Paul’s Canberra calendar, late August 2019

Comrades, here are political / activist events in or near Canberra (updated 19th August 2019).

#StopAdani Canberra:

Meetings, 5:45 pm every Monday. Organising to stop the proposed massive Adani coal mine in central Queensland. Conservation Council office, Ground Floor, Lena Karmel Lodge, 14/26 Barry Drive (opp. Watson St), Acton. Contact stopadanicbr@gmail.com.

Our politicians need to see, hear and feel community pressure everywhere they go. Join us to take action, in your community:
Join your local group:
▪Follow on Facebook:
▪Let your Federal MP know what you think.

GHD, don’t help Adani wreck our climate! 12:30 – 1:30 pm, Fri., 23rd August 2019, 16 Marcus Clarke St, Civic; and the following week, same time / place. Australian engineering company GHD is reported to be contracting to provide services to Adani. A strange choice for a company that prides itself on its environmental reputation. Please join our peaceful lunchtime gathering outside GHD’s Canberra office, asking the company for a public statement that it will not work on Adani’s “carbon bomb” coal mine. This will be our 5th week of peaceful events outside the office, part of the nationwide call to GHD to step away from Adani. Organised by #StopAdani Canberra and 350.org Canberra.

#BlockadeAdani Organising Space. Adani is on the move; we need to stop them! They are looking to build a train line to meet existing tracks which service their Abbot Point coal terminal. If this line gets built it will be very hard to stop this catastrophic project. We need you to join us up here on the blockade. Information on carpooling, convoying, and cheap tickets can be shared here. For updates, go to frontlineaction.org and take the pledge. ❤ Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC) Camp: (07) 47634032; flaccoal@protonmail.com.

And…

Nonviolent Direct Action Training. 1:30 – 6:30pm, Sun., 25th August 2019. Corroboree Park, 47 Paterson St, Ainslie. Book by emailing XR-ACT-TRAINING@protonmail.com. Organised by Extinction Rebellion ACT and Extinction Rebellion Australia.

Beyond Uranium Canberra meeting. 5:30pm, Tues., 27th August 2019. The Food Co-op Shop & Cafè, 3 Kingsley St, ANU / Acton. Organised by Beyond Uranium Canberra.

Politics in the Pub, 6pm, Wed., 28th August 2019. Union Bar, 3 Rimmer St, ANU. Join the Australia Institute and Jess Hill to discuss her new book: See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Abuse. An investigative journalist and author, Jess Hill has reported on domestic violence since 2014. She has worked for ABC Radio, as Middle East correspondent for The Global Mail, and as an investigative journalist for Background Briefing. She was listed in Foreign Policy‘s top 100 women to follow on Twitter, and her reporting on domestic violence has won two Walkley awards, an Amnesty International award and 3 Our Watch awards. Jess Hill puts domestic violence perpetrators – and the systems that enable them – in the spotlight. The book is a deep dive into the abuse so many women and children experience – often reinforced by the justice system they trust to protect them. Critically, it shows that we can drastically reduce domestic violence – not in generations to come, but today. Combining forensic research with riveting storytelling, her book radically rethinks how to confront the national crisis of fear and abuse in our homes. Copies will be available to purchase on the night from Paperchain Books. RSVP here.

Protest Religious Exemptions Bill: No Right to Discriminate! 11am – 12:30pm, Sat., 31st August 2019. Garema Place, Civic. In October 2018, a YouGov Galaxy Poll found that around 80% of people opposed the right of religious schools to expel LGBTI students or sack LGBTI teachers; an even larger majority than the 61.6% who voted YES to marriage equality in 2017. Despite huge support for LGBTI rights, the Liberal government wants to further entrench and broaden discrimination in a so-called “Religious Freedoms” bill. Senior members of the Opposition have said that the Labor Party should support the bill. A bitter conservative minority is attempting to roll back progress after our community’s smashing victory for equality in 2017. Join the protest to tell parliament and the bigoted minority: End religious exemptions! No to homophobia and transphobia! Message our page for more information and if you would like to get involved! Organised by Equal Love Canberra.

Heads Up

Canberra – Global #ClimateStrike. Noon – 2pm, Friday, 20th September 2019, in Glebe Park, Civic. Australia is on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Prolonged drought. Flash flooding. Catastrophic bushfires, severe cyclones and heatwaves. But just when we need to ramp up climate solutions, we have elected a Government that wants to open the floodgates to new coal, oil and gas projects that put all of us at risk. So, on September 20, three days before the UN Emergency Climate Summit, school students are inviting everyone to join us for our biggest ever global #ClimateStrike. By taking time off school and work together around the world, we’ll show our politicians that people everywhere want climate justice and we’re not going away until we get it. We’ll strike in solidarity for everyone who’s already being hurt by the climate crisis and everyone who will be impacted if we don’t act now: workers, first nations people, young people, and mining communities. On March 15, 1.6 million of us went on strike around the world. On September 20, we’re going to take our movement to the next level. If you’re an adult, please take the day off and invite everyone to join us. Hosted by School Strike 4 Climate and Canberra – School Strike 4 Climate.

Labour Day Festival and Union Picnic. 10am – 2pm, Mon., 7th October 2019 (Labour Day Public Holiday). Eddison Park, Justinian St, Phillip. Free entry! Free face painting! Fairy floss, popcorn, giant bubbles, rides for the kids, sideshow alley, food, tug of war, sack races, dog show, petting zoo, and music. Organised by UnionsACT.