A-Infos (en) Anarchist Age Weekly Review No.547 19th May ­ 25th May 2003

[Phil <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
 > NOW THEY WANT YOUR CHILDREN
The Federal governmentıs decision to use Defence Force Reserve personnel to
guard public buildings, protect vital infrastructure and deal with civil
disturbances and terrorist threats, opens the door for the reintroduction of
conscription. Faced with circumstances largely of its own making, the Howard
government and the Australian people are beginning to find there is more
than a financial cost to our governmentıs military adventurism.

Aligning Australia with the neo-conservative first strike policy ­ the
United States administration foreign policy agenda ­ has made Australians
living in both Australia and overseas prime terrorist targets. Our ability
as a nation to defend ourselves against this threat is limited by the size
of the Australian Defence Forces.

The Coalition governmentıs denial that they are not thinking about
introducing conscription has to be balanced by the reality they face. The
continued involvement of Australian Defence Personnel in Iraq, as well as
Australiaıs increasing involvement in the Pacific region and South East Asia
has profound implications for all of us.

Australiaıs uncritical support for the Bush administrationıs foreign policy
agenda comes at a price. Last weeks Federal budget has seen the government
attempt to wind back its contribution to both health and education to
bankroll its military adventurism.

Today they divert our taxes from vital social and welfare programs; tomorrow
they want to conscript our children to fight their wars for them. The
invasion of Iraq has neither liberated the Iraqi people nor made the world a
safer place.

Australiaıs unilateral support for the Bush administrationıs colonial agenda
has placed Australia and our way of life in the path of an ember shower.
This shower has the potential to create so many spot fires that no amount of
militarisation of the population can ever hope to contain them. Bush fires
cannot be contained solely by back burning.

The reasons why they occur and spread need to be understood and measures
need to be taken to prevent them from starting. Until Australian governments
and the Australian people begin to understand the reasons behind the current
upsurge in terrorist activity and follow independent foreign policy
initiatives, we will be battling fires we have no hope of controlling,
irrespective of whether conscription is introduced and whether we are allied
to the United States.

TOUCHING
It's interesting to note how the legal fraternity has worked itself up into
a lather about the rights of people who suffer injury due to someone else's
negligence. The cynic in me makes me think that they are much more
interested in their bottom line than their clientsı legal rights. An injury
is an injury; a disability is a disability. Why should a person who suffers
an injury due to someone elseıs negligence have the ability to sue for that
injury, while someone whose injury or disability is not due to negligence
should not receive the same amount of support and compensation?

Whether an individualıs disability is due to a road traffic accident, a
workplace injury, medical negligence, a birth defect or an accident at home
is not important. At the end of the day, irrespective of how the disability
arises and whose fault it is, the burden borne by the individual, their
family and friends is the same.

It's time that the very real inequalities that exist between people whose
disability attracts compensation and those whose disability does not attract
compensation were tackled by Federal, State and local governments, and
professional associations. It's time that a national universal no fault
compensation scheme was raised as a serious alternative to the current
unsatisfactory piecemeal arrangement.

Such a scheme is not impossible to implement. It has been successfully
administered in New Zealand for decades. Unfortunately to date, vested
interests in this country, which include legal and medical professional
associations, media conglomerates that rely on advertising revenue generated
by the legal fraternity, and governments and opposition parties that have
long given up any pretence of representing their electorates interests, have
not seriously raised questions about the introduction of a universal no
fault compensation scheme for people who are born or suffer disabilities,
irrespective of the way that disability is caused. The sooner this debate
begins, the sooner the glaring inequalities that exist between people with
the same disability in Australia are resolved.

I WONDER WHY
The significant decline in the ratings of ABC local radio's flagship
Melbourne 774 is not just due to seasonal variations or a deficiency in the
ratings system, it signals the demise of the ABC's attempt to increase
ratings by mimicking their corporate competitors. The ABC finds itself in a
difficult position. Starved of funds, ruled by a hostile government
appointed board and managed by personnel appointed during the disastrous
Shier dynasty, the ABC finds itself in a cul-de-sac of its own making.

ABC radio's cultivation of conservative commentators, its timidity, its
inability to provide a range of opinions on subjects because of the culture
of self-preservation and self-censorship that has now enveloped ABC local
radio, has driven its traditional listener base away to both community radio
and the internet. ABC listeners are not interested in listening to opinions
that are repeated ad nauseam in the commercial sector. People switch on to
the ABC to make sense of their world, they want to listen to a range of
opinions, they're not content just listening to the government and the
oppositionıs media releases.

