20th February 007: Peter Till,
a.k.a. Rock, the fellow who takes potted plants to court to
show how harmless they are, just got thirty days imprisonment.
Our hearts are with you Peter. Marc Emery admires your guts,
and says you're in the next Cannabis Culture magazine anyway,
due out mid March. Congrats. See you at MardiGrass!
A Call to Feet.
(or, "A Deadly Boring Serious Rave on Drug Law Reform")
The twenty first century is under way. Politicians indulge
in phoney “holy wars” based on mob morality. We'll
have no more trying to rise above destructive instincts any
more if this trend continues. The fear button gets pushed a
lot. In times like these it takes a leaf of faith to believe
that cannabis law reform is possible. We have had a barrage
of cannabis misinformation from the Australian Federal government
and their grumpy-old-man media lackeys, as they’ve worked
on the fear ducts of the general population, using the “drug
war” as part of a push for more federal power over the
states. It has seemed more of a cannabis war than a drug war.
When discriminatory laws are enacted by parliaments, the general
populace is encouraged to also discriminate. This is a sad thing
in a democracy, to see a minority “officially” discriminated
against, but as many fatherly voices have said in the past,
“the price of liberty is eternal vigilance”. This
is normally thought of as vigilance against outside enemies,
but there are always those within a democracy that will try
to manipulate the process and distort the truth to fit their
own beliefs. Humanity has to be eternally on guard against politicians
that wilfully encourage social divisions that serve their interests.
Cannabis can be a good distraction from children overboard,
deported citizens, wheat boards, or media conjecture over signs
of Prime Ministerial senility.
If that’s what getting high on your own morality is like,
I’d rather smoke pot. Do we want a future where everyone
runs around terrorizing each other, no co-operation, all competition,
in an atmosphere of mutual distrust and fear, or a future where
human beings not only tolerate each other, but treat each other
with dignity and work together for the best possible future
for all the world's children. Which of those is worth working
for?
It is unfortunate that there is no strong voice to put the
lie to the recent cannabis propaganda push, but success does
not come from wailing, gnashing or doing nothing. The public
service and the ABC have been neutered, so it is more important
than ever that we show opposition to unjust laws, and be brave
enough to be counted. The Nimbin MardiGrass is an opportunity
to do just that.
Friends, citizens and visitors; lend us your feet! Come and
stand with us. Lets wave the leaf together, and hold our heads
high.
Max Stone took some web cam shots with a web cam mounted
on his hat, and a laptop in his hands. He ventured forth into
the MardiGrass Festival to take these shots. (No sound track)
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
FULL RESULTS
GROWERS IRONPERSON
MEN
1st Reuben from Nimbin 1.11, 2nd Ron from Sydney 1.25, 3rd Cane
from Maclean 1.33.
WOMEN
1st Lilli from France 1.41, 2nd Tied - Luba from Nimbin & Merrium
from Spain 1.47, 3rd Jolie from Uki 1.48.
BONG THROW & YELL
MEN
1st Garry from Nimbin 39.1, 2nd Rueben from Nimbin 37.5, 3rd
Ron from Sydney 36.8.
WOMEN
1st Sarah from England 27.8, 2nd Tracy from Nimbin 22m, 3rd
Jeanette from Gold Coast 13m.
JOINT ROLLING
Roll in the Dark
1st Bob from Nimbin 17 sec, 2nd Smurf from Nimbin, 3rd - Lilli
from France.
Adverse Conditions
1st Bob, 2nd Smurf, 3rd Carl.
Speed Roll
1st Bob, 2nd Smurf, 3rd Nick from ireland.
Artistic Roll
1st Bob, 2nd Blossom from Nimbin, 3rd Smurf.
The main
page of the MardiGrass site, as it was during MardiGrass
2007.