A-Infos (en) Anarchist Age Weekly Review No. 570 27th October 2nd November 2003

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

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CONSEQUENCES!!
George W. Bush and Hu Jintao's address to the Federal Parliament has
consequences far beyond economic and security concerns.  Political analysts
and commentators around the country have offered a range of opinions about
the significance of their speeches and what happened in Federal Parliament.
Blinded by the 'big picture' they have glossed over the local ramifications
of what occurred.
Parliamentary democracy in this country faces a significant crisis.
Although voting is compulsory, only about 80% of eligible voters cast a
ballot in a Federal election, 20% vote informal, don't vote, or although
entitled to register to vote, have failed to register.  The treatment that
was dished out to Senators Kerry Nettle and Bob Brown because they had the
audacity to open their mouths in parliament, their resultant expulsion from
the house, the aberrant manner their parliamentary guests were treated
during Hu Jintao's speech and the sight of the Australian parliament giving
a dictator, whose government actively persecutes political dissidents, a
standing ovation has ramifications for the parliamentary system itself.

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

One Nation and the Greens have given parliamentary democracy a much needed
shot in the arm.  Many people who had given up believing in the
parliamentary system because it didn't reflect their hopes and aspirations
have continued to vote, temporarily stopping the electoral haemorrhage that
was occurring.  The fate of Pauline Hanson and the way the Greens have been
treated, by a parliament that long ago gave up any pretence of representing
the interests of those who elect them, will increase the disillusionment
that a significant minority of Australians harbour about the parliamentary
system.  This disillusionment will result in a decreasing number of
Australians participating in the electoral process and will help to create
the conditions for the formation of an extra parliamentary movement that
promotes direct democratic principles as an alternative to parliamentary
rule.
The one thing that both the extra parliamentary Right and Left agree on, is
that power does not lay in parliament, it lays in the boardrooms of national
and transnational corporations.  When parliament consistently represents
the interests of the corporate sector, not the interests of those who elect
them, extraparliamentary movements based on direct democratic principles,
solidarity and direct action act as vehicles that are able to redress the
imbalance in power between the people, parliament and the corporate world
that currently exists.

SAME OLD STORY
Tony Abbott has been appointed as Health Minister to sell Senator Kay
Patterson's tired old 'fairer Medicare' package.  The talk about the Howard
government modifying their proposed Medicare package is just talk.  Their
agenda is very simple, they want to make access to health care an
individual, not a collective responsibility.  Introducing swipe card
technologies at surgeries, relaxing the criteria for doctors to claim
bulkbilling incentives and the introduction of a safety net for families and
concession cardholders will not boost bulkbilling rates.
The solution to the current drop in bulkbilling rates is very simple,
increase the Medicare rebate for general practitioner consultations.  If the
Medicare rebate had kept pace with inflation, Australians would not be faced
with the problem of having to pay higher and higher out of pocket expenses
to access basic medical care.  The Howard government could at any time have
increased the Medicare rebate to resolve the current problems facing
Australians trying to access health care.  They choose to implement policies
that were designed to dismantle Medicare, believing that they could destroy
one of the most important social innovations since the introduction of
pensions without the public noticing.
Faced with an election next year, Howard knows that he must take health care
off the nations front pages.  He succeeded in blackmailing the State
premiers into signing health care agreements that don't even come close to
funding the public health sector.  He continues to squander billions of
dollars of taxpayer's funds, bankrolling the private health insurance
industry at the expense of the public health sector.  Howard has appointed
Abbott to sell the package to the Australian Democrats.
Faced with a Labor Party whose electoral strategy almost totally revolves
around saving Medicare, the Federal government has targeted the Democrats,
knowing that if they can win over the Democrats to support their legislation
in the Senate they will be able to wipe health care off the electoral
agenda.
The Federal government's $917million 'fairer' Medicare package is a
transparent attempt by Abbott to muddy the waters about the government's
privatisation agenda.  Nothing they have proposed will increase bulkbilling
rates.  Their scheme will increase costs for both individual patients and
the community as a whole.  If the Democrats are seduced by Abbott's package
and these changes are passed in the Senate, all Australians will have to dig
deeper into their pockets to access the health care delivery system.  Those
that do not have the income to access health care services will soon find
that they will have to do without something that we take for granted ­
access to a universal health care delivery system that provides health
services to everyone irrespective of their income and the state of their
health.

