(en) Anarchist Age Weekly Review Number 468 1st 7th October,
Philip McCrory
E W S S E R V I C E http://www.ainfos.ca/
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NO GLOBALISATION WITHOUT DIRECT DEMOCRACY - ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE
HI HO HI HO OFF TO VOTE WE GO!!
Elections are the life blood of Australian society. They are an
important ritual that forms the backbone of our community. Most
anarchists don9t seem to understand how crucial elections are. As
long as people flock to the polls and cast a ballot, the chances
of radical egalitarian change are minimal. A Federal election is
especially important, a successful Federal election gives the system
the cohesion and vigor it requires to survive another three years.
Anarchists understand that voting it two minutes of illusory power,
that power doesn9t lie in parliament, but lies in the boardrooms
of national and trans-national corporations. Most Australians
believe that power lies in parliament and that by voting they
determine their future. In Australia voting has been compulsory
since 1924 because the Australian State realised that its very
credibility relies on the percentage of people who participate in
the electoral farce. The more people who participate, the greater
the support for the status quo.
That9s why an attack on compulsory voting is essentially an attack
on the parliamentary system. By breaking the nexus between compulsory
voting and elections, we can call the credibility of the parliamentary
system into question. As the Federal election looms, it9s important
that anarchists follow a strategy of resistance that directly
challenges compulsory voting.
The more activists that challenge the system, the greater the
possibility that people will not be willing to give representatives
a blank cheque to make decisions for them, for the next three years.
Federal elections raise questions about the differences between
representative and direct democratic principles.
Anarchists support the principle of the people involved in a
decision, making that decision - direct democracy. They are not
interested in giving power to representatives to make decisions
for them. During the course of this Federal election the Anarchist
Media Institute will be involved in a campaign that challenges the
legitimacy of parliamentary rule and compulsory voting. During the
course of this election we will be calling on people across Australia
to help us in this campaign to shatter the myths this society is
based on.
500 BILLION!!
A lot of money in anyone9s eyes. That9s how much workers money that
Australia9s superannuation funds are playing with at the moment.
While the markets were skyrocketing, nobody cared, now that the
markets have a dose of the collywobbles, everybody9s concerned
about their fund9s security. People are beginning to realise that
all that money that has been put aside on their behalf, for their
old age, could disappear overnight. The collapse of One-tel, Ansett
and H.I.H, have brought home to people how brittle the system is.
Superannuation payments have been paid into worker superannuation
funds, in lieu of wage increases. In the early days, everybody
thought they would be able to accumulate a nice tidy nest egg and
begin to live the good life when they retired. Well that was the
theory, the reality has turned out to be a little different.
Government legislation has made superannuation a defacto pension.
At the very moment people crave financial security - retirement,
they have been thrown to the mercy of every financial guru in the
business.
No holiday in the South of France, just enough money to exist. A
lifetime of work will be rewarded by a pension that is dependent
on the vagaries of the money markets, I guess that9s what they call
progress in a deregulated economy.
The strange thing about this lazy 500 billion is that there is no
regulations to guarantee that workers nest eggs won9t be embezzled
by fund managers. If there every was a time that a buyer should
beware, now is the time. Unlike banks and insurance companies,
superannuation funds don9t even need to have reserve funds. That
means if poor investment decisions are made by directors, fund
members wouldn9t have access to those reserves.
The superannuation industry has survived, not through good management,
but through luck. The boom cycle in the current boom bust cycle,
has paid useful dividends. These dividends have swelled superannuation
member9s pockets, creating a risk taking approach to finances. The
investments that created all those profits are about to plunge into
a bearish market. Some funds that have made poor investment decisions,
will go under over the next few years. Workers superannuation
payments will be lost because no legislation will be in place to
protect workers superannuation entitlements.
The debate should not revolve around what people will do with their
superannuation payments, but how these entitlements will be protected.
Unfortunately for those funds that collapsed, there are no guarantees
as far as members superannuation funds are concerned.
