________________________________________________ A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E http://www.ainfos.ca/ ________________________________________________ ANARCHISM � ADVANCING IN DIVERSITY STRIKING IN UNISON � YAMAGUCHI KENJI DON�T DISTURB!! GOOD CORPORATE CITIZEN AT WORK!! I was astonished to see the Australian, The Murdoch�s Presses flagship in Australia, shed a few crocodile tears in its �Advance Australia Where� series on the widening wealth divide in this country. It�s astounding to think that the very corporate structure that has aided, abetted and spearheaded the globalisation and privatisation push in Australia, is now showing some concern for the victims of the policies the Murdoch Media conglomerate has pursued over the past two decades. I can�t help feel that the �Advance Australia� series that has popped up in the Australian is analogous to a person who through deliberate malice has permanently paralysed someone, paying for their victims medical bills while in hospital but not giving a damn about the victim�s long term future. The solutions that have been thrown up by the Australian to help soften the burden of this widening gap, resemble the contents of a Barry McKenzie technicolour yawn. I�m reduced to tears by the vacuousness of the Australian�s solutions to this very real problem that gnaws at the very soul of this country. Power no longer resides in the Nation State. Globalisation has shifted the focus of power from the hands of dictators and parliaments into the hands of an ever shrinking number of transnational corporations. The direction governments move is determined by the needs of these corporations, not the needs of the people these governments supposedly represent. This is the reason that over the last fifty years power and wealth has become concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. The solution to this ever widening gap doesn�t lie with government intervention or corporate welfare, it lies with the abolition of the State apparatus and the transfer of corporate wealth back into the hands of the community. Until communities own and control the very resources that they need to guarantee their survival, this widening gap will continue to grow. Historically, centralisation of power and wealth have been followed by cataclysmic events that have changed the course of history. These events have increased community participation in the decision making process and the distribution of wealth in these societies. The recent events in Seattle, Davos and Washington have sent shockwaves through the corporate world because ordinary people have been able to identify the problem and put a brake on the forces that have pushed the globalisation agenda. Although Murdoch�s flagship in Australia may shed the occasional tear for the �have nots�, it has no intention of changing its direction. The Murdoch media�s hostile response to the proposed peoples pre-Olympic festival outside Crown Casino in Melbourne that will "welcome" the delegates to the Asia Pacific leg of the World Economic Forum on the 11th, 12th and 13th of September is a clear indication that the Murdoch juggernaut has no intention of changing its globalisation agenda. WAY OFF THE MARK On Monday, the country�s Federal parliamentarians mourned one of their own who committed suicide. The parliamentary eulogies spoke about a man who was cut down in his prime, they spoke about stress and how his friends and colleagues had not acted to identify and help this man. Listening to their kind words, I couldn't help but think they had strayed way off the mark. Depression can be divided into two different categories, reactive and endogenous. Reactive depression is related to life's events, it's the type of depressive illness we can all identify with. Stress, personal, family and gender issues can all lead to a depressive illness. What most, if not all of those delivering their eulogies had forgotten is that depression can be an illness that is not linked to specific events. A good family life, plenty of money, opportunities, children, friends and an active social life may not spare you from a depressive illness. Although it may not be fashionable, it's important to point out that some depressive illnesses that lead to suicide are due to specific biochemical problems. Although people have no qualms about recognising medical illnesses like diabetes, chrones disease and a host of other illnesses, they take a step back when confronted with a mental illness that's directly related to the triggering of a biochemical imbalance. In these situations, it's important to recognises that the initial treatment and in some situations long term treatment requires medication. Although not personally familiar with the parliamentarians depressive illness, I can't help feel that maybe, just maybe, his colleagues eulogies were way off the mark and this man's depressive illness had more to do with an ingrained medical problem that needed medication, rather than a situational crisis that needed counselling. ONUS OF PROOF? The fundamental principle of English justice that the onus of proof rests with the State has been turned