I CAN'T WAIT
Remember the good old days when Indonesians were being jailed for up to 7
years for denigrating the Indonesian dictator Suharto 'the butcher'.  Well
it seems that Megawati Sukarnoputri has had a private briefing with 'the
butcher' and has decided to take a leaf out of his book.  The interesting
thing about Suharto 'the butcher' is that he has had not spent a day in jail
for being responsible for the murder of over a million Indonesians.
Currently he still resides in his palace in Djakarta counting the $30billion
he amassed when he was dictator of Indonesia.
We need to remember that there are good dictators and bad dictators.  Those
who take their orders from the CIA, like Suharto, Mobuto and Pinochet, all
seem to live to a ripe old age and keep the wealth they accumulated while in
office, while the likes of Saddam Hussein are embraced when it suits United
States foreign policy, but are quickly removed from power when they have
outlasted their usefulness.
Sorry for being off at a tangent, now lets get back to the real story.  The
editor of Rakyat Mereda, one of Indonsia's better known tabloids, Mr.
Supratman, has been found guilty under Indonesia's criminal code, of
allowing humiliating headlines to appear in his paper.  Supratman has
published four slogans that were directed against Megawati by Indonesians
who were protesting against fuel and electricity price rises.
Not that the Australian corporate dominated media and the government gelded
ABC would have published similar comments about John Howard.  The great
thing about freedom of the press in Australia is that the media's main game
is self censorship.  Australia's defamation laws and a timid corporate
dominated media ensure that nothing of note is published in Australia.
I can hardly wait for the truth to be published in the Australian media
about the double standards, hypocrisy and lies that sum up John Howard's
political legacy.  On second thoughts, if you want the dirt on John Howard,
stop reading the corporate dominated Australian press and listening to and
looking at the government gelded ABC and keep your eye on the Anarchist Age
Weekly Review, Howard's nemesis.

'DONE DEAL'
At the very moment Tony Abbott's back is to the wall, the Australian
Democrats have thrown him a lifeline.  The Federal Health Minister welcomed
the Democrats timely contribution to the Medicare debate with open arms.  He
has praised Senator Lyn Allison's, the Democrats health spokeswoman's input
and has publicly stated he is keen to strike a deal with them.  It seems
he's going to buy off the Democrats with the injection of an extra
$500million into the government's Medicare package.  The current 'done deal'
on Medicare has all the hallmarks of the Democrat's GST betrayal.
Not that the Democrat's proposals are going to lift bulkbilling rates or
improve access to the public health sector.  The solution to the current
health care crisis and free falling bulkbilling rates is very simple.  Scrap
the $2.5billion taxpayer subsidy that goes to helping pay the private health
insurance costs of the 43% of Australians who take out private health
insurance and reallocate this money to the public health sector and
Medicare.  Within a few months, bulkbilling rates would go up and public
hospital waiting lists would go down.  It seems that no one, not the
Democrats, the Labor Party, let alone Tony Abbott is willing to initiate a
discussion about why taxpayer's funds are used to bankroll the private
health insurance industry.
It's time that those Australians who are sick and tired of politicians
dominating the health care debate and using the debate to further their
political ambitions and careers are brought to account.  Access to health
care should be a right, not a charity or a luxury.  The Tony Abbotts of this
world need to understand that health care is an issue that Australians are
deeply concerned about.  The dismantling of Medicare is not on the political
agenda.  Any political party, irrespective of who they are, faces political
oblivion if they attempt to destroy the universal nature of the scheme.
Defend and Extend Medicare Australia has consistently fought to both defend
and extend Medicare.  We are holding our third monthly RALLY OUTSIDE THE
STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA AT 12.30PM ON FRIDAY THE 7TH NOVEMBER.  This
month's rally will be addressed by Ms. Sharon BURROW president of the
A.C.T.U., Mr. Martin KINGHAM Victorian Secretary of the C.F.M.E.U., Dr. Tim
WOODRUFF president of the Doctors Reform Society and Dr. Joseph TOSCANO /
Joint National Convenor Defend and Extend Medicare Australia, Mr. Malcolm
FRASER, Ms. Julia GUILLARD the ALP health spokeswoman, the Reverend Tim
COSTELLO / Baptist Church and Mr. Bilah CLEELAND / spokesman Islamic Council
of Victoria, have all sent their apologies.  The only person who has not
bothered to respond to our invitation has been the new health minister Mr.
Tony Abbott.  It seems that Mr. Abbott is more interested in selling his
message to the media than directly addressing Australians who are concerned
about the current heath care fiasco or maybe he's frightened of appearing on
the same platform as Mr. Martin Kingham Victorian Secretary of the
C.F.M.E.U.

