Make Poverty History Gig

Wednesday 14th December
Bands: Sons Of Korah
Maverick
Broken Arm
The Mirrored

Lions Den 140 Ann St, Brisbane

Time: 6:30pm

Cost: $15
Tickets: lionsdenevents@hotmail.com

White Band Day

Brisbane
9am 5pm Friday December 9, King George Square
White Band Day Oxfam Trade Justice stall at Brisbane Christmas Charity Markets, King George Square. Have your photo taken like the Australian and international celebrities who have agreed to be “dumped on” to help spread the "MakePovertyHistory = Make Trade Fair" message. Choose your commodity (rice, corn, cotton, sugar, coffee) and join the millions making a Big Noise for global trade justice. Also featuring Chinese Lion Dancers, “Fairtrade fortune cookies” and white wristbands to wear. For information contact Ann Matson Ph: 07 3637 4615.

remember to wear your white bands on DEC 10

The ME generation has a social conscience too

November 1, 2005

Young people are flat out juggling work, study and debt, writes Kate Evans. I'M SICK of my age group being labelled the "Me generation" by baby boomers. Young people are frequently portrayed as soulless slaves to consumerism, self-centred zombies who care more about our iPods and our Tsubis than we do about our grandma, let alone bigger issues of politics, social justice or world poverty.

Yes, Mum and Dad, we know you burnt your bras, stood up for the environment and took to the streets against apartheid and the Vietnam War. You were like, so rebellious, you so totally had a social conscience, man. We know.We know you faced opposition from your conservative parents and a more traditional, repressive society. But let's not forget that it was the later boomers who were originally dubbed the Me generation, the material girls and boys of the 1970s and '80s. In any case, my generation has different things to fight against. For a start, we're lucky if we have time to stand up for the things we believe in.

Students in the '60s and '70s enjoyed free university and more free time; we balance work with study to pay our ever-increasing HECS fees.Unless you're bludging off your parents, the high cost of city living means substantial part-time work if you are to get your rent in on time. Not to mention the fact that getting out on the streets to protest about social and environmental issues is getting kind of old. It just doesn't have the same effect it did.

Our protests are inevitably compared unfavourably with the Vietnam Moratorium marches, and we have to find new ways of making ourselves heard.This is becoming more difficult: the voluntary student unionism debate has drawn attention to how little those in power value our political input. The Liberal Party pushes for it partly because it fears universities are left-wing breeding grounds, Labor's compromise involves banning student unions from spending any money on politics, and Mark Latham has told us not to go into politics. These all reinforce a culture in which young people are actively discouraged from being political. If we are apathetic in the face of all this, if we turn towards fashion and technology instead as ways to define ourselves, can you blame us?

That's why it was so inspiring to see 250 young people stan! ding against global poverty in Darling Harbour on Monday night; young people who do care not just about who was voted out of Big Brother or whether sass & bide are having a sale this week.The event was part of the worldwide Make Poverty History campaign. And it wasn't just in Sydney; more than 1000 young people, aged from six to 26, stood simultaneously in Melbourne, Perth, Cairns and Brisbane. Well-informed, eloquent teenagers speaking to their peers with sincerity and compassion about things that matter: just you try to tell me my generation doesn't care.

We vote, and governments have to take this into account. The voluntary student union protests contributed to the furore over the issue in Parliament and to the legislation being delayed by a year.Perhaps you'll accuse me of being idealistic. Perhaps you'll sigh and think: "Isn't that nice, but one day they'll realise they can't change the world." Either way we're stuck. If we don't participate we're apathetic, self-centred cynics; if we do stand up for issues of global importance, we're dismissed as idealistic youth.But if the young aren't allowed to be idealistic, who is? We do care, we're passionate about change, and we just want to be heard.

Kate Evans is a media and communications student at the University of Sydney.

help us find a badge maker

this is considerably less important than the last post... but we're looking for a badge maker! we want one that makes 3cm (1&1/4inch) badges so that we can make badges like this for us to wear at school. please drop us a line if you know where we can find one...

SEED

on Monday we started a SEED group at school - this came out of the STAND conference we went to the Monday before. Its a way we can help make poverty history.
here's some photos from the conference and the STAND 8 minutes of silence.

photos by Alex Bartlett

a little bit more MPH

check out the oxfam site for some interesting pics...
what else could we do?

http://www.oxfam.org.au/campaigns/mtf/povertyhistory/bandit/gallery.html?cat_id=16

Boost in aid

Thank you MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Supporters!You did it! At the UN Summit in New York, the Prime Minister John Howard announced a boost in aid (PDF: 40 KB) to $4 billion over the next five years. Each of you has really made a difference for the two thirds of the world’s poor that live in the Asia-Pacific region.
Let's keep working together to Make Poverty History!
http://www.makepovertyhistory.com.au/home.html

What its all about...

whats been going on; the good, the bad, and the sticky. heres something good from a few weeks ago when we had a White Shirt Day to mark the 2nd White Band Day: