A-Infos (en) Anarchist Age Weekly Review No. 541 7th April ­ 13th April 2003

[philmcc@melbpc.org.au]

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NO GLOBALISATION WITHOUT DIRECT DEMOCRACY ­ ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE
"WE SWEAR BY THE SOUTHERN CROSS TO STAND TRULY BY EACH OTHER AND 
FIGHT TO
DEFEND OUR RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES" ­ EUREKA REBELLION OATH 1854

POLITICS DYING
The privatisation of public affairs is the single most important problem
facing the country today. The increasing centralisation of power in
executive government and the corporate boardroom through legislation 
has greatly limited individual and community participation in public  affairs.
The fear generated by September 11 has been harnessed by the State to
increase the power of the State, at the expense of the individual.

The individual's ability to participate in the political process is being
rapidly reduced to a duty to cast a ballot in an election every three to
four years. Rights and freedoms that have been won from the State through
struggle over the centuries have been whittled away until the ability to
legally protest has been reduced to a token effort. In a community where
individuals are denied the fundamental right to participate in their
day-to-day affairs, consumption and leisure become the main focus of 
their attention.

Parliamentary democracy is in crisis because an increasing number of people
have lost faith in the process itself. Corporatism has become the ideology
of the moment. As the means of production, distribution, exchange and
information become entrenched in fewer and fewer hands, corporate capitalism
exploits people from the cradle to the grave. Every human interaction 
in the brave new world is reduced to a commercial transaction.

Politics is no longer the preserve of the individual and the community they
live in; it is dying rapidly. Consumerism and religion have filled the void,
creating the necessary preconditions for the creation of authoritarian
regimes that use the veneer of parliamentary democracy to concentrate both
power and wealth in the hands of a gangster elite that will use all the
power at its disposal impose its will, both on its citizens and any 
other society that stands in the way of its interests.

THE SHAH IS BACK, 
LONG LIVE THE SHAH
The successful United States led invasion of Iraq is not a new 
phenomenon.
The US has a long history of unseating authoritarian as well as
democratically elected governments which they have supported in the 
past
when their interests no longer coincide with United States interests. 
The
difference between Iraq and many other United States supported 
invasions is
the scale of the United States direct involvement in the invasion.

The people of the Middle East have long been victims of United States
imperialism. Their desire to rule themselves has been subverted again 
and
again by United States interference in the region. Over 20,000 United 
States
troops are stationed in Saudi Arabia to support the authoritarian and 
feudal
rule of the Saudi Royal family. Troops are also stationed in Qatar, 
Kuwait,
the Gulf States, Jordan and Egypt. Iraq's Saddam Hussein is a 
creature of
the United States. The suffering that the people of Iraq endured 
since 1991
would not have occurred if it was not in the United States interests 
to see
the back of the Saddam Hussein regime during the Gulf War. It's 
important to
remember that the United States was the principal ally of Saddam 
Hussein in
the ten year war waged against the religious fundamentalist 
revolutionary
government in Iran.

Its plans to administer Iraq as a colonial possession, using its 
resources
to sustain the United States military industrial complex will 
directly
absorb tens of thousands of United States troops in the region. Its 
promise
to deliver Iraqis freedom and parliamentary democracy is a promise 
thatıs
often repeated when the United States invades a country, but seldom
instituted. Faced with the problem of hostile neighbours both in Iran 
and
Syria, and a population that is subdued but not conquered in Iraq, it 
will
find that the cost to maintain its presence in the Middle East will 
far
outweigh any gains it may have temporarily made.

The ultimate fate of the Shah of Iran, the United States supported 
and
bankrolled dictator in Iran in 1979, is a salient reminder of what 
happens
to regimes that do not reflect the will of the people in the Middle 
East.
The United States invasion of Iraq has crystallised who the enemy is 
in the
region. The authoritarian regimes in the Middle East that the United 
States
continue to support, now have to confront the very real threat of 
facing
increasing levels of dissent by people who are becoming radicalised 
by a new
wave of secular and religious pan Arabic nationalism that has been 
ignited
by the invasion of Iraq.

SUDDEN ACUTE RESPIRATORY DISORDER ­ "SARS"
Pandemics have changed the course of human history: the black plague 
that
ravaged Europe in the mid-1300s killed over a third of the population 
within
a few months. The dislocation and the shortage of labour which 
followed the
black plague laid the foundations for the destruction of the feudal 
system,
the emancipation of working people and parliamentary democracy. 
European
colonisation of Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas was 
facilitated by
epidemics which killed millions, destroyed established social 
institutions
and laid the groundwork for the colonisation process. Diseases that
Europeans had over generations built up immunity to destroyed 
civilisations.
When Mitchell and his party crossed the Murray into what is now 
Victoria,
they were confronted with death and destruction. Many of the 
Aboriginals
they made contact with, bore small pox scars. The disease had ravaged 
the
local tribes long before they saw their first white man.