'THE DESPERATE ACTS OF A DYING REGIME OF CRIMINALS'
Paul Wolfowitz is right, what we are witnessing in Iraq is 'the desperate
acts of a dying regime of criminals'.  As rockets slammed into the Rashid
Hotel, the United State's nerve centre in Baghdad, its finally dawned on the
Bush administration that many Iraqis believe that they have been invaded by
a gang of criminals who want to impose their culture, economic system and
social infrastructure in Iraq.
Far from bringing stability to the region, the coalition of the 'willing's'
invasion of Iraq has created the conditions for a protracted, bruising
conflict that will eventually result in the deaths of tens of thousands of
people.  In Iraq, Islamic fundamentalists, nationalists and remnants of the
Saddam Hussein administration, are involved in a threeway tussle for power
with the US led forces.  The rhetoric that was used to justify the US led
invasion of Iraq has been found to be just that, rhetoric.  The initial
goodwill that was created by the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein
dictatorship has been eclipsed by a sense of frustration, betrayal and anger
among significant sections of the Iraqi population.  The lessons of both
Afghanistan and Vietnam seem to have been lost on the Bush administration.
Talk, about liberty, democracy and freedom, have been just that, talk.
An increasing number of Iraqis believe that the 'coalition of the willing'
are thieves and criminals.  The prize for the invaders is the second largest
oil supply in the world.  The Bush administration is so unsure of the Iraqi
people it's not even willing to create a puppet regime in Iraq.  It has
decided to keep the levers of power in its own hands.  The current attacks
in Iraq are directed at military personnel, police officers and any foreign
institutions in the country.  The Red Cross, the United Nations and aid
agencies have all become targets in a war that, like in Afghanistan, has the
potential to turn the lights off in Iraq.  It's probable, as leaked CIA and
MI5 reports have indicated that the invasion of Iraq is just the impetus
that Islamic fundamentalists need to bolster their flagging religious
revolutions.  At the very moment secular forces are gaining significant
support in Iran, religious fundamentalists have gained momentum as the
result of the invasion in Iraq.
As in South America, the neoconservative neoliberal agenda lays in ruins.
The Bush administration's philosophical posturing has been exposed as
oldfashioned neocolonial expansionism.
If the US does not relinquish power in the next few months and makes serious
efforts to allow the Iraqi people to choose their own rulers, they will soon
find that they have created conditions that will fan the flames and bolster
the fortunes of religious fundamentalists in the Middle East and the rest of
the world.

ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER
Q.  WHY IS THE 21ST CENTURY, THE ANARCHIST CENTURY?
A. Why the 21st century and not any other century, I can see readers
thinking?  Things are changing, social conditions are changing, centralised
government is having more and more difficulties in dealing with the
multitude of problems that they are confronted with.  It makes sense that if
you're faced with what seem to be insoluble problems, that you use the
knowledge, intelligence and resources of the whole community not just a few
leaders to tackle those problems.
Faced with the problem of diminishing finite resources and an increasing
population, decision making processes and social structures that have
created this disaster will no longer be able to contain, let alone deal with
the problems people are faced with.  Competition, hierarchy and centralised
decision making processes will come under increasing scrutiny as the
problems faced by the community increase.  Corporate capitalism and the
State, structures that have developed during the 19th and 20th century,
cannot deal with the impending crisis.  Economic, political and social
structures that have evolved as a consequence of a belief that we live in a
world with infinite resources cannot cope with these problems, let enough
survive as finite resources decrease.
Faced with the dilemma of finite resources and increasing population growth,
the world faces a limited number of options.  These include rapid
depopulation of the world's population through thirst, hunger, disease and
war, the development of an economic system that satisfies human need, not
promotes growth for growth sake, the replacement of a competitive winner
take all world view, with one that promotes cooperation and sharing.
Survival in the 21st century is dependant on people rejecting both the State
and corporate capitalism and replacing them with structures that promote
cooperation, the satisfaction of real not manufactured human needs, and the
pooling of intellectual and physical resources so that people can tackle the
problems faced by them the 21st century.
Anarchism is a philosophy that embodies these concepts; mass participation,
the satisfaction of human needs, decentralisation and cooperation are
central elements of anarchist philosophy.  A practical philosophical
viewpoint that's suited to deal with 21st century is the anarchist century.

