A-Infos (en) Anarchist Age Weekly Review No.538 17th March ­ 23rd March 2003

[Phil McCrory <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

THANK YOU!!
I'd like to thank the United States government for finally showing their
true colours. Since the Second World War, the world has been fed the line
that the US of A is the home of liberty, democracy and American pie. With
hands on their hearts, the world has emulated and worshipped Washington, the
epicentre of the democratic tradition.

Well thatıs the myth. When people look beyond the myth, they are confronted
with the reality of American imperialism: an invasive cancer that has
directly and indirectly caused the deaths of millions of people. From
countries as diverse and far reaching as the Congo, Chile, Grenada,
Indonesia, Panama, Laos, Argentina, Vietnam, Palestine and Lebanon, people
have felt first-hand the wrath of the United States war machine when the
United States believed its interests were threatened. George F (F stands for
Fraudulent) Bush has done the world a favour by removing the iron fist from
the American velvet glove.

United States authority does not rest on ethical or moral considerations.
America does not promote democracy or liberty. Its legacy is one of
wholesale death and destruction. Ask the million Indonesians who were
slaughtered by United States supported and financed death squads; ask the
tens of thousand of the disappeared, who have vanished off the face of the
earth because they had the audacity to stand up to successive United States
administrations; ask the people of Cambodia and Laos who were drawn into a
secret war that bombed them back to the stone age and created the conditions
that gave birth to the Khmer Rouge, a government that was supported and
bankrolled by the United States when it was driven into the mountains by the
Vietnamese.

It's good to see that the United States moral authority rests directly on
its military might and the weapons of mass destruction at its disposal.
Ignoring world opinion, the United States will be launching an invasion into
Iraq that could result in the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis ­ a
people who could have been liberated from Saddam Hussein's regime in 1991,
who in 1991 were left to be slaughtered because the United States needed
Saddam Hussein to act as a bulwark against Muslim fundamentalism. Thank you
George F Bush for coming out of the shadows and openly using violence to
pursue the United States dream. Your actions have highlighted the pariah
status of the United States and those pathetic leaders like Howard the "bush
kangaroo" and Blair, leaders who have turned their backs on the people who
elected them into office.

REPLACE IRAQ WITH ISRAEL
The United States government and its coalition partners have just invaded
Israel. Sick and tired of seeing United Nations after United Nations
resolutions on Israel being ignored by the Security Council, they have
decided to unilaterally invade the State of Israel to stop its weapons of
mass destruction falling into the hands of religious fundamentalists. The
freedom loving nations of the world have become concerned about the
inclusion of religious fundamentalists in the latest Sharon cabinet.
Concerned that men and women who believe that the Messiah's return is
imminent and that his return will be marked by plague, war and famine, the
coalition of the willing has invaded Israel.

The Israeli government's stockpile of nuclear, biological and chemical
weapons, the most extensive in the Middle East, poses a threat to its Arab
neighbours and the rest of the world. The United States is adamant that they
must be disarmed and the religious fundamentalist regime changed if peace
and prosperity are to return to the Middle East. George Bush, the United
States President, believes that the Israeli government's brutal occupation
of the Palestinian people gives him the moral authority to launch a
unilateral invasion.

Collective punishment; deportations; summary executions; the destruction of
the homes of the families of Palestinian freedom fighters; the use of tanks,
helicopter gunships and jet fighters in civilian areas; and the refusal of
the Israeli government to allow Palestinian's who were forced off their
lands at gunpoint to return to their homes when the Israeli State was
formed, are just a few of the reasons that President Bush has used to
justify the invasion of Israel.

The coalition of the willing is fighting a just war, a legally sanctioned
war, a moral and ethical war. The State of Israel needs to be forcibly
disarmed. Its weapons of mass destruction must be destroyed and its elected
government, like the government of Chile, needs to be changed. That's why
the coalition of the willing, led by the United States, has just launched an
all-out attack on the State of Israel.