The culture of fear that has been created by the almost universal acceptance
of individual contracts within the ABC is strangling what little creativity
and diversity of opinion that exists in ABC local radio ­ no wonder
listeners are tuning out in droves looking for analysis in other quarters.
The current pathetic state of ABC programming is a direct result of the
ideological war that was launched when the coalition government was elected
seven years ago.

With each succeeding year, the ABC has become indistinguishable from the
commercial sector; its format, guests, program composition, presenters,
producers and guests are interchangeable. Rusted-on ABC listeners have
little interest in listening to the government gelded ABC. They want the
fearless inclusive analysis that ABC radio was noted for; they donıt want to
listen to an ABC that's become a hostage of the government of the day.

Thatıs why community radio, especially community radio that tackles social,
political and cultural questions, has never been so popular. As a
broadcaster on community radio for over twenty-five years, I have never had
so many interested people call me after my broadcasts; almost all are former
ABC listeners who are disillusioned with the path ABC local radio has
embarked on.

WHY NOW?
Shocked? Disgusted? It's strange how it takes years for the truth to seep
into the collective consciousness. Not that people are unaware of the truth:
since the introduction of the Mandatory detention of refugees and the Howard
governmentıs decision to contract out their incarceration and care to a
private corporation (Australian Correctional Management), stories about the
brutality endured by asylum seekers have surfaced with monotonous
regularity.

Not that the privatisation of the prison system is something new: The First
Fleet was a government-sponsored venture, and convicts and soldiers were
relatively well treated and most survived the journey to Botany Bay. The
second fleet was a disaster, half the convicts died on route and the rest
were in a miserable, wretched state when they arrived. The difference: the
second fleet had been contracted out to private sources. Profits were
extracted from the blood, sweat and tears of both convicts and soldiers. The
colonial office was so concerned about the mortality and morbidity rate
among convicts and soldiers in the second fleet, private sector contracts
were abandoned.

Whether it's a private prison or detention centre in Australia or a private
prison in the United States, incarcerating people for profit has a profound
effect on staff, prisoners and the prison system itself. The vast prison
gulps in the United States are in part due to the domination of the United
States prison system by corporations. The more prisoners they handle and the
more shortcuts they take, the greater the profits they make from
incarceration.

After a while, the horror stories that escape the prison censors become a
self-fulfilling prophecy. The ABCıs Four Corners on Monday night did not
raise any new allegations; the atrocities that have been detailed in the
past were confirmed by the interviews conducted on the program. What's
disappointing about the governmentıs and mediaıs response to the program is
their focus on the possibility that ACM was defrauding the Commonwealth, and
their focus on the traumatisation of ACM staff. At the end of the day, ACM
staff was there because they needed a job. Irrespective of ACM's staff
experiences, it would be more appropriate if the harsh glare of publicity
were concentrated on the inhuman way asylum seekers have and continue to be
treated by a government that has dehumanised in our name those seeking
asylum in Australia, rather than ACM staff problems.

66.78 AND GOING UP!
I wouldn't be breaking out the champagne and celebrating the Australian
dollarıs meteoric rise just yet. The value of the Australian dollar is
directly related to the fall in the US currency, a fall that has been
engineered by the United States Reserve Bank to inflate artificially the
value of the Euro and other major foreign currencies.

The United States economy and stock market has been wallowing in the
doldrums despite historically low interest rates of 1.75%. Its military
adventurism has not kick started the economy. The economic gains that were
expected have not materialised because the cost associated with its military
posturing far outweigh any economic gains that can be expected now or in the
near future. Faced with the dilemma of a slowing United States economy that
cannot be controlled by the use of monetary policy (interest rate cuts), the
American Reserve Bank has embarked on a policy of actively encouraging the
fall of the United States dollar.

It has given investors the signal that it will not use Reserve Bank funds to
prop up the value of the American dollar because it wants it to fall in
value in relation to the value of most of its competitors. The flow of
overseas funds into the United States economy over the past decade, because
of the high value of the dollar and historically low interest rates, has not
been able to give the economy the head of steam it needs.

In many cases, itıs eroded the level of United States exports. Faced with
this problem, the Reserve Bank is now allowing the United States dollar to
fall in relation to the value of its main competitors, especially the newly
created Euro.

The sheer size of the European economy to some degree will protect it from
the fall in the value of the American dollar. Unfortunately for the United
Statesı main ally ­ little old Australia ­ the resultant rise in the
Australian dollar will cripple our economy, increasing unemployment and
destroying Australian businesses, because our exports will be uncompetitive
in relation to United States exports. Australians need to understand that
this is the price that we have to pay (one John Howard never told us about)
if we want to continue to cuddle up to big brother.

ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER
Q.  WHO WILL CONTROL THE MEDIA IN AN ANARCHIST SOCIETY?
A.  No one and everyone.  The media plays an important role in any
community.  Any technology that allows ideas to be presented to a large
number of people simultaneously has the potential to set economic social and
cultural agenda for that community.  The media in both corporate and State
capitalist societies plays an important role in maintaining the status quo.
The fundamental difference between the media in a highly centralised and an
anarchist society is the level and control people have over media outlets.
Currently control rests in the hands of the State or the corporate sector.
At the end of the day the Œfourth estateı monkey dances to the organ
grinders tune not the people watching the performance.  The monkey and the
organ grinderıs performance is structured to extract the maximum amount of
cash from the pockets of those watching.  The repertoire is determined by
the organ grinder.  The monkey acts out the organ grinderıs fantasy.  The
key to an independent media lays in breaking down the highly centralised
nature of the medium and transferring its ownership from private, corporate
and State hands into the hands of the community.
The greater the degree of decentralisation and the greater the variety of
technology thatıs utilised to decimate ideas and information, the greater
the chances the media reflects the aims and aspirations of the community it
serves and the people who work in that medium.  Breaking the power of those
that own and use the media to maintain the status quo and generate a profit
from their control of information, this is the best way to break down the
monopoly over information and discussion they now enjoy.  Thatıs why itıs
important that anarchists seize the moment and use current technological
innovations to develop independent media outlets that are free of corporate
and State domination.
The creation of these independent outlets provides the spark thatıs needed
to encourage people to challenge orthodox political thinking and action.
Without creative use of these independent outlets, people will be forced to
rely on corporate and State dominated media outlets to make sense of a world
where conversation between people has all but been reduced to conversations
about what is happening in the corporate dominated media and the government
gelded ABC.

ACTION BOX
DEFEND AND EXTEND MEDICARE
"Health Care Is A Right,
Not a Charity Or A Luxury"
Thank you for expressing an interest in forming a Defend and Extend Medicare
in your local Federal electorate. The changes which are proposed for
Medicare, as we are all aware, will create a two tier health care system
that will see an explosion in health care costs for non concession card
holders and the development of a second rate system for concession card
holders.
DEFEND AND EXTEND MEDICARE is a non party political single health care group
that wants to ensure that access to good health care is a right not a
charity. Currently we have two functioning groups, Defend and Extend
Medicare-Flinders and Defend and Extend Medicare-Melbourne, with plans to
establish a Defend and Extend Medicare group Dunkley. We would like to see
the establishment of grass roots Defend and Extend Medicare groups in all
150 Federal electorates by the end of June this year.
Defend and Extend Electoral Groups are autonomous, membership is open to
anyone who believes that health care should be a right, not a charity or a
luxury. Local groups decide on their own strategy, elect their own office
bearers and should be financially self-sufficient. Delegates from
established Defend and Extend Medicare groups meet every there weeks to
coordinate projects and activities and discuss the possibility of combined
action at both the local, regional and national level.  Delegates from
Defend and Extend Medicare groups meet nationally at least once every six
months.
Currently the hub of activity is Victoria, we need to break out of our
isolation and form groups around Australia if we are to be effective.
Defend and Extend Medicare is open to both health care recipients and
providers both in the public and private sector. We see ourselves as part of
a larger movement that is trying to defend Medicare. We are not only
interested in defending what we have, but want to extend the underlying
universal health care principles that Medicare should embody.
After the successful meeting at Trades Hall Melbourne, the time has come to
establish more local groups based in Federal electorates.  We encourage you
and anybody else who's interested to come along to the next organising
meeting at the
THE ANNEX (1st  FLOOR) NEAR THE BAR
TRADES HALL/MELBOURNE
6:30PM
WEDNESDAY THE 28TH OF MAY
CORNER VICTORIA PDE & LYGON STREET, CARLTON, MELBOURNE
If you could come prepared with the name of the Federal electorate you want
to organise a Defend and Extend Medicare group, it would save a lot of
valuable time. If you can't come to the meeting or live in regional Victoria
or interstate and want to organise a Defend and Extend Medicare group, ring
us on
0439 395 489 and leave a message, someone will contact you within 24 hours.
If you want further information or want to become a member of a group,
e-mail us at defendmedicare@yahoo.com.au or write to us at
PO. Box 5035 Alphington 3078 Melbourne Australia.
REMEMBER IF YOU DONıT FIGHT TO RETAIN AND EXTEND WHAT WE HAVE, WE WILL SOON
FIND THAT WE WILL LOSE WHAT OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS SUCCESSFULLY FOUGHT
FOR.
Dr Joseph Toscano / Ms. Julie Jones / Mr Brendan Bride, National Convenors
Defend and Extend Medicare.

