MAPW *Peace e-Script* for Wednesday 29 April 2009
Nancy Atkin (MAPW)
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MAPW: headlines
MAPW activities
More MAPW news
Australia and the region
Global news
Information
More events and activities
Contact us, contributions and comments
MAPW headlines
VICE-PRESIDENTS LEAVE
FOR UN NUCLEAR NON PROLIFERATION MEETING
MAPW Vice-Presidents (and ICAN Board
Members) Tilman Ruff and Ruth Mitchell are headed
for New York where they will attend the NPT PrepCom
(the 2009 Preparatory Committee for next year’s review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty). Tilman, with anti-nuclear activist John Hallam, has been invited to be
on the official Australian delegation; while Ruth will be working with ICAN’s
Dimity Hawkins, analysing and reporting back, and meeting to share information
and strategies with other anti-nuclear groups from around the world. The
meeting begins next Monday. Please email ma...@mapw.org.au
or watch our website, or http://icanw.blogspot.com/
for special reports.
MAPW’S BILL WILLIAMS IMAGINES ABOLITION
MAPW Vice-President Bill Williams has had a
feature published in Online Opinion this week. Read Bill’s excellent: 'A
nuclear weapons free world is now possible'
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8839
And if you feel like it, make a comment to create discussion. ***Bill’s
article was the top online read recommended in today’s Age, in their
“Web of Opinion” editor’s pick. ***
NSW GOVERNMENT
ACCEPTS HUNTERS HILL INQUIRY RECOMMENDATIONS
The NSW government appear to have accepted the major recommendations of their
Hunters Hill (uranium contamination in Sydney) parliamentary
inquiry, regarding comprehensive characterisation and clean-up of contaminated
areas. MAPW Vice-President was a key witness:
the Inquiry called him as a witness and he was able to assist them with
detailed and reliable information. See: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/committee.nsf/0/777A61455D514C0BCA2574D400106F9E
DEFENCE
CONSULTATION REPORT A SHAM
The Department of Defence has released the report on its
Community Consultation: Looking over the
horizon: Australians consider defence. This report, to inform the soon-to-be-released Defence
White Paper, is extremely disappointing. MAPW took it
seriously, and members put considerable time into making considered and
well-researched comments to this 2008 consultation. At best, the report could
be described as military and weapons industry “spin”. At worst it
is very misleading. Views supporting sustained or increased military spending
are highlighted. Views or evidence suggesting decreased spending, or promoting
peace-making and diplomatic resolution of conflict, are buried in the report,
ignored, and even belittled. Read MAPW’s initial
comments and response at www.mapw.org.au
** Contact us if you have skills and time to volunteer help with a quick
research project analysing what the hundreds of submissions really said!***
The latest: More MAPW news
Thanks
to our journalism intern Viktoria who has been updating our events and news at www.mapw.org.au ; with new detail and links
on our Afghanistan page.
MAPW SUPPORTS IRAQ INQUIRY
MAPW President Sue Wareham was quoted on
the Inter Press Service Site, as she was asked to comment on the U.K. government’s
recent announcement that it will conduct an inquiry into Britain’s involvement in Iraq. "We’re
very pleased that the British government has taken this decision and we would
support the same thing happening in Australia," Sue
told the news agency. See:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46468
PARLIAMENTARIANS
RECEIVE MAPW LETTER SUPPORTING PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN
MAPW President Dr Sue Wareham
OAM has written to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, urging that Australia support a
political solution to the conflict in Afghanistan, together with rebuilding
of rebuilding of the country. This letter has now been mailed, with the help of
MAPW volunteers, to all Federal members of Parliament. See the
letter on our website: www.mapw.org.au
THANKS FOR DONATING TO MAPW’S ICAN APPEAL
Thanks for your generous response to our appeal! Please help us to spread our
appeal more widely. The International Campaign to
Abolish Nuclear Weapons was initially funded for 3 years, until June 2009, by
the Poola Foundation, who have now generously offered to match your donations
to ensure ICAN can continue its highly effective work. Contact us at ma...@mapw.org.au to be sent brochures
to give others who may wish to donate. Or consider making an immediate online
donation at www.mapw.org.au
MAPW: You will be
welcomed at your local meeting:
Check your branch at: www.mapw.org.au/branches
Queensland, Thursday 30 April
QUEENSLAND BRANCH MEETING BY PHONE
Are you a Queensland member interested in helping plan
local activities? MAPW will be hosting a phone meeting of Queensland members at 6.00pm on Thursday
30 May. Contact nancy...@mapw.org.au
or call 8344 1637 (Thursday morning, or after 4pm) and we
will email you details to dial in.
