Anarchist Age Weekly Review 9th Sept. '98 Number 316 8th - 14th September, 1998 IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT - TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT - GEORGE ORWELL GO ON, HAVE A GO!! Here we are in the second week of a lack lustre Federal Election campaign. Australians have two choices, they can take part in or ignore the farce. Each choice has its merits. The Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society/Anarchist Media Institute have decided to take part in this Federal Election campaign, boots and all. Over the next four weeks we will be escalating our campaign on a week by week basis. We encourage Australians across this continent to take part in this campaign, irrespective of whether you're going to vote, not vote or vote informal. Whether you're a registered voter on the electoral roll or not, you can take part in this simple direct challenge to the parliamentary illusion. Think about it, are you going to participate in a campaign that may successfully challenge the illusions parliamentary democracy are based on or are you just going to let the whole thing roll over your head. In the next four Anarchist Age Weekly Reviews there will be an insert which will outline our campaign for the next week. The Action Box will be full of ideas on how you can approach October the 3rd. We encourage you to become personally involved in our Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule campaign. It's easy, safe and simple and most importantly of all, it will broaden the debate on what direct democracy is and on the limitations of parliamentary rule. We can only do so much, without your help our campaign will be stillborn. Look at what we have to say, if the ideas interest you we encourage you to join us in this challenge to the very foundations of Australian society. ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE MILLION IN TWO HOURS - NOT BAD WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT!! There must be an election in the air, strange men keep popping up on the idiot box, promising all manner of things to all manner of people. Take Tuesday for instance, a man who believes he is Prime Minister, John Howard I think he's called, cris-crossed Tasmania and in two hours promised the good burghers of Tasmania 143 million dollars of goodies if they returned his party to office. Not to be out done by this grand gesture the man who wants to be Prime Minister, Kim Beazley, signed a pledge on West Australian radio that he would resign as Prime Minister if he couldn't meet his parties tax reform policies. Really chaps, it doesn't matter what you say and in some cases pretend to do, nobody really believes a word you're saying. Everybody remembers Paul Keating's assertion that the tax cuts they never got were engraved in Law. Not to be out done by the former Prime Minister's chain saw tax massacre, the current incumbent John Howard, neatly divided his promises into care and non-care promises after he was elected to office. The major political parties have such a credibility problem that many people are seriously considering the One Notion option. People no longer believe the oral and written assurances of the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister in waiting. They want iron clad guarantees that they'll get what they vote for. Considering the pathetic past record of Australia's elected representatives they have as much chance of the political clowns keeping their promises as they have of seeing Jesus Christ return to earth before the October 3rd Federal poll. POURING IN GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD One of the Federal Liberal/National Party's most pathetic policies has been centred around their private health agenda. Whether it's pumping money into the private health insurance network or increasing the Medicare rebate for pregnant women who use a private obstetrician, the end product is the same. The private sector is being primed with taxpayers money while the public health sector is being stripped of its assets. Health is the Liberal/National parties Achilles heel. They have done more in two and a half years to sabotage the Federal Health system than previous Federal governments have done this century. Their attempts to pump up the private health sector at the expense of the public health sector has resulted in tens of thousands of people losing what little access they had to the public health sector. Private medicine is based on one simple premise, you have the cash, we have the services. If the money that has been earmarked by the Federal government for the private health sector was channelled into the public rather than the private health sector, the problems that the public health service is faced with could disappear overnight. Scarce taxpayer funds should be used to fund the public health care system, they should not be used to augment the profits of the private health care sector. IT'S RAINING JOBS, NOT CATS AND DOGS If anybody believed the downpour of economic statistics that have been released since the Federal elections were called, you'd think that we had never had it so good. Analysing the last batch of employment statistics highlights