New York By Peer Review - The Oxfam Connection

In New York City there’s Manhattan and there’s Brooklyn. Across the bridge things are much less shiny, but oh so interesting. Rachel lives in Brooklyn. An Oxfam peer recommended by two wonderful women there was never any doubt that Rach would be anything less than a rockstar.

Despite the ankle-deep rain, a foiled cab ride and a minor Subway incident I made my way over to hang out with Rachel, her friend Elyssa and housemate Chris.

Over a few beers, some ridiculously good Little Italian pastry and blue corn chips we talked about the organising Rachel had done, most recently on the Obama campaign, with Mayor Bloomberg (apparently being the Mayor of NY is comparably difficult to being the President) and how that type of experience compares to the grassroots climate movement in Australia.

Undoubtedly those involved with the Obama organising did a great job – but talking to Rachel it became apparent that the stratosphere status and ridiculous fees campaign ‘consultants’ attract may not be worth it. The Obama campaign was heavily resourced, worth millions upon millionsof dollars, controlled and hierarchical – can it really be replicated in a different, social political, media and economic context?

The Obama campaigner price tag question aside, it's good to know that in the US (well the Peoples Republic of NYC) there is an exuberant and progressive energy, beautifully skilled and creative organising going-on. The universal challenge is to ensure that the momentum can be built and good people don’t become frustrated and burnt-out.

I get my jollies from the Yes Men

Never heard of them? Well golly gosh where have you been?

Here is some vintage Yes Men to get you up to speed:

On November 29, 2004, an email comes in to DowEthics.com [ a mock site set-up by the Yes Men] BBC World Television wants a Dow representative to discuss the company's position on the 1984 Bhopal tragedy on this, its 20th anniversary.

So they politely respond to the email and set a 'Representative' taking full responsibility for the Bhopal disaster:



This is where you can find out more http://www.theyesmen.org/

Apply British Pre-emptive Terror Laws to your daily lives and piss everyone off

On Tuesday April 14 in Britain, 114 people were arrested on “suspicion of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass and criminal damage”.

This is remarkable because these people were arrested not because they did anything wrong, but because police thought that they were planning to. This is a bit scary basically because it gives someone the power to react to a situation or threat that doesn't actually exist.

I figured that if British cops can do this, well then so can I. So I tested these powers all last week to see what kind of affect it would have:

Monday: I woke-up, pre-empting that everyone in my office at work would be sick and give me swine flu, so I stayed home.
Outcome: My boss was pissed, but I cited the British example and said that I needed no evidence and that my action was justified on the basis that I was averting a potentially life-threatening situation.

Tuesday: At breakfast time, I was suspected that I would be hungry again at lunchtime. So I ate my breakfast and lunch at 8am.
Outcome: Suspicion and pre-emptive action led to sickness from excess consumption early on and hunger later in the day.

Wednesday: I was in a shoe shop. I suspected a woman buying exceptionally tall patent leather red and blue stilettos would cause criminal damage and potentially trespass to the nether regions of fashion if allowed to make that purchase. I stopped her.
Outcome: Outrage and disbelief, to which I responded that I had persuasive evidence and could convince a jury that the woman was conspiring to commit a crime if allowed to buy the shoes. I am banned from the shop indefinitely.

Thursday: I went to the pub after work and told the barman that he should stop serving my boyfriend beer on the basis that he may or may not 'do something' to me later.
Outcome: An awkward conversation with a security guard, friends and colleagues about whether I was in an abusive relationship.

Friday: My Mum called. I suggested that she give me Power of Attorney over her and Dad and that I could really do with my inheritance now. This suggestion was made based on my long-held suspicion that she has in fact already got Alzheimer's and Dad can't look after himself.
Outcome: She hung up on me, my brother phoned shortly after to ask whether I was alright, and gloat that my portion of any inheritance would be donated to the Country Women's Association.

Saturday: I lept out of a Taxi without paying and ran away, - I didn't like the look in the Driver's eyes.
Outcome: I walked home in the rain, got blisters and am too scared to take a cab again in case I'm recognised as the cab-jumper that I am and some pre-emptive action is taken out on me.

Sunday: I got serious and attempted a pre-emptive arrest on a woman whose dog had shat on the nature strip. I had reason to suspect that she would not pick-up the poo given that she had no plastic bag on her.
Outcome: Verbal abuse and a Jack Russel nips marks on my ankle.

For a week I followed the precedent of the British Police and took pre-emptive action on the basis of unproven suspicious, and justified it with in – in my view- persuasive evidence that an act of terrorism, trespass, law-breaking or other major life-threatening crime may take place. What did I learn?

1)Power trips and suspicion can justify just about any type of ridiculous, unfair and humiliating behaviour.
2)This approach tends to piss people off – a lot. Most people seemed very uncomfortable that I was alleging that they were about to commit a crime before it had taken-place.
3)That people don't cop shit very lightly nor respond well to the idea that one person can accuse them of being guilty of doing something before they have done it.

So though I am in trouble with work, my Mum and my boyfriend, am banned at shops and have bite marks on my ankle, I do take some heart in the idea that people won't accept 'pre-emptive arrests' in my immediate vicinity.It also furthers my resolve that the English are whingers and take a lot of shit if they allow this to happen in theirs.

Based on an article that appeared in the UK Guardian on April 14 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-mass-arrests-have-no-place-in-a-democratic-country-1668276.html

Canadian Gold Diggers – One More Reason Why Wedding Bands are Crap.

Canadian Gold Diggers, Barrick Gold are not very nice, and if I was a Canadian I would be very upset with them for lots of reason, here are but a few:

Not only does Barrick Gold not give a crap about things like threatened species of birds, ecology or people, but for the last 10 years they have also added dumping cyanide, human rights abuses, and murder to their mounting list of 'favourite nasty things to do'.

But the thing that most annoys me about Barrick Gold, is that they are fairytale wedding dream stealers - I can never look at a wedding band the same and associate it with a nice romantic notion, instead I'm more likely to think of an open-cut gold pit. Ugly, very ugly.

Recently, Barrick Gold have proposed a mining site expansion which means ripping-off another 5 gigalitres of water a year in one of Australia's most drought-stricken areas, Lake Cowal.

Lake Cowal is referred to traditional owners as the 'Sacred Heartland of the Wiradjuri nation”, yet for 10 years Traditional Owners have been fighting against Barack Gold Mines to shut the Lake Cowal open-cut gold pit down.

Says the Save Lake Cowal website “On 27 March 2006 the mine became fully operational despite opposition from Traditional Owners within the Wiradjuri Nation, the Coalition to Protect Lake Cowal and concerned citizens around Australia.

Barrick owns eight mines in Australia.

The company has been accused of a number of environmentally unsound practices, as well as illegal trading activities.

In January 2003, a 26-year old woman was killed in a pitwall collapse at a Barrick mine in Western Australia.”

Nice folk eh? So next time you're thinking about buying some gold, spare a thought that it takes 18 tonnes of earth, generating 12 cubic metres of tailings, to produce enough gold for an average wedding band. For more info visit: www.nodirtygold.org

http://www.savelakecowal.org

Enviroporn - Fuck for Forest...Come against Coal?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.