North Korea's aid rejection

North Korea recently rejected food aid from the United States and have, i think, began to reject all other aid from other countries as well. I honestly find this so sad. I can't even hear the voices of the people over there. They've all been silenced under the egotistical and willfully ignorant dictatorship of Kim Jong-Il. Things will only become increasingly worst since they have chronic food shortages and are incredibly reliant on aid to help with these food shortages.
Also, North Korea has announced that it is going to launch a satelite, but it seems as though it is a cover for a long-range missile test (or so Obama and the rest of Oriental Asia is concerned).
Why can't Kim Jong-Il just get his ass out of nucler advancement? Hostile states, right? Beacuse someone would like to bomb economic failure North Korea. I just wish he used it to focus on the people, and actually, i think he'd find why people are so hostile to "him" rather than "North Korea". I just really wished we could do something.
Also, can't believe Mugabe ain't assasinated yet.

The Day I Nearly Joined Greenpeace

yes you read that right
i got attacked on the street by a very friendly lady from greenpeace and (without really knowing what i was signing up for)
i started an application to join greenpeace cause i was like yeah be a member and not do nything! woo!
but then she found out i was under 18 and she was all like NOOOOOO you cant join!
cause apparently you cant just be a member of greenpeace, you have to donate to them to be a member
which is extremely silly. but i guess they just want money
i mentioned to her that i was part of an activism group at school and she gave me a high 5

but the point of this post was to say i know that we are not that into envronmental stuff in the AC but i wanted to highlight some of the things greenpeace is doing

did you know that (actually you probably do im just telling you what the lady told me)
that the earth is on a tipping point
basically that means that soon even if we turn around and embrace mother earth..nothing will change
we will have killed the planet

so what can we do?
greenpeace says:
We want you to take part in an energy revolution. To go from a world powered by nuclear and fossil fuels to one running on renewable energy.
Our Energy [R]evolution outlines a global plan for a sustainable renewable economic future. It shows us how we can get from where we are now, to where we need to be to avoid a climate change disaster. It was developed with specialists from the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and more than 30 scientists and engineers from universities, institutes and the renewable energy industry around the world.


so you can check out greenpeaces website for more information...

lotsa love

Don't Corrupt Aid

Many non-Government organisations like Amnesty International, Oxfam and Christian World Service are spearheading a new campaign called Don't Corrupt Aid. This campaign stems from recent comments from new foreign affairs minister (aka FAIL minister) Murray McCully, who, well, I'll let them explain it.

www.dontcorruptaid.org.nz is a campaign to keep New Zealand’s international aid focussed on addressing poverty.

We think aid should be spent on meeting the needs of people in developing countries, not advancing the interests of the government of the day. Aid should not be used as a political football.

This campaign results from comments made by New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully stating that New Zealand’s aid should change from ‘poverty elimination’ to a broader focus on economic development. Additionally, Mr. McCully wants New Zealand’s aid agency NZAID to lose its status as a semi-autonomous body.

The Minister has instigated two reviews into NZAID which may result in the responsibility for aid being absorbed into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Our concerns:

• 
  Aid will become a tool of foreign policy − the focus will shift from meeting the needs of people in developing countries to whatever suits the political agenda of the government of the day
• 
  An 'economic development' focus will lead to money going to projects in the interest of wealthy elites, ignoring the needs of the poor
• 
  The reviews are being conducted hastily, with no public consultation or parliamentary scrutiny and without advice from development experts
• 
  NZAID will lose the skills which make it a world leader in effective aid delivery
• 
  This is an unjustified reorganisation, with no evidence that it will increase aid effectiveness or deliver better value for money

Our aims:

• 
  To keep NZAID as a semi-autonomous agency that delivers effective aid
• 
  To ensure that any reviews of NZAID are open to public debate, parliamentary scrutiny and independent expert advice
• 
  To ensure that New Zealand’s aid targets the needs of poor and vulnerable people in developing countries, and is not used to reward ‘obedient’ governments.
• 
  In short: Don’t Corrupt Aid!

