A-Infos (en) Anarchist Age Weekly Review No.561 25th August ­ 31st August 2003

[Phil McCrory <philmcc@melbpc.org.au>]

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HEALTH CARE A RIGHT,NOT A CHARITY, OR A LUXURY
Medicare the most important social innovation in Australia since the
introduction of pensions is about to be dismantled.
The current crisis in the health care delivery system, both at the private
and public level is directly related to a calculated and sustained campaign
waged by the Howard government that has been directed at the universal
nature of the Medicare system.  The Medicare system ensures that every
Australian irrespective of who they are, how much they earn or how sick they
are, has access to the health care delivery system.

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 18

The success of the system is directly related to the number of private
doctors who are willing to bulk bill ­ (accept 85% of the government
recommended fee) as full payment for their services.

Over the last decade doctors who bulk bill have come under increasing
pressure to abandon bulk billing, because the increase in the Medicare
rebate has not kept pace with inflation, while costs to run a private
practise have soared.  The Howard government has starved both Medicare and
the public health care system of funds, annually transferring around three
billion dollars of tax payerıs money to an inefficient private health
insurance industry that provides access to private hospital beds for only
50% of Australians.

Falling bulk billing rates have been most pronounced in National and Liberal
Party electorates.  Increasing grassroots political pressure from these
electorates has forced the Federal government to formulate a Medicare
"reform" package.  Mr. Howard claims that his Medicare package will save
Medicare, nothing could be further from the truth.  If these changes are
passed in the Senate, the universal nature of the system will be destroyed
and a division will appear between those Australians who rely on concession
cards and the rest of the community.

The "reform" package is designed to reward doctors who agree to bulk bill
all concession card holders they see, by increasing the Medicare rebate they
can claim for these patients and allowing the doctor to charge a co-payment
for all other patients they see.  Those doctors who refuse to sign on will
soon find that when Medicare rebates are reviewed, the differential between
the rebate that is paid to those doctors who have signed on and those who
havenıt signed on to the government scheme, will increase.  Those doctors
who continue to bulk bill all of their patients will be forced to sign on
and charge a co-payment, or close down their practices because they will no
longer be financially viable.

Concession cardholders in practices that participate in the governmentıs
package, will in a short period of time find that the level of service they
receive will deteriorate.  Doctors faced with a mix of patients that are
bulk billed and those that pay a co-payment, will soon find pressures
building up in their practises to provide a different level of service to
both groups.  The Howard government hopes to win people over to the package
by claiming that they will be able to insure for extra health care costs
above a thousand dollars (caused by the introduction of co-payments) by
taking out private health insurance that will cost around a dollar a week.
What private insurance company in their right mind will provide insurance
for a dollar a week to cover a patientıs out of pocket expenses when a
doctor can charge whatever they like.

The governmentıs "reform" package will result in a sharp rise in health care
costs for all Australians.  Australia has a relatively affordable health
care delivery system.  Only around 10% of Gross National Product is spent on
the provision of health care services.  Medicare has kept a brake on the
escalation of health care costs.  If that brake is removed and doctors
dramatically increase their fees, health care costs for the whole community
will escalate.  Medicare has kept a brake on fees because when patients have
a choice they are more likely to use a bulk-billing clinic than one that
charges up front fees.  The fewer bulk billing clinics the less competition
occurs and the higher the fees charged by doctors.  The current bulk billing
crisis in National and Liberal Party electorates has increased health care
costs in these electorates because clinics no longer bulk bill and patients
donıt have a choice.  Those patients who are unable to access private health
care in these areas are forced to travel long distances and use overcrowded
and understaffed accident and emergency public hospital departments.

Defend and Extend Medicare Australia has been born as a result of the
current crisis and the inability and unwillingness of the Federal government
and opposition parties to defend, let along extend, universal health care
principles to other health care sectors.  Our activities are based on the
premise that access to health care in Australia should be a right, not a
charity, or a luxury.  We are a non-party political non profit volunteer
umbrella group of health care consumers and health care workers who do not
accept the premise that there is no money to provide a decent health care
delivery system in Australia.  What resources are allocated to health care
is first and foremost a political decision.

The type of services we receive are directly related to the political
pressure that is able to be exerted on government and opposition parties.
The provision of adequate health care resources to its citizens is a
fundamental concern of government.

