Aotearoa Independent Media Centre

Veteran broadcaster Paul Holmes has had to
href="/front.php3?article_id=10969&group=webcast">
apologise (audio) over racist comments he made on his Newstalk ZB
breakfast show about UN secetary general Kofi Annan. No apology was forth coming on sexist comments he made regarding female journalists.

On his breakfast show (audio) Wednesday morning, Holmes said "the world would not be told what to do by a Ghanaian" he also went on to call Mr Annan a "cheeky darkie" several times. But Our Mr Paul wasn't finished there, when talking to that other notable broadcaster Dr Brian Edwards, Paul Holmes made the following statement after Edwards commented about the amount of women in our media "At certain times of the month, do the
newspapers get particularly judgmental". He ended his show with these parting words:
"Have a nice day ... I think I've done enough damage."

Fallout from Paul Holmes latest gaff continues with a Samoan born senior producer of his TV One current affairs show "Holmes" Mr Paul Yandall has href="http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_detail/0,1227,223819-1-7,00.html"> stepped
down in protest and two other permanent staff asked to be "redeployed" following Paul's tirade. Although it would appear that Paul's href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2670241a10,00.html">radio career is safe for the time being.

UPDATE:

The fallout from Paul's gaff continue with NewstalkZB recieving a bomb threat, this story being picked up around the world including Africa, England, Australia, The United States and The Middle East. Kofi Annan has also been made aware of Paul's comments but is yet to comment on them. Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand has pulled it's sponsorship deal with the Holmes show. Which TVNZ has responded to in it's usual lackluster way. The Pacific Island Media Association has sent out a press release in support of Paul Yandall the Samoan producer who resigned in the wake of Holmes's comments.

[ Discuss this article | NZ Herald Article | Murray Webb Cartoon ]

As World Vegetarian Day approaches on October the 1st, Animal Liberation Front actions are on the increase. Last week several butcher shops were attacked in Wellington, as was a dairy truck. On Sunday several fur stores and a live lobster restaurant had their locks glued.

This year has been an active one for the ALF - in Auckland more than 20 fur stores have been vandalised, perimeters of butcher buildings have been redecorated, locks glued. Global corporations KFC, McDonalds and Burger King have all been repeated targets of the ALF. Meanwhile Meat Board billboards have been redecorated in both Dunedin and Auckland, although both actions are unclaimed.

As always these actions have sparked a lot of
debate on the newswire some critical of the ALF's actions, others supporting.

A meeting has been planned in Wellington as an introduction to animal rights which will coincide with World Vegetarian Day.

From a recent ALF communique:

"The Animal Liberation Front will continue actions such as these, worldwide, until the innocent creatures of this Earth are no longer subjected to a life and death which is the equivalent of Hell on Earth. The ALF will not stand by and take no action while the animals of this world are abused, tormented and persecuted and are silently suffering in pain and misery beyond description."

[ Bite Back | Save Animals From Exploitation ]

Victoria sudents successfully protested a University Council meeting
which
was set to raise their fees.

The meeting had been rescheduled for 8am Wednesday
morning in an attempt to discourage student participation. The students
camped at the university overnight and were able to enter the Council
Chambers before the public meeting began. The University Chancellor was
forced into abandoning the meeting.

The HREF="http://www.indymedia.org.nz/front.php3?article_id=10716&group=web
cast">Otago University Students' Association is standing behind the
Victoria
University of Wellington Students' Association's actions in forcing the
closure of the Victoria University Council's fees setting meeting
today. The closure was a protest against probable fee increases for
2004.


[ Discussion Space ]

The Wellington City Council plans to sell Council-owned properties on Victoria and Willis Streets, in which over fifteen community groups are currently located.

These groups include the Wellington Community Law Centre, Courtenay's, Vincent's Art Workshop, Mokai Kainga, ALAY Centre for Refugees & Migrants, Volunteer Wellington, ZEAL, the Women's Health Collective, Women's Loan Fund and Wellington Independent Rape Crisis.

All these groups will have to relocate as a result of the sale. We want the Council to value the work of community groups and the well-being of our City by setting aside a building in this block to establish a dedicated community group space in the inner city. This is a great opportunity to create a sustainable solution to community group accommodation and develop a dedicated community group space in the inner city.

Make a submission.

(submissions due by 5pm on Friday 19 September)

[ Discussion space ]

"Across the world, ordinary people are taking to the streets to
protest against the manipulation of governments by the WTO, an unelected
body of corporate ne'er-do-wells."

While href="http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/09/13/1774056"
>anti-globalisation activists rock Cancun in order to disrupt href="http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/">World Trade Organisation meetings, solidarity actions are happening href="http://www.indymedia.org.nz/front.php3?article_id=10621&group=we
>bcast">across the globe.

Hundreds of people in href="http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/54365_comment.php#543
94">Melbourne marched against the WTO, then reclaimed the streets
for a fiesta despite heavy police presence.In href="http://www.moz.net.nz/photo/2003/09/13-rts/">Sydney a href="http://rts.gn.apc.org/sortit.htm">Reclaim the Streets action
was also held, while in href="http://imcpilipinas.perthimc.asn.au/index.php?action=newswire&par
entview=129">Manila protestors held a guerilla gig in reclaimed space and an Urban poor rally
was violently dispersed.