AUSTRALIAN RADICAL HISTORY
"BURYING THE DEAD"
Percy Brookfield, Laborıs titan, anti conscription and the Industrial Labor
Partyıs only member of the New South Wales parliament was shot four times as
he tackled Koorman Tomayiff a Russian immigrant who started firing
indiscriminately when the Adelaide train arrived at Riverton Station on the
morning of Tuesday 22nd March 1921.  Brookfield survived the initial attack
but died at the Adelaide Hospital at around 5.30pm.
That same night, his body made its way back to Broken Hill on the express
train.  Thousands poured into Broken Hill Station to await the arrival of
the train the next morning.  As the express train came to a halt, the
Workers Industrial Union Band played the ŒRed Flagı.  His coffin was lifted
by pallbearers and his body was carried to Trades Hall.  The coffin was open
and thousands filed past his body to pay their last respects.  Radicals,
conservatives, religious and the non-religious filed past the coffin.  Many
wept openly, others brushed aside a tear, other just stared.  On Good Friday
25th March 1921, Percy Brookfield aged 43 was buried in the Broken Hill
cemetery.  15,000 of the 24,000 people living in Broken Hill followed the
hearse to the cemetery.
Six black horses pulled the hearse, red ribbons festooned their heads.  A
rider on a black horse flying a red flag led the funeral procession.  As the
band played ıThe Red Flagı thousands joined in.  The mourners then sang
Percy Brookfieldıs favourite song Œ Should I Ever Be A Soldierı.  As
Brookfield was an atheist, no religious service was conducted.  Brookfieldıs
friends and fellow unionists spoke at the grave site, many openly wept.
At the conclusion of Ern Wetherallıs (one of his closest union friends)
address, his coffin was lowered into the ground as the popular radical song
ŒHold The Fortı was sung.  J.J. Reilly an other union friend stated once
"the great fight which Brookfield fought, is not yet wonŠ.but he has left an
example which I believe will be an inspiration.  Brookfieldıs time will be
remembered wherever there is master and slave, wherever the working classes
rally under the Red flag".
Speculation run riot after the funeral that Tomayiff had been paid to murder
Brookfield, as Brookfield had been assaulted in the past.  No inquiry was
ever held into these allegations.  Tomayiffıs actions were dismissed as
those of a Œmadmanı.  Although a committee was set up to organise a memorial
socialist school, plans to set up the school were abandoned.  Instead a
memorial was erected over Brookfieldıs grave, a tall column surmounted by a
globe had the words "Workers of the World Unite" embedded in it.
If any reader knows what happened to Tomayiff and whether Brookfieldıs
memorial stands in the Broken Hill cemetery, can you drop me a line ­ Joseph
TOSCANO.
Source of material for article: LABORıS TITAN, THE STORY OF PECY ROOKFIELD
1878-1921 by Gilbert Giles Roper, Edited by Wendy and Alan Scarfe,
Warrnambool Institute Press 1983
ISBN 0949759031