CAREFUL
Hearts and minds: hearts and minds is the name of the game. The media is the
message; control of the media is paramount. When the cruise missiles start
hitting their targets, new information about what's happening in Iraq will
became a valuable commodity. Many of Bush's senior advisers believe the
United States lost the war in Vietnam because the American people and the
world saw the direct results of the United States intervention in Vietnam.

This time they are determined to make no mistakes. They want to control the
information that's coming out of Iraq. Those who are familiar with the way
the media is manipulated will have seen the feel-good stories that have
appeared in the media. Pictures of gung-ho soldiers have given way to images
of smiling female combatants. Dissemination of propaganda is their most
powerful tool in the game. Following the line that if it doesn't appear in
the media it, hasn't happened, the United States military has embarked on a
system of news censorship that would make Stalin and Hitler smile.

This is a war that has everything to do with style and nothing to do with
substance. Controlling what images are beamed into people's lounge rooms is
as important as the war itself. Civilian casualties won't matter if there
are no pictures of them. Following the lead given by Ruddock, the
immigration Minister to the immigration department, as long as the media
doesn't have pictures of refugees, you can manipulate public opinion about
them. Once people see that they are living, breathing people like them with
the same wants and needs, it is difficult to demonise them. As long as
pictures of dead bodies and razed buildings are kept from the world, the
invasion of Iraq will be able to be presented as a clean precision war.

WATER!! WATER!!
At the Third-World Water Conference opening on Sunday, delegates from 150
countries met to discuss the most pressing problem facing the Third World:
access to water. About 1.4 billion people, around 25% of the worldıs
population, do not have access to clean drinking water, and over 2.3 billion
people, about 40% of the worldıs population, lack adequate sanitation
facilities. Tens of thousands of people, mostly children, die every year as
a result of water borne infections, due to a lack of access to clean
drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities.

The single greatest threat facing the 40% of the world's population that
cannot access clean water and adequate sanitation is privatisation. The
central question facing the Third-World Water Conference is the rapid
privatisation of the world's most important and essential product: water.
Poor countries that need to raise capital from the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank are finding that one of the conditions for new loans
is the privatisation their water supplies. The privaiisation of water by
transnational corporations has turned a human right into a commercial
commodity.

In both the developed and developing world, water privatisation has become a
21st century scourge. Access to water, a fundamental human right, is being
restricted to those who can afford it. The growing water shortages,
especially for domestic consumption, and the privatisation of water
supplies, both in the developed and developing world, have become the major
problem facing the world today. The privatisation of water supplies is the
unacceptable and unwanted face of capitalism. For all the United States
administration talk of freedom and democracy, it has encouraged and
supported the transfer of the ownership of water supplies from the state to
the private sector, both in the United States and in the developing world.

Access to water is a basic human need that we all share. Access to drinking
water and adequate sanitation is a universal human right that each and every
one of us, irrespective of how poor we are, should enjoy. This access could
be provided by the spending of a fraction of the money that will be spent by
the United States and its allies when they invade Iraq. It's a sad
indictment on the type of society we have become when the central debate at
the Third-World Water Conference revolves around the benefits of the
privatisation of water. Water privatisation by transnational corporations is
the single most important threat faced by the world.

The Third-World Water Conference needs to declare that access to clean
drinking water and sanitation is a human right. It also needs to put a
program in motion that will stop in its tracks the IMF and World Bank's push
to privatise water. If this does not happen, more and more people will be
finding that they will be spending more and more of their meagre resources
to access what should be a fundamental human right: the right to access
freely clean drinking water.

HONEST JOHN
The Prime Minister earned his nickname "Honest John" early on in his career
for his penchant for twisting the truth. As his parliamentary career has
progressed, he has become a Zen master of the honourable parliamentary art
of manipulating the facts to suit his current ideological position. His
attempts on Thursday to justify the invasion of Iraq is a text book study of
evasion and manipulation of the truth.