Defend and Extend Medicare hopes to establish a group in every one of
Australiaıs 150 Federal electorates by the end of the year.  Each group is
autonomous, they decide on the activities they will conduct in their
electorates to highlight health issues in that electorate.  They will be
placing maximal political pressure on both their Federal representative and
opposition candidates to adopt health care initiatives that make access to
health care in this country a right, not a charity, or a luxury.  Local
Defend and Extend Medicare groups send delegates to regional, State and
Federal meetings to initiate and co-ordinate regional, State and Federal
activity.

The ten Defend and Extend Medicare groups that have recently been
established in the Melbourne Metropolitan region ­ Deakin, Wills, Batman,
Melbourne, Chisholm, Gellibrand, Kooyong, Goldstein, Dunkley, and Flinders
will be holding the first of a series of monthly mass rallies in Melbourne,
until the next Federal election is called.

The first rally will be held at 5.30pm outside the State Library on Friday
the 5th of September.  Julia Gillard the Shadow Federal A.L.P. Health
Spokesperson, Senator Lynne Allison - Democrats Health Spokesperson, Sharon
Burrow - A.C.T.U. President, Senator Kay Nettle - Greenıs Health
Spokesperson, Helen Lee - Community Health activist, Leigh Hubbard -
Secretary Trades Hall Council, Dr. Tim Woodruff - President Doctors Reform
Society, Rod Wilson - Convenor Victorian Medicare Action Group and Dr.
Joseph Toscano - Joint National Convenor Defend and Extend Medicare will be
addressing the rally.  Unfortunately Senator Kay Patterson, The Federal
Health Minister has indicated she wonıt be speaking at the rally.

This is the first of a series of monthly rallies that will be held both in
regional and metropolitan centres around Australia till the next Federal
election is called, to keep this issue alive in the public mind and ensure
that both the Federal Government and opposition parties incorporate the will
of the people in their health care policies ­ Health Care is a Right not a
charity, or a luxury.
THE PAULINE SIDESHOW AT A VIDEOSTORE NEAR YOU.
It's fascinating how the conservative side of politics rallies round their
fallen idols.  I can't remember the same levels of public and government
sympathy being expressed when the former High Court Judge, Lionel Murphy was
convicted in what was clearly a political trial.  I can't remember the same
level of public disquiet being expressed when John Howard gave Senator
Heffernan leeway to use the Senate to destroy the career of High Court
Judge, Justice Kirby, because the government wasn't happy with his rulings.
For John Howard and the parliamentary members of the Liberal/National Party
to express their dissatisfaction with the sentence is the height of
hypocrisy.  Hanson and Etteridge are in jail because they've run foul of
electoral laws designed by this countries major political parties, that
gives them a virtual monopoly on the political process.

Hanson and Etteridge have been convicted under laws that were passed by
Federal parliament.  A three-year sentence for what was a technical breach
of the electoral act is not a harsh sentence under the current laws.
Etheridge and Hanson could have been sentenced to 10 years jail without
parole for the same offence.  Their sentence is a warning to political and
social activists who attempt to challenge the monopoly on power exercised by
the major political parties.  They have manipulated the electoral act to
suit their interests.  They have passed laws that make it virtually
impossible for anyone except members of the major political parties to win
office.

The public debate should not centre solely on whether the sentences passed
were too harsh.  It should revolve around the question about why the Federal
electoral act is structured in such a way as to give the major parties a
political monopoly.  Hanson and Etteridge find themselves in jail because of
the grossly unfair provisions in the Australian Electoral Act.

The solution to their problem and the problems faced by the political
activists who continually run foul of the draconian provisions of the
Australian electoral act is the repeal of sections of the act that turn
technical breaches into major criminal matters.

HELP!!
It seems that the boys and girls who make up the Bush administration have
suddenly realised that everything in Iraq isnıt going to plan.  The script
was very simple, the forces of reason, goodness and light would oust the
forces of evil, darkness and barbarity.  The good people of Iraq would leave
their bunkers, place garlands around their liberatorıs necks and the world
would see a new democracy emerge from the ashes.  Sounds like a good film
script.  Unfortunately the reality is not as clear-cut as has been painted.

It seems that significant sections of the Iraqi population arenıt happy with
the current script.  Resistance to the Coalition of the willing liberation
forces is beginning to gather momentum.  One hundred days after the war was
officially declared to be over, levels of resistance are increasing.  The
Bush administration now finds itself in a bind of its own making.  Snubbing
the United Nations, itıs now faced with the problems of digesting a meal it
hasnıt the stomach for.  145,000 thousand troops arenıt enough, hundreds of
billions of dollars arenıt enough.  Bush needs help.  Few nations, including
Australia that has about 1000 personnel in the region, want to become
involved.  The money that was going to gush out of the Iraqi oil wells has
gushed in all the wrong places.