on its head by the latest twists and turns in the genetically engineered food debate. In the rush to make genetically engineered food a consumer reality, the Australian and New Zealand government have declared that five types of genetically engineered foods including canola, soya bean and cotton are safe. Just in case you don't think this doesn't affect you, think again. Soya products, cotton oil and canola oil products are used in many prepared foods that people buy off supermarket shelves. In one of those 'believe it or not' scenarios that people are being increasingly asked to accept, people have been given ten weeks to bring "scientific proof" to a parliamentary committee's attention that the genetically engineered foods the government has approved are not safe. In the rush to make a buck, the whole planet and every living thing on this planet have been put at risk by the government approval of genetically modified food. Just in case you think I'm blowing this matter out of all proportion, think again. Australia's organic farmers believe they will soon be out of business because current agricultural practices surrounding the growing of G.M.F. has allowed genetically modified genes to enter the normal food cycle. It's no accident that Howard waters down the packaging requirements for G.M.F. at the same time parliament puts the onus of proof on the consumer to prove that G.M.F. is safe. The current rush by governments across the world to make G.M.F. a fait accompli is just another indication of who's pulling the strings on the planet today. If governments had any real power you'd think they would take the side of the people they represent, not the side of the transnational corporations who's genetic patents guarantee then a pretty little penny. NOTHING SHORT OF CRIMINAL FRAUD!! The private health industry's push and the Federal government's initiatives to force people to join a private health insurance company before the end of June is nothing short of criminal fraud. Ever expanding public waiting lists coupled with a government engineered public hospital crisis has provided the driving force behind the hysteria driving the push for people to buy private health insurance. The tragedy about this ideological initiative (which will both in the short and long term not improve private and public health care) is that the expansion of the private health sector has been bought at the expense of a crumbling public health sector. The four to five billion dollars of taxpayers funds that the Federal government will have to jump into the private health sector every year could have been better spent if the subsidy that goes to the private health insurance industry was used to staff public hospitals and expand their services. The more I think about this crazy, very crazy scenario, the more I'm convinced that this is not how any rational, sane person would tackle the country's health care crisis. The problem is that I'm writing as if the Federal government is populated by sane, rational people. When you examine Howard's, Reith's, Costello's, Anderson's and Ironbar Tuckey's parliamentary performances, you soon realise that the country is not dealing with a sane group of people. No wonder that criminal fraud is the only term that readily comes to mind, when I'm asked what I think about the Federal government's health care changes. ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER Q. What role does race play in an anarchist community? A. Theoretically none, practically it may become a problem because of the cultural baggage we all bring to the anarchist movement. Over the past century, a number of culturally sanctioned global practises have been stamped out, because they inhibit personal freedom and personal development. A few that readily come to mind are child marriages, foot binding and slavery. Another culturally sanctioned practise that is beginning to be challenged is female genital mutilation. What anarchists find objectionable about all these culturally sanctioned practises is that one group imposes its will on another group, usually a segment of society that is not able to resist these practises. As well as these gross violations of human potential, individuals and groups subtlety carry out cultural practices that inhibit other people's potential. Individuals and groups that carry this cultural baggage with them can create problems within an anarchist society that can be seen as being racially based. If this situation does arise within an anarchist community, that particular community needs to ask itself whether the practises or attitudes that has resulted in this friction inhibits or reinforces an individuals ability to choose what path they want to follow. If these situations are examined in this manner, it's likely that the racial undertones that have surrounded these problems will take a back seat to questions about whether these attitudes and practices inhibit individual liberty. At the end of the day, any anarchist community that incorporates racist concepts within its principles of association and strategies is doomed to fail, because racial inequality should play no part in an