  BOOK REVIEW
  "THE DAY THEY SHOT EDWARD"
  by Wendy SCARFE, 1ST Published 1991,
  Review Edition 1992, ISBN 0 86786 321 8
A novel with an anarchist as a hero?  A novel written in Australia?  A novel
thatıs based on a role of the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World) in
the anti conscription movement during WWI?  "The Day They Shot Edward" by
Wendy Scarfe is all that and more.  I hate to admit that I had never heard
of Wendy and Alan Scarfe until a letter from the author and two books
arrived at the Anarchist Media Institute last week.  Wendy a retired
Victorian Secondary school teacher has written 21 books, 12 jointly with her
husband Alan, covering topics as diverse as the Vietnam War, the Greek Civil
War, Tiger on the Rein: Report on the Bihar famine and many others.
"The Day They Shot Edward" is a 120 page novel thatıs spun out of a previous
book edited by Wendy and Alan Scarfe; ŒOn The Labor Titan Percy Brookfieldı.
The information unearthed putting together Percy Brookfieldıs life,
familiarised the author with the rich vein of radical Australian history
that has been conveniently forgotten as todayıs rulers attempt to redefine
the past to suit their current agenda.
"The Day They Shot Edward" although interwoven with stories of sickness,
poverty, despair, intolerance and murder is essentially a gentle and
sensitive story. "The Day They Shot Edward" is narrated through the eyes of
Matthew, a young boy living on the outskirts of Adelaide during the war to
end all wars.  He lives with his Gran, his mother and his consumptive
father, a man who long ago seized to have any influence on his son.  Edward
the anarchist, the anti conscription activist, his motherıs silent platonic
suitor, looms larger and larger in the boys life doing things, Mathewıs
father, coughing up blood, a virtual prisoner in one room of the house, can
no longer do.  Matthewıs mother Margaret, seems to be oblivious to the boyıs
needs consumed and bitter about the slow lingering sickness consuming her
husband.  His upbringing is left to his Gran, commonly known around the town
as ŒRed Granı a tough Irish woman who has seen her fair share of hardships
and Edward the anarchist, agitator and stump orator.  Australian radical
history is neatly inter-woven in the life of Mathew, a boy whose outlook and
future is moulded by his experiences at home, at school and in a community
thatıs bitterly divided about Australiaıs participation in WWI.
As the story reached its inevitable conclusion, I couldnıt help feel that
this is a book thatıs more suitable for adolescent readers than adults.  I
became irritated with the constraints that Matthewıs limited experiences
placed on the authorıs ability to develop her central character.  Other
readers may find that Wendy Scarfeıs ability to tell her story through the
eyes of a child is what attracts them to this story.
I have no hesitation in recommending this book to both adolescents and
adults.  Itıs an excellent example of how the past can be used to understand
the present. "The Day They Shot Edward" highlights that science fiction is,
not as many people think is, the only literary genre that can do justice to
the anarchist ideas.
You can obtain the book from
… The International bookshop, TRADES HALL, Corner Victoria Pde & Lygon St.
Carlton 3053 Melbourne. AUSTRALIA.
… Collins Bookshop, 99 Liebig St. Warrnambool 3280 VICTORIA AUSTRALIA.
… It can also be obtained directly from the author Wendy SCARFE c/- Joseph
TOSCANO P.O. Box 5035 Alphington 3078, Victoria AUSTRALIA.  Send a cheque or
money order for $10.00 made out to Wendy Scarfe plus (5 x 50c stamps) to
cover postage costs to the above address and your letter and order will be
forwarded to the author.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION
I needed to buy some bread in a hurry, not rolls but a loaf of bread.  One
thing you can say about Melbourneıs bread shops, most have a range of breads
that would be the envy of any great urban metropolis.  Although a few tend
to specialise, the great majority offer varieties of bread that you would
have to travel the world to eat.
Now where was I, yes, I needed a loaf of bread, not that stuff that that
breeds in supermarket lane ways wrapped in plastic bags with National Heart
logos on them, but that crusty stuff thatıs displayed on racks in your local
bakery.  Not that the local bakery hasnıt been infiltrated by the corporate
world, bakery franchises are springing up all over Melbourne.  Yes, I need a
loaf of bread.  The first problem Iım confronted with is, what type of
loaf?, the traditional high tin loaf?, a ciabatta?, vienna?, high cob?, low
cob?, French cob?, walnut bread?, olive bread?, herb bread?  Loitering for a
few minutes behind a steady flow of customers I eventually walk up to the
sales counter.
        "Counter I help you, sir"
        "Yes, I think Iıll have the French cob"
        "Would you liked that sliced, sir?"
Do I want it sliced?  I think Iıd like to pull the French cob apart, dribble
some olive oil on it and eat it with a piece of parmesan cheese.  Then I
think the rest of the family would like some, thinking about the difficulty
we would have cutting it and all the crumbs that we would be squashing
underfoot for the next few days.
        "Yes" I said
        "Would you like it sliced for sandwiches or toast?"
I was about to say just slice it when I began to give serious considerations
to her question.  If I asked it to be sliced thin, it would go further, but
if I wanted to toast it, it would burn,
        "Toast please" I blurted out.
Great I thought, Iıll be able to get my teeth into once I get home.  Little
did I know that my ordeal was just beginning.  Our smiling chief executioner
came back and asked
        "Would you like a paper or a plastic bag?"
Please, thatıs easy I thought, I can make a difference and save some poor
marine creature getting entangled in a plastic bag.
        "Paper" I said, then I realised that some tree somewhere had been
asked to pay the ultimate price for my choice.  Not to worry I thought,
paperıs the way to go.
        "That will be $2.60, thank you"
I passed over the correct change eager to get my hands round that mouth
watering French cob, our friend kept holding the paper bag in her hands.
        "Would you like a carry bag, sir? A faint ironical grin spread her
young mouth
        "No" I muttered, thinking just give me the bloody loaf.
She passed over the brown paper bag with the French cob inside, mine at
last.  I suddenly realised that our spirited pedestrian exchange had caused
me to lose my appetite, next time I think Iıll just take it as it is, break
it apart on the spot and stuff it down my throat.