In href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/leeds/2003/09/277386.html"
>Leeds a group of concerned citizens occupied a Bayer office and stopped work there, to demonstrate against the corporatisation of health and agriculture, and the impact of WTO patent laws on
agriculture and medications. Over 15,000 marched in href="http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/369476.php">Italy,
while thousands marched in href="http://paris.indymedia.org/article.php3?id_article=6831">France. WTO solidarity protests spread to href="http://de.indymedia.org/2003/09/61140.shtml">Switzerland, href="http://twincities.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=14011&grou
p=webcast">Minneapolis, href="http://www.indymedia.nl/en/2003/09/13698.shtml">Netherlands,
href="http://ontario.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=22264&group=w
ebcast">Toronto, href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/09/277477.html">Oxford
and New
York.

[ cancun.mediosindependientes | Discussion space ]

Activists are demanding an explanation for the arrest of at least seven people following a small and peaceful demonstration in Wellington today.

Police made the arrests as a demonstration, organised by Peace Action Wellington, ended outside MP Marian Hobbs office in Willis Street. A letter was left outside Hobbs office stating that the Government is responsible for any death traded for a good deal. About thirty people attended the protest against the Labour government's willingness to deploy troops overseas to gain leverage in trade negotiations. The protest began with street theatre in Manners Mall and moved to the Minister's electorate office around midday.

"The arrests came as a complete surprise as nothing remotely illegal had been going on," said activist Mark Eden who was present during the arrests.

Images: [1]
[2]
[3]
[4]

Auckland actions:

In Auckland there was an anti-war protest at the US consulate on Saturday. The march then went to the South African Airways offices nearby to protest the arrests of the Phiri water warriors, as a stand
of solidarity with anti-privatisation activists in South Africa, who
have been 'criminalised' for defending water as a basic human right.

[ Read More | Police Violence | (Cuba) Street Party ]

Windymedia in conjunction with Te Kawau Maro present two films about indigenous resistance. Te Kupu's rapumentary 'Ngatahi - Know The Links' and the Big Noise film 'Zapatista' are to be screen at the Newtown Community and Cultural Centre on September the 16.

The money raised will assist in the bringing to Aotearoa three Aboriginal hiphop crews to perform at a show in late October. The show celebrates indigenous peoples' resistance to colonisation and coincides with the week that the Declaration
of Independence was signed at Waitangi in 1835.

[ Read More ]

Rising out of concern for the effect of GE organisms on the seeds of Aotearoa, a group of people have created the Seed Carriers Hikoi, and are walking 714 kilometres from Cape Reinga to Taupo. The hikoi is in opposition to the upcoming lifting of the GE field trial moratorium, and will end with a collective writing of a submission against the release of genetically modified organisms. This will be presented to the government along with all the seeds they have gathered on the way.

The hikoi is asking the government to:

* Keep in place the moratorium on field release of Genetically Modified Organisms into the environment.

* Give practical government support for the conservation of heritage food plants, to give substance to the Governments signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity (Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro 1992) and the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy that was the governments response to that convention.

"This Hikoi has been born out of a heartfelt need to find a way to protect our seeds. Seeds that represent the cumulative experience and wisdom of our ancestors, and are our gift for future generations. The release of genetically engineered organisms into the field in Aotearoa, will take away our ability to ensure our seeds are safe."

Discussion Space


[ GE Free NZ | Hikoi shedule | Hikoi photos ]

It's broad reaching threat to planet Earth is one of the
many reasons to oppose the World Trade Organization. As the global economy
consumes more than the Earth can yield issues of trade and the environment become all the more critical for all life on planet Earth.

WTO actions and policies affect air quality, desertification, toxic waste handling, water quality (and its privatisation by corporados such as
Thames, Suez and Vivendi), forest health, and the well being of the oceans and their inhabitants, as well as other ecological issues such as endangered species.

Despite the fact that some mainstream environmental groups have succumbed to the
WTO Charm Offensive, most ecologically conscious groups and individuals believe that such power belongs with local autonomous groups, nationally, or with the UN. Stay tuned to Indymedia for updates on the WTO and the environment, as well as links to other things you can do .

But first we need to destroy the myths of free trade history. The privatisation of services is on the agenda and Tradewatch have released an Australian guide to the World Trade Organisation

A tidal wave convergence of media activists has already set Cancun abuzz. One Brisbane Indymedia volunteer is sending postcards from Cancun. About 80 people have been placed on a WTO security "watch list" including academic Noam Chomsky, veteran US consumer campaigner Ralph Nader, Indian ecologist Vandana Shiva and Canadian author Naomi Klein.

Dr Jane Kelsey, a member of the Action, Research & Education Network of Aotearoa (ARENA) is in Cancun. You can read her reports here: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]


[ Discussion Space | Cancun IMC | ARENA ]