Iran Update

Source: Christiane Amanpour's facebook page

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri of Iran has posted a statement on his website (which I'm not going to link to because it's in FARSI, not English. there's a translated version of the letter here though.) condemning the rigging of the elections. For those of you not in the know, the grand Ayatollah is like, one of the top clerics of Islam in Iran. There are, like, 20 Grand Ayatollah's in the world, and they're basically like super-priests.In Iran, his views and opinions have a lot of sway over the people. Montazeri was slated to take over from the Supreme Ayatollah Khomeini, who was basically insane (and insanely powerful; he was the guy who ordered the fatwa on Salman Rushdie), but Montazeri is way cool, supporting things like civil and womens rights, so they didn't give him the job. Anyway, his Wikipedia page if you need to know more, is here, (and his official website, if you can read Farsi) but I'm going to post the letter below anyway to make your life easier.

In the name of God

People of Iran

These last days, we have witnessed the lively efforts of you, brothers and sisters, old and young alike, from every social category, for the 10th presidential elections.

Our youth, hoping to see their rightful will fulfilled, came on the scene and waited patiently. This was the greatest occasion for the government’s officials to bond with their people.

However, unfortunately, they used it in the worst way possible. Declaring results that no one in their right mind can believe, and despite all the evidence of crafted results, and contrary to the people’s protestations, in front of the eyes of the same nation who carried the weight of a revolution and 8 years of war, in front of the eyes of local and foreign reporters, attacked the children of the people with astonishing violence. And now they are attempting a purge, arresting intellectuals, political opponents and Scientists.

Now, based on my religious duties, I will remind you:

1- A legitimate state must respect all points of view. It may not oppress critical views. I fear that this will lead to the loss of people’s faith in Islam.

2- Given the current circumstances, I expect the government to take all measures to restore people’s confidence. Otherwise, as I have already said, a government not respecting the people’s vote has no religious or political legitimacy.

3- I invite everyone, especially the youth, to continue reclaiming their dues calmly, and not to allow those who want to associate this movement with chaos succeed.

4- I ask the police and army personnel not to “sell their religion”, and be aware that receiving orders will not excuse them before God. Recognize the protesting youth as your children. Today, censorship and cutting telecommunication lines can not hide the truth.

I pray for the greatness of the Iranian people.

Also, this was the hundreth post to the AC blog

If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament

As it was recently brought to the attention of what I hope was everyone in the Active Collective, by the fantastic speaker from Both Eyes Open (whose name very temporarily escapes me), abortion in New Zealand is still illegal. And while, in practice, I believe that the system is relatively lenient, it still leaves the question of why we aren't more involved in the debate on abortion. In that vein, (and mostly because I can't be arsed writing a lengthy post that no one reads anymore, anyway) I'd like to leave you with a link.



The cartoon above I'm pretty sure I've seen in a NZ paper, although why and how I'm not quite sure...



It's essentially a collection of editorial cartoons on abortion. As pointed out in the prompt for the post,

"…when pregnant women are depicted, they are often faceless, voiceless, or shown without any agency. Oftentimes they are not depicted at all, and the fetus is used as the cartoonist’s mouthpiece."

I thought this was really interesting, and I was wondering if any of y'all had an opinion on why this is. As shown by the second cartoon above, and a couple of others at the source, it's something that happens in both pro- and anti-abortion images. is it because, as the cartoon above suggests, cartoonists are simply making them representative of all women? Or is it because the debate over abortion is one no longer concerned with individual women, rather the law-makers and abortion advocates?

Where democracy fails.

Now don't get me wrong; having democratic systems of government, as opposed to power by force, is the only way to guarantee that governments are accountable to their people. Countries that aren't democratic have far higher rates of human rights abuses, because, really, they don't owe their citizens anything. Democracy, overall, is the best system we've got. But sometimes you just have to over-rule the will of the people.

Sometimes democracy is bad. People aren't always nice. Occasionally, we promote things solely to benefit ourselves, ignoring the detrimental effect that it has on others. Take, for example,lower taxes for the rich, stealing, slavery. As Darwin kind of said, it's survival of the fittest, a dog eat dog world out there. And the will of the majority is often to harm the minority.

