Sound and pictures: Black Deaths in Custody Rally
This article has a recording of the rally held today at Police Headquarters, Roma St, Brisbane City. There are also photos of the rally.To listen to the recording of the rally, click on the link and press "play" on the audio player at the Let's Take Over Posterous blog. There will be another community rally to discuss what to do about police violence against Aboriginal people this Saturday, at 11am outside Parliament House. There's also a forum about Indigenous people and Queensland's legal system at All Hallows School in Fortitude Valley at 3pm on Sunday.
Interview with Sam Watson re tomorrow's rally against black deaths in custody
Download now or listen on posterous
I spoke to Sam Watson yesterday about tomorrow's rally against black deaths in custody. The rally will be held at 1pm on Monday February 8th outside Queensland police headquarters at 200 Roma St, Brisbane City - for public transport details click here.
Press "play" on the audio player to hear the interview.Rally against black deaths in custody - Mon Feb 8 2010, Roma St, Outside police HQ
There's a rally on Monday February 8th 2010 to protest black deaths in custody. It's at 1pm outside the Queensland Police HQ at 200 Roma St in town - click here for a Google Map.
The rally will call for an end to bashings and deaths of black deaths in custody, and for justice for black prisoners who have already been killed in custody. Rally organisers state that no Queensland police officer has ever been convicted of any Aboriginal death in custody, despite Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley changing his story before giving evidence into the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee in Palm Island in 2006.
The rally will also demand another Royal Commission into black deaths in custody.
The best way to get to the rally by public transport is to catch a train or a bus to the Roma St Transit Centre - the Google Map shows the Roma St transit centre and the police HQ. The Translink journey planner will help you find bus or train timetables.
The rally will call for an end to bashings and deaths of black deaths in custody, and for justice for black prisoners who have already been killed in custody. Rally organisers state that no Queensland police officer has ever been convicted of any Aboriginal death in custody, despite Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley changing his story before giving evidence into the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee in Palm Island in 2006.
The rally will also demand another Royal Commission into black deaths in custody.
The best way to get to the rally by public transport is to catch a train or a bus to the Roma St Transit Centre - the Google Map shows the Roma St transit centre and the police HQ. The Translink journey planner will help you find bus or train timetables.
Australia Bans Small Breasts? No, these reports are UNCONFIRMED! #nocleanfeed
NOTE: I am a member of an anti-censorship group in Brisbane. This article is my own opinion, not the opinion of that group, and has not been shown to or approved by any members of that group.
There has been anger and much head-shaking over a report claiming that "Australia bans small breasts", published on the Somebody Think of the Children blog. The report is based on a media release from the Australian Sex Party, in which the Party's Fiona Patten says:
The original story spread quickly throughout the Internet, as this Google search shows. It wasn't until 18 hours after publication that an update was published on the STOTC blog. There is no information from the Classification Board on any specific ban, only a general statement that publications with depictions of persons who appear to be under 18 must be refused classification (that is, banned).
The second article also says Ms Patten attended a training session at the Censorship Board where she was shown material that had been refused classificiation due to the size of women's breasts in the material. The article says Ms Patten says some of the banned titles include "Barely Legal", Finally Legal" and "Purely 18" - the links go to the Classification Board's database showing the bans on each of those publications.
However, one of these bans was made in 2008, one in 2003, and the rest in 2001 or before. [EDIT: April 21 2012 - there are now more banned publications under the Barely Legal search - but still no evidence to back up Ms Patten's original claims].
Reasons for these bans are not given in the database. Ms Patten says:
Reasons why a publication is banned can be seen by the publisher. Not a single one of the classification decisions so far alluded to by Ms Patten took place after "Senate Estimates late last year". And yet this media release, and the reporting of it by a leading anti-censorship blog, has led to the impression that small breasts are to be automatically banned by Australia's censorship board. Well, I call bullshit.
For what it's worth, it may well be true that moral conservatives are trying to pressure the Classification Board to clamp down on depictions of "barely legal" type pornographic magazines which usually try to imply that their models are only a few days or weeks older than 18. Australia seems to be a pretty dirty-minded country which likes to hide it's dirty-mindedness behind rage at even slight sexual deviancy. But there's no proof of that in anything the Australian Sex Party has said in their media release. When we fight against censorship we need to have our facts clear and make sure they can't be easily shown to be wrong. We shouldn't whip up a moral panic by claiming that others are trying to whip up a moral panic. We certainly shouldn't upset people (and I've seen quite a few people upset about this today) without knowing our facts are correct.