STOP PRESS
SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!
Guess what?  The United States and Britain have indefinitely put off any
plans to allow Iraqıs opposition groups to form an interim government.  It
seems that they are concerned that the former exiled leaders will be no
match for a population that wants to rule itself.  Unfortunately for the US
and Britain, the Iraqi people have, like in 1991, taken them at their world.
They were told they were liberated and now they want to govern themselves.
The problem is that the type of government they want to form is not the type
of government the US wants in the region.  Imagine going to all the trouble
and expense of liberating people and then allowing them to govern
themselves.  Really, what do they think the US are?  A bunch of fools!  The
US led invasion of Iraq was all about securing oil supplies for itself and
the Israeli government.  Plans to build an oil pipeline from Iraqıs northern
oilfields to the Haifa in Israel is the latest in a long list of proposals
that are being floated that will divert Iraqi oil supplies into US hands.
Anyone who believes that the Iraqi invasion had anything to do with human
liberation, even national liberation, has cotton wool for brains.  The Iraqi
invasion was all about regime change.  It was about ousting the Baıath Party
from power and installing a puppet regime to run the place for the US.  Talk
about democracy has nothing to do with regime change but everything with
creating the conditions that allow the US and Britain to administer Iraq to
suit both their short term economic and long term strategic goals for the
region.
Theyıre so concerned that their hand picked representatives will not be able
to do the job for them, theyıre now indefinitely put off any pretence of
introducing significant democratic changes in Iraq and will rule the country
themselves.  Over the next few months, hundreds of thousands of US troops
and carpetbaggers will pour into the country to try to maintain order and
re-mould Iraqi society into a creature that suits and serves them.
Unfortunately for the US, Britain, Poland and Australia (lets not forget
Australia), the Iraqi people have different plans for their future and will,
over the next few years, derail any attempts to make them another US
colonial outpost.

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

ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK
- SPARKS No.110 April/May 2003, The Rank and File Transport Workers Paper,
P.O. Box 92, Broadway 2007, SYDNEY AUSTRALIA, Mobile:0406956341,
www.sparksweb.org
- ANARCHO-SYNDICALIST REVIEW No.37 Spring 2003, P.O. Box 2824, CHAMPAIGN, IL
61825, U.S.A. asr@labourstart.zzn.com
- FREEDOM Vol.64 No.9,3rd MAY Œ03, Anarchist Fortnightly, 84b Whitechapel
High St, London E17QX, ENGLAND Email:FreedomCopy@aol.com
- SOLIDARIDAD OBRERA No313 Spring Œ03, Portavoz de la Confederacion Nacional
del Trabago(CNT) C/-Jocquin Costa, 34 entresueto, 08001 Barcelona SPAIN,
Tel/Fax:933188834, soliobrera@hotmail.com
- UMANITA NOVA Vol 83 No.14 13th April Œ03, Settimanale Anarchico, C.50
Palermo 46, 10152, Torino ITALY. Tel/fax (011) 857850 Mobile 338-6594361
email:fat@inrete.it
OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK
- NEW UNIONIST No.299 April Œ03, New Union Party for the Next American
Relolution, 1821 University Ave, W.#5-116 SAINT PAUL MN, 55104, U.S.
www/.minn.net/`nup

DEBT ELIMINATION APPEAL - Our debt stands at $1624.00
HERE WE GO AGAIN, ONLY FIVE 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 21-05-2003            $1624.00