The man who has enriched the Australian vernacular with the phrase "core and
non core promises" is losing all credibility among an increasing number of
Australians. When he opens his mouth, many people no longer listen to what
he is saying. A significant number of Australian's now believe the Prime
Minister is incapable of telling the truth. He tells the Australian people
that refugees throw their children overboard when clearly they never did. He
tells them he will never introduce a GST and then does. He tells them he
hasn't made a decision about committing Australian troops to a war against
Iraq even though he has deployed two thousand troops to the Middle East.

Howard the "Bush Kangaroo's" performance on Thursday has stretched the
Australian peoples' gullibility to the limit. It's impossible to understand
how he can still publicly deny that he has not committed Australian service
man and women to the war against Iraq.

John Howard is the most divisive Prime Minister since Billy Hughes. Hughes'
historical legacy is one of deception. Hughes promised in 1917 that if the
conscription referendum was defeated, he would resign. When the referendum
was defeated, he resigned, but then persuaded the Governor-General to
recommission him to form a government with the same ministry that resigned ­
Howard's, like Hughes' legacy is one of deception. When he retires he will
be remembered not for what he has done in office, but as the man who added
the phrase "core and non core promise" to the Australian vernacular.

ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER
Q.  Is direct democracy anarchism?
A.  Although anarchists commonly use the term direct democracy to describe
the idea that the people involved in a decision should make that decision,
the term is not synonymous with anarchism.  Direct democracy is a mechanism
by which people make decisions.  It can be used by fascists and anarchists
alike.  The struggle to introduce citizens initiated referendums a form of
direct democracy is championed by both authoritarian and non-authoritarian
activists.  Each believing that the 'people' will support their point of
view.
Anarchism revolves around the idea of creating a society where there are no
rulers, people individually and collectively control their own lives.
Direct democracy is a mechanism by which people make decisions, itıs not an
ideology or philosophy.  Anarchism is based on two principles, equal access
to power and wealth, without both you canıt create a society with no rulers.
Direct democracy is a mechanism by which anarchists make decisions within a
society that is based on these principles.  What type of decisions are made
by a community that uses direct democratic principles are based on the
principles of association their communities are built on.
Itıs quite possible that people using direct democratic methods could
introduce the death penalty, vote to expel minorities from their community
and could even make a decision to practice infanticide.  What is and isnıt
decided depends on the principles that underpin that community.  Although
direct democracy is not the panacea that many people think it is, it is a
much more effective and useful mechanism of making decisions than
representative democracy or a dictatorship.  At least in a society based on
direct democratic principles, a significant majority of people have to agree
with a particular point of view before that viewpoint is implemented.
Direct democracy in a society where the methods of mass communication are
controlled by a small number of people is open to manipulation by majority.
A society where wealth is held in common is more likely to reflect the will
of the people than a society where wealth and power is concentrated in a few
hands.  Irrespective of its limitations direct democracy is a far more
effective and equitable way of making decisions than either representative
democracy an oligarchy or a dictatorship.

