Anarchist Age Weekly Review 1-7 June '98 Number 302 1st - 7th June, 1998 IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT - TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT - GEORGE ORWELL DUMB!! Regular readers of the Anarchist Age Weekly Review would know that I have strongly stated that the Asian economic collapse would have profound implications for Australians. Over the last twelve months nearly every economic commentator and every Federal government Minister has said that the Asian economic collapse would only have a minimum effect on the Australian economy. I have consistently stated that the current economic collapse would lead to increased unemployment and a run on the currency. Twelve months after intellectually challenged economic forecasters and government ministers have been signing the praises of the Australian economy, the first statistics have been posted that cut these so called intellectual giants down to size. When Costello delivered the Federal budget a few weeks ago, his figures revolved around the Australian economy growing by 3%. Howard and Costello have been jumping up and down harping on how they have insulated the Australian economy from Asia's mismanagement. Costello even boasted that the Australian economy was the fastest growing economy in the region. It's more than obvious these people have no idea about what's going on. They pontificate on what they would like to see, not the realities that face this country. It's no exaggeration to say that the Australian unemployment rate could reach 20% within twelve months, that bankruptcies will soar to unheard of proportions and that the Australian currency will be badly buffeted by international speculators. I keep asking myself if the Anarchist Age Weekly Review, with its meagre resources, could pick what's coming, why couldn't people who are paid handsome sums of money to forecast what's going to happen pick what's actually occurring. The answer is very simple, these so called objective economic commentators look at the economy through tinted ideological glasses. They cannot envisage, let alone analyse, any economic data that does not fit their ideological straight jackets. Economics is not a value free science, it's an ideologically laden cancer, that leads to the destruction of the lives of countless human beings as economists and governments shove people down economic blackholes. These holes are created by economic thinkers and politicians who are more interested in their ideological games than peoples' futures. Anarchist economics is very simple. It's based on the satisfaction of human needs, not the satisfaction of artificially created concepts that are created to justify exploitation by a minority. On the 15th of May I postulated that the New York Dow Jones index would drop by over 30%. Although the stock market did not collapse on the 15th of May, the 15th of May marked the beginning of a slide, which is rapidly gathering momentum. The last decade has been marked by phenomenal rises in many of the world's stock markets. Paradoxically these record rises have occurred because more and more workers' superannuation funds are being invested in the market. As the market reaches saturation point, it's only a matter of a few weeks before tens of millions of workers will see their superannuation wither on the vine, as the value of their funds decreases dramatically, as the inevitable market collapse gains momentum. BURY THE BASTARD The death of Barry Goldwater, the father of America's modern conservative cancer, has been meet by almost universal mourning by America's establishment. Clinton has ordered all U.S. flags to be flown at half mast as a symbol of respect on Wednesday. Goldwater's contribution to American life has done incalculable damage. His conservative dream gave substance to the inward looking policies that have swept the U.S.A. Goldwater did more than any other American to galvanise a conservative political establishment that had lost its way in the late 1960's. His ideological baggage has done more harm to more Americans than any of us could have imagined. Goldwater released a cancer into American society that has destroyed most of the gains that were made by working people in the United States in the first half of this century. His politics were the politics of hate and division. His legacy is a legacy of bigotry and isolation. The sooner he is buried, the sooner the stench that impregnates American life and politics will be washed out of the American psyche. JOB BOUNTY It's wonderful to see David Kemp's new improved Centrelink strategy. Anyone watching the people friendly advertisements on television telling us how wonderful Centrelink is, would be forgiven for thinking that the Federal Government's privatisation of Centrelink is just what the unemployed need in this country. David Kemp even quipped that the unemployed are being offered cups of tea when they enter a Centrelink office. If we dig just below the surface, it's obvious that every thing isn't right in fairyland. Many clients (yes that's right the unemployed are now clients) are complaining that they are being charged for a service which only a few weeks ago was free, other clients are complaining it's hard to find a job, because jobs have now become the personal property of a particular agency. Each agency is fighting every other agency