WHAT PRICE AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP?
I wonder how many Australians are aware of the hypocrisy behind
the Commonwealth government9s advertising campaign to encourage
the nine hundred thousand permanent residents (mostly British) who
live in Australia, to take up Australian citizenship. While the
government is doing all it can to encourage residents who have
decided to retain their citizenship and not take out Australian
citizenship, it has taken a draconian approach to the fate of asylum
seekers.
The abysmal treatment meted out to those incarcerated in Australian
detention centres and the shoddy farcical treatment that has been
administered to those on the Tampa and those asylum seekers who
refuse to leave the Minerva is, if it wasn9t so serious, little
more than a comedy of errors. The way Nauru a sovereign State has
been and is being treated by the Australian State, is the type of
behavior you9d expect from a bully. As Nauruans begin to realise
what9s going on, they will refuse to co-operate with the Federal
government, putting Howard and his government in the untenable
position they have created for themselves.
I really wonder why the government bothers to court permanent
residents, men and women living in this country who are happy to
share in its benefits, but who refuse to take out Australian
citizenship. Instead of wasting taxpayers money on this mob, they
should be turning their attention to those asylum seekers who have
fled some of the most brutal regimes on the planet, Afghanistan,
Iraq, Iran and Palestine to come to Australia. Considering they9ll
do anything to get here, you9d think that they should at least be
assessed on Australian soil, not shunted across the Pacific like
a cargo of live sheep.
It9s obvious that people who have sacrificed so much to get here,
would make for happier and productive Australian citizens, than
those permanent residents who have to be cajoled to take out
Australian citizenship.
SCIENTIFIC CENSORSHIP!!
Over the past month over a dozen independent scientific journals
have sounded warnings about how scientific research is becoming
dominated by corporate interests. The corporatisation of scientific
research has profound consequences both for the scientific community
and the general population. The privatisation and corporatisation
of universities has worsened an already difficult situation.
Scientific research is no longer value free. It9s driven by forces
that only consider commercial realities. Researchers who are
bankrolled by the private sector and an increasing number of research
projects are financed by the corporate sector, find that they have
to sign agreements with their backers which hands over control of
their research findings to those people that finance their research.
This leads to situations that encourage scientific censorship.
Instead of leaving the decision about what will be published to
independent editorial boards, the decision to publish or not to
publish is being influenced by commercial considerations. Material
that should be shared with other researchers becomes the private
property of one small group, this group then determines whether
the material should be exposed to peer review.
Results that don9t support the backers cause never see the light
of day, while results that should be exposed to the glare of peer
review are not published in scientific journals, but are patented
and developed before negative consequences are explored. The
situation has become so intolerable that editorial boards believe
that their independent analysis of scientific research is being
subverted by the needs of the corporate world.
Publication of data allowed independent researchers to verify
material published. Publication has pushed out the scientific
envelope by allowing the whole scientific community, not just a
few private backers to benefit from scientific research.
The current state of affairs benefits no one but private corporations.
It cannot be allowed to go on, if it continues to go on, it9s no
exaggeration to say that a system that has been developed to serve
and protect the community will be subverted by a system that is
only interested in the generation of profit.
PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE?
Ever wondered why New York was attacked on September the 11th? Of
the theories doing the rounds, one broadcast by the BBC and discussed
in the Guardian seems to be gaining credibility. Osama bin Laden
and the Taliban received threats that the United States was going
to attack Afghanistan two months before the terrorist strike on
New York and Washington. It9s possible that Bin Laden and his group
launched pre-emptive strikes on the United States because they
realised that irrespective of what they did of didn9t do, the Bush
administration was going to destroy them.
At a meeting in Berlin in mid July, attended by delegates from the
United States, Iran, Pakistan and Russia, the United States
representatives clearly stated that they would attack Afghanistan
if the Taliban did not hand over Bin Laden. In a speech to the
House Committee on International Relations for the Asia and Pacific
region delivered on the 12th of February 1998 by John Moresca, the
Vice President for International Relations for the Unocal Corporation,
it was made abundantly clear to the American Congress how important
Afghanistan was if the United States was to secure oil and gas
supplies.
