The Bloodwood Tree

Millennium Development Goals  

 Nelson Mandela on the Milennium Development Goals

Bono speaks on the Millennium Development Goals during the World Economic Forum

Poverty

 Mother Theresa speaks on Jesus’ “distressing disguise”

 

Fair Trade

Short clips by Oxfam giving an overview of what can be unfair about free trade

Fair Trade vs. Free Trade. A short documentary

Speaking up for Human Rights

Martin Luther King Jr. - USA

Martin Luther King’s final speech

 

Tiananmen square - China

From mid April to June 1994, Chinese students met for mass protests against the authoritarian practices of the Communist Chinese Government. In Beijing, the Government cracked down on the protesters with their military, resulting in the deaths of up to 3,000 students (Chinese Red Cross). The actions of the lone protestor shown in the video brought the events into international attention.

Amy Goodman, Alan Nairn and Max Stahl, Santa Cruz Massacre - East Timor

In October 1991, two American journalists Goodman & Nairn traveled to East Timor with their cameraman Max Stahl (then part of Indonesia) with the intention of filming the funeral of independence activist Sebastião Gomes who had been executed by the Indonesian military for advocating separatism. During the funeral, 200 soldiers of the Indonesian Army attacked the crowd and Stahl was able to capture the footage below. Goodman & Nairn attempted to act as a human shield between the military and the Timorese, but they were beaten and Nairn’s skull was fractured. At least 250 East Timorese were killed in the massacre, however the three Americans survived and managed to hide the video in the cemetary. Suspecting the Australian Government of supporting Indonesia, they smuggled the video out of the country with a Dutch journalist to avoid Australian customs; as it was they were strip-searched at Darwin airport. When the footage was finally aired on UK television, it caused international outrage and massive support for East Timor’s claim for independence. This was finally achieved in 1999. In 2007 Australia finalised a treaty with Indonesia stating that it would not support any other separatist activity.

 

Reverend Socratez Yoman - West Papua (Indonesia)

Reverend Yoman is a Baptist pastor in West Papua who, along with many others has regularly put his life at risk by exposing the brutality of the Indonesian Police and Military in West Papua. World News Australia (SBS) relayed his story in 2007 (below); since this time Reverend Yoman has been threatened at gunpoint in front of his church, and various church and community leaders have been threatened and terrorised or had members of their family kidnapped and tortured. The boldness of these people and their efforts to relay the message to the outside world through Indonesia’s wall of silence is beginning to draw world attention to the plight of their people.

Lluis Llach - Catalonia (Spain)

Lluis Llach is a musician/composer from Catalonia in northern Spain. During the time of Franco (up to 1975), Lluis Llach was one of a group of musicians called the “Nova cançó” that peacefully protested the authoritarian regime by writing and performing songs in the outlawed language Catalan.

Franco and the Nationalist Party maintained control of Spain with force. Although his right-wing stance led to actions such as criminalising paedophilia, it also resulted in unofficial support of Hitler during WWII, the annulment of any marriages not recognised by the Catholic Church, banning of certain cultural traditions and languages, and the use of the military to enforce these laws. This period was an example of the way some confuse “Christian” ideas with their own personal agendas. While Franco intended to support the Catholic Church, his use of cruelty and his authoritarian approach to matters which had nothing to do with right and wrong have left the legacy that many will now associate Christianity with brutal control. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “the end is inherent in the means”. Violence and injustice cannot achieve anything that serves the God of Love.

During the time of Franco, Lluis Llach was an inspiration to many with songs such as his anthem “L’estaca” (the stake) which indirectly describes Franco’s regime as a rotten stake which his nation was tethered to. Individually no one could break free, but if everyone pulled together it would soon fall. By boldly defying the injustice of the rule without breaking any moral law, Lluis Llach was able to contrast beauty with cruelty and expose it for what it was.

Si estirem tots ella caura                          If we all pull it, it will fall
i molt de temps no pot durar,                 and it can’t last much time,
segur que tomba, tomba, tomba,            surely it falls, falls, falls,
ben corcada deu ser ja.                             it must be worm-eaten by now.
Si jo l’estiro fort per aqu¡,                         If I pull hard towards here,
i tu l’estires fort per all,                            and you pull it towards there,
segur que tomba, tomba, tomba,            I’m sure it falls, falls, falls,
i ens podrem alliberar!                             and we’ll be able to be free!

L’estaca

Campanades a Morts