for every job. Jobs have now become the personal property of a particular agency. Irrespective of how many computer screens are available to the unemployed in Centrelink offices across the country, if somebody who is unemployed finds a position that they're interested in they can't contact the employer directly, as the agency does not provide any details. The client (ha ha!!) has to contact the agency, make an appointment, go and see the agency, register and be assessed by the agency and if they're lucky, an appointment is then made with the employer. Each job has a bounty on it, the employer pays for the privilege of having their job listed with the agency. If the agency places an unemployed person on the dole the government pays them a bounty. If they place somebody who is not on social security benefits in a position, that person pays for the privilege. David Kemp and his sick cronies in the Federal government have succeeded in making a relatively simple procedure into a complex procedure that many unemployed people will not be able to negotiate. Kemp's brave new world is a recipe for disaster. ALL REFORMED OUT!! Russia, Russia, my heart bleeds for you. Almost a decade after the Russian bear was welcomed into the private capitalist family, the whole show is about to go down the tube. The plethora of reforms that have rained on Russian's over the past decade has made many of them hanker for the "good olde days" when they sweated under the Communist yoke. The collapse of state capitalism (Communism) in Russia has been followed by a never ending series of disasters. Russians are so fed up with the lies and corruption they don't even bother to participate in the parliamentary farce. Just over 50% of registered electors bothered to vote in the last presidential elections. Russia is in the grip of an unprecedented economic disaster. Interest rates are over 150%, the Russian stockmarket fell 11% on Tuesday, workers have not been paid wages for months. The armed forces are on the verge of disintegration, pensioners are having difficulty surviving and more and more Russians are unemployed. The new found freedoms that Russians have won are a cruel illusion. In the last few years, state property has been transferred to the corporate world. The Russian people have become disposable cogs in a cruel hoax. Russia is a living example of what happens when state property is transferred to the private sector. The collapse of Communism has brought Russians more problems than they imagined could ever befall them. Fortunately the Russian people still have options, within a decade they have experienced both the failures of state and corporate capitalism. They can still gain their freedom and economic independence if they are willing to seize the means of production, distribution and exchange and remove power from the corporate and state sector and place them back into the hands of workers and community councils - Soviets. Whether they form Soviets depends on whether the I.M.F. and the World Bank is able to bail out the Russian state from its present economic crisis. HELPLESSNESS Watching the tit for tat nuclear tests in India and Pakistan, brings home the point that we are all potential hostages to the nuclear madness. The induction of India and Pakistan into the nuclear club highlights what little power people have to alter their destiny. Nuclear arsenals are the preserve of centralised nation states. They have the resources to build weapons of mass destruction and aim them at each other. Nuclear weapons are now held by over fifteen nation states, many of these nuclear states have the skills and infrastructure to deploy these weapons across the globe. The current proliferation of nuclear weapons makes nuclear war a real possibility. The concentration of power and wealth in the hands of elites, provides the necessary infrastructure that can be used to build weapons of mass destruction. The feeling of helplessness that many people have is reinforced every time a new nation state joins the nuclear club. India and Pakistan's back door entry into the nuclear club has broken that thin thread of security that was re-established when the nations superpowers agreed not to test any more nuclear weapons. ANARCHIST QUESTION and ANSWER Q. Why do many people equate anarchism with terrorism? A. The word anarchy is derived from the Greek word anarchos - without rulers. From the day we are born we're conditioned to believe that we need rulers to tell us what to do. Our Ôoriginal sin' makes us incapable of governing ourselves. We need an outside authority, usually the State or God, in some situations both, to make us moral human beings. We're told if there are no rulers society would degenerate into a free for all, where everybody would be fighting each other. Some people accept dominant society's definition that a community without rulers would degenerate into chaos and consequently believe anarchists are people who are willing to use whatever means necessary to destroy society. Anarchists believe that any society that is based on inequalities is a society that would quickly degenerate into chaos if the forces that maintained those inequalities were dismantled. Peace in such a society is kept through a monopoly of force. Usually this monopoly is maintained by the state or the church. Anarchists believe that this artificial order