ratbag number 1 final edit.pdf

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Euahlayi Peoples Republic (NSW) appoint Provisional Executive Council of State The Environment - OUR Environment - the "silent casualty" of warfare History - Perth 1931 Unemployed Worker Treasury Riots

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CONTENTS:

Bio-Hazard: Water bottle chemicalrelase - and also the Enviropolution..

Euahlayi Peoples Republic (NSW)appoint Provisional ExecutiveCouncil of State

The Environment - OUR Environment- the "silent casualty" ofwarfare.

Oi Are you havin a laugh? Our

grandparents fought the facists,not for them!

A Riot right on St Georges TcePerth! 1931 Unemployed WorkersTreasury Riot

Last pageFunnies and randoms..


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Bio-Hazard: Water bottle chemical release - and also the enviro polution...Stop for just a minute - take a look around your desk at work or in the

fridge at home. How many bottles of water do you have? What will

happen to the bottles when you drink them? Will you recycle or will

they become fodder for junk removal? Is the bottled water any "better

for you" than what you are getting from the tap?

Australians spend more than half a billion dollars a year on bottled

water. Australia produced 582.9 million litres of bottled water in 2009-

10. Where does this water actually come from? It is true that some of

the sources or water are natural aquifers located in untainted

environments (In WA, the picturesque country town of Gin Gin is a

source of one brand of water) however several brands just filter ordinary

water supply authority tap water.

The deception occasionally also extends to claiming that the bottled tap

water is natural and organic. For example, Nature's Best Organic

owner Warren Peffer said his bottled water, sold in Franklins for up to$2.50 a bottle, wasn't claiming to be spring water. "It's tap water," he

said, defending the "organic" label. "People have a perception that it

means the water is a better standard or comes from a better source," he

said. "If I don't have it, I lose business."

Amazing, but true - bottled water is one of the most massive pollutants

in the world landfill - and one that is showing no signs of slowing down.

Even more astonishing is that bottled water is often times, due to a

release of chemicals from the plastic when heated (in moving or

storage), WORSE for you than any tap water.

Start thinking about how you are consuming and disposing of your plastic water bottles. Even more than the landfill

issues might be the health ones we're creating each day. Drink to your health? Research has shown that harmful

compounds can leach from plastics into the food and drinks that we consume

During the past five years, public awareness has slowly grown over concerns about compounds in some plastic

bottles and food containers. The compounds on which most concerns have focused are Bisphenol A (known as BPA),

which is used in tough polycarbonate products and epoxy resins that line tin cans, and a group of plastic softeners

called phthalates.

Research has shown that these compounds can leach from plastics into the food and drinks that we consume - more

so if they are heated to high temperatures, raising additional concerns about the kinds of plastics that are used as

containers in microwave ovens. So prevalent is BPA that tests by the U.S. Centers For Disease Control And

Prevention in 2004 found it in 93 per cent of urine samples taken from a group of 2,517 people.

Furthermore, a landmark report on BPA published in 2008 by the U.S. National Toxicology Program concluded that

there were concerns over BPAs effects on the brain, behaviour and prostate gland development in foetuses, infants

and children. It also found that because of the ratio of body weight to exposure, the highest estimated daily intake

of Bisphenol A in the general population occurs in infants and children.

Minuscule amounts can make an impact and many studies have found evidence that they affect the development of

foetuses in the womb. Scientists say that environmental oestrogen can act as an endocrine disrupter, which means

it can affect sexual development, leading to breast, prostate and testicular cancer, reduced levels of fertility, and

undescended testes. In polluted rivers, it has lead to fish and molluscs actually changing sex from male to female.


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Such concerns also extend to phthalates - there are 25 different kinds and several are already banned in childrens

toys in the EU and for certain types of food packaging. One fact that has been proven in tests in several developed

countries is that male fertility rates have fallen by about a half and rates of testicular cancer have soared since the

use of plastics became widespread after World War II. Is this a coincidence, or cause and effect?

Breast Cancer UK believes something is clearly wrong. It was at the forefront of a successful campaign to have baby-

feeding bottles containing BPA banned in the EU this year. Now it wants the ban extended.

So, were all drinking in good stuff like Bisphenol A, phthalates and the like and accounting for a 15c bottling cost,

that is a mark-up of more than 180,000 per cent for the privilage.Now for the data on the environmental impact!

