arts Faculty Building, cnr Rutland & Wakefield Sts, Auckland University of Technology. BILL ROSENBERG speaking on same topic above.

In the last weekend of June Indymedia will be organising some special screenings. GPJA now has a special that is studying and critiquing current media coverage of the Iraq war and occupation and broader peace and justice issues. If you want to help contact mailto:bern@ihug.co.nz

The next GPJA ORGANISING COMMITTEE will be at 6.30pm, Tuesday June 17 (before the Bill Rosenberg forum), at the Unite Office, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn. Anyone willing to help is welcome.

MESSAGES

PALESTINE / ISRAEL - RALLY FOR PEACE We call on people in Auckland to support Justice and Peace based on: 1.Removal of Israeli Occupation. 2.Right of Return for Refugees. 3. Sharing Jerusalem. 4. Cessation of Jewish only Settlements in occupied Palestine. Where ..... AOTEA SQUARE (Queen St, Auckland), 2pm, Saturday, June 7 Contact David Wakim 5200201

Indonesia Human Rights Committee has an egroup which posts articles and news from Indonesia and around the world in English. It is for those who want to learn more about Aceh, and the movements for democratic change throughout Indonesia. The egroup also keeps members in touch with local educational meetings, conferences and solidarity demonstrations. If interested in joining; mailto:maire@clear.net.nz

NGAWHA HUI: The powhiri is at 11am Sat 31st May. As well as the hui there is a hangi planned. Please pass the following message on to anyone you think may want to be there. I will be going up from Auckland to Ngawha (near Kaikohe, Northland) if anyone wants to get a lift, probably driving back Monday ph 025 417209. Karyn Amoore Moea Armstrong mailto:reotahi@igrin.co.nz wrote: Ngawha - Noho Rangimarie co-chairmen Thomas Dalton (021 233 7961) and Frank Brown are calling supporters of the noho to a hui there on May 31. Not one drop of concrete has yet been laid, some 14 months since earthworks began. Construction contractor Mainzeal are however preparing to begin work on the site, "before winter". The earthworks are still underway, continually delayed by unprecedented rainfall in the area. Truckloads of fill are still being transported on to the site. The Corrections Dept has attempted to get the Far North District Council involved in the dispute by way of complaining about breaches to health and safety bylaws, to no avail. All kaitiaki are fit and well, with sanitation of the highest standard. Supporters continue to visit the noho, including kura and kohanga roopu. Thomas says the aim of the noho is to keep tangata whenua opposition visible, and to keep the door open for manuhiri to visit the site to learn about Ngawha, and about the wider context of increasing rates of imprisonment in Aotearoa, second only to the USA. He said all supporters are allowed access to the noho, and should cite the current agreement if Corrections staff try to refuse entry. The current agreement allows kaitiaki to occupy the site for two years. It is thought that the department will try other means to remove the whare and kitchen however, possibly by the end of May. Their latest idea is that the land is needed for a planting programme. A reasonable turnout on the 31st would go some way to helping the department realise the depth of feeling any impending unilateral eviction could arouse. Several kaitiaki are due to be processed at the Kaikohe District Court on May 28. Many are banned from 100 metres either side of the site as a result of previous convictions. There will be a Ngawha feature in the next issue of NZ Photography, featuring the work of three of the occupiers. Those at the noho have instigated a new bank account for occupation expenses, with the Dove account having been closed by the former signatories. The new account is Westpac, 03 0334 020032825 50. Donations are welcome and will be receipted on request. Tee shirts and badges are also still available (contact Kataraina 021 0351799 or Karyn 025 417209). A hangi is planned for the 31st, which will be Day 173 of the occupation. Large groups should contact the chairmen in advance. Those at the noho wish to convey their empathy and commiserations to the tangata whenua of Meremere, the next site.

SOCIAL FORUM AOTEAROA

A special meeting will be held next Thursday, June 5, 7.30pm, at the Unite office, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd to build support for a New Zealand conference as part of the World Social Forum movement internationally. The Social Forum Aotearoa will be held from November 21-23 at the Te Wananga o Aotearoa, Porirua campus. The WSF aims are summarised on their website as follows: "The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where groups and movements of civil society opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism, but engaged in building a planetary society centred on the human person, come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, for formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and network for effective action." Come along if you want to help. Contact mailto:miket@pl.net for more

INTERNATIONAL ANTIWAR MOVEMENT "World's Other Superpower" Plots Its Next Moves Jakarta, Indonesia -- Over a hundred representatives of what the New York Times calls the "world's other superpower" gathered here in Jakarta from May 18-21 to plot the next moves of the global anti-war movement after the United States' invasion of Iraq. The Jakarta Peace Consensus http://www.focusweb.org/publications/2003/jakarta-consensus.pdf The war on Iraq was illegal say top lawyers http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=409363

THE WAR WITHOUT END Warning over war on terror - The "war on terror" has made the world a more dangerous place and created divisions that make conflict more likely, says Amnesty International. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2943192.stm http://www.amnesty.org/ John Pilger: Britain supports terrorism http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=3669§ionID=40 Arundhati Roy: War talk http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=3664§ionID=50 US plans death camp on Guantanamo http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6494000%5E401,00.html Angry at killing of Afghan soldiers protesters rush US embassy http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35971-2003May24?language=printer US looks away as new ally tortures Islamists http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,963497,00.html

IS IRAN NEXT ON THE LIST? Neocons move quickly on Iran http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EE28Ak01.html

THE FICTION OF WMD'S The case for war is blown apart http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=410484 WMD emphasis was 'bureaucratic' - The decision to highlight weapons of mass destruction as the main justification for going to war in Iraq was taken for "bureaucratic reasons", according to the US deputy defence secretary. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2945750.stm A row between two New York Times reporters over a story on an Iraqi exile leader raises questions about the paper's coverage of the search for weapons said to be hidden by Saddam Hussein. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/27/1053801397576.html US finds evidence of WMD at last - buried in a field near Maryland http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,965319,00.html

UNITED NATIONS CAPITULATES TO US Business as Usual - The UN Has Capitulated. Now Let the North's Plunder of the South Begin Again by Tariq Ali http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0524-07.htm

IRAQ UNDER OCCUPATION The children are dying now more than ever http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0305/S00191.htm Unfilled promises leave Iraqis unhappy http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41990-2003May26?language=printer US plans “free trade” and elimination of subsidies in Iraq http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40573-2003May26.html?nav=hpto p_tb Naomi Klein: Rescuing Private Lynch, forgetting Rachel Corrie http://www.alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=16003 On the streets of Baghdad, there are no heroes or villains. Only victims http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=409095 War – was it worth it http://www.sundayherald.com/34114 Disarray in Iraq threatens US goals http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-rebuild25may25235423,0,755028.story Anti-US sentiment festers as order and calm prove elusive http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-ambush24may24,0,620404.story Victims of the Peace decide Americans are worse than Saddam http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-689414,00.html Post war Iraq quiz http://www.zmag.org/shalomquizi.htm

ACEH Summary executions become routine in Aceh as Jakarta's generals break their promises http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=409668 People are going to be slaughtered in Aceh http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=3679§ionID=44

US IMPERIALISM A primer on imperialist America http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0305/S00170.htm Project Pheonix Uncovered - Illegal CIA Assassination Operation In Vietnam Revealed http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0305/S00181.htm Imperial America and war, John Bellamy Foster, Monthly Review http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16007

ALGERIA Huge earthquake death tolls are a result of Capitalist building practises http://1924.org/comment/index.php?id=503_0_15_0_M#

GM FOOD GM Crops may push poorest farmers into debt, study finds http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=410165

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