And if someone has a barrow to push - even if (especially if) we agree with them - we need to make sure we don't take what they say at face value, but carefully check everything they claim before getting people angry about something that might turn out to be not true.
There has been anger and much head-shaking over a report claiming that "Australia bans small breasts", published on the Somebody Think of the Children blog. The report is based on a media release from the Australian Sex Party, in which the Party's Fiona Patten says:
The Board has also started to ban depictions of small-breasted women in adult publications and films. This is in response to a campaign led by Kids Free 2 B Kids and promoted by Barnaby Joyce and Guy Barnett in Senate Estimates late last year. Mainstream companies such as Larry Flint’s Hustler produce some of the publications that have been banned. These companies are regulated by the FBI to ensure that only adult performers are featured in their publications. “We are starting to see depictions of women in their late 20s being banned because they have an A cup size”However, the original media release contained no more detail than that. One publishing company mentioned, no specific decisions cited, no basis for the story other than the an unconfirmed statement by a leading figure of a political party. I happen to support the broad aims of the Australian Sex Party, but they have taken a side in public debate which means their words must not be taken at face value, but checked.
The original story spread quickly throughout the Internet, as this Google search shows. It wasn't until 18 hours after publication that an update was published on the STOTC blog. There is no information from the Classification Board on any specific ban, only a general statement that publications with depictions of persons who appear to be under 18 must be refused classification (that is, banned).
The second article also says Ms Patten attended a training session at the Censorship Board where she was shown material that had been refused classificiation due to the size of women's breasts in the material. The article says Ms Patten says some of the banned titles include "Barely Legal", Finally Legal" and "Purely 18" - the links go to the Classification Board's database showing the bans on each of those publications.
However, one of these bans was made in 2008, one in 2003, and the rest in 2001 or before. [EDIT: April 21 2012 - there are now more banned publications under the Barely Legal search - but still no evidence to back up Ms Patten's original claims].
Reasons for these bans are not given in the database. Ms Patten says:
That information [details of why a publication is banned] is not provided to the applicant when their publication is Refused Classification.However, the Classification Board's website says:
What if I disagree with the Classification Board's decision?
You can ask a Classification Applications Officer for a copy of the
Classification Board's reasons for decision. You can also apply for a
review to the Classification Review Board, an independent review body.
Reasons why a publication is banned can be seen by the publisher. Not a single one of the classification decisions so far alluded to by Ms Patten took place after "Senate Estimates late last year". And yet this media release, and the reporting of it by a leading anti-censorship blog, has led to the impression that small breasts are to be automatically banned by Australia's censorship board. Well, I call bullshit.
For what it's worth, it may well be true that moral conservatives are trying to pressure the Classification Board to clamp down on depictions of "barely legal" type pornographic magazines which usually try to imply that their models are only a few days or weeks older than 18. Australia seems to be a pretty dirty-minded country which likes to hide it's dirty-mindedness behind rage at even slight sexual deviancy. But there's no proof of that in anything the Australian Sex Party has said in their media release. When we fight against censorship we need to have our facts clear and make sure they can't be easily shown to be wrong. We shouldn't whip up a moral panic by claiming that others are trying to whip up a moral panic. We certainly shouldn't upset people (and I've seen quite a few people upset about this today) without knowing our facts are correct.
And if someone has a barrow to push - even if (especially if) we agree with them - we need to make sure we don't take what they say at face value, but carefully check everything they claim before getting people angry about something that might turn out to be not true.
Pro-Choice Action Collective Working Bee, Wed Jan 13
The Pro-Choice Action Collective is having a working bee at QUT's Kelvin Grove campus on Wednesday January 13 to prepare for their stall at the Big Day Out.
The meeting is in the Queer space on Level 1 of C Block (the Student Services building) - click here for a Google Map.
The current campaign is because a young woman in Cairns, and her partner, were charged with allegedly importing a drug so she could have an abortion. If you're on Facebook, there is a FB event here, and you can join the Pro-Choice Action Collective's FB group here.
