The Wire with Max

Justine Sachs is a co-founder of Dayenu, which is a group of young New Zealand Jews against the occupation of Palestine. Sachs is also one of the co-authors of the open letter to Lorde urging her not to perform in Tel Aviv. Following the cancellation of Lorde’s concert, some Israeli teenagers took the case to court hoping to seek damages. This week, Justine and Nadia Abu-Shanab (the other co-author) became aware that they had been ordered by an Israeli court to pay ‘compensation’ of more than $18,000 dollars. This lawsuit is possible after the passing of legislation in 2011 that allows individuals or companies impacted by the Boycott Divest and Sanction movement to sue for damages in Israeli courts. Instead of paying the fine, Nadia and Justine decided to create a fundraising campaign which would be donated to the Gaza Mental Health Foundation. A statement from the give a little page says, ‘The foundation will send donations in their entirety to organisations which are providing vital mental health support to the traumatised families of the Gaza Strip. Emotional distress is a lived reality for Palestinians in Gaza, where over half of children suffer PTSD as a result of Israeli military attacks.’ I got in touch with Justine to find out more and started by asking for some context around the letter to Lorde.

Just an update on that amount, I spoke with Justine yesterday and it is now up to $36,629.00. And if you want to check it out for yourself, just google Help Justine and Nadia raise money for mental health in Gaza

Last week, when we focused on cultural appropriation for Worry Week, Mary-Margaret wanted to look into the modern uses of kava, and ask an expert about the monetisation of it and the problems that may arise from that. Daniel Hernandez is an anthropology lecturer here at Auckland uni, and a lot of his research has centred around kava. He started by telling Mary-Margaret about the history of the plant.

Nicky Hager has exposed allegations of sexual assault, war crimes in Afghanistan and a homophobic culture within the New Zealand Defence Force. Ben speaks to Organise Aotearoa who are picketing at the Defence Force’s offices today. Olivia speaks to the Auckland Women’s Centre’s Leonie Morris about their forum on Mana Wahine last week. In international news, Justin takes us to South Korea where a former president has just been jailed for accepting bribes from large companies including Samsung. Mary-Margaret speaks to an Auckland University anthropology lecturer about kava, and its place in the modern Pacific world. And finally, for the Green Desk this week, we have a chat with Auckland Council's Chief Sustainability Officer about the city’s Climate Action Plan.

Former South Korean president Lee Myung Bak has been jailed for 15 years for receiving bribes from some of the country’s (and the world’s) largest companies, including Samsung.  Justin looks into what role these companies play in South Korea and the relations they have with the administration.