ACTION BOX
IN THE BEGINNING!!
Developing an interest in anarchist ideas is not hard, what's difficult is
deciding whether you want to be active or not.  If you decide to become
active, you are faced with the dilemma about what you're going to do.
Reading all the literature available is not enough, talking to your friends
and relatives about your ideas may initially be satisfying but doesn't
change much.  So you've decided to become active, what are you going to do?
If you live in an area where anarchists are active, check out what they're
doing.  You may find that you've found the people you want to work with and
you'll become involved with that group.  You may find you live in an area
where there are no anarchist groups or the groups that are working in your
area or where you work are not the right type of affinity group for you.
What next?  You can hire a room and organise a public meeting about
anarchism, you may be surprised by the type of response a public meeting
generates.  If the meeting is successful, you may have the nucleus for a new
autonomous group.
You may not have the resources or the confidence to run a public meeting.
If you have contact with a local anarchist group, ask them for help, ask
them for a speaker.  If you no local contacts, ask groups you are in contact
with to advertise the meeting in their publications and on their websites.
If you have contact with the Anarchist Media Institute, look up our website.
We have links to groups and organisations around the world.  Having a look
at their websites may give you some ideas about how you may become active.
If all else fails and you live in Australia, you can send the Anarchist Age
Weekly Review an email or note detailing where you live and the way people
in your locality can contact you.  We will send your request to people on
our mailing list in the locality where you want to make contacts so you can
form a group.
Whether things change or not, depends on the ability of people who are
interested in anarchist ideas in forming groups and establishing networks of
likeminded people.  Groups, networks and federations are more likely to
initiate change than individuals are.  Whether the very groups that are able
to initiate change are formed paradoxically depends on individuals taking
the initiative and doing the necessary ground work to establish these groups
and networks.

AUSTRALIAN RADICAL HISTORY
'TREACHERY'
On Saturday the 2nd December 1854, around 1500 armed miners had been camped
in the Eureka stockade.  By late that evening, only around 120 to 130 miners
were left in the stockade.  Large parties of men had left the stockade
looking for British military reinforcements that were said to be coming from
Melbourne.  An American led force that had the best horses and the best
firearms also went looking for these phantom military reinforcements.  It
seems that the American Consul had had a hand in having American miners
based at the stockade join the wild goose chase for military reinforcements.
The German brigade organised by Vern, never materialised and the
reinforcements that were coming from Creswick didn't arrive on time.
Nobody, especially the Irish Catholics, believed that the government would
attack them on the Lord's day.  Government spies crossed in and out of the
stockade at will.  Everyone knew the password 'Vingear Hill'.  The password
was chosen because 1854 marked the 50th anniversary of the Irish convict
revolt in Sydney that led to the hanging of 11 of the participants.
Many of the men who remained in the stockade on the 3rd December were drunk.
Copious quantities of alcohol appeared in the stockade that afternoon.  Of
the 120 to 130 men left in the stockade, many were so drunk they were
bayoneted or burnt alive in their tents.  Considering that many of the men
didn't have enough ammunition and depended on the homemade hand held pikes
to defend themselves, it's surprising that they were able to withstand the
onslaught for at least 15 minutes.
The American Consul had done his job well, although a small number of
Californian Rangers had been involved in the battle at Eureka and Captain
Burnette from the Californian Rangers mortally wounded Captain Wise, the
Deputy Commander of the British forces, all the Americans arrested were
released.  That is all except John Joseph, a black American from New York,
who was tried for High Treason.  A jury of hand picked Melbourne
businessmen, who everyone including Governor Hotham, believed would convict
him, acquitted him.

