ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY - MAYBE SOME JUSTICE AT LAST??

This article is from The Age newspaper:

Charges laid over death in prison van

January 20, 2011

THE wife of an Aboriginal elder who died of heatstroke in the back of a prison van says she is ''happy and relieved'' that Western Australia's work safety watchdog will lay charges over his death.

WorkSafe WA has laid four charges under the Occupational Safety and Health Act against the state government, the transport company and the two staff involved.

Mr Ward, 46, who cannot be fully named for cultural reasons, died of heatstroke in the prison van in January 2008. He was being transported from Laverton to Kalgoorlie on a drink-driving charge.
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WorkSafe charged the Department of Corrective Services with failing to ensure non-employees were not exposed to hazards. Transport contractor G4S was charged with failing to ensure the safety and health of a non-employee for the transportation of people in custody.

Drivers Nina Stokoe and Graham Powell were charged with failing to take reasonable care to avoid affecting the safety or health of the person in custody.

Mr Ward's wife said the charges had been ''a long time coming''.

EUTHANASIA POSTER HANGS IN MELBOURNE

Article from The Age newspaper:

A leather chair, a laptop of death, a vexed decision

By Gabriella Coslovich

January 18, 2011





A photograph of My Beautiful Chair hangs from The Republic Tower in Melbourne. Photo: Craig Abraham

IF YOU were faced with the prospect of enduring a painful and protracted death in the grip of a terminal disease, would you want the legally sanctioned option of taking your own life? It is a vexed question that has polarised Australian society. But for artist Greg Taylor the answer is clear.

''Whether I would do it, I don't know, but I would at least want to have the choice. We don't tell people what God they have to worship, that's a choice that they have, so why should they be foisting their choice of death onto us?'' he said.

''Why should we have to suffer as a sacrifice to their God? That's bizarre, especially if you are an atheist. Hey, people, live and let live.''
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As you may have guessed, Taylor is an atheist and euthanasia is the focus of his latest artwork, My Beautiful Chair. Some people might not consider it art - but what the work will do, literally, is put people in the hot seat, allowing them to experience what it might be like to choose to die.

Essentially, the work is a cosy domestic setting, the kind that Taylor would want to die in, surrounded by loved ones. There's a plush leather armchair, an elegant floor lamp and an antique Persian rug. On the top of a sleek glass coffee table is a seemingly innocuous laptop and a briefcase.

In fact, the laptop and briefcase are fully functioning replicas of the machine created by Australian doctor and ardent pro-euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke to help people end their life.

Euphemistically called the ''Deliverance Machine'', it has also been dubbed ''the laptop of death'' by opponents. When euthanasia was legal for a short time in the Northern Territory in the 1990s, four terminally ill people used the ''Deliverance Machine'' to end their lives.

On Saturday, the public will be able to passively experience what those four people went through, when Taylor's work goes on show in Hobart.

My Beautiful Chair is part of the opening exhibition of what promises to be one of Australia's most controversial private galleries, the Museum of Old and New Art, owned by art collector and professional gambler David Walsh, who knows about the suffering endured by the terminally ill.

Mr Walsh's brother, Tim, died of cancer 19 years ago, aged 33. As his disease progressed, ''he became more humiliated, less my brother'', Mr Walsh says.

Yesterday, a poster of My Beautiful Chair was erected on the Republic Tower billboard, on the corner of La Trobe and Queen streets, which has been the site of some traffic-stopping art, although the significance of Taylor's work may have been lost on passers-by. Its meaning is not immediately apparent.

When Taylor contacted Dr Nitschke to enlist his technical help in the creation of My Beautiful Chair, the doctor was intrigued. Taylor's unusual request came at an opportune time. Dr Nitschke and his organisation, Exit International, had been looking for ways to broaden the debate.

SOUTH AFRICAN ZIONISTS ATTACK ARCHBISHOP BENJAMIN TUTU

THE FOLLOWING ITEM WAS RECEIVED FROM MONDOWEISS BY EMAIL ON 14 JANUARY 2011:

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu slandered by Israel apologists
Jan 13, 2011 02:47 pm | Gilad Isaacs

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has been called bigoted and anti-Semitic by David Hersch, vice-chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, in an attempt to remove Tutu from his position as patron of the Cape Town Holocaust Centre and the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre.

In recent years Tutu has been on the receiving end of a number of defamatory attacks. The eminent human rights advocate has become a target because of his uncompromising position on Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people. However these attacks ignore his principled commitment to the safety and dignity of all people in Israel and Palestine.

Sign the petition in defense of Tutu

here

and read Open Shuhada Street's press statement below.

