Germinate 2005 - Australian Student Environment Network

GerminateAustralian Student Environment Network (ASEN) PublicationGerminateIssue 1 2005

Germinate3Hello Everyone!Welcome to Germinate, the movementmagazine of the AustralianStudent Environment Network! Ithas been a long time since the lastedition, but after a patchy historywe are now determined to get aregular publication up and running,and committed to putting out oneedition per term (four a year).This edition is a celebration of ourstudent environment movementand the massive gains we are makingin building and consolidatingindividual campus environmentcollectives and the network as awhole. It contains information onthe various campaigns students areworking on across Australia, and reflectionson where these campaignsat at right now.There are also some articles on howenvironmentalists can build linkswith trade unions, who are currentlyunder attack from Howard’sIR attacks.Progressive activists are facing achallenging time in Australia andall over the world, with the “Waron Terror” supposedly justifying acrackdown on dissent and increasein the power of The State to surveille,regulater and oppress citizens,hand in hand with the rise ofracism and paranoia.We as student activists are underattack from Howard’s Anti StudentOrganising Legislation (ASOL/VSU). We as environmentalists areunder attack from the rise of SLAPP(Strategic Lawsuits Against PublicParticipation) writs against environmentactivists such as the Gunns20 Case. The big NGOs are underthreat from proposed changes totax deductability laws. We as workersare under attack from Howard’sIndustrial Relations attacks. IndigenousAustralians are under attackfrom the proposed abolition of thAboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.An attack on one is an attackon all.During the editing of this Germinate,one of our friends, Scott Parkina peace activist who had beenvisiting from Texas, was seized fromthe street by the Federal Police onhis way to running activist trainingand deemed a “threat to nationalsecurity”, and is currently in detention,awaiting deportation back toAmerica.This incident illustrates the fragilenature of the ‘democracy’ (aka thepolice state) that we are now livingin. It is yet another example thisyear of police intimidating and attemptingto silence activists.We hope you enjoy this edition ofGerminate, please write somethingfor the next one, look after yourselfand stay inspired.And remember to keep checkingthe asen website, www.asen.org.au, because we are updating it reallyregularly now.Keep on smiling!!Anna Rose, ASEN Convenor 2005

Germinate4On the Grapevine: ASEN NewsThere has been so much going onrecently in ASEN that it’s hard toknow where to start, so here’s just abrief report on recent highlights.ASEN NewsAt the recent Subplot gathering inSydney, an ASEN meeting of campusactivists from three states ratifiedthe interim ASEN constitution, whichwe plan to incorporate, making us anot-for-profit association, as soonas possible. We are currently gettinglegal advice and the initial processshould be over in the next month orso!Ideas for ASEN’s structure andconstitution have been the subjectof emails, proposals and meetingsfor over two years now, so it’s greatto finally have something concretethat allows us to start fundraisingand applying for grants for nextyear! The Constitution is modeledfrom a cross between the Friendsof the Earth Australia Constitutionand the U.S. Student EnvironmentAction Coalition (SEAC) Policy, aswell as our own ideas of course andalthough not perfect, its pretty goodand we will sort out any flaws at theJanuary Summer ASEN trainingcamp.Forbes 500A lot of us were involved in theForbes 500 conference protestsin Sydney, which a lot of us wereinvolved in organising. SeveralASENers were arrested in thehuge police over-reaction – thebiggest police operation since theOlympics. Unfortunately, many ofthose arrested at the protests wereASENers or involved in GreenBloc, so we are co-ordinating legaland travel support through ASENorganiser Holly Creenaune. For amore detailed Forbes reportback,see p. x.Students of Sustainability (SoS)ConferenceSOS, the annual national studentenvironment conference, wasamazing as usual, with 600 studentsand activists converging on MonashUniversity for a week of learning,skillsharing, workshops, films,vegan food, and fun. The actionday in the city was particularlysuccessful: hundreds of studentsbearing sunflowers and placardsstaged a peaceful climate criminalsprotest tour, starting on the stepsof Parliament House, going on tothe Victorian Cabinet, then to BHP,followed lastly by the Liberals Officeand ending up at the Department ofEnvironment. This rally built on thehard work that the Victorian Cross-Campus Environment Network(CCEN) has been doing this yearcampaigning against the Hazelwoodpower station expansion and sent astrong anti-Hazelwood expansionmessage to the Victorian Premier,Bracks, and the rest of Cabinet.Climate Change CampaignThe ASEN Climate Changecampaign is progressing really well.After a group of us attended theGreenpeace clean energy trainingcamp from August 5 th – 11 th , wenutted out a lot of strategy ideasand all took on action points. Sofar, campaigns are progressing wellon individual campuses includingMonash, Melbourne, UTS, SydneyUni, UNSW, UNE and NewcastleUni. We have also decided to targetthe Australian Vice ChancellorsCommittee (AVCC), the body of allVice-Chancellors, to try to make ALLthe Unis in Australia switch to cleanenergy together! So far ASEN hassent letters to John Mullarvey, CEOof the AVCC, as well as all of theAVCC Board and Members. We arestill awaiting responses and hope toset up a meeting with them soon.photos from SoS 2005, taken by Holly Creenaune

Germinate5The happy SEAN family at the August SEAN weekendAnti-Student OrganisationLegislation (VSU) CampaignThe VSU legislation is due to bedebated in Parliament on Thursday15th September, and rallies are againplanned in Sydney and Melbourne.Since SoS there have been twomore National Days of Action(NDA) against the Liberal’s studentunion-smashing VSU legislation, onAugust 10 th and August 25 th . Studentenvironment activists continued toplay a leading role in the campaignby building for this rally, There wereGreen Blocs at both NDAs in Sydneyand Melbourne. On the 10 th Augustthe Sydney Green Bloc provideda drumming troupe that added anamazing vibe to the rally.On August 25 th the Melbourne GreenBloc organised an occupation of theVictorian ALP office in responseto the ALP’s disgusting backflipon VSU. This occupation wassuccessful in getting heaps of mediaattention highlighting the fact thatwe do not want a compromise, wewant to STOP VSU!Special mention also goes to theUniversity of Tasmania envirocollective who singlehandedlyorganised protests for both theNDAs and got a rally going to theirlocal Liberal MP.Paper CampaignThe South Australian campuses(Flinders, Adelaide Uni and UniSA)are continuing with their recycledpaper on campus campaign inconjunction with TWS. They arecurrently setting up meetings withtheir Vice-Chancellors and buildingawareness of the campaign,and have a solid core of activistsworking on this practical andinspiring campaign. email katherine.negrin@wilderness.org.auNew Enviro Collectives StartingUpIn the past few months Anna Rose,ASEN Convenor, has continuedvisiting campus enviro collectives,including Wollongong Uni, SydneyUni, UTS, and The Universityof Tasmania! Our new policy oncampus visits is that someone elsefrom the network must also come,so we build links around, not alwaysthrough, the National Convenor.This worked really well when DanyaBryx, one of the co-environmentofficers at Monash Uni, camewith me to UTas Hobart. The Utascollective is amazing – almost40 students, and several subcollectivesincluding fair trade/composting, paper campaign, foodco-op, the Weld forest campaign,transport, and media. Danya andAnna, with help from Jess of theHobart Greenpeace local group,ran an intensive two-day weekendtraining workshop, attended byaround 25 students. This aided thecollective to begin their campaignstrategy process as well as settingshort, medium and long-term goalsfor the collective.In other exciting news, Lucy fromJCU Townsville has started anenviro collective up there, despiteopposition from her Liberal-controlledstudent union. The QueenslandState Network, QEAN, has beensupporting Lucy with materialsfor stalls and moral support sinceshe is so far away from any othercampus!!SEAN WeekendAnother amazing SEAN (TheNSW Student Environment ActivistNetwork) weekend was held recentlyin the Hunter Valley, attended byaround 25 students from mostcampuses in the state, includingSydney Uni, UNSW, UTS, COFA,UNE, UWS and Newcastle Uni.The weekend was a great chance forstudent enviro activists from aroundthe state to get to know each other,strategise for the climate campaign,and do skill-shares and workshops.Workshops included Deep Ecology,The Movement Action Plan andcampaign strategy, Non-violentdirect action training and conflictdiffusion. Campaign planning for theclimate campaign took place, andNewcastle activists explained thecampaign they are running againstthe Sandgate rail flyover, and Huntercoal exports.Thanks to everyone who helped andwho came to the weekend!!