anarchist community. ACTION BOX - NOISE!! Participants in the People's Pre-Olympic Festival that is being organised to welcome the Chief Executive Officers and government officials at the Asia Pacific leg of the World Economic Forum need to make themselves heard. They need to be heard by the delegates in the conference, irrespective of where these delegates are meeting in Crown Casino. It's not enough to have a mass presence round the conference venue. Delegates can just pull down the blinds, draw the curtains and go on with their meeting. It's no accident the conference is being held in Crown Casino. The venue provides a self contained environment for the delegates. They can eat, shop, meet and sleep in the venue without needing to move out of Crown Casino. That's why noise will become such an important tactic in the struggle to ensure that they know they can no longer make decisions for us. So on the day, bring drums, preferably hand drums, whistles can be very effective, bring along anything that can make a noise, preferable nothing too bulky. You need to remember that you may need to disperse in a hurry, especially if the Victorian Police use baton charges and horses to try to break up the crowd. If demonstrators are able to make enough noise they may even be able to prevent the delegates from discussing the proposals on their agenda. Remember Crown Casino is a living, breathing complex that needs to welcome gamblers into its gaming rooms, people into its restaurants and theatres and guests into its four star luxury accommodation. Next week we'll look at how you can use these facilities to welcome the delegates to the Asia Pacific leg of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne on the 11th, 12th and 13th of September. AUSTRALIAN ANARCHIST HISTORY Q. WHEN IS A CONFERENCE NOT A CONFERENCE? A. WHEN IT'S HELD IN JACK GRANCHAROFF'S SITTING ROOM. AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND ANARCHIST CONFERENCE 1966 (ANZAC) In May 1966 Jack Grancharoff, the editor of Red and Black, an anarchist publication first published in 1964 which continues to appear today in fits and starts, found himself host to anarchists from Melbourne's TREASON group, the Queensland University Anarchist Federation and a number of New Zealand anarchists. >From the 23rd to the 27th of May, a number of meetings were held in Sydney by anarchists from New Zealand, Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. Their meetings were called the Australian and New Zealand Anzac Conference (ANZAC). At these meetings, it was decided that anarchists should participate in anti-war and anti-government groups and present an anarchist view point within these groups. It was also decided that anarchists should undertake both large and small anarchist cooperative ventures and participate in the formation of libertarian inclined social action groups. It was also agreed to spread "the humanist, liberal and empirical habits of anarchism and to expose the instability of the present social structure". A number of "State correspondents" were appointed for each State. J. GRANCHAROFF (SYDNEY) A. MORGAN (BRISBANE) A. GILES-PETERS (MELBOURNE) J. DWYER/R. BENSON (NEW ZEALAND) Source of article Melbourne Anarchist Archives (Page 2) 1966 - 1973. Thanks to Dimitri from Barricade Books for providing the copy of the Melbourne Anarchist Archives which I used for this article. If you have old Australian Anarchist literature, photographs or if you have recollections call Joe Toscano at the Anarchist Media Institute, anytime on (03) 9828 2856. Don't keep them to yourself, share them with the readers of the Anarchist Age Weekly Review. BOOK REVIEW GRASSROOTS AND NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP (A Guide for organisations in changing times), Berit M. Lakey, George Lakey, Rod Napier and Janice M. Robinson, New Society Publishers 1995, ISBN CAN-1-55092-275-0 "Recognise that what you are doing is difficult, not just that you aren't working hard enough or you are not smart enough. It is difficult". I think I've reviewed one too many 'how to' books. After reading this book, I came away with the 'is that all there is?' feeling. Look, don't get me wrong, the book has a few gems and some interesting comments on organising and leadership, but somehow it just doesn't seem to hit the bull's eye. Maybe, if the authors had moved away from their river analogy it wouldn't have seemed so contrived. "Giving leadership to organisations in changing times is a lot like navigating a river in a raft". Using this phrase as the backbone of their ideas and strategies, the authors divide their thoughts in this 212 page book into four distinct segments. Approaching the River, Fortifying the Raft, Steering through White Water and Facing the Boulders. I don't believe the books strength lies in its analysis of grassroots and non-profit leadership. Its strength lies in its ability to open up a window into how most organisations in the world think and act. I found Chapter 5, Selecting the Raft for the Course, the most informative and interesting. The book is worth buying just to examine the well thought out arguments and easy to read