is maintained by a minority at the majority's expense. Government is controlled chaos, because as soon as a government loses the monopoly of force it has, society disintegrates. On the other hand Anarchism is order, because power and wealth is taken by the people and used by them to look after their needs, not the needs of a bunch of rulers. Any society that is able to break the monopoly of force that is held by rulers has the potential to create a society where chaos and disorder is replaced by egalitarian processes. Obviously those people who believe that rulers are an integral component of the human condition, would see any attempt to remove a ruler's power as a terrorist threat. ACTION BOX - WAITING, WAITING, WAITING!! Most people seem to spend their time waiting:- waiting for a new job, an important date, a new relationship, an examination result, retirement and a thousand and one other things. As anarchists we run the risk of becoming passive consumers not activists. We may believe conditions aren't right, that there's no point, that change will come irrespective of what we do. It's easy to sit in your armchair, in front of the heater waiting for things to change. People are right, things do change, how they change depends on us, not anybody else. How can we as individuals and as members of groups expect egalitarian change if we're not out their promoting that change. Communities and societies develop in a particular direction because people are articulating ideas and trying to put these ideas in practice. Whether we are able to put these ideas into practise today is not the point, what matters is that we attempt to put these ideas into practise and simultaneously articulate to people that there are other desirable options to mainstream culture. Change is possible, nothing is set in stone. Ideas come and go, those ideas that disappear, disappear because they no longer make sense or because they are suppressed. What's important is that we are part of that movement that is pushing for change. If we're not involved in the day to day struggle, we shouldn't be surprised if we're not happy with the change that occurs. Participation is everything, if we don't participate we can expect to be waiting for the right moment until the day we die. It's up to you, do you want to be a detached observer, screaming in an empty room at a television screen, living a life based on virtual reality? Or do you want to grab it by both hands and shape your future by challenging the present and rejecting the past? As you struggle to make a decision, remember anarchism is a public virtue, not a private vice. AUSTRALIAN ANARCHIST HISTORY - THE COLEDALE SHOOTING Those few people, who still believe that radical activists are able to achieve justice through the judicial system in Australia, need to revisit the events that surrounded the Coledale shooting on 25th August 1917. A volunteer fireman, Alfred Green was shot in the chest while the scab Sydney-Nowra train was running through Coledale on the coast, south of Sydney during the 1917 General Strike in NSW. On the 4th of September 1917 detectives arrested Fred Lowden and James McEnaney, two young men who were members of the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World) and officials in the Coledale miners lodge. The information for the arrest had been provided by Charles Thorburn a police agent. It soon became apparent that Charles Thorburn was lying through his teeth and both Lowden and McEnaney were discharged on the court, the 10th of October 1917. Charles Thorburn and his partner May Roy were charged that "they did conspire, combine, confederate and agree together falsely to charge and accuse" the two miners of the shooting. Thorburn pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge but claimed two detectives, Robertson and Surridge, who were involved in the case against the I.W.W. twelve had suggested he finger the miners so they could share the reward. Thornburn was sentenced to three years hard labour, his wife was acquitted and surprise, surprise, the court was happy with the conduct of the police in the case. As Lowden and McEnaney had suffered imprisonment, lost their jobs and owed money for their legal defence because of these trumped up charges, they asked the New South Wales Government for compensation. The Minister for Justice replied that he could not recommend any payment. The same arguments that were used to deny these men compensation, were used to deny the I.W.W. twelve compensation when they were released from prison. BOOK - REVIEW .D. BY SAAB LOFTON, ISBN 0-9622937-8-4, FIRST PRINTING SEPTEMBER 1995 .D. is something new and something old. Saab Lofton has extended the science fiction tradition by concentrating on the hows and whys and not the spectacle. Most science fiction writers concentrate on the spectacle - the special effects, some even examine how the main characters interact. Few look at the nuts and bolts of how the characters live, what type of society they have created, their hopes and aspirations. Saab Lofton has taken an old, very old idea and has like a few science fiction writers before him, projected the past and present into the future. Although the times and the gadgets are different, his characters continue to wrestle with those constants in life. How do human beings interact with each other, what type of