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Welcome to the Graham F Smith Peace Trust E-newsletter. In this Issue
In Other News Graham F Smith Peace Trust now has corporate membership available. We have a range of corporate membership packages including Gold, Silver and Bronze. We also work with organisations to fulfil their corporate responsibility requirements. If you would like more information please email: info@peacetrust.org Pass it on Know anyone who might be interested in our newsletter? Click here to forward this email to up to 5 friends at once. |
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Julia Spence, Editor Welcome to the second edition of our seasonal e-newsletter. This edition is jam packed full of interesting and informative articles. This edition includes an autobiographical artist profile of Elliston-based artist Siv Grava. Phil Endersby has given us a very interesting article about the “Hiatus of History”. Chris Field, a Union representative and Graham F Smith Trust committee member, has written an article titled “Union Rights Are Human Rights”. Lindy Neilson has provided a valuable update on projects that the trust is supporting, including ActNow; Theatre Group for Social Change, who performed at the annual dinner. Thank you to all our members and supporters for attending our annual dinner (or wishing to). Have a look below for a critique by Rosemary Thompson. I hope you all enjoy, and please forward to anyone whom you think may be interested in the Graham F Smith Peace Trust. The Adelaide Stop the War Fair Coalition are today celebrating victory after the cancellation of the Asia-Pacific Defence and Security Exhibition – one of the world’s biggest arms fairs. The event was to open in Adelaide on Remembrance Day this November. An Adelaide peace group known as the “Stop the War Fair Coalition”, along with other peace organisations from around the country were planning large peaceful protests at the event. Jake Wishart, spokesperson for the Stop the War Coalition, welcomed the cancellation as a reflection of community opposition to the event. “This is a huge victory for all South Australians who want peace, not war,” he says. “On Remembrance day, when we remember the horrors and tragedy of war, the State Government was planning a three day event to buy and sell violent weapons,” he said. “Profiting from the sale of violent weapons like cluster bombs, land mines and machine guns is bad enough, but to do so on November 11th is an insult to the memory of those who have fallen in war,” said Mr Wishart. “The State Labor Government should be investing in climate change initiatives and properly funding essential public services like education and healthcare. Instead, it’s spending millions on promoting the manufacture of deadly weapons.” Despite Stop the War Fair’s explicit commitment to peaceful, non-violent protests, acting Premier Kevin Foley lashed out, attacking peace activists as “feral low-life people that want society to be in a state of anarchy.” “Kevin Foley’s spin, which painted peaceful activists as ‘violent’ protesters was a manufactured excuse for cancelling what would ultimately have been an embarrassing event for the government.” “It is ironic that the government has accused peace activists of violence while supporting the international arms industry. Arms merchants and their political patrons like Mr. Foley and Mr. Rann are far more dangerous to civil society than peace groups like us.” For comment or more info please contact: Jake Wishart on 0409 696 721 
“A surprisingly pleasant evening”, was the way one first time attendee was heard describing the evening at evening’s close. Peace Trust Dinners are always “surprisingly pleasant” affairs. Newcomers are always welcomed warmly and regulars are greeted as old friends. The food has been very good the past two years, thanks to the kitchen and chef at The Italian Centre in Carrington Street. David Noonan, from the Australian Conservation Foundation, spoke about uranium mining and nuclear power. He pointed out the fallacy of seeing nuclear energy as a solution to either the problems of global warming or the cost of coal-fired energy. If the Australian Government was to start building a nuclear power station today, it would still be well into the future before it came on line. By then costs for nuclear energy, as well as coal-fired energy, could be much higher. David convincingly presented the wisdom of pursuing alternative energy sources. While applauding the present federal government for cancelling the uranium contract with India, David said that the federal government must do more. It must seek to stop all uranium mining through out the country. There would be severe short term consequences, but with global warming and diminishing natural resources, research and development of alternative fuel and energy supplies is imperative. At best uranium could only be a ‘stop-gap’ measure. The Silent Art Auction was again a great success, and is gathering a growing number of artists prepared to provide works for sale. The variety, and standard, of the works on sale has been amazing. The Peace Trust appreciates greatly the generosity of the artists who have allowed their work to be part of the Auction. Not only the Silent Art Auction, but the other fundraising activities…the Silent Auction and the Raffle were also testimony to the generosity of our supporters and benefactors. The Peace Trust thanks them most sincerely. Deb Tribe from ABC 891 was the M.C. for the evening, and she cajoled, charmed and directed folk towards the Art Auction. (Deb was one of the people who bought a painting too big for her car. But I gather now she finally has it home, it looks great!) 2009 will be the 20th Anniversary of the Graham F. Smith Peace Trust. We ask that all our supporters join us in making June 27th, 2009 an Anniversary to remember. See you at the Italian Centre! 