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PRESS RELEASE – ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS DESMOND TUTU SLANDERED, CONCERNED SOUTH AFRICANS CIRCULATING PETITION IN DEFENCE OF TUTU

12 Jan, 2011

A new petition initiated by concerned South Africans is quickly gathering widespread support nationally and internationally. This petition can be viewed at

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/defend-tutu/

.
The petition is a pledge of support for Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who has recently been the target of slanderous attacks by those who reject his principled and fair-minded stance on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

In the first 48 hours, over 1000 people added their names to petition. The current count is over 1,600. Some of the prominent signatories include Arthur Chaskalson, Lord Joel Joffe, Omar Barghoutti, Adam Hochschild, Andrew Feinstein, Annie Lennox and Zackie Achmat. Open Shuhada Street endorses and fully supports the petition started by concerned South Africans in defence of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

The petition was initiated by members of Open Shuhada Street in their personal capacities. It opposed a call from David Hersch, vice-chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, demanding that Archbishop Emeritus Tutu be removed or resign from his position as patron of the Cape Town Holocaust Centre and the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre. In a circulated letter Hersch called the Archbishop Emeritus anti-Semitic and bigoted. These sentiments were echoed by well-known Israel-booster Professor Alan Dershowitz, who called Tutu a “bigot” and an “anti-semite”.

In recent years the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has been on the receiving end of a number of defamatory attacks. The eminent human rights advocate has become a target because of his uncompromising position on Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people. However these attacks ignore his principled commitment to the safety and dignity of all people in Israel and Palestine. He has personally met with Palestinian leaders to express solidarity with their suffering under Israeli occupation, and to strongly urge them to refrain from violent attacks on Israeli targets and civilians.

Last October, the Archbishop Emeritus asked the Cape Town Opera not to travel to Israel. His argument was based on his firm belief in human rights and equality. He wrote, “Only the thickest-skinned South Africans would be comfortable performing before an audience that excluded residents living, for example, in an occupied West Bank village 30 minutes from Tel Aviv, who would not be allowed to travel to Tel Aviv, while including his Jewish neighbours from an illegal settlement on occupied Palestinian territory.”

In retaliation against the Cape Town Opera statement, Rhoda Kadalie called the Archbishop Emeritus a “bigot” and the Israeli Ambassador accused him of “bias” and of “deliberate populist incitement” (Cape Times, 28 Oct 2010). By slandering the name of the heroic champion for human rights, Kadalie, Hersch and the Israeli Ambassador have joined the ranks of the Archbishop Emeritus’ past critics: Thabo Mbeki, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Chinese occupiers of Tibet and Ugandans denying the rights of gays and lesbians.

Lungisa Mndende, the Khayelitsha Coordinator of Open Shuhada Street and a signatory of the petition, led a delegation of members on a visit of the Cape Town Holocaust Centre last December. In support of the petition he remarked, “Visiting the Holocaust Centre was very painful, but it was an important reminder of past injustice. Whether it is the struggle against Nazi genocide or against Apartheid, it is important for us to remember the history of oppression. For his advocacy of non-violence and human rights Archbishop Tutu is an ideal patron for the Holocaust Centre because he reminds us that we have the strength and the duty to struggle against racism and violations of human rights at home and in every country around the world.”

The full text of the petition is appended below. The petition can be accessed electronically at

www.thepetitionsite.com/1/defend-tutu/

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PETITION IN DEFENCE OF ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS DESMOND TUTU

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has publicly criticised Israeli policy towards Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank. He has also criticised Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians. These criticisms are well-known.

Recently, his criticisms of Israeli policy have elicited bitter personal attacks. Amidst calls for him to be removed as Patron of the Cape Town and Johannesburg Holocaust Centres of the South African Holocaust Foundation, Tutu has been attacked and labelled an anti-Semite and a bigot

Disagreements should be debated openly, but these personal attacks are totally unacceptable.

During the Second World War, which killed 60 million people, Nazi Germany killed socialists, gay men and lesbians, Roma people, and resistance fighters, but its most systematic destruction was of the Jewish people. Six million Jews were transferred to ghettos and concentration camps before being murdered.

This grotesque crime against humanity must never be forgotten. Its legacy and lessons belong to and must be guarded by all of humanity. Racism including anti-Semitism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and inhumanity must be resisted wherever they occur. As stated in the Mission Statement of the South African Holocaust Foundation, we must build “a more caring and just society in which human rights and diversity are respected and valued.”