AUSTRALIAN RADICAL HISTORY
THE GREAT ADVENTURE
As Australians face the prospect of war, itıs important we examine the past
for clues on how to change the future.  The outbreak or WWI on the 4th
August 1914 was met with almost universal jubilation in Australia.
Enthusiasm for the God, King and Country brigade was widespread except in
the ranks of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.).  The Wobblies
were a lone voice in a great chauvinistic wilderness, but within 2 short
years they found themselves at the head of a movement that defeated Billy
Hughesı first conscription referendum.
The I.W.W.ıs determined response to the war helped to coalesce pockets of
unease that existed in Australian society.
"Let those who own Australia do the fighting.  Put the wealthiest in the
front ranks, the middle class next, follow these with politicians, lawyers,
sky-pilots and judges.  Answer the declaration of war with the call for a
GENERAL STRIKE"
were the sentiments echoed by Tom Barker an influential I.W.W. militant in
the groupıs newspaper Direct Action when the war was declared.  By the end
of 1914 Tom Barker had become the editor of Direct Action.  In July 1915 Tom
Barker wrote and printed what is arguably the most famous poster of W.W. I
TO ARMS!!
Capitalists, Parsons, Politicians,
Landlords, Newspaper Editors and
Other stay at home patriots
YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU IN
THE TRENCHES
WORKERS
FOLLOW YOUR MASTERS
Sydney was plastered with the poster, new ones were put up as soon as the
police scrapped them off.  The poster was so successful the government found
Tom Barker'ı poster "" more serious matter than the Germans in our midst".
"It is acts like this that do most to injure recruiting by instilling false
suspicions into the minds of the workers and by putting before them the
gross and egregious falsehood that what one may call the more well to do
classesS..are not doing their duty."
Barker was arrested, held in jail for a week before bail was posted.  He
argued that recruiting was a Commonwealth matter and as he was charged under
New South Wales law, the charges should be struck out.  He was convicted,
fined 50 pounds or 6 months jail.  He appealed, his counsel renewed the plea
that he was charged under State not Commonwealth legislation, his appeal was
upheld and all charges were dismissed.
In March 1916, Syd Nicholls a talented artist who had began drawing for
Direct Action at the beginning of the war sketched his famous war profit
cartoon


Tom Barker was once again arrested and tried for publishing material
prejudicing recruiting.  This time the government charged him under
Commonwealth laws and he was sentenced to a 100 pound fine or 12 months
jail.  He chose the 12 months jail.
Sources of information for this weekıs Australian Radical History:- SYDNEYıS
BURNING by Ian Turner, National Library of Australia register Aus 67-751,
First published 1967.

ACTION BOX
"TALK BACK"
Talkback radio is a forum that should be utilised by as many activists as
possible.  Itıs not easy and it takes time to make the most of it.  Itıs
important that both commercial and State run radio be targeted.  It should
be approached like a military campaign.  Leaving things to chance is not the
best way to approach the task.  The great thing about talkback radio is that
there is a radio station somewhere 24 hours a day thatıs taking calls.
First of all get a radio guide for your particular locality.  Find out what
stations use talkback and what times they accept calls from listeners.  If
you have the time, you need to set aside particular times during the week
when you can call different radio stations.  Try to vary the times you ring
and try as many radio stations you can.  Listen to the presenter for a few
weeks so you get some idea of how they treat talkback callers.  Some
programs will be easier than others to get on.  Know what you want to say
before you get on the program.  Itıs good to write down what you want to say
and learn it, never read on radio.  Even if your call is not spontaneous, a
spontaneous delivery is what attracts the interest of listeners.
Try to be as succinct as possible and learn to talk without taking a breath.
Only pause when you have finished what you have to say.  After a while,
regular listeners will recognise your voice and will start recognising a
pattern in the way you approach particular subjects.  There is no point
being rude or offensive on air, let the presenter do that.  Always be polite
to the producer, whether you manage to get on air will to a large degree
depend on the impression you give the producer.  If you give them a hard
time donıt expect to be put to air.
Donıt be discouraged if you donıt get it right at first, it takes time to
understand and use talkback successfully.  Always remember that your aim is
to get past the producer and presenter, so you can talk directly to the
people listening.  Talkback radio provides an opportunity that all activists
should avail themselves of.  Using the medium can be difficult but results
outweigh any difficulties you may experience.

