Anarchist Age Weekly Review 2nd Dec. '98 Number 328 30th November - 6th December, 1998 IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT - TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT - GEORGE ORWELL OLYMPIC DREAMING So John Howard wants to sign a reconciliation document with Australia's indigenous people to mark the centenary of Federation in May 2000. How generous of the man, the man who inflicted Senator Heron on this countries indigenous people the man who drove the Wik legislation through parliament (the very legislation that has stripped Indigenous Australians of what few rights they had earned through the courts) and the man who refused to apologise on behalf of Australians for the stolen generations, now wants to sign not a treaty (that would give the buggers too many legal rights) but a reconciliation document with this countries indigenous people. This latest burst of transparent generosity towards indigenous Australians has more to do with the Howard regime's fear of an international Olympic boycott than any genuine desire to reconcile with this countries indigenous people. If the Howard government had any intention of striking a genuine accord with indigenous Australians, they wouldn't have stripped them of the few legal rights they had won in the courts. This latest gesture is a flimsy ploy to deflect criticism away from the forthcoming Sydney Olympics. The current Liberal/National Party Federal government knows that it's indigenous policies are being scrutinised by a world that is becoming sick and tired of the way indigenous people are treated. It's not an exaggeration to say that the whole world is watching. Howard's pathetic transparent attempts to deflect criticism of his governments indigenous policies would be laughable if it hadn't been swallowed hook, line and sinker by the mass media. Indigenous Australians would be fools if they believed (no matter how much they would like to) the promises of a man who's pathetic record towards indigenous Australians speaks for itself. ANOTHER CLAYTONS REFERENDUM Talking about the year 2000 and the Howard regime, it looks like Australians are about to be forced to participate in another claytons referendum. Remember the Constitutional convention, it looks like the Howard regime is preparing the ground work for the historic Republic referendum we have to have. Yes folks, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, comrades and citizens, the state needs you to participate in another state sponsored referendum that reinforces the illusory power of parliament. It looks like the questions that are to be put to the people only offer cosmetic changes to the constitution. No New Constitution for a new millennium for this crowd, just recycled claytons ideas about whether Australians want the Queen as the head of state, or whether they want parliament to elect the Head of State. Real radical stuff? Both the Liberal/National Party and at the Labor Party are frightened that the Australian people may want to elect their own president. Although as anarchists we prefer that there was no state, let alone a head of state, we understand that if there is going to be a president that people want to elect that president directly, not allow parliament to appoint a president on their behalf. As the Republican referendum draws closer I can feel a boycott campaign coming on. CLAYTONS VICTORY So the World Heritage Committee has asked the Federal government to suspend mining operations at Jabiluka - a great victory? Or a Claytons victory? Listening to the Green movement you'd think that mining at Jabiluka is about to be stopped. Listening to E.R.A. (Energy Resources Australia) and the Federal government its business as usual. Who are people to believe? Whether U.N.E.S.C.O. places Kakadu on the world Heritage Endangered List or not doesn't really matter. E.R.A. and the Federal government will ignore any determination that U.N.E.S.C.O. makes. They will continue to mine uranium at Jabiluka. United Nations resolutions are just that, resolutions. The Australian governments agreement with E.R.A. takes precedence over any U.N.E.S.C.O. decision. Both E.R.A. and the Federal government have stated that Uranian mining will continue at Jabiluka come hell or highwater. The Federal government has said that it is under no legal obligation to implement any World Heritage decision. As far as they are concerned they have entered into a legally binding agreement with E.R.A. and no United Nations resolution will ever sideline that agreement. The only language E.R.A. and the Federal government understand is direct action. Activists should seriously consider advocating a boycott of the Sydney Olympic Games. If the government won't abide by the World Heritage Committee recommendation that development be stopped for six months, the environmental movement should attempt to organise an international boycott of the Sydney Olympics. The bigger the boycott threat, the greater the chance that the Federal Government reverses its decision to mine uranium at Jabiluka. WORLD AIDS DAY World Aids Day on Tuesday came and went. Australia is one of the few countries in the world where AIDS has been contained to the gay population. Most people in this country still think of Aids as a "gay disease" or a disease that is limited to intravenous drug users. Few have any understanding that Aids is predominantly a heterosexual disease and that it can and has ravaged communities. Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe have rates of infection that have now peaked at 30%. The H.I.V. infection rate in Central and West Africa has mushroomed, nobody really has any idea of the infection rate in this part of the world. New epicentres of H.I.V. infection have developed in South America. India and China are on the cusp of an explosion that will eventually effect tens of millions of people in these countries. Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome normally follows H.I.V. infection. Most people and countries in the world do not have the staff and resources to contain the spread of the disease. Cultural and religious practices have helped to spread this disease. In Catholic Africa the Vatican's blanket ban on the wearing of condoms has done more to spread aids than any other factor. Cultural inhibitions on discussing sexual matters has placed on almost insurmountable barrier to Aids education in India, the latest AIDS epicentre. Aids can be contained by frank community discussion and the allocation of significant community resources. Closing our eyes, refusing to discuss the matter and thinking that Aids is a disease that is confined to minorities is the best way to guarantee the spread of this 20th century scourge. DITURIJE DELIU Sometimes, things happen in this world which force us to sit down and think about the role of the media. That old adage that to days news is tomorrows fish and chip paper encapsulates the fate of Diturije Deliu. Two months ago Serb forces slaughtered 16 members of the one family in Kovoso. Somehow Diturije Deliu a 2 month baby survived the slaughter. Her plight helped to galvanise the world to focus its attention on Kovoso. Her father Ymer found the tiny baby covered in blood in the arms of his butchered wife. On the 5th of October, London's Daily telegraph splashed the news on its front page. Within days, hordes of international journalists flocked to the area to follow up this "story". Two months later the baby is dead, not because of wounds, but because of lack of medical attention. The symbol that helped to move NATO to take action against the Serbian government, died because the family was not able to access medical assistance and baby formulas. (The child was allergic to milk). When she died, her father stated "the whole world knew our story and the story of the massacre, why couldn't but just one doctor had come". Diturijes fate highlights the all too familiar lament about a media that is more interested in "breaking stories" and sales, than the fate of those people who's stories are told. ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER Q.Anarchism pathway to Nirvana? A. There has always been a Utopian stream in the anarchist movement. Some people seem to labour under the illusion that anarchism is a pathway both to personal and community nirvana. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anarchism is not a system of beliefs, it's not a quasireligious dogma, it's a structure that gives people the opportunity to live their lives free of domination. Anarchists recognise human weakness, that's why they are not willing to put their faith in leaders and structure that centralise power. Anarchists want to form a decentralised non-hierarchical society, not because they have faith in human nature, but for exactly the opposite reasons. They don't believe that any human being can be trusted to wield power. Their objections to centralised authority reflect their lack of faith in human nature. Although anarchism is not a direct pathway to nirvana, it's a journey that steers individuals and groups away from the worst excesses of a centralised, hierarchical society. It steers them towards a society where individuals can live a life free from fear and want. Although it may not be a pathway that leads people directly to nirvana. It is a pathway that may lead them to live to a better life than the life they would experience in a hierarchical community. What type of society anarchists create ultimately depends on the amount of energy they are willing to put into their lives and the lives of their communities. Anarchism is essentially an activist ideology, if people don't take up the opportunity to use the mechanisms provided to control their lives that anarchism presents, they are doomed to live their lives under the control of others. The essential difference between an anarchist and a non-anarchist society is that the mechanisms that control our lives are an integral component of an anarchist community. Whether people do or don't utilise these mechanisms determines the ultimate fate of that society. ACTION BOX - METEORITES In many aspects the life of an anarchist activist is very similar to the life of a meteorite. I can hear you thinking he's finally lost his marbles. What do meteorites and anarchists have in common? Most meteorites never see the light of day, they are vaporised before they reach the earths surface. The same can be said for most anarchist activists, some lose interest, some struggle on, few see any tangible results for their efforts. Some meteorites do survive their journey through the earths atmosphere. Most of these make a tiny impact on the local environment. Their arrival maybe noted but it doesn't change the course of history. Many anarchist activists spend a lifetime attempting to change their local communities, their presence maybe noted but life goes on as before. Occasionally larger meteorites impact on the earth's surface, their impact changes life for hundreds of kilometres, with time collective memory dims and although the landscape still bears the scar of the impact, the old environment gradually overwhelm the changes that were created by the impact. The failed Spanish Revolution, 1936 - 1939, The Paris Commune of 1871 and the events in France of May 1968 can be viewed in the same manner. Although the direct influences of these cataclysmic events have long disappeared from collective memory, the historical significance of these events can still be traced and studied. Once in fifty millions years a meteorite hits the earth, which changes the course of human evolution, destroying all before it, while simultaneously laying the foundation for a new world. Occasionally, just occasionally ideas and practises that seem sacrosanct are swept away and new ideas and practices seems to almost overnight take their places. Not everybody who is an anarchist activist will maintain their ideas, people and events change. Not every anarchist will be involved in cataclysmic events, a few will, most won't. Although most of us will be involved in events during our lives that won't change the course of history, our presence and our activities ensures the survival of an idea who's time will