Politics

Assange was the winner of the 2009 Amnesty International Media Award (New Media), awarded for exposing extrajudicial assassinations in Kenya with the investigation The Cry of Blood Ð Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances. The Whistleblower In these times, it is commendable to know of people who are attempting to bring forward the facts on such sticky situations as the war in Afghanistan and the (prior, but on-going) war in Iraq. Very recently, Wiki Pedia released another 400,000 documents on top of the prior 70,000 documents which deal primarily with Iraq and Afghanistan, resulting in serious implications for US and British foreign policy. Just what has gone on in the name of national security and how real are the grave concerns about the way people are being treated in these two theatres of war. Being a whistleblower organisation must take a lot of guts, or a foolhardy sense of wanting to be the focus of attention on the world stage. Julian Assange, at present, cannot be judged for his and his organisation Wiki LeaksÕ actions. To know that so much inhumane suffering has occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan is so obscene that it warrants cleaning up, accountability and responsibility taken for the supposed actions. Meet Julian Assage. Julian Assange is an Australian internet activist, best known for his involvement with Wikileaks, a whistleblower website. Assange was a physics and mathematics student, a hacker, and a computer programmer, before taking on his current role as Wikileaks’ spokesperson and editor-in-chief. He has been described as being largely self-taught and widely read on science and mathematics. From 2003 to 2006, Assange studied physics and mathematics at the University of Melbourne but does not claim a degree. On his personal web page Assange described how he represented his University at the Australian National Physics Competition […]

From the archives. Way down at the end of the world is New Zealand, a country that needs to find ways to remain a viable, first world place to live. A country whose light shines for everyone to see, who wants an image of ‘being green’, environmentally friendly and the home of the All Blacks. New Zealand has fine wines, great scenery and a way of life which is seen as settled and without (fortunately) traumas which occur just about everywhere else. Think civil war, tsunamis, oil spills, massive financial upheaval (Greece and Spain) and a change of government every other year in Japan. The truth is actually more brutal than we think. New Zealand is a country which is just about too expensive to live in. The National government,  when in power,  embarked on reforms which made the average New Zealander poorer in the pocket. These reforms include the Environmental Trading Scheme (ETS) tax and an increase in the Goods and Service Tax (GST due to become law on 1 October. It is time for Kiwis to stop the moaning about GST and do something about it. A proposed Bill by the Maori Party suggesting no GST on healthy foods is commendable. In Australia and Great Britain a GST tax does not apply to all that the consumer buys. But government cannot consider this proposed Bill because – wait for it – it is too much work. Which really means reduced revenue will come our way! We need a more caring approach to people instead of government expecting everyone to go along with the changes because they say so. The whole GST system needs urgent consideration – an overhaul- and the extra five percent increase from 1 October is enough to send people over the wall – or over […]

The millennials, the people born between 1980 and 2001, got Barack Obama elected. They turned out in record numbers, and they registered untold numbers of other voters. They grew up with computers, cell phones, and the Internet. They experienced 9/11 together. They have met the dire doomsday warnings of Al Gore and others not with resignation or despair, but with a resounding “Yes, we can!” Last November I spent a week in Jrna, Sweden, teaching social entrepreneurship to 39 millennials from 18 countries. They were participating in an 11-month gap-year program called the International Youth Initiative Program (YIP). Being with these millennials felt like hanging out in a troupe of Cirque du Soleil performers. They were gymnasts and acrobats, dancers and jugglers, musicians, singers, sculptors, painters, writers, and filmmakers. We sang to begin each class. During breaks each morning, a clutch of them jumped into the freezing Baltic Sea. They performed impromptu skits and practiced the Brazilian martial art capoeira. They cheerfully cleaned the classroom and dining room in work crews. Most shared a poem or song in their native language on open-mike night. They looked into each other’s eyes. They cried tears of sadness and joy. They felt and expressed their anger, frustration, and outrage at the state of the world. One day I led them in a guided meditation devised by author Joanna Macy: Imagine yourself 75 years from now, alone in a field of soft green grasses, blue sky,and a gurgling brook nearby. Environmental disaster has been averted and war put to an end. A little girl of 8 or 9 comes skipping across the meadow and comes up to you, asking, “Is it really true that the world almost died from war, disease, and pollution when you were young? How did you keep from worrying all […]