A-Infos (en) Australia, Sydney, anarchist zine Mutiny #34 - Reviews

(newspaper) ---- Wai Quarterly ---- Wai is a quarterly newspaper, mostly produced out of Melbourne 
(though with articles from all over Australia), the rst issue of which came out last month. It's 
exciting to see a new, independent anti-capitalist publication, especially in the all-too-small 
world of the Australian far left. ---- I particularly liked the cover article on the Student 
Housing Action Collective in Melbourne. ---- Although eviction orders have come in recently,
this seems to be a really inspiring local story of both successful direct action and practical 
intervention into people's everyday lives. It's great to see direct action understood as not just 
militant protest but as autonomous community organising more generally. ---- There are a couple of 
solid articles critiquing the NT intervention which give a sense of the intense racism at its core. 
There's also an article by the Mutiny collective, on gentrication and reecting on our methods of 
organising (obligatory self-promotion!) and an excellent piece on international students & their 
struggles.

Perhaps the paper's lay-out could have been
more clear-unfortunately it's hard to read the title
on the rst page! I also would have found it
nice for there to have been more of an attempt
to articulate an explicitly revolutionary politics
across the paper as a whole, rather than generally
focusing on social justice themes. There could
have been more articles on class & workers'
struggles as well.
But, overall, it's denitely a worthwhile project
& I look forward to the second issue. You
can contribute articles for the new issue to
waiquarterly@gmail.com

There's also an online version at
www.waiquarterly.wordpress.com
                                             Syzygy

--------------------------------------------------

(lm)
Quantum of Solace
The latest in the Bond lms has what I think
is one of the better titles for a lm in this
franchise. Not that it makes all that much sense,
but then again neither does this lm. For those
who haven't seen the rst Bond lm with Craig
Daniels playing the world's saviour, then you'll
be in for a rude shock. Bond has changed.
Gone are the cheesy one-liners, the elaborate
spy gadgettery and promiscuity: we now have a
brooding, jaded, and rather ruthless spy killer.
This movie picks up where the rst with Craig left
off. Heartbroken, betrayed and out for vengeance,
Bond is hunting the people who brought this
upon him. Turns out there is a highly organised
entity called "the organisation" that apparently
is running wild schemes that the British secret
service knows nothing about. So the hunt is on:
who is a traitor? who isn't?
The hunt takes them to a guy who is using
a land conservation charity as cover for an
elaborate scheme to overthrow governments and
gain control of water resources. There is one
great scene where it's explained to a General
plotting a coup that if he doesn't cooperate, then
someone else will. Hello corporate hegemony!
As far as a mindless action lm goes this isn't
so bad. Bad guys (who are astoundingly bad
shooters!) abound, as do car chases, sticuffs,
tuxedos, and product placements. For anyone
expecting more than that maybe don't bother.
The lm falls prey to too many sub-plots. There
are two stories of revenge going: one about what
the bad guys are planning, and the other about
whether or not Bond is off the rails. You end up
walking away wondering exactly who x person
was and why they did what they did.
Of course the politics in this movie are very
average, but seriously, it's James Bond - what
were you expecting? I would write about the
gender representation but really, it's not too hard
to imagine what it was like. It is Hollywood
after all. As long as you remember that and leave
your political analysis at the door you could nd
something to enjoy here.
                              TyrannosaurusWolf
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