Anarchist and Christian traditions have often shared a commitment to non-domination, creative cooperation and the equality of all people. Not often has either movement been associated with the other - but anarchist principles can easily identified throughout the Bible story and Church history. Last year a group of people from the ANZAC countries met in New Zealand to explore Christian Anarchism in our context and this year they’re meeting again - and it’s an open meeting! The annual conference of the South Pacific Christian Anarchists (SPCA) will be held in Brisbane, 22-24 June, 2007.
Sessions (subject to some facilitators not being in jail) are likely to include:
Indigenous expressions of anarchy and faith in Aotearoa: Graham Cameron, Urban Vision, NZ
Why anarchists can’t be missionaries: Manu Caddie, Pacific Centre for Participatory Democracy, NZ
Peacemaking at Pine Gap: Jim Dowling and Donna Mulhearn, Christians Against ALL Terrorism, Pine Gap
Christianarchy - Being the Change you want to see in the world: Dave Andrews, Waiters Union, Brisbane
Power With, Power From Within, and Power Over: Jason Macleod, Non-violence activist and trainer, Brisbane
Nebuchadnezzar, (Derek Barry) a resident of Wooloowin in Brisbane, has posted some very helpful stories this week, with insightful comments on the passing of the Maori Queen, the newly launched blog of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Queensland going to the polls, and the proposed legislation on assylum seekers hoping to enter Australia.
Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu died on Tuesday at the age of 75, after a reign of more than 40 years. Dame Te Ata was the longest serving head of the Kingitanga movement - the royal line, which started almost 150 years ago in an effort to stem the loss of native lands to the flood of white settlers arriving in New Zealand. I’m sure it was only a couple of weeks ago I was reading about representatives of the Methodist Church of New Zealand attending celebrations of Dame Te Ata’s anniversary.
On Monday Al Jazeera announced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has started his own blog. Iranians found out about this after it was announced on state TV on Sunday and they urged members of the public to send the president written messages through the website. Nebuchadnezzar writes about the difficulty the average Iranian has when trying to publish a blog. Despite the roll-out of broadband, censorship is alive and well in Iran.
Walking past a memorial service in Surfers Paradise this morning reminded me that today is the 64th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea. On May 7 - 8, 1942, Japanese, USA and Australian aircraft carrier forces fought a battle in the waters southwest of the Solomon Islands and east of New Guinea. That battle has become a focus point for Australian-USA defense relationships.
The Japanese were attempting to capture Port Moresby, on the southeastern coast of New Guinea, close to North East Australia. The US Navy discovered the Japanese invasion plan and moved ships into the Coral Sea to take on the flotilla. Both sides lost ships in the ensuing battle. However the US/Australia force managed to prevent the invasion of Port Moresby and eliminated enough ships to make possible a victory in the later Battle of Midway, a month later.
My first interest in the Battle of the Coral Sea developed when I was working at Robina Uniting Church. We held a special service on the Sunday morning, inviting members of the veterans association and honouring the American-Australian connection. I was in charge of sourcing imagery for the service. While working in Cairns in 2004/5 I was living on Coral Sea coast. Northern Territory and North Queensland residents felt very vulnerable during World War II. Having lived there, so far away from the rest of Australia, I can understand the fear of being abandoned that still lingers there.
Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu died on Tuesday at the age of 75, after a reign of more than 40 years. Dame Te Ata was the longest serving head of the Kingitanga movement - the royal line, which started almost 150 years ago in an effort to stem the loss of native lands to the flood of white settlers arriving in New Zealand. I’m sure it was only a couple of weeks ago I was reading about representatives of the Methodist Church of New Zealand attending celebrations of Dame Te Ata’s anniversary.