that old adage about lies, dam lies and statistics. In other words, it's not unusual for the rhetoric (even if it's dressed up as statistics) to not match the reality. Every month, the ANZ Bank releases an analysis of the number of job vacancies that appear in newspapers. August's figures showed an increase of 12-13% on July's figures. A cursory glance of these figures would lead you to believe that while Asia is undergoing an economic downturn, Australia, using Paul Keating's discredited jargon, is going "gang busters". Accepting this particular batch of statistics on face value is an abject lesson on the pitfalls of accepting statistical analysis without taking into account wider factors. The increase in the number of job vacancies in newspapers can be explained away as the consequences of the privatisation of the Commonwealth Employment Service. Kemp's privatisation of the employment service has been an unmitigated disaster for the unemployed, employers and the new "service providers". Business is not interested in paying for a service that was previously provided free of charge by the Commonwealth government. One of the major consequences of the privatisation of the C.E.S. is that businesses have decided to do their own recruiting. Hence the increased number of advertisements in this country's newspapers. Reviewing of the media and government's response to the so-called dramatic improvement in employment opportunities, it's interesting to note that few media outlets have mentioned the Commonwealth Employment Service explanation. Ah well, what do you expect in a society where statistics are used to hide the rhetoric reality gap. HE'S INNOCENT Looks like Suharto the Butcher is feeling a little bit of discomfort. On Sunday he appeared live on his daughter's television station (where else) and told all and sundry that he wasn't corrupt and that he didn't have a cent stashed away in a foreign bank. Even his little mate President Habibie has acknowledged that Suharto used a number of personal charities to channel massive amounts of money into his own personal bank accounts. The forty billion dollar man (I lie, he has only 7 billion in his own name, the other 33 billion has been farmed out amongst the fruit of his loins) stood up on television and told the citizens of Indonesia that he was not corrupt and that he hadn't fraudulently used a cent of their money. Considering that over 80 million Indonesians are living on one meal per day and only eat on five days of the week, the man's audacity seems to know no bounds. Suharto knows that if elections are held, he may be in for a torrid time. Now that his favourite son-in-law has been expelled from the Indonesian army, it's becoming increasingly difficult for him to hide beneath the armies skirts. Suharto's appearance on television is a calculated gamble. He knows that if an investigation is launched into his affairs by a new Indonesian government, the extent of his crimes will become common knowledge and like his old mates, the Shah of Iran and the Philippines dictator, Marcos, he will be lucky to escape with his life (and most of his 40 billion dollars) if he doesn't leave the country. Suharto knows that the only way he can maintain his grasp on his cash reserves is by using them to buy time and influence. His guest appearance on his daughter's television station is a transparent attempt by a failed despot to use his substantial cash reserves to bulster his image among Indonesians. Unfortunately for Suharto the father of half a million dead, his attempts to re-write history have fallen on disinterested and angry ears. If Habibie loses the forthcoming Presidential election, Suharto and his extended family better pack their bags if they want to continue to feel the soil between their toes. ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER Q. What motivates people in an anarchist society? A. Most societies are motivated by fear and individual reward. Totalitarian regimes are task masters at using fear as a prime motivating force within that community. Irrespective of whether a society is secular or religious, state capitalist or private capitalist, tear plays a major role in all these societies. Although fear may be a successful motivating force, it isn't the primary motivating force in most communities. As well as fear you need a system of rewards to maintain a communities faith in the regime. Rewards may be directed at individuals or they may be directed at minorities within a community. Rewards may be economic or they may revolve around power sharing. Either way a minority determines the collective outcome. An anarchist society is not motivated by fear or economic rewards. Anarchists are motivated primarily by self interest. They understand that the best way an individual can develop to their fullest potential and secure their interests is by creating a safe secure environment. The best and easiest way to create such an environment is by collective effort and collective action. Collective effort and action creates the safe secure space where each individual can develop themselves without worrying about where the next meal is coming from and whether they will lose what little security they