The last influenza pandemics followed WWI in 1918 and 1919. They 
killed
between thirty to forty million people in the space of a few months. 
Sudden
acute respiratory disorder ­ a viral flu-like illness, a corona virus 
­ is a
cause of the common cold and not usually associated with severe 
illness. The
panic that has gripped the world is an indication of how concerned 
everybody
from the WHO down is about the appearance of another influenza 
pandemic that
will have a devastating effect both in the developed and developing 
world.

The growth of cities that lacked sanitation in Europe provided the 
necessary
environment for the rapid spread of the black plague in the 14th 
century.
Three facets of modern living make an influenza pandemic inevitable: 
mass
air conditioning, airline travel and intensive husbandry of animals. 
These
provide the necessary vectors for the rapid spread of this disease. 
The
transfer of viruses from animals to humans is becoming a more common
occurrence. The chicken flu in Southern China and the Hendra flu in 
Brisbane
are two recent examples of the transfer of disease from animals to 
humans.
Air conditioning spreads the influenza virus to thousands of people 
within a
very short period, while air travel can spread disease around the 
world in a
few days.

If the mortality rate of around 3.5%, the mortality rate of the SARS 
virus,
a virus which is not as infective as the influenza virus and which 
seems to
be able to be controlled by quarantine measures is extrapolated to an
influenza-like virus that is more highly contagious than the SARS 
virus and
which human beings have no immunological defence against, mass air
conditioning and airline travel would create a pandemic whose 
resultant
infection and death rate would be sudden and catastrophic.

THE CORPORATISATION OF AUSTRALIAN SOCCER
The Crawford report is the blueprint for the corporatisation of 
Australian
soccer. It's no surprise that Crawford's recommendations have been 
received
with such alacrity by the Federal Sports Minister and the Australian 
media.
Under the guise of introducing democratic reforms, the Crawford 
report lays
the groundwork for turning Australian soccer into another sporting
corporation which services the needs of the corporate sector and 
ignores the
needs of club members.

Australian soccer is tribal on outlook because individual clubs at 
the
local, regional and national level were set up as oases in a hostile
cultural and sporting environment by immigrants from all corners of 
the
globe. They provided a welcome social and cultural release from the 
racism
that was endemic in Australian society. Members supported the clubs 
because
they were their clubs. Attempts by successive committees to dilute 
the power
of local clubs have been ignored and stalled by successive soccer
administrations because they attempt to remove the local control 
clubs have
over their own affairs.

Soccer's ascendancy as Australia's premier sport at the junior level 
for
boys and its increasing popularity among girls reflects its status as 
the
world's leading sport. Transferring power from the local level to a 
central
executive will destroy the enthusiasm for the sport at the junior 
level.
It's no accident that the corporatisation of the AFL has resulted in 
a
significant drop in participation at the junior level, the individual 
level
and the local club level. The same fate awaits soccer if Crawford's
recommendations are implemented.

The disorganisation of the senior level is a direct result of the 
relentless
recruitment of players by the European League. The European League is 
the
Mecca for soccer players from around the world, not just Australia. 
The
solution to the current administrative crisis lies in democratising 
the
administrative structure, not placing the future of soccer in 
Australia in
the hands of a non-accountable high flying executive who will destroy 
the
strong democratic tradition that has kept the local club network at 
the hub
of soccer in this country.

FAECAL MATERIAL EMANATING FROM THE ANAL ORIFICE
OF A MALE COW
I never cease to be amazed at the space the Fairfax empire gives to 
Gerard
Henderson, the Executive Director of the Sydney Institute to air his 
18th
century interpretation of the world. Henderson's pearls of wisdom are 
not
only irrelevant, but often wrong. In his opinion piece in The Age 
(8/4/03),
he makes the astounding observation that "George Orwell, who started 
off on
the anarchist left, ended up an out spoken anti-communist." This is 
the type
of throw-away line that commonly appears in his articles, which at 
first
glance may seem to be plausible, but on further analysis are 
obviously
nonsensical.

George Orwell's anarchist sympathies are totally in accord with his
outspoken anti-Communism sentiments. Orwell's experiences in 
Republican
Spain with the anarchist militias and Spanish anarchist movement 
during the
Spanish Civil War (1936­1939), which are outlined in his novel Homage 
to
Catalonia, provided the backdrop for his anti-Communist novel Animal 
Farm.
Anarchism, a political philosophy, derived from the ancient Greek 
term
"anarchos" (no rulers) has always been in conflict with Communism, a
political philosophy that has spawned more than its fair share of
authoritarian dictators ruling hierarchical centralised States.

