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Editorial
This is a perfect time of year to think about purpose. When involved in trying to achieve justice it is easy to lose sight of the goal. Purpose is way in which as individuals, we can realign ourselves with a plan of action to achieve a goal. Purpose can also reignite our passion and bring us back into action, closer to a more just world. September 21st is one day where those who believe in peace, are able to reflect and voice how we as individuals, members of our communities and members of our society could work towards a more peaceful world. The group that attended The 2008 Graham F Smith Peace Trust, United Nations International Peace Day afternoon tea worked together on a small submission for the UN:
The participants at the Peace Event on September 21 organised by the Graham F Smith Peace Trust and the Psychologists for Peace wish to inform world leaders that they believe that peace is our future. It is possible to achieve it through justice, air trade and human rights for all. In this way we will achieve 'peace-one world'.
Please remember in this nuclear age there is no such thing as a just war. "You cannot have a child with nuclear arms." Replace the arms industry with environmentally sustainable industries and save the planet. The participants also wish to inform world leaders that they (i.e. the leaders) should not allow fear of terrorism to reduce the chances for peace throughout the world.
Please enjoy our Summer Edition which I hope will reignite your passion.
Enjoy – Julia Spence.
THINK SMALL AND ACT BIG - David Plumridge, Councillor, Adelaide City Council
The Millennium Goals may not appear to have much relevance to the Adelaide City Council, but the Council’s response to the threats of Climate Change will directly contribute to achieving Goal 7 of the Millennium Goals, which is to ensure environmental sustainability.
With this in mind, governments must encourage higher density living clustered close to public transport, mandate for more energy-efficient buildings and encourage the development and use of renewable energy. Adelaide City Council’s plan to increase its resident population is a positive contribution to these objectives – studies have shown that the nearer people live to the city centre, the less their energy use and hence their CO2 emissions
Council has adopted a bold and comprehensive action plan to prepare the city for the impact of climate change. One of the major causes of climate change is the emissions from our use of fossil fuels.
There are 3 accepted ways to reduce our dependence on fossil-fuel based energy:
- MORE EFFICIENT ENERGY USE;
- REDUCED ENERGY USE and
- USING ALTERNATIVE FUELS (e.g. solar, wind, geothermal),
It is easy to say that this is such a major challenge, on a global scale, that there is nothing effective that individual citizens can do. But this is a case of having to “think small and act big”. As the elected voice of local people I believe Council needs to lead by example.
Council has set an ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2020 and to have reduced its emissions by 60% by 2012. The adoption of the Climate Change Action Initiatives Fund in Council’s 2008/2009 budget means that Council now has a dedicated $1.3 million to direct to its Carbon Neutral Action Plan. Hopefully on an annual basis. Works to be funded under the action plan in the coming year include revamping our buildings and public lighting with energy-efficient globes, co-generation at the aquatic centre, major solar panels initiatives, increased use of green energy and smart computer system upgrades.
The Council will also accelerate the roll-out of its commuter and recreational cycle network. This will include work on bicycle lanes on 2 north/south and 2 east/west cycle routes including completion of cycle lanes on Frome Street and Pulteney Street. It will also include more bikes for hire and more depots in the CBD; every U-Park will provide space for cycle parking and there will be on-street cycle parking in key locations around the city.
Council plans to release its Environmental Sustainability Strategy in the near future. It will deal with city-wide policies and actions to engage the whole community in conserving energy, water and all our natural resources.
Council can have a major impact in reducing energy use and carbon emissions arising from two main areas, namely, private-sector building activities and our modes of transport. Council is moving to amend its Development Plan to require better design of buildings, more efficient use of materials and energy and greater use of solar power, green roofs and smart management of all building servicing systems. It is also worth noting that retention and refurbishment of our older building stock is very much more efficient in terms of embodied energy than building from new.
In terms of transport, which accounts for over 40% of our energy consumption, Council is reviewing its integrated transport policies to align with those of the State and to encourage the use of public transport, bicycles and a pedestrian-friendly city. Continuing changes to car-parking policies are a direct result of our determination to discourage the use of the motor car for journeys to and within the city when clearly public transport is a better option.
