It’s true, I struggle to be part of this world. It’s mostly a result of my inability to understand a rampant disconnection amongst people in this modern society. But today, through an unexpected interaction, I saw there are people who have not yet lost their soul.
It was in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, that the thing happened which lightened my heart. A middle aged, dark-skinned, woman approached me Continue reading
Buying your way into the spiritual world
I have known and lived with many types of spiritual seekers. Some have been religious like the family of Mormons I lived the simple life with in rural Victoria, others have claimed to exist on a higher plane and prefaced each sentence with “This may be out of your comprehension but…”. I have even known those who claimed to reach into the soul of the universe through illicit drugs like LSD, but recently I had the pleasure of experiencing another type of spiritual quest. An eye-opening exposure to upper class spiritualism.
This type of higher search has become more prevalent in Australian society as those holding sufficient funds leave the trappings of day to day survival behind begin to quest for a connection with ‘energy’, ‘love’ and ‘vibrations’. Although I have known about this particular group of people for a long time, this was my first experience in close contact. It seems to be a path driven through mystic ornaments, hip buzzwords, and boxed DVD sets of rock star style gurus.
This is the realm where Continue reading
A group of protestors who have been chased from park to park over the past week will today hold an emergency meeting to discuss whether the occupation of Brisbane should end.
The meeting was organised after a number of ‘campers’ last night decided to move from Musgrave Park to Orleigh Park in West End.
Occupy Brisbane coordinator, Kate Hasket, will be attending today’s meeting. She said supporters who were camping at the protest sites would make the decision amongst themselves.
“There was a group decision late [Thursday was] to hold a GA at 12pm [Friday] to make some decisions for the people who are actually camping right now about whether they stay or disembark,” she said.*
Occupation coordinator, Paul Seils, said the movement needed Continue reading
-By John Corlett
Battle weary Occupy Brisbane protesters will tomorrow hold a workshop in an attempt forge clear goals and refocus the movement.
The meeting comes after the group endured a series of Police enforced evictions across the city, the first from Post Office Square last Wednesday morning. Since then the group has been plagued with internal conflict and pressure from the authorities to leave the CBD.
Occupy Brisbane Coordinator, Kate Hasket, said the meeting was designed to create a framework to help unite the movement under a common goal.
“We just need to have a broader structure…there’s nothing that unites us a group,” she said.
Fellow Coordinator Paul Seils agreed. He said once a structure has been defined, other groups will be able to find their place to support the movement.
“We can then invite in unions, other organisations, and other groups to talk,” he said.
But for some, starting to build a framework nearly one month into Continue reading
Inner group division and calls of political hijacking sees the Occupy Brisbane movement struggling to find a home amongst the inner city high rises.
The Brisbane arm of the world wide movement had camped at an inner park for almost three weeks but was yesterday evicted as part of a city council order. The Premier, Anna Bligh, has since offered a slice of parkland on the outskirts of the CDB as a safe haven for the group. The almost one hundred strong group last night fiercely debated the offer and at one point appeared to reach a decision, but the position of the group became unclear as members revisited the topic several times during the course of the meeting.
Occupy Brisbane Coordinator, Kate Haskett, said the group must discuss the finer details of Ms Blighs offer before any decision can be made. She said now was not the time to debate the issue as the group has worked long hours over the past fortnight and many were Continue reading
The Occupy Brisbane Rally was served a council order to leave it’s Post Office Square site this morning.
Police were on site to enforce the order, and although most of the protesting group decided to pack up and leave peacefully, some staged a sit in to protect the makeshift camp.
At about 7am Police removed the remaining protestors by force and the area was cordoned off to the general public.
The absence of violence at the Occupy Brisbane protest has attracted supporters from other interstate sites and a strong following from the indigenous population.
With violence across many other Occupy sites around the world, the movement as a whole may have much to learn from Brisbane’s attitude towards Police and local authorities.
With many different political groups now joining the Occupy Brisbane protest there is some tension over the direction the movement should take.
Some want to use extreme activist methods to get their point across, others are turning to more subtle methods of spreading the word…
Brisbane activists today held a rally in Brisbane’s Post Office Square as part of a week long, world-wide movement to hold sit-in protests in cities around the world.Today’s special rally was held in support of the Melbourne occupy movement which was evicted by Police earlier in the week.The sit-in in Brisbane’s CBD and other cities around the world continues.
Same-sex rights have become a big political issue lately with the Federal Government opposing changes to laws allowing homosexual couples to take formal marriage vowels.
It seems this debate is as much about the use of the word marriage as equal rights. Gay and lesbian groups think everyone should have access to the traditionally religious ceremony but some people think it should be reserved for the heterosexual only.
Sharon Dane and Glenys Quinlan are on opposite sides of on the same-sex marriage debate. Ms Quinlan is from the Australian Christian Lobby group. She says changing the meaning of marriage from a union between a man and a woman would destroy a tradition which forms the fabric of society. But Ms Dane, a same-sex couples researcher at the University of Queensland, says to exclude one group from marriage is a form of discrimination.
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