Hey planeteers!
This is YOUR space for communication with peeps from our UNSW enviro community and off-campus enviro networks.
Sooooooooooo…welcome to your weekly enviro bulletin. Also don’t forget to get involved! :D
1. Enviro meetings + week 5 agenda – Mondays at 12pm
2. Week 6 Sustainability Breakfast – come organise THIS Wed at 12pm!
3. Getting in contact – details
4. Your emails – woohoo!
1. Meeting: Environment Collective!
When? 12pm Mondays
Where? Quad Lawn
What? Meeting interested enviro types, planning events, talking about environmental issues and more
Week 5 agenda:
Climate Change Awareness Week (CCAW): Last week we had some fruitful discussions about climate week, and progress has been made on several aspects including the
- sustainability breakfast and the
- climate myths workshop.
This week’s agenda is:
- Enviro Flicks. Showing Garbage Warriors at 5:30 in the Biomed Theatre E on Thursday. It will be great, and it’ll be even better if someone can actually be there to get the movie running.
- Climate Week:
· reports of progress from last week
· timetabling – we will create a rough plan of the week’s events
· publicity and promotion – how, what, where, who
· FUN TIMES on Thursday (maybe)
We’ll probably then split into groups to discuss the finer points of these events.
3. any other business?
So have a think about which parts of this you are really excited about and what time you can commit in the next few weeks to this and bring your ideas to collective.
2. Sustainability breakfast organising meeting
If you’d like to get involved in organising a wonderful sustainability breakfast for week 6’s Climate Change Awareness Week (food + action + meeting people for change = yum + inspiring) – then meet up with Maria and Scarlet:
Time and date: 12pm Wednesday 8th of April
Where? UNSW Activist Space (YOUR SPACE), Level 1, Blockhouse – enter glass doors, go up 1 level, turn left, go through doors & the room is 5 doors down on the right.
Contact: Scarlet at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
3. Getting in contact
Check out our facebook group and website - http://unsw.envirocollective.com for more information.
4. Your emails (keep them a comin’):
From Diane Fieldes Wed Apr 1, 2009: subject - FW: ALP controlled Monash Student Association fines Arab activist $340
ALP controlled Monash Student Association fines Arab activist $340
As the Education (Public Affairs) officer in the student union, I have been able to play an important role in Students for Palestine group here at Monash, providing it with much-needed resources and support as a paid student representative.
After receiving complaints from the university administration, the president of the Student Union, Julian Campbell, has decided that this has to stop. Far from supporting the largest and most vibrant campaign on campus, Mr. Campbell has decided that it is “unconstitutional” for me to publicly associate myself with Students for Palestine. Not content with undermining my involvement in the campaign in this way, Mr. Campbell and his allies in the Labor Party have voted to suspend my pay for 2 weeks.
Why have they done this? Because I committed the crime of condemning the slaughter of over 1500 Palestinians in just 3 weeks. Because we dare to fight for a just end to the occupation of Palestinian territory. Because I had the temerity to believe that my student union can and should take a stand on this issue, even when it faces opposition from reactionary organisations.
As pointed out by a law student involved in the group, the constitutional argument presented by Mr. Campbell is a complete furphy - nobody was able to articulate a legal case against me in the meeting. Anyway it has always been the role of the education department to run these sorts of political campaigns. In recent history the department has run the Refugee Action Collective and in 2006 printed stickers with the slogan "support the war on terror, bomb the white house" – clearly the union has no issue with controversy.
What is actually behind this decision is the fact that the student union is led by members of the Labor party, an organisation that prides itself on unswerving support for the state of Israel. They plead neutrality, but in attempting to silence me they are taking a clear side – they side with the oppressor.
As the international movement against Israel continues to grow in the coming years, we should remember this incident, a moment when the Labor Students decided that fighting against injustice should be punished, that campaigning against war somehow contravenes the constitution - and is worthy of a 340 dollar fine.
In the meantime neither Students for Palestine nor I will be silenced. The group at Monash has already had tremendous success with a massive opening ceremony attracting over 200 students, and this is just the beginning.
In Solidarity,
Omar Hassan
Education Officer
Monash Student Association
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For our earth!