To equate the anarchist left with Communism demonstrates Hendersonıs 
lack of
understanding of major philosophical differences between anarchists 
and
Communists. Hendersonıs inability to comprehend these fundamental
differences rubs salt into wounds that stretch over a century. 
Anarchists
have died at the hands of communists in many revolutionary 
situations.
Communists have always understood the threat that the anarchist 
vision of
creating a society where people govern themselves without rulers 
poses to
them. Thousands of anarchists were killed by the Bolsheviks after the
Russian revolution in 1917. The Makhonivists in the Ukraine, an 
anarchist
militia, successfully carried out a guerrilla campaign that held off 
the
Bolshevik onslaught creating anarchist communities in the Ukraine 
from 1987
to the 1920s while fighting both the white and red armies.

Over a hundred thousand anarchists were killed by the Communists in 
Spain
during the civil war. Stalin regarded the anarchist movement as a 
threat to
his rule and embarked on a campaign in Spain to destroy the anarchist
presence. For Henderson to equate the anarchist left with communism 
insults
the memory of the tens of thousands of anarchist activists who died 
during
the last century fighting communism. Henderson's superficial analysis 
of
life in the 21st century should not be gracing the pages of the 
Fairfax
empire with such monotonous regularity. The time has come for a more
rational analysis of current events in this country and overseas to 
be
presented than are currently been aired on the pages of the Age and 
Sydney
Morning Herald, by the current batch of Sydney Institute Luminaries.

ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER
Q.  Would everybody be capable of doing whatever job they choose in 
an
anarchist society?
A.  The answer is a plain simple, no.  The more complex a community 
the
greater the skills required to carry out particular tasks.  
Anarchists
accept that different people have different abilities and not 
everyone can
become a neurosurgeon or an airline pilot.  What they donıt accept is 
that
individuals should be judged and rewarded by the level of their 
skills.
Skills that individuals acquire are not solely the result of that
individualıs ability.  They are a consequence of the skills that are
developed and practised within particular societies.
In all communities the individual benefits from the collective wisdom
acquired by the communities they work and live in.  Everybody in an
anarchist society has the right to develop the skills they posses but 
they
donıt have the right to pursue occupations theyıre not able to 
acquire the
necessary skills they need to practise.  The greater the consequences 
of the
failure to acquire skills in a particular occupation the greater the 
checks
and balances that will be required to ensure that individuals donıt 
attempt
to carry out tasks that could damage individuals and the community as 
a
whole.
The process required to gain skills and examine the level of 
proficiency
that those that are learning and those that have acquired these 
skills,
would be subjectively examined by colleges that would be established 
to
maintain standards.  These colleges would have a similar function to 
the
Middle Ages trade Guilds.  The difference is that entry into the 
college
would be determined by skill levels, not who you know or who youıre 
related
to.
Occupations and trades where individual safety is not a concern would 
be
open to everyone.  An individualıs success or failure in a particular 
field
would be judged by the standard of their work.  There would be no 
need for a
guild or college structure to supervise training and maintain control 
over
the activities of people whose occupations donıt have negative safety
considerations.  The more complex a society the greater the harm 
individuals
can do, who claim to have skills they donıt possess.  In a highly 
complex
society, itıs important that structures are established or already
established structures are expanded to provide and supervise 
training, check
ongoing standards and provide a guarantee to the community that those 
people
who claim to have particular skills have those skills.

ACTION BOX
 HEALTH
Health, both physical and mental is the single most important aspect 
of any
activistıs life.  Without good health, itıs difficult but not 
impossible to
become involved in particular actions.  Health is not just an 
individual,
itıs also a group and community concern.  The greater the dislocation 
in an
individualıs upbringing, the greater the eventual health problems.  
In the
West, the main health problems faced by activists revolve around 
lifestyle
considerations.  The type of food we eat, personal relationships and 
legal
and illegal drugs play a significant role in the overall state of our
personal health.
In Third World communities and indigenous communities within Western
societies, health care problems revolve around the lack of food, 
sanitation
and access to health care, especially obstetric paediatric and
psychological.  The problems of poverty unevenly effect the very 
young.
Increasing mortality and morbidity levels transfer the scars of 
poverty in
Third World communities from generation to generation.
A healthy activist community is a dangerous community.  The fitter 
people in
the groups youıre involved in, the greater danger you pose to those 
in power
and authority.  Fitness includes physical fitness as well as mental
toughness.  Mental toughness, the ability to weather the tactics 
employed by
your opponent and the ability to regroup after defeats is an 
important
aspect of both short and long term struggle.
Health isnıt just the preserve of health care workers, itıs an 
important
individual responsibility.  The more responsibility we take for our 
own
health care, the greater our intellectual and physical contribution 
to the
movement for radical social change.  Health care encompasses 
boundaries
which people donıt normally assume are related to health.  The 
ability to
pick and choose the activities we become involved in is very 
important.
Itıs essential that we are not pressured by those around us to take 
on more
than we can handle.  Taking on projects that we can complete 
successfully is
one way of maintaining both our physical and mental health.
Radical egalitarian change is not a 100-metre dash, itıs a marathon.  
Most
people restrict their involvement to short sharp irregular bursts 
that are
related to particular issues.  The ?realı world hems them in robbing 
them of
time to become involved in long term activity.  Maintaining your 
physical
and psychological health, becoming involved in projects you can 
succeed at
and developing the mental toughness to cope with the reactions of 
your
family, community and those in power and authority, are strategies 
that all
good marathon runners employ.