Few Iraqis are willing to show their hand, the battle for their hearts and
minds is beginning to be lost.  The euphoria that was felt when they heavy
hand of the Baath Party was loosened, has been replaced with concerns about
the future.  You only have to look at what happened in Afghanistan when the
Russians invaded (at the request of the Afghan government) to realise that
it doesnıt take long for todayıs liberator to become tomorrowıs oppressor.
While the body count is low and the cost is minimal, Rumsfeldıs dream will
be pleasant when the body count rises and the cost escalates, his uplifting
Hollywood film script will be re-named "Nightmare in Iraq".

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
You could be forgiven for thinking that Jon Drummondıs antics at the World
Athleticıs championships in Paris were the actions of a loud mouthed echo
driven American sprinter.  Patrick Johnsonıs coach, Esa Peltola has called
for tough action to be taken against Drummond "he broke the rules and then
he did not obey the officials".  The story behind Drummondıs protest is a
little more complex than a case of ego.  Sporting spectacles are becoming
hostages of television contracts.  The greater the cost for television
rights, the greater the demands that those corporations that have bought the
rights can make on the games themselves.

The International Association of Athletics Federation has significantly
changed the rules to decrease television delays and keep the sponsors happy.
The new rule allows only one false start from the field.  The next sprinter
who breaks is automatically disqualified.  Drummond and four other sprinters
had fallen foul of the same rule change on the day.

Traditionally an athlete is allowed two false starts before they are
disqualified.  The rule change short-changes both athletes and spectators.
Drummondıs refusal to leave the track is an understandable reaction to a
rule change that is grossly unfair to the athletes.  The fiasco in Paris is
the latest in a series of rule changes to major sporting events that have
been made to suit the interests of the television companies that have bought
the television rights and their major sponsors.  It seems that their
interests are more important than the interests of the athletes and the
spectators.  Drummondıs protests could spell the beginning of the end of
these sweet heart deals.

At the end of the day those who regulate sport, need to remember that itıs
the participation of the athlete, not the television coverage thatıs
paramount.  That is if we continue to use flesh and blood athletes in
sporting contests.  If you go to a TAB today you can bet on real horse races
and see real horses go round the track or you can bet on electronic horse
races and see virtual horses go around the track.  The way things are going,
it wonıt be too long before the antics of the Drummondıs of the world wonıt
be a problem, because all athletes will have become virtual athletes.

ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER
Q.  HOW WOULD AN ANARCHIST SOCIETY DEAL WITH THOSE INTRACTABLE PROBLEMS THAT
OCCUR WHEN RELATIONSHIPS AND FAMILIES DISINTEGRATE?
A.  There are no easy answers within our society or an anarchist society
that can be automatically implemented to deal with the problem associated
with family and relationship breakdowns.  The fundamental difference in both
communities, centres around the financial dependence that a significant
number of people experience in the communities we currently live and work
in.  Access to resources within an anarchist society is not determined by
who you are or by what you do.  Every member of that community is guaranteed
access to the resources that society produces.
Loosening the financial bonds involved in a relationship makes it much
easier for individuals to leave unsatisfactory relationships.  The fact that
individuals are financially independent in an anarchist community doesnıt
help to resolve the personal issues involved in a relationship breakdown but
it helps to deal with the consequences of the breakdown.  Personal
assistance may be easier to access in an anarchist society than the ones we
currently live in.  Community mediation centres form an important focus for
initial discussions between people facing difficulties.  Staff from other
neighbourhoods would work in these centres so that they initially have the
option of dealing with the matters raised privately.
If no resolution is possible and the different parties find themselves in a
threatening situation, the matters raised would have to be dealt with at
another level.  If intervention occurs, itıs important that any alternative
arrangements that are made to look after dependents, doesnıt cause more
trauma and suffering.  All too often dependents who are removed from
difficult and unsatisfactory arrangements find themselves in situations
where both short and long term outcomes are much worse than they would have
been if they had been left in the same environment and were offered support
to deal with the problems they face.
Life in an anarchist community gives people options, it doesnıt solve
personal problems.  As resources are held in common and profits donıt need
to be generated, more time, effort and community resources can be allocated
to deal with the inevitable problems that occur when relationships falter
and disintegrate.

