Category Archives: Community
Getting involved – Community Patrols of New Zealand
Are you looking for a way to support your local community?
Community Patrols of New Zealand (CPNZ)
Reducing crime and building safer communities
Community patrols are voluntary groups of people giving some of their time and taking responsibility within their own community to help the Police make the local community safer for everyone.
I have been a member of the South Dunedin Community Patrol for over nine years. It is a great way to support the local community providing observe & report assistance and other duties as required. We work closely with the NZ Police.
Generally this is only a commitment of a four-hour shift per month plus the compulsory training. For the South Dunedin Community Patrol we operate 9.00pm to 1.00am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
Initial and ongoing training is given (compulsory) and there is a police vetting process to be completed.
If you are interested in getting involved and making a difference in your (our) community check out the information on the CPNZ website or ask me for the local South Dunedin contact details or visit the CPNZ website to join a patrol near you.
Tagging: Good or Bad?
Tagging (and street art), you see it everywhere, even online with social media #hashtags.
Some of it is very clever, some is just vandalism. I enjoy great street art, especially in the small out-of-the-way places or the subversive.
But what makes it good or bad?
- Placement?
- Permission?
- Artistic Merit?
- Does it enhance or add value?
- Does it destroy?
- Does it claim ownership unjustly?
- Some may be just annoying.
What are your thoughts?
A creative call to action
This is a call for all of us creative types to use our talents for social good.
We now more than ever need to use our art and talents to highlight the real New Zealand, so that people will see it is not the 100% pure image seen in the glossy marketing.
We need people to see the eroded sovereign rights, the increasing poverty, the widening inequality, the unemployed, the polluted waterways and growing environmental issues. the downtrodden, sick and forgotten and the many, many other issues being experienced in our country today.
It is now time…
“A bed for the night” Homeless in Dunedin
- For photographers to use images to unsettle and enlighten.
- For singer-songwriters to sing the songs that challenge the status quo.
- For thinkers and poets to question authority.
- For the media to be independent and investigative not swayed by biased political or commercial agenda.
- For people to stand up for all those who need a voice to be heard.
- For all of us to tell the world that everything is NOT ok in this country.
We can, we should and we will do something about it.
PS: if you know of an event that highlights the need for social change or for justice or other protest in Dunedin NZ please contact me. As a photographer I am happy to use my skills for a good cause.
Paul
Let there be peace.
All people have the right to live in peace and safety without persecution, oppression, victimisation or death.
It does not matter about differences as long as we can mutually respect each other.
We need to embrace diversity not fear it.
Let us look beyond nationality, race, religion, gender or orientation, and respect the person. Listen to each others stories without judgement or condemnation.
We, the free, need to stand up for the oppressed and the persecuted and let their voices be heard.
Let us free the oppressed.
Let us see the humanity.
Let us love the person.
Let there be peace.
Graphics created by Paul S Allen
©Paul S Allen 2014
March for Palestine – Dunedin NZ
A march to support the people of Palestine, especially those in Gaza.
For more Photos click here March for Palestine – Dunedin NZ
Photos ©Paul S Allen 2014
www.facebook.com/nothingperfectnz