AUSTRALIAN RADICAL HISTORY
JIM A. DAWSON
James Arthur Dawson was born in Melbourne in 1899.  Orphaned at 15, 
Dawson
traveled to England to find work.  He returned to Australia at the 
outbreak
of W.W.I.  Over the next 30 years, he began an odyssey that took him 
through
many of the ultra-leftist organisations that existed in Australia.  
He
worked with the Detroit I.W.W., became a member of the Australian 
Socialist
Party and in the later part of his life was influenced by the Council
Communist movement.
He set up the Workers Literature Board in the early years of W.W.II 
to
counter the Stalinist influence in the Australian Labor movement.  He
published 49 issues of The Southern Advocate between the onset of the 
war
and May 1949.  He gave up publishing as a consequence of continuing
financial difficulties not being able to keep the journal afloat with
contributions and from the profits he made from his Port Melbourne 
hardware
store.  During this period The Southern Advocate for Workers Councils 
acted
as a focus for debates that were occurring on the fringes of the 
Australian
Labor movement.
The journal reflected Dawsonıs transition from being a supporter of 
the
Socialist Party of Great Britain to supporting the principles of the 
I.W.W.
(Industrial Workers of the World) to expressing support for Council
Communism.  The journal provided a forum for ideas that found favour 
among
small groups of activists in Australia.  Its libertarian agenda 
contrasted
with the Stalinist and Labor agenda that played such a prominent 
feature in
1940ıs Australia.
The demise of The Southern Advocate for Workers Councils had more to 
do with
Dawsonıs growing distrust with ideology as he go older than financial
difficulties.  In 1950 he declared "becoming more and more 
distrustful of
ideology, I here with publicly renounce all the ideology which I have 
in
earlier years propagated".  Dawson eschewed public life after this 
statement
and began to concentrate on his private life.  He met and married a 
much
younger woman just after his 60th birthday.  They had one daughter.  
He died
at the age of 69 in 1958.  As editor of the only libertarian 
publication in
Australia in the 1940ıs, his legacy would have been lost if Steve 
Wright has
not researched his life as an Honours thesis in an article published 
in 1980
titled ?Left Communism in Australia: J. A. Dawson" and the "The 
Southern
Advocate for Workers Councils".  Steve Wright reissued the article 
with some
small changes in March 2001.
Iıd like to thank John Englart from Anarres Books for providing me 
with a
copy of Steve Wrightıs article. Further information on Jim Dawson can 
be
obtained from http://members.tripod.com/kurasje/arkiv/4200t.htm