ACTION BOX
"DILUTING THE ISSUE"
When involved in political activity, itıs important to remember that not
everybody travelling on the same tram with you will get off at the same
destination.  The Defend and Extend Medicare campaign is a classical example
of this adage.  As more and more people climb on the Defend and Extend
Medicare bandwagon, itıs important to remember that different groups
involved in the campaign have different agendas.
When working with a broad popular front, itıs essential you donıt forget
your aims.  Itıs very easy to be carried away by the momentum of the moment
and find that youıve been shunted aside at some time during the campaign.
Different groups will join the campaign for different reasons.  Some will
use it as a platform to find new recruits to their organisation, others will
use it to attract votes, while still others will get caught up in the
momentum of the movement.
In such a situation, itıs critical that the organising group does not lose
sight of its original aims.  Whether these aims are achieved or not depends
on convincing your fellow travellers that itıs in their best interests to
get off at the same destination.  In this campaign, we not only aim to
defend what we have, we want the same principles extended to other areas of
the health delivery system.  We want access to health care to be a right not
a charity or a luxury.  As activists, we need to keep these aims uppermost
in our minds as we plan the campaign to defend and extend Medicare.
The issue transcends party politics.  To give the nod to one or other
political parties program because it meets some of our aims is a mistake.
Political parties have a habit of betraying their supporters once theyıre
elected into parliament.  Thatıs why itıs important that the campaign to
make access health care a right is run simultaneously with the campaign to
include access to health care in the Australian constitution.
Whether we succeed or not in defending and extending Medicare depends on our
ability to keep our aims and principles of association in mind every time we
design a campaign to promote our demands.

AUSTRALIAN RADICAL HISTORY
"FLYING THE RED FLAG"
The 1914 War Precautions Act was not only used to destroy the I.W.W., it was
also used to harass any radical opposition to the God, King and Country
brigade.  The Russian Revolution in 1917 sent shivers down the spine of both
the Federal and State governments.  The red flag represented the aspirations
of radicals around the country.  Chummy Fleming, the well known Melbourne
anarchist, spoke with a red flag flying behind him on the Yarra bank.
In 1917, the flying of the red flag was banned through the passage in
parliament of an amendment of the War Precautions Act that gave the Federal
Minister the power to prohibit the flying of a flag without his permission.
In Brisbane the ŒRed Flagı riots resulted as a consequence of the ban.  In
Melbourne, radical activists began a campaign of civil disobedience, flying
the red flag around the city.  The Melbourne Trades Hall Council bowed to
government pressure and stopped flying the red flag from Trades Hall.  The
Victorian Socialist Party took up the struggle flying the red flag whenever
they could.  The main struggle occurred on the Yarra bank, plain clothes
police with nothing better to do with their time would seize any flag they
saw and tried to arrest whoever was flying it.
Dick Long a poet and carpenter who lived in Sandringham was the first
activist in Melbourne to face court for flying the red flag.  His persistent
flying of the red flag eventually led him to be imprisoned.  Jennie Baines,
a leading member of the Womenıs Peace Army and member of the Victorian
Socialist Party, was imprisoned for 6 months in June 1919 for flying the red
flag.  She immediately embarked on a hunger strike and was released just 4
days after she was imprisoned.  The authorities were concerned about the
publicity generated by her hunger strike and decided to calm the situation
by releasing her.
Dick Long couldnıt stand life in the prison cells in the City Courts.  The
prison governor, a man who had some sympathy with Longıs plight, allowed him
to build a hut in the prison yard, which he lived in.  Long called the hut
ŒRed Flag Caféı and entertained prison visitors in the hut.  Meetings and
sing-alongs were organised by the Victorian Socialist Party, within earshot
of the City Court near the corner of Latrobe and Russell Streets in
Melbourne to give comfort to the red flag poet Dick Long.
SOURCE OF MATERIAL FOR THE ARTICLE: Page 190, ŒRadical Melbourne ­ A Secret
Historyı, by Jeff & Jill Sparrow, The Vulgar Press 2001, ISBN 0957735243.
The book is available for AUD$45.00 from The New International Bookshop,
Trades Hall, 54 Victoria Street, Carlton, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA.

  BOOK REVIEW
"EUREKA AND ITS FLAG"
Len Fox, Mullaya Books 1973, ISBN 0859140040
This little 40-page pamphlet is one of the plethora of books and pamphlets
that have been written as a result of the Eureka rebellion.  Written in
1973, it throws light on the origins and history of the Eureka flag.  The
flag was torn down from the flagpole at the Eureka stockade around 4.30am on
December 3rd 1854.  After the completion of the Eureka trials in 1855, the
flag passed in the possession of trooper John King, the man who had
volunteered to scale the flagpole to retrieve the flag.  King died in 1881,
the flag stayed in the possession of the King family who occasionally
displayed it at Methodist bazaars in Munyip.  In November 1895, the King
family loaned the flag to the Ballarat Art Gallery.
Interestingly, King offered to sell the Eureka flag to the Melbourne Public
Library in 1887, but the trustees, concerned about the implications of
displaying a rebel flag, refused the offer.  Important visitors to the
Ballarat Art Gallery in the early 1900ıs were given pieces of the flag as
souvenirs.  Occasionally a small piece of the Eureka flag that was
souvenired in the 1900ıs finds itself on the public market.
The flag was all but forgotten, placed in a draw in the Ballarat Art
Gallery.  Sydney journalist Len Fox became interested in the fate of the
flag and with the help of the Melbourne artist Rem McClintock, traced it to
the Ballarat Art Gallery in 1940.  In 1963, Frank Cayley stumbled across
some drawings of the Eureka flag made by William Broadford, one of the
miners who fought at Eureka.  The drawings confirmed that the ŒKing flagı
was indeed the original Eureka flag.  When Frank Cayley looked at the
original drawings of the flag, they were accompanied by a small fragment of
the original flag that had been sent to the Ballarat gallery on the death of
F. F. Broadford, the grandson of Broadford senior.
Len Foxıs 30-year saga to prove the flag held in a draw at the Ballarat Art
Gallery was the original Eureka flag is recounted in "Eureka And Its Flag".
The pamphlet is a tight methodical analysis of the history of the flag.  The
contents are divided into 3 chapters; The Events At Eureka, The Heritage Of
Eureka and The Flag Of Eureka.  The pamphlet has a useful index and 32
references.
One of the most interesting references concerns the Melbourne Age.  The Age
was first published on the 17th October 1854.  The paper was initially a
cooperative, owned by the compositors who printed it.  Ebenezer Syme bought
it at auction in May 1856.  The Age played an important role in reporting
the events at Ballarat, it had a reporter at the Eureka stockade.  The paper
whole-heartedly supported the Ballarat miners campaign.
I suggest if youıre interested in getting hold of a copy of this fascinating
little pamphlet you try your local library.
Donıt forget to join us on Wednesday 3rd December 2003 at the site at the
Eureka stockade, corner Eureka and Stawell Streets, Ballarat from 4am to 4pm
and RECLAIM THE RADICAL SPIRIT OF THE EUREKA REBELLION.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION
Itıs cold, bitterly cold, my flesh aches beneath an assortment of clothing.
The wind drives the rain in sheets of horizontal droplets before it.  The
flesh aches, wrapped up in an old overcoat I feel too tired to get out of
the rain and too cold not to.  The rain stops, the wind comes in gusts
battering everything before it.  I finally make it home wet, miserable, the
flesh aching.  It doesnıt take long for the heater to crush the four-dog
afternoon, the aches to melt and the muscles to slowly relax.
You have to wonder about the number of people who perish in the cold.  The
ability to turn on a switch is a luxury that not many people in the world
enjoy.  As the winter snows in Scandinavia melt, a body appears here,
another one there, a night of heavy drinking trying to find your way home,
too tired to go any further, the snow beckons, you lay in a gully, it covers
you, your body reappears in winter.  Old people huddled round bar heaters
trying to warm their souls.  Anybody who thinks that the human race has
mastered the weather, only needs to look at whatıs happening in the current
heat wave in Europe.
It takes time for the body to warm up, I can still feel that ache in the
muscle belly hours later.  My fate is nothing compared to the fate
experienced by the human logs at the Nazis hands.  The Nazis fostered an
attitude of superiority towards other people.  Jews, Slavs, Gypsies,
homosexuals, the disabled, communists and anarchists were not human beings,
they were human logs to be exterminated and used and abused for the glory of
the thousand year Reich.  Both Nazi and Japanese medical teams conducted
experiments on tens of thousands of people.  The human logs were weighed,
examined, documented then put in the snow naked.  The medical team buzzed
with excitement taking measurements every few minutes until the human logs
died.  Their bodies were then disposed in the most brutal manner.  They were
human logs not human beings with a future.
The Allies and the Russians were interested in getting access to the data
collected.  Teams were sent to the killing stations, deals were done,
monsters slipped into the medical research programs that were being run on
biological and chemical warfare for the Allies and the Russians.  A win-win
situation for everyone except those who died and those who were forced to
rub shoulders for decades with some of the most dehumanised section of the
human race.

