Website http://www.gpja.pl.net/ Contact details: Forums - John Minto, (09) 846 3173, jbminto@xtra.co.nz; Newsletter Editor - Mike Treen 027 525 47440 / 3616989 miket@pl.net Web page - bobo@enzyme.org.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 gpja@xtra.co.nz

Dear friends,

The protest this Saturday to mark the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq deserves support. Tonight there will be a pasteup to build it and if anyone can help please come along. If you care about the state of the education system there is an important public meeting on tonight as well. Details below.

WHAT'S ON IN AUCKLAND

Tuesday, March 15, 7pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn PASTEUP FOR MARCH 19 ANTIWAR PROTEST Helpers needed to put up posters. Bring buckets and brushes - paste will be available.

Tuesday, March 15, 7.30pm, Music Auditorium, Auckland College of Education, Epsom Avenue, 'DOES THE GOVERNMENT FUND OUR SCHOOLS PROPERLY'? QPEC public meeting The meeting will be chaired by QPEC Patron Sir Paul Reeves. Confirmed speakers at the meeting include: Chris Haines - President of NZ School Trustees Association; Diane O'Sullivan - Federation of Parent Teacher Assns; Stuart Middleton - former Principal Aorere College and currently with MIT; Michelle Bacon - Principal Rutherford Primary School; Brian Lang - Principal Wesley Primary School; Bali Haque - Principal Pakuranga College; Please advertise this meeting as widely as possible within any networks you are associated with. Everyone Welcome!

Saturday, March 19, 11am, US Consulate, Customs St, Downtown INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST WAR AND OCCUPATION.

Saturday, March 19, 10am, Columba Centre, Vermont St, Ponsonby QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION COALITION (QPEC) AGM - School under-funding, the scholarship exam debacle, NCEA and special education are critical issues within the school sector while massive student debt continues to bedevil tertiary education - not to mention the lives of the students themselves.PLEASE NOTE The AGM IS AT 12.20PM AND will be preceded by public presentations from Susan St John of Child Poverty Action and from Liz Gordon on a major piece of international research she has undertaken on privatisation of education. These presentations begin at 10am. Please also encourage friends or colleagues to come along. The public meeting is open to everyone and the AGM is similarly open although any voting will be by members only. Please check our website at http://www.qpec.org.nz

Sunday, March 20, 11am, 31 Frost Rd, Mt Roskill, WOMENS'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM AGM - Guest speaker Dr Robin Bright on her recent work in PALESTINE

Tuesday, March 22, 7pm, Crypt of St Benedicts Church, Alex Evans St, Newton You are invited to come to an ALGERIAN SUPPER AT THE PRIORY WHERE AHMED ZAOUI has been staying since he was granted bail by the Supreme Court on 9 December 2004. This will be an opportunity for Ahmed and his friends and supporters to mark that he has been in New Zealand, on bail for 100 days. Please come to hear from Deborah Manning what is happening on his case and to hear from Ahmed about how the last 100 days have been. Best wishes, Clive Aspin, Human Rights Foundation

Wednesday, March 23, 7.30pm, The Fickling Centre, Cnr Mt Eden / Mt Albert Rds, 3 Kings WATER PRESSURE GROUP PUBLIC MEETING: Why are WPG members boycotting paying Metrowater's bills? Why are WPG members refusing to attend court proceedings? Why has only the WPG asked the hard questions and held Metrowater to account? For More info ph 846 9825

Wednesday, March 30, 7pm, Mangere East Community Learning Centre (behind the new Mangere East Library) at 372 Massey Road, Mangere. GPJA is organising a meeting for people interested in developing a COMMUNITY BASED CAMPAIGN TO COUNTER LOAN SHARKING AND CASINOS - particularly as they affect low income communities where their essentially parasitic behaviour causes horrific social distress. (If you would like a copy of the GPJA media release we put out in December on this topic please let me know). Regards, John Minto, Phone 0064 9 8463173; Fax: 0064 9 8463 176

Sunday, April 17, 7.30pm, The Classic, 123 Queen St, City Auckland Indymedia Presents Antidote #12. A Screening of ...The END of SUBURBIA - Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary. The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. "Cheap oil is the party that we have been enjoying the past 150 years and that > party is coming to an end. Within our lifetimes were going to see the end of the age of oil, and the result of that will be the end of the American way of life"

ANNOUNCEMENTS

CALL TO ACTION OF THE ANTI-WAR ASSEMBLY WORLD SOCIAL FORUM 2005 On the day of elections in Iraq, anti-war movements, coalitions and organizations the world over came together in an Anti-War Assembly and called for massive mobilizations on March 19 and 20. Representatives from over 33 countries, including Iraq and Palestine, also discussed strategies and actions beyond March 20. This is the report of the proposals made at the Assembly. To get involved with the different campaigns, please email: info-assembly@riseup.ne http://www.tni.org/peace-docs/calltoaction.htm