The Caucasus and Central Asia landlocked regions have abundant
supplies of untapped oil and gas. The problem facing Unocal is that
it needs the existing pipes in the former Soviet Union to run South
from Chardzhou in Northern Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to
Pakistan to a port on the Arabian sea. This oil and gas could then
be sold for a handsome profit to the expanding Asian market. There
is a lot of interest in this proposed pipeline, in fact so much
interest that Unocal signed an agreement with the Taliban in January
1998 to pass a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan.
The company withdrew from the agreement in December 1998 because
of increasing instability in Afghanistan and because the Taliban
regime was not able to secure international recognition. A year
later the United Nations imposed wide ranging sanctions on the
Taliban regime.
Whether we are seeing a new chapter in the "Great Game" that was
played by Russia and England to control Central Asian resources or
whether we are just seeing a response to the terrorist attack in
the United States is difficult to say. What we can say is that the
devastating attack on New York has given the United States and
Britain the excuse they need to incorporate Afghanistan into the
global economy.
Thanks to John Englart from Anarres Books for the information to
write this article.
ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER Are anarchists culturally neutral?
Many people are under the misconception that anarchism is culturally
neutral. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anarchism is
based on the principles of individual freedom, collective use of
resources and mass participation. Many cultures are based on
principles that are diametrically opposed to these principles.
Whether a culture is just evolving or has been practiced for
thousands of years makes little difference to the way that anarchists
approach problems that are raised within a particular cultural
context. All cultures contain both libertarian and authoritarian
elements.
Some are based on individual ownership, some respect the idea of
personal freedom, while others are based on rigid hierarchical
structures.
Anarchists support the libertarian and oppose the authoritarian
elements within cultures.
They don9t want to see the annihilation of any culture or the
absorption of any culture into a dominant culture. What they would
like to see is the expansion of the libertarian principles which
exist in all cultures. They would give their support to those people
within a cultural framework who are struggling to break down and
remove authoritarian tendencies within a particular cultural setting.
They would be involved in campaigns and struggles that attempt to
break down the power base of those people within a particular
cultural context, who use that power to deny people the right to
make their own decisions. Anarchists would become involved in
campaigns that protect the right of children to grow up in an
environment where they would be free to make decisions about cultural
practices when they are old enough to make their own decision.
Both male an female circumcision would fall within this context.
Anarchist activists would become involved in campaigns that support
the right of individuals to make decisions about whether they follow
a particular cultural practice, free of coercion and sanctions,
both within that culture and from any dominant external culture.
The application of these principles, within different cultural
settings, would strengthen, not diminish different cultures, because
people would follow certain practices because they want to, not
because they are afraid of the consequences of not following such
practices. Viva la difference - but a difference based on free
choice, not compulsion.
ACTION BOX Don9t Lose Sight Of The Big Picture It9s very very easy
to become lost in the minutiae of everyday life. The problems that
we all face, both at a personal , familial, work and community
level, can drain us of the energy we need to act outside our
immediate concerns. It9s no accident that most people have difficulty
looking at the bigger picture.
Post-modern Western society relies on mass consumption and minimal
participation. Although we live under the illusion that we have
unlimited choice, that choice is determined by our access to
resources. It9s difficult, in such a cultural setting, to understand
or know who pulls the strings, let alone have a vision of an
alternative society. It9s much easier in a society where the
boundaries are set in concrete for people to develop ideas about
the type of society they live in and the type of society they would
like to create to replace it.
Post-modern capitalist society is like a blancmange, you have an
idea of what it looks like, but it9s opaque nature makes it difficult
to know how it runs, who has power and how decisions are made. The
constant conversation about freedom, democracy and unlimited choice
creates the illusion that we live in a society where individuals,
not society, has problems.
