Posted on 27-8-2003

GPJA What's ON #44, August 26, 2003

AUCKLAND

Wednesday, August 27, 7:00pm start, Alleluya Café, St. Kevin's Arcade, 183
K'Rd. THE ANTIDOTE # 3. An Auckland Indymedia GE-FREE Film Fundraiser. An
evening of independent documentaries on genetic engineering in response to
the lapsing of the moratorium on the release of genetically modified
organisms. FEATURING: KIA TUPATO Documentary short by local filmmaker
Michelle McGregor exploring Maori views on the environment and genetic
engineering through interviews with the late Sir John Turei. (11 mins.) The
LEECH and the EARTHWORM Indigenous peoples voice their views on Western
science, its vision of a genetically engineered future, and its deep links
with corporate profits and globalisation. "The Leech and the Earthworm" is
a journey that combines passionate critiques of a future threatened by
genetic engineering and representations of living alternatives to a
globalised monoculture with stunning visuals and music from around the
world. The "Leech and the Earthworm" is a provocative film that inspires us
to ask serious questions of the collective illusion we call 'progress'."
(68 mins.) STOP THE CROP Produced by Undercurrents UK. A short documentary
of a direct action event in the UK in which a genetically modified crop was
pulled up in protest to the sowing of GMOs. A portent of things to come.
(7mins.) HOMEGROWN Homegrown profiles the use of successful alternatives to
the use of BT maize in Kenya and the reaction of the biotech companies to
this use of cheap, natural alternatives to genetic engineering. (8 mins.)
The upcoming screening on the 27th August is the third such screening
organised by Auckland Indymedia and is part of our aim to provide a regular
forum for alternative political documentaries and media art. Queries Ph.
(9) 631-5810 or email: auckland@indymedia.org www.indymedia.org.nz

Friday, August 29, 7pm, Pathfinder Press Bookshop, 7 Mason Ave, Otahuhu.
(Off Great South Road, upstairs above laundromat.) HEAR RÓGER CALERO.
Nicaraguan by birth and a U.S. permanent resident for more than 12 years,
Róger Calero is associate editor of Perspectiva Mundial and a staff writer
for the newspaper The Militant, both published in New York. He was seized
on December 3, 2002 by immigration agents at the Houston Intercontinental
Airport, when returning from reporting assignments in Cuba and Mexico. He
was detained for 11 days until a public international campaign won his
release. He then toured the United States, speaking out about his case and
joining in solidarity with others under attack from the US government. He
won backing from defenders of freedom of the press, supporters of the
rights of immigrants, the union movement, and defenders of political
rights. Under mounting pressure, the US government dropped its deportation
case against Calero. Róger Calero is now on an international tour to share
the lessons about his successful fight.

Friday, August 29, 7pm, Auckland City Art Gallery Auckland Premiere
Screening and DVD release of 'Ngatahi - Know The Links' (parts one and
two), a landmark New Zealand work by a visionary musician, artist and film
maker. "Kia Kaha Productions is proud to announce the release of 'Ngatahi -
Know The Links" a double disc 'rapumentary' (music documentary) produced,
directed and edited by Dean Hapeta aka Te Kupu of Upper Hutt Posse. In
'Ngatahi' hip-hop, poetry, activism and music exists as one. Featuring
footage and music from Cuba, Colombia, Hawaii, USA, Canada, Jamaica, France
, England, Australia and Aotearoa, 'Ngatahi' is a medley of interconnected
stories that tell of the history and actuality of survival and struggle in
the face of colonisation, corruption and injustice. From Brixton to Harlem,
Trenchtown to Waitangi, 'Ngatahi' is full of uplifting voices and stirring
outpourings of many indigenous and marginalised peoples of the world.
Starts 7pm sharp with part one (64 minutes), part two (94 minutes) and
questions/answers with Te Kupu;, gold coin / koha entry. For more info
contact email matakahi@paradise.net.nz

