LL:DDV: Geelong Study Group on Socialist Feminism
Geelong Radical Women invites you to a 6-week study series on The Radical Women Manifesto: Socialist Feminist Theory, Program and Organizational Structure Saturdays, 15 September - 20 October 2.00-3.30 pm (Light snack is served at 1.30 pm for a $3.00 donation) 15 September: Introduction and Preamble -- Who We Are; The Vanguard Role of Women 22 September: Theory -- Origins of Oppression; Women under Capitalism; Race and Gender 29 September: Theory -- Reform or Revolution; Feminism: Class Struggle or Sex Struggle; Women and Socialism; Building for a Socialist Feminist Future 6 October: Platform -- Legal Rights; Economic Equality; Women and Unions; Biological Self-Determination; Quality Healthcare; Rights of Children; Education; Politics; People of Colour, National/Ethnic Minorities and Indigenous Nations 13 October: Platform -- Sexual Minorities; Elder Women; Young Women; Women with Disabilities; Women and Poverty; Women in Prison; Legalisation of Prostitution; Violence against Women; The Environment; Media and Culture; The Military and the Draft; The Right to Self-Defence; For a United Front against the Right Wing and Fascism 20 October: Organisational Structure Principles; Notes and Recommended Reading The Radical Women Manifesto is available in English and Spanish for $10.00 by mail (email [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details). Copies will also be available for purchase at study group meetings. Everyone is welcome! Venue: Wathaurong Cooperative, Morgan St, North Geelong Sponsored by: Radical Women, PO Box 94, Drysdale Vic 3222, www.socialism.com For information or a lift, phone Brenda (03) 5253 3373 or Brigitte (03) 5241 3901 -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDV: Protest against IMF
PROTEST AGAINST THE IMF This Wednesday one of the top officials of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) which is responsible for imposing draconian austerity programs on the population of over half the planet will be speaking at an exclusive invitation only meeting at Melbourne University's Law School. Student from the campus O3 to CHOGM Collective have called a protest action. So come join us. All welcome! Assemble @5pm on Wednesday 5 September in the Law Quadrangle, at Melbourne Uni, Parkville. Please post this to any other lists you are on. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: Aust/Refugees/election prospects
LEAD EDITORIAL IN CANADA'S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER, THE GLOBE AND MAIL 30 AUGUST MEMO TO JOHN HOWARD: DO THE DECENT THING When the distress call came on Sunday from Australia's Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Captain Arne Rinnan of the Norwegian freighter Tampa did what any sailor - indeed, any human being - should have done. He changed course, steered his ship toward a sinking Indonesian vessel and rescued more than 400 passengers. His selflessness has placed Mr Rinnan at the centre of a bitter diplomatic row. The passengers were the latest in a steady flow of desperate migrants fleeing Afghanistan and several other war-torn Asian countries to seek a new life in Australia. For years, Australia has allowed such people to land, considered their claims to refugee status under international law, and accepted most of them as permanent residents. But now it has had a sudden change of heart and is wrangling with Indonesia, Norway and the united Nations over who should take the migrants in. Prime Minister John Howard sent troops to board the Tampa off Chrismas Island and prevent it from dropping anchor. He plans to introduce retroactive legislation to justify his action. He says he cannot allow a situation where for practical prposes we lose control of our capacity to determine who comes to this country and in what circumstances. All very persuavive, were it not for the timing. Mr Howard is expected call an election this fall. Opinion polls indicate his Liberal-National coalition will be hard-pressed to retain its slender parliamenatry majority. The right-wing, anti-immigration party One Nation has done well in state elections. Australians are said to be fed up with the cost of processing asylum seekers. It looks very much as if Mr Howard is trying to staunch an outflow of votes as much as an influx of immigrants. We prefer Mr Rinnan's instincts. Common decency, a quality we believe is still prized in Australia, requires Mr Howard to set aside his electoral worries and drop his hard line. Having asked the Captain to save the migrants, Austrlian cannot how turn its back on them. Not only would that be unconscionable, but it would encourage mariners to ignore future distress calls, thus imperilling the lives of future shipwreck victims. The Tampa's passengers should be allowed to land, and be dealt wth in the same manner as other undocumented immigrants. That's the easy part of this sad affair. But what of the fresh boatloads of asylum seekers that will surely continue to arrive? Reports from the region tell of travel agents who smuggle migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and other countries through Iran, Malaysia and the Indonesian archipelago to Christmas Island and Ashmore Reef, another sea swept Australian