J21 Demo - Cuba Mall - Wellington - Aotearoa / New Zealand - Planet Earth

Between 19 - 21 July politicians from the eight richest countries in the world (USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Japan and Canada) will be meeting in Genoa, Italy with some of the most powerful businessmen - together they will continue to carve up our world, and decide on our future. In support of the the Italians who are organising a huge blocade, protest and Social Strike in Genoa, we are holding a demo here. The protests in Genoa will possibly be the biggest of all the anti-capitalist demonstrations so far in Europe. Previous protests in Seattle, Washington, Prague and Nice have already forced the World Trade Organisation, to hold its next meeting in the desert in Qatar. As with the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and IMF (International Monetary Fund) meetings, at the G8 summit, politicians and businessmen will be discussing, how they can turn us and our world and its resources into bigger profits for them. And how they can stop those, trying to flee the wars that they cause, and the poverty they are responsible for, from seeking safety in their countries.

Already half of the world is on fire. Throughout Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Australasia millions of people are rising up, and saying 'enough is enough'. Throughout the USA and Western Europe, more and more people are realising, that this capitalist system, brings nothing but a lifetime of instability and hardship. More and more people are realising that the whole planet is full of deep injustices. With 20% of the world population - in countries with advanced capitalism - wasting 83% of the resources of our planet; 11 million children die every year of malnutrition and 1.3 billions live on less than one dollar per day.

We also recognise that it is not good enough to just chase the WTO, the IMF, George Bush and his mates, all over the world, we must build a resistance to their system were we are, in our own cities. - [Hence the demo in Wellington!!] In Aotearoa - New Zealand these huge corporations, have left their mark. Companies have exploited the local population, taken the resources, poisoned the rivers and air, and packed up and left when their profits start dwindling, leaving us to deal with the pollution and economic devastation. They use our money and our situation, to get loads of money for themselves. All this is linked in one way or another - to the corporations wanting to take over the world, more profit for them, more instability and struggle for us. We know that here in Aotearoa, the domestic capitalist elite, their local employers and manufacturers federation, their business roundtable, their tribal capitalists allies, and the NZ state - regardless of which party is in power - advance policies with the same anti-people and anti-environment consequnces. So in Genoa when the world leaders, are being forced to reconsider their greed, their lust for power and wealth, there will be no escape for them. We are planning to hold a demo in Wellington - Cuba Mall, were everyone is invited, to show to them, the men in grey suits, that we have had enough. Ya Basta!!

People from any sympathetic organisations or any interested individuals, sociable socialists, affable anarchists, eager environmentalists (you get the picture) who want to help meetings are at the Peace and Environment Center in Trades Hall on Vivian Street. Mondays at 7pm

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>