Unions and the Environment Movementby Anna Rose, ASEN Convenor 2005Germinate6You can look at environmentalismas an extension of workplacehealth and safety laws. It’s prettysimple: you have to make sure yourworkplace is safe, or the workerswill get sick or hurt themselves. It’seasy to extend this idea to the restof the world. We have to look afterthe planet, our home, or humanswill get sick, and die, or evenmake ourselves extinct like we aredoing with our current trajectory ofdangerous climate change.I bet the Liberals and the bosseswould be pretty worried if theyrealised that the environment andunion movements are starting toenter into dialogue about creatingand strengthening alliances.Because the people who profit fromboth environmental destruction andthe exploitation of workers – they’rethe same ones, and they’re also thesame ones trying to attack us alongwith anyone else who tries to resisttheir Neoliberal agenda.It’s so easy to disprove the myththat it’s a choice of ‘jobs vs theenvironment’. Time after time it hasbeen proven that environmentalprotection creates jobs and is agrowth industry. For example,saving enough energy to avoid 100megawatts worth of power plantcapacity creates 39 jobs, comparedwith only 15-20 jobs requiredto operate the same amount ofcapacity at a modern coal or gasfired power plant.Creating and growing ‘greenindustries’ are a comparativelyeasy area that Unions and theenvironment movement can workon together. In the campus climatechange campaign that our studentnetwork is working on as a priority,there are clearly huge opportunitiesfor the mutually beneficialinvolvement of the energy industryand building industry unions.There are problems – but thesewedges are often the result ofdeliberate misinformation spread byindustry lobby groups made up ofbosses who profit from telling theselies. We have the same enemy! Ofthe 25,000 Australian timber jobslost in the previous 15 years, 98 percent were due to mechanisation andrestructuring and only two per centdue to environmental demands.Fundamentally, environmentalistsand unionists should be naturalallies – we are not environmentalistsbecause we hate people and prefertrees, but because we think thatevery person, and every species,has the right to a clean and healthyplanet. We want good livingconditions for all humans.This is particularly relevant forworkers, especially in blue-collarindustries, because often they areworst affected by urban pollutionand contamination. They are theones whose green spaces are soldoff for development, whose childrenhave higher rates of asthma, andwho are going to be less able todeal with the devastating effects ofclimate change by relocating to lessaffected areas.There are so mnay reasons whyUnions and environmentalistsshould work together. So how canASEN move forward in a practicalway and make links with Unions?At the moment there are veryfew opportunities for studentenvironment activists to interactwith and form relationship withUnionists. The barriers are not onlythat we don’t hang out at the sameplaces or attend the same events,it’s also a generational thing and agender thing. The majority of Unionreps seem to be middle aged males,while most of the organisers in ASENare young women. So I think moreeducation needs to be done in bothmovements about gender politics,queer politics, and class politics aswell as the actual issues and threatsfacing workers and Unions and theEnvironment.I know that there is a perceptionthat environmentalists only workon single-issues and don’t havea broader analysis of Unionism,classism, the power of organisedlabour etc. To some extent, this istrue, but organisers in ASEN aretrying really hard to ensure that ourgeneration has a broader politicalanalysis of the root cause of bothenvironmental destruction andworker exploitation.Many ASENers were recently part ofthe Forbes protests in Sydney whereUnionists and environmentalistsstood side by side against corporategreed, and it was pretty inspiring.ASEN is organising a series ofreading group modules for campusenvironment collectives to readand discuss. Our first modulewill be about this topic – Unionsand Environmentalism. This willhopefully assist the size of ‘Green

Germinate7Blocs’ at the next rallies over the IRattacks.Common organising training issomething I think we should begin todo more. The community organisingschool earlier this year in NSW wasthe beginning of something that willhopefully grow to be much largerand become commonplace – ajoint activist training camp betweenUnionists, environmental organisersand student activists. This not onlybuilds the personal networks that areneeded for successful alliances, butalso gives us a common languageand understanding of activism andcampaigning which allows us to docampaign strategy together.Finally, regular meetings andregular contact between Unions andenvironmentalists needs to becomecommonplace. In the last few years,the student/ youth environmentmovement has been undergoing atransition and is trying become muchmore engaged with Indigenousissues and Indigenous struggle, andpart of this has been learning thelesson that the first thing you do ina campaign that affects land is tocontact the Traditional owners of thatland. I think we need to do the samething regarding Unions – that thesecond thing you do in a campaignis contact the Union whose workersare involved in the issue.There are so many campaigns inAustralia that affect all of us and aregoing to need the support of workersand Unions to win – climate changeand the transition to renewableenergy, and stopping uranium miningand the nuclear industry are the twomost pressing that spring to mind.ASEN on its own can’t come upwith alternative employment plans,but we can push other EnvironmentNGOs to do that. ASEN on its owncan’t build the whole bridge, but wecan build some of it, and we definitelywant to.Jobs and the Environment: Havingthe cake and eating itDispelling the myths about the false choices between employmentand saving the environmentby Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth Australia.When many people think about the ‘environment’ they often think of thingsoutside their day-to-day lives; forests, oceans, endangered species, riversystems. The environment has long been seen as something ‘out there’,beyond our lives, and, as such, is often seen as an ‘add on’ issue for many tradeunionists and working people. ‘Environmentalism’ has been, overwhelmingly(in countries like Australia) a pre-occupation of the middle classes. Themainstream media, governments, business all tend to see environmentalissues equally in a non-political way. While this has been shifting since theearly 1970s, there still remains a fundamental chasm between the day to day‘business’ of the environment movement and those concerned about workers’and wider social rights.It can be argued that the days of the Green Bans, of Environmentalists forFull Environment and attempts to achieve a conserver (steady state) economywere high points in the creation of an environmentalism that addressed equallythe needs of people and the natural environment. This occurred in the early tomid 1970s. The basic premise of this emergent movement, which was classconscious and ‘political’, was that working people and environmentalists hadcommon cause and would be stronger through identifying common enemiesthan in becoming trapped in oppositional politics. Dave Kerin, a long termtrade union activist, argues that from the mid seventies employers saw anopportunity to divide workers from greens, and so began an internal conflictwithin the workers’ movement which presented the problem as ‘jobs versusenvironment’.It can also be argued that much of the green movement went on a politicaltrajectory in the 1980s and early 90s that saw ever diminishing collaboration withunions and a consciously apolitical approach to activism. The result of this wasthat the conflict between workers in the resource sector and environmentalistsbecame the ‘icon’ image of environmentalism in these decades. Sadly,the decades of the 1980s and 90s saw an ever greater divergence of themainstreams of both these movements. There were certainly exceptions to therule, for instance, heartening collaboration between environmental activists andtrade unions on issues including globalisation, common campaigning againstspecific companies (for instance against Rio Tinto), and the Earthworkerinitiative in Victoria and othe ventures.It is worth considering Earthworker in some detail as it represents the mostrecent formal attempt in Australia to develop links between the two movements.Earthworker was an initiative of the Electrical Trades Union, Friends of the Earthand the Rail, Tram, Bus Industry Union and others. It arose out of discussionsaround the issue of union-green relations, the history of where we got thoserelations right, and an analysis of the points at which those relations brokedown. Time was allowed for discussion around the ‘jobs versus environment’debate and a range of other issues affecting relations between the two socialmovements. According to Dave Kerin, ‘out of this atmosphere (of debate) a newway of working is developing which relies upon the best traditions of the labormovement - solidarity, mutual aid and cooperation - combined with the besttraditions of the green movement, interconnection, inclusivity and openness.One of the first positions reached, which was really the underlying philosophy ofEarthworker, was that a false dichotomy had been deliberately created between