 BOOK REVIEW
  "DREAMTIME NIGHTMARES"
 Bill Rosser, Penguin Books 1985,
 ISBN 014 0096981
Bill Rosser is one of that small brand of historians in the 1970ıs 
and early
?80ıs who were able to demonstrate that Australian has a black 
history which
has long been denied by white Australia.  Rosserıs ?Dreamtime 
Nightmaresı
catalogues through the eyes of indigenous participants what happened 
to the
indigenous population in the Northern Territory and Western and 
Central
Australia.  When the squatters opened up vast cattle stations in 
Australiaıs
North in the 1880ıs, the pastoralists not only dispossessed the 
indigenous
population but brutally exploited these very same people.
Faced with the problem of a shortage of labour, they turned to the
indigenous population for a solution to their problem.  With help 
from
colonial government, the region became a virtual slave camp.  The 
abuse of
the indigenous population became state policy.  Under the Aboriginal
Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act in 1897, 
indigenous
Australians became legal slave labour.  An employer or a police 
officer only
needed to point to a potential indigenous employee and they would 
have to
work for them for no wages for 12 months.  Indigenous women became 
sex
slaves for the pastoralists.  Children as young as 10 were deprived 
of their
freedom and used as stock-hands, sex slaves and domestic servants.
Subsequent government legislation in the 1920ıs and 50ıs reinforced 
the
status quo.  The law controlled every aspect of indigenous peopleıs 
lives.
Each new Act became more oppressive than the last.  Rosser documents 
the
stories of survivors of this brutal and degrading period.  In the 
21st
century, Australiaıs equivalent of Europeıs Holocaust, deniers trawl 
through
the records of the colonisers looking for excuses to deny the 
genocide of
indigenous Australians, but donıt dare to tap into the rich oral 
history of
the survivors of this period, knowing that anything they may find in 
their
dry dusty records, pales into insignificance with the stories of the
survivors.
He interviews Ruby de Satge the Aboriginal granddaughter of Oscar de 
Satge,
one of the original Queensland pastoralists.  She states matter of 
fact
"Blacks were merely to be put to work or shot ­ Potting niggers" in 
the
parlance of the time.  Another 7 survivors tell their stories in 
words that
mirror Rubyıs experiences.  The stories in ?Dreamtime Nightmaresı 
cannot and
will not be erased by those Australian academics who continue to deny 
this
countryıs black history, trotting out the records of the colonisers 
to build
their case while ignoring the stories of the survivors of a period of
Australian history thatıs still denied by government and a majority 
of
Australians.
If you want to read a copy of ?Dreamtime Nightmaresı try your local 
library
or a local second hand bookshop.  Bill Rosserıs "This is Palm Island"
published in 1978 is also another worthwhile contribution to this 
countryıs
black history.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION
While those who deny the holocaust are shamed, ostracised and 
prosecuted,
Australiaıs equivalent are lauded and rewarded by the Prime Minister 
clown.
Over the past decade a concerted effort has been launched by a small 
but
powerful group of intellectuals, aided and abetted by Murdochıs 
flagship in
Australia The Australian, to deny the all too obvious consequences of 
the
colonisation of Australia.
Faced with the prospect of having to compensate the indigenous 
community
after the Mabo decision in 1992, conservative Australia has with 
significant
academic, media and government support, attempted to bury this 
countryıs
history.  The 1970ıs were marked by a significant academic 
reappraisal of
the history and consequences of the colonisation process.  The 
information
exposed by this research called into significant credibility the 
history of
this country.  People began to realise that Australia had a black as 
well as
a white history.
The attack on black history has had far reaching consequences in the
Australian community polarising opinions within white Australia that
reinforce stereotypes that have long been used to justify the well
documented excesses that mark white, black relationships.  The 
thoughts of
the Australian holocaust deniers have now become intertwined with the
historical, cultural and social record.  Their historical 
reassessment is
accepted as gospel, while the work of the men and women who through 
the 70ıs
brought to the attention of the Australian people the shocking truth 
is
denigrated and dismissed as a black arm view of history.
The attempt to expunge the historical record has had a profound 
effect on
the indigenous community.  To deny the farce of the oral record that 
has
been kept by successive indigenous generations has compounded the 
social,
cultural and physical consequences of the Australian holocaust.  As 
the
crescendo of denial reaches fever pitch, the future of reconciliation 
has
evaporated.  In the future this dark and sorry chapter of Australian 
history
will be remembered for what it is.  As an example of the dishonest 
tactics
those who won the war and stole the peace went to, to deny the 
tactics and
strategies that resulted in the genocide of Australiaıs indigenous
population.  This attempt to rewrite history to suit the pedestrian
political concerns of a government that has aborted the 
reconciliation
process will be remembered as a shameful and dark period in Australia
history.

STOP PRESS
NEO- COLONIALISM
Anybody who had any doubts that the United States led invasion of 
Iraq was a
Neo colonial grab for resources only has to look at the unseemly 
behaviour
of the carpet baggers to understand the invasion has nothing to do 
with
freedom, democracy, weapons of mass destruction or religion and 
everything
to do with controlling resources.
The corporate dominated media has been at the fore front of the 
United
States spin machine twisting the truth to justify the levels of 
destruction,
injury and death that is occurring in Iraq.  News reports that are 
obvious
military disinformation projects are presented as fact.  A classical 
example
of the United States military spine machine is the coverage that 
occurred
when a warehouse of skeletal remains in coffins was found in Baghad 
what
were claimed to be victims of the Saddam Hussein regime turned out to 
be the
remains of Iranian soldiers that were not repatriated back to Iran 
after the
Iran Iraq war.
Although the Iraqi people may be subdued, they are not conquered they 
have
meet the invasion with a mixture of anger and resignation, trusting 
nothing
and nobody.  Winning the peace will be a far more difficult task in 
post
invasion Iraq than winning a technological battle with a country 
who's
military forces and equipment have been degraded by the gulf war, 
thirteen
years of sanctions, no fly zones and regular bombardments over the 
past
thirteen years.
The biggest losers in this invasion will be the Shiites in the South 
and the
Kurds in the North, two groups the invading forces have exploited to 
pursue
their colonial ambitions in the regions.  The Kurds will find that 
their
dream of living in a Kurdish State will disappear as the United 
States led
invasion forces impose their will on the region and the Shiite
fundamentalists will soon find out that money and oil not religion 
are what
the new colonialists are interested in.
As the hatred felt by an increasing number of people across the world 
for
this resurgence of United State's imperialism grows, the United 
States will
find it will not have enough troops to maintain its strangle hold on 
the
world economy.  It may find that as it shifts its armed forces from 
the
European and Japanese theatre to other parts of the world, that an
increasing number of people in these regions will join movements to 
thwart
its Neo-colonial ambitions in the rest of the world
Joseph TOSCANO / Libertarian Workers
for a Self-Managed Society.