Hobart, Monday lunchtime 4 May
TASMANIAN MAPW MONTHLY MEETING
This informal monthly meeting is 1pm at the 'Timeless Way'
cafe in the IXL Jam factory area of Hobart's wharves.
Contact t...@mapw.org.au or just come along
at 1pm. Make a diary note for the June 2 meeting where MAPW’s
Tilman Ruff and ICAN’s Jessica Morrison will be meeting members.
Perth Friday 8 May: All welcome!
SUPPORT OUR ICAN FUNDRAISER: SOLDIERS FOR PEACE
ICAN is hosting the Perth Premiere of this star-studded
Australian documentary which won Best Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature
Film at the Monaco International Film Festival. An inspiring journey across 5
continents and 14 countries, it shows the extraordinary peace efforts of
ordinary individuals across the globe. We are still getting messages from those
enthused by the Melbourne screening. The
Astor Cinema, 659 Beaufort St, Mt Lawley. 7.30pm. Wine and nibbles from 6.45pm.. Please buy now ($20/$15) through www.moshtix.com.au .
Alice Springs, Saturday 9 May
NT MAPW BRANCH MEETING
MAPW (NT) next meeting,
planning action on climate change, opposition to mining at Angela Pamela,
and indigenous issues related to nuclear industries.
Venue: Olive Pink Botanic Garden, at 1.00pm (1300). Contact: n...@mapw.org.au
Adelaide, Sunday 10 May
PEACE
PRESENTATION
MAPW’s South Australian Coordinator Amanda Ruler will be giving a Peace Presentation on domestic and
racial violence being precursors for a violent, warlike society. Win-win ways
to negotiate peace in domestic, community and international settings and peace
in the context and direction of the church will also be discussed.
All are welcome. Port Adelaide Uniting Church, Commercial Rd, Port Adelaide 10.00am – 11.00am. Queries to amanda...@MAPW.org.au
Melbourne, Tuesday 12
May: Public meeting
DUEL LOYALTIES: DOCTORS AND THE STATE
Guest speaker MAPW student member Priyal Rama Asary has
written a well-researched paper on this topic, looking at the Steve Biko case,
at doctors under Nazism, and at medical professionals in Australia’s
refugee detention centres. She will speak to our May meeting, to be held at 6.30 pm at Level 2
of the Alan Gilbert Building, Cnr Barry
and Grattan St, Carlton. Help us
promote the meeting by downloading the flyer from www.mapw.org.au Chaired by Associate
Professor Lou Irving, our MAPW Vic
Coordinator. *** This meeting is especially timely given the leaking of a Red
Cross report, documenting medical assistance with CIA torture: see http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102851813
**
Geelong, Victoria, Thursday 21 May
CONFLICT AND HEALTH
Deakinl students
are organising a “Rebel Curriculum Night” with speakers including MAPW’s Bill
Williams, speaking on global health implications of nuclear weapons
and what YOU can do about it; and Dr Hamish Graham on the issue
of child malnutrition in refugee camps. Deakin University Waurn Ponds, 5.30pm onwards
Canberra, Saturday 30 May
MAPW PRESENTS MUSIC AS PEACE WORK
Four hours of live music provided by ACT doctors, their families and friends,
in this enjoyable ACT annual fund-raiser. A buffet dinner will start at 6pm
(bring food to share).