Germinate8workers/unionists and greens. Inestablishing Earthworker the obviouswas accepted, that the vast majorityof active greens were unionists and/or supporters of unionism. Likewisethe vast majority of unionists had aconcern for environmental protectionand sustainability’. Earthworker cameto an untimely end in 2001 after it wasasked to mediate in a conflict betweenactivists seeking to protect nativeforests from logging in the Otwayranges and the Forestry Division ofthe CFMEU.Some benchmarks inenvironment-trade unioncollaboration and conflict- the ‘green bans’ of the early 1970s.See ‘Green Bans, Red Union:environmental activism and theNSW BLF’ by Meredith and VerityBurgmann.- Australian Council of Trade Unionspolicy to ban uranium mining andexport from 1979-84- increased separation between thetwo movements with ever greaterfocus on logging/ forestry and iconareas as a key pre-occupation of thegreen movement – Franklin, Daintree,Wet Tropics, southern forests, etc(early and mid 1980s to mid 1990s)- the formalisation of links betweenthe green movement and organisedlabor (eg, in 1993, the ACTU and ACFlaunched a green jobs program)- re-emergence of class consciousenvironmentalism (through influenceof environmental justice philosophyand practical collaboration over toxics,community struggles during Kennettera in Vic, etc) (early 1990s)- increased alliance building betweengreens and trade unions (and othersocial sectors) from the mid 1990s– Jabiluka, 1998; MUA dispute, WEFprotests, 2000)‘Double dividend’ - areas for collaboration in the campaignagainst Climate ChangePublic transport funding - “Green policies to promote public transport, cyclingand walking could lead to the creation of 130,000 new jobs by 2010, whichwould more than offset the loss of around 43,000 jobs in the motor industryas a result of decreasing car use. Furthermore, if measures were taken toencourage the use of cleaner, more efficient vehicles and leasing rather thancar ownership, another 35,000 jobs could be created.”Renewable energy sector development – Environmentally, the transition toco-geneneration, solar hot water, photovoltaic cells, wind, low-impact hydroand geothermal sources of energy is necessary, and at the same time thesource of many jobs. A coalition of environmental groups in NSW have claimedthat investmentsin renewable energy instead of new coal-fired power plants“promise clean energy and jobs growth well in excess of the jobs found inthe fossil fuel electricity generation industry”, including significan increases injobs in rural areas. Friends of the Earth UK are also researching the benefitsof renewable energy for job creation: “According to the 1996 EuropeanCommission’s Green Paper on renewable energies (which calls for a doublingof the contribution from renewable energies in the EU by 2010 to 12%), thedevelopment of renewables can bring positive and tangible effects on regionaldevelopment and employment. Realising half the EU’s renewable technicalpotential by 2020 (14% of primary energy demand) could create 515,000 jobs(net, allowing for losses in other energy sectors) and reduce CO2 emissionsby 16.2%.Energy efficiency: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change hasidentified cost and energy effective measures which have good job creationpotential, opening up jobs in manufacture, delivery,installation and adviceprovision. A study for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Livingand Working Conditions found that the adoption of energy conservation bestavailable technologies could create 500,000 extra jobs in the EU. The netemployment gains of $3.1 billion of investments in US DSM (demand sidemanagement) programmes has been estimated at over 75,000 jobs, whilesimultaneously saving 50 TWh. (Krier and Goodman, 1992)Carbon tax on industry and ecological tax reform – carbon taxes on industryand commerce is seen as way of reducing the amount of fossil fuel basedenergy consumption. Friends of the Earth UK argues that it can generate hugerevenues and the economic cost of such a tax can be offset by a concurrentreduction in labour taxes, which form a package of ‘ecological tax reform’. Onestudy by UK researchers found that employment growth of around 3% for G7countries for a carbon tax of $275 per tonne, resulting in a 31% drop of CO2emissions by 2035(Mabey, N., et al 1997).While there were initialGDP reductions (upto 1.5%), for most G7countries there wereGDP increases post2000.

GerminateIndigenous Rights, Students’ Organisations and VSU9by Michelle Sparks, President 2005, UTS Students AssociationIn 1966 the Gurindgi people in theNorthern Territory had had enoughof being exploited as cheap labour,being forced to raise cattle forBritish Lord Vestey on their owncountry.They walked off Wave Hill stationand started a strike that lastedeight years, to get back their landand control of their lives. Thiswas before Indigenous people inthis country were even accordedcitizenship. We know that was asuccessful fight, culminating inthe famous scene where PrimeMinister Gough Whitlam wasphotographed handing the landtitles over to the Gurindgi people,symbolically pouring sand into thehand of Vincent Lingiari.Imagine how hard it must havebeen at the start for the Gurindgi toget their voice heard and to let theworld know about their determinedfight. What helped was the supportof people with a commitment tosocial justice, working collectively,through organisations such asuniversity students’ organisationsand trade unions.Students’ organisations broughtrepresentatives of the Gurindgipeople down to Sydney andbilleted them here, to help gainpublic attention for the strike.Students organised opportunitiesfor Gurindgi people to speak atforums and to the media so thatthe word could be spread, andsupported calls for Indigenousland rights.The Gurindgi strike was not thefirst time Indigenous people gotorganised to fight for their rights.Examples include resistancefighting during the early days ofoccupation by people such asPemulwuy; the inaugural Dayof Mourning in 1938, which isthe forerunner to our currentSurvival Day events; and strikesby Indigenous station workers inthe 1940’s. The Gurindgi’s actionhowever was the most clearlysuccessful, mainly due to thewidespread support it receivedt h r o u g hc o l l e c t i v eorganising.“So my point is,anything we havewon as Indigenouspeople has beenwon by workingcollectively.”A n o t h e rexample isthe famousFreedom Ridearound ruralNSW. CharlesPerkins wasone of only two Indigenousstudents at University of Sydney in1965, but his Students’ Associationprovided the support and theresources to make the FreedomRide happen. Twenty nine studentsaccompanied him on the FreedomRide and it successfullydrew attention to the shamefuldiscrimination being practiced andhelped bring about change.At UTS in the 1980s there wasstill no support to help addressthe educational disadvantage ofIndigenous students and to assistpeople into higher education.Frances Peters and Ken Canning,the only Indigenous students atUTS at the time, decided to getorganised. They got the support ofindividuals and groups, includingthe UTS Students’ Association, tofight for an Indigenous support unit,culminating with the establishmentof Jumbunna Indigenous House ofLearning.When I enrolled in the Businessprogram at UTS at the start of 2003,as a mature-age Koori student,having been out of educationfor 17 years, I would not havedreamed that by the end of 2004I would be elected as presidentof UTS Students’Association, so thatI could help work foraccess to educationfor all, not just therich.But it happened.And it happenedbecause I gotactively involved inmy Students’ Association to workwith like-minded people for socialjustice.So my point is, anything we havewon as Indigenous people hasbeen won by working collectively.Working together with our ownpeople and with allies in otherparts of the community. This isthe polar opposite of the Howardgovernment’s strategy of isolatingand weakening movements forjustice, by implementing theirideology of individualism at alllevels of society.Unite and fight. United we bargain,divided we beg.Further reading:Indigenous resistance: http://www4.tpgi.com.au/2juls/resistance.htmlGurindgi strike:http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1995/197/197p13.htmFreedom Rides:http://www.abc.net.au/messageclub/duknow/stories/s888118.html