STOP PRESS
ROYAL COMMISSIONS?
Have you noticed how issues come and go and very little is done to deal with
the issues raised.  Itıs as if once an issue is raised by the fourth estate,
the problem will somehow go away.  Time and time again, the same
inadequacies, shortcomings and accusations are raised.  Time and time again,
nothing happens.  Governments are in the business of keeping sensitive
information away from the community.  When it occasionally appears in the
public arena, they will do whatever it takes to ensure that no
investigations are carried out and more importantly nothing is done to upset
the status quo.
Exposure needs to be followed by direct political pressure.  The resignation
of the Governor General is not the end as some people think, the end of
questions about sexual abuse of children in church and State run
institutions.  Nothing short of a Royal Commission would be able to lift the
lid on this sorry little episode in Australian history.  The victims are
alive and continue to pay a price for their abuse they were subjected to.
Their partners and children are the ones who currently bear the brunt of
what happened to them.
Weapons of mass destruction is another case in point.  Leaked snippets and
Senate inquires cannot deliver the goods.  They can only be delivered by the
calling of a Royal Commission.  Unfortunately, the power to hold a Royal
Commission and more importantly the power to determine the terms of
reference of a Royal Commission is held in the hands of the government of
the day.  Legislation or no legislation, whistle blowers who put their head
up without the protection of a Royal Commission soon find that they are
isolated, derided and discarded like an old oily rag.
Royal Commissions in this country have a history of being called by
governments that want to damage their political opponents, not find out the
truth about problems troubling the community.  The Cole Royal Commission
into the building industry (actually the trade union movement), is a classic
example of how the Royal Commissions are manipulated by those who call them.
The H.I.H. Royal Commission is a brilliant example of how a government
deflects criticism of its handling of the affair by calling a Royal
Commission and then once the Royal Commission has made its findings, they
are tabled in parliament and the recommendations made, are then forgotten.
The only way to deal with this continuing problem is to apply public
pressure and force governments to call Royal Commissions with broad terms of
reference and ensure their recommendations are implemented.

Joseph TOSCANO / Libertarian Workers
for a Self-Managed Society.


ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK
… CNT No.291, June 2003, Organo de la Conferedacion Nacional del Trabajo,
APARTADO 4040, 18080 GRANADA, SPAIN, Tel:958289009, Fax:958288992,
jlgrua@ugr.es redaccion@periodcocnt.org
… TIERRA Y LIBERTAD No.178 MAY 2003, Periodico Anarquista, Apartado 7.056 de
Madrid, 28080 SPAIN, Tel:917970424, Fax:915052183,
tierraylibertad@nodo50.org

DEBT ELIMINATION APPEAL - Our debt stands at $1910.25
HERE WE GO AGAIN, ONLY EIGHT MONTHS INTO 2003 & we find ourselves struggling
to pay our bills & survive.  Just in case youıre waiting for a renewal
notice ­ we donıt send any out, we leave it up to our subscribers to take on
this responsibility & re-subscribe when their subscription has run out.  We
need to raise $210.00 per week in order to cover typing, printing, postage &
radio program and ongoing campaign costs. How much we are able to do depends
to a large degree on the level of our finances.  You can help by A) -
Subscribing to the AAWR $10.00 = 10 Issues, $50.00 = 50 Issues, B) - joining
our Dollar A Day group or C) - donating money or stamps.  Think about buying
your local library or a friend a subscription to the A.A.W.R. If sending
less than $20.00 save on banking costs & send us 50cent stamps. Otherwise
make out cheques & money orders to LIBERTARIAN WORKERS & send to P.O. BOX
20, PARKVILLE 3052, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.
Debt 27-08-2003            $1910.25

ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS ­ (ATNTF)

(Apologies for ATNTF not going out last week - I was away from work)

THIS WEEKS STORIES: Blood Is Thicker Than George Bush...Weapons of Mass
Destruction Found In Iraq...