                   
ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK
? FREEDOM Vol.64 No.6, 22ndMarch 2003, Anarchist Fortnightly, 84b
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? ROJO Y NEGRO No.151 JAN 2003.  CGT, C/-Compania9, 10 1zda, 31001
Pamploma/Iruna SPAIN, Tel:948224766, Fax:948212399,
email:suscripciones@rojonero.info
? UMANITA NOVA Vol 183 No.9 EL 16thMAR.ı03, Settimanale Anarchico, 
C.50
Palermo 46, 10152, Torino ITALY. Tel/fax (011) 857850 Mobile 338-
6594361
email:fat@inrete.it
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ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS ­ (ATNTF)
QUOTES:
""If the U.S. unilaterally goes to war & itıs anything short of a 
quick
surgical strike (lasting less than 30 days), the economists were all
predicting extreme economic gloom: falling dollar value, rising spot 
market
oil prices, the Fed pushing interest rates down towards zero with 
resulting
increase in national debt, severe trouble in all countries whose 
currency is
guaranteed against the dollar (which is just about everybody except 
the EU),
a near cessation of all development and humanitarian programs for 
poor
countries. Very few economists or ministers of finance predicted the 
world
getting out of that economic funk for minimally 5-10 years, once the
downward spiral ensues". Science journalist Laurie Garrett, in a 
leaked
private email sent from the World Economic Forum.
"[The world is] run by about 5,000 bickering, sometimes charming, 
usually
arrogant, mostly male people who are accustomed to living in either
phenomenal wealth or great personal power". Laurie Garrett.
"...this Admin has chosen to make terrorism a domestic political 
tool,
enlisting a scattered & largely defeated Al Qaeda as its bureaucratic 
ally.
We spread disproportionate terror & confusion in the public mind,
arbitrarily linking the unrelated problems of terrorism & Iraq. The 
result,
& perhaps the motive, is to justify a vast mis-allocation of 
shrinking
public wealth to the military & to weaken the safeguards that protect 
US
citizens from the heavy hand of govt. September 11 didnıt do as much 
damage
to the fabric of US society as we seem determined to so to ourselves. 
Is the
Russia of the late Romanovs really our model, a selfish, 
superstitious
empire thrashing toward self-destruction in the name of a doomed 
status
quo?" John Brady Kiesling, a US diplomat for 20 years, in his letter 
of
resignation.
"We havenıt seen such systematic distortion of intelligence, such 
systematic
manipulation of the US people, since the war in Vietnam". John Brady
Kiesling.
"We back democracy all the way. All the way, that is, up to the point 
where
they disagree with us." Ex-US senior State Dept. Official, quoted in 
SchNews
news report.
anarchist news service write to James, PO Box 503, Newtown NSW 2042 
or email
james.hutchings@ato.gov.au contact us to get ATNTF emailed directly 
to you.
If you like ATNTF, forward it on.  Love and Rage is a new anarchist,
non-profit record label.  The first CD will be out in a few weeks - 
20 songs
for $10 within Australia (overseas prices available soon).  Address 
is PO
Box 503, Newtown NSW 2042. www.angry.at/politicians - new anarchist 
website
with fliers for download, contacts www.angry.at/racists -
Anarchist/anti-racist music site with free mp3s, Real Audio, Real 
Video,
internet radio, band interviews etc.   Also includes the text of 
'Escape',
an anarchist novel - www.geocities.com/skipnewborn/novel.doc,
www.dolearmy.org - information for unemployed people, 
.www.activate.8m.com -
anarchist magazine aimed at teenagers. ATNTF appears in the AAWR
(www.vicnet.net.au/~anarchist - PO Box 20 Parkville VIC 3052) & The 
Ham
(www.theham.cat.org.au), as well as Melbourne Indymedia
(www.melbourne.indymedia.org).
Media outlets mentioned in All the News That Fits are sources - items 
are
not direct quotes from news media.  Background information may have 
been
gathered from sources in addition to media outlets cited.  Where no 
source
is cited, the information has been gathered from direct sources.

'Anarchy for Life' - The 3rd Annual Australian Anarchist conference 
BRISBANE
MAY 2ND ­ 4TH .
www.anarcon.cjb.net  or
 www.nomasters.org/Members/anarcon - (needs the capital letter).

ANARCHY FOR LIFE
?ANARCHIST AND AUTONOMIST CONFERENCEı
AT
VISIBLE INK
139 CONSANCE STREET
FORTITUDE VALLEY, BRISBANE
2ND ­ 4TH MAY 2003
COME TO BRISBANE
http://ronny.imess.net/anarcon
Billets, transport, workshops
http://www.nomasters.org/members/anacon
Organising List 
http://lists.cat.org.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/anrcon
Mailing Lists 
http://lists.cat.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/autonomous-brisbane
ENTRY BY DONATION ALL WELCOME

ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK
Has been won by the Federal government for their efforts to destroy
Medicare, Australiaıs Universal Health Care system ­ when it comes to
destroying positive social initiatives you canıt go past the Howard
government.