On July 28 th this year, a newclimate agreement was announcedbetween some of the world’s worstgreenhouse polluters - Australia,the United States, India, Chinaand South Korea – ostensiblyto commercially developtechnological solutions to climatechange.The first meeting of the climatehypocrite pact will be held inAdelaide inN o v e m b e r , “The climate hypocritew h e r e pact is yet anotherg o v e r n m e n trepresentativesfrom each ofthe 5 countrieswill negotiatethe details ofthe agreement,which the Howard Governmentsees as an “alternative to theKyoto Protocol”.The climate hypocrite pact is yetanother indication of the Howardgovernment’s irresponsible,industry-driven approach to climatechange. Thinking that technologycan save us from climate changeis like rearranging deck chairs onthe Titanic. Addressing climatechange requires immediate andfundamental changes to the wayour oil and coal-dependant societyand economy is structured.The climate secret pact aims forthe development of commerciallyviable technologies by 2012, whenthe Kyoto Protocol comes intoeffect. By this time, temperatureincreases will have begun tomajorly disturbe c o s y s t e m sand mosquitospread diseasewill be spreadingfurther, risingsea levels andmore extreme weather will havecreated millions more climaterefugees, agricultural crops willhave begun to fail, and iconicnatural wonders like the Daintree,Great Barrier Reef, and the SnowyMountains will be well on their wayto destruction.Meanwhile, our governmentsits in corporate boardroomswith the major coal, oil and gascompanies andfunds expensive,u n p r o v e nt e c h n o l o g i c a lsolutions likegeosequestration (buryingemissions underground) whilstslashing funding for renewableenergy.“We need to ensure that wedevelop technologies that will seeenergy expand, because we needmore energy,” stated FederalEnvironment Minister Ian Campbell,who also recently shocked theenvironmental community bydenying that burning coal causesgreenhouse emissions .1The denial was made in asubmission by Senator Campbellto a Federal court challengeby a Qld environmental group,Wildlife Whitsunday. He made thestatement on August 5, just daysafter warning Australians of theinevitability of global warming.Australia has a mandatoryrenewable energy target ofabout 2 per cent of all electricityproduction, but the Governmenthas refused to extend it. It is widelyGerminateExpose the Climate Hypocrite Pact!Anna Rose and Wenny Theresia explain why you are invited toAustralia’s biggest Climate Convergence, in Adelaide this November...indication of theHoward government’sirresponsible, industrydrivenapproach toclimate change.”acknowledged in the environmentmovement that the reason for this,and the general reluctance of theFederal government to deal withclimate change in any constructivemanner, is the close links betweenthe Australian coal industry andthe government.Even the former govt chief climatechange official has stated thatThe Federal Government allowsthe fossil fuel, energy and miningindustries too much influence ongreenhouse policies, includingthe decision not to ratify the KyotoProtocol.Gwen Andrews, the AustralianGreenhouse Office chief executiveuntil 2002, has publicly stated thatshe was never asked to brief thePrime Minister, John Howard, onclimate change during her fouryears in the role. She has confirmedwhat many environmentalistshave been arguing for years –that energy, mining and resourceinterests are essentially directingAustralia’s policy on climatechange.Documents obtained underfreedom of information legislationshow multinationals warned theGovernment before last year’senergy white paper - whichlargely reflected their thinking10

Germinate11- that reducing emissions mightendanger investment.The documents, from theDepartment of Prime Minister andCabinet, show:- BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto said anational emissions trading schemewas “premature”.- The American oil giant ExxonMobil advised “investmentsin current renewable energytechnology are not economical”. Itsaid evidence on climate changewas inconclusive.- BHP Billiton warned “greenhouseimposts could threaten thecompetitive position of Australia”and the Minerals Council ofAustralia said targeting the energysector over emissions “should beavoided”.- Fossil fuel companies called forgovernment funding for researchinto geosequestration - buryingcarbon dioxide from coal-firedpower plants - as the main strategyto reduce emissions.Between 1998 and 2004, five bigresource companies gave at least$1.69 million to the Coalition andits foundations, according to theAustralian Electoral Commission.Labor got $412,311 from the samesources in that period.The government chief scientistuntil May, Robin Batterham, is aWho’s Coming to the Climate Hypocrite Pact?Alexander Downer has announced that this meeting is to occurin Adelaide and that Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to attend.Mr Downer also announced that Donald Rumsfeld may also bepresent.As US National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, was one ofthe main architects of the war on Iraq. She is now the Secretaryof State and is a main player in the Asia Pacific Partnership onClean Development and Climate. Rumsfeld is the US Secretaryof Defense. He is directly in charge of the US “war onterror” and the war on Iraq. These two people are not welcomein this country by Australians who oppose wars and who seek apeaceful and just world and a healthy and sustainable environment.Join us in Adelaide in November in a mass non-violent action onthe theme of “Stop the war on the environment and the environmentof war”.Contact the Rice-Rumsfeld Reception Committee via email atadelaide1105protest@yahoo.com.auRio Tinto executive and supportsgeosequestration. Lyall Howard,Mr Howard’s nephew, is the firm’sgovernment affairs manager.Focusing on technology to makeburning fossil fuels cleaner insteadof reducing emissions is just thelatest in a series of climate-changeinducing actions by Australia.The climate hypocrite pact’s fivemember countries include four ofthe world’s biggest coal producers- China, USA, India and Australia.“This is all about taxpayers’ moneybeing diverted from developingclean, renewable technologiesto try to make burning coal lessdirty,” stated Greens Senator BobBrown.Down with climate changeprofiteers! Burning coal is like, sooo18 th century. No new coal, A cleanenergy future for Australia!! Seeyou in Adelaide this November!Image by Patty Grant, 2004 UTS co-enviro officer