The working bee is from 2pm till 8pm. The best way to get there is to catch a bus to the QUT Kelvin Grove Busway station - click here to use Translink's journey planner to find bus timetables.
If you'd like to try a simple way to get all new stories from Let's Take Over (and many other sites) sent to one place, 
click here for info on the Let's Take Over 'news feed' (sometimes called an 'RSS feed' or 'XML') If you have a fast connection, use this feed instead - it takes longer, but you can read the full stories in your newsreader
Click here to get all new stories from Let's Take Over sent to your email address
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia License.
This means that you may use any work by me, David Jackmanson, that you find on this site for any purpose at all, as long as you give credit to Let's Take Over and include the site's web address.
It's your responsibility to check that the work is created by me and not somebody else. Accounts on sites like flickr or Odeo that are listed as belonging to 'Let's Take Over' or 'djackmanson' will probably be mine.
Refugee Action Collective organising meeting Wed Dec 2 6.30pm
The Refugee Action Collective Queensland is holding an organising meeting on Wednesday December 2.
The meeting is at the Trades and Labour Council building at 16 Peel St in South Brisbane (click here for a Google Map) and starts at 6.30pm.
The TLC building is right near the Cultural Centre bus station and the South Brisbane train station. Click here to use the Translink journey planner.
For more information on what's happening at the meeting, call Paul at the Refugee Action Collective on (07) 3392 3843 If you'd like to try a simple way to get all new stories from Let's Take Over (and many other sites) sent to one place, click here for info on the Let's Take Over 'news feed' (sometimes called an 'RSS feed' or 'XML') If you have a fast connection, use this feed instead - it takes longer, but you can read the full stories in your newsreader
Click here to get all new stories from Let's Take Over sent to your email address
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia License.
This means that you may use any work by me, David Jackmanson, that you find on this site for any purpose at all, as long as you give credit to Let's Take Over and include the site's web address.
It's your responsibility to check that the work is created by me and not somebody else. Accounts on sites like flickr or Odeo that are listed as belonging to 'Let's Take Over' or 'djackmanson' will probably be mine.
The Justice for Palestine group is presenting the Palestinian Days film festival from this Friday, October 16, to Sunday, October 18, at the Schonell Theatre at the University of Queensland's St Lucia campus - click here for a Google Map.
There are seven sessions over the weekend. The opening session at 6.30pm on Friday October 16 costs $20 or $12 concession, and includes food and will be opened by Ambassador Izzat Abdul Hadi, head of the Palestinian delegation to Australia. All other sessions are $10, or $8 concession. Tickets for the entire festival are $50, or a day pass is $15 or $15 concession. If you can't afford a session, please book and let the organisers know and they'll be able to arrange a discount or free entry for you.
The features at each session are:
Friday October 16, 6.30pm
Lemonade - Palestinian brothers try to transcend their predicament as refugees by selling lemonade in their school break.
Arna's Children: a film about a children's theatre group in Jenin run by Arna Mer-Khamis.
Saturday October 17, 11am
Letter from Sarah - a 12-year old Palestinian girl writes a script about her life.
Palestine Blues - looks at how the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the building of the Wall, has affected the Palestinian people. By Nida Sinnokrot.
Saturday October 17, 2pm
Frontiers of Dreams and Fears: looks at the life of Palestinian children living in refugee camps.
Jerusalem - the East Side Story: about the Israeli efforts to drive Palestinians out of East Jerusalem.
Saturday October 17, 7.30pm
Palestine, Summer 06: Captures the mood of Palestine as Israel attacked Gaza and Lebanon.
Arus el Jaleel (Bride of Galillee): Story of Fatma HAwari, bombed by Israeli forces in 1948 and left in a wheelchair.
Sunday October 18, 11am
Gaza Strip
Sunday October 18, 2pm
Jenin Jenin: The Palestinian side of 2002's Battle of Jenin.
Since You Left: Mohammed Bakri visits the graveside of his mentor, Emile Habibi and reflects on what has happened since Habibi's death.
Sunday, October 18 6pm
My Beloved Homeland: Features music from Palestinians, including warsinger Rim Banna, Jawaher Shofan, the El-Funoun Popular Palestinian Dance Troupe, Mustafa al-Kurd, and the Sarayett Rammallah Troupe for Performance and Dance.