STAMP APPEAL  - We spend over $500.00 on postage stamps per month.  
If
youıre writing to us or have any spare stamps floating about stuff 
them into
the envelope & send them to us.  JOIN our $5.00 a month group & send 
us a
book of 10 50 cent stamps every month.

EMAIL MADNESS - Have access to cyberspace?  Want to help us save on 
printing
& postage costs?  Then why donıt you receive the AAWR by email?
INTERESTED??  Then email us at anarchistage@yahoo.com & arrange to 
have the
weekly emailed to you.

BAYSIDE ANARCHIST GROUP / PUBLIC DISCUSSION MEETING
?THE ROLE OF THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCES
IN AUSTRALIAN SOCIETYı
WEDNESDAY 23RD APRIL   -    7.30PM
AT
CHELSEA NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSE
36 BROADWAY, BON BEACH
Melway Ref: 97 C3
The Neighbourhood House is around I kilometre from Bon Beach Railway
Station.  Transport is available to take people back to the station 
after
the meeting.  ALL WELCOME, TEA AND COFFEE PROVIDED.


A SLICE OF AUSTRALIAN ANARCHIST HISTORY
We have a number of
AUSTRALIAN ANARCHIST CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
"ANARCHY IS ORDER GOVERNMENT IS CHAOS"
"Melbourne Australia 1st ­ 4th May 1986"
BADGES
Which we are selling for $10.00 each (includes packaging and postage 
within
Australia).  Send 45c stamps or cheques or money or money orders for 
$10.00
made out to LIBERTARIAN WORKERS, P.O. BOX 20, PARKVILLE 3052, 
MELBOURNE,
AUSTRALIA, if youıd like one

ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK
Broadcast across Australia on the National Community Radio Satellite.
The Anarchist World This Week is broadcast from 3CR (855khz AM dial) 
in
Melbourne between 10.00AM TO 11.OOAM every Wednesday.  It is also 
broadcast
simultaneously across Australia to a number of community radio 
stations,
some broadcast it live, others later on during the week.  Do you 
listen to a
community radio station?  Want to listen to the Anarchist World This 
Week?
Then ask them to download it from the National Community Radio 
Satellite,
play it live or play it later on in the week.
 

RECLAIM THE RADICAL SPIRIT OF THE EUREKA REBELLION
Celebrate on the 3rd December 2003
The 3rd December 2003 marks the 149th Anniversary of the Eureka 
rebellion.
This year a federation of groups will be celebrating the anniversary 
at
Ballarat and around Australia.  If you wish to keep up with whatıs 
happening
or belong to a group that wants to affiliate with the organisation 
write to
us at P.O. Box 20, PARKVILLE 3052, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA for details 
about
affiliation.
Current affiliate groups:  **  ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE
**  LIBERTARIAN WORKERS FOR A SELF MANAGED SOCIETY
**  BAYSIDE ANARCHIST GROUP
**  ITıS OUR ABC  **  PEOPLE AGAINST REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION
** PENINSULA GREEN HOUSE
If you want to join the mailing list in 2003 and keep up to date with 
whatıs
happening, 
send us 10 ­ 50cent stamps


183 MEMBERS ­ 367 TO GO
BEFORE WE CAN APPLY TO REGISTER AS A FEDERAL POLITICAL PARTY
Politically manipulated and scorned?  Sick of being a peripheral 
player
every time a Federal election comes around, then join:-  VOTE 
INFORMAL
TODAY, DIRECT DEMOCRACY TOMORROW - a "political party" that is 
putting the
boot into the Australian Parliamentary Process.  Send a stamp self-
addressed
envelope to
VOTE INFORMAL TODAY DIRECT DEMOCRACY TOMORROW
PO Box 20, Parkville. 3052. Melbourne. Australia Telephone (03) 9828 
2856
(24 hour answering service).  We will send information about how to 
join
this unique 21st century Australian phenomena.  DON'T PUT IT OFF  
JOIN THE
PUSH FOR CHANGE NOW.
Written and authorised by Joseph Toscano
(National Convenor 205 Nicholson St Footscray 3012  Melbourne Aust.)
Current membership 183.  We need 550 members to apply for 
registration as a
political party, so that members can stand at the Federal election in 
2004
and show Australianıs that Parliamentary Democracy is nothing more 
than two
minutes of illusory power.

 If You Like What You Have Read, Photocopy This Publication and Leave 
It In
Doctors, Dentists, 
Vets Waiting Rooms and In Railway Stations, Bus Stops, Libraries and
Restaurants Etc.
The articles in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review reflect the personal
opinions of the authors, they do not necessarily reflect the opinions 
of the
publishers, the Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed 
Society/Anarchist
Media Institute. 
All material in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review can be used by 
anarchists,
anarchist collectives and non-profit organisations as long as the 
source of
the material is mentioned in the article.  The Anarchist Age Weekly 
Review
reserves all rights as far as commercial publications are concerned.
                   