Free tea, coffee, cold drinks and snacks all evening. 6pm at Canberra
Baptist Church Hall, Currie Crescent Kingston. Print our flyer from www.mapw.org.au
and help promote the event. Donations of up to $50 would be appreciated. Please
forward any enquiries to musicasp...@hotmail.com
The latest: Australia and the region
TAHITI: VICTIMS OF NUCLEAR TESTING
CALL FRANCE TO ACCOUNT
On Monday 27 April, eight Polynesian victims of
French nuclear testing launched a case against France
before the Tribunal de Travail
(industrial relations court) in Papeete,
Tahiti. For the first time ever
in French Polynesia, France
will have to take responsibility for the consequences of nuclear testing on the
health of the Polynesian people. Of the eight plaintiffs who are former workers
from the Moruroa nuclear test site, three are still alive and suffering from
cancers of the blood. The five others have already died, mainly from leukaemia,
and will be represented at the trial by their widows. Follow this story on
Radio Australia www.radioaustralianews.net.au
or email nf...@optusnet.com.au to
request the English translation of an outline prepared by workers’
organisation Moruroa e Tatou.
UK ADMITS TO RADIOACTIVE LEAKS AT SUBMARINE BASE
Britain's Ministry of Defence has admitted to a series of
radioactive leaks at a nuclear submarine base in Scotland, but says
they had no environmental consequences. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/28/2554424.htm
JAPAN BLASTS HOLLYWOOD FOR TRIVIALISING NUCLEAR BOMBS
Japan's foreign minister has taken a
swipe at Steven Spielberg's movie Indiana Jones
and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for trivialising a nuclear bomb blast.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/indy-cops-blast-for-trivialising-nuclear-bomb-20090428-alz9.html
On a more serious note, Japan has called for the work of the
nuclear weapons commission it jointly sponsors with the Rudd Government to form
the basis of a new global initiative on nuclear disarmament http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25390396-5013404,00.html
PAKISTAN PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION REACTOR CONSTRUCTION CONCERNS
The report linked below shows recent satellite imagery of
the Khushab plutonium production reactors in Pakistan, showing work
proceeding on a second and third reactor at this location. The operational
status of the second reactor is unknown, but it could start in the near future.
Pakistan's increase in plutonium production capability stands
to accelerate an arms race with India.
View the full report: http://www.isis-online.org/publications/southasia/Khushab_23April2009.pdf
AUSTRALIA EAGER TO INCREASE URANIUM SALES TO CHINA
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson is hoping for increased Australian uranium sales to China. However the Australian
Conservation Foundation has pointed out that this uranium will produce high
level nuclear waste (and plutonium) in Chinese nuclear reactors. This spent
nuclear fuel is likely to be taken over time to Lanzhou in Tibet for longer term storage
and/or reprocessing, with the Australian government having given approval to
reprocessing of Australian nuclear materials in China. http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200904/2551217.htm?desktop
Information sources and ideas
ANZAC DAY, NATIONALISM
AND WAR
Read this though-provoking piece by Ruby Murray in Eureka
Street
http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=13175
More events and activities
Sydney, Thursday
14 May
VIGIL AGAINST
KOREA-USA MILITARY BASE
the South Korean and US military have been
displacing the Mugeon-ri farming community from their lands since 1980 to
create the Mugeon-ri South Korea-US Joint-Use Training Area. It has become an
international training ground, used by the US army in Korea, and by
troops based on Guam, Okinawa and the US mainland to
practice for an invasion of North Korea. Now the
army wants another 30 square kilometres. 4-6pm Korean Consulate,
111 Elizabeth Street Sydney. More
information is available at www.anti-bases.org
Hobart, to Saturday 16 May
KURUNAVANUA: FIJIAN BODIES AND THE GLOBALISED ECONOMY OF WAR
In Kurunavanua (the trembling of the earth) Hobart-born artist Torika
Bolatagici investigates representations of Pacific Island
masculinity, Fiji and the economy of war. This photo
exhibition is informed compares the participation of Fijian soldiers in the
nuclear tests at Christmas Islands in the
1950s to the current recruitment of Fijians to work for Private Security
Military Companies in the Middle East. (Torika
also supported MAPW with some volunteer work on the
development of our website in 2008). Red Wall Gallery, Republic Bar & Café,
299 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart. Web: www.torika.net
Sydney, Thursday 30 April: Tomorrow!