And that is exactly what democracy promotes; instead of a select few imposing their will on everyone, instead, sheer numbers create ruling classes. When you say the will of the people is always right, someone has to ask back, which people? Governments are only accountable to slightly over half of their people. National has a fair idea of who voted for them, and it certainly wasn't those on welfare; so why help them?

Recently in the U.S.A, teh California Supreme court refused to nullify Proposition 8, because it believed its role was to interpret, not alter the constitution. But if not them, who? When the human rights of a minority are being violated, it is not the masses who will stand up for them, so those with authority must. The American people didn't issue the Emancipation Proclamation
, a man ignoring the will of the people who elected him, Abraham Lincoln did. Was he right? Heck yes! So why aren't more people willing to stand up, against popular opinion, for human rights?

(Quick sidebar, click here for Rob Thomas' fantastic piece on why we should support gay marriage, especially over civil unions, which is what NZ (and most other nations) have currently)

democracy is not always the bastion of civilisation. People who aren't willing to think deeper, or to see the effects of decisions beyond their own backyards, are those who the people in charge are often kowtowing to. President Obama, who overwhelmingly won the US presidential election because he promised change has been forced to reneg on many of his campaign promises (for example, the closure of prisoner dentention camp Guantanamo Bay), because his Seante wont fund him. Why wont his Senate fund him? Because he wants to do what is right, but not politically popular; people are suddenly willing to trash their values in favour of peice of mind, because the reality of having dangerous prisoners that close is now too much for them. And that's what this boils down to; for a truly democratic society, are we willing to sacrifice doing what we know is right?

Things that make me go "blerg".

Because all my friends are dancing the night away at the semi-formal and I am stuck here at home in my pajamas with a streaming nose and hacking cough, I am going to make a list of things that are really getting up my goat at the moment. Actually, it is pretty awesome staying at home in pajamas not going to the semi and watching American Idol instead. But I'm going to make the list anyway!

• The military junta in Myanmar/Burma who've charged pro-democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi with violating her house arrest after an American man allegedly snuck into her home last week. She now faces a prison sentence of up to five years, weeks away from the end of her house arrest. It's clearly been timed so she won't be present for the elections the junta has promised. Last election in 1991 her party won a landslide vote, but she has been in house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years. Call for her release here.


• The National government, predictably. This time they've decided to abolish the Department of Labour's Pay and Employment Equity Unit. Even though NZ women on average are paid 12% less than men in the same positions. But that seven kazillion dollar motorway way more important, eh John? (Okay, I don't really know what motorway I'm talking about. But I'm sure it exists.)


• New Zealand's Next Top Model. Arrrgh. This is surely one of the worsts programs on television at the moment, and this is coming from a huge fan of Dawson's Creek. But seriously, tonight this contestant Ruby was measured by some sleazy Hollywood model agent and was declared "too fat" to be a proper model and told she needed to slim down. She's 17 years old, and so is half the audience. I think that probably launched a thousand eating disorders. Okay, I know modelling is a harsh career and you've got to have the right stuff and they're just preparing her blah blah blah but this girl is HEALTHY sized and aren't non-skeletal models all the rage in the fashion world at the moment? They are with me anyway.


• Danny Gokey. (American Idol contestant.) Hmmmm. How can I fit this in with activism? That scream at the end of "Dream On" was a violation of my Hearing Rights. Sounds like Human? Okay, okay, sorry, moving on.


• The Producers of Avatar. Stoopid.

Happy weekend everyone!

Coffee Break photos!

Thank you everyone for helping out with the Coffee Break yesterday! Everyone contributed in some form or another and it was great especially to see our newest members getting involved.

It seems this event is also a bit famous on the web. Here is Lily, Georgia, Bonnie, Flora and Jessica on the front page of the school website.

Also, I signed us up on the Big Action Big Change website. You can view our profile by clicking on the link under the heading "Winner of the Day"- that's right, we won! Specifically a Trade Aid goodie pack worth $100. While I haven't been contacted about it yet, when it arrives, are you thinking shared lunch? Because I so am!

John Oliver hates Unfair Trade

Hey ladies! Coffee Break was AMAZING, I'll have some pictures up soon. In the meantime here is a video from my favourite Daily Show correspondent (okay, apart from Wyatt).