territory. There are simiilarities with the arrival of smuggled Chinese off Canada's West Coast, but there is one important difference. The West Asisans are far more likely to be fleeing genuine persecution, giving them a claim to refugee status under international law. Over the past 35 years, Australia has shed its White Australia immigration policy, shouldered its international obligations and accepted tens of thousands of refugees from world trouble spots. It should continue to do so, and should be applauded for it. Morevoer, since most refugee claims - particularly from Afghans and Iraqis - are approved in the end, it should recondiser its costly policy of automatically detaining asylum seekers in isolated camps until their cases are heard. The rest of the world has responsibilities too, Afghanistan's Taliban and Iraq's Saddam Hussein are unlikely to change their despotic, refugee-producing policies any time soon. Wealthy Countries, however, might consider taking more refugees for settlement under United Nations auspices, and they should make sure humanitarian aid is being provided at levels appropriate to the suffering of innnocent peoples. Undoubtedly there is also room for closer co-operation from the countireis along the asylum trail - Indonesia, in particular - in fighting the lucraticve people-smuggling trade. But the central principle in dealing with suffering must continue to be compassion. In that respect, Mr Rinnan has shown the way. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDV: Free the Refugees! Protest @ Preston Markets Sept 8
www.socialist-alliance.org MEDIA RELEASE August 31, 2001 Local protest to demand: Admit the Tampa refugees now! Upcoming Action Preston Markets Saturday September 8 10am 1pm Speakout and Rally to Free the Refugees Contact: Preselected Socialist Alliance candidate for Batman: Jackie Lynch 0403 693 479 The Socialist Alliance, formed in February, has pledged to do everything it could to force the Howard government to accept the refugees presently stranded in appalling conditions on the Norwegian cargo vessel Tampa by the government´s refusal to allow the ship to dock at Christmas Island. Jackie Lynch, candidate for the Seat of Batman said that the stance of both the Howard government and the Labor opposition revealed the deep inhumanity of both major parties. No-one with any human decency left could witness the suffering of these people in flight from the institutionalised cruelty of the Taliban regime and not want to help. Lynch went on to say The Socialist Alliance will be initiating and participating in protests all around Australia: its candidates for the upcoming federal election will be making the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers a central theme of their message. In Batman, local Socialist Alliance activists are planning a protest around the Tampa tragedy and the treatment of refugees in general. Nine socialist organisations and many individual activists have formed the Socialist Alliance to contest the next federal election. Supporters include Craig Johnston, Victorian state branch secretary of the AMWU, Melbourne University academic Verity Burgmann, comedian Rod Quantock, union and environmental activist Jack Mundey, Victorian Fairwear organiser Annie Delaney and Victorian Trades Hall women's and equity officer Ellen Kleimaker. The Socialist Alliance will be standing in every state and territory in the federal election. Jackie Lynch Mobile: 0403 693 479 -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:INFO: This week on Background Briefing
.. This Week On ABC Radio National's investigative documentary program, Background Briefing . Sunday2 September 9am Tuesday 4 September 7pm Wednesday 5 September 4am . This Week Taxing Times Produced by Steve Skinner Some people pay a lot, others pay comparatively little. We're talking here about the tax base, We're talking here about over the years a quite significant shifting of the tax burden from high-wealth and corporates to PAYE taxpayers. This is serious, it's systematic, and it's on the increase. Especially when the tax officials are overworked, underpaid, and doing their own photocopying. . Last Week Gaza: Shouting at the Sea Produced by Kylie Morris Transcript available at: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s352915.htm .. Listen in on the web: Most new, and some archived, Background Briefings are now available on our web site as streaming Real Audio. You'll find a list of them accompanying our transcripts. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/index/default.htm .. We welcome your feedback on any of our programs or the program web site. .. Background Briefing on ABC Radio National GPO Box 9994 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia Fax:+61-2-9333-1400 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Voice +61 2 9333 1385 during office hours. .. Subscribe or sign off this email list by visiting our front page: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/ go to: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/bbmail.htm for further information. .. Tuning into Radio National all over Australia: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/freq/map.htm .. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDQ: Forwarded mail....re CHOGM