So folks, I know the AC is an advocate of long term economic solutions to poverty, not the 'band aid' methods like the 40-Hour Famine or child sponsorship, but the fact is, countries do need aid from governments until the long term solution is found.

And, as my auntie works for MFAT, I can safely say it has an entirely different role than an aid agency would. Their work is political, and aid needs to be neutral so it can be implemented effectively with countries that may not have stable governments (often the cause for the need of aid). Look at the situation in Fiji, for example. The New Zealand High Commissioner was removed from her post because of the hostile relationship between the Fiji and New Zealand governments. If MFAT also offered aid in Fiji, what would happen?

If you agree with the campaign then they have options for you to take action here.

Mind Game concept; "Free-will"

Against the concept of Free-will- "Buridian's Ass" (which for better sounding sake, i changed the example to a horse...Buridian originally used a starving dog image though...)

Say, a horse is placed between, in equal distant, from two identical bundles of hay. The horse, with no basis to decide on one over the other will end up starving to death. Humans in initially inclined to do/choose that which his reason/ethics tells her/him is the greater good, but, humans may delay making that choice until her/his reason has had sufficient time to gather all the information it needs to in order to exact this final decision or enforce or reinforce his reason. And the information comes from?

The ZINE!

So,  you may have heard  a rumour that the active collective is gonna have a ZINE!  Ain't that exciting?  Now, slightly worryingly, Lily has put me in charge of editing the written content.  So, I'm here to recruit you. We need some articles for the first issue, which we want to get out as soon as possible. So, if you have an idea for a blog formulating in your mind, an issue which you think needs to be addressed, why not hand a copy to one of the Zine Team - me, Romana, Sharmila & Emily Reid (our very important children's section editor).  You don't have to be in the active collective elective to contribute to our socially conscious media.

Homophobia much?

So, once again, I have no point to make, except maybe that some people in this world are ignorant, disgusting bigots. Here, I'll save the outrage for you.






Pretty much, a group in Utah called 'America Forever' took out a full page ad in the Salt Lake Tribune saying, well, you can see for yourself. There's a really great article about it, and the reaction here. What's more, is that this comes on the back of the Governor of Utah declaring his support for Civil Unions, and attempts to overturn the ban of them in the State's constitution.


Word to your mother, hate speech is way uncool.

Section 92A

Okay, so, many of you will of heard of Section 92A.  It's the law which is being brought in which means that if your internet providers suspect you of copyright infringement (i.e illegal downloads) they are supposed to cut you off.

Ew.

This law is backwards for many reasons, regardless of your stance on illegal downloads, and is opposed by most of New Zealand's computer industry, including most of the internet service providers themselves. Internet providers are supposed to stop you from accessing the internet based on suspicion and accusations, not evidence.  There is no requirement for them to prove that you are downloading illegal documents.

Now, Article 11 of the UDHR clearly states that everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be "presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial".  This law effectively removes the human rights of all the thousands, nay, millions of New Zealanders who download material which is not strictly legal.

 Copyright law and illegal downloads is definitely a hot topic at the moment, and if you're interested, check out the Creative Freedom Foundation NZ, a local group which "views the internet as an opportunity for artists, not a threat, and seeks to bring copyright laws into the 21st century". 

A New Year

Hey guys,

It's a bit late but I just wanted to say how amazingly happy I was with the turnout and contributions to the meeting on Wednesday! It was truly mindblowing and I think the AC are destined for great things this year...

If this is your first visit to the AC blog, welcome! There's some great blog posts here, so have a dig around the archives. Next meeting I'll ask for your emails so I can add you all as bloggers.

I'll have the Oxjam leader list up in the common on Monday for the year 13s.

What A Twist!

Oh look,Elsie posted something! Good God!

Okay, as at least a few of you know, M.night Shymalan, Hit and miss minority Director, has been hired to direct a trilogy of Live Action movies based on the american Anime-styled, Asian/Inuit-influenced cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender.
As a few of you also know, the cast for the four main characters(all of whom are noticeably Asian or Inuit, even in animated format)was announced early last year.
I'll refresh. Anime Style. Based on and heavily influenced by Asian and Inuit culture. Names, traditions, food, location, landscapes, weaponry, costumes, character design, even the goddamn writing is solely in Chinese characters. So, you may understand my slight confusion and righteous Outrage when it was announced that ALL FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS WOULD BE PLAYED BY WHITE ACTORS.