 BOOK REVIEW
"THE WHITE MAN"
?The First Response of Aboriginal Peoples to the White Manı ­ Julia
BLACKBURN, Orbis Publishing Ltd. London 1979,
ISBN 08129-0826-0
Whenever human beings meet the unfamiliar they try to translate it into
something they have some knowledge about and have faced in the past.  During
the 19th and early 29th century, the last pockets of isolated aboriginal
people came into contact with the ?white manı.  How they responded to a
large degree determined their survival.  Imagine you wake up one morning and
see pictures on the television screen of aliens who have landed in Paris.
How you relate to the images would be determined by your cultural and
personal experiences.  "The White Man" is an anthology of stories that has
been told by people for whom white men were strange intruders.  Although the
arrival of the white man appeared sudden and unexpected, his appearance had
been heralded by disease and trade.  Many aboriginal societies were
devastated by disease they had no immunity for, before they actually saw a
white man.
The aboriginal people of Southern New South Wales and Victoria had been
devastated by smallpox ­ the white manıs disease before the white man
arrived.  Early European explorers in Australia noted many aboriginal people
bore smallpox scars on their faces.  The book is divided into chapters which
to some degree overlap.  It is lavishly illustrated by drawings, sculptures
and photographs of aboriginal peoplesı reaction to the white invasion.  Two
streams run parallel within the book, that the white man was powerful and
that he came from the lands of the dead.
Reaction ranged from the mildly curious to outright hostility.  The more
spiritual the culture the less influence the white man had.  His strongest
weapon, his trade goods, were spurned by those cultures that valued the
spiritual above the material.  In every case, that first meeting spelled the
end of a way of life that had survived in some cases for up to 40,000 years.
Some aboriginal people died quietly of desperation, others adopted the new
religion, while others died fighting, disappearing from the face of the
earth.  While, still others destroyed their cattle and possessions and
starved to death, believing the arrival of the white man was the sign that
they had been waiting for to enter the land of the ghosts.
"The White Man" is a troubling but fascinating look at history.  It tells
the story from the other side.  It is a story of sadness, madness and
wholesale destruction of the first nations of the world.
Try your local library or 2nd hand bookshops for a copy of this interesting
and devastating account of first contact.
P.S. IF ANY READERS HAVE ANY BOOKS THEY WANT REVIEWED IN THE ANARCHIST AGE
WEEKLY REVIEW SEND THEM TO PO BOX 20, PARKVILLE 3052, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
AND WEıLL DO OUR BEST. (Send enough stamps with the book to post it back to
you, if you want the book returned)

PERSONAL OBSERVATION
The "media" is the message, the "stock market" is the economy, this is the
21st Century mantra that governs our lives.  The wild fluctuation over the
past few days on the worlds stock markets are the visible manifestations of
an economic system that long ago divorced itself from the every day world.
Isolated from every day reality day traders and speculators have made the
stock market the world's biggest casino.  Fortunes are made and lost as
trillions of dollars circle the globe, buffeting real economies in the
search for paper profits.
Bricks and mortar, end of year profit and loss statements, production quotes
and forward planning has been replaced by rumours, innuendo, insider trading
and artificially engineered bear and bull markets funded by workers
superannuation funds.  The virtual economy holds all of us in a vice like
grip.  Employed, unemployed, self-employed, wage earners, old, young,
disabled, poor, sick, wage earner's superannuation funds are burnt at
Mammons alter.
Nothings real except the pain, despair and suffering of the human flotsam
and jetsam that waits for the stock market to lead them to nirvana, or is
that hell.  Nothing's real, except the losses, profits disappear into thin
air, the trickle down effect has become the treacle down effect.  The stock
markets desperate need for capital has been solved by compulsory
superannuation payments.  A steady stream of workers blood, sweat and tears
oils and drives the very system that profits from their toil.  Not content
with exploiting people's labour capital in partnership with government has
diverted workers compulsory superannuation payments into the world's biggest
casino.
The stock market is the economy; the real economy is subverted by the
virtual economy, nothing but the stock market matters.  Prices go up and
down, irrespective of profits, the dot com revolution has spilt into the
real economy with disastrous consequences.  Real people are the victims.
Corporations open and close, the collateral damage lingers on long after
paper profits and losses have been digested.