have. Anarchists understand that individual liberty, security and self interest ultimately depends on voluntary collective action not fear or a scale of economic rewards. ACTION BOX ELECTORAL BLACK RIBBON CAMPAIGN MARK TWO We would like to encourage all our Australian readers to take up the Black Ribbon campaign during the election period. Every week we will expand the scope of this campaign in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review. By October 3rd the effect of this campaign should have been felt across Australia. This week we want readers to start wearing a Black Ribbon. We want you to cut up hundreds of these ribbons and give them to your friends, families and work mates. Explain that you don't care whether they vote or don't vote or who they vote for. Your campaign is much more important than the outcome on October the 3rd. Tell them irrespective of who they vote for a politician will get in, so they may as well use the electoral period to promote direct democracy as a viable, sensible, alternative to parliamentary rule. WE ENCOURAGE A) ALL THOSE ELECTORS WHO ARE DISILLUSIONED WITH THE CURRENT PARLIAMENTARY FARCE, BUT ARE GOING TO CAST A BALLOT. B) ALL THOSE ELECTORS WHO ARE GOING TO VOTE INFORMAL BECAUSE THEY CAN'T BEAR TO GIVE A BLANK CHEQUE TO A POLITICIAN ON POLLING DAY (ABOUT HALF A MILLION). C) ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT GOING TO VOTE BECAUSE THEY FIND THE WHOLE PROCESS AN ILLUSION. D) ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT REGISTERED TO VOTE (OVER A MILLION) BECAUSE THEY FIND THE WHOLE PROCESS LACKING IN ANY MERIT. TO WEAR A BLACK RIBBON from the time you read this article to election day October 3rd. The more people who wear a black ribbon the greater the chances of promoting direct democracy as a legitimate alternative to the current fairy tale. When people ask you why you're wearing a black ribbon TELL THEM and ASK THEM TO JOIN YOU. AUSTRALIAN ANARCHIST HISTORY IT'S NEVER EASY Jack Andrews a member of the Melbourne Anarchist Club and a brilliant propagandist was targeted for special police treatment in 1889. The collapse of the economic boom which created "Marvellous Melbourne" in the 1880's, led to the collapse of many of Victoria's banks and created massive unemployment. As talk of revolution was in the air, the Victorian colonial government decided to target the more active members of the Melbourne Anarchist Club. Jack Andrews made his living as a writer and in more difficult times (most of the time) sold a newspaper called the "Radical" in the streets of Melbourne. His every movement was watched by police spies. They watched him in the state library and on many occasions stole the notes he made. The police hounded him off Melbourne's streets and police spies jostled and pushed him, he was repeatedly locked up overnight in 1889 for being a wharf speaker and horror of horrors an unemployment advocate. Through these tactics the police hoped to deprive him of his meagre income, isolate him from people and wear down his resistance. The constant police attention finally paid dividends. In later life he did little if any public agitation and he died at the age of 37 in 1903 as a result of the tuberculosis he contracted by living rough. Police and magistrates colluded in laying false charges against Jack Andrews and continually perjured themselves in court. It's no exaggeration to say that Jack Andrews and the small group of people associated with the Melbourne Anarchist Club successfully torched the belly of the best. Unfortunately for the anarchists associated with the Melbourne Anarchist Club, the tactics used by the state against them contributed to the early demise of the group and some of the people involved in the group. BOOK REVIEW - I COULDN'T PAINT GOLDEN ANGELS by ALBERT MELTZER (Sixty years of common place life and Anarchist Agitation), ISBN 1-873176937, Published 1996 by AK press (Scotland, San Francisco) and Kate Sharpley Library. I'm always wary about reading books (even autobiographies) when the authors name is printed in bigger print than the title of the book. I'm also very wary about reviewing biographies as we all tend to brush the more unsavoury aspects of our life back into our subconscious. While reading this 386 page book about the life and times of Albert Meltzer by Albert Meltzer I was overcome by a feeling of despair. To say I found the book tedious is an understatement. Albert Meltzer has succeeded in making an interesting and exciting life sound mundane and humdrum. What we read in I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels is the public persona of an activist who for sixty years played an important and often divisive role in the English speaking anarchist movement. In this book one chapter rolls on after the next, each chapter full of interesting recollections and tit bits. It's always difficult to decide how much is fact and how much is fiction in any autobiography. As we all know three people experiencing the same event, may come up with three different plausible explanations for what they saw. I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels is Albert Meltzer's view of the world, according to Albert Meltzer and nobody else. Reading