FILM SCREENING AND TALK ON TALISMAN SABRE WAR GAMES
Film: “Scarred Lands and Wounded
Lives:The Environmental Footprint of War” This powerful and
disturbing film is dedicated to breaking the silence about the environmental
impact of war. The environment remains war’s silent casualty. Speaker: Dr
Hannah Middleton, from the Sydney Peace Foundation
and the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, will talk about Talisman
Sabre, the joint US-Australian military exercises held every two years in
central Queensland, their environmental and other
impacts and the peace convergence being organised to oppose them. 7 – 9pm Room 107,
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies Mackie Building, Arundel
Street, Glebe (near footbridge). Details (02) 9351 4468 or 0418
668 098. See details of events in Central Queensland at www.peaceconvergence.com
Melbourne, Monday 4 May – support this fine student’ initiative
CLIMATE CHANGE,
BUSHFIRES, AND HEALTH
Climate change is likely to increase the frequency and severity of bushfires in
Australia. This will have a range of health impacts, including
increased rates of respiratory disease, fire-related injuries and deaths, and
mental health problems. Peter Marshall (National Secretary, United Firefighters
Union) and Grazi Lisciotto (Vice-President, Burn Foundation Australia), will
focus on the health and wellbeing of two groups directly affected by bushfires:
fire fighters and burns survivors. In the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires,
this seminar is an opportunity to learn about the human impact of bushfires,
the treatment of burns, and potential health risks of climate change in Australia. 6:30-8pm, Sunderland
Theatre, Medical Building, University of Melbourne. Please
RSVP to greenhea...@gmail.com
. Hosted by the University of Melbourne Green Health Group http://greenhealthgroup.wordpress.com/
(including MAPW student members.)
Melbourne, Saturday 23 May,
AUSTRALIA-JAPAN PEACE FORUM.
Japanese for Peace will hold a forum on the themes of Reconciliation, War
Responsibility and Dialogue for Peace. We would like to facilitate a dialogue
for peace among different cultures by learning about each other’s history
and memories of war. We hope our forum will make a small, yet significant step
towards reconciliation. 2 pm - 5 pm: Melbourne City Conference
Centre, 333 Swanston Street. Details www.jfp.org.au
29 May –
4
June 2009
GLOBAL WEEK OF
ACTION TO BAN CLUSTER BOMBS
The Global Week of Action to Ban Cluster Bombs is an
opportunity for campaigners across the world to call on all governments to join
the Convention on Cluster Munitions by signing and ratifying it as soon as
possible. The Week of Action takes place exactly one year after the
historic negotiations and formal adoption of the Convention in Dublin, Ireland on 30 May 2008.
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/gwoa2009/
Sydney, 28 May to 20 June
MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE
In 2003, 23 year old Rachel Corrie left her USA hometown
and went to Palestine as a part of peaceful
demonstrations in the Gaza Strip against the demolition of civilian homes by
the Israeli Defence Forces. In March that year she was killed by an IDF
bulldozer. This powerful true story is told as a play at the Seymour Centre http://www.seymourcentre.com.au
MAPW thank you list
Thanks to this week’s
contributors, including Jim Green, Christina MacPherson, Dale Hess, Dimity, Nic
Maclellan, Adam Dempsey, and many
others – thanks!
Written by Nancy Atkin, for the Medical Association for Prevention of
War (Australia)
Email comments and contributions to: nancy...@mapw.org.au
www.mapw.org.au