Download a speech from By Zach Del La Rocha from a Sherman Solidarity meeting, from www.raisethefist.com
Australia's treatment of refugees is a disgrace to humanity. We lock up men, women and children in detention centre's for an undetermined amount of time, seperate them from their families and traumatise their already fragile minds. Asylum seekers are fleeing torture, death or persecution. They pool all the money they can find, often selling all their possesions to do so, get on a shitty boat and are promised a friendly welcome upon arrival in Australia. Well they sure as fuck don't recieve one. They are arrested for the 'crime' of crossing our borders (which are just a fucking illusion anyway) and are thrown in to prison without trial and then await deportation or the possibility of a Tempory Protection Visa (TPV) which is a farcicle offering anyway. We need to FREE THE REFUGEES by any means nessasary. If the government won't release them, then we shoudl do it ourselves. Direct Action is the best form of democracy!
The following is a list of books and movies that we recommend reading, in the words of Propagandhi "Knowledge is Power, Arm Yourself"
Hidden Agenda's - John Pilger
Secret Country - John Pilger
The New Rulers of the World - John Pilger
Why Weren't We Told - Henry Reynolds
Rogue State - William Blum
Animal Farm - George Orwell
1984 - George Orwell
East Timor: Genocide in Paradise - Matthew Jardine
Power and Terror - Noam Chomsky
Bowling for Columbine - Michael Moore
A lot of people couldn't give a shit about the environment, its easy to litter, waste water, not recycle and leave every electrical item on in the house. But, the fact of the matter is that our planet is dying, whether anyone cares or not is a different matter. I used to think 'greenies' were lame and boring people, but its not hard to reduce your impact on the earth within your daily life. In recent times I have changed some of my daily habits to cut back on my harming the environment. Here are some ways you can be more 'green', if you feel so inclined that is :-
1. Recycle everyhing you can. Different towns and citites have varying levels of recycling available, find out what services local council offers, then take a look at what you have been throwing out. Put a recycling bin for paper near your phone and computer, you'll be suprised at the amount of paper that accumulates from messages and print offs.
2. Water is a scarce resource, especially in Australia. Here are a few ways to save water.
-Put a bucket in the shower and use it to catch the water you let run down the drain while you wait for the water to heat up, then push it to the side leave it in with you while you wash, this will catch any run off water but the bucket won't get in your way. You can use the water you collect on your garden or lawn or do what i do and put the water into the cistern of your toilet. The amount of water you collect from one shower is normally enough to fill the cistern for a full flush, this is about 9 litres. 9 Liters of water saved a day (assuming you shower every day), thats? 3285L a year! If you have a 4 person family that is 13140L a year! You can see how much of a difference that would make it we all did it!
-You can also put an ice cream container or something similar in hand basins to catch water while you wash your hands. Again this ater can be re used at your will.
3. Switch to a Vegan diet, its healthier for your body, there will be no blood on your conscience and you'll be helping to reduce pollution and wasteful farming practises. The Meat and Dairy industries -especially the Beef industry - are destroying the earth, they waste massive amount of water and food and degrade the enviroment. Rainforests, that are vital to the continuation of life on this planet are cleared for grazing land for cattle. By eating meat (McDonalds especially) you are effectively destroying rainforests. www.whyvegan.org www.peta.org
4. Cut back on the usage of your car. Consider whether you really need to drive everywhere you go. Walking, skating, scooting and riding a bike are some environmentally friendly alternatives and, as we all know, excercise is beneficial to your health. Lets face it, most of us are fucking lazy, myself included, but its not that hard to walk to the shops or ride your bike to work or school. Get out and enjoy the fresh air and don't forget that you can always take your discman (powered by rechargable batteries of course) and blast your eardrums with your favourite tunes while you are at it .
5. Buy products that are made from recylced material, because recylcing means nothing unless we are actually re-using the materials that are recycled. Natures Organics
6. When printing pages off your computer, feed the paper in a sheet at a time and use both sides, half the money you spend on paper, you can't go wrong.
7. Don't litter, put your rubbish in the bin you lazy shits!!! ;)
8. Turn off lights and other elctrical items when you aren't using them. Appliances on stanby still use power, so turn them off too. Heaters are often used when you could simply put on another layer to keep warm.
If anyone else has some suggestions for this page, please e-mail me (Evan) and i will add them to the list
*****Recycling and being environmentally conscious benifits the environment, your own health, and it saves you money. So know more excuses, put your greeny hats on and become the next Captian Planet. Only kidding, no one expects you to be a super hero, but it isn't hard to do a little bit yourself. Once you start you'll be suprised how many little things you can do uo become more environmentally friendly*****