Carnival of Resistance at Wellington City Council

The Wellington City Council reception area was turned into a dance-floor by protesters today. 150 people gathered in front of the Freedom Shop at noon. They absolutely positively creatively marched down Cuba street in opposition to the Wellington inner city ‘bypass’.

“We are out on the streets of this beautiful city today because we don’t want to see heritage buildings bulldozed for an ugly road”, said Petra Pott of Anti-Bypass Action (ABA).

“More roads will create more traffic. We want to live in a clean green city where our children can walk to school safely.”

The protesters ended by taking the message to the new City Council that they are still determined to stop the ‘bypass’. Protesters turned the reception area into a carnival-like scene. They danced to live music by a percussion group.

“People of Te Aro have been protesting against the ‘bypass’ for decades. It seems that people are more committed than ever today and won’t hesitate to use Direct Action to stop this useless and destructive piece of road."

Construction work on the ‘bypass’ route will begin as early as December. Fulton Hogan was awarded the 40 million Dollar contract.

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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>>