ASEN Targets CorporateClimate Criminals atForbes 500 Protestsby Holly Creenaune,UTS enviro collectiveGreen Bloc did a fantastic occupationof the Xstrata offices on Tuesday. Itwas part of a couple of days of massdecentralised action, and disruptionof the city around the Forbes GlobalCEO Conference. Xstrata are theworld’s biggest coal exporter andare pushing the Sandgate RailUpgrade in the Hunter Valley.Green Bloc met at Customs Square,possibly the area with the highestlevel of surveillance in Australia thatweek. We dispersed in pairs, andmet half an hour later.Somehow we got into the foyer ofthe building (1 Macquarie Place- it was directly next to CustomsSquare, where hundreds of copsand horses were waiting).Somehow we got inside the lift.Somehow we got to the foyer ofLevel 38 – the level of Xstrata.The offices were locked.... butSOMEHOW we got inside theoffices of Xstrata and began makingnoise!!There were about 15 people ofGreen Bloc who were part of theoccupation of Xstrata. We carriedbanners exposing Xstrata as acorporate climate criminal, a GreenBloc Banner (“Tick tock tick tock,here comes the Green Bloc! Peopleand Planet not Profits”). We chantedASENers Inside the Xstrata officecheers aboutc l i m a t echange, theexploitationof theenvironmentand of people,and generallyw e a v e dthroughout theoffice.We demandedXstrata ceasetheir use of coaland abuse ofthe earth, anddemanded tosee Xstrata’sposition paper onclimate change.Media Release, August 31, 12 Midday:Some staff weremeanies. Onestaff memberstarted abusingus, with the usual“insult” of “geta job”. On her computerscreen desktop was a picture ofa HUGE lump of coal! (She wasscary!)Xstrata also had framed “art” onthe walls of their offices — framedphotographs of coal! It was a creepyoffice.We had collective discussion abouthow we wanted to proceed with theoccupation, and how we wanted tonegotiate with Xstrata and police.We were non-violent & sat in a smallspace in the middle of the office.About 20 police arrived, andimmediately began yelling at us.One Xstrata Office Manager saidvery quietly for us to leave, andthen police began forcibly removingpeople. They were particularlywomyn.GerminateACTION ALERT: PROTEST SHIFT TACT TO TARGETToday, protests shift tact to target corporate climate criminals in theSydney CBD. Following a lack of dialogue at the Forbes GlobalCEO Conference over climate solutions, the Green Bloc have occupiedthe offices of the worldʼs major fueller of climate change,Xstrata.From 1:15pm today, protesters will gather with banners and drumsto disrupt the Xstrata Office in Sydney. Green Bloc are demandingXstrata break their profit dependence on fossil fuels by producinga climate change transitional strategy, prioritising investment inclean energy.Holly Creenaune, a protester with Green Bloc says “We demandXstrata cease environmentally destructive reliance on coal exports,and work towards clean energy transition.“Xstrata are the worldʼs biggest coal exporter - making them one ofthe worldʼs worst corporate climate criminals. The interests Xstrataare reflected in the Forbes Conference and in Government policyagendas that ignore climate change.”Naomi Hodgson from Rising Tide Newcastle says, “We are targetingXstrata because of their blatant attempts to railroad any strategyto address climate change.”Xstrata produce more than 70 million tones of coal each year, morethan 50 million is from Australia, predominantly from the HunterValley. Xstrata are a major advocate of the Sandgate Rail upgradein the Hunter Valley, which will increase coal exports by 60%.Newcastle is already the largest coal exporting port in the world.aggressive with 2Eventually we got into the lifts, halfof us were herded via the back exit,and the other half via the front. Weoccupied and disrupted the Xstrataoffices for about 45 minutes. Therewere no arrests, and no-one haddetails recorded. I did about 6 liveto-airradio interviews about theXstrata occupation (yay!!).Green Bloc did a debrief afterward— on how people felt, what worked,what didn’t, and what we’d like todo as an affinity group in the future(cool!)Overall, we disrupted Xstrata officesfor about 45 minutes, felt greatand effective, felt in control andempowered, had heaps of fun, andlearnt lots!12

I went to Sydney with limitedexpectations. Given that thereis currently hardly a coordinatedradical movement against neoliberalismI wasn’t expecting morethan a few random actions and atbest 2000 people on the Tuesdaynight. I think some people mayhave come with near delusions,almost S11 style in grandeur. Iwasn’t even expecting anything ascoordinated at the mobilisationsaround the WTO mini-ministerialin November of 2003, and theseactions were indeed smaller.However there were still almostsimilar numbers and a lot of new,young, energetic radical faces.What was lacking was more goodorganising and experience.Since September 11 2001 themovement against neo-liberalismin Australia has been in steadydecline, unable to develop acoherent analysis and praxis underthis new regime of power thatcould facilitate the development oflarge mobilisations against it. Thequestion of how neo-liberalism isto be challenged under the war onterror are yet to be answered. TheForbes mobilisations, despite theirlimitations, proved to me that thereis still a convergence of peopleto at least pose the question to.And I think this is the hearteningfact about 30A, briefly breakingthat isolation that we feel in oureveryday struggles.SpokesCouncilsThere were significant numbersat the so-called spokescouncils,anywhere from 100-120 people.Given that the authoritariansocialist groups stayed away thistime around it is almost as many asfor the WTO. A big hole howeverwas that no one from the 30Anetwork came (or was invited) sothat people could get a better ideaof what had been planned andwhat the current situation in termsof organising was. There seemedto be very little information todistribute.The spokescouncils however werehardly that. They were essentiallymass meetings. Perhaps onlyhalf the people were organised inaffinity groups which in some waysmade the spokescouncil alreadyimpossible. This again is relatedback to the current state of themovement, there are just not thedaily campaigns going on in whichpeople are already organised, andnot a strong political culture wherenew people have space to learnabout self-organisation. Many ofthose who participated in S11 got arapid and radical political educationfrom participating in things like theJabiluka, East Timor, Goolengookand MUA campaigns. These kind ofdaily struggles are just not currentlypresent. There was a noticeablelack of people at Forbes who hadpreviously participated in largecounter-mobilisations, this meantthat skills were not being passedon. Any possibility of building aradical opposition to neo-liberalismmeans sharing those knowledgesand this didn’t happen to the degreeit should have at 30A.Pre-convergence coordinationand communicationFinding out information about plansfor the convergence before headingto Sydney was quite difficult. Arrivingin Sydney however it seems likepart of this was related to the factthat very little had been organisedbeyond the Tuesday night march.It’s a credit to people that in a fewdays so many actions we able tobe thrown together. In future muchbetter communications systemsneed to be set up for those comingfrom out of town. A positive was thethree or four different convergencebooklets that were put together.GerminateReflections on 30A - Forbes 500 Protests(posted on Sydney Indymedia by andenator )Subplot and SSFThe Sydney Social Forum fell downquite a bit on my expectations, andI think those of the organisers. Lesspeople came than the previousyear despite the mobilisations.The space felt empty and lackedvibrancy. At a fundamental level itlacked popular support and at aneven more fundamental level thereis a lack of campaigns and activitiesthat are even required to call sucha convergence. Again the problemcomes back the current stagnationof radical social movements inAustralia.Subplot, despite the lesser amountof money and energy that went intoorganising it had a fairly decentturnout, perhaps up to 150 people.It served as a good convergencepoint for people organising directaction at 30A and in this sensefulfilled it’s purpose. Similarly theconvergence space at the Nunnerywas also highly advantageous,without which the mobilisationswould have been significantlysplintered. A convergence spacethought out far more in advancehowever would also have beengood, especially for people comingfrom interstate.30ATuesday night was very mixed.There were some great moments;the march was very lively, loud andenergetic with sounds systems, asamba band and lots of noise, andthe spontaneous deconstruction ofthe heavily fortified concrete andsteel fence was quite inspiring.Breaching what appeared to be animpenetrable barrier was a greatconfidence boost to the crowd aswas the commitment to engagein active disobedience and therefusal to submit to state authority.It sent a message that the eliteshould indeed be fearful and take13