STOP PRESS
LEAVE THEM ALONE?
As the crescendo against the impending war in Iraq reaches fever pitch, the
cry has gone out to leave the armed forces alone.  The spectre of the
treatment many Australian ex-servicemen and women received on their return
home from Vietnam is raised again and again.  People conveniently forget
that successive Australian governments not individuals were responsible for
the abysmal treatment many Vietnam veterans received.
Australian servicemen and women in the Middle East know they are
participating in a war that does not have public support.  They know that
when and if they return home, their participation will be resented by many
people.  They also know that the treatment and support they and their
dependants will receive from government when they return back to Australia
will be inadequate to meet their needs.  Faced with these facts they may be
thinking about their participation in the war.
Refusal to participate in a war by a professional soldier is a very serious
offence.  At the very least, they will be ostracised and dishonourably
discharged from the armed forces, at the worst they would have to face a
military court and spend years in a military prison.  The pressures they are
faced with are immense.  Irrespective of the years of military training they
have undergone, rapidly changing events will force them to think about the
extent of their participation in the upcoming war.
Governments make decisions about participation in a war, individual soldiers
carry out those decisions.  Whether a war occurs depends on whether soldiers
obey orders.  The Nuremberg Trials clearly stated that individuals not the
State, carry the ultimate responsibility for the atrocities that are carried
out in a Stateıs name.  Following orders is not an acceptable excuse.  A
soldierıs duty to humanity far outweighs any responsibility to their unit,
military commanders or government.  Faced with these competing pressures,
itıs possible that some members of the Australian armed forces may refuse to
fight in the upcoming war.  Those that are thinking about making that
decision need to be supported by those of us who oppose the war.

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



ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK
FREEDOM Vol.64 No.5,8thMAR. 2003, Anarchist Fortnightly, 84b Whitechapel
High St, London E17QX, ENGLAND Email:FreedomCopy@aol.com
LE LIBERTAIRE  No.233/234 MAR ?03, Revue de synthese anarchiste, Boite
Postale 745, 76060  Leitavre Cedex FRANCE Tel:(0148414594),
www.le-libertaire.org, libertaire@normandnet.fr
LE MONDE LIBERTAIRE No.1310 6th-12th MAR ı03,  145 Rue Amelot, 75011
Paris, FRANCE, Tel:0148053408, Fax:0149299859
SICILIA LIBERTAIRIA Vol.27 No.216 FEB.2002, Giornale Anarchico per la
Liberazione Sociale Lıinternazionismo, Via Galileo Galilei 45, 97100 Ragusa,
SICILY, ITALY, email:si_lib@hotmail.com
UMANITA NOVA Vol 83 No.7 EL 23RD  Feb.ı03, Settimanale Anarchico, C.50
Palermo 46, 10152, Torino ITALY. tel/fax (011) 857850 Mobile 338-6594361
email:fat@inrete.it

DEBT ELIMINATION APPEAL - Our debt stands at $1620.40
HERE WE GO AGAIN, ONLY THREE MONTHS INTO 2003 and we find ourselves
struggling to pay our bills and survive.  Just in case youıre waiting for a
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take on this responsibility and re-subscribe when their subscription has run
out.  We need to raise $210.00 per week in order to cover typing, printing,
postage and 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 Anarchist Age Weekly Review $10.00 = 10 Issues,
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Debt 19-03-2003            $1620.40

ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS
One of the people accused of helping refugees escape from Woomera is asking
for letters of support. Please write to: Timothy Daniel Collins, Port
Augusta Prison P.O.BOX 6, Port Augusta SA 5700 (Tim can't receive any books
orpapers but can receive cash & money orders).
THIS WEEK'S STORIES: Politicians Are Bastards...Yes, All Of Them...
Victorians see politicians as liars & believe they arrange 'jobs for the
boys' & don't act in the community's best interest, according to a new study
by Monash Uni. One person who took part in the study said "I think we should
turn it into 'Big Brother' & vote them out week by week". Another said "if
you worked in politics you probably wouldn't advertise the fact", & that
state leaders are "just chosen for presentation & selling skills". Other
comments included "I can't have access to my super, why should they?" &
politicians' behaviour in Parliament is "ridiculous. I'd rather watch
'Beauty & the Beast'". (The Age, Mar 6).
A high-profile unionist who left the Labor Party & joined the Greens, saying
the Labor Party was too right wing, says the Greens may be just as bad. Dean
Mighell says he "found it really hard to reconcile that some of the Greens'
candidates couldn't care less about kids being able to afford to go to
school or the public health system. People call them middle-class tree
huggers & they did everything in regional areas to reinforce that that was
the case". Mr Mighell said the Greens had good social policies in inner-city
Melbourne, but they "tend to be optional" everywhere else. (Melbourne Times,
Mar 5).
Wealth inequality in Aust has gotten worse since 1992, according to a new
statement by the Catholic Church. Dr Bruce Duncan from the Yarra Theological
Union said poverty in Aust has started to disproportionately affect
children. Dr Duncan said in 2000, more than 300,000 families with children
under 15 had no one in full time paid work. The report also notes there has
been "an explosion of executive remuneration levels". (The Age, Mar 8).
New figures on refugee children in detention show that the govt has broken
its promise to improve conditions & made only "cosmetic changes", according
to refugee advocates. Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock released
guidelines saying unaccompanied children would be placed in foster care &
women & children would be offered an alternative to high-security detention
centres. Immigration Dept figures show that the proportion of children in
detention has decreased by 0.4 of 1%. A study by the Royal Aust & N.Z
College of Psychiatrists found "epidemic" levels of self-harm & suicide in
detention centres. Dr Louise Newman, who helped put the study together, said
children could be "re-traumatised by the things that they witness or
experience in detention". Dr Newman said unaccompanied children were
particularly at risk. (The Age, Mar 9).
A new enquiry into the abuse of children in orphanages & foster homes from
the 1920s to the 70s is expected to expose govts & churches. Children in
institutions were often separated from their siblings & subject to corporal
punishment & 'penal routines'. Sexual abuse was also rife in many homes.
(The Age, Mar 8).
2 prisoners died at a US military base, apparently after being beaten.
Ex-prisoners at the base say that detainees are chained to the ceiling,
shackled so tightly that blood flow stops, kept naked, hooded & kicked to
keep them awake. The autopsy of the 2 prisoners says they suffered from
"blunt force injuries" & classified the deaths as homicides. A captured
Al-Qaeda leader is believed to be being held at the same base. US officials
say that the CIA is applying "the full range of permissable techniques".
Reports say he "probably doesnıt know what country heıs in or even what day
it is". The CIA says heıs being held outside of the US so that heıs not
subject to constitutional protections. Cofer Black, head of the CIA
Counter-terrorism Centre, is said to have declared that interrogators had
been given 'greater leeway in interpreting the law'. One Al-Qaeda member is
said to have had his painkillers withheld, which he needed after being shot
in the groin. Former CIA officer Larry Johnson said a "sleep deprivation &
reward system" would be used. He added "I don't see a constitutional right
to have 8 hours of sleep". In fact the US Constitution forbids 'cruel &
unusual punishment' even for convicted criminals, let alone suspects. (The
Age, Mar 6 & 8).
The govt hasnıt released a report on the health of veterans of the first
Gulf War. A spokesperson for the Defence Minister said the report would be
released "soon", but didnıt give a date. (The Age, Mar 9).
Love & 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). 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 All the News That Fits, forward it on.
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. All the News That Fits appears in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review
(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.

ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK
Has been awarded to the troika of evil ­
Bush, Blair and Bushı kangaroo Howard..

PEOPLE AGAINST REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION DEMONSTRATE
EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 11.30AM
Outside ESSOıs Australian Headquarters, Southbank, Melbourne.
To highlight the link between oil and the imminent invasion of Iraq. Bring
along your own banners, leaflets and placards ­ the more the merrier.   All
Welcome.