From: ruby black [EMAIL PROTECTED] MEET THE ANARCHISTS! Are you travelling to the anti-chogm protests in Brisbane 6-9 October.Meet other non hierarchial anti capitalists groups and individuals from around Australia.We welcome you to participate in a networking talk fest on Friday the 5th October. Each group has a short time to explain their goals and what their doing etc...followed by a general discussion re.CHOGM tactics or general networking according to the desires of those present. People interested in Anarchist ideas are welcome to attend.No hierarchial groups- parties.The purpose of this meeting is to spread Anarchist ideas and network. Interested! contact me via email -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:INFO: Proposed Peaceful Assemblies Bill
Hello LeftLinkers Below is a letter that Radical Women sent to Steve Bracks about the proposed Peaceful Assemblies Bill and forwarded to Donna Robertson, who recently asked subscribers for opinions. The letter was presented at an RW meeting this past Thursday on the militarising of Australia's police (guest speaker was Jude McCulloch, feminist community lawyer and author of Blue Army: Paramilitarity Policing in Australia) and signed by RW members and guests. Debbie Brennan Melbourne Radical Women Organiser Radical Women PO Box 266, West Brunswick Vic 3055 The Hon Steve Bracks Office of the Premier 1 Treasury Place Melbourne 3000 30 August 2001 Dear Premier Bracks We, the undersigned, condemn your government's proposed Peaceful Assemblies Bill which would revoke the right of assembly in Victoria. Coming just before the Commonwealth Business Forum in October, its immediate purpose is self-evident. Empowering police to crush demonstrations and threatening protesters with collective penalties is a transparent and desperate attempt by your government to protect the global profiteers. Working people and society's most downtrodden, who are the targets of this bill, will not tolerate repeats of the infamous scenes at Richmond Secondary College in 1994 and the S11 protests last year. We will not be scapegoated for the economic crisis, nor coerced into paying for it. Our rights are not for sale. At the very least, justice requires the establishment of an elected, community-controlled police review board, independent of government and the police, with power to discipline and dismiss officers who harass, brutalise or kill women, people of colour, young people, queers and workers - today's protesters. The police must not be unleashed, they must be held accountable. Yours sincerely -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDV: COSHG Workshops
From: Sue Nash [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 12:53 PM Subject: Workshops W o r k s h o p s (3) 1. SUPPORT There will be a workshop on the theme of Support on Saturday October 27. 10am - 4pm. To be held in Carlton. Topics will include ways that group members can support each other, including active listening and skills for answering phone calls from members and prospective members. Facilitators of the sessions will be Lera O'Connor from the Anti-Cancer Council and Eilís Hughes from the Genetic Support Network. Cost will be $10 (or $5 if you have a Health Care Card or similar level of income). Bring your own lunch. There will be a maximum of 40 people. It is essential to book your place. Please contact COSHG. A program with details of session times, public transport, car parking, etc will be sent to you on receipt of your booking. Our recent workshops have been on weekdays. We are holding this one on a Saturday and hope that members of self help groups who are at work on weekdays will be able to join us for this workshop. 2. NEW GROUPS, NEW PEOPLE, NEW DIRECTIONS A workshop for:- - people involved in starting a group - people thinking about starting a group - people taking on new responsibilities (for example being a committee member or convenor) - groups that are thinking about doing things in a new way Workshop will cover a range of issues, depending on the needs of the participants. If you would be interested in attending, please call COSHG before September 11, and we will arrange the workshop at a time to suit the people who want to attend. 3. FUTURE WORKSHOPS We hope to hold more workshops in 2001-2002 and we are looking for people to facilitate sessions. Could you run a session on a topic that would be useful toother groups? This is a chance to share your experience and knowledge with a small informal group of people involved in self help. Information about future workshops will be in the COSHG news sheet. If you are interested in future workshops, please subscribe to the news sheet. Some possible topics for workshops ... Computer skills Internet use Web pages News sheet production, mail-outs, evaluation Leaflet production Starting a group Group maintenance Recruitment - how to get people involved Legal structures, incorporation Meetings, facilitation, Consensus decision making Conference/forum organising Consultations - is it worth being involved? Conflict Resolution Awareness - Cultural/ disabilities, etc GST other tax issues Evaluation Public Speaking presentations Media Skills (press releases) Finances - being a treasurer Funding - submissions, fund raising Issues for similar groups - e.g. Health Groups Support groups - active listening, phone skills, referrals, confidentiality Publicity, working with the media Gender relations in self help and social action Video making Screen Printing Banner making Social Action and the Law Students volunteers in self help groups Campaign skills Nonviolence and direct action Strategic Questioning Lobbying Umbrella groups - policies and structures END = Collective Of Self Help Groups P O Box 251, Brunswick East 3057 Vic Australia Phone 61 3 9349 2301 (Wed 2-4pm) www.vicnet.net.au/~coshg For people wanting to contact, start or maintain self help or social action groups Directory of Self Help and Social Action Groups. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:PR: WTO applauded for insulting Gandhi satire
From: RTMark Quarterly Report [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 5:07 PM Subject: WTO applauded for insulting Gandhi August 30, 2001 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WTO INTRODUCES NEW MEMBER Gold and one meter long, phallus is brand-new technology to control distant workers Anti-WTO impostors have struck again, delivering a lecture about the rights of slavery, the stupidity of Gandhi, and the supremacy of free trade to an enthusiastic crowd of scientists, engineers, and marketing professionals--all of whom thought they were watching an official WTO representative. The 150 experts at the Textiles of the Future conference in Tampere, Finland heard one Hank Hardy Unruh explain that Gandhi's self- sufficiency movement was entirely misguided, because it centered around protectionism, and that Lincoln, by outlawing slavery, had criminally interfered with the trade freedom of the South, as well as with slavery's own freedom to develop naturally. Had slavery never been abolished, Unruh said, today's much cheaper system of sweatshops would have eventually replaced it anyhow; following this free-market logic to the end, Unruh declared the Civil War just a big waste of money. Finally, to applause from the highly educated audience, Unruh's business suit was ripped off to reveal a golden leotard with a three-foot-long phallus. The purpose of the Management Leisure Suit, he explained, was to allow managers, no matter where they were, to monitor their distant, impoverished workforces and to administer shocks to encourage productivity--assuring that no Gandhi-type situation develop again. If a group of Ph.D.s cheers at such crudely crazy things, just because it's the WTO saying them, what else can the WTO get away with? said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men, the impostors' umbrella group. (The entire PowerPoint lecture is available at http://www.theyesmen.org/finland/, along with some shots captured by a video crew preparing a film on the Yes Men's activities.) The Yes Men had a similar experience last October with a group of international trade lawyers (http://www.theyesmen.org/wto/). And in July, a member of the group, again passing as a representative of the WTO, appeared on a major television network show about protest's effect on the market (http://theyesmen.org/tv.html); among other things, he spoke about how the privatization of education will naturally eliminate unproductive thinkers from the high-school classroom, a long-term solution to the problem of protest. (Because the imposture was not noticed and the Yes Men hope for further appearances, the show's name is being withheld.) In other quarterly developments: * A conference session on techniques to counter anti-corporate activism, normally available for $225 to corporate clients, is available to activists for free at http://rtmark.com/prsa/, thanks to an anonymous donor. * At the G8 protests in Genoa, activists distributed one thousand vanity mirrors, which were then used to reflect the sun into the eyes of attacking policemen; this fulfilled RTMark project MIRR (http://rtmark.com/archimedes.html), and those who carried it out received a $1,000 anonymous investment. The Archimedes Project comes on the heels of the medieval catapult attack on the FTAA fortress in Quebec City, for which the workers were awarded $200. For the upcoming IMF protests in Washington, D.C., on September 29, an RTMark investor has offered $500 to any Lacrosse team that harnesses their skills and equipment to throw tear gas canisters back to the police (http://rtmark.com/fundhigh.html#LACR). * A software development kit and book from http://hactivist.com, entitled Child as Audience, allows anyone to reverse-engineer the Nintendo Gameboy. Because of content that many will find objectionable, RTMark has lent its corporate veil to the project, meaning that any legal flak will be absorbed by the RTMark corporate body rather than by those responsible. * The same label that enraged Geffen Records with Deconstructing Beck is issuing its fourth RTMark-sponsored release, A Mutated Christmas, a paean to musical sharing illegally assembled from copyrighted holiday music. Promotional copies will be available in late September; press and radio requests should be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]. RTMark's primary goal is to publicize corporate subversion of the democratic process. To this end it acts as a clearinghouse for anti-corporate projects. A list of just-added projects is maintained at http://rtmark.com/new.html. # 30 # www.iww.org because capitalism cannot be reformed. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: Turning Democracy on it's Head