Germinateus into account as much as theydid in planning for the conference.We were a significant thorn in theirside, making Forbes move theopening dinner, forcing them tojustify their handouts from the NSWgovernment and massive policespending, making corporate poweran issue, demonstrating that therewas opposition to it and raining ontheir PR parade. They were alsoforced to put up barriers around theopera house turn away thousandsof visitors.Other positives were the GeorgeBush Snr hoax whereby a fake pressrelease was sent out and websiteconstructed informing media thatthe former President would be inattendance. The media swallowedit whole, the Sydney MorningHerald (SMH) in particular, andthey were forced to acknowledgetheir mistake in print delegitimisingthemselves by demonstratingthey were willing to believe anyinformation that came to them witha Forbes logo on it. Hopefully thisraised questions amongst people asto how trustworthy any informationthey would print about the protestwould be. SMH got their own backprinting a highly derogatory piecethe next day and quoting onlythe police saying just 500 peoplehad showed up and neglecting tomention the breach in the fence.Tuesday night also had significantproblems mostly stemming fromthe fact that the venue had beenchanged. By 5.30 this was wellknown, what was not well knowninto an ideologicalandsomethingknown as the “anti-activist”,completelyfrom the daily strugglesthat created themovement in the firstplace.”or confirmed was where they hadmoved to. This information onlyarrived and hour or two later. Beforefive o’clock dozens of delegateswere leavingu n h i n d e r e dfrom theStamford hotel movementand boardingbusses for the abstractionvenue. Even100 people ofcreatedthe 1500 peoplejust 2 minutes capitalistaway couldhave seriouslyslowed this,3-400 wouldpotentially havestopped it. Butthere was nocapacity tocommunicate and make decisionsautonomously and no way toaccurately gather information. Wewere set in the tracks that 30A hadset for the evening.This is where the failures ofthe spokes council were mostpronounced and also the lack ofcommunication groups like ixpressin Melbourne. We had no ability toconverge and swarm out. Therewere no delegates from affinitygroups who could talk to each other,no signals to draw them together tomeet, no communication and thusno organisation or action.Once we knew where the dinnerwas actually being held there wasno way to decide what to do. At leastthe trots weren’t shouting at peoplethrough megaphones but in thisvacuum of power the autonomousgroups could have coordinateddirectly democratic decision makingstructures in the street, but insteadnothing happened. This failurehowever isn’t necessarily a majorobstacle to overcome, skill sharetrainings and practice could easilyfacilitate it. A bigger contingent ofexperienced activists (now all tocynical it seems) would have helpedenormously in this regard.“ Post - S11 theA brief however well done to thepuppet makers, they were great,and the mobileIndymedia vanwhich served asshifted a wireless netaccess point andwas uploadingstories from thestreet.WednesdayremovedWednesday wasalways goingto be small.Some groupsa c c u r a t e l yassessed thesituation andhad successfulactions, and others didn’t.The reclaim the streets was adisappointment and there wasnever going to be enough people tomake it a success. It seems to oftenthat when people don’t know whatkind of action to do they fall back ondoing a reclaim the streets.RTS is unfortunately far past it’sused by date. London RTS hasn’texisted in anything like it’s real formfor at least 4 years. The tactic hashad it’s time. If people aren’t assuredthey are going to get at least 500people it’s not worth it anyway.The RTS in Sydney became anRTP, a reclaim the pavement andwas profoundly disempowering.Instead of wasting energy fightingwith cops asto whetheror not wecan walkon the roadmuch moret a r g e t e dand specificactions witha concretep o l i t i c a lb a s i sneed to bed e v e l o p e d

Germinate15and RTS has to stop being somekind of default action people dowhen they can’t imagine anythingelse.Similarly on Wednesday morningpeople thought they were going tobe able to blockade the conferencewhich was never a possibility. Amore accurate estimate of our poweris required if we are to be effectiveat anything. Again I would put partof this down to a lack of experienceand the missing presence of moreseasoned activists who might havebeen able to bring people back toearth before so much energy waswasted.However on Wednesday there wasone action that was overwhelminglysuccessful, the shut down of ANZbranches in the CBD. Activiststargeted three ANZ branches dueto it’s participation in the IraqiReconstruction Bank and thusfunding of theneo-colonisation.In response to the actions andoccupations ANZ shut down all it’sbranches in the central businessdistrict. Activists did similar actionson Thursday and Friday, againclosing all branches. If people areable to keep this up and maintainfocus there could be a real chanceof affecting ANZ’s operations inIraq. Here quite successfully peoplewere able to assess their capacitiesand create genuinely achievablegoals.The media of course could see noconnection between Forbes andANZ. ANZ were not at the Forbesconference so what were theydoing? Unable to comprehendthat protestors weren’t specificallyagainst Forbes but against theircorporate neo-liberal agenda themedia were baffled as to whyprotestors weren’t down at theconference gates. Moving awayfrom the terrain the police had setup on their terms was a great move,instead activists set the agendaand took the initiative and were dulyrewarded.in ConclusionThere is much to learn from theA30 actions, all in all it’s a mixedbag, though I came away feelingfairly good about it all. I had fairlylimited expectations and they wereexceeded to some extent. Thequestion needs to be continuallyasked however, how useful arethese protests? What are we settingout to achieve? The A30 actionsbrought activists together fromaround the country and hopefullybuilt relationships that will beongoing and can serve as a basis forongoing campaigns. It also kept theissue of unfettered corporate poweron the political agenda, somethingthat can be built on. Hopefully muchwas learned in terms of generatingself-activity and self-organisationthat can be extended further, despitethe limitations in these areas.People have already begun talkingabout the possibilities of counteractions to the G20 in Melbournenext year. These however will beas limited as the actions againstForbes if daily struggles andcampaigns are not built. PostS11 the movement shifted intoan ideological abstraction andcreated something known as the“anti-capitalist activist”, completelyremoved from the daily strugglesthat created the movement in thefirst place. If future actions are tobe successful at all activity mustmove into the everyday and createongoing laboratories of resistancethat build roots, skills and constructpossibilities in the here and now.ASEN Summer Training CampASEN is holding its first ever Summer Training Camp from January 30th - February 3rd 2006!Students taking on campus and state environment organiser roles are invited to attend this 5-day intensivetraining course. Come and meet other environment organisers from all over Australia, learn campaign skills,how to convene a campus group, fundraising and financial management, media skills and messaging, non-violentdirect action, meeting facilitation, goal setting, critical path analysis, coalition building, Applications open now.Cost is only $50 for the whole camp, and ASEN will heavily subsidise travel costs for inter-state students.ASEN Trainers will be working alongside experienced activist trainers James Whelan and Sam La Rocca from theChange Agency. - see www.thechangeagency.org for great activist training resources!Location: Wangat Lodge is a tranquil bush retreat made of mud bricks and locally hewn timber, set in peacefulnatural surroundings on the northern side of the Hunter Valley and in the foothills of the Barrington Tops, NSW. Itis situated on a 37 hectare Wildlife Refuge bordered by a pristine stretch of the Chichester River, overlooking theBarrington Tops National Park.

Campus Reportbacks(Thanks to Julia Dehm fromMelbourne Uni for chasing upthese reportbacks, and to all thecampuses who provided them. Wereally need to work on developinga culture of regular reportbacks,we can have really good nationalcommunication, but it is up to YOUto write one for your collective!Swinburne (“Swinnie”)Environment CollectiveOur main achievement so farwas organising an amazingEnvironment Week in May wherewe managed to involve studentsin competitions, free vegetarianfood, info booths, seminars andan excursion. This year we hopeto improve waste managementon our campuses (eg. to haveorganic waste bins, more signageon recycling bins), educate theSwinburne community about greenoffice & sustainable practices, tojoin ASEN in the climate changecampaign and to involve morestudents in our enviro collective!UQ Enviro CollectiveSustainable unisOur sustainable university grouphas been meeting regularly now– talking about ideas to make ourcampus more enviro-friendly. Ideasinclude – increased recycling bins,reduction in throw away containersused in refecs, renewable energyand energy reduction on campus,tree planting, car poolingThe first project is going to be anative foods trail. It will be workingin conjunctim with local Indigenouspeople who are interested in doingan Indigenous cultural trail aroundcampus.Garden shareA new initiative is starting up.. Eachfortnight people gather a differenthouse to help create or maintainGerminateurban organic gardens. It’s a wayto share skills, build communityand have fun, while also creatinggreat gardens and showing thatorganic food production can bedone anywhere.SOSAs SOS is in Brisvegas next year,this is going to be a big part ofenvironment collectives in Qld.Many people in UQ EC are involvedin preparing for SOS 06.Corporate scumbagsWe have been researchingcorporate involvement in UQ andrunning ‘corporate scumbag tours’to raise awareness of who is reallygetting a say in our education andwhy we should be worried aboutthis. (Also I have just found outthat the Qld govt and Boeing aregoing to be creating an elite highschool here in Brisbane, might besomething to campaign on in thenear future.)KurbingaibahOn sept 3 rd EC is taking a day tripto Kurbingaibah Indigenous culturalawareness centre to meet localTraditional Owners and to learnabout land management practises,bush foods, local history and currentlocal Indigenous issues. We willalso be helping them do some revegand construction work on theproperty.Discussion groupA discussion and skill share groupwill be starting up. The idea is forpeople to have the chance to talkabout theories and strategies tomake change as well as learnand share skills that are useful formaking a difference.Melbourne UniEnvironment CollectiveThe University of Melbourne StudentUnion (UMSU) EnvironmentDepartment and Environment