  BOOK REVIEW
'THE DEVIL'S HORSEMEN ­ The Mongol Invasion Of Europe', by James Chambers,
Cassell 1988 (2nd Edition) ISBN 0304 321885.
The Black plague was not the only mass catastrophe that struck Europe.  On
Christmas Day in 1241, the armies of Batu Khan, founder of the Golden Horde,
crossed the Danube.  Over the next 46 years, Europe and the Middle East
became the battleground between the descendants of Chingis Khan and the
world's Christian and Moslem civilisations.
Russia suffered under the Mongol yoke for over 200 years.  The Mongols were
not just savage barbarians who used terror as a central plank of their
military strategy, they rewrote the manual on warfare and invented
strategies and tactics that were used by Rommel and Patton in WWII.  The
Mongol's victories in Europe and the Middle East were as much due to the
constant state of warfare in Europe and the Middle East as their military
might.
They were astute politicians who formed and broke alliances at will.  The
Mongol wars brought both the Christian and Moslem civilisations to the brink
of destruction.  In 46 years, they altered the course of European history.
The Mongol armies adopted the cultures of their subjects, didn't build any
monuments to their lasting glory and when their empire disintegrated, they
were forgotten.  They ruled the greatest empire the world has known and at
the same time killed 10% of the world's known population.  By 1287, they had
left Europe.  They tore Russia from Europe and when the Mongols abandoned it
200 years later, it was a feudal and backward society.  Their legacy in
Russia was not wiped out till the Russian revolution in 1917.
The lands that nurtured the great civilisations of the Persians were
returned to the desert and have never recovered.  Wherever the Mongols rode,
they left a ruined economy and wherever they ruled they left an exploited
peasantry.  Poland and Hungary were so devastated, they were not able to
take part in the Western renaissance.  The Mongol Empire ruled half the
known world, 'their adherence to tribal traditions and the rivalry of their
princes denied them the rest'.
'The Devil's Horsemen' gives an insight into the consequences of a period in
European history when terror played a central role in the lives of
Europeans.  An understanding of what has happened in the past is fundamental
to understanding the present and changing the future.
If you want to get a hold of this book, try your local library.  Cassell and
Blandford Press specialises in publishing titles of historical interest.  If
anyone has a copy of 'WOMEN WARLORDS' by Tim Newark, I'd be interested in
having a look at it and reviewing it in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION
On the 3rd June 1992, the High Court of Australia stated that indigenous
Australians who could demonstrate a continuous link to the land had a right
to land in law.  The Mabo decision caused panic among white Australians.
Although the decision recognised that freehold title extinguished native
title claims, conservative forces in Australia launched a fullscale attack
on indigenous Australians.
Federal parliament passed legislation that destroyed both the spirit and
intent of the Mabo decision.  Not content with the passage of this
legislation, the war against indigenous Australians was transformed into a
culture war.  Over the past decade an industry has developed that has
attempted to eradicate Australia's black history.  Self appointed experts
try to deny the obvious.  Australia has a black history, refusing to
acknowledge that history doesn't make it go away.  A fact is a fact is a
fact.
John Howard has been at the forefront of a movement that attempts to deny
the obvious.  The Windschuttles of the world have been feted in the highest
offices in the land, their interpretations of the past, has been accepted as
fact.  Revising the past to justify the sins of the present is a popular
Australian past time.  White Australia needs, craves Windscuttle's
historical fiction.  Windschuttle absolves current generations of the
lingering doubt that we are a nation of thieves, that this nation is built
on the blood and bones of black Australia.
If they didn't die as the direct result of a bullet wound and their body
wasn't dragged into the bush, they didn't die as a consequence of contact
with Europeans.  The arguments put forward by the Windschuttles of this
world are easily similar to those put forward by the Nazis when they made
movies oft the Warsaw ghetto showing Jews dying as a result of typhus and
other infectious diseases.  If European settlers with superior firepower
hadn't dispossessed indigenous Australians, they wouldn't have died of
disease and starvation.  If the Nazis hadn't herded Jews into concentration
camps or the cities in Cambodia had been emptied by Pol Pot, the death toll
as a direct result of physical violence would have been much lower.
You don't have to put a bullet into everybody's head to destroy a
civilisation.  Take away their lands, introduce new diseases and let them
starve to death and you, like Windschuttle, can say that the destruction of
the Tasmanian aborigines was not due to contact with Europeans.

STOP PRESS
EVERYTHING UP FOR GRABS
Just in case you didn't know, the 'free' (I hate using that word) trade
agreement that's being negotiated between the United States and Australia
will have profound ramifications for what's left of Australian
manufacturing, information technology and the media and entertainment
sector.  The living standards (what's left of them) enjoyed by Australians
today, are directly linked to efforts past governments made to protect local
industry and the jobs of local workers.
The corporate (now that's a better word) trade agreement that is being
stitched up between Australia and the US, will not only see local jobs
disappear, they will also cause an explosion in the costs associated with
the health care delivery system.  The Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme is a
case in point.  The Australian government is the largest purchaser of
pharmaceuticals in the country.  It subsidises many essential medications
through the Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme.  Without the taxpayer funded
subsidy, many people with illnesses, especially chronic illnesses, would not
be able to access medications critical to their well being.  The
Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme recognises that health care is a collective
not an individual responsibility.
The corporate trade agreement would make it illegal for the government of
the day to use its buying power to force US based transnational
pharmaceutical corporations to decrease the prices of their medications.  As
they have patents on new medications, they will be able to charge whatever
price they like.  This will force the government to abandon the
Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme because of escalating costs with subsidising
essential pharmaceutical products.  Costs to the consumer will inevitably
rise.
The proposed corporate trade agreement removes the right of the State to use
its power to protect its citizens.  It gives economic power to the corporate
sector at the expense of both the people and small business.  The government
of the day will not be able to intervene to protect its citizens from
economic exploitation.
'Free' trade is a euphemism for corporate domination.  'Free' trade is
synonymous with 'individual contracts'.  Workers are able to extract a much
better outcome when they bargain collectively than when they bargain as
individuals.  Citizens are able to achieve a better outcome if the power
their governments wield is used to promote and protect their interests.
Corporate trade agreements dilute the power of governments and give
corporations a free reign to exploit people without corporations having to
worry about governments using their power to protect the rights of their
citizens.