diagrams about organisational structures that it outlines in Chapter 5. GRASSROOTS AND NON PROFIT LEADERSHIP is available from ANARRES Books for $16.95 (Australian). Order your copy by snail mail, write to them at PO Box 150 East Brunswick 3057 Melbourne Australia or Email your order to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Be a devil contact them for a hard copy of their current catalogue or have a look at their informative website www.anarres.org.au. PERSONAL OBSERVATION I don't think I've been this sick, since 1981. I remember lying on a dirty mattress in a Roman Pensione, sweating, hallucinating, tossing, turning, sleeping, swallowing, Erythromycin every time I woke. It was simple really, a small abrasion on the inside of my left big toe, cellulitis, fever, hallucinations. Eventually the antibiotics did the trick and I overcame my own mortality. It's strange how the intervening nineteen years just seem to have disappeared, same symptoms, same thoughts. It started off simply enough, a harshness at the back of the throat, followed by a feeling of disassociation, lethargy, fever, dizziness, an absence of purpose. One followed the other, every day mundane tasks took on Everest proportions. Muscles ached, legs seized, nose ran like a leaky tap. My mind tried to lift itself out of my skull as I waited for the inevitable attack from the virus that had mounted such an effective assault. It's strange how the mind keeps drifting back to those other times, when it felt it was under siege. The nine year old boy dying of glomerule nephritis, shakes hands with the youth who was nipped by the red belly black snake. They both stared at the young man who was trapped on the rocky ledge which peeked over the watery cauldron below. It felt strange being at the receiving end, normally as a doctor I walk through the valley of death, treating illness with disdain. Interesting cases come and go, death comes and goes, pain comes and goes. Fixed dilated pupils, no recordable blood pressure, no cardiac sounds, no spontaneous respiration, no carotid pulses - LIFE EXTINCT. Not this time, just another case of influenza, maybe if I was older, had AIDS or diabetes, the story would have been different. This little episode has erected another memory to slot into the file that holds images, smells and sounds of other times my mortality has been challenged. STOP PRESS EAST TIMOR - INDEPENDENT? It's good to see the Murdoch media throwing its weight behind the East Timorese or is it? I can't help wondering what the East Timorese struggle was all about. Was it about giving the United Nations a mandate to entrench capitalism in East Timor? What do the East Timorese get out of twenty five years of struggle? Do they win a carbon copy of what we experience in Australia? A parliament that has no real power, a people who's main function is to consume and work for the main man so they can consume a little more. Will they become a cheap tourist destination for tourists who are sick of Bali Belly? Will their women and children become fodder for an ever expanding first world sex industry that thrives on third world poverty? I'm concerned, very concerned about the direction that the East Timorese are being forced to take. It's no accident that Fretlin modified all the radical elements within it's political program. Independence from Indonesia fine, their own flag and parliament fine, elections fine but unfortunately there seems to be no room for anyone who doesn't want East Timor to become a Bali carbon copy. As international capital takes a control of the country's infrastructure and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund play their cards, the future of the East Timorese seems to be very bleak indeed. No wonder the guerillas who spent so much time in the mountains, have kept their guns and are waiting to see how much control the East Timorese have over their own destiny before they consider whether they will disarm. JOSEPH TOSCANO (Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society). ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK � ABALATHA No 180 Mar/Apr 2000, R Marques de Ponte, de Lima 372� Dt�, 1100-337 LISBOA, PORTUGAL, www.azul.net/m31/batalha, [EMAIL PROTECTED] � BULLETIN KATE SHARPLEY No 22 May/2000, LIBRARY, BBY HURRICANE, LONDON WCIN 3XX, ENGLAND, http://flag.blackened.net/ksl/sharpley.htm UMANITA NOVA 80th year 25th Feb + 12th Mar 2000, C.so Palermo 46, 10152 TORINO, ITALY, email [EMAIL PROTECTED], tel/fax (011) 857850 DEBT ELIMINATION APPEAL Our debt is now $452.40. If we can continue to keep it below five hundred dollars we can continue to publish till the cows come home. It costs around 1500 dollars a month to produce the weekly, quarterly, radio program and finance our other activities. The Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society provide 800 to 900 dollars per month of this total. The other 700 to 800 dollars needed to keep this level of activity going needs to come from our subscribers and supporters. It�s important to remember to keep those subscriptions and donations rolling in. If you are sending relatively small amounts (twenty dollars or