FILM & VIDEO REVIEW
ŒTHE PARALLAX VIEWı
Clear Day PARANOIA PIX
Director Alan J. Pakula | USA | 1974 | 102 minutes
The second instalment in director Alan J. Pakula's "paranoid trilogy," THE
PARALLAX VIEW falls between KLUTE & ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN & of the three
films it most strongly conveys the theme of paranoia with a political edge.
THE PARALLAX VIEW mirrors the political distrust Americans began to feel
during the period following the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War &
culminating in the Watergate conspiracy. Based on the novel by Loren Singer.
Features an audio-visual insecurity-inducing questionnaire for personality
testing used by the Parallax Corporation. A band with the same name &
related links to conspiracy buffs can be found on the internet. The irony is
todayıs War on Iraq/Afghanistan/Terror media hype is so full on everyday!
The film stars Warren Beatty as investigative journalist Joe Frady, whose ex
girlfriend & colleague Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) witnesses the
assassination of an U.S. Senator at the Seattle Space Needle. A government
report declares it the work of a lone gunman, but Carter is convinced that a
wider conspiracy is at work when eyewitnesses begin showing up dead. Probing
deeper, Frady uncovers the operations of the Parallax Corporation, which
recruits social misfits & uses mind control techniques to turn them into
assassins. The frightening story unfolds with each piece of evidence he
uncovers & gradually the hunter becomes the hunted. Shot on location in &
around San Francisco, Malibu & Washington State.
Does Government controls its citizens through the monopoly of violence? It
has been seen on late night TV, been re-issued on DVD recently & was shown
at the 1996 Human Rights Watch Festival.
RATINGS:     Entertainment *** Politics ***

If you enjoy such brainwashing-political thrillers then also check out:
ŒThe Manchurian Candidateı. 1962. John Frankenheimer's Korean War
brainwashed assassins, with Frank Sinatra! ­ ŒIpcressı Fileı. 1965. Sidney
J. Furie's Harry Palmer spy, endures psychedelic torture & treachery - ŒThe
Conversationı. 1974. Francis Coppolla's electronic surveillance player gets
himself bugged! - ŒAll the Presidents Menı.1976. Alan J. Pakula's Nixon-era
Watergate expose. ­ ŒSimonı. 1980. Marshall Brickman's mind-control satire
starring Alan Arkin. - ŒNineteen Eighty-Fourı.1984. Michael Radford's
version of the George Orwell dystopia. Set in fear-filled 1948 grey misery.
­ ŒCaptiveı. 1985. Paul Mayersberg's kidnapped heiress operatic fantasy. ­
ŒPatty Hearstı. 1988. Paul Schrader's bio-pic of newspaper heiress Hearst's
transformation into an urban guerilla. ­ ŒThey Liveı. 1988. John Carpenter's
comic-strip action fest. Special sunglasses allow you to see the subliminal
messages & how skeletal aliens have invaded the Earth, media & Government! -
ŒPelican Briefı (1993) ŒEnemy of the Stateı (1999).

TRIVIA
ALAN J. PAKULA - Alan Pakula began his career as producer with director
Robert Mulligan's To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Pakula directed the
claustrophobic Klute (1971); the agoraphobic The Parallax View in 1974; the
Watergate exposé All the President's Men (1976); William Styron's Holocaust
drama, Sophie's Choice (1982) & The Pelican Brief (1993), based on the best
selling novel by John Grisham.


You are invited to A gathering of women.
Please tell other interested women you know.
Where: 18 Clarke Street, North Coburg.
Tel 9350 2190 to confirm or enquires.
When: from 12pm, Saturday, 31st May 2003.
Why: To catch up, sing songs, swap potions, tell tales, cuddle kids, make
plans, grant wishes, make magic, soothe sores, feast fantastically.
Who: All women, all kids.
@ Press women re-union.,  @nti-state screen-printing women re-union.
C@ntankerous magazine re-union.,  @ House Women's Space re-union.
BRING: Food drink for shared feast at 1pm.

3CR RADIOTHON
3CR IS THE ONLY COMMUNITY RADIO STATION
THAT GIVES ANARCHISTS A REGULAR VOICE.
We have now been broadcasting on 3CR and now across Australia
for a QUARTER OF A CENTURY. ­ ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK.
If you want us to broadcast for ANOHER 25 YEARS,
SUPPORT THE 3CR RADIOTHON
10.00-11.00 AM WEDNESDAY 11TH JUNE 2003
We want to raise $6,000 to go towards 3CRıs running costs.
RING between 10.00am to 11.00am on the day
WEDNESDAY 11TH JUNE on (03) 9419 8377 AND MAKE A PLEDGE
OR SEND CHEQUES AND MONEY ORDERS MADE OUT TO 3CR AT
3CR / RADIOTHON, P.O. BOX 5035, ALPHINGTON 3068, VICTORIA


DEFEND AND EXTEND MEDICARE
ORGANISING GROUP MEETING
6.30PM
WEDNESDAY 28TH MAY 2003
TRADES HALL
Cnr. Victoria Parade & Lygon Street, Melbourne (Victoria St. entrance No.64)
MEETING TO ORGANISE FEDERAL ELECTORAL BASED
DEFEND AND EXTEND MEDICARE GROUPS
ALL WELCOME!!


ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS
THIS WEEK'S STORIES:ŠMeant the Other ImmigrantsŠGovernor-General Lied About
Child Abusing PriestŠQuotes of the Week.
Australian refugee advocates have received reports from several sources of
assault of 8 detainees in the Baxter detention centre, in the week before
the 'Baxter 2003' protest. On Sunday 6th April, 8 detainees were taken into
solitary confinement. The 8 detainees were told they were considered to be
likely to escape, so they were being removed & locked up until after Easter.
Some time between Sunday 6 April & the following Thursday the men became
upset at their continued isolation & began to cry out. Itıs alleged they
were then beaten by their guards, employees of Australasian Correctional
Management (ACM) - contractors to the Immigration Dept (DIMIA). Advocates
report the 8 detainees were hand flexi-cuffed, foot flexi-cuffed, their arms
shackled to their waist with belts & had tape placed over their mouths for
at least a period of 10 hours. (press release by Project SafeCom).
The Australian Govt's $15 million fridge magnet campaign to educate Austs
about terrorism has scooped an intıl award as one of the most stupid
security measures introduced since the bombing of the World Trade Centre.
The competition, run by Privacy Intıl, which is best known for its annual
Big Brother awards for intrusive practices, received almost 5000 nominations
from 35 countries. The Govt took out the Most Egregiously Stupid Award for
the kit which urged Austs to report anything suspicious while asking them to
be "alert but not alarmed". The Delta Terminal at JFK Airport NY won the
Most Flagrantly Intrusive Award for forcing a mother travelling with a
4-month-old baby to drink 3 bottles of her own breast milk, for fear the
bottles contained explosives or chemical agents. Heathrow Airport also
picked up an award for quarantining a quantity of Gunpowder (green) tea. The
tea was eventually allowed but the packaging bearing the Gunpowder
labelling, was confiscated & destroyed. Another airport, Philadelphia Intıl,
received the Most Inexplicably Stupid Award for issuing a code-red hazardous
materials alert that closed a hospital emergency ward & 2 local shops b/c of
a bottle of suspect cologne. "Thereıs a serious issue of respect for
people's rights being eroded by stupid security measures," said Tim Dixon, a
judge on the Stupid Security competition panel & a spokesman for the Aust
Privacy Foundation. "Many of these measures donıt make us any safer." Mr
Dixon said the Aust Govt-backed public education scheme stood out b/c of its
scale, cost & its "meaningless nature". The Attorney-General, Daryl
Williams, who launched the fridge door anti-terrorism kit in Feb, declined
to comment. Winners receive a luxury package of Gunpowder tea. (Sydney
Morning Herald, April 10).
Quote of the Week: "They [the US govt] have lied to us.  At the beginning,
we thought that the US was one of the good countries, the most wealthy
country, & it would help us. Then we saw that they came here to capture
Afghanistan. I think the US intends to keep us hungry." Sediq Afghan,
anti-US protestor in Afghanistan.
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 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 a new anarchist, non-profit
record label.  The first CD is currently available by mail order.  20 songs
for $10 within Aust, $15 in NZ, $10 in the USA, $10 in Canada, 5 pounds in
Britain, or 10 euros in the rest of Europe.  Other countries, or enquiries
from shops & distroes, email us & ask.  Address for orders is PO Box 1191,
Richmond North VIC 3121 (Aust).  Please make cheques or money orders out to
J. Hutchings.  Website http://www.loveandrage.rocks.it,
http://www.angry.at/thegovernment - anarchist website with fliers for
download, contacts etc.  Please note, this is the same website that was at
the address http://www.angry.at/politicians. http://www.angry.at/racists -
Anarchist/anti-racist music site with free mp3s, Real Audio, Real Video,
internet radio, band interviews etc.  Also incl the text of 'Escape', an
anarchist novel - http://www.geocities.com/skipnewborn/novel.doc
http://www.dolearmy.org  info for unemployed people.
http://www.activate.8m.com - anarchist magazine aimed at teenagers. ATNTF
appears in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review
(http://www.vicnet.net.au/~anarchist - 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 John Winston Howard, our beloved khaki clad Prime
Minister ­ If I hear any more of his pious self-serving mantras at yet
another batch of returning Iraqi heroes Kodak moments, Iıll vomit. ­ Looks
like Iıll be vomiting for some time to come.



  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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