Producing and delivering a litre of bottled water can emit hundreds of times more greenhouse gases than a litre of

tap water. Australia recycles only 36% of PET plastic drink bottles. Assuming the 582.9 million litres of bottled water

produced in 2009-10 is in litre bottles, according to these figures, 373 million of those bottles will end up as waste.

Approximately 52.5 million litres of oil was used in 2009-10 to produce the PET used to package bottled water in

Australia, excluding the energy used in transportation and refrigeration. Australias annual use of bottled water

generates more than 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - the same amount that 13,000 cars generate over

the course of a year. Approximately 15,253.79 tonnes of PET3 was used in the packaging of bottled water in 2009-10. The bad news keeps on rolling... The manufacture of every tonne of PET produces around 3 tonnes of carbon

dioxide (CO2)5. In Australia, bottling water has thus created more than 45.7 thousand tonnes of CO2 in 2009-10,

excluding the significant amounts of CO2 produced in the transportation and refrigeration of bottled water.

More energy is used to fill the bottles, move them by truck, train, ship, or air, refrigerate them and recover, recycle

or discard the empty bottles. The Pacific Institute estimates that the total amount of energy embedded in the use of

bottled water can be as high as the equivalent of filling a plastic bottle one quarter full with oil. Therefore, more than

145.7 million litres of oil was used in the production, transportation, refrigeration and recycling/disposing of bottled

water in Australia in 2009-10.

Two Australian jurisdictions haveContainer Deposit Legislationthe

Northern Territory and South

Australia.In South Australia, which has

had Container Deposit Legislation for

many years, the plastic bottle recycling

rate is 74%.

The NT has only recently introduced CDL

however has had to fend off the united

Big Business beverage industrys attempt

to seek to have the NT GovernmentsCDL overturned and canceled via legal

grounds under the Commonwealth

Mutual Recognition Act 1992.

Fortunately, the NT Government won

and the scheme is being rolled out in the

NT.

A 2007 national Newspoll commissioned by Clean Up Australia found that of those polled, 82% support a CDL

scheme of 10c on bottlesyet beverage manufacturers such as Coke etc are unashamedly proud of successfully

blocking the container deposit scheme across the rest of Australia. The united Big Business beverage industrys tactic

is likely to have began to unravel as the he Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has begun steps towardsadopting a plan for a nationwide CDL scheme.


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Euahlayi Peoples Republic appoint their Provisional Executive Council of State

Media Release 29 October 2013 Goodooga, NSW

In our first ever sitting, we workshopped each of the portfolios and it was explained that each Executive Minister of

State now has responsibilities to achieve outcomes for the Peoples of the Euahlayi Nation.

Everyone understands the enormous challenges ahead but has concluded that this is what our ancestors would want

and our current generations need. We are no longer beggars in our country. We will no longer stand for Britishimposed dictatorship.

In asserting our right to govern, we as the Executive Council of State know full well that our first endeavour will be to

show true and inspired leadership. We have been silent for too long and now that we are truly beginning to

understand our rights under International law we will make very deliberate moves that enhances our ability to

govern in our way according to our Law and customs, combined with modernity, which we will adapt to our ways of

governing, including international human rights standards. This governance will be clearly spelt out in our

Constitution when it is presented to the Euahlayi populace for discussion. When we are satisfied, it will be out to a

referendum for the Euahlayi Peoples to vote on.

As for our relationship with the Commonwealth of Australia and its States, Territories and Great Britain, we adopt the

view that they are Foreign States who illegally invaded our Lands and Territories when they came here on their boats.

Our position is that any engagement with them in the near future will be done solely through Treaty, which we will

register with the United Nations for the world to see.

We have informed the United Nations Secretary General of our actions as we do anticipate rejection of our assertion

and right to self-determination, but as the Executive Council of State concluded, this is our liberation struggle and we

must accept the challenge.

This is our future and it is recognised in international law that we have a right to an identified nationality and

citizenship; we have a right to speak our language; we have the right to benefit from the natural occurring resources,

including all waters on, in and under our lands which will provide for the economic sustainability for our Peoples; we

have the right to control our airspace and we have a right to our spirituality, religion and ancient culture.

.


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This right of self-government is the core of the right of self-determination and are entrenched within the United

Nations Conventions and other General Assembly resolutions. We do not rely on the ambitions that are set down in

the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

It is our considered view that any policy decisions made by the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs and his

personally chosen Indigenous cohorts, will not be accepted as having any effects on and within the Euahlayi Nation

State.Our Declaration of Independence triggers the Act of State Doctrine and, as was determined in the High Court

Mabo Judgement (No. 2) the contest of sovereignty is not justiciable in the Australian municipal courts.

Having looked at the international laws, we understand the complex nature of the Australian and British assertion of

Territorial Sovereignty over our Lands, water and natural resources, but the fact that we have a clear and plain

boundary between the Euahlayi and other Aboriginal Nation States means ambiguity is of no concern.

The Australian and British claims to sovereignty are of a brittle skeletal framework. It is in the interest of the leaders

of the modern Australian State to now come to the table and negotiate, so that they can end confusion before they

lose sight of the real issues confronting them. Sitting silent, thinking that by ignoring what is happening beneath their

noses is but a pie in the sky dream, will be their failings.

All persons, be they Aboriginal, Non-Aboriginal, will be catered for in the new Euahlayi Peoples Republic. Changes willoccur, but future community consultations on the new State amongst the population and business houses will settle

any fears that peoples may have and answer their questions.

We must impress that one of the core tenets of our culture is to look after people and families.

At the Provisional Executive Council of State meeting of the Euahlayi Peoples Republic on Saturday the 26 October

various Ministerial Portfolios were allocated:Ghillar Michael Anderson was elected Head of State, Phillip Hall was

allocated Secretary of State, Angela Huston was allocated Treasury, Jason Dreise was allocated Environment and

Cultural Heritage, Peter Brockhurst was allocated Economic Development, Mining and Trade, Edgar Draper was

allocated Sport and Recreation, Dr. Mayrah Dreise was allocated Education, Language and Culture, Pam Touma was

allocated Tourism, Events and Gaming, Justice and Foreign Affairs is the responsibility of the Head of State, Eric

Fernando Jnr was allocated Health and Wellbeing, Stephen Forrester was allocated Post-Colonial Reconstruction,

Public Works and Infrastructure.

Contact: Ghillar Michael Anderson - 0427 292 [email protected] www.euahlayipeoplesrepublic.mobi Youtube link:http://youtu.be/g14AoLnpX1E
mailto:[email protected]://www.euahlayipeoplesrepublic.mobi/http://youtu.be/g14AoLnpX1Ehttp://youtu.be/g14AoLnpX1Ehttp://youtu.be/g14AoLnpX1Ehttp://youtu.be/g14AoLnpX1Ehttp://www.euahlayipeoplesrepublic.mobi/mailto:[email protected]


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The Environment - OUR Environment - the "silent casualty" of warfare.On 5th November 2001 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution

declaring the from that year onward 6thNovember would be designated as

The International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in

War and Armed Conflict.

Traditionally in times of warfare and conflict, success had been gauged by

the number of dead and injured, together with the level of destruction to

cities and livelihoods. The UN felt that the time had come to consider

environmental issues that had previously gone unpublicised, but were still

significant victims of war.

These include water supplies that had been polluted, crops that had been

burnt or otherwise destroyed, forests that had been cut down, soils

poisoned and animals killed, all in the name of gaining military advantage.

A significant fact that was discovered by the UN Environment Programme(UNEP) was that since the end of World War II, 40% of all internal conflicts

have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources. These range

from high value resources such as timber, gold, diamonds and oil, to scarce

resources such as fertile land and water.

Conflicts involving natural resources have also been found to be twice as likely to recur in the future.

This is of particular concern to the UN and great importance is attached to ensuring that action on the environment

is an important part of conflict prevention, and building strategies to ensure an enduring peace. There is little hope

of any durable peace in a region if there has been destruction of the natural resources that sustain its ecosystems

and the livelihoods of its people.

Politicians will usually be very quick to justify going to war, but the fact remains that whatever its justification, war

will always result in untold misery and unspeakable horror for combatants and civilians alike. War can destroy in

minutes what has often taken generations to achieve and beyond the human suffering war can also be devastatingto the environment.


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A classic example was the Vietnam War. The Vietcong soldiers were skilled at moving around undetected by using

paths in the dense jungle. As a result they were able to conduct a guerrilla war against the US forces and remain

totally undetected.

The US military forces countered this by using a mixture of two herbicides known as Agent Orange, which was

sprayed on the forest from a height of 150 feet above the treetops. This had the effect of killing all the vegetation

that had provided cover for the enemy, as well as all their food crops. It was also highly dangerous to anyone who

came in contact with it and in 1971 its use was stopped, but by then it had been in use for ten years and irreparabledamage had been done.

