The Refugee Advocacy Group (RAG) was recently formed by high school students in Geelong. The group organised a refugee rights protest in the city on August 13. Green Left Weekly’s Ben Peterson spoke to Max Hill, a year 11 student and founder of RAG.
Tell us about RAG and how this all got started
Max Hill: Basically, the group came about after [immigration minister Chris] Bowen planned to sign the "Malaysian solution".
890
You've probably heard it said a dozen times today: "It's like 28 Days Later out there." Every thirty seconds, there's a new riot zone. I've rarely known the capital to be this wound up.
In early August, ￡500 billion was wiped off the value of the largest British companies. The United States stock market fell by the largest amount since the early days of the financial crisis in 2008.
The panic has now spread to Asian markets.
On August 5, British markets continued to slide. The banks, locus of the 2008 calamity, have been worst affected. Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and RBS stopped trading in their shares after prices collapsed.
I wander
in a city
with hard
games
no fun and games
no laughing matter
(we don’t play we don’t laugh)
life
Russian roulette
inside
Russian dolls
boxes
within
boxes
within –
built-up
blocks of land
building complexes
buildings
blocks of flats
flats
rooms
where
scattered
other
boxes
food
shut
in metal
plastic
so efficient
vitamins
in boxes
spell
deficient
feasts
on screens
a distant
memory
now
tinned
sofa
merry-
making
sufficient.
I take
tablets
for stimulation
for sex
and recreation
in lovely colour pink
and others
for sedation
Thousands of West Papuans rallied for independence on August 2, despite attempts by the Indonesian government to scare people away.
About 10,000 people protested across Indonesian-occupied West Papua, Radio Australia's Pacific Beat said on August 3.
They demanded a referendum on independence from Indonesia.
The largest protest took place in the capital Jayapura. Hundreds of heavily armed riot police and soldiers hindered protesters marching from Abepura and Waena who were trying to march into Jayapura, West Papua Media Alerts said on August 2.
Speaking to CNN en Espanol on July 27, Bolivian President Evo Morales said “When presidents do not submit to the United States government, to its policies, there are coups.”
His comments are backed by attempts by the US and Bolivia’s right wing to bring down his government.
Recently released WikiLeaks cables prove the US embassy was in close contact with dissident military officers only months before a coup attempt was carried out in September 2008.
But the close relationship between the US and Bolivia’s military has a long history.
War on drugs
The Israeli ambassador to Spain, Raphael Schutz, has just finished his term in Madrid. In an op-ed in Israeli paper Haaretz’s Hebrew edition, he summarised what he termed as a very dismal stay and seemed genuinely relieved to leave.
This kind of complaint now seems to be the standard farewell letter of all Israeli ambassadors in western Europe.
The Most Dangerous Man in the World
By Andrew Fowler
Melbourne University Press, 2011
271 pages, $32.99 (pb)
Underground
By Suelette Drefus & Julian Assange
William Heinemann, 2011
479 pages, $24.95 (pb)
WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy
By David Leigh & Luke Harding
Guardianbooks, 2011
340 pages, $24.95 (pb)
On my first day in Cuba, in 1967, I waited in a bus queue that was really a conga line. Ahead of me were two large, funny females resplendent in frills of blinding yellow; one of them had an especially long bongo under her arm.
When the bus arrived, painted in Cuba's colours for its inaugural service, they announced that the gringo had not long arrived from London and was therefore personally responsible for this breach in the United States' blockade.
It was an honour I could not refuse.
At least 15 people were killed on August 5 by security forces cracking down on protests in cities and towns throughout Syria, the August 6 Gulf News said.
Escalating protests and government violence have marked every Friday since the Arab Spring reached Syria in March. But government violence has escalated since the military’s July 31 assault on the city of Hama, whose streets had been under the control of protesters since June.
Australian musician Olivia Newton-John released this open letter on July 31.
* * *
My fellow Australians:
I love this country, its people, its rugged beauty, its rainforests, its vastness and unique wildlife.
And, as a longtime advocate of the environment, I am greatly concerned for the continued health and wellness of Australia.
My dream is that our children and grandchildren can enjoy the Australia that we all know and love. That is why I am horrified to learn of the extensive plans for coal seam gas and shale gas exploration in Australia.
Around 200 people attended a "Unite Against Racism" rally in the King George Square on August 6. It was staged in opposition to a rally organised by the far-right Australian Defence League (ADL) attacking Islam and calling for a ban on the burqa.
The tiny ADL rally was aimed at inciting hatred and violence toward Muslim people and refugees.
After several speakers condemned attacks on Islam and refugees, the anti-racist rallygoers confronted a small group of around 20 racists as they tried to address passersby through a loudspeaker system.
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