Siv Grava, Artist I have lived in the remote areas of the state for 20 years: - first north of Hawker, then Marree, Andamooka and now Elliston. I escaped Melbourne in the late eighties where I had trained in painting at the Victorian College of the Arts (1979-81) after a false start of studying medicine for a number of years. I have been a full-time artist for 25 years, dividing my time between my studio- based arts practice, painting and community cultural development work- mainly murals and adult teaching. With the community work I have travelled to isolated and wonderful parts of the country and been privileged to work with all sorts of people from the multicultural community of the Melbourne markets, to distant indigenous townships. I first became aware of the Graham F. Smith Peace Trust when my partner John Turpie and I, were asked to be the artists for the Baxter Detention Project developed by the Fringe. We had an excellent experience working with the detainees over three months. We became very aware of the negative role that the media had played in almost demonising the detainees to the Australian public. Since then I have been very impressed with the work of the Peace Trust. A few years later when we were running the Sculpture on the Cliffs festival here in Elliston. I really needed to find a small grant that would enable the school children to work with Port Lincoln indigenous artists. This was to further the festivals underlying goal of reconciliation. So I turned to the Trust and was successful in receiving the $950 that we needed. So yet again a great interaction with the Trust. That is why I intend to continue sending paintings when I can for its fundraising. Over the years my arts practise has gradually changed - moving emphasis from the community projects further towards my studio practise. I generally wake in the morning and begin painting in the morning around 10, finishing for the day around 5 in the afternoon. I am constantly shipping paintings off around the country. I am represented by Art Images, Norwood and Anne Harari Art, Melbourne. I have won a number of awards over time, including the National Doug Moran Portrait Prize 1992 and a two year Fellowship from the Australia Council for the Arts in 2004. My partner John is presently sailing in the South Pacific with another Elliston artist, Dave Beaty. Next week I fly to meet them in Port Vila, Vanuatu with noted rose artist, Jacqueline Coates for a few weeks. We all intend to make art about the trip and have joint exhibition at her Kapunda gallery early next year. So I am very excited - my life seems very good at the moment. 
Lindy Neilson, Peace Trust Grants Co-ordinator ActNow Theatre for Social Change, an emerging young people’s political theatre company, based in Adelaide. ActNow aims to ‘empower young people to use theatre as a tool for social change…’ Peace Trust funding will support the development of two street theatre performances. Mallacoota Strum Inc to commission Padma Newsome, to compose a ‘peace’ piece for Making Music Together for Peace as part of the East Gippsland Community Peace Project, 2008. This weekend community music festival will be held in Mallacoota, 26-28th September 2008 and will include choral, improvisation, instrumental and song writing workshops with a focus on reconciliation, peace and care for the environment. Padma Newsome is an ex- Adelaide resident and a current Commissioning and Residency award recipient from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University. The Trust received applications from all over Australia this year. We were impressed by the breadth of ideas for arts projects and the diverse ways individuals and communities are Working for Peace through the Arts. We regret that we are unable to support more projects. Funding for 2008 has now been allocated. We will be calling for applications for 2009 early in the New Year. Phillip Endersby On the other hand, while the current historical hiatus requires political intervention, to plug the gap one fears ongoing political intervention in an area that can quickly become propaganda. History as a form of national affirmation can be rather dangerous. The other worry is that the political shelf life of the issue is not long enough to outlive the mass of curriculum bureaucrats who are opposed to the Deputy Prime Minister’s view, or who have no knowledge of or interest in history. There are precious few specialist history teachers left, and the general level of historical knowledge amongst teachers is fairly slight. There has been a steady decline in the study of history generally and the level of historical knowledge. It would also be true to say that education has gradually fallen into the hands of people with such a minimal knowledge of history themselves that they have little comprehension of the need for it. In particular there are remarkably few people in responsible positions in South Australian education who betray a significant knowledge of the history of this community, of its foundations and distinct ethos. I’ve never liked the usual question that’s used to demonstrate Australia’s lack of historical knowledge about itself, to wit, ‘Who was Australia’s first Prime Minister?’ Yes, most people might not be able to answer it, but it would be more telling to ask the people who pose the question what his political nick-name was to see if they have some idea as to why he has been almost forgotten by history. Instead, I’ve composed a short test that an educated South Australian ought to be able to answer. The italics suggest why it is important to know these things. 1. Name three of the Aboriginal groups associated with SA’s geographic territory? This should be pretty basic knowledge. The only issue should be the variety of spellings of some of the names. 2. The ideas of which British philosopher influenced the planning of the colony of South Australia? The kind of utilitarian liberal idealism that led to the formation of the colony of SA has had an impact on the social, economic and political life of the place ever since.