The Iron Wall.
test autopost to facebook from LTO posterous
test autopost to facebook from LTO posterous
Let's see if this works
Posted via web from Let's Take Over
Brisbane Pro Choice Action Collective rally this Saturday Aug 29
The Pro-Choice Action Collective is holding a rally this Saturday, August 29 2009, at 11am in Queens Park, Brisbane City (click here for a Google Map), to demand that the Queensland Police drop all charges against a young woman in Cairns who allegedly used misoprostol to abort a foetus she was carrying, and that the Government also repeal all anti-abortion laws.
This issue has become more urgent as this week Queensland doctors have said they will not carry out abortions unless the Government assures them that they will not be charged with a crime.
If you're on Facebook, there's an event about the rally if you click here, and also the Pro-Choice Action Collective has a group set up on Facebook.
Brisforcewatch meeting Fri Aug 21 6.30pm : The community watching the cops
Almost three years ago, Adrian Walker spoke at a rally demanding justice over the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee, an Aboriginal man killed by Queensland Police Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley. Walker said that black people need to start "policing the police":
On Friday night, at the Kurilpa Hall, 174 Boundary St, West End, at 6.30pm, Brisforcewatch is starting up. That's what they plan to do - watch the cops, and help try to keep the notoriously violent and abusive Queensland Police under control. There's going to be a discussion led by someone from the Caxton Legal Service, about your rights when you've been arrested, and an introduction to the concept of Brisforcewatch. There's also going to be music by Brisbane band Run Pig Run.
It's a drug and alcohol free event, entry is free and free food is available. If you can bring a plate or some cash to cover the costs, that would be really good.
Click here for a Google Map showing where the Kurilpa Hall is at 174 Boundary St.
On Friday night, at the Kurilpa Hall, 174 Boundary St, West End, at 6.30pm, Brisforcewatch is starting up. That's what they plan to do - watch the cops, and help try to keep the notoriously violent and abusive Queensland Police under control. There's going to be a discussion led by someone from the Caxton Legal Service, about your rights when you've been arrested, and an introduction to the concept of Brisforcewatch. There's also going to be music by Brisbane band Run Pig Run.
It's a drug and alcohol free event, entry is free and free food is available. If you can bring a plate or some cash to cover the costs, that would be really good.
Click here for a Google Map showing where the Kurilpa Hall is at 174 Boundary St.
Thank you Twitter - maintenance time changed to help Iranian protesters #iran9 #nomaintenance
You probably know by now that there are big protests going on in Iran, after allegations that the recent election there was rigged by the Government of President Ahmedinijad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameni. This morning (Australian Eastern time) I noticed some messages on Twitter asking Twitter to hold off on some maintenance, so that Twitter would be available for use by the Iranian protesters who are being attacked by the police.
This led to a pretty ugly discussion with one Twitter user in particular. I'll update this story with some details of the discussion later, but the more important thing to talk about is this poll and this article posted by Twitter user @samclifford.
The poll asks:
And the three possible answers are:
I voted for the first option, as it is the closest to my opinion, but I think things are a bit more complex than that, so this article is about what I think.
The main difference I have with the first question is that it talks about a fairly abstract obligation of safety to users. I think that rather than having just that obligation to users, Twitter should be actively taking sides in the current Iranian protests. The people who are protesting right now in Iran are the natural allies of the Internet-aware generation in the Western world, and one of our common enemies is the repressive dictatorship of reactionary priests that runs Iran.
Twitter is of course a capitalist, privately owned business. There are no legal obligations on it to support protest against dictatorships. But what happens if the Iranian people overthrow their regime and install a modern bourgeois democracy in its place? That democracy is bound to remember who helped it, and who it was that cowardly supported the old regime because they didn't want to rock the boat. I'd argue that not only does Twitter have an obligation to help the Iranian protestors, but that it is also in their strategic interests to win allies among people who are struggling for freedom right now.
On a more selfish level, many people on Twitter have noticed that CNN, a leading 24-hour cable news channel, utterly failed to spread news of the Iranian protests, while Twitter was ablaze with the news. It's definitely in Twitter's interest to be known as the place where news breaks first, and Twitter's ability to spread news quickly might just lead to it catching up on the cable networks that have dominated the 24-hour news cycle for the last two decades.