In such an environment, it9s difficult to convince people about
how society is structured and where real power lies, let alone open
up discussions about alternatives to current structures. That9s
why it9s important that we don9t lose sight of the bigger picture.
What type of society we live in, how it9s structured, how life
could be different in that society and why we want radical egalitarian
change. Loosing sight of the bigger picture makes it almost impossible
to initiate campaigns and create alternatives. Once we lose sight
of that picture, we like Prometheus, are doomed to a life of mindless
repetition.
Do we want to live a life of permanent protest, acting as the
conscience of the society we live in? Or do we want to change that
society so that it reflects our hopes and aspirations for a community
that9s based on egalitarian principles? If we want radical egalitarian
change, we must never lose sight of the bigger picture.
AUSTRALIAN ANARCHIST AND RADICAL HISTORY "Declaration Of War"
The Courier (Brisbane 30th March 1912) said, "A general strike is
a declaration of war", and war it was on Brisbane9s streets in
February 1912.
The Brisbane General Strike occurred because tramway workers were
not able to wear union badges while working. What at first seemed
like a trivial dispute, soon blew up into all-out war. On the first
two days of the strike, processions were allowed. On the third day,
police cordons with fixed bayonets were thrown up to stop strikers
from marching. The Police Commissioner, Cahill, called in reinforcements
from the county side and swore in special constables to maintain
order.
In Brisbane, no work could be performed without permission from
the strike committee. Even government departments had to apply to
the strike committee for permits to work. The Strike Committee
organised five hundred vigilance officers to maintain order and
also set up an Emergency Ambulance Brigade.
It was as if an alternative government had been set up. The strike
committee also issued strike coupons which could be used for payment
for necessities in some businesses.
February the 12th was set aside as a day that women and girls would
protest.
They marched from Trades Hall to Parliament House. As the women
were returning to Market Square, mounted police rode into the crowd,
hitting the women with batons.
The first Australian General Strike didn9t go well for the strikers.
As the strike crumbled, the award made by Mr. Justice Higgins in
the Federal Arbitration Court to increase tramway men9s wages and
allow them to wear their union badges was dismissed on appeal. The
General Strike in part failed because it was not supported by Trades
and Labour Councils in other states. Many leading unionists across
Australia criticised the Brisbane General Strike. The New South
Wales Transport Workers Council9s declared, when attempts were made
to spread the strike to New South Wales, that "an offence to the
organisation has occurred, if any member of any of the societies
cease work or boycotts any vessel in New South Wales waters in
sympathy with the Brisbane strikers".
So much for the history of class and union solidarity in Australia.
Unfortunately, as the strike crumbled, those tramway workers who
took part in the strike, were dismissed by their American employers.
BOOK REVIEW Crass Art And Other Post-Modern Monsters, By Gee Voucher
AK Press Exitstincel Press 1999 ISBN 1-873176-10-4 It's not often
that a radical artist's best work can be appreciated in one volume.
AK Press gave Gee Voucher, an artist best known for her work with
the band Crass carte blanche to publish her own book. Crass Art
and other Post-Modern Monsters is the culmination of a years work.
Gee has selected work from an ongoing career that had already
spanned 22 years (1963-1997).
Although her work has been pigeon holed as political art her mastery
of the line gives her political art a dimension that's lacking in
the social realist offerings many people equate with political art.
Gee Voucher makes a point of being a pre post-modernist artist.
She doesn't shrug her shoulders when faced with hypocrisy and
injustice, she uses space to shock, inform and delight us. The work
is constructed using collage, pastel and gouache. She has made her
mark in the art world, not through the gallery scene but as part
of an ongoing series of publications.
Her visual gymnastics delivers a message that's as subtle as being
hit by a train. A few of her more memorable efforts include a 1980
collage 28cm x 21cm which depicts an English restaurant heavy with
the best the land can offer. A smiling, white coated, bow tied
waiter is lovingly presenting the main course to four comfortable,
middle aged diners, a naked emaciated third world child. This
collage does more to explain third world hunger than a hundred
television commercial for World Vision could ever hope to achieve.