come. AUSTRALIAN ANARCHIST HISTORY - THE BITTER FIGHT Australian Anarchist History is not a clear cut study with a specific beginning and a specific end. Although small groups that have specifically labelled themselves "anarchists" have existed in Australia in various forms since 1886, Australian Anarchist History is much, much more than history which is limited to the ideas, personalities and activities of these specific groups. Anarchist History has occurred and continues to occur outside groups and movements that define themselves as anarchist. Although much of the material in this column is specifically related to anarchist groups, some material which appears in this column is related to activities, personalities and groups that have advanced the bitter fight to create an egalitarian society based on personal freedom and equal access to power and wealth. History by its very nature is value laden. Which values are explored and which values are ignored to a large degree, depends on the personal viewpoint of the historian, value free history, value free economics and value free ideologies do not exist. Australian history has been the preserve of historians who uncritically accept the existence of the state. The history Australians are normally exposed to is the blinkered Blainey view of history and the Black Armband view of history. This history examines the struggle to maintain or change the nature of the state, it doesn't examine the struggle to abolish the state. This column attempts to look at history that has been consciously and unconsciously pushed aside, because it doesn't fit into the neat packages that the Blinkered Blainey view of history and the Black Armband view of history, have created to justify their views. Anarchist history straddles both camps, it unwraps their historical packages and exposes the bitter fight for the creation of an egalitarian community that has been such an important feature of Australian life. If you have access to material that fits these parameters or know of people or struggles that have occurred and have been forgotten, give me a call on (03) 9828 2856, write to me at PO Box 20 Parkville 3052. Melbourne Australia or email me at anarchistage@geocities.com. Without your active assistance the people and struggles explored in this column will necessarily be limited. WE WERE WRONG - In the article on Melbourne's Anarchist Bookshop, I called the shop in Gertrude St, Fitzroy, The Melbourne Anarchist Centre - The name of the bookshop was THE COLLECTIVE EFFORT Bookshop. Thanks to Jeremy Dixon for this correction. BOOK REVIEW LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY The incomplete work of the Situationist International. Translated and edited by Christopher Gray, Rebel Press 1998 Re-reading LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY first published in English by Free Fall Publications in 1974, didn't do much to change my opinion of the worth of Situationist ideas. The 1998 edition by Rebel Press is a glossy coffee book affair. The front cover a colour photograph of a hiker laden under a heavy back pack making his way across an inhospitable icy landscape, encapsulates the strengths and weaknesses of Situationalism. Christopher Gray translated and edited some of the more important Sitationalist texts in 1974. Rebel Presses 1998 edition is a more attractively packaged edition of Grays 1974 translations. Many writers claim that Situationalism provided the intellectual framework for the May 1968 French rebellion. Others claim the Situationalists were the predominant influence on the New Left rebellion that swept the globe in 1968. Christopher Grays Epilogue is a fitting reminder of the deficiencies of Situationalism. Although Situationalist ideas opened a new window on revolt, they were not able to transform the intellectual framework into action. Irrespective of how sharp, clear, incisive and passionate ideas are, they are just ideas. The gulf between ideas and action needs to be bridged if the Spectacle is to be shattered. Rebel Press needs to be congratulated for producing such an easily digestible collection of Situationalist essays. My only criticism of the Rebel Press edition is that they haven't taken the opportunity to extend the Situationalist argument. Thirty years after the bulk of the texts were written, there seems to have been no development or movement in Situationalist ideas. Although reprinting classical texts is a worthwhile exercise, dragging these texts into the 21st century is a much more productive exercise. Review copy of LEAVING THE 20th CENTURY was kindly provided by Anarres books. It retails for $25.50. This book and other radical and Anarchist publications are available from Anarres Books PO Box 150 East Brunswick 3057 Melbourne Australia. If you have access to the net email your order to mailorder@anarres.org.au Look at their website http://www.anarres.org.au for information about other books they have in stock. PERSONAL OBSERVATION Perfectly tanned solarium flesh glistening with beads of indulgent perspiration, buttocks peeking out of lycra shorts kept in perfect time with a pair of steroid reinforced buttocks who's manhood was protected with a cricketers ball box. A perfect post modern couple doing what post modern couples do best, pounding the pavement on the road to nowhere. Fat women, cellulite pock marks, prominent jostle with men who long ago gave up the battle against the middle age spread, power walk on the same pavement to nowhere. Thirty something's trim, taut and terrific, you could play handball off their abdominal muscles, jog to a pre-programmed beat that blares out of their headphones. Everywhere I look this morning there are people young and old, fat and thin, short and tall power walking, jogging, running on the road to nowhere. Some are body sculptors, others the great majority, are people just trying to lose the signs of a sedentary lifestyle. Every morning, every evening they resume the battle to divest themselves of a lifetime of over consumption and television gazing. Inwardly I groan at the utter pointlessness of it all. I admire their