And those reasons might just be why Twitter agreed to change the time of the scheduled maintenance. In fact, it was a little more involved than that. Twitter's network is hosted by a company called NTT America - their Enterprise Hosting Services division, to be precise. It was NTT that had planned the maintenance on their system, so Twitter had to go to NTT and make a case for postponing the maintenance, and the final call was NTT's. Even if the decision was made for purely selfish reasons, it's the right one. Congratulations and thanks to Twitter, and to NTT.
This led to a pretty ugly discussion with one Twitter user in particular. I'll update this story with some details of the discussion later, but the more important thing to talk about is this poll and this article posted by Twitter user @samclifford.
The poll asks:
With regards to the delaying of Twitter's maintenance and the troubles in Iran, where do you stand on the issue of corporate responsibility?
And the three possible answers are:
- Service providers have an obligation to the safety of their users if a diminishing in the quality of service would have an adverse effect on user safety
- Service providers have no obligation to the safety of their users but may choose to get involved if they wish
- Service providers should do no more than provide the service
I voted for the first option, as it is the closest to my opinion, but I think things are a bit more complex than that, so this article is about what I think.
The main difference I have with the first question is that it talks about a fairly abstract obligation of safety to users. I think that rather than having just that obligation to users, Twitter should be actively taking sides in the current Iranian protests. The people who are protesting right now in Iran are the natural allies of the Internet-aware generation in the Western world, and one of our common enemies is the repressive dictatorship of reactionary priests that runs Iran.
Twitter is of course a capitalist, privately owned business. There are no legal obligations on it to support protest against dictatorships. But what happens if the Iranian people overthrow their regime and install a modern bourgeois democracy in its place? That democracy is bound to remember who helped it, and who it was that cowardly supported the old regime because they didn't want to rock the boat. I'd argue that not only does Twitter have an obligation to help the Iranian protestors, but that it is also in their strategic interests to win allies among people who are struggling for freedom right now.
On a more selfish level, many people on Twitter have noticed that CNN, a leading 24-hour cable news channel, utterly failed to spread news of the Iranian protests, while Twitter was ablaze with the news. It's definitely in Twitter's interest to be known as the place where news breaks first, and Twitter's ability to spread news quickly might just lead to it catching up on the cable networks that have dominated the 24-hour news cycle for the last two decades.
And those reasons might just be why Twitter agreed to change the time of the scheduled maintenance. In fact, it was a little more involved than that. Twitter's network is hosted by a company called NTT America - their Enterprise Hosting Services division, to be precise. It was NTT that had planned the maintenance on their system, so Twitter had to go to NTT and make a case for postponing the maintenance, and the final call was NTT's. Even if the decision was made for purely selfish reasons, it's the right one. Congratulations and thanks to Twitter, and to NTT.
UPDATE: Now the important part of the post is online, here's the details of this morning's silly conversation.
I noticed the #nomaintenance hashtag (click here for an explanation of hashtags on Twitter) this morning and retweeted a message asking for Twitter to postpone maintenance so that the protesters in Iran could use Twitter. Almost immediately I was challenged by user @Geordieguy who asked if I were serious. He also posted a message for all his followers to see, claiming that asking Twitter to postpone maintenance was "Luddism" and "bullying". The discussion went on for a bit, and I was misrepresented, and the #nomaintenance hashtag was said to be the same as lynchmobbing.
I pointed out that at least by actively supporting the Iranian regime (by attacking efforts to help their opponents), Goerdieguy had placed himself on their side. This was met with laughter, but it is in fact exactly what I meant.
If people under attack from riot police say they want and need a service like Twitter to be up so they can use it, and other people try and help them, and you attack the people who are trying to help, you put yourself on the side of the riot police. No ifs, buts or maybes. And if you put yourself on the side of the cops, expect to be called out for it.
Sure, it's a minor thing and Twitter being available isn't going to overthrow the Iranian regime by itself. A lot more needs to happen. But a free flow of information is absolutely vital to help rebellions like this succeed. It's not enough on its own, but without it, you've got nothing.
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