John Oliver: Terrifying Times
John Oliver - Unfair Trade
comedycentral.com
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

Opinion Piece on Fair trade

This is a thing about my personal experience not eating non fairtrade coffee, chocolate, or anything with cocoa in it. So if you don't want to, dont read it.
I'm in a mood so it may be a slight fatalistic.

As you all know, I am a mere mortal and am prone to weakness. You have all seen me breakdown, however loudly or quietly, and cast aside my morals, to eat chocolate. Obviously when I hit all time lows, even if i try to keep it inside, i do occasionally eat chocolate. Afterwards, I feel like a failure as a person, with no self control on top of that, for not standing by my scruples. I often feel the need to regurgitate it all, it makes me feel sick, but I don't normally carry this out, don't worry!

Because, I have drilled into myself so often that non-fair trade chocolate is bad, that it hurts so many people and brainwashed myself with thoughts and images of the horrors many families go through, I often almost can mentally taste their blood in it.
I know if I went to a supermarket with the intent of buying an apple, and saw slaves, or children, or a starving, uneducated, poor, impoverished family walk outside to pick it for me, I wouldn't eat it. The problem is, we don't see this. Or if we see it online, we block it out.

I read a story in some pamphlet of children who had to work with sugar, and were paid nothing, and beaten if a certain ammount wasnt harvested/ picked/whatever. I can't remember what they did with the sugar. I remember that when some children tried to escape, they cut the children's feet with razors to punish them, so they wouldn't attempt it again.

The point of this rambling is that we just don't care and don't want to know.
Because we're human. And all of us are failures. That's why there is poverty.

Beeee-yoootiful!

You need to click on it.

An Impassioned Plea.

I had a dream.

I had a dream where one day, the active collective would rise up out of room 56, and produce something amazing. 

I had a dream where we'd try and share our thoughts and ideas with the rest of society,  where we'd do something to take action against the injustices of the world. 

I had a dream where I'd eventually hold in my hands the creamy white pages of The Active Collective Zine.  

But now that dream is dying, and  I'm asking myself all sorts of disheartening questions - Why doesn't anybody want to write any zine articles? Does anybody love me?  What's my purpose in life? Is the active collective actually active, or are they all just talk and tetris playing?

I know you've all got something to say; that's why you're in the the active collective. (I assume.  Although we do also get cool badges.) The zine is the perfect venue for you guys to speak out about those things you're passionate about, whether that be the environment, body image, the middle east, human rights, the economy, fair trade, or just what's wrong with our own school.  Everybody in the Active Collective is above averagely informed about most of these issues, and this is our chance to share what we know and think about these issues with our peers,  hopefully encouraging them to think about them too.

So please,  make the world a better place.  Write a zine article today!  

Send it to jessiewhoisawesome@gmail.com

People who have made false promises of zine articles and whom I therefore no longer love: Romana, Lily, Emily G & Helena, Julia.

Happy Easter Everyone

Thanks Romana for putting an end to the blogging drought- it's been far too long since we've updated.

The subject of Romana's post, aid, will be the focus of our meetings for the beginning of next term, so why not spend your easter weekend researching aid? Hmm, okay, maybe not, but if you're interested, check out the Institute of Policy Studies' website for some of the powerpoint presentations of the speakers at the Symposium Jessie and I attended. I particularly recommend Salil Shetty's presentation. That dude's awesome.

So just relax, do some research, maybe write an article for the zine(!) and we'll be back ready to roll in term 2!

To finish off, here's a recipe for fair trade easter eggs. Yum. Alternatively, I think Scarborough Fair makes chocolate easter eggs.

Charity still sucks.

Clearly, I'm saving up all of my amazing blogging skills for the zine, but I had something i'd like to share with y'all.

Basically, there's this woman named Dambisa Moyo, making waves everywhere beacuse she wrote a book asking the west to stop giving aid to Africa. I'm far to tired to write a proper, attention grabbing description beyond that, but please, click here, even if you don't agree with what she's saying. We should be constantly reviewing how effective 'solutions' to global problems are, and hearing her out would be a really massive step in doing this.

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