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Issue No. 231 | 30 July 2004 |
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Bright Sparks
Interview: Power and the Passion Unions: Tackling the Heavy Hitters Industrial: Seeing the Forest For The Wood Housing: Home Truths International: Boycott Busters Economics: Ideology and Free Trade History: Long Shadow of a Forgotten Man Review: Chewing the Fat Poetry: Dear John
Politics The Soapbox The Locker Room Postcard
 Left Holding The BabyTom On Alienation
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News Activists What’s On!
Boycott and Picket the Safari Restaurant SUPPORT UNPAID SUBCONTRACT BUILDING COMPANIES IN THEIR CAMPAIGN FOR JUSTICE How can you help? Boycott the Safari Restaurant Sign our Supporters Petition Make a donation to the campaign Picket nightly from 6.15pm - 28 King Street, Newtown. Dream on! National competition for students - term 3 The Australian Council of Trade Unions' Worksite for Schools website (www.worksite.actu.asn.au) is currently running a national competition for school, TAFE and RTO students - Your Dream Job. To enter, students must write about the job of their dreams. There is $100 for the student winner, $50 for 2 runners-up, and $25 for the winner of the special effort category. The competition will not only give students a chance to win, it's a great way for them to learn about the workforce and get them excited about their working future. Worksite is a terrific source of information about the workforce, providing statistics, encouraging debate, creativity and analysis. The competition closes Friday 22nd October 2004. More information and an entry form can be obtained from the Worksite website - www.worksite.actu.asn.au. Please call 1800 659 511 (toll free) or email [email protected] if you have any questions. Strategic Thinking And Planning An East coast opportunity to work on your campaign or organisation's strategic thinking and planning. Would you like to be an activist who knows where their campaign is going? Do your current strategies and tactics match the broader social and political context? Would you like to be the kind of community worker who is clear about the aims of their project so that you can clearly evaluate what you are trying to achieve? Many environmental and social justice advocates are flying by the seat of their pants and looking for effective strategies to address the challenges we face. Sometimes we can get stuck in reactive modes, or feel overwhelmed by the challenges of the moment. The good news is that there are skills and tools for helping us become more pro-active, and creative as an organisation. We can become smarter at strategy! So would you like to build the skills base in your organisation? How to develop a plan? Strategic analysis? Are you merely being more reactive about your work? This workshop provides you with an opportunity to not only reflect, but to learn new skills in strategic thinking and planning to add to your activist tool kit. Four seasoned trainers will be facilitating two days of active and experiential learning on strategic campaign analysis and planning. Workshop goals: Develop skills in understanding how organisations create smart strategies for change; Learn new tools for campaign planning; Increase your skills for accessing creativity and understanding your gifts for strategic thinking; And apply these skills and tools to your organisation! When &where: Sydney :: Monday 2nd & Tuesday 3rd August :: Quakers Meeting House Melbourne :: Thursday 5th & Friday 6th August :: The Green Building How much: $220-550 > sliding scale [includes GST unfortunately] Contact Amy for more details: [email protected] Work Interrupted The ACTU will be co-sponsoring a conference on casual and insecure employment in Melbourne on August 2, 2004. This timely national conference will examine the impact of casual and insecure work on Australian workers, business and the economy. Casual employment as a proportion of the total workforce has grown from 13% in 1982 to 28% in 2003. It is widespread in many new industries and occupations and is increasingly long-term. Most jobs created in the 1990s were part-time and casual. This conference will look at: * the personal experience of casual workers * international comparisons with Australian casual employment * the economic impact of casual employment * policy challenges for legislators, business and unions This conference brings together some of Australia's leading thinkers and commentators and policy makers from business, unions, academia, politics, and the media to further this important debate. Union places at the conference will cost $150 per head. To reserve your place download and complete the registration form below and fax it to RMIT University/CASR on 02 9365 6067. Or email your details to [email protected]. Or post the registration form with payment to: Work Interrupted, PO Box 7267, Bondi Beach NSW 2026. http://www.actu.asn.au/public/news/1087890291_19647.html Oxfam fundraiser - The Corporation Oxfam Community Aid Abroad invites you to the screening of The Corporation an award winning documentary film by Michael Achbar. THE CORPORATION is a film which is resonating with audiences all over the world. Analyzing the very nature of the corporate institution, its impacts on our planet, and what people are doing in response, filmmakers Mark Achbar (co-director of MANUFACTURING CONSENT), Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan provide a darkly amusing account of the institution's evolution as a legal "person," and a powerful indictment of the roots of corporate power. Based on Joel Bakan's book "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power", the film has been generating popular support from street level to the boardrooms of the Corporate Social Responsibility movement. Featuring interviews with CEOs and top-level executives from some of the world's largest corporations and critical thinkers including Noam Chomsky, Peter Drucker, Milton Friedman, Naomi Klein, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva, Steve Wilson, Michael Moore, and Jane Akre. Winner of the AUDIENCE AWARD for DOCUMENTARY in WORLD CINEMA at the 2004 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL and numerous other awards including 7 audience choice awards. Special Guest: Mark Achbar, Co-director of The Corporation will give a brief introduction to the film and will be available for questions after the film. When: TUESDAY, 3 AUGUST @ 7:00pm Where: The Chauvel Cinema Paddington Town Hall, Cnr Oxford Street & Oatley Road, Paddington Entry $20 / $15. For bookings phone: 93615398 ($10 to OCAA and ACCA) Nibblies provided. Drinks at the bar. hoWARd the arseLIcKEr -Written by D.B.Valentine - Directed by Mark Cleary -The Edge Theatre - Cnr King & Bray Sts Newtown -Advance previews Wed 4th & Thurs 5th August. -Opening Friday 6th Aug to Sunday 29th Aug. -Time: 7.30pm (tbc) -Bookings 9645 1611 or www.mca-tix.com -More info go to: www.newtowntheatre.com.au click on "The Edge" HIROSHIMA DAY MARCH Friday 6 August, 6.00pm at Town Hall, marching to Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park for a Crane and Candle ceremony. Information: Hiroshima Day Committee, telephone Bronwyn Marks, 9982 4192.