ANARCHISM ­ ADVANCING IN DIVERSITY STRIKING IN UNISON ­ YAMAGUCHI 
KENJI
WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY ­ THE ANARCHIST CENTURY

RADIO FREEDOM IS DEAD, LONG LIVE FREE RADIO.

Last night I sat down & phoned in an hours worth of the last show of 
Radio
Freedom.  The show originally started off as a discussion in a café 
in
OıConnor, Canberra among 4 anarchists at the start of 1999.  The show 
went
to air in a 1 hour slot late February of that year on ACT Community 
Radio
2XX.

>From a small start 4 years of anarchist ideas went across Canberra 
every
Friday at 11 am.  Unfortunately Radio Freedom as a project is unable 
to
sustain itself & had its last show ever March 28th 2003.  
Disappearing after
being on air for such a long time warrants some consideration of why 
itıs
gone.  Self-reflection within the anarchist community on failing or 
deceased
projects/organisation is something that is not done enough.  If I was 
to be
honestly critical I would say that we failed in the areas of 
organisation,
ambition & recruitment.

Organisation was the most glaring & regular problem.  Too often the 
show
would be created within the minutes before we sat down to do it. The 
show
would go off smoothly, which is a testament to what years or practice 
can
do, but it still meant the show didnıt live up to its potential.  
Hardly any
preparation went into the shows, on average. While there were period 
when
extra effort was taken to get live interviews or research topic, this 
effort
wasnıt sustained.  It has to be acknowledged that syndication of The
Anarchist World This Week off the Community Radio Satellite helped to 
break
up the show if we had nothing of quality to talk about.

Problems associated with ambition in anarchist groups tends to be one 
of the
primary causes of group demise.  In our case we had periods of anti-
ambition
& over­ambition.  At times we tried too hard to chase goals that were 
too
large & impractical to achieve.  We had tried to set up a system to
syndicate content from other anarchist shows around Australia. This 
failed
because it was just too difficult to organise, ambitions in this case 
were
too high.  On the flip side the rest of the time there was no push to 
extend
the shows reach, scope or effectiveness.  We were quite happy to 
potter
along.  Ambition needs to be balanced so that itıs bold, but also
achievable, which is of course easier said than done.

Ultimately the show has gone under because we couldnıt replace worn 
out
presenters, anarchist have real life lives as well.  I stopped 
presenting
the show a few months before it folded, & the current present had 
already
been gone for a while & had come back to take over when I left.  
Sometimes
groups implode as they argue about lack of commitment in other 
members of
the group. In many cases the problem isnıt people being lazy, instead 
there
just isnıt enough of a pool of motivated group members to share the 
load. To
even call some anarchist activities groups, organisation or other 
such terms
is ridiculous, Radio Freedom started with 5 people but dwindled 
quickly to 1
or 2 people at any one time. Two people is not an organisation.
   
Failure to recruit is a lack of ambition &/or unwillingness to allow 
new
people in. In our case it was a lack of ambition in going to the 
effort to
do whatever it takes to recruit new people.  We had always given out 
contact
details & encouraged people to contact us. However this willingness 
to be
contacted wasnıt enough to gain members faster then losing them.

As 2XX is a community radio station there is the problem that we had 
a small
listener audience, on top of the fact that our show was of a very
specialised (or perhaps potentially obscure) nature. Having a radio 
show is
a very valuable medium to control but in hindsight we should seen 
which way
the wind was blowing & gone outside of the show to recruit.

In conclusion being critical doesnıt mean being negative.  We know 
what
could have done better but I would never write off what myself or my
committed co-hosts over the years have achieved.  Radio Freedom was
virtually the only regular anarchist activity in Canberra over that 4 
years,
next to circle Aıs spray painted on fences by local kids.  I 
personally have
learnt more about anarchism & myself, & have come out of this 
experience as
a more skilled long-term member of the global anarchist community.

I know for sure that we have influenced in a real way a limited 
number of
peopleıs thoughts, people who would most probably never have been 
exposed to
anarchist idea otherwise. We received this email after the last show:

 "Hi ­ We are sorry to hear that you are leaving the air wares at 
2XX.  We
are long time listeners (about 4 years) & of all the shows on 2XX it 
was
your show that we where the most dedicated too.  I even taped it 
sometimes
so workers could listen to it at a more convenient time.  Sometimes 
we would
discuss joining the show in some capacity.  Anyway thanks for all the
information & laughs you have given us over the years.  You will 
surely be
missed.  If you wish, you can contact us on this email address or 
just let
us know that you got this message" -  James Butcher.

*******
                       ********
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