Friday, August 29, 8-11pm, Blockhouse Bay Community Centre, 524 Blockhouse
Bay Road Earth Pulse Dance Party: GE Free fundraiser gig featuring
didgeridoo grooves, funkadelic beat merchants, Brazilian Samba Music and
multimedia show; from 8pm to 11pm at; $12 entry. For more info contact Matt
(09) 820 3207 or email morpheusdidge@hotmail.com

Friday, August 29 to Sunday, August 31. Nga Kete Wananga Marae CULTURAL
PROVOCATION - ART, ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE conference. Cultural
Provocation is a marae-based hui and conference bringing together
leading theorists, critics, artists and activists. Local and international
contributors include project collaborator, writer and cultural theorist
John Welchman (UK/USA), film maker Merata Mita (Ngati Pikiao) (NZ), art
historian and critic Grant Kester (USA), Yes Men initiator, artist and
activist Andy Bichlbaum, Parihaka (Taranaki Iwi) musician, activist and
historian Te Miringa Hohaia (NZ). Aotearoa/New Zealand's social and
political history has been punctuated by dramatic acts of "cultural
provocation," symbolic gestures that have continued to challenge the values
of the dominant culture. From the invasions of Parihaka and Maungapohatu,
through to the 1981 Springbok Tour, Bastion Point, and a Nuclear Free
nation, Aotearoa/New Zealand's distinct political identity has been fueled
by and articulated through the images and iconography of artists. From Hone
Heke to Tame Iti, Maori have been at the forefront of this tradition in
Aotearoa/New Zealand and have played a central part in its examination,
pointing up the conflicting values of coloniser and colonised. For
information, and registration go to: www.manukau.ac.nz/culturalprovocation

Monday, September 1, 7.30pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn
GPJA FORUM: Can NZ be GE Free? Steve Abel (Greenpeace) and John Clearwater
(PSRG - physicians and scientists for responsible genetics), also Jean
Tallentyre from the AGEFC - Auckland GE free coalition will speak about the
GE free register.

Sunday, September 7, 12.30pm, Freemans Bay Community Centre, 52 Hepburn St,
Ponsonby Iraq fundraising lunch. The Umma Trust will be holding a Middle
Eastern lunch to raise funds for the Nabeela Project, an initiative to
support an orphanage and shelter Baghdad. Medical supplies from our earlier
fundraising lunches are currently being delivered to Iraq. We look forward
to your support. $20 donation. For further information contact Anne Moller
Ph 3776516 or 021 363 460.

Friday, September 12, 7pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn. "The
other September 11 - Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the coup in Chile”
Nine eleven seventy three 091173: Memorial for Chile. A remembrance event
for the victims of the military coup of 1973. The bloody coup was foster
and financed by the CIA , Mr Nixon and Henry Kissinger and lead to the
destruction of a long standing democracy in South America and to thousand
of deaths, torture and disappearances Poetry, Music, and an exclusive video
interview with President Salvador Allende (1972). A documentary by Saul
Landau. Special guest: Keith Lock MP Green Party. This event is part of
the international commemoration activities of the 30th Anniversary of the
Coup Justice Now!! Trial and Punishment !! No to impunity!! Organised by
International Chile's network

Saturday, September 13, International day of action against corporate
globalisation and war. Details tba. "From September 10 to 14, the World
Trade Organisation (WTO) will hold its Fifth Ministerial meeting in Cancun,
Mexico. Pushed by multinational corporations, the United States, the
European Union, and other developed countries are seeking to launch a new
round of 'free trade' negotiations and expand corporate globalisation -
further eroding human rights, workers' rights, environmental protections,
and democracy - in the interest of corporate control. Popular movements in
Mexico and their international allies will mark these meetings with massive
demonstrations to demand a world that puts democracy and human dignity
ahead of corporate profits. Solidarity actions around the world will focus
on September 13 as a Worldwide Day of Action Against Corporate
Globalisation and War." Another world is possible - "We have before us a
choice: the world of militarism and corporate globalisation, or a world
built on global solidarity, rooted in a foundation of democracy, dignity,
sustainability, and cooperation." For more info see United for Peace
www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=1857