less) send us 45cent postage stamps (this saves you bank and money order charges) and help us to pay our 400 dollar per month postage bill our second biggest expense after our radio costs. Make out cheques and money orders to LIBERTARIAN WORKERS and send them to P.O. Box 20 PARKVILLE 3052, Melbourne AUST. DEBT 21.6.2000 - $452.40 BILLET AN ANARCHIST Do you live in Melbourne? Are you attending the demonstration against the Asia Pacific leg of the World Economic Forum on the 11th, 12th, & 13th of September? Then think about Billeting an anarchist/s for the protest. Anarchists from across Australia are coming to the demonstration by car, bicycle, plane, bus and train. The least we can do is put them up for a few days. Ring the Anarchist Media Institute on (03) 9828 2856 anytime and leave a telephone number and name if you can billet an anarchist/s. You�ve got to be in it, to win it � bigger than Ben Hur - the peoples pre-olympic festival outside Crown Casino in Melbourne on the 11th, 12th and 13th of September. 11th, 12th, 13th September ASIA-PACIFIC LEG OF WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM MEETS IN MELBOURNE. WILL YOU BE WELCOMING THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT YOUR LIFE TO MELBOURNE TOWN? IF YOU THINK YOU�LL BE MAKING THE PILGRIMIGE email, write or telephone us for an A3 b/w poster about the demonstrations planned for these three days. You can photocopy and distribute this poster in your workplace, school or around your community. The more who turn up, the merrier. BARRICADE/INFOSHOP PLEDGE GROUP Want to see a permanent Anarchist Bookshop / Information Centre in Melbourne. Then join the BARRICADE/INFOSHOP PLEDGE GROUP. Cost five dollars per week. The Barricade/Infoshop Pledge Group is trying to raise 10,000 dollars so they can put a deposit on their own building. Write to them at PO Box 145, East Brunswick 3057. Melbourne Australia. Email them at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or telephone them on (03) 9387 6646 and become a member of the pledge group. A) Anarchism towards the 21st century B) Towards an anarchist society 1999 handbook Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society Position and Activities 1999. Send $4.00 of stamps to L.W.S.S. PO Box 20 Parkville 3052 Melbourne Australia and we will post out both booklets to you. Politically manipulated and scorned? Sick of being a peripheral player every time a Federal election comes around, then join:- VOTE INFORMAL TODAY, DIRECT DEMOCRACY TOMORROW, a "political party" that is putting the boot into the Australian Parliamentary Process. Send a stamp self-addressed envelope to VOTE INFORMAL TODAY DIRECT DEMOCRACY TOMORROW PO Box 20, Parkville. 3052. Melb. Aust (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 Melb Australia) STAMP APPEAL We normally spend over $400.00 per month on postage stamps. If you have any spare stamps floating about or are about to write to us, stuff a few stamps in the envelope. Every little bit helps. REGIONAL ANARCHIST FLAG 5 feet x 3 feet approximately 175cm x 110cm, Cost $25.00 (includes postage within Australia), $35.00 (Inc. postage air-mail overseas). The Black represents the International Anarchist Flag. The Black Flag negates all borders and all flags. The four stripes (red, green, yellow, blue) represent the dominant colours of the Aboriginal Flag (red and yellow) and the Torres Strait Islander Flag (green and blue). The red stripe represents the blood spilt during colonisation. The green represents the land. The yellow the sun. The blue the sea. Quotes available for larger and smaller flags and for bulk orders. Make out cheques and money orders to: LIBERTARIAN WORKERS PO Box 20, Parkville 3052 Melbourne Australia. ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK. Has been awarded to Sydney�s Rabitto�s for taking the fight up to the Murdoch empire. 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 express the opinion of individuals within the Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society/Anarchist Media Institute. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society/Anarchist Media Institute. P U B L I C A T I O N S Anarchist Age Weekly Review - 4 pages of Anarchist commentary on Local, National and International events. $50.00 for 50 issues $10.00 for 10 issues Anarchist Age Quarterly Review � Issue 90 Jan-March 2000 - OUT NOW! $48.00 wage earners - 12 issues $30.00 non wage earners - 12 issues Make out cheques or money orders to: Libertarian Workers, PO Box 20, Parkville, 3052 Victoria Aust. 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. IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT � GEORGE ORWELL WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY � THE ANARCHIST CENTURY ******** The A-Infos News Service News about and of interest to anarchists ******** COMMANDS: [EMAIL PROTECTED] REPLIES: [EMAIL PROTECTED] HELP: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org To receive a-infos in one language only mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] the message unsubscribe a-infos subscribe a-infos-X where X = en, ca, de, fr, etc. (i.e. the language code)