Householders can make simple savings in the use of water and energy in their own homes. The Adelaide City Council is working on a whole package of incentives to support these small but significant savings. These initiatives will be rolled out in the coming months. The Council hopes that the incentives will be supported by the community and community members will be encouraged to develop their carbon-saving initiatives.
Council is excited by the challenge of climate change and is working to deliver a sustainable city for the benefit of all who come to Adelaide to live, work, study and enjoy themselves on a daily basis.
David Plumridge is a Councilor on the Adelaide City Council and has been involved in Local Government for over 40 years. He is a retired architect who has had a life-long interest in achieving better planning and design outcomes for our cities.
David sees Climate Change as the biggest single threat to human kind and we all need to work to reduce its impact, especially on the most vulnerable peoples of the world.
Kurruru Youth Performing Arts – iving and Showcasing Proud Indigenous Culture Martin Sawtell, Acting Company Manager, Kurruru Youth Performing Arts Inc.
Kurruru, meaning ‘circle’ in Kaurna language, is Australia’s leading youth performing arts company for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children, young people and their communities. The company’s home is situated on Kaurna land at Port Adelaide (15km North West of Adelaide CBD), but its programs operate across South Australia.
Kurruru Dance Ensemble and Nunga Circus
Kurruru currently operates two well-respected performance troupes – the Kurruru Dance Ensemble and the Nunga Circus. These troupes perform around South Australia and regularly create new work. The performers in these troupes have grown up at Kurruru. These young people are now emerging as the next generation of highly talented Indigenous artists and leaders.
Kurruru provides an extensive performing arts workshop program. It also provides transport to and from workshops as well as healthy food options at each workshop. The workshops are offered free-of-charge. The current program includes workshops in the areas of theatre, circus, contemporary dance, hip-hop, traditional dance, break dance, and music.
The workshop program is the foundation of the company, providing Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children, young people and their families’ access to Kurruru every week. The workshop programs create the basis of Kurruru’s troupes and major performance projects. It supports the development of skills, confidence and well-being among Kurruru’s membership. Kurruru creates inspiring new work each year through major performance projects.
In 2005 the company, in collaboration with Cirkidz, co-produced a beautiful circus show called Soaring. This project had been commissioned for the 2005 Come Out Festival.
In 2006 the show Crossing Paths won Best Dance Award at the Adelaide Fringe 06.
In 2007 Kurruru worked with Vitalstatistix Theatre Company on Second to None, exploring the Aboriginal and Maritime histories of Port Adelaide at a time when urban redevelopment is changing the landscape of this community.
Second to None was a spectacular outdoor performance that took the audience on a journey through Port Adelaide, Semaphore and Largs Bay. It included dance, installation, film and the re-creation of important Kaurna ceremony. Second to None was a truly remarkable theatre event and drew support from a range of government and philanthropic supporters, including the Graham F Smith Peace Trust.
The performance was recently nominated for a Ruby Award in the category of Community Impact – Over $100,000, reflecting the scale of such a massive project.
In 2008 the company supported its Associate Artistic Director, Damien Ralphs, to develop a new dance work which premiered during the 2008 Adelaide Fringe Festival. "of the future" saw Damien work with 5 emerging Aboriginal dancers to create a work that drew from personal experience and universal story.
The Nunga Circus has developed over several years and starred in the 2005 Come Out Festival show Soaring produced by Kurruru in collaboration with Cirkidz.
The Nunga Circus is one of Kurruru’s most popular programs and in 2007 it developed a new roving work which explored themes of warrior- ship.
Kulcha Moves.
Kurruru’s Kulcha Moves program focuses on cultural continuance through cross-generational learning. The activities focus on cultural pride and identity, and through contemporary arts practice reflect cultural learning and leadership. Activities in the program include back-to-country camps, intensive mentoring, regional workshop programs, and learning traditional cultural practices. Kulcha Moves informs all of the company’s work, incorporating cultural content into Kurruru’s program in the broadest sense. It includes contemporary and traditional performance, engagement with language, family and community, intergenerational exchange, regional/metropolitan exchange, and an environment that fosters a strong sense of Aboriginal identity, respect and pride.
As part of the Kulcha Moves program, Kurruru has developed a specific Boys’ Program that incorporates activities such as a Men’s Mentoring Team, a boys’ dance program, and a thought-provoking, community-based arts project aimed at exploring juvenile justice issues.