Sunday September 14, 2pm, Mangere People's Centre Hall, 366 Massey Rd,
Mangere (beside the Mangere East Library) Launch of "ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT"
is a major new housing report that shows while the current property boom
may be good news for homeowners, one in five New Zealand families is facing
housing-related problems, such as unaffordable rents, overcrowding and poor
quality housing. Meanwhile, the government is hiding its indifference to
their plight behind misleading Housing New Zealand statistics. Speakers
include the Deputy Mayor of Manukau Anne Candy, Pasifika hip hop poet Rev
Mua Strickson-Pua, Manurewa community board chair Sister Anne Hurley and
Otara community worker Joanna Fuimaono. For more information about Room for
Improvement, contact Alan Johnson: 266 5528, 025 79 1958
ajsemail@xtra.co.nz For more stories about the consequences of poor housing
on children’s health, contact Dr Nikki Turner: 3737999, 021 790 693,
n.turner@auckland.ac.nz For more information about the launch of Room for
Improvement contact Janet McAllister: ph 363-5503
janetmcallister@slingshot.co.nz
Child Poverty Action Group, P O Box 56-150, Dominion Rd, Auckland.
www.cpag.org.nz

Monday, September 15, 7.30pm, Unite Office, Trades Hall, 147 great North Rd
GPJA ORGANISING COMMITTEE meeting. All welcome.

Wednesday, September 17, 7pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn
"The crisis facing the NZ health system and solutions needed" Open forum
ponsored by Central Auckland Alliance Party. Contact 3763780.

MESSAGES

SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING OF QPEC, Saturday 13th September 2003, Education
House, Willis Street, Wellington from 10am - 3pm to discuss and develop a
plan of action to put public education issues at the centre of government
attention. This meeting is a follow up to the QPEC "Reclaim Public
Education Conference" held last month in Palmerston North. For more
details about the conference visit the QPEC Website at www.qpec.org.nz and
check the Conference themes. .All welcome!

WAITAKERE MAYOR BOB HARVEY LAYS A COMPLAINT WITH THE RACE RELATIONS
COMMISSIONER AGAINST MARGARET JONES AND CAP (Please distribute this
information as widely as possible) On 9th July 2003 Citizens Against
Privatisation staged a peaceful occupation of Waitakere City Council
chambers in protest at the council having reneged on an undertaking to
review the user -pays policy of water charging. Mayor Bob Harvey has
subsequently been reported as likening the non-violent behaviour of the
protesters to that of terrorists, and been rash enough to announce that he
is taking one protester to the Race Relations Tribunal for a placard slogan
he alleges is offensive to holocaust survivors. Harvey has also taken a
complaint against C.A.P for allowing the sign to be displayed at a public
meeting. Margaret Jones, known to most of you as a veteran protester
against all forms of racism and fascism, and honoured by Mayor Harvey
himself with a millenium medal for services to the community, had been
incensed by the expulsion from the Council offices of anti-spray protester
Helen Wiseman-Dare and the serving upon her of a two-year tresspass order-
allegedly for swearing within the hearing of children. As an expression of
her disgust, Margaret carried a placard with a slogan clearly using the
swastika to compare the council's draconian action with that of fascists.
Having lived through the Nazi era she has seen what the suppression of
criticism can lead to. Margaret says "A woman has been prevented from
speaking which has just what they used to do in Nazi Germany. I lived
through all that and I know how Nazism began with little things like the
cutting of free speech. I'm not suggesting that is what is happening here,
but people need to be aware that this is just how these things get
started". (Margaret's comments from the Western Leader). It is a complete
reversal, both of her values and of her intentions, for Harvey to claim
that she was intimidating the victims of fascism. Indeed it is outrageous
that a lifelong campaigner against fascism should at the age 83 suffer the
indignity of having to defend herself against such a preposterous
accusation. All who
know Margaret, together with all who value justice, should write to Harvey
in protest. Also send copies to Waitakere City Councillors and as a letter
to the editor of the Western Leader. If you address your letter after your
name and title it an open letter hopefully it will printed in the
newspaper. Harvey deserves mass condemnation for this outrage. .

The SEED CARRIERS HIKOI www.koanga.org.nz Help! We need someone in Auckland
who can help us pull together/oversee our events/accommodation while in the
Auckland City area. We have many people offering support, but urgently
require a coordinator. For more information contact seedcarriers@pl.net
We’ll be arriving at Auckland on Wednesday, 23rd September, starting with
Kumeu, and leaving on Monday 29th from Papakura. We're hoping to visit
schools, community gardens, community organizations, and hopefully have a
large public event as well. If you’d like to be part of the network
supporting this to happen, please contact us on seedcarriers@pl.net and
we’ll put you all in touch with one and other and help organize a meeting
to make it happen. Arohanui, Bob Corker - for the Seed Carriers Hikoi

Dear Peace Activists, We'd like to draw your attention to the latest
FOREIGN CONTROL WATCHDOG (August 2003). There's plenty in it of direct
relevance to you. The cover story is an 11 page article entitled "War
Profiteers: Corporate Beneficiaries of the US War On Iraq". This is
followed by a 7 page book review (entitled "Media Crap: The Corporate Spin
On Iraq" ) of "Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You". And then
there is a 7 page article entitled "The 'War On Terror': Out Of Sight But
Not Out Of Mind" * There's plenty more. 15 fascinating pages on "Who Owns
New Zealand's News Media? Can We Afford To Let Them Own Our News?" Plus
there is the more standard material - a report on the Auckland event to
announce the winners of the 2002 Roger Award for the Worst Transnational
Corporation Operating in Aotearoa/New Zealand (won by Tranz Rail, for the
third time); articles on: Comalco; the struggle by NZ seafarers to get back
coastal shipping from the transnationals; the new international tobacco
control treaty; a tribute to the late Neil Cherry; book reviews of
"Battling Big Business" and of yet another autobiography by Mike Moore, New
Zealand's gift to the world, of his term as Director of the World Trade
Organisation; and last but never least, our never ending serial - a month
by month report and analysis of who owns New Zealand (namely the rubber
stamp approvals by the Government's Overseas Investment Commission). If
you'd like a copy, send $5 and your name and postal address to us (details
below). We have 40 spare copies available, so supplies are limited. First
in, first served. Foreign Control Watchdog Box 2258, Christchurch, New
Zealand cafca@chch.planet.org.nz

A new campaign for peace in Korea was launched on August 15, Liberation Day
in both Koreas. The KOREAN PEACE CAMPAIGN is a New Zealand-based campaign
organised by Korean Peace Committee to promote peace on the Korean
peninsula, and to advocate resolution of issues between the United States
and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the basis of peaceful
negotiation between states in accordance with the Charter of the United
Nations. To SIGN ON to the Call for Peace in Korea go to
www.vuw.ac.nz/~caplabtb/kpc/ The Call is open for sign on until November
15, 2003, after which it will be presented to the NZ Government. If you
would like a hard copy of the Call and sign-on sheet to circulate, put on
peace stalls, etc. please e-mail christine.dann@clear.net.nz On the Korean
Peace Campaign page - www.vuw.ac.nz/~caplabtb/kpc/ - you can also find
links to other Korean peace petitions, plus articles, statements,letters
and press releases on the Korean situation.

Hamilton - Children's Peace Fair - "Kids Helping Kids - Children under 12
yrs. selling preloved toys, swap cards, crafts, etc. profits in aid of
Save the Children Fund - Iraq. Hamilton City Council Reception Lounge, The
Plaza, 10am-2pm Wed. 24 Sept. Patricia Waugh, 4 Louise Place, Hamilton.
Tel: 07 856 1001 email davetricia@hnpl.net