Challenging read - pls. read if you have time: Subject: Turning Democracy on it's Head TURNING DEMOCRACY ON IT'S HEAD John Bunzl [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.simpol.org To give into the protesters would be to turn democracy on it's head so responded an angry Tony Blair to suggestions that summits like the G-8 meeting in Genoa should not take place in view of the violence and bloodshed. Blair, defiant as ever, insists that the protesters are preventing democratically elected world leaders from carrying out their day-to-day business of making the world a better and safer place. He vehemently denies that he and other political leaders are out of touch and insists the protesters are seeking to turn democracy on its head. But such statements only serve to underline the extent to which Blair has already lost touch with reality. For he assumes that genuine `democracy' still exists; an assumption which could cost us all dearly in the months and years to come unless politicians take appropriate action very soon. Indeed, quite unbeknown to Mr. Blair - though not to many who shun the ballot box in droves - democracy has already been turned on its head and can no longer be said to exist by any reasonable definition of the word. Now he and many other politicians will at first scoff at such a statement. After all, we have elections, don't we? Indeed we do. And they're free and fair, aren't they? Indeed they are. But does that necessarily mean we have `democracy'? For democracy surely implies not just the mechanics of free and fair elections but the ability of different political parties to choose and, if elected, to implement their freely chosen manifestos. On the face of it, this may appear to be the case. But we need to probe a little deeper to uncover some of the reasons for the protests in Genoa, Gothenburg, Davos and at almost every other major summit meeting since Seattle in December 1999. And this disaffection is just the festering tip of a very large iceberg. For underlying these high-profile protests lies a widespread and deepening public disengagement from party politics as evidenced by ever-lower voter turnouts in elections around the world. This is something our Tony should know well, having himself been recently re-elected by only 42% of the vote with a turn-out of just 58%; the lowest since 1929. To my reckoning, that means only 25% of those eligible voted for him. So why all the disaffection when the mechanics of democracy seem to be in good working order? The `Hidden-Hand' of Global Competition. The answer, quite simply, is because today's competitive global economy subtly yet effectively reduces the span of feasible policy options open to national governments. Today we live in a global and largely borderless economy where capital and transnational corporations freely move wherever profits are highest, costs lowest and where governments live in fear of the `reaction' of global markets. No government can now impose higher taxes or regulations on corporations for fear of them moving employment elsewhere. Similarly, governments seeking to impose protective environmental or labour legislation would be seen by global financial markets as `uncompetitive', prompting instant punishment through devaluation, capital flight, inflation and unemployment. Even the mooting of such policies would cause the computers of market traders to instantly move capital to some other economy offering an environment `more conducive to business needs'. Democracy presupposes that political parties can freely represent a wide diversity of public opinion and consequently a wide range of feasible policies covering the entire political spectrum. But globally competitive markets now represent a sinister `hidden hand' which narrows the policy parameters to what has now become a highly restricted, business-friendly stance which excludes all those restorative policies traditionally espoused by the political Left to balance social and environmental concerns against those of business. So at a time when the gap between rich and poor is at its greatest, when job security is at its weakest and when the Left around the world should consequently be at the peak of its effectiveness, it instead finds itself struggling for oxygen as global markets have created a political-economic environment in which traditional centre-left policies have become impractical. And for any political party, impractical policies inevitably spell political redundancy and a loss of public support. For voters are not stupid. They certainly know that their nation cannot ignore world markets or the wider international economic environment. They know that their jobs depend to an increasing degree on their nation's competitiveness in world markets. Consequently, they are encouraged to align their votes with whichever party they perceive as most likely to maintain it. In the struggle against redundancy, therefore, the Left had little option but to shed those