Another collage 29cm x 21cm 1983 which says more than an encyclopedia
can say about war is 'still life with nude'. A dead soldier sprawled
face down in the sand next to a collection of his personal affects
and photographs is punctuated with a colour photograph of the nude
head, neck and breasts of a pin-up girl the soldier carried with
him. The viewer's eye is drawn to the colour photograph of the nude
centered in a black and white collage. Her life makes a mockery of
the soldier's death.
Most readers would be aware of Gee Vouchers work from her crass
album covers. She worked with the anarcho punk band from its
beginnings in 1978 to its demise in 1984. Crass art and other pre
post-modernist monsters is one of those books that you don't really
need but makes a wonderful addition to that collection of radical
literature you've stashed under your bed.
Thanks to Anarres books for providing the review copy of this book.
This book isn't cheap, it retails for $44.00 (Australian) and is
available from Anarres books. Write to them at PO Box 150 East
Brunswick 3057 Melbourne Australia. Email your order to
mail...@anarres.org.au. While you're cyber surfing have a look
at their web site. http://www.anarres.org.au you won't be disappointed.
PERSONAL OBSERVATION Outer suburbs in all its glory, neat brown
dusty front lawns fighting for life in an alien setting. Cheap wire
fences enclosing a 1960's brick veneer dream homes. Small stunted
shrubs sprouting beneath aluminium windows, identical houses in
rows of identical houses, streets in a suburb of look-a-like streets.
Children on school holidays race up and down the roads, some play
ball as they duck the occasional car.
Boring Australian suburbia, predictable, safe hiding a multitude
of sins behind stable brick veneer facades. Nothing here to stir
controversy let alone an original thought. A young child, barely
walking, sensible brown shoes, rugged up from head to toe on a day
when young skin should be bared to the sun, runs across the grass,
falling into his mothers arms. He picks himself up and runs to the
fence testing its integrity. His mother lifts herself from the
grass and gently loosens his grip on the wire fence. He joins in
the fun, running to the other side trying to clamber over the other
fence. His mother joins in the game, catching up in her arms,
placing him back in the middle of the front yard. Australia all
over, private property, child, young mother enjoying the warmth of
the sun on an early spring afternoon.
Everything seems to be right in the world, God is in his temple
counting all his followers. Just one discordant note, the young
woman is covered in a dark billowing robe that covers her ankles.
Her head is covered in a scarf and her face is obliterated by a
bandanna that would put a smile on the face of an ardent
anti-globalisation protestor who is trashing a transnational
corporate office.
No tear gas, no secret police, no barricades, no AK 47', no visible
sign of the State, just a young mother running and playing with
her child in a Melbourne front yard. Her eyes, the only part of
her anatomy in contact with the sun's rays. Her bandanna is not in
place to keep the unwanted attention of the State at bay, it's
there to protect her from the gaze of the world. Why should the
world gaze on a man's private property, her mind, body and soul is
for him alone. They play for a few more minutes and quickly disappear
into a quintessential three bedroom brick veneer house on an average
block in an average suburb in middle Australia, cultural hostages
in a land that worships the sun.
STOP PRESS The Tale Of Two Muslim States, One Good, One Bad A tale
of two Muslim states, one good, one bad. Holding onto the United
States coat-tails, Saudi Arabia extinguishes every human right
known to man, and the world cheers and claps. The Saudi Royal Family
has the United States on its side, it can do whatever it likes as
long as it supports United States foreign policy.
Capital punishment for a host of lifestyle choices, women kept on
the margins of society, a flotilla of guest workers from the
third-world treated little better than feudal servants, Sharia law
implemented with the full backing of the United States, that9s life
in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Royal Family is so concerned about its population turning
its guns on it, it doesn9t even have a standing army. The United
States government has filled the breach, stationing troops in Saudi
Arabia, to keep the Saudi Royal Family, a cast of thousands, in
the lifestyle they9re accustomed to.
