The following is an abridged speech given by Judith Le Blanc, a Native American activist and organising coordinator for the US peace group United for Peace and Justice (UPJ). Le Blanc is touring Australia to campaign against the 2009 Talisman Sabre joint US-Australian military war games focusing on a Peace Convergence Weekend on July 10-12, at Rockhampton, central Queensland. She was speaking at a July 7 forum in Brisbane.
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On July 5, hundreds were killed in the East Turkestan capital, Urumqi, after protests by Uyghurs against racism and discrimination were attacked by Chinese security forces.
Speaking on behalf of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez鈥檚 United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) on July 6, former Venezuelan interior minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin called on United States President Barack Obama to clarify his government鈥檚 position on the coup d鈥檈tat in Honduras.
On July 4, 30 people gathered at Victoria Quay for a vigil against the presence of two nuclear- armed and powered US Navy vessels. The action, Called by the Fremantle Anti-Nuclear Group, was entirely peaceful 鈥 except for the extraordinary decision by the police to arrest and charge veteran anti-nuclear campaigner Jo Vallentine.
Public broadcaster ABC has entered into a controversial joint venture with Australia鈥檚 largest regional commercial television network, WIN TV, to run the ABC鈥檚 master control centre to send out television and radio signals. WIN TV鈥檚 transmission spans the largest geographical area in the world, reaching more than 5.2 million viewers across Australia.
Thirty people at a July 6 meeting hosted by the Sydney Stop the War Coalition heard from Sara Poya, an Iranian-Australian anti-war activist and researcher, and Mansour Razaghi, from the Committee in Solidarity with Iranian Workers (Australia). Razaghi is also an organiser with the CFMEU.
Compiled and introduced by Felipe Stuart Cournoyer. These statements are taken from
A boat carrying 74 asylum seekers disappeared en route to Australia near the Komodo island in Indonesia last week. The boat was believed to have women and children on board and had vanished 鈥 feared to have sunk 鈥 when the Australian Federal Police was notified by a refugee rights advocate, Ian Rintoul, on July 7.
Nazy (a pseudonym) is an activist with the Voice of Freedom and Democracy in Iran, which organised a protest outside the Iranian Embassy on July 9. She came to Australia on July 6 after attending the pro-democracy protests in Tehran that were organised in response to the Iranian regime鈥檚 repression of the mass demonstrations alleging vote-rigging in the June 12 presidential elections.
The Tamil Freedom Struggle in Sri LankaBy Chris Slee, Dr Brian Senewiratne & Vickramabahu KarunarathneResistance Books, 2009 38 pages, $5 (pb)Available from
An appeal for action from US-based anti-racist group Colour of Change reported on the actions of the Vally Club just outside Philidelphia. The appeal said that 鈥65 children from a summer camp tried to go swimming at a club that their camp had a contract to use. Apparently, the people at the club didn't know that the group of kids was predominantly Black.鈥
Glued to the television, myself and my partner watched the entire July 5 showdown in the Central American nation Honduras play out from Caracas.
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