I have no grudge against the actors in question(except Jesse McCartney), and do not mean to imply that they're poor actors, but seriously, dude, what the Hell?

This guy said it far better than I ever could. In fact, it was him that convinced me to join the Anti-Avatar movement, and not simply dismiss this casting horror as Hollywood being moronic.

http://derekkirkkim.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-day-in-politics-same-old-racist.html

I can't believe we all missed this

Yesterday, the 11th, was everyone's favourite Governor of Alaska, and most awesome failed vice-presidential candidate, Sarah freakin' Palin's 45th birthday.

This post had no more relevancy than that. Feel free to bitch about/defend (psshaw!) the Palinator/the Republican Party/moose hunters in the comments.

Seriously. People need to start leaving more comments here. Or Sarah will swim here via Putin's house and shoot you in the ear.

That is all.

Informative Newsletter

I'll be writing up a short informative newsletter for the new cuties of Active Collective about who we are/what we are(for those who came late and may have missed Lily's intro) and of course, some interesting information relative to what we stand for.

If you have anything at all that you'll like to say, please do so!
E-mail me at milkyun@gmail.com or, alternatively, just talk to me sometime.

The AC's future looks quite bright, doesn't it?＼(≧▽≦)丿
Marketing!!

The Homeless

Okay, so, I've been travelling around a few of the world's larger cities recently, and one thing I have noticed is that there are an awful lot of homeless people around, and people begging.  Now, in Wellington, we don't have a lot of that.  We have the blanket man, of course, but he never begs, as far as I know, and he seems a reasonably happy guy.  It's reasonably easy to go about your day without having to worry about somebody sleeping in the gutter.

However, in New York, London and Paris, the plight of the homeless is a lot harder to ignore.  In fact, it's very much in your face.  The subways and underground trains all have homeless people begging or even just sleeping in the corner, and even out on the street its fairly common to come across someone curled up in a doorway.  And when it's the week before christmas, temperatures are below zero and you've just spent the whole day shopping, the sight can really make your heartstrings tug.

But the thing is, if you gave money to everyone you saw who looked like they needed it, even if its just a little, you'd soon be homeless yourself.   And another thing, as a tourist, you are feel very much like a target.  There are many people whose lives aren't quite as terrible as they make out, who are trying to make money off concerned tourists.  So people just walk on by. It's awful to see how many people are so used to the sight of people sleeping on the street that they don't even give them a second glance.

And sure, many homeless people are homeless due to their own actions, addictions etc, and lots of their stories aren't strictly true, and yes, there are shelters and soup kitchens to help them. So, no,  I didn't give much of my money away.  But I felt terrible.  The reasons why some people end up homeless aren't simple, and you just don't know for sure.  Maybe they really do have three starving kids at home.

Good show young man, now get back to work

On January 20th 2009 at 12.00pm, Barack Obama became President of the United States. Let's just get it out of the way: YIPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The moment was groundbreaking in so many ways, however, being a Pakeha I think it's hard for me to grasp just how groundbreaking it is for black Americans to have a president who reflects their race and heritage, or even to have a president who is not a priveleged white man. So what I'm most excited about is to have an American leader who is vaguely competent.

We all know Obama is not a Messiah who will solve all the world's problems with one wave of his hand, however today I had a quick read of his agenda on whitehouse.gov and I was pleased to see fairly progressive stances on, among others: civil rights (including rights for both POC and LGBTs), energy & the environment and women's rights.

Here are some items on the agenda that immediately popped out at me :

• The repealing of Don't Ask Don't Tell
• Plans to invest in renewable energy resources and cut greenhouse gas emissions
• The closure of Guantanamo Bay
• Continued support for Roe V. Wade and increased funding for family planning and safe sex education (though unfortunately no mention of ending the Global Gag Rule)

These are a few items out of over a hundred, I strongly urge you to go check it out yourselves and report back on anything you think is worth mentioning, positive or negative.