Kurruru regularly initiates community cultural development projects that celebrate and give voice to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander young people, their families and communities. These projects produce arts- based outcomes, including films, education resources, community-based performances, and professionally recorded CD’s through our biannual Blak Traks project.
The Carousel Club.
Recently one such project was The Carousel Club. Over several months a group of children and elders took part in a series of cultural and recreational activities, in pairs and as a group. Some of the activities were chosen by the elders and some by the children. All activities encouraged respect, joy, pride and playfulness. What resulted from this simple process was an inspiring film that presents diverse stories of listening and learning across generations.
Kurruru now plans to develop The Carousel Club into an education resource package for primary schools.
Regional Program
Kurruru’s regional program is supported by partnerships with organisations and communities across the state. The largest of these is our Flinders Ranges Regional Partnership Program with the Royal Flying Doctor Service in the communities of Copley, Nepabunna and Maree. This program has been running for the last three years. Kurruru has offered workshops in dance, circus, music and design, has recorded songs and created performance opportunities for young people.
SAIYWAT
SAIYWAT is Kurruru’s Youth Council. It is made up of experienced young staff members and young people from across South Australia. SAIYWAT undertakes leadership development activities amongst young people at Kurruru.
In 2007 SAIYWAT launched a three-year cultural leadership program called SAIYWAT Way which included a series of leadership development camps and other activities. It also established a SA youth network. It hopes to produce a major performing arts exchange event next year, in 2009.
As the company expands across South Australia it recognises and promotes Kurruru’s history, current involvement and ongoing connection to Port Adelaide. The strong and significant Aboriginal community of Port Adelaide has grown Kurruru to where it is today and continues to be Kurruru’s primary membership and community focus. Kurruru is committed to maintaining its home within this community and place.
Educating for A Culture of Peace and for Active and Responsible Local/Global Citizenship Jackie Thomson, Curriculum Manager, Studies of Asia and Multicultural Education, Department of Education and Children’s Services.
Now more than ever we live in one world and multicultural education needs to be a crucial part of the curriculum. Multicultural education encompasses culturally inclusive education, global education, human rights education and countering racism.
Multicultural education supports all learners to develop values, skills and understandings for active and responsible local/global citizenship. It does this by strengthening respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, by encouraging social harmony and a deeper understanding of how racism and the denial of human rights impoverishes and undermines our society.
Through multicultural education, learners develop respect for, and understandings about, the cultures, values and belief systems which have contributed to the development of our nation and world. Learners also develop the ability to think critically and to recognise and challenge bias, racist assumptions, stereotypes and behaviours.
In the Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) multicultural education is embedded across the curriculum through the equity cross-curriculum perspectives (which includes multicultural and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander perspectives) and the essential learnings program (the basic tenets of which are identity, futures, communication, interdependence, and thinking).
Students are provided with opportunities to develop “cultural literacy” and to examine social issues across a range of learning areas and cross disciplinary studies, such as the humanities and social sciences, history, society & environment, English, aboriginal studies, civics & citizenship and values education.
Racism continues to be a major concern both for the educational community and the wider community. Research indicates that Aboriginal peoples, as well as those of non-English speaking backgrounds, (including Arabic and Muslim Australians) experience significant prejudice and discrimination. As a result, several new policies, namely the Aboriginal Strategy 2005-2010 and the DECS Countering Racism Policy and Guidelines have been developed to support and direct the department’s work.
In addition DECS provides ongoing professional learning for educators. The professional programs assist educators to develop their own teaching and learning strategies. It supports them in developing resources for embedding multicultural perspectives and countering racism across all areas of the South Australian curriculum. In 2008 over 350 pre service and current teachers undertook this training.
Since 2000 DECS has worked closely with the Ministerial Multicultural Education Committee (MEC) to run a teacher professional learning program, Citizen for Humanity award and school grants program across all educational sectors with a focus on Reconciliation, Human Rights and Languages Education.
In partnership with Save the Children, six DECS schools are participating in the United Nations Global Peace School Program, including Pennington Junior Primary School and Thebarton Senior College. These schools have gained accreditation as the first primary and secondary UN Global Peace Schools respectively in Australia. This means that they explicitly incorporate peace building and child rights into their school ethos and practice.
Whilst there is always more to be done, these initiatives are helping to prepare students to live and work in a multicultural society, the Asian region and an increasingly globalised world.
For more information about multicultural and countering racism education visit:
Racism No Way www.racismnoway.com
Human Rights Commission www.humanrights.gov.au,
Harmony Day www.harmony.gov.au and
Asia Education Foundation www.asiaeducation.edu.au.
Save the Children www.savethechildren.net/australia/your_support/speaking_out.html
Multicultural Education Committee www.mec.sa.edu.au
Jackie Thomson, Curriculum Manager, Studies of Asia and Multicultural Education
Department of Education and Children’s Services Ph 82260034
email thomson.jackie@saugov.sa.gov.au
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security - Ruth Russell, 1325 Program Manager, Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom - Australian Section.
As a South Australian woman opposed to violence and especially to war, I joined WILPF many years ago. I went to Iraq in 2003 as a representative of the Australian people who had marched and told our government not to join the invasion of Iraq. I stayed on during the bombing. Since returning from Iraq, I have continued my peace activism through WILPF, which I believe offers a unique women’s perspective.
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is the oldest women’s peace organisation in the world. It was founded in April 1915, in The Hague, the Netherlands, by some 1300 women from Europe, North America and Australia. These women came from neutral countries and from countries that were fighting one another. They came together in a Congress of Women to protest the killing and destruction of the war then raging in Europe.
WILPF empowers women to work effectively for peace and justice in 45 countries around the world, including an active Australian Section.
WILPF played a leading role among non-government organisations (NGOs) in advocating for the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2000. An Australian member then based in New York founded the international NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security.
This is the first UN Resolution that specifically highlights the impact of war and conflict on women and girls, and the importance of women’s involvement in peace building processes. It seeks the protection of women and girls in areas of conflict; participation of women in peace processes and development of post-conflict construction programs that address the needs of women and girls.
The WILPF Australian Section has worked in partnership with UNIFEM and other women’s organizations to promote the need for the Australian government to implement this resolution by developing an Australian National Action Plan. To date, 12 countries have developed their own national action plans – Austria, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, UK and Germany.
It is time for Australia to fulfill its obligations under this Resolution Australia is actively engaged in Iraq, Afghanistan, East Timor, Solomon Islands. Therefore, the Australian government’s positive response to 1325 would have significant regional influence.
While 1325 National Action Plans are properly the product of government, NGO experts have participated in their development in other countries as partners, using their expertise and capacity to multiply information and educate their constituencies to great effect.
WILPF recently received a grant from the federal Office for Women to support NGO experts and advocates in the development of a National Action Plan. This will promote women’s inclusion in political decision-making, building their capacity to participate, engage and partner with government on peace and security policy formulation and delivery. The project’s focus is on preparing the way for NGOs to actively participate in this process.
Di Zetlin and Barbara King from the University of Queensland have been engaged to analyse the twelve National Action Plans of other countries, highlighting their relevance and adaptability for inclusion in an Australian National Action Plan. It is expected that this report will be available in January 2009 and will provide important information to support an NGO Reference Group.
Once this NGO group is formed, WILPF will facilitate encounters between NGO experts and Government Departments and agencies. The Office for Women is working with Minster Plibersek to issue an invitation to government agencies to form a government 1325 group (similar to what happened in Sweden)*.
WILPF women have been members and supporters of the Graham F Smith Peace Trust for many years and welcome this opportunity to share this important project with you.
WILPF is also planning to hold information sessions in each State next year. WILPF is interested in establishing a register of "supporters for 1325". If you are interested, please contact me directly, my details are below.
WILPF 1325 Australian website www.1325australia.org.au.
Background information or to download a WILPF 1325 brochure.
WILPF 1325 International Peacewoman websitewww.peacewoman.org.
Information on international 1325 initiatives, or to subscribe to WILPF’s 1325 E-newsletter
Contact: Ruth Russell ph. 8390 3456 or email ruth.russell@chariot.net.au
* In Sweden a 1325 group was formed from within various government departments, led by Foreign Affairs and including defense, police, emergency response, development/aid and others. In addition, an NGO Reference Group was formed. Each met separately and also came together to discuss the drafts which were generated by a consultant appointed by the Foreign Ministry.
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