This is precisely the cause to which Tutu has dedicated his life. He represents the finest tradition of resistance to all forms of oppression. He has taught us that understanding the Holocaust begins with appreciating that the only way for each of us to be safe is for all of us to be safe. He embodies the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document born of the horrors of the Second World War, the rights contained in which pertain equally to Israelis and Palestinians.

To use the Holocaust in an attempt to delegitimise Tutu is to undermine its legacy and insult the memory of its victims. To call him an anti-Semite, because he has attacked the policies of the Israeli government, is outrageous, renders the term meaningless, and enfeebles the necessary efforts to defeat real anti-Semites and racists.

MARRICKVILLE COUNCIL JOINS BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS AGAINST ILLEGAL ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE

Marrickville Council in Sydney's inner west has had the courage to do what so many other local, state and federal governments in Australia haven't the courage to do. They have joined the BDS campaign instituted a few years ago around the world to draw attention to the brutality of the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Many years ago Australia was not in the forefront of BDS against apartheid South Africa, a country which formed nuclear alliances with Israel which suited the military ambitions of both countries. Today, of course, it is Israel which is the apartheid state and the zionists cry foul when BDS is mentioned.

Fiona Byrne, Greens mayor of Marrickville was interviewed by the ABC on 13 January 2011, and the outcry of the blogging trolls which followed, and were posted below the transcripted interview sounded as if it had been orchestrated in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem!

Maybe it was, but the point is that the zionists are losing the public relations war as their excesses in the occupied territories mount and the evil apartheid racism that is zionism is taken to new depths by the Israeli religious right and other religious right supporters of other religions around the world.

Anti-semitism is the first outcry. The second is why pick on Israel for human rights violations when so many other countries are guilty of human rights violations. Funny how these hypocrites don't pick on the human rights violations going on under their noses in Australia.

Time for all these zionists and their Israel-loving supporters to read "The Invention of the Jewish People" by Shlomo Sand. an Israeli professor, to realise that most of these "Jews" are probably not of Jewish origin at all.

Congratulations to Fiona Byrne and the Marrickville Council to have the courage and be the forerunners and trend-setters for public BDS in Australia. Time for more of the unions to take principled stands over this human rights issue.

ISRAEL'S RHETORIC DIRECTLY OUT OF APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA'S POLICE STATE RECORDS

Article in The Age newspaper, 7 January 2011


This article tells how Israel is resorting to police state and fascist state tactics in order to silence those who are becoming more and more vocal and who are at last beginning to have their voices heard arond the world - at last!!

The Israeli government is desperate to ensure support from its major supporters remains because cracks are at last appearing in the 60-year-long support it has taken for granted and DEMANDED of the USA!

Israel confronts rights groups with inquiry

Jerusalem
January 7, 2011

THE funding of Israeli human and civil rights groups is to be investigated by a parliamentary commission amid claims they are acting against the country's interests.

Opponents have described the move as ''McCarthyite''.

A bill brought by members of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party proposed the inquiry into groups monitoring the activities of the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank.
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Supporters of the bill claimed the groups were ''delegitimising'' Israel and were funded by anti-Israeli international bodies.

The bill was approved by 47 votes to 16 following a heated debate in the Knesset on Wednesday, during which security guards were present.

But the bill was immediately condemned by rights organisations who claim it is part of a campaign to intimidate groups that speak out against the actions of the state.

''Israeli democracy took a severe blow today,'' Hagai el-Ad, the director of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, said.

''The goal is to eventually weaken human rights groups and make them less effective in exposing, questioning and affecting government policies.

''Time and again, members of the current Knesset have shown that, instead of dealing with the content of the criticism voiced, they prefer to silence and vilify those who voice such opinions.''

Supporters claimed the groups are backed by ''international groups … with the goal of damaging the legitimacy of the activities of Israeli Defence Forces soldiers'', encouraging draft-dodging and branding soldiers as war criminals.

They said the purpose of the commission was to investigate the funding of the groups, rather than their activities.

GUARDIAN

EUTHANASIA WINS 75% SUPPORT

Article by Adele Horin in The Age newspaper:

Euthanasia wins 75% support

By Adele Horin

January 6, 2011

THREE out of four Australians believe voluntary euthanasia should be legal, according to a poll.

But despite levels of endorsement that have hovered between 75 and 85 per cent for many years, pro-euthanasia reformers admit to having been consistently outgunned by their opponents, resulting in five failed attempts to have legislation passed in two years.