this heavy tome you could be excused for thinking that Albert never did the wrong thing by anyone. Although I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels was very heavy going, I recommend that people get hold of a copy of Albert Meltzer's autobiography . You won't learn much about Albert Meltzer the man and you won't learn much about the subtleties of anarchist thought in this book, but what you will learn is a plethora of information about the people and events that shaped Albert Meltzer's thoughts and life. Irrespective of how tedious you may find the task of ploughing through this book, once you've read the book you'll feel the effort was worthwhile. Albert Meltzer died soon after his autobiography was published. Unless his many enemies and friends go to the trouble of writing their own biographies of Albert Meltzer, we will never learn the real story of Albert Meltzer. Review copy of "I COULDN'T PAINT GOLDEN ANGELS" by Albert Meltzer was provided by BARRICADE BOOKS and INFORMATION SHOP, 115 SYDNEY RD, BRUNSWICK, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA write to them for their extensive 1998 catalogue or telephone them on (03) 9387 6646. PERSONAL OBSERVATION You normally don't see people wandering on the verges of freeways. Normally if their car breaks down they huddle round ubiquitous vandalised emergency phones. Not her, she was wandering along the steep grassy knolls, plastic bag in hand, occasionally bending down, making a sweeping motion with her hand and quickly placing something in her bag. It's funny how a fleeting glance can trigger the inner recesses of thoughts long discarded. Examining her purposeful gaze and her repetitive actions, it suddenly dawned on me, she was the offspring of a Black Beetle. Black beetle? Yep!! A Black Beetle!! As I drove on, leaving her to carry on with her self-appointed task, my consciousness became flooded with images of childhood. It's strange that when childhood memories are triggered off how important knees, ankles and thighs become. When you're less than three feet tall, your interaction with the adult world takes on a whole new dimension. I remember black stockings, thick no nonsense ankles, feet covered in black leather shoes, and knee hugging black skirts. Stooped frames, bending over, foraging on urban footpaths. Decent Australian folk standing behind picket fences would shake their heads in disbelief at this strange behaviour. They were the army of Southern European women, whose fathers, brothers, mothers, cousins had died and who through custom were forced to wear black. Seven years for a father, a lifetime for a husband. They foraged along the footpaths looking for specific weeds they made into soups. Immigrant families used these herbal concoctions to overcome constipation pain and in some cases a new malady - home sickness. They brought with them the knowledge that people who were forced to look after themselves have gathered through generations of experience. To us kids they looked like a plague of Black Beetles, roaming across the urban landscape. As I grow older, the Black Beetles have disappeared. Some assimilated, some went to the chemist and bought a kidney stripping Bex, and had a good lie down, others died, customs change, occasionally they come back. Thinking about our freeway wanderer, she must be a descendent of a Black Beetle or maybe she's just a new age woman who's learnt her craft from a book. STOP PRESS! A BORING GAME OF DRAUGHTS!! The current election campaign has taken on the all too familiar smell of a boring game of draughts. The same inane, boring comments by the same boring people are being recycled over each twenty four hour period. The only light relief seems to be coming from the One Notion mob, and even then, the media response to One Notion has taken on that all too familiarly derogatory tone. The major political parties in this campaign, Labor Party, Liberal Party, One Notion, Democrats, Nationals and Greens are out there battling to secure their moment in the political limelight. Two weeks into the campaign and the whole electoral campaign seems to be suck in John Howard's four wheel drive rut. Considering this election campaign has been billed by the media as the election of the century, you'd think there would have been a little more enthusiasm for the proceedings. Don't despair!! The Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society/Anarchist Media Institute intend to take the smile off their face with the public launch of our Black Ribbon campaign on Monday. The time is ripe for alternatives to the set piece game of draughts that is tauted as democracy in this country. Whether we let this opportunity slip through our fingers depends on each and every one of us. We don't need the mass media to make this campaign work, it has that little bit of audacity that is neede d for the campaign to generate its own momentum. Think about it. If you're interested, keep an eye on our action box, with your help we can wind the parliamentary beast. JOSEPH TOSCANO (Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society). ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK ANARCHY - A JOURNEY OF DESIRE ARMED Vol 16 No. 1 (45) Spring/Summer 1998. C.A.L. Press POB 1446, COLUMBIA MO, 65205 - 1446, U.S.A. Email jmcquinn@mail.coin.missouri.edu CNT No.237 August 1998, Apdo Correos 4040, 18080 Granada Spain Tel 958 220065, Fax 958 220119. INFO IFA No. 1, 1998 (International of Anarchist Federations) C.P. 17127, 1 - 20170 Milano, Italy Tel & Fax ++39-02-2551994 Email ifanarch@tin.it VICTORIAN READERS LISTEN TO THE ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK POSTER AVAILABLE FOR THE COST OF A FEW STAMPS Want to help us find new listeners for the Anarchist World This Week, then send us a few stamps to AWTW, Po Box 20, Parkville 3052, Australia and we'll send you out a colour poster (A3) for your use and a black & white poster you can photocopy and put up to help us increase the number of people who listen to the Anarchist World This Week. ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK TO GO NATIONAL AND GLOBAL The Anarchist World This Week is about to go National via being transmitted live to a satellite which is used by most of Australia's Community Radio Stations. This means almost any community radio station in Australia will be able to beam the program LIVE or tape it and use it later on in the week. The Anarchist Media Institute has also secured a site on the internet to transmit the Anarchist World This Week to anyone, anywhere across the globe who has access to the internet. In order for both projects to become A REALITY we need to raise two thousand dollars to 1) clear our debt with 3CR (community radio federation) approximately $1100.00. 2) buy a years space on the satellite $750.00. 3) upgrade the modem on our computer $150.00. We are in the process of organising a benefit concert to help raise the necessary funds. If you live outside of Melbourne or live in Melbourne and can't attend the benefit concert and would like to assist us to bring the radio programme to the nation and the world then dig deep into your empty pockets and make out cheques and money orders to LIBERTARIAN WORKERS and send them to L.W.S.S. PO Box 20, Parkville. 3052. Melbourne Australia. The sooner we raise the $2000.00 the sooner people across Australia and the World will be able to listen to the ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK. URGENT - DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE STAMP APPEAL Want to help us with our campaign. We urgently need 45 cent stamps. Send us as many as you can spare to P.O. Box 20 PARKVILLE 3052 MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA. ANARCHIST AGE MONTHLY REVIEW BACK!! - 36 PAGES OF NEWS AND VIEWS - SUBSCRIBE TODAY Subscription $48.00 - 12 issues wage earners, $30.00 - 12 issues non-wage earners Please make out cheques & money orders to LIBERTARIAN WORKERS & post to PO Box 20, Parkville 3052 Melbourne. Australia. ISSUE NO.81 AUGUST 1998 - OUT NOW. AS WE DON'T WANT TO SUSPEND PUBLICATION IN THE FUTURE, ONLY SUBSCRIBERS WILL RECEIVE THE ANARCHIST AGE MONTHLY REVIEW. DEBT ELIMINATION APPEAL - PUSH US OVER THE LINE Our debt stands at $936.20. We would like to eliminate this debt by June. Over the past two years we have been able to reduce our debt from over $3000.00 to a little over $800.00. If you've hesitated helping us overcome our debt because you didn't want to throw good money after bad, well you don't need to worry as we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We need a little bit of extra help to push us over the line. So if you haven't helped before and want to help, make out cheques or money orders to Libertarian Workers and send it to L.W.S.S. PO Box 20 Parkville 3052 Melbourne. THANKS!! DEBT 7.9.98 - $936.20 (perilously close to the $1000 mark) DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE Want to become involved in a campaign that highlights that parliamentary elections are nothing more than 2 minutes of illusory power. Want to put a few speed humps in the way of Howard's electoral juggernaut, than contact us at email directdemocracy@netscape.net or write to us at D.D. PO Box 5035 Alphington 3078 Melbourne Australia. ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK Has been jointly awarded to John Howard our beloved Prime Minister for stating that "ordinary" Australians are easily able to purchase a $96 000 Range Rover and Jeffrey Glib Kennett the Victorian Premier for printing - "I drive a Four Wheel Drive and I vote" stickers to encourage new urban four wheel drive owners to vote for them - really gentlemen there are other issues. NEW WEB SITE BLACK PLANET (PLANETE NOIRE) This new web site has grouped 338 ANARCHIST SITES from across the globe, into one web site. Want access to more anarchist web sites than you can blink at then log into http://www.mygale.org/07/endehors 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 Monthly Review - Issue 80 out July 1998 $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 Australia. 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. NEVER DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF THOUGHTFUL COMMITTED CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD - MARGARET MEAD. All electoral material written and authorised by Joseph Toscano, First Floor 21 Smith St. Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia.