Environment

Another Whistleblower Drops FMG Mining Deal Bombshell

Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation—BULLETIN http://yindjibarndi.org.au/ Wednesday 31 October 2012 No amount of corporate spin, bulldust or threats can save Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) from the continuing revelations of whistleblowers and freedom…

1 Comment

November 1, 2012

Asia-Pacific / Corruption / Globalisation / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Julian Moti / Neo-Colonialism / Pacific Neighbours / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / United Nations / West Papua

A process of truth and judgement

Judgement is our oldest belief, our most habitual holding-true or holding un-true, an assertion or denial, a certainty that something is thus not otherwise, a belief that here we really…

15 Comments

October 9, 2012

Accountability / Archaeology / Art / Corruption / Discrimination/Racism / Environment / Equality / Human Rights / Hypocrisy / International Law / Justice / Law / Mining / Rule of Law

YINDJIBARNDI ABORIGINAL CORPORATION MEDIA RELEASE

FMG ‘DECLASSIFIED’ THEN DESTROYED YINDJIBARNDI HERITAGE SITES Recent reports that, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) is pushing ahead with the “low-cost Firetail deposit” at its Solomon Project, while scaling back…

21 Comments

September 13, 2012

Art / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Genocide / Human Rights / International Law / Mining / Rule of Law

“Freeport is a symbol of everything that is wrong with Papua”

PT Freeport Indonesia's newly appointed president director, Rozik B. Soetjipto, announced this week that the company is willing to renegotiate its contract with the Indonesian government for the continuation of…

23 Comments

July 14, 2012

Art / Assimilation / Culture / Environment / Human Rights / Mining

The stories, art and dance of Arnhem Land, the longest running show in history

NAIDOC week seems a fitting time to diverge a little from the normal themes of Blak and Black and have a peak into what was our culture prior to the…

29 Comments

July 3, 2012

Commonwealth Government / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Environment / Government / Law / Mining / Rule of Law / WA government

Amendments to WA’s Aboriginal Heritage Act: a mining ‘industry-friendly’ high jacking

Everywhere, people attach powerful emotions to the deaths of others and feel the need to dispose of the bodily remains of the dead in a suitable manner. In Australia, there…

28 Comments

June 27, 2012

Assimilation / Corporate profit / Corruption / Culture / Discrimination/Racism / Environment / Equality / Equality of opportunity / Genocide / Human Rights / Law / Mining / Rule of Law / Shared humanity

Law is The Law, but not if you’re an Aborigine

Men, in general, seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices, which they have imbibed, they cannot trace how, rather than to root them out. The mind must be strong…

26 Comments

June 22, 2012

Accountability / Australian Federal Police / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Equality / Globalisation / Human Rights / Justice / Law / Law Enforcement / Mining / Respect / Rule of Law

70 butchered Congolese: a small price to pay for our blood copper and silver!

It will be a marvellous thing – the true personality of man – when we see it. It will grow naturally and simply, flower-like, or as a tree grows. It…

15 Comments

May 31, 2012

Accountability / AHRC/HREOC / ASIO / Australian Federal Police / Corruption / Counter-terrorism laws / Discrimination/Racism / Equality / Human Rights / International Law / Law Enforcement / Mining / Rule of Law / Terrorism

Australia: a parable on authoritative oppression and the nature of conformity

I am not pessimistic. I just see everything as it is. When one lives in a society that is essentially not free, it is the obligation of every thinking person…

19 Comments

May 30, 2012

Asia-Pacific / Culture / Environment / Genocide / Human Rights / Indonesia / Justice / Mining / Neo-Colonialism / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / West Papua

300,000 dead West Papuan’s: a fair price for our golems?

Sydney: city of mystery, city of marvels. Sydney: its foreshores once teeming with Gadigal; now a captive city pregnant with memories, enveloped by memories of a Gadigal Atlantis. The traditional…

25 Comments

May 24, 2012

Asia-Pacific / Culture / Discrimination/Racism / Environment / Equality / Equality of opportunity / Genocide / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Law / Mining / Neo-Colonialism / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / West Papua

Beware there be Jinn in the forests: Indonesia and West Papua, a clash of cultures

Last weekend I took a stroll through the Mesopotamia exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. While reading the commentary attached to a number of the artefacts I realised, in a profound…

23 Comments

May 20, 2012

Asia-Pacific / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Environment / Genocide / Human Rights / Indonesia / Mining / Pacific Neighbours / Shared humanity / West Papua

Portia’s Lament: Western greed and the death of the indigenous cultures of West Papua

Fragments from the Alfoxden Notebook There he would stand In the still covert of some [lonesome?] rock, Or gaze upon the moon until its light Fell like a strain of…

19 Comments

May 9, 2012

Culture / Human Rights / Mining / Respect / Shared humanity

The Yindjibarndi lose a guiding light

Blak and Black is saddened to hear of the passing of Yindjibarndi Elder Mr Ned Mayaringbungu Cheedy at the age of 105. Mr Cheedy was custodian of the Yindjibarndi stories…

6 Comments

April 16, 2012

ACT Government / Australian Federal Police / Commonwealth Government / Environment / Government / Law Enforcement / Mining

Aux objets répugnants nous trouvons des appas

While travelling the highways and byways of Queensland taking statements in support of my application to the United Nations alleging ongoing and systematic human rights violations against Australia’s Aboriginal and…

10 Comments

April 5, 2012

Accountability / Asia-Pacific / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Democracy / Ernst & Young / Genocide / Globalisation / Human Rights / Indonesia / Mining / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / West Papua

Silence no longer so golden

Complicity takes many forms, as discussed in posts by both Bakchos and me. Many believe that silent complicity is the least culpable, but to my mind if the silence enables…

21 Comments

March 14, 2012

Accountability / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Culture / Equality / Globalisation / Human Rights / International Law / Rule of Law / Shared humanity

Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority, the concept of corporate accountability

This case arises from the petitioners’ claim that Azzam Rahim was detained, tortured, and killed by “the security forces of the Palestinian Authority” in late 1995, around the time the…

26 Comments

March 7, 2012

Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Environment / Genocide / Human Rights / International Law / Law / Law Enforcement / Mining / Rule of Law

Corporate crimes against humanity a product of our global economy

Crimes against humanity, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention, extrajudicial executions -- all of those human rights norms are defined by actions. They're not defined by whether the perpetrator is a human…

1 Comment

March 1, 2012

Accountability / ACT Government / Asia-Pacific / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Discrimination/Racism / Ernst & Young / Government / Human Rights / Indonesia / Mining / Racism / West Papua

Copper and gold: the blood diamonds of West Papua

Invaded by Indonesia in 1961, West Papua is the crisis on Australia’s doorstep. The conflict generated by the usurpation of the former Dutch protectorate is not recognized as anything other…

11 Comments

February 22, 2012