A US writer in the London Times has described the Iraq war as "almost
bloodless". The civilian death toll from the war is estimated at least 6000
­ more than twice the amount of people that died in the bombing of the World
Trade Centre.
Job seekers are being instructed to take jobs as prostitutes by the govt's
Job Network. The Brisbane branch of the Job Network is also making job
seekers fill out a questionnaire, showing pictures of 4 men including 1
hippie & 1 with darker skin.  Job seekers are asked whoıd be more likely to
use drugs & who they wouldn't like their sister to marry among other
questions. The service recently offered a 56y.o woman with bad eyesight &
arthritis a job as an Army combat medic, a 62y.o a job as a junior & a 27y.o
man a job as a female prostitute. (Herald Sun, August 15).
US pilots dropped napalm on Iraqi troops during the war. Marine pilots &
commanders confirmed that they used an upgraded version of the weapon.  They
said napalm was used b/c of its psychological effect on an enemy. A 1980 UN
convention banned the use against civilian targets of napalm, a mixture of
jet fuel & polystyrene that sticks to skin as it burns. The US, which didnıt
sign the treaty, is one of the few countries that make use of the weapon.
The upgraded weapon, that uses kerosene rather than petrol, was used in
March & April, when dozens of napalm bombs were dropped near bridges south
of Baghdad. "We napalmed both those [bridge] approaches," said Colonel James
Alles, commander of Marine Air Group 11. "Unfortunately there were people
there...you could see them in the [cockpit] video. They were Iraqi soldiers.
It's no great way to die. The generals love napalm. It has a big
psychological effect." A reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald who
witnessed another napalm attack on March 21 on an Iraqi observation post at
Safwan Hill, close to the Kuwaiti border, wrote the following day: "Safwan
Hill went up in a huge fireball & the observation post was obliterated. 'I
pity anyone whoıs in there, a Marine sergeant said. We told them to
surrender."' At the time, the Pentagon insisted the report was untrue. "We
completed destruction of our last batch of napalm on April 4, 2001,". The
Pentagon denied lying. It drew a distinction between traditional napalm,
first invented in 1942, & the weapons dropped in Iraq, which it calls Mark
77 Fire-bombs. (New Zealand Herald, August 11).
The Victorian Ombudsman will investigate a number of complaints, some of
them serious, about the behaviour of tram inspectors on Vict's privatised
transport system. Despite having the power to arrest travellers, inspectors
receive only 1 week's training from the govt, as well as some training by
their employers. Chris Field from the Consumer Law Centre said inspectors
routinely break the law, for eg by forcing travellers to show identification
& demanding proof of ability to pay. Union secretary Lou Di Gregorio said
private transport companies pressure inspectors into treating the public
like criminals.  Mr Di Gregorio said inspectors had no incentive to help the
public, & inspectors who failed to issue enough infringement notices were
asked "what have you been doing all day?". (Melbourne Times, August 13).
An ex Liberal Party branch president has described Immigration Minister
Philip Ruddock's fundraising capacity as a "loaves & fishes phenomenon".
Clive Troy has made a submission to the Senate committee investigating the
Minister's use of his discretion in migration matters. Mr Troy was president
of the Liberal Party's Normanhurst branch, covering Mr Ruddock's seat of
Berowra. He says Mr Ruddock boasted about being a "very effective
fundraiser" & while the branch was always short of money, at election time
Mr Ruddock had enough to spare to support other electorates. Mr Troy says he
attempted to understand those unexplained funds by asking to see the
relevant financial records but they were never available. Heıs told the
committee he understands some sizeable donations collected more recently
didnıt go thru the local books but went to an account called the Millennium
Fund, that raised more than $100,000 for each of the last 3 federal
elections. (ABC news website, August 20).
Indonesia's Special Forces, Kopassus, will receive training from the Aust
military.  Kopassus has been linked to several human rights abuses.  Alan
Dupont from the Australian National Uni justified the links with Kopassus on
the grounds that "no one denies Kopassus' record, but the [Indonesian]
police are hardly paragons of virtue". (The Age, August 16).
QUOTES OF THE WEEK: "We make programs for the people we fly over".
Television executive, quoted by Andrew Denton.

anarchist news service write to James, PO Box 503, Newtown NSW 2042 or email
anarchists@hellokitty.com contact us to get ATNTF emailed directly to you.
If you like ATNTF, forward it on to people or lists who might be interested
in it, or post it on your local Indymedia http://www.indymedia.org. Some
other Aust anarchist contacts: Love & Rage is an anarchist, non-profit
record label.  Our CD is available by mail order.  20 songs for $10 within
Aust, $15 in NZ, $10 in USA, $10 in Canada, 5 pounds in UK, or 10 euros in
the rest of Europe.  Other countries, or enquiries from shops and distroes,
email us & ask.  Address for orders is PO Box 1191, Richmond North VIC 3121
(Australia).  Please make cheques or money orders out to J. Hutchings.
www.loveandrage.rocks.it www.angry.at/thegovernment - anarchist website with
fliers for download, contacts etc. 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 -
info for unemployed people, www.activate.8m.com - anarchist magazine aimed
at teenagers. ATNTF appears in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review
(http://www.vicnet.net.au/~anarch  - PO Box 20 Parkville VIC 3052) & The Ham
(http://www.theham.cat.org.au).
Media outlets mentioned in ATNTF are sources - items arenıt direct quotes
from news media.  Background info may have been gathered from sources in
addition to media outlets cited.  Where no source is cited, the info has
been gathered from direct sources.

ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK
Has been awarded to the silent majority, that great mass of people who are
happy to let the John Howards of the world manipulate their every thought
and action.

GRASSLANDS NEEDS YOU!!
Volunteers are urgently needed at Grasslands Groceries.  Grasslands is an
alternative cooperative that uses all profits made, to fund innovative
projects such as the Resource Centre for asylum seekers.  Come to an
information session at Grasslands, 205 Nicholson Street, Footscray.
Ring 93620830 to organise a suitable time.

HEALTH CARE A RIGHT NOT A CHARITY OR A LUXURY
DEFEND & EXTEND MEDICARE - RALLY
5.30PM FRIDAY  -  5TH SEPTEMBER 2003
STATE LIBRARY TO FEDERATION SQUARE ­ MELBOURNE
ALL WELCOME, BRING ALONG BANNERS
If you want a universal health care system that every body irrespective of
income, has access to join your local Defend and Extend Medicare group.
Email:Defendmedicare@yahoo.com.au www.defendmedicare.cjb.net
Tel: 03 5982 1170, Postal: P.O. Box 5035 Alphington 3078, Victoria
Australia.
Download any material you want and distribute it to your local community.

A DOLLAR A DAY
Increasing financial problems have forced us to review how The Anarchist
Media Instituteıs finances are raised.  Currently subscriptions and
donations only account for about 40% of the income necessary to cover our
costs.  To overcome this problem weıve launched a:-
SAVE THE ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE ~ "A DOLLAR A DAY" CAMPAIGN
We are looking for THIRTY People, interested in our activities, to pledge to
donate
ŒA Dollar A Dayı for twelve months.  You can donate monthly or yearly.  Make
out cheques and money orders to:- Libertarian Workers and send to PO Box 20,
Parkville. 3052. Melbourne. Australia.  Those who pledge will receive a "I
Saved The Anarchist Media Institute" A3 poster which you can frame and put
up at work or home - A great talking point if nothing else.  Weıve got the
ideas and energy but we need your financial assistance to keep going.  Go
on, become one of the Magnificent Thirty that saved the Anarchist Media
Institute.
SIX READERS HAVE JOINED THE "DOLLAR A DAY" CLUB ­ 25 TO GO JOIN TODAY!!
EMPTY YOUR POCKETS OF LOOSE CHANGE & SAVE THE ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE

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.

RECLAIM THE RADICAL SPIRIT OF THE EUREKA REBELLION
JOIN US AT BALLARAT AT THE EUREKA STOCKADE SITE
CNR STAWELL & EUREKA STREET, BALLARAT
>From 4AM TO 4PM
ON WEDNESDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2003
CELEBRATE THE 149TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EUREKA REBELLION
RECLAIM YOUR HISTORY
Celebrate the important elements of the Eureka rebellion
… DIRECT DEMOCRACY
… DIRECT ACTION
… SOLIDARITY
"We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to
defend our rights and liberties"
PROGRAM
… 4.00AM ­ 6.00AM ­ Gathering at Eureka Park to mark the 149th anniversary
of the battle on the site and at the time it occurred
… 6.00am ­ 10.00am ­ Breakfast Eureka Hall (Bring own food & drinks)
… 10.00am ­ 11.00am ­ Radio broadcast across Australia involving the
participants at the site on the National Community Radio Satellite
… 11.30am ­ 1.00pm ­ March from Eureka Park to Bakery Hill to re-affirm the
Eureka Oath.  March back to Eureka Park
… 1.00pm ­ 4.00pm ­ Lunch & conversation (bring own food & drinks)
Reclaim your history, use that history to change the future.
JOIN US AT EUREKA PARK / EUREKA HALL.
(CNR STAWELL & EUREKA STREET, BALLARAT)
>From 4AM TO 4PM
ON WEDNESDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2003
  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 CENTUR


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