ESP Community

After a lovely Easter break ESP@Wordpress is back! And man have we got a lot to fill everyone in on!

At our last meeting we had two brilliant speakers who acquitted themselves fantastically; through speeches both eloquent and enthusiastic we were first intrigued and then impassioned about their topics of choice. Speaking to us first was Stephanie Woollard who spoke about Seven Woman. Which is a fantastic organisation active in Nepal; it has had (and continues to have) great success in its goal of helping disabled women achieve stability and respect through work. Seven Women has a stall at La Trobe’s Bundoora campus every Wednesday if you wanna check it out; or you can checkout their site.

After Stephanie Woolard was finished we were happy to welcome the Director and co-founder of MoveGreen, Katherine Hall. Katherine Hall spoke to us about MoveGreen (a youth environmental organisation based in the Kyrgyz Republic). She gave a great speech about the past activities of MoveGreen and from her plans for down the line it would seem environmentalism in the Kyrgyz Republic has a good future.

For this Thursday the 19th of April we will be hosting former La Trobe student Ben Lakos who will be talking to us about his work as the International Programs Officer at Anglicord and his experiences in East Timor. We’ll also be organising Congo For Conga! Which is so important it is going to get its own post. It’s good to be back; hope to see you Thursday! =)

Peace

Today Dr Neville White will be coming to speak with ESP during our weekly meeting. Neville White is a distinguished biological anthropologist and Emeritus Scholar here at La Trobe University so this is quite an opportunity for us. Dr White will be talking about his ongoing work with the Aboriginal community of Donydij in Arnhem Land as well as possible ways for students to be involved. In 2009 a number of students from ESP accompanied Neville on a trip to the community. As usual we will be in SS 423 from 4-6pm on Thursday; hope to see you there =)

Peace

Wednesday the 21st of March was World Harmony day! For the World Harmony day 8 members of ESP went to the Broadmeadows detention centre; Mita. It was a really great experience; we’re all set on putting time aside in the future to going again. Hopefully we’ll get to go Wdensday and Thursday this week. During our visit we got to meet and talk with many inmates of the detention centre, we ate dinner with them and played netball, backgammon and cards. After dinner we played a bit of pool and even danced a little bit. It was great getting to meet these incredible guys and being given the chance to hear their stories. More updates to come later this week!

Peace

This issue is so important/cool it gets its own update!

This year the Students of Sustainability Conference is going to be held at La Trobe University Bendigo Campus! This is a fantastic opportunity for La Trobe Students and for La Trobe! This conference is a great way for La Trobe to maintain its reputation as an environmentally friendly socially aware university with an active student body. The Students of Sustainability Conference is held every year and is a showcase of Australia’s brightest(renewable energy certified) minds all working together to push the boundaries of environmentalism. Students of Sustainability is a five day camping conference which provides fantastic opportunities for anyone interested in creating a more ecologically and socially sustainable world. There will be a workshops, skillshares and forums on a range of topics, demonstrating how theory and practice can be used to make positive social and environmental change. It is completely organised by university students and is a chance to network across universities and to really establish the legitamcy of community, people based initiatives in the eyes of our educational institutions. So come along! Network! Meet people with the same interests as you! And if you really want to help then hit up their site and find out more info about how you can help!

Peace

So it is the 20th of March and our bakesale and annual general meeting have both taken place! Our bakesale went well; we managed to raise a bit of money but more importantly we got to hang out, have some fun and chat with a wide range of people about ESP. Good to see so much enthusiasm for environmentalism and social justice in the wider community at La Trobe!

 Our annual general meeting went off without a hitch. In addition there are a lot of new members this year! Our goals for the meeting were the following:

1. Nominations and elections for 2012 executive positions
2. Assign tasks for managing various forms of ESP media/social networking
3. Decide who will function as the bank account holders
4. Appoint a delegate for the clubs and societies meetings
5. Discuss the present and future grants and complete the required forms to apply for them
6. Have fun!

We got it all done. =)

 This week we’ve organized a visit to the Broadmeadows detention center to talk with the inmates there for World Harmony Day in a show of solidarity and support (this will be an event recuring, hopefully, every Wednesday). If you’re interested in getting involved come along to our weekly meeting this Thursday (22nd of March) and sign up (or just come along to hang out and chat)! At our weekly meeting this Thursday we’re having some great people who have been really involved in activist work coming to chat about their experiences; you’re welcome to come and it is totally free (of course!).

Peace

2012 is well underway and so are the activities of ESP; it’s time this site caught up with them! You’ll notice the large gap between this post and the last one; ESP has continued working hard on its awareness raising and volunteer work in the name of equality, sustainability and peace. So hard in fact that updating a blog in pace with such frenetic activity became rather difficult. But with the large influx of support that ESP has been seeing this year we’ll be able to continue actively promoting peaceful, environmentally-friendly activities and blog about it in tandem.

Over the upcoming year this blog will be updating more frequently than it has in the past; it will hopefully help people stay aware of ESP activities in which they might be interested but it will also serve to broadcast the idea that people focused, community based movements can make a difference (and so can social media!). So in that spirit some of the things we’re doing this week include;

This Wednesday (14th of March) ESP will be hosting a bakesale in and a fairtrade chai stand as a way of raising awareness; it is also a great opportunity to hang out and chat! If you’re interested about finding out more about ESP and its initiatives (and you also like nice food) then feel free to stop by the Agora at La Trobe Bundoora between 11:00 and 14:30 and hang out!

On Thursday (15th of March) ESP will be hosting its annual general meeting. This will be at the usual time and place, 16:00 room SS423, of our weekly meetings. If you are curious and would like to come along then feel free; all our meetings are informal and open to all (the equality part of ESP in action!).

This year is looking to be a busy year for ESP; a big year in development and people based movements generally with lots of exciting stuff being worked on by ESP especially. Of special importance is the Students of Sustainability conference taking place this year at La Trobe Bendigo campus; but that deserves a detailed post in its own right. So watch this space because there is going to be a lot of information up in the following weeks as this blog kicks into gear!

Peace

1pm-2pm Thursday 13th of May 2010 at La Trobe University Agora Cinema

Brian Walters is a Melbourne Barrister who has been involved in a number of human rights and environmental cases and campaigns.  A founding member of the Greens Party in Victoria in 1992, he is standing as the Greens candidate for the state seat of Melbourne in the upcoming 2010 Victorian state election.

A captivating public speaker, he is coming to La Trobe to talk about the up and coming 2010 election and the future of the political green movement in Australia.

4pm-7pm Monday 10th of May 2010 at La Trobe University Room SS423

Many activists use nonviolent tactics but don’t achieve the full value of the action because it’s not connected to a strategy, or to a richer understanding of how nonviolent action works.

People turn to tactics of nonviolent struggle when other channels of social change seem blocked: when the electoral arena seems inadequate, lobbying and the courts hold little promise. Across the world there is growing alienation from the conventional institutions of change, and yet change is needed. Cliamte change action is an example of when change is clearly needed but our governments and corporations are unwilling to change. This is precisely the situation when, historically, mass movements have turned to nonviolent struggle. The question is: will we learn the hard-won lessons from people’s movements or try to re-invent the wheel every time?

This Non-Violent Direct Action training run by long time non-violence trainer is kicking off this years Environment and Social Justice Week at La Trobe University. Even if you do not see yourself being and non-violent activist it is worth coming along to understand the principles of non-violence and the ideas behind creating more peaceful communities.