Experiments with truth: 9/16/09

The Editors September 16, 2009

Ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s first official visit to the White House, a small team of climate activists rappelled from the US observation deck at Niagara Falls and dropped this vivid 70-foot banner against tar sands.

A strike by a citizens’ “pressure group” Monday partially paralyzed work in cities across Bangladesh and issued an ‘ultimatum’ to the government to roll back its decision to award contracts to foreign firms for oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal.

Staff at the University of Melbourne will hold a rally today during a “24 hour strike” action planned by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) to protest continued job cuts. Union members at 16 universities across Australia will launch similar actions at their schools.

Royal Dutch Shell has suspended production at its Canadian oil sands mine after 25 Greenpeace activists blockaded a massive dump truck and mining shovel on Tuesday to protest the impact of oil sands development.

Security forces in Madagascar fired tear gas on Friday to try to disperse hundreds of supporters of ousted President Marc Ravalomanana who had gathered for a rally in the capital of the Indian Ocean island.

Following a recent militant attack on government officials in Manipur, a state in India, local residents staged a sit-in protest at Kongba Bazaar in Imphal appealing for an immediate end to violence.

Protesters armed with banners saying, “Our Blades, Our People”, got in to Empress Dock in the UK, and attached themselves to cranes to stop wind turbine blades being loaded on to a ship. They were calling for the reinstatement of sacked Vestas workers and government intervention to protect wind-power jobs. Four were arrested.

Around 7,000 Coptic Christians gathered at the Father Kyrillos church on the outskirts of Cairo to pray for an end to “discriminaton” during the celebration of the Egyptian Coptic New Year this weekend.

In Missouri, abortion opponents held a rally Monday to launch a 40-day campaign that will include prayer and fasting, a peaceful vigil and community outreach.

Tags: Australia, Blockades, Canada, Climate change, Experiments with Truth, Oceania and Pacific islands, Protests, Sit-ins, Strikes, United States

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