It is estimated that the Vietnam War was eventually responsible for the destruction of 4.9 million hectares of forest,

or about 19,000 square miles, an area nearly two-thirds the size of Scotland.

It has also been estimated that during the 19 years

and 5 months of the war around 16 million tons of

munitions were used, creating more than 30

million craters. These craters blew away the topsoil

and disturbed the drainage patterns as they filled

with water. This water became stagnant and full ofdisease-bearing organisms.

Irreparable damage was done to wildlife, not only

by destruction of habitat but also as a result of

weaponry. Weapons aimed at the enemy not only

killed people, but large numbers of animals also.

Putting aside humanitarian considerations, the war

was an ecological disaster for the entire region.

Many species of animals and vegetation have been

greatly reduced and in some cases have becomeextinct.

Following the ending of the war the Vietnamese government has been making enormous efforts to replace the lost

forest and to restore the shattered country. These efforts have met with great success, but what a tragedy that they

have been necessary in the first place.

The International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict was established

to highlight the environmental consequences of war and to stress the importance of neither exploiting nor

heedlessly damaging ecosystems, simply in the name of pursuing military objectives.

The environment has been described the "silent casualty" of warfare.

Since time began, men have been developing evermore sophisticated and efficient ways of killing each other.

Although international treaties have banned some of the more dreadful methods, never has much consideration

been given to maltreatment of the environment during wartime, or to the consequences of its systematic

extermination.

Today's generation have responsibility for this safeguarding; if this is neglected, the next generation may find that

much of the environment as we now know it will have gone for ever.

Republished fromhttp://www.earthtimes.org/Michael Evans 06 Nov 2012

http://www.earthtimes.org/politics/preventing-exploitation-environment-war-armed-conflict/2239/
http://www.earthtimes.org/http://www.earthtimes.org/http://www.earthtimes.org/http://www.earthtimes.org/


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Are you havin a laugh mate? Our grandparents fought the facists, not for themWhilst the Skinhead culture has virtually gone the way of the dodo in Australia, Unfortunately there still are a

number of deranged individuals scattered about who would love to see gangs of nazi skinheads insulting old ladies at

the bus stop, kicking over bins and of course racialy and physically abusing non whites.

Along with (addmittedly increasingly more multicultural) Bikies (THATS BIKERS MAAAN) loving the Blues Music

created in the aftermath of slavery in the US and A, the case is that the skinhead culture is actually a black culture.Well, more correctly, it is a subculture that was born in the UK from reggae-minded children of Caribrean immigrants

interacting with the Mod styled European brits.

Despite this multiracial / bi-racial start to the subculture, the skinhead subculture was of course largely co-opted by

racist nazi hoodlum types - the movie This Is Britaincaptures this period of transitional period well. As a result of this

co-option, these days for the average pleb the word skinhead definately conjures up images of the very nasty

Hando and his mates in the movie Romper Stomper.

Faceed with this situation, did all two tone anti-racist skinheads just grow out their hair, hop on down to Marks And

Sepencer and get a pair of loose fitting jeans and wish the nazis all the best?No. Many anti-racist skinheads stayed

on to take on the nazi skins via informal and socialist grouping based groups such as the RedSkins (Red = Socialist).

Along with thr RedSkins and many anti-racist skins being drawn to e.g. the UK Socialist Party, SHARP (Skinheads

Against Racial Prejudice) was started in New York City in 1987 by Marcus Pacheco & Stevan M as a way to show that

the skinhead subculture is not based on racism and political

extremism.

In 1989, Roddy Moreno of the Welsh Oi! band The Oppressed

visited New York City and met a few SHARP members. On his

return to the United Kingdom, he designed a new SHARP logo

based on the Trojan Reggae labels design and started

promoting SHARP ideals to British anti-racist mindedskinheads.

SHARP then spread throughout Europe and in other

continents. In the UK and other European countries, the SHARP

attitude was more based on the individual than on organized

groups. In the 2000s, SHARP is thought to have become more

of an individual designation than an official organization. And

from the loins of the SHARP movement, and again in New York

City, sprung RASH - Red and Anarchist Skinheads.

RASH includes redskins and anarchist skinheads. It was officially launched on January 1, 1993 by members of theMayday Crew, a left-wing skinhead and punk group based in the New York City area. The Mayday Crew was formed

due to in-fighting between members of New York City's Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) chapter, over the

murder of a homosexual man by anti-racist, yet right-wing, skinheads.