efforts, their persistence, their tenacity but I just can't stomach the sheer waste of it all. The streets aren't clogged with joggers in societies where over consumption and a sedentary lifestyle isn't a problem there. People go to sleep exhausted after a day of hard physical labor. Watching our solarium backed lycra clad Venus and her steroid infused partner I had an idea. Why doesn't every neighbourhood have a common area or park where citizens who want to sweat off excess consumption and re-sculpt their bodies, can do their thing in a safe secure environment. As they go through their paces the energy they create is plugged into the electrical gid. A utopian dream or just a bit of practical lateral thinking. So much wasted energy. With a little bit of lateral thinking and local council assistance, community parks and corners could be designed to harness the energy that the groaning pavement pounding legions create. The pavement pounding brigade could, while re-sculpt their bodies, make a worthwhile community contribution. In the jargon of 21st Century capitalism - a WIN-WIN situation. STOP PRESS - SURPRISE!! Melbourne's Age has got its knickers in a knot because the Kennett regime in Victoria used a private consulting firm to massage and stage manage the news. In an extraordinary more even by the Kennett regimes non-existence moral standards, the state government paid a private public relations firm $50,000 dollars to stage manage the media response to the closure of Kensingston Housing Commission Block in Flemington in July. The Kennett regime is very keen to decrease its ever dwindling public housing stock. It has decided to shut down a number of high rise inner city public housing blocks and cell the towers to private developers. In July this year in a military like operation 108 families in one Kensingston High Rise Block were told they were going to be forcibly relocated. The public housing estates in Flemington are some of the best organised public housing tenant groups in Melbourne. The Victorian regime was very concerned at the public reaction to the closure of public housing stock. In an attempt to defuse any public backlash to the closure, they bypassed their own media liaison unit (100 strong at the best of times) and hired a private public relations firm to massage and manipulate the media response to the announcement. The whole episode was buried within 24 hours. One hundred and eight families were forcibly relocated and not one media outlet bothered to put forward the tenants concerns. In a bliss bomb attack that the children of God would be proud of the Kennett regimes private consultants were able to neutralise any negative media response by stage managing the public response to the closure. The Kennett regime likes its citizens to think that they are not concerned about protest action, that protest action is futile. Their response to this and other issues highlights their fear of a well organised well orchestrated local campaign. Considering that most Victorian newspapers swallow the Kennett regimes media releases holus bolus and that radio and television outlets both private and public, take their lead from the newspapers. You really have to ask yourself why the government bothered to hire a private public relations group to tame a media beast that rolled over and lifted its hind legs years ago. JOSEPH TOSCANO (Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society). ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK FREEDOM Vol 59 No.22 14th Nov'98, 84b Whitechapel High St, London E17QX, England http://www.tao.ca/~freedom email FreedomPressatfreedom@tao.ca LE MONDE LIBERTAIRE No.1141 19th-25th Nov'98, 145 Rue Amelot, 75011 Paris France Tel 01 48053408 Fax 0149299859. LE LIBERTAIRE No.189 Nov'98 25 Rue DumŽ d'Aplemont, 76600 Le Havre France, Tel 02 35 53 33 41, Fax 02 35 53 21 27 ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK NOW ON THE INTERNET - FOR ANYBODY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD TO LISTEN IN TO. LIKE THE PROGRAM - TELL YOUR FRIENDS AROUND THE PLANET ABOUT OUR INTERNET ADDRESS - http://www.freespeech.org/anarchistAge 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. DEBT ELIMINATION APPEAL - BACK TO THE BAD OLD DAYS Our debt stands at $1402.40. Our frenzied activities over the past month have pushed our debt WAY OVER the $1200 mark. Once again we need your urgent assistance. We know its a bit boring asking for financial help but unfortunately we need the money. We especially ask our web site readers to help us meet this debt. Subscribers to the Anarchist Age Weekly and Monthly Review cross subsidise our net expenses. DEBT 1.12.98 - $1402.40 please send STAMPS, MONEY ORDERS OR CHEQUES to L.W.S.S. PO BOX 20, Parkville 3052, Melbourne, Australia. Overseas Donors please note - please have cheques at your end made out in Australian dollars as it costs us ten dollars to convert one overseas cheques to Aust dollars. 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. A) ANARCHISM TOWARDS THE 21ST CENTURY B) TOWARDS AN ANARCHIST SOCIETY - Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society Position & Activities 1998. 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. TALK BACK WITH ATTITUDE - NEW RADICAL TALKBACK PROGRAM on Community Radio 3CR (855am dial)- EVERY THURSDAY 9.00AM - 10.00AM, Co-hosted by Joseph Toscano and Sasha Shargot. Ring On (03) 9419 0155 between 9am to 10am every Thursday morning if you want to participate. 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 Kerry Packer and the fruits of his loins, James Packer (Australia's richest men), for arranging their affairs so that their main company Consolidated Press Holdings did not pay any tax on the 614 million dollars profit the company made - good one boys. 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 84 out December 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 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. NEVER DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF THOUGHTFUL COMMITTED CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD - MARGARET MEAD.