4. What was the principal concern expressed in the Proclamation of SA in 1836, taking up two of the three paragraphs? Given the time, trouble and expense involved in celebrating Proclamation Day, surely we should know something about what they were proclaiming.
6. Name three key people or organizations involved in the women’s suffrage movement in SA? Important developments don’t just happen. They occur in a context, and there are groups and individuals that are involved in the process.
8. Compared to the other Australian colonies in the nineteenth century, what was one of the religious groups disproportionately represented in SA? We have enjoyed religious freedom and equality, and religious toleration for longer than most parts of the world. In a world that is still torn by religious divisions and bigotry it might be wise to have some idea of why we are so lucky.
10. What is one feature of the federal constitution required by SA? Score a bonus mark if you can identify one issue that it failed to have included. The nature of a federation and the compromises it necessarily involves should be better understood by us all. Note that none of the questions involves dates for an answer. However, if one cannot give a reasonable answer to most of the questions it would raise serious questions about one’s understanding of the social and political makeup of South Australia. It is only partly in jest that one wonders how well the state cabinet and shadow cabinet might fare in such a test, or senior bureaucrats in education. The part that is not in jest wonders how well equipped some of these people might be to run the state and/or its education system. Human beings in advanced capitalist societies like Australia spend a large part of their adult lives in a workplace. Within most workplaces there is a division of labour and a power relationship between owners/managers and employees. Sometimes this relationship is disguised by those who perform the work assuming a status other than employee, such as subcontractor or franchisee. It is the unequal power relationship between employers as a class and employees/workers as a class that gives rise to the formation of unions and union rights. At its most basic definition, a union forms when a group of employees or workers combine together to protect or advance their rights or conditions of work. In 1998, the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The Declaration is an expression of commitment by governments, employers’ and workers’ organisations to uphold basic human values. It set out the following core or fundamental labour standards. 1. Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining and right to organise. 3. Abolition of child labour 4. Elimination of discrimination in the workplace. These fundamental labour standards are “union rights” and reflect values of dignity, respect, equality. These values are also the values underpinning the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Collective rights of unions within the ILO Declaration support the human rights of each individual worker and ensure that all workers are treated with dignity. The extent to which both individual human rights and collective rights of workers are consistently able to be exercised varies from society to society. In Australia in the 2007 federal election, there was a change in government. Most trade unions believe that the issue of “rights at work” was a major factor in determining the outcome of the election. It remains to be seen whether “rights at work” and consequently “human rights” are significantly advanced under the new government.” UN International Day of Peace - Sunday 21st, September, 2008 The Peace Trust & The Psychologists for Peace invite members, their families and other organisations, which work for peace and justice to commemorate the United Nations International Day of Peace on Sunday 21 September from 3 pm to 5.30pm at 213 Gover Street, North Adelaide . This commemoration is held annually. The UN International Day was established in 1981 by a resolution of the UN General Assembly. The resolution recalled that the promotion of peace, both at international and national levels, is among the main purposes of the United Nations. In 2001, the resolution was strengthened by fixing the date annually on 21 September and for it to be a day of non violence and cease fire. We believe it is particularly important in these critical times throughout the world to come together and affirm our continued commitment to work for a peaceful world and to demonstrate solidarity, one organisation with another. Do come and join us to meet, talk, eat, drink, and share our successes and our hopes and aims for the future on this International Day of Peace. Search Foundation - Round Table Discussion The Search Foundation will hold a Round Table discussion in Adelaide in coming weeks to explore the topic of green jobs and the transition to a sustainable economy. It will be an opportunity to hear some of the latest research and bright ideas on this important area of policy. Speakers will include thinkers engaged with the environment and union movements. |
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