It would be ridiculous to suggest Obama will carry out all these promises, however even if he does a few things like prevent a global depression, end prison torture, end the war on Iraq and tighten up environmental regulations, and improve the health care system even slightly he'll have made a huge, huge improvement on the Bush presidency. And it is a relief to see that he does have a plan, not just a vague notion of "hope".

However, one section in the foreign policy agenda really disappointed me.

"Barack Obama and Joe Biden strongly support the U.S.-Israel relationship, and believe that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America's strongest ally in the region. They support this closeness, and have stated that the United States will never distance itself from Israel.

During the July 2006 Lebanon war, Barack Obama stood up strongly for Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks, cosponsoring a Senate resolution against Iran and Syria's involvement in the war, and insisting that Israel should not be pressured into a ceasefire that did not deal with the threat of Hezbollah missiles. He and Joe Biden believe strongly in Israel's right to protect its citizens.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden have consistently supported foreign assistance to Israel. They defend and support the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel and have advocated increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met. They have called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems."

Judging by the Democratic Party's general stance on the Israeli government (They just love it! In fact, it's the main subject they wholeheartedly agree on with the GOP), I hadn't had high hopes that Obama would come out to condemn the attacks in Gaza. Still, it's a major disappointment.

I just can't see supporting (and sending billions of dollars in military aid to) a government that has just killed over 1000 Palestinians in an extremely disproportional response to attacks from a government that was democratically elected by a people who were slowly being pushed out of their own country and suppressed by the Israeli government in question. This is despite evidence that the majority of Democrats (the people who elected you Obama, duh) did not support the offensive on Gaza. Not to mention, uh, most other countries in the world (apart from New Zealand. Nice one, McCully).

I'm sure it was a big relief to Obama that a ceasefire arrived in Gaza before his inaugaration, so he can pursue the much more apolitical issue of the global economic crisis. But he'll have to address Israeli-Palestinian relations sometime in the near future, let's just hope he comes to his senses before then.

On a lighter note, did anyone get up to watch the inaugaration ceremony? It was pretty awesome. I watched it on CNN of course, so I could get my required daily dose of Anderson Cooper. Any thoughts on the occasion?

I'll see you all at school very soon!

Bush Leaves, World Breathes a Sigh of Relief

Ahhh. At last. Watching the CNN coverage of President (!) Obama's inaugaration ceremony today, the sweetest sight was seeing Dubya climb into the helicopter, hopefully never to be seen again. I'll be posting a bit more on the 'Bama's presidency soon, but for now let's just bask in the glory of that final wave goodbye.

By the way, were you (after possibly hiding under a rock for the last eight years) wondering why everyone hates Bush so goshdarned much? I think this video pretty much sums it up, I take no responsibility for any cussing involved.

Days of International Observance.

Something horrible happened to me today. I found out that the day after my birthday was International Waffle Appreciation Day. Then something worse happened; I found out that my actual birthday is International Tuberculosis Day. (And my birth was bloody induced! Stupid birthday!)

Here are some more days for you to remember...

Okay, so it's kinda late (like, 9.30 in the evening), but today the 11th) was International Day for Peace in Kenya. I'm not really aware of what happened/is happening in Kenya, so, as I write this, I'm gonna find out.


Wikipedia says : "Recent events in the country left Kenyans in fear of their future. The stalemate between the political leaders has created opportunity for destructive forces, and organized militia, which have risen to kill innocent people (more than 450 killed, thousands injured and over 250,000 displaced - initiated by (Kenya Welfare Foundation & Kenya Development Network and Consortium)"

Shit.

That was last year. Would anyone happen to know what the situation in Kenya is right now?
Here's a link to the wikipedia page if you're interested


That kind of depressed me.



Today was also World Religion Day. I hope you guys all appreciated religion of every kind today! Me, personally, am still mourning the end of Santa's Dreidel Week.

Coming up we have International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on the 27th, and the day after that is Data protection day. Cheerful month, January.

