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Melbourne Social Forum
MELBOURNE — The first Melbourne Social Forum will be held on November 28, strengthening the city's links to the global anti-capitalist movement.
Speakers at the event, to be held at the Ceres environmental park in Lee St, East Brunswick, include Cam Walker, Robbie Thorpe, Di Bretherton, Janet McCalman, Jacques Boulet, Humphrey McQueen, David Risstrom, Jess Whyte and Hillel Friedman.
Vince Caughley, an activist with the Sydney Social Forum, will report on the recent European Social Forum in London and the call for a global weekend of action against the US occupation of Iraq on March 19-20.
Plenaries will discuss alternatives around the themes of democracy, sustainability, equality, justice and peace. Workshops topics will include nuclear issues, domestic violence, paid maternity leave, the resistance in Iraq, and life after capitalism.
Organisations supporting the event include Friends of the Earth, Borderlands Co-operative, Prosper Australia, Global Tradewatch, the New Community Quarterly, the Greens and the Socialist Alliance. Nearly 40 people attended a launch on November 3.
For more information, or to organise a workshop, visit <http://www.melbournesocialforum.org>.
David Glanz
Peace protester charged
MELBOURNE — Supporters of peace activist Reta Kaur will protest outside the Magistrates Court on November 19, when she is prosecuted for "criminal damage" for writing the words "The killing has started" in red water-soluble paint on two marble statues outside the US consulate when the war on Iraq began on March 20 last year.
Despite offering to wash off the paint, the police arrested and charged her. The clean-up cost is claimed to be $9080, yet according to Women for Peace, to which Kaur belongs, it "needed only two buckets of water and a piece of cloth" to wipe off the paint.
Chris Slee
Party to save street
WOLLONGONG — The Save East Crown Street collective held a street party on November 6, featuring musicians, jugglers, knitters, and roving characters in historical dress.
SECS is angered by revisions to the development proposal for East Crown Street. According to Jo Abrantes, owner of East Crown Street's Pereys Books: "Although the application states that the proposed building has been 'amended to reflect the character of Edwardian and Victorian buildings' it is not in any way reflective of this style of architecture, and would still be grossly out of context with the existing streetscape. It is hideously ugly!"
The South Coast Labour Council has issued a moratorium on the development "in view of concerns relating to regional heritage, and the need to maintain a unique social space for general public, cultural and recreational purposes", until a heritage study is undertaken.
Nicole Hilder
From Green Left Weekly, November 17, 2004.
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