PEACE WEEKEND 21ST/23RD MARCH 2003
Mornington Peninsula Victoria
After a lot of hard work by a few Anti-war/peace groups on the bay and on
the Mornington Peninsula, we gathered at Beauty Park in Frankston on
Saturday the 15th March 2003.
About 300 people joined in the peoples' protest against the war on Iraq.
Beauty Park in Frankston is at the back of the town hall, where thereıs a
bit of open space.  One car radio had Canned Heats "going up country"
playing as we walked up to the gathering.  I could see flags & coloured
hippie clothes on the people (as opposed to the black they wear in the
city).  It could have been Woodstock again.  No just dreaming after we met
the other activists, we settled in to listen to the speakers. The first &
one of the best of the speakers was Robert Nowsome, a UK military man who
fought in WWII. Heıs now strongly opposed to any war, especially on the
dodgy grounds the triumitive of terror Bush, Blair & Howard are trying to
justify their war in Iraq to the people who put them there.
In a nutshell he told us soldiers from his unit we were taken from India &
were sent to Iraq to put down a Iraqi, pro German attempt to liberate some
airfield from the UK occupying forces.  Robert took part in that successful
operation. He then went to the Western Desert where the UK, Australian & the
rest of the Kings Empire troops took on the might of Erwin Romels, Afrika
corps. He was captured & was sent to a P.O.W camp in Austria, escaped &
fought with Titoıs Partisans in Yugoslavia was captured, once again & saw
the war out with Soviet Prisoners of war. He survived, was rescued by Allied
forces & then spent the next 8 years working for UK intelligence. He was a
soldier, he saw war unlike most of us, he says no war. Most of the other
speakers were fine local speakers, all with the message no more war on Iraq
& get rid of sanctions.
One woman who spoke had just returned from the Burke/Wills type walk to
Canberra. A group left on Wed the 19th Feb. to take the message of peace,
love & no war on Iraq to the bullshit palace (Parliament).  Then last but
not least, Brendan from the Peninsula, advertised a weekend of peace action
on March 21,22 & 23, 2003, a public debate on Friday 21st March, between
Greg Hunt Federal MHR for Flinders & Lee Hubbard - Trades Hall 7:30pm leader
will be held at (Melway 158-D12) Saturday March 22 Rosebud Peace Rally  &
Sunday March 23 Sorrento Peace Rally. Phone David 59821025 for more
information.
Brendan finished with a great quote for an anti war activist. Guess who R?.
"Naturally the common people donıt want war but after all itıs the leaders
of the country who determine the policy & its always a simple matter to drag
the people along whether it be a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a
parliament or a communist dictatorship.  Voice or no voice the people can
always be brought to the bidding of the leaders that is easy, all you have
to do is tell them that they are being attacked & denounce the pacifists for
lack of patriotism & that they would expose the country to danger, it works
the same in every country" Hermann Goering Nuremberg to November 1945.
****STEVEN REGHENZANI*****

FILM / VIDEO REVIEW.
JOHN Q.
USA 2002. 111min Director: Nick Cassavetes.
 The Archibalds are working poor. He does 20hours a week factory work &
she's a supermarket casual.  Their only son, 9yo Mike, collapses with a
deadly heart condition.  Their health insurance company will not pay for a
heart transplant.  Desperate John Q takes the hospital emergency staff
hostage until his son gets the operation. This is what a 'user pays'
privatised health system can do for you too. The individual 'man of action'
model is the drama of this film.  The chief bureaucrat for the insurance
corporation is a woman. The finale shows real-life brief glimpses of many
folks collectively protesting for health care.
 The website promoting the film has links to organ-donor networks and
charities, but alas excludes unions, community and protest groups.
TRIVIA:  Highest rating TV medical soapie E.R. recently had dramatic
industrial action. A walk-out by the ER staff demanded metal detectors to
stop gun-toting situations after a worker was held at gun point. The
detectors were installed, despite budget restrictions, when the organisr of
the walk-out decided who lost their job, to pay for the detectors !
Weapons, oil and pharmaceuticals Corporations will "make a killing" from the
slaughter in Iraq. With their wealth from everyday medicines, terrorism by
germ warfare fears making compulsory mass vaccinations & now the War crisis
we are assured our pain is their profit.
Entertainment *** Politics **
REVIEW BY BACI.

 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

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