Germinate17Collective have been extremelyactive during the first half of secondsemester.Green Week, an environmentthemed week within the Union, washeld between 8-14 August and wasa great success. Events includeda talk on climate change by DrGraham Pearson, former chiefatmospheric scientist for CSIRO,a free breakfast for students whotraveled to campus via sustainabletransport, a cake stall fundraiser,the VSU National Day of Actionand a tree planting weekend tohelp restore breeding habitat forthe Regent Honeyeater.The Climate Change Collectiveheld a social night to engage morestudents in the campaign againstclimate change on campus.Michelle Braunstein from Friendsof the Earth gave a talk aboutclimate refugees, which wasfollowed by a delicious dinner anda climate change trivia night. Muchfun was had by all. The ClimateChange Collective is also currentlyworking on a proposal to submitto key decision makers within theuniversity administration callingfor significant improvement in theUniversity of Melbourne’s energypractices.The Environment Collective iscurrently going back to basics.There’s been a lot of new faceslately so it has been focusing onactivities like cake stalls, productionof recycled lecture pads and treeplanting weekends. One recentcake stall raised over $212 forthe Blue Wedges Coalition, whichis currently campaigning againstthe proposed channel deepeningand dredging of Port Philip Bay.Another cake stall raised over$182 for Students of West Papua,a new cross campus groupcommitted to campaigning forsocial and environmental justice inWest Papua.The second half of semester isshaping up to be equally busy,with a number of activist trainingsessions, more tree plantingweekends, another free breakfastfor students who use sustainabletransport, several climate changeactions planned, the AustralianCampuses Towards SustainabilityConference, helping to organisean end of year cross campusenvironment camp and heapsmore.Strategically, we’re looking tobuild the independence of theEnvironment Collective as weslowly rebuild after years ofcorruption in the Union. This willinclude opening an independentbank account, making ourselvesmore robust in the face of VSU andconsidering a formal constitution.We’re looking forward to reportingback on how it all goes later in theyear.Imogen Hamel-Green and BillBretherton, Enviro Officers.Website: www.union.unimelb.edu.au/environmentUtas Hobart EnviroCollectiveThe VSU Rally on the 25th August -Well we had a big sausage/veggieburger sizzle which drew a crowd,I’m not sure how many, but morethan our last rally! (All the food wasdonated by various businesses.No money from the union). Jennymade a little speech, followedby Jamie Kirkpatrick (head ofthe Geography dept.), Ollie readout motions condemning theFederal government that you senthim, About 8 of us went to EricAbetz’s office (although he wasn’tthere) and delivered the motionsthat were passed at the StudentGeneral Meeting, against thebackdrop of an anti-vsu banner.I don’t think he’s responded to ityet, although he was heard on theradio complaining about how theradical/extremist anti-vsu studentsat UTAS ‘hijacked’ a sexual healthawareness day to rally againstVSU (referring to the first rally weheld).We’ve also been busy down herewith Weld valley and Food Coopmeetings... and the Botanydepartment has switched torecycled paper, woohoo! We’lllet you know if we have any bigbreakthroughs.Anna’s note - Contact Jesse andOllie if you have any messagesof support for the Utas envirocollective, or if you want to getinvolved in the Weld Valleycampaign, or are visiting Tassieand want to meet the collective -jesser@postoffice.utas.edu.auMonash Enviro GroupThe collective has been goingwell, focusing on climate change,building a giant sun costume (toobig to fit on the bus!), and buildingfor the campus climate referendumthat is being held on 19th - 21stSeptember, where students willbe asked whether they supportMonash University a) reducingits energy use, b) generatingelectricity renewable energy oncampus c) purchasing more cleanenergy.The Uni Administration hasalready agreed to the first twodemands, and will be making apublic announcement to this effectin October.Monash enviro collective has alsobeen working on the campaignagainst Hazelwood, and willcontinue fighting against thedisgraceful decision made by theVictorian cabinet and PremierBracks.

Free Speech in the Back RoomThe back room of the Great NorthernHotel in Byron Bay was quieter thanusual, though there were manypeople in there to see a show. Thestage was lit but in place of the drumkit and amps was a single podiumin low light, and on the screenswere images of Tasmania’s forests.The images change from that ofmagnificent forests shrouded in mistto fire-bombed wastelands entombedin smoke.The show that people had come tosee was that ofthe Forests & FreeSpeech nationaltour, a nationaltour inspiredby the lawsuitbrought aboutby Tasmanianwoodchipping giantGunns Ltd against17 individuals and3 organisations.To tell the story ofTasmania’s forestsand the people willing to go througha lawsuit to defend them wereLouise Morris (defendant #8 in theGunns case) and Luke Chamberlain,coordinators of the Forests & FreeSpeech national tour. The nightstarted off with a 15 minute DVDshowing what is at stake in Tasmania,both its natural beauty and the abilityto speak freely. It also introducedthe 20 who are being targeted in thelawsuit by Gunns Ltd.Central to these stories are the likesof Lou Geraghty, a grandmother andsmall business owner from the sleepyhamlet of Lucaston in southernTasmania. Lou is being sued forstanding up to Gunns Ltd when theyannounced plans to log an area nextdoor to her home. Lou campaignedwith the rest of the community formany years to provide alternativesto logging this area, includingoffering money to buy out the loggingcontract. This was refused and the“We are at a turningpoint, where newlaws allowing thedetention of peoplewith out chargeare looming, andwhere peoplecan be targetedfor expressing anopinion and belief”logging commenced.It was at this point that Lou Geraghty,and other Lucaston residents, tookthe final stand in a long and desperatecampaign to save their forests andstood in front of the bulldozers andlog trucks. It is for these actions, andpassion for her community, that LouGeraghty is being sued.This story was echoed many timesover as the stories of the individualdefendants were revealed andglimpses of the people behind thenumbers and thelawsuit were given.These stories werecompounded whenLouise Morris,(defendant #8) tookthe stage. Due toher involvement inthe lawsuit Louisewas required tostick to a carefullycrafted script toensure nothing wassaid that could landher in more trouble. Before Louisecommenced her scripted speechhowever, she revealed that only amatter of hours earlier she had beennotified by an ABC journalist thatshe had been sued a second timeby a different logging company inTasmania.This time it was Harback Logging PtyLtd. suing Louise in the TasmanianSupreme court. Louise had not seenthe document, but only new that inthe local Tasmania newspaper, TheMercury, a public notice had beenpublished on 3/9/05 stating thatLouise was the defendant in a newlitigation of unknown size. She hadthree days to lodge an appearancein the Tasmanian Supreme Court tostate her intention to defend herselfagainst the allegations.It was with this sobering reminderof how relevant such cases are toall those who voice an opinion, thatGerminateLouise went on to discuss the Gunnslawsuit and the need for legislativereform in every Australian state. Witha concerted community effort aimedat politicians at all levels, especiallystate based MP’s, such lawsuits asthe Gunns lawsuit and now the caseagainst Louise by Harback LoggingPty Ltd can be outlawed.To have such lawsuits clogging upthe court system and taking up thevaluable time of those who speak outfor what they believe in, and act fromtheir conscience and belief in thegreater good, is a blow to democracyin Australia.These cases, if successful, will havefar reaching implications for the typeof society Australia will become. It isnot too dramatic to say that we areat a turning point, where new lawsallowing the detention of peoplewith out charge are looming, andwhere people can be targeted forexpressing an opinion and belief.There is a way we can actively turnthis trend around, and that is to forceour political representatives to bansuch stifling forms of litigation. If wefail to act now we will be limited in ouractions for the foreseeable future.For more information on the Forests& Free Speech national tour go towww.treedomfighters.org.auFor information on the tour contactLouise Morris 0408667100 orLuke Chamberlain 0424098729,Coordinators of the Forests & FreeSpeech national tour.