Shortly after the initial call went out for the formation of a network, chapters formed in other countries around the

world, mostly from existing left-wing skinhead crews. Whilst there will not be a Gundagai RASH or a Cloncurry SHARP

as in anti racist skinheads hanging out at the back of the town grocery store there are a number of active SHARP

and RASH in Australia.

Whilst there has been a global shift to the right that has unfortunatelty had a knock on effect of breathing some life

back into the far right (e.g. Golden Dawn in Greece,) the case is that our grandparents generation fought a WorldWar against the ideology of fascism and won. Wannabe Neo nazi skinheads out there need to wake up that they are

actually going against what the grandparents probably physically directly fought against.


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A Riot right on St Georges Tce Perth 1931 Unemployed Workers Treasury RiotAfter 17 years of standing idle and unused, the Perth Treasury Buildingthat big old building behind the Perth Town

Hallis going to be turned into luxury accommodation for the wealthy. Whilst this may seem to be a nice outcome

for this majestic old structure, and no surprise considering the location location location! On St Geo Tce and in the

CBD, it is a building owned by the good folk of Western Australia and there is a lack of accommodation for the

homeless.

Perhaps this should not be surprising in a State where straight after a 10 year long record mining boom the Lieberal

Government - supposedly such bloody great financial managers - is crying poor, sacking public servants by the score

and not building all of the planned levels on the new childrens hospital - which will also be privatized. Thanks guys.

But back to the Riot. Back in 1931 Australia and the world was in the throws of the Great Depression which

originated in the U.S., after the fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929. Australia's dependence on

agricultural and industrial exports meant it was one of the hardest-hit countries in the Western world. Falling export

demand and commodity prices placed massive downward pressures on wages. Good ole free market capitalism!

Times were toughUnemployment was over 30%.There were no new jobs on the horizon and also there was no

dole for the unemployed (Something that our dear PM Abbott wants to bring back for the under 30s of today) Evenbefore the Great Depression kicked off in September WA had an open problem - On 9 April 1929, the Daily News

reported that up to 120 unemployed were camped out on the nearly Esplanade , as they had nowhere else to go.

The effect of the wave of the Great Depression hitting WA swelled these numbers.Having to reply on a system of

meager handouts, the unemployed were also subjected to police harassment for vagrancy and were exposed to the

extremes of the weather. They would often return to the Esplanade in wet weather to find it flooded and the West

Australian of the time reported that ninety per cent of the men had no blankets, having sold them to buy food..

Marches of the unemployed became common, almost daily. Crowds sometimes several thousand strong would

assemble at the Esplanade, march to the destination of the daysometimes the Police Station, if one of the

unemployed had been arrested, and other times the Labour Bureau in Pier Street on weekday morningswhere they waited for jobs to be issued. On the 6th of March, the unemployed had had enough and went to go see

the Premier to demand three meals a day, shelter and free dental and medical attention (Fun times pre Medicare).

Although speakers exhorted the crowd to remain calm, about 2000 marched to the Treasury building, and lined the

road. In order to free the traffic, the police pushed them back, and the unemployed, resenting this, commenced to

fight. Several of the demonstrators, including those who had ad- dressed the meeting, were seized and hand- cuffed.

Reinforcements of police arrived quickly, and were received with hoots and jeering.

Pickets were torn from the fence of the Government gardens, and the unemployed attacked the police. Mounted

Police, however, took command, and rode the rioters down, but In the struggle two troopers were torn from their

saddles. Police casualties were mainly confined to cuts and bruises, though one constable had nose broken.


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THE so-called students behind yesterday's riot should be ashamed. Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of democracy

but assaulting police with punches and bombarding them with shoes is selfish, juvenile and criminal. Dozens of

officers also had to be diverted from the critical work of keeping the community safe due to this violent action. This

ragtag bunch of hardcore socialists and rabble rousers with an over-inflated sense of entitlement do not representthe broad student community they protest in the name of. The casting of this motley crew is as predictable as ever -It

would be reasonable to expect some would boast the Occupy Melbourne and G20 riots on their CVs. It is likely some

are not even students, simply professional agitators and nuisances who draw their income from benefits paid for by

the taxes of hard-working Australians. Also perplexing is that the intellectual basis of their protest is flawed. While

the vitriol was directed at the Abbott Government it was the Gillard administration which took the decision to slash

university funding which they were so angry about. All available CCTV footage should be reviewed in order that

anyone breaking the law is prosecuted in the courts and feel the full force of the justice system.

.

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