Focus a moment, nod in approval. Bury your heads in the bar codes of these neo-colonials.

Friday before last was one of the most full on days of activism I have had in a long while. It started with getting up at dawn and going to the airport to welcome politicians to our fine capital, then dashed to work to cobble together the letter below, printed out a whole bunch for people to sign, and headed to the legislative assembly for the protest actions shown below.

The first was to do with the same issue as above, ie, the killing of around 2000 kangaroos because they were 'overpopulated' (reads: in the way of development applications). As I type this this killing has concluded. The slow and painful death by myopathy of around double that number of at foot Joey's however, is sure to linger on for the next 3 months or so. If you have some spare time to search for these vulnerable babies lucky enough not to have their skulls crushed or decapitated (as is standard Australian code of practice), please contact Animal Liberation manager Bernie : 0427 777 044 or by email veganavenger@yahoo.com.au

Please feel free to copy the letter below or to write your own and email it to our first female Prime Minister. This unnecessary killing of our wildlife will continue, year after year, unless we demand a better alternative (of which there are several-albeit slightly more expensive).

The second protest action, organised by Workers Solidarity Canberra, aimed to support and spread awareness about the bus driver strike action on the same day, as part of a wider industrial campaign for a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement that doesn't reduce hard-won pay and conditions. The detrimental changes to drivers working condition include compulsory weekend shifts without penalty rates.

To me, the right to withhold your labour is fundamental to living in a free society, and more importantly, is the most effective means to bring about positive social change with non-violence. If you've never heard the phrase 'labour is entitled to all it creates', type it into google and see what you find. This protest to me represented the tip of the huge ugly iceberg that is our society, and how it functions on a fundamental level to create classes of elites and the exploited.

If you'd like to know more about Workers Solidarity Canberra, email them at : wsncampaigns@gmail.com

While your at it, feel free to email ACTION management and let them know you support their workers, not their profit margins:
action@act.gov.au

Thanks to everyone who came to both protests, especially to Jo and Ben for doing such a great job of organisation. Big thanks also to the Phoenix bar, for the complementary 'bartenders breakfast', it was delicious. It was great change to be marching and yelling about something non-animal related for a change, especially in such good company.

Peace, love and solidarity.

-bikerjoe.

Dear Julia,

I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations in succeeding Kevin Rudd to become the first female Prime Minister of Australia. What a historic day for women and what an historic day for this country. I’m thrilled by my anticipation of the positive change you will affect in the governance of this nation in the coming weeks and months ahead.

As part of your arduous journey to be the first female leader of this country, I know that you have experienced your fair share of discrimination and marginalisation. It is for this reason that I write to you in the hopes that you may be able to intervene in a terrible act of discrimination and violence that is happening right now, mere minutes away from capital hill. I refer to the cull of 2000 kangaroos being performed by the ACT government at the moment, which will unequivocally cause and the slow and painful death of an equivalent number of at foot Joeys. Still dependant on their mothers for survival, it is inevitable that these vulnerable animals will flee in terror when they are shot, to die either by starvation, dehydration or predation.

Julia, like racism, sexism, heterosexism, albeism and other forms of discrimination, speciesism is a form of violence. We would never allow such an intolerably cruel death to be delivered to other human beings or even to other species of non-human animals that we feel more empathy for, such as cats and dogs. Problems of overpopulation are a direct result of the city of Canberra’s rapid expansion over the previous years, restricting nature corridors and artificially captivating these animals, which have lived in harmony with the Australian landscape for thousands of years. It is our fault that their populations have reached unsustainable levels, and we owe them a better solution than culling them and leaving their babies to starve.

I have not cared to address the ACT Chief Minister with these concerns, as John Stanhope has made his position clear in previous years. Culling is the most convenient and cheapest policy available, and he is determined to continue following it. Julia, a large group of compassionate citizens within Canberra are being ignored and marginalised just as surely as its wildlife is. Please speak out against this injustice as one of your first actions as the new Prime Minister, and congratulations once again.

Yours sincerely,

YOUR NAME

YOUR ADDRESS.