The Republican Movement and Reconciliation ARM Sydney Speakers Series #2: author and academic Mark McKenna - Tuesday 10 August 2004 Further details at http://www.republic.org.au/ARM-2001/news&events/Sydney_Speakers_Series_Flyer.PDF Labor and Community Organising in Los Angeles: a popular education approach 12 August Kent Wong seminar - Pop Ed in LA for unions and community organisations Centre for Popular Education Seminar Kent Wong Director UCLA Centre for Labor Research and Education How do unions and community organizations organise in Los Angeles? What role can a University center play as a bridge between the University and the Labor community in Southern California? And how have the dramatic changes in the Southern California economy in recent years shaped this relationship? Kent Wong, the Centre Director, will talk about the Center and its concentration on working with unions, immigrant worker and other community unions/associations, and how its research - which encourages and draws upon community scholars - provides an important source of information for unions and community organisations. Perhaps this explains why the Center's future has been threatened by Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger's proposed 2004-05 state budget, which aims to dramatically reduce its funds. When: Thursday 12 August Where: Centre for Popular Education, UTS 5th Floor Conference Room 235 Jones St, Broadway Time: 3-5pm followed by drinks RSVP: [email protected] 9514 3866 IRISH WORKERS TD (MP)TO SPEAK IN NSW Joe Higgins TD (Socialist Party, Dublin West) is to tour Australia in August 2004. Jailed last year for a month for his involvement in the Bin Tax dispute, Higgins - who worked as a construction worker in Sydney in the 1970s - will be speaking at meetings of the Irish Community, workplace meetings, at a National Union of Workers delegates‚ meeting and at public meetings in Newcastle, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne about recent workers‚ and community struggles in Ireland and Europe. Against an international backdrop of understandable cynicism and distrust of politicians of all political persuasions, Joe Higgins stands out as one politician prepared to back his words with action. Joe is nationally known as a fighter for working class people and for standing for working class unity and socialism, in the South and North of Ireland. Working class people in Ireland know of Joe‚s reputation as a class fighter ˆ they have witnessed him fighting for their communities for years, including being sent to prison, along with Socialist Party Councillor Clare Daly, and other activists, during mass anti-bin charges protests, last year. WHEN AND WHERE: NEWCASTLE: 6.30pm on Friday August 13th at the Commonwealth Hotel, 35 Union St, Cooks Hill, Newcastle. SYDNEY: 3pm on Saturday 14th August at the Gaelic Club, 64 Devonshire St, Sydney (near Central station). Republican Film Night - Tuesday 31 August 2004 Further details at http://www.republic.org.au/ARM-2001/news&events/NSW_Film_Night_31_August_2004_Flyer.PDF Parliamentary Theatresports Just a quick reminder that this coming weekend's opening night of "Parliamentary Theatresports" at Belvoir Street features guest judge Sen Aden Ridgeway (Democrat NSW Senator in Fed Parliament) as well as Nova FM star Bianca Dye and comic Gabby Millgate (among a cast of super impro comics). The shtick is mock political, with 'parties' competing for the audience's vote... There'll be the snouts in the trough section (for bribing the audience... this week with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts!) and ample opportunity for audience suggestions ("questions without notice")! See the attached press clipping - one of many already... or visit http://parliament.improaustralia.com.au Films, politics and learning conference Organization: OVAL Research, Faculty of Education, University of Technology Dec 6 & 7 These nights aim: - To bring together radical film-makers, radical film buffs, and radical educators. - To inspire educators about ways they can use film in their work. - To inspire film-makers about ways they might facilitate learning about politics. - To foster discussion and advocacy about this field of practice. We are seeking videos and films under 2 categories: 1. Agitprop: protest, guerrilla, activist, political, subversive short films /videos. 2. Participatory film-making: community films/videos as social intervention. The nights will focus on short films and video from artists, activists and educators from the international scene. Your work will be presented to an audience of educators, activists and artists delegates from of the "Education and Social Action" international conference and the general film buffs interested in activism. The nights are a non-profit event without competition. There are therefore no prizes and no pay involved, but of course you keep the rights. There is no limitation of geographic origin but speaking Films/Videos must be in English, or subtitled in English. Fiction, documentary, animation or experimental are accepted. Videos must be no more than 10 minutes. The only format accepted is DVD. Send copies with entry form to Celina McEwen, The Centre for Popular Education, UTS, PO Box 123, BROADWAY NSW 2007 AUSTRALIA. Entry copies will not be returned, so don't send originals. To confirm receipt your video/film, send a self-addressed stamped postcard. Deadline for entries is September 30, 2004. Individuals and organisations can submit unlimited number of films, but should complete a separate entry form for each film. All the films may be put on the same tape. Entry forms can be downloaded from www.cpe.uts.edu.au/pdfs/FPLentry.pdf For further information email Celina on (02) 9514 3847 or [email protected]
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