On a lighter note, tomorrow is 'Organize your home day!' So get shelving!


(Sorry for spamming the blog. On the bright side, you have plenty to read (and think about) now!)

Israel + Palestine from John Green

I know I've already posted a vlogbrothers video, and this is kind of lazy, but this is pretty much the only thing that helped me understand Israel + Palestine. Enjoy.

It's coz we aint black

There's something I've been hearing a lot of lately, and that thing is racism. A recent study by York University in Canada found that many people (who, I assume, would never think of themselves as racist people) failed to call an actor out on a variety of racial slurs, including the term 'clumsy nigger', and were in fact more inclined to pick that person as a partner when asked to choose (about 63% of the participants picked the racist actor). I am ashamed to admit that, as an active collectivite, I failed to call people out on blatant racism in the past week. I was thinking about it last night, and this morning, and I realised that we (well, at least me) encounter so much racism on a daily basis, and fail to act, purely because it's not directed at us, because it's easier to let a sleeping dog lie.

Why are people in New Zealand (a supposedly inclusive society) and all over the world, racist? I feel like, because we as a country, didn't support things like slavery (although it did happen), we feel free to point at countries like the States and say that they're the country to be looked at if you want to see racism. Sure, we have done better than some countries (like Australia, where much of the Aboriginal population lives out in shanty towns, marginalised still by the rest of the population), at trying to repair the havoc colonization wreaked. But I still hear racist stereotypes all the time - PI's favourite restaurant is KFC, all Maori people are on the DPB etc.

Personally, I believe that a large part of the blame is on separatism. Not that I begrudge anyone of maintaining their own, separate cultural identity, but surely the government allocating more money to schools with Maori and Pacific students, on the assumption that they're poorer or dumber than their white or yellow counterparts. Labelling people as this and that - black, white, red, yellow, brown; Maori, European (effing European! you were born in New Zealand for chrissakes! You're Australasian! Jeez), African, Scandinavian etc. It encourages stereotypes, and a stereotype, being an impression of a group based on a small cross-section, is the underlying root of racism.

The definition of racism, according to wikipedia (that great and holy bastion of knowledge) "is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race." Essentially, that we are different from each other because of our race. This idea is bullshit, and yet perpetuated by our government and media. When scientific studies of health and education are published in New Zealand, they always separate NZers into categories (seriously. Check for this next time), saying things like, Maori and Pacific Islanders are more sensitive to diabetes, that people of Asian descent are smarter. Yes, there are differences, but they are primarily cultural, and no more significant than the differences in educational achievement between the kids that study for two hours every night, and the kids who go to Macca's instead (mmmm...mcdonalds....). And this racism is flying under the radar, subconsciously reassuring (primarily) white New Zealanders that it's okay to discriminate.

(Just as a side-note, I also feel that the anti-PC movement is to blame. Just because it's not politically correct be racist, doesn't mean that you should discriminate against someone to support the identity you're attempting to create for yourself, as someone who takes no bullshit. News flash, racism is bullshit.)

What can you do about it? Short of writing to the government and research bodies of New Zealand, and asking them to stop differentiating, and thus discriminating (, start by calling people out on their racism (and homophobia. And their anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish and anti-American feelings). When your father or auntie or cousin curses 'those bloody Asian drivers', tell them off. Tell them that they're racist (something that they probably haven't considered, and would be horrified to think of), and that you're not cool with it, and that they're hurting people every time they make a prejudiced remark. Stop stereotyping, even if it's just a 'dumb blonde', and maybe get people to consider that what they perceive as racial differences may actually be cultural ones, and thus not apply to everyone. Race is just a skin colour. Nothing more.

Just a Question...

Well I was surfing Bebo the other day I happened across Romanas page and saw that she had that application called 'Collect Rice' now as far as I know all the prices of food and such are rising because there is a shortage of these staple foods such as rice so therefore my question is:

If the rice shortage is as bad as it seems then things like http://www.freerice.com/ (which is a brilliant site!) and the 'Collect Rice' are we making it worse or will these sites be outta busniess soon as rice gets too expense?