In steps Afghanistan9s Taliban, a collection of Islamic students
and scholars, supported and bank rolled by the Saudi Royal Family.
The world stands back aghast as they implement their 11th century
view of Islam on a population that has flirted with the sins of
secularism. Every sin the Taliban is guilty of, the Saudi Royal
Family is guilty of. The difference between the Taliban and the
Saudi Royal Family is one of alliance, not oppressive laws. One
supports United States foreign policy, the other finds itself on
the outer. If only the Taliban had been able to finalise an agreement
to allow gas and oil to flow across Afghanistan from the old Russian
states to Pakistan. If only they had shown some respect for United
States foreign policy, things would be different. Instead of being
concerned about a United States led invasion, they could have called
on the United States to station troops in their country and support
the Taliban.
If they did this, they could practice their religion to their hearts
content. They could do what they liked to their people, and the
United States as in Saudi Arabia, would use its military might to
defend, not exterminate the Taliban. One side right, the other side
wrong - the difference, not human rights, but support for United
States national interests.
Joseph TOSCANO / Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society.
VIDEO BOX Warner Video has attempted to impose new trading terms
on the video retail and hire industry in Australia. This will
directly affect the consumer (us) as it will mean a dramatic increase
in the cost of video (DVD) hire. What the new trading terms do is
create a dual pricing system for rental and retail DVD's, and seek
to prevent "retail only" DVD's from being rented. The reason for
this is Warner believes copyright laws apply differently to DVD's
than to VHS due to the different technology involved. In other
words, because within the DVD player the movie is allegedly copied
technically to the system before/while being played, that the
consumer has to pay for a hire through increased rental costs. In
reality, when one watches a DVD video, the data is lost once the
DVD player is stopped. The customer did not copy a DVD. Their system
did, temporarily. Currently, it appears many predominantly self
owned and independent video stores across Australia are boycotting
purchasing DVD videos from Warner. If Warner succeeds in imposing
its trading terms then shops that originally bought DVD's for say
$60 for hire purposes will incur an extra charge. This will mean
an increase in DVD video hire costs to the consumer. It will stamp
out any competitive pricing on DVD hires due to the closure of many
independent stores that will not be able to cope with the extra
charges, creating an ever increasing monopolisation of the video
industry by Blockbuster, Movieland, and various other chain stores.
AVRA (Australian Video Retailers Association Limited) filed an
application on August 28 2001 in the Federal Court alleging breaches
by Warner of the Trade Practices Act and Copyright Act. Next week
look out for my review on a recently released to video film called
Harlan County Wars, based on the true story of a Kentucky miners
strike in the 1970's.
Georgios Alexandrou I can be contacted at:
ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK o ANARCHY No.51 Spring/Summer
2001, A Journal of Desire Armed, P.O. B. 1446, COLUMBIA MO 65205-1446,
Email jmcq...@coin.org o LE MONDE LIBERTAIRE No.1250 20th-26th
Sept.2001, 145 Rue Amelot, 75011, PARIS, FRANCE, Tel.0148 053 408,
Fax.0149 299 859 o UMANITA NOVA Vol.81 No.31 16th Sept. 2001, C.So
Palermo 46, 10152 TORINO, ITALY, Email f...@inrete.it, Tel./Fax.(011)857
850, Mobile 0338-6594361 DEBT ELIMINATION APPEAL - Our debt stands
at $1426.30 So you think that the Anarchist Age Weekly Review will
appear week in, week out, irrespective of the economic circumstances.
If Ansett, H.I.H. and OneTel - billion dollar companies - can go
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Our latest appeal for people to renew their subscriptions have
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This notice applies both to individuals and groups.
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BAYSIDE ANARCHIST PUBLIC MEETING WEDNESDAY 17TH OCTOBER 7.00pm to
10.00pm TOPIC:- A CELEBRATION OF ALTERNATIVES TO GLOBALISATION -
Richard from Seaford will be outlining plans for a daylong
meeting/celebration in late November which will be held at the
Seaford Community Hall.
