An Australian detainment camp for asylum seekers on remote Christmas Island is being protested as the “new Guantánamo Bay.” A group of Sri Lankan “boat people” are now en route to the camp.
The government of New Zealand agreed to pay $140 million in compensation to eight Maori tribes for illegal land seizures and breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
Australia claimed a blow against a home-grown terrorist cell, with the sentencing of six Muslim men who reportedly were planning attacks in response to Australia’s military involvement in Iraq.
Seven Maori tribes signed New Zealand's largest-ever settlement on grievances over the loss of lands and fisheries during European settlement in the 19th century. Hundreds of Maori, some wearing traditional feather cloaks, gathered at Wellington to watch the agreement being… Read moreNew Zealand: Maori sign deal on land rights
Traditional Aboriginal land-users from Borroloola, near Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria, are demanding compensation for land taken by the expansion of Xstrata’s McArthur River zinc mine in the Northern Territory. A federal court June 13 rejected an appeal by traditional residents… Read moreAustralia: court rules for mineral cartel, against aboriginal rights
America’s own Tibet in the Pacific? From the New York Times, May 3, links added: Occupation of Palace Area Invigorates Native Hawaiian Movement HONOLULU — A Native Hawaiian independence group laid claim this week to the nation’s only royal palace… Read moreHawaiian kingdom reclaims Iolani Palace
New Zealand’s Maori Party harshly protested the Oct. 15 police raids on Maori activists in which 17 were arrested. “This action has violated the trust that has been developing between Maori and Pakeha and sets our race relations back 100… Read moreNew Zealand: Maoris protest “storm trooper” tactics
Elite police units raided properties across New Zealand Oct. 15, apparently seizing weapons in what the media are calling “anti-terrorist” sweeps targeting Maori activists. An armed roadblock was set up around the inland Maori settlement of Ruatoki on the North… Read moreNew Zealand: Maori activists arrested in “terrorist” sweeps
This gives new meaning to the phrase “Where you stand depends on where you sit.” No “global warming skeptics” in Tuvalu! From Reuters, Sept. 13: SEOUL — The tiny Pacific island state of Tuvalu on Thursday urged the rest of… Read moreTuvalu protests global warming
Aborigine community leaders in a remote Northern Territory town set to receive the first police and army troops under an Australian federal government’s plan to combat a reported wave of domestic and sexual abuse are questioning the need for “military… Read moreAustralia: military occupies aboriginal communities
Mamdouh Habib, a “rendition” victim and former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, is running for a state parliamentary seat in New South Wales, Australia. He was picked up in Pakistan in October 2001, transferred to Egypt where he was tortured, then… Read moreEx-Gitmo detainee runs for office in Australia
Bush’s declaration of a national monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is being hailed by world environmentalists, and certainly impresses by its sheer size—1,400 miles long and 100 miles wide. “To put this area in context, this national monument is… Read moreNew Hawaiian national monument: Bush’s strategic sacrifice