"DIASPORIC GHOSTS" BOOK LAUNCH (PDF 20.97Kb) Wellington-based Ethiopian poet Yilma Tafere Tasew has just published his first book in New Zealand. This book is a history-making event. Diasporic Ghosts by Yilma Tafere Tasew is an important and timely new work. Accompanied by expert commentaries on refugee and exile issues, this book explores the current African and world-wide refugee crisis and offers unique insight into the issues and concerns refugees are currently facing in Africa, around the globe. http://www.dev-zone.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=8488

CALL FOR GRAPHIC ARTIST AND AD SALESPERSON FOR A NEW ECO-MAGAZINE. We are looking for two special people (preferably, but not necessarily, Auckland based): Graphic Designer: Experience in magazine layout and pre-press, starting 14 March. Advertising Sales: Experience Sales-person to sell advertising at normal commission rates.

We are launching a magazine, the first issue due out in April, the second issue in June. Each issue will have a "theme", and within each issue a number of articles will relate to the overall theme.

There also be other articles in each of the regular topic areas:Healthy Lifestyles; Eco-News&Politics/Building/Design/Tours; Eco-friendly People and Products; Organics; Renewable Energy; and Kiwi Kulture. Water is the theme of the first issue, due out in April. We have some great articles! Some more great photos for it would be awesome! The deadline for the June-July issue is 10 April and the theme will be "Transport".

We are asking for articles around 2000 words in length, but longer and shorter articles are also needed. We also need high quality photos, preferably digital (the size of a photograph, if generated by a digital camera, should be a minimum of 400 Kb jpeg) but also prints (if you only have prints, we prefer to be sent the prints themselves, which we can return). We will also accept photos scanned professionally at 300 dpi to a final image size of around 15cms by 20cms. Be creative and let us know what you might like to write about. We also have specific assignments and a bunch of ideas for people with lots of enthusiasm who wouldn't mind a bit of direction. We intend to pay what we can, when we can, although, as you are probably aware, this is not a field one goes into for the huge profit margins.

At the moment we are asking for the first two published contributions from each writer to be free, after which we are hoping to pay around 50 cents per word. We would like to start receiving copy as soon as possible, so if you have something already written on a suitable topic, please e-mail a brief description to us at ecomagazine@paradise.net.nz. If you intend to write something, please let us know. All contributors published in either of the first two issues will receive a free one year subscription to the magazine. Finally, we are a very collaborative team, so we invite suggestions, questions, and dialogue. Hoping you can support this great cause - we would like to welcome you to the team! Greg Moon - Managing Editor

BEST ON THE WEB

COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CONSIDERS SITUATION IN NEW ZEALAND http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear_en)/6BD78C2F9AF8E2C4C1256FB3004CECEA?OpenDocument

Maori Party vindicated by foreshore decision http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00277.htm More foreshore and seabed information http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/fsinfo.htm

In February the TERRORISM SUPPRESSION BILL (NO 2) was referred to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee for consideration. Keith Locke's First Reading speech, from February http://www.greens.org.nz/searchdocs/speech8301.html

TSUNAMI BOMB - NZ's devastating war secret :Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified files reveal. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=14727 Could the Government have too much invested in AGRICULTURAL GE?

Could safety be left behind in the rush for profits? University scientists Jack Heinemann, Ralph Bungard and Joanna Goven raised some hard questions in an opinion piece published in the ODT last week. http://www.giantexperiment.co.nz/news/editorial.aspx

"Jim's assertion that there are strong reasons to negotiate the THAI FREE-TRADE AGREEMENT is the same one he made about the Singapore Closer Economic Partnership,'' Rod said. "But this time he is not so foolish as to promise an increase in trade with Thailand. That's not surprising, because, in the four years since the Singapore agreement took effect, exports to Singapore have decreased from $487m to $336m and our trade deficit has increased from $24m to $610m." http://www.greens.org.nz/searchdocs/PR8381.html

EMAILS FROM THE EDGE: A female architect's poignant and witty dispatches about living with her mother-in-law in the West Bank have become a surprise publishing success, revealing the absurdity and adversity of everyday Palestinian life http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1391186,00.html

KEN LIVINGSTONE: THIS IS ABOUT ISRAEL, NOT ANTI-SEMITISM - Not to speak out against this injustice would not only be wrong. It would ignore the threat it poses to us all. Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison, not in office. http://207.44.245.159/article8192.htm MAKE POVERTY HISTORY - A new protest movement has emerged which challenges the priorities of the G8. 'Make Poverty History' is becoming a rallying cry for 2005. Following the London European Social Forum the Make Poverty History (MPH) campaign promises to take the global justice movement to a new level. http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=9282

BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL - Counting Iraq's dead: We need to know how many have died http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7491/550?ehom

UK and US governments must commission an independent inquiry http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7491/557?ehom Chalmers Johnson:

The LARGEST COVERT OPERATION IN CIA HISTORY: The Central Intelligence Agency has an almost unblemished record of screwing up every "secret" armed intervention it ever undertook. http://207.44.245.159/article8218.htm

Mike

© Scoop Media