VENUE:- WOSSLE STIP CAFI, 16 STATION ST. SEAFORD, MELBOURNE (one
minute from Seaford railway station) ALL WELCOME! Entry by donation.
Tea and Coffee provided.
IT9S OUR ABC It9s Our ABC9 will be meeting outside ABC / Regional
Radio Headquarters for the rest of the year at 11.30am EVERY
WEDNESDAY 120-130 The Boulevard, South Melbourne COME AND JOIN US
and reclaim the ABC as the peoples property
ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK Has been awarded
to the budding third termer - John Chuckie Howard - the country9s
beloved Prime Minister and Kim Beazley - the leader of Her Majesty9s
Loyal Opposition - for supporting the draconian anti-refugee
legislation that was passed through parliament in the last
parliamentary sitting - good one boys, you should be proud of
yourselves.
All the News That Fits Telstra has been fined $75,000 for sending
an email to managers telling them to favour employees on 'individual
contracts' over employees on contracts negotiated by unions, when
it came to picking people to be made redundant.
The fine is a record amount - but it is less than $2 for each
employee that was discriminated against. Robert Cartwright, who
wrote the email, has since been appointed senior deputy president
of the Industrial Relations Commission.
SOURCE: The Age, ABC news website.
Foreign Minister Robert Downer has admitted that the Australian
government's total committment to the US government's war with
Afghanistan, would make it more likely that there would be terrorist
acts in Australia.
SOURCE: Herald Sun.
91% of Victorians are victims of "intimidation tactics, teasing,
belittling or verbal or physical abuse to the extent that they
could no longer tolerate it. Young women, people from regional
areas, less wealthy people, and less educated people were all more
likely to be victims. The group most nominated as bullies in public
life were politicians.
SOURCE: Survey by Wallis Consulting for VicHealth, reported in the
Age.
"How is it possible that our legal system can give one man a month
in jail for throwing a cream pie in someone's face [Marcus Brumer
was sentenced to one month's jail for 'pieing' Victorian Premier
Steve Bracks, because Mr Bracks said he wasn't concerned about
police violence at the 'S11' blockade last year], and in the same
week gives a suspended sentence (no jail) to someone convicted of
producing and distributing over 200 pieces of child pornography?"
SOURCE: 'The Age' letters page.
The Tax Office is keeping GST that customers paid on Ansett tickets
they'll never get to use. Ansett collected GST on all its ticket
sales. They would have sent this on the Tax Office. Since people
won't get to take their trips, this GST should be refunded. The
Tax Office is advising people that it has no power to refund GST.
It says people should seek a refund from Ansett. Ansett has refused
to refund money on tickets before its collapse (even though it's
now flying again), and the chance of customers getting a refund
from them is effectively zero.
An estimated 35,615 children died of starvation throughout the
world on September 11th. The American President did not make a
speech and undertook no action. There was nationwide lack of mourning
and messages of sympathy failed to pour in from world leaders
anywhere. The Pope has joined with other religious leaders to make
no comment. The stock exchange did not stop. The effect on world
money markets is expected to be nil. The main suspects are an
international network of terrorists.
And just to show that we don't only run bad news...
A growing number of people are volunteering to shelter refugees
who have escaped from detention centres. An estimated 100 people
in Sydney alone hide refugees in their homes. A larger number help
in other ways, for example by donating food or money. A large number
of people volunteered after 6 year old Shayan Baedrie was revealed
to be suffering post-traumatic stress disorder due to conditions
in the centres. One message on the ABC's website said "yes, I would
have broken Nazi laws to save Jews. If an escapee from an Australian
detention centre faced death if deported, how could I refuse?".
SOURCE: The Age, Sydney Morning Herald.
Quote of the week:
"Not in my son's name you don't...I don't want my son used as a
pawn to justify the killing of others". Orlando Rodriguez, whose
son was killed in the World Trade Centre bombing.
SOURCE: The Age.
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