Musings of an Inappropriate Woman
14/09/2009
» I'll be voting in Youth Decide - will you?
For those of us who don’t work in public policy, the real meat of politics - and I’m talking about the stuff beyond whether Malcolm Turnbull ought to be dumped as Liberal leader, or whether Barack Obama is supercool or super-overrated - can be embarassingly difficult to chew on… and climate change is no exception.
Which is why Youth Decide, brainchild of Anna Rose and Amanda McKenzie of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, is an example of the best kind of activism. It gives you a chance to vote on Australia’s emissions reductions, but it also provides you with a framework to understand the environmental and economic consequences if your vote were put into action. (Whether K-Rudd et al will do that is another question.)
Voting is open until Sunday 21 September, so make sure you head over to www.youthdecide.com.au - and make sure you pass the message on to your friends.
Link posted at 10:00
02/08/2009
“The most powerful protest we can make is love” - celebrant at the same-sex marriage rally in Sydney, yesterday.
Last year, when Californians voted to remove the right of same-sex couples to marry on the same day that Obama won the presidency of the United States, some of the Americans on Tumblr suggested that the generational divide in the electoral results meant that, in the end, California’s - and the many other US states that have voted likewise - actions would be in vain. “The future belongs to us,” I remember one writing.
I have little doubt that they are right, or that the same applies here in Australia, where a couple of thousand Sydneysiders marched for gay marriage yesterday. In time, and possibly a few changes of government, someone - probably the Labor party - will legalise gay marriage. They’ll do it incrementally - first rights, then civil unions - but they’ll get there eventually.
But is eventually good enough for such a fundamental civil right? The rally cry “gay, straight, black, white” is a good one, because it draws a parallel with a prejudice most people have now moved on from.
As for the ceremony itself? It was beautiful, with vows for both the demonstrators and the 80+ couples involved, and an explicit recognition of what a massive and at times difficult commitment marriage is. Marriage is as much about community recognition and support as it is about the couples involved, and the ceremony brought this to life. Speaking of how indigenous people were also once excluded from the instition on the grounds of their being too “infantile”, it was, said the celebrant, a mark of Sydney’s LGBT community “growing up” (although I don’t personally believe that marriage and maturity are one and the same).
In true blogger style, my friend Monica and I were pretty snap happy. Here are some of the people and placards we saw. More photos on Flickr.
Photo posted at 11:10
16/07/2009
Flashdancing: the new lipdub?
1500 young Australians danced outside the Sydney Opera House on Monday in support of renewable energy, as part of the PowerShift conference on climate change.
The resulting video? Seriously awesome.
Video posted at 11:05
14/07/2009
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 13: Young Australians dance during Australia’s first national youth summit on climate change on the steps of the Sydney Opera House on July 13, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC)organised for hundreds of young people to attend the three day conference to discuss action on climate change.
My friends organised this. Go Anna and Amanda! Woop!
Photo posted at 10:34
01/07/2009
Crikey, on Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard openly criticising Rupert Murdoch’s Courier-Mail and Daily Telegraph.
Quote posted at 14:13
16/06/2009
Photo posted at 13:24