Sorry if the answer is painfully obvious and I'm just not up with the play....

lovelovelove

Kermit_2.0


http://www.stuff.co.nz/4500195a6026.html

Israeli air strikes and whatnots...

...i laze for a few days and suddenly Israel is attacking Palestine.
Even though i'm not there, even if i have nothing there, it really disturbs me. like war should.
It would be greatly appreaciated if someone told me how it became this way, i'm still in a daze...
thank you

p.s. happy new year's eve AC members!

The AC partay the only way they know how

#1 lesson learned 2008: Don't send out invitations to a party a mere 48 hours before you plan to hold it.

This is lesson was learned in a painful manner as the (diminished) AC crew consisting of me, Romana, Elsie, Helena and Jo walked in to Taste of Korea and asked for the 7.30 karaoke reservation.

"I thought you said 20 people were coming," glowered the waitress, obviously expecting a huge party of adults buying hundreds of dollars worth of alcoholic beverages, instead of the five measly underage patrons she saw before her.

"They're coming!" we insisted, slightly desperately.

And they did, sort of. Julia, Ellen and Eloise showed up later on, and eventually out of desperation for more people (I was paranoid that the waitress thought I was a deluded, unpopular loser who thought I had more friends than I really did), I forced my boyfriend to join us. Which brought our tally up to 9, which wasn't really enough for the ginormous room we were given:

The neon decorations were totally worth the exorbitant cost. And despite our small numbers, by jove, we rocked the house.

The night of karaoke (which means "empty orchestra" in Japanese, isn't that hauntingly beautiful?) began with the immortal Anastasia classic, "Once Upon a December", then by possibly the worst rendition of "Born in the USA" ever, sung my Romana and myself. Bruce Springsteen would be literally be rolling in his grave if he heard it (and were dead). Nevertheless, the Viet Cong references pleased the history nerds no end.

Next, the talented team of Elsie and Julia sang "Californication", with backing vocals from Helena and Eloise:

What a gorgeous bunch of ladies! (I'm serious. And I'm sorry for the photo. But I had to share.)

Meanwhile, the shyer people lurked in the background:

And Jo (dressed as her blogging alter-ego HeadSurgeon) basked in the glorious ambience of our surroundings:

After that, the whole group joined in what must be the most powerful rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" since 1997:

They joined in too. Romana's just being SILLY.

Then came my long awaited (by me) performance of Prince's immortal epic, "Purple Rain". I don't have a photo, but it went a little like this:

It seems that 5-minute guitary solos don't really translate well to karaoke.

Then a variety of fun and engaging group singalongs occured.

"All the Small Things" by blink182:

"Going Under" by Evanescence:

Other performances included "Holiday", "Our Time is Running Out", "Thriller" and a (reportedly) epic rap of "Gangsters Paradise" that I sadly missed out on by going to the toilet.

We finished the evening off with a totally rocking performance of "Anarchy in the UK". Some epic headbanging action ensued:

Then our precious two hours of karaoke time ran out. To end the evening, I announced some awards for contribution to the AC:

Julia, for her work organising food and drink and fundraising for the Oxjam while busy with debating and exams, as well as organising our banner-holdings.

Jo, for her amazing illustrations on the first edition of our zine (coming out soon!) and for the amazing amount of smart, thought-provoking posts she has written for her blog.

Ellen and Helena, for being the AC's most enthusiastic members.

Romana, for best excuse for not turning up to a meeting: "I have to cook waffles at lunchtime."

Elsie, for looking the most annoyed that she hadn't got an award yet.

Harry, for being the AC's only male member (sort of).

Eloise, for being cool.

Of course, I would have had many, many more awards to give out to the AC, because each member has contributed to the group in their own way. But I only had five chocolate bars.

Thanks to everyone who showed up, I had a fantastic time and I hope you did too!

Thanks to everyone who RSVP'd, even if they couldn't make it.

Thanks to everyone who didn't RSVP too, because if I invited you it means that you're in the AC and I love you anyway!

That's all for the year, have a safe and relaxing holiday, a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Ka kite!