Members from a variety of community and solidarity groups campaigning for human rights in Australia and overseas came together on December 11 to mark International Human Rights Day in Sydney.
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Unionists and solidarity activists rallied outside the Colombian consulate in Sydney on December 13 to denounce the fact that Colombia remains the most dangerous place in the world for trade unionists.
The protest, called to coincide with International Human Rights week, was organised by the Sydney branch of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and supported by Peace and Justice for Colombia (PJFC).
The initiative for the protest came in the wake of the recent visit by Colombian trade unionist Parmenio Poveda.
In the US Army manual on counterinsurgency, the American commander General David Petraeus describes Afghanistan as a 鈥渨ar of perception... conducted continuously using the news media鈥. What really matters is not so much the day-to-day battles against the Taliban as the way the adventure is sold in America where 鈥渢he media directly influence the attitude of key audiences鈥.
Reading this, I was reminded of the Venezuelan general who led a coup against the democratic government in 2002. 鈥淲e had a secret weapon,鈥 he boasted. 鈥淲e had the media, especially TV. You got to have the media.鈥
More than 1000 people rallied at Sydney鈥檚 Town Hall at 1pm on December 10 to show their support for Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange. Rallies also occurred in Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of rock star John Lennon鈥檚 assassination. Lennon was also an anti-war activist and, in the most radical period of his life in the early 1970s, an unashamed socialist. (You can read an interview given by Lennon and his partner Yoko Ono to British revolutionary socialist magazine Red Mole in 1971 .)
Noam Chomsky, renowned academic, author and critic of US imperialism, has offered his support to protesters across Australia planning to take to the streets in defence of Wikileaks.
December 8 statement by (Australia-based unofficial Wikileaks information resource.
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On November 13th 2010, Burma鈥檚 most famous political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi, was released from house arrest. She had been confined to her house for almost 15 years.
Statement released by organisers of the Sydney rally to defend Wikileaks on December 10聽at Sydney Town Hall.
In response to the U.S. State Department鈥檚 condemnation of the unauthorized release of more than 250,000 diplomatic cables by the website Wikileaks, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez praised the whistleblower site and called for the resignation of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Bolivian Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera has posted all US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks that pertain to Bolivia on his official website, the Associated Press said on December 8.
Melbourne Rally: Fri, Dec 17, 5:30pm at the State Library Lawns, Melbourne.
Brisbane Rally: Sat, Dec 18, noon, Brisbane Square.
Canberra: Rally: Thursday, December 16, 5:30pm at Garema Place, Civic
Sydnet Rally: Sat, Jan 15, noon at Town Hall.
The open letter below was originally published at the ABC's The Drum Unleashed.
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