Hey hey all.
While it seems the first half of my visit to Australia consisted mainly of toiling happily at work and exercising my travelling urges, my last few months have been nothing if not packed with outings of social justice.
As most may still remember, I'm still working for PO, trying to save the world and myself at the same time, and my job offers me, (if not demands) lots of opportunities to get up and chip away at whatever cause I seem fit. From Sydney and APEC, all the way to climate change and bay dredging, my activist plate has been super full lately. So it seemed fitting after our delightful encounter with full-blown racism in the Northern Territory to head east for the Convergence on Canberra, which happened last week.
The Australian Goverment had finally agreed to apologize for decades of forced removal of Aboriginal children from their parents under a program designed to "breed out" the "Aboriginal Problem". After the tumultuous and wonderful downfall of John Howard during our time here, (coincedence? I think not) Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has already outdone his predecesor by signing Kyoto and delcaring his intent to apologize to the Stolen Generation as his first act of parliament, Wednesday the 13th.
We, as well as thousands of others, hitched, bused and flew into Canberra to camp at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy at the foot of the old Parlaimentary building. Canberra, the "Land of a Thousand Tears", is the most anti-human city you will ever see. Designed totally from scratch, and sprung from the mind of an architect who must have foreseen the eventual overthrow of automobiles over man, the city is composed of endless roads, buffered by indistinguishable squares of well-cut grass, leading indecipherably into another circle of pavement, parking lots, and government buildings. I would not recommend buying property in this town.
The Parliament of Australia. Homey!
Anyways, my lovely and slightly famous tent Bumble Bee Tuna got to camp in front of government buildings, which is nice, and I spent my weekend doing what frankly, has become my normal day-off routine...
Weeeeee!
Anyways, a really intense week, an incredible learning experience, and a whole wonderful group of new people to meet up with across the world.
Only two weeks until Bolivia! Que? You ask?
I know, I know, I'll explain later.
Adios!
Nick
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