The latest poll by the Australia Institute found 75 per cent of people agreed that, if someone with a terminal illness who is experiencing unrelievable suffering asks to die, a doctor should be allowed to assist them to die. Thirteen per cent did not agree and 12 per cent were not sure.
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As well, the poll revealed 65 per cent of people who identified as Christians were in agreement, as were 71 per cent of Coalition voters, 79 per cent of Labor voters, and 90 per cent of Green voters.

The deputy director of the Australia Institute, Josh Fear, said the high support among Christians was striking, as was the 73 per cent support from people aged 65 and over.

''If anyone in the community would have thought about it and had strong views, it would be people feeling their mortality,'' Mr Fear said. ''Support in the oldest age group was slightly less than average but still very much a majority.''

The poll of 1294 people was conducted online but drawn from a nationally representative sample. It found 18 to 24-year-olds, with 70 per cent support, had the highest level of ''not sure'' at 16 per cent while the 65-plus group had the lowest proportion of ''not sure'' at 7 per cent.

Euthanasia bills have been voted down in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and twice in South Australia since 2008. Federal Greens leader Bob Brown will introduce a bill to seek to overturn legislation that prevents the ACT and Northern Territory from legalising euthanasia. NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann plans to introduce a private members bill in her state parliament this year.

Ms Faehrmann said that despite wide public support she expected a repeat of the forceful campaigning by the Catholic Labor Right and the Catholic Church seen in other states.

''The proposed bill has so many safeguards that only a very small number of patients would be able to access it,'' she said.

''We know from Oregon's experience [that] the vast majority who access the law have no religion. People with strong religious views don't access it and shouldn't stop others from doing so.''

SA Greens MP Tammy Franks said the defeat of a bill last November followed a highly organised and well-resourced campaign by conservatives working together across party, religious, and even state lines.

''Until the voluntary euthanasia side is able to compete with such a highly organised campaign machine we are going to struggle to have the majority voice heard,'' she said.

WA Greens MP Robin Chapple, whose bill was defeated in September, said a well-orchestrated campaign that included a personal letter from the Catholic Archbishop to MPs had been influential.

BETTER PLACE ELECTRIC VEHICLES HELP OPPRESS PALESTINIANS

Reported in Antony Loewenstein's blog on 5 January 2011:

Don’t ignore the oppression-backing Better Place gloss

Published on 5 January 2011.

Israeli electric car company Better Place is accused of providing charging stations in the occupied West Bank and being run by former military men suspected of war crimes. The firm has received media coverage in Australia, mainly over allegations of favourable business deals, but nothing about backing apartheid in Palestine.

The Zionist state’s attempts at greening its image is underway. We shouldn’t be fooled by this kind of propaganda piece in the Jerusalem Post which praises the wonderful innovation of Better Place. Perhaps, but on whose backs? Dead Arabs:

After a successful run of high-tech and computer-related innovation, Israel is focusing its ambitions on the next big thing — preparing the world for life without coal and oil.

Israel is driving to become a world leader in alternative energy, with the government throwing its support behind cutting-edge technologies. The number of private entrepreneurs entering the so-called “clean-tech” sector has swelled dramatically.

Already, a number of firms are moving to roll out new ideas. Perhaps the country’s best known clean-tech company — Project Better Place — aims next year to activate a network of charging stations for electric cars across Israel, which would be one of the most extensive such grids in the world.

Others are still in early stages. On a 10-meter (yard) stretch of a northern highway, the firm Innowattech tested out its system of tile-like generators, which are installed under roads and convert the weight and motion of passing vehicles into electricity. It is now looking to expand, claiming that a kilometer-long (0.6-mile) lane of its generators could power more than 200 households.

Alex Klein, an analyst at Emerging Energy Research, a Cambridge, Mass., research firm, said Israel has in a way benefited from its small size, forcing it to develop products for export.

“Given that it has a small market locally, its role will continue to be innovating new next-generation technology. Pound for pound it is a pretty key incubator of technologies,” he said.

Israel already has a formidable track record. Bolstered in large part by veterans of shadowy high-tech military units, it helped develop such innovations as instant messaging, Internet telephony and wireless computer chips.

The government is now pushing for that entrepreneurial drive to be directed into environmentally clean technologies, not only as an economic opportunity but as a necessity for an arid, resource-poor nation. Israel, which now depends almost entirely for its energy on imported coal and natural gas, has set a goal to have 10 percent of its electricity generated by alternative means by 2020.

In November, the government approved a plan to spend $600 million over the next decade to reach that goal, with much of the money poured into encouraging green construction and development of new technologies.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu presented the plan as a security necessity.

“I view this as a national goal of the highest importance because the addiction to oil has led to the Western world being dependent on the oil-producing countries and harms the standing and security of the state of Israel,” he said.