Last week, Thursday 16th September,a Sydney University student,Patrick Langosch, was arrestedby plain clothes police officers in aNewtown back street. He was onhis way home from a small rally atNewtown Neighbourhood Centreagainst anti-Muslim racism and indefence of civil liberties.He has been charged with offencesrelating to a demonstration againstVoluntary Student Unionism (VSU)on August 10th. When friends withPatrick asked the police why hewas being taken one officer responded,“if you do evil then youwill be punished”.This arrest represents another disturbingexample of the recent shifttowards coercive intimidation ofactivists involved in social justicemovements. A similar incident occurredtwo weeks ago at SydneyUniversity when a tutor leafletingagainst VSU was taken from thecampus by plain clothes police,also in relation to incidents fromAugust 10th.Three students from Sydney Universitywere also arrested duringprotests against the Forbes GlobalCEO conference, two of thempicked off while simply standing inStudents Targeted for Protests:The State Begins its Crack-Downthe street. Police presence at allof these demonstrations has beenexcessive. We have faced horses,police helicopters and hundredsof officers completely surroundinggathered crowds.At least we haven’t been peppersprayedyet, like last year duringprotests at UTS administration overthe fee increases.The EducationAction Group,the SRC anti-VSU campaigncollective, is callingon the policeto drop allcharges currentlyplaced on studentactivists. They are demandingthat Vice-Chancellor Gavin Brownstep in and stop police coming oncampus to make arrests relating topolitical protest.The messagecoming from theLiberals is clear:‘if you speakup, you could belocked up’”.Lucinda Gidlow from the SydneyUniversity Education Action Groupsaid, “These recent arrests are designedto intimidate activists. Thisis also the agenda behind the VSUlegislation - the silencing of dissent.But we will not be silenced. We willcontinue to demonstrate againstthe government and fight till boththe VSU bill andall the chargesare dropped.”GerminatePaddy Gibsonfrom the Sydneyuniversity StudentsRepresentativeCouncil (SRC) said, “Manyof us involved in progressive campaignshave been severely shakenby the recent detention and deportationof American peace activistScott Parkin, who lived and campaignedwith Sydney Universitystudents while in Sydney.”These incidents are happeningall over the country: ASEN NationalConvenor Anna Rose andUTS Student HollyCreenaune havebeen phoned bythe Federal Policeregarding studentinvolvement in theFree West Papuacampaign. TheMonash StudentAssociation queer activist list isbeing monitored by police (as aremany other of our e-lists). Phoneshave been tapped and we knowthere have been undercover policeat our gatherings and demonstrations.Similarly, we believe that many ofthe proposed amendments toanti-terrorism legislation that seekcriminalse vague actions such as“supporting Australia’s enemies”are aimed squarely at those whooppose the government. The messagecoming from the Liberals isclear: ‘if you speak up, you couldbe locked up’”.19By Paddy Gibson, Sydney University.

Germinate20Ashes to Ashes.Taken from Schnews, an independent UK media centre - www.schnews.org.ukEven those of us who have triedto follow the war closely are notaware of a fraction of the horrorsunleashed in Iraq.” Author ArundathiRoy at the World Tribunal on Iraq, Istanbul,2005.This unimaginable devastation islargely this country’s responsibility andwe are unaware of the intensity of itbecause Western broadcasters continueto suppress the atrocities anddestruction unleashed on a defencelesscountry. Along with the corporatemedia being anything but informative,there’s Bob ****off and other gormlesspop stars saluting Bush and Blair’sman-handling of the third world atLive8, further separating people fromthe truth. However, despite Gandalf’snauseating carnival of PR, somepeople couldn’t quite shake off theirblood-tinted sunglasses this summer.While many were preparing for the G8circus, some headed off to Istanbulfor the world’s largest ever public inquiryinto the war on Iraq. News of thisevent didn’t make you choke on yourcornfl akes though did it? Here’s whyBig Media weren’t so keen on shoutingabout it...The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI) washeld in Istanbul from 24-26 June. Theobjective of this meeting was to discussthe illegal invasion and occupationin Iraq, point a fi nger at the scumresponsible for it and emphasise thesignifi cance of justice for the Iraqi people.This was the culmination of twentyhearings held in different cities acrossthe world and based on the tribunalsorganised by Bertrand Russell intothe US invasion of Vietnam in the late‘60s.One of the main outcomes of WTIwas their confi rmation that the war inIraq was indeed illegal. Never?! Otherkey facts, established after reviewingmuch evidence, were “blatant falsehoodsabout the presence of weaponsof mass destruction in Iraq” andthat the imposition of sanctions backin 1990, the establishment of nofly zones in Iraq and the continuousbombing over the last decade were allaimed at “degrading and weakeningIraq’s human and material resourcesand capacities in order to facilitateits subsequent invasion and occupation”(as if they would). And why hasthis happened? Well...most evidencesupports the conclusion that the mainmotive behind this is the US’s need tocontrol and dominate the Middle Eastand its vast reserves of oil as a part of“the US drive for global hegemony”.So how many people have paid theprice for this latest planetary powerplay? Whilst the Iraqi body-countersreckon between 24-27,000 have beenmassacred in Bush’n’Blair’s crusadeagainst er, civilians, recent reportshave shown that this was far from accurate.At the beginning of this year,leading health journal the Lancet reportedthat 100,000 people had beenkilled by the invasion in Iraq. After a lotof throat clearing the government declaredthat this was “misleading” and“entirely unfounded” due to the estimatebeing based on an “extrapolationtechnique” (using fi gures from onespecifi c case and then generalisingand applying to other similar cases, atechnique which had to be employeddue to no-go areas in Iraq.) However,on the ground Iraqi Human rights organisationMaskarat al-Islam put thenumber of civilian dead at 128,000 asof July 2005.The WTI heard 54 testimonies fromadvocates and witnesses who camefrom all over the planet including Iraq,the US and the UK. These gave avoice to the victims of the war crimesand atrocities that had occurred ontheir own soil at the hands of US andBritish soldiers.Independent Lebanese journalist DharJamail described the horrifi c story ofa civil servant in Baghdad who wentto a US airbase to ask what had happenedto his missing neighbours. Insteadof being invited in for a cuppa(and an explanation) he was strippednaked, hooded and forced to simulatesex with other prisoners. Soundhumane so far? Other barbaric tricksfor kicks included being beaten in thegenitals, electrocuted in the anus andbeing smeared in shit. This accountwas typical.So why did the US military get the ideathat they could carry on like this then?“Our aim is to put you in hell. Theseare the orders from our superiors. Toturn your life into hell.” explained onefemale soldier to prisoners in AbuGhraib.BBC’s refusal to broadcast any of thecopious amounts of footage and interviewsit recorded at the WTI refl ectsthe mainstream media’s agenda andonly helps thicken the fog of war. Aftera fl ood of complaints about the blackout,the BBC released a statement explainingwhy they had decided not tocover the WTI: “We are committed toevidence-based journalism. We havenot been able to establish that the USused banned chemical weapons andcommitted other atrocities against civiliansin Fallujah” said the BBC spokeswoman.Leading journalist John Pilger reckonsthis is “simply ridiculous... The UShas admitted using napalm, a bannedweapon, and the evidence of atrocitiesin Fallujah is too great to list here.Read, for example, the statements ofdoctors at Fallujah General Hospitaland of other independent eye witnesses.The reason the BBC ‘has not established’all this is because its reportersare embedded with the Americansand British and report the occupiers’news, about which there is nothing‘impartial’.” (on www.medialens.org, aUK media watch project).

Germinatewanted forcrimes againstthe planetclimatecriminalswww.asen.org.au

Germinate