Joseph TOSCANO / Libertarian Workers
For A SelfManaged Society.


ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK
  FREEDOM Vol.64 No.18, 27th Sept 2003, Anarchist Fortnightly, 84b
Whitechapel High St, London E17QX, ENGLAND Email:FreedomCopy@aol.com
  ROJO Y NEGRO No.159 OCT 2003, CGT, C/Compania9, 10 1zda, 31001
Pamploma/Iruna SPAIN, Tel:948224766, Fax:948212399,
email:suscripciones@rojonero.info
OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK
  HOBNAIL REVIEW, A guide to Small Press & Alternative Publishing, P.O. Box
44122, London SW6 7XJ, ENGLAND, Tel: 07887658209
  INTERNATIONALISM NO.127 OCT/NOV '03, International Communist Current in
the US, P.O. BOX 288, NEW YORK N.Y., 100180288, UNITED STATES
www.internationalism.org

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ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK
You guessed it, has been awarded to the dynamic duo ­ George W. Bush and Hu
Jintao, bastions of the free world, democracy, justice, truth and the
authoritarian way of life ­ good one boys.


JAS DUKE ­ MEMORIAL BOOK LAUNCH
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BEFORE WE CAN APPLY TO REGISTER AS A FEDERAL POLITICAL PARTY
Politically manipulated and scorned?  Sick of being a peripheral player
every time a Federal election comes around, then join:  VOTE INFORMAL
TODAY, DIRECT DEMOCRACY TOMORROW  a "political party" that is putting the
boot into the Australian Parliamentary Process.  Send a stamp selfaddressed
envelope to
VOTE INFORMAL TODAY DIRECT DEMOCRACY TOMORROW
PO Box 20, Parkville. 3052. Melbourne. Australia Telephone (03) 9828 2856
(24 hour answering service).  We will send information about how to join
this unique 21st century Australian phenomena.
DON'T PUT IT OFF  JOIN THE PUSH FOR CHANGE NOW.
Written and authorised by Joseph Toscano
(National Convenor 205 Nicholson St Footscray 3012  Melbourne Aust.)
Current membership 187.  We need 550 members to apply for registration as a
political party, so that members can stand at the Federal election in 2004
and show Australian's that Parliamentary Democracy is nothing more than two
minutes of illusory power.


DEFEND & EXTEND MEDICARE AUSTRALIA
HEALTH CARE A RIGHT NOT A CHARITY OR A LUXURY
NEXT RALLY:  12.30PM FRIDAY    7TH NOVEMBER 2003
STATE LIBRARY
Cnr Swanston & Latrobe Streets, Melbourne
www.defendandextendmedicare.org
Email: info@defendandextendmedicare.org
  Postal: P.O. Box 5035 Alphington 3078, Victoria Australia.
Tel: 03 9766 8555
Encourage your family, friends and workmates to take part in the next rally,
without your active participation you and your fellow Australians will lose
access to a universal health care delivery system.  Form your own Federal
electorate group, join the campaign today.

A DOLLAR A DAY
Increasing financial problems have forced us to review how The Anarchist
Media Institute's finances are raised.  Currently subscriptions and
donations only account for about 40% of the income necessary to cover our
costs.  To overcome this problem we've 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
'A Dollar A Day' 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.  We've 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.
SEVEN READERS HAVE JOINED THE 'DOLLAR A DAY' CLUB ­ 23 TO GO. JOIN TODAY!!
EMPTY YOUR POCKETS OF LOOSE CHANGE & SAVE THE ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE

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 reaffirm 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 SelfManaged Society/Anarchist
Media Institute.
All material in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review can be used by anarchists,
anarchist collectives and nonprofit 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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