communities do they form, who has power, how is that power shared? Although Saab Lofton spends most of his introduction talking about how the Star Trek series promoted him into writing this book, he also acknowledges the influence of the Black Panthers and Noam Chomsky in .D. The Novel in Lofton's own words is a "weapon of words". Lofton believes in the word. He understands the need for revolution, but is concerned that those who call for armed revolution "would be doomed to live out the fate of Snowball from George Orwell's Animal Farm because they forgot to educate the masses first". Throughout the novel Saab pushes up societal models in the book about "how things ought (and ought not) to be like in our future". The story line is simple, very simple. Lofton explores the twists and turns that sees America in the year 2030 A.D. divided into two racially segregated regimes controlled by Louis Farrahan's Nation of Islam and Tom Metzgers white Aryan Resistance, a truly dystopic future. Fred Rush Senior, a black activist who rebelled against this new world order is sentenced to become a human guinea pig in a cryogenic experiment. He wakes up in the year 2410 A.D. By this time Farrakan's and Metzgers dystopia has been replaced by a Libertarian Socialist Democracy. Fred meets his direct male descendant Captain Huey P. Ruch and helps to overcome "a menace from the past that threatens the future". Saab Lofton is no Ursula Le Guin, and .D. is not the Dispossessed. Saab was only 25 or 26 when he wrote .D. in 1992/1993. The novel is a welcome edition to the increasing number of Anarchist fiction novels that are beginning to be published by a new generation of Anarchists, who are using new forms to represent old ideas. In time these authors' efforts will be compared to the efforts of Pa Chin and Tolstoy. .D. by Saab Loften is available from ANARRES BOOKS PO Box 150, East Brunswick 3057 Melbourne Australia. Write to them for their 1998 book catalogue. email:- mailorder@anarres.org.au web site:- www.anarres.org.au PERSONAL OBSERVATION She grabbed me by the wrist, I turned, how could I have forgotten that weather beaten face, she has the type of face that reminds you of forty year old white women who have worked outdoors in the outback. She'd put on weight, she must be nearly forty five kilograms, she looked positively fat compared to the woman I knew four years ago. Her snake like green eyes staring out between the furrows on her face demanded immediate attention. I stopped, coming to heel at the same time her Rhodesian Ridgeback heeled. I'd known her for over a decade, she was our Bottle O, she followed us from inner city house to inner city house, collecting beer bottles. We'd stop and talk, mainly about her health. In the decade I knew her I'd never seen her sober. She'd come round when it suited her and load up the beer bottles in a creaky wooden hand cart. Her hand cart reminded me of the childhood go-karts I attempted to make. She'd talk about her man, occasionally, she'd stop for a cup of tea and then move on to the next pile of used beer bottles, day after day, week after week, month after month, year in, year out, hail, rain or shine. Sometimes sores on her arms and legs were wrapped in dirty pieces of cloth, other times she sported bruises and occasionally I'd seen her wear a short arm plaster. I never asked, she never volunteered. We spoke of other things, I don't remember what about, but we spoke, one human being to another. Today she was sober, she'd put on weight, had no bruises and bandages and looked like she'd survive a decade, not just make it to the next day. She called me by my first name, to my horror I couldn't remember hers, but it didn't matter, we just spoke about nothing in particular. I asked about her man, half expecting to be told he'd died. No, although he was the worse for wear, he was still alive. They still lived together, renting a house that no one else would want to live in, but they liked it, because, she could keep her dog and store her bottles. Two years ago she burst an ulcer, but kept on working until somebody found her unconscious slumped over her hand cart. She survived and hadn't had a drink since. I think she missed our brief conversations, I think I miss them too. She released me from her gaze and went her way, happy that we had met and spoken. Somehow I don't think I'll see her again. STOP PRESS - NEUTRALISING THE A.B.C. There are very few independent media outlets in this country. Australians are subjected to a never ending stream of corporate dribble that masquerades as news and laughingly is called analysis. You know an election is in the air when you see the Minister for Communications getting stuck into the Australian Broadcasting Commission. It looks like even the bland and boring A.B.C. is seen as a threat to the intellectual midgets in the Liberal/National Party. Brian Powers ascension to the Fairfax throne just ten days after he left the Packer empire, is an indication that the Federal Coalition has struck a deal with Kerry Packer and the fruit of his loins, James Packer to take over what's left of the Fairfax empire. Over the past two years, the Federal government has attempted to strangle any voices that have opposed its programs. The A.B.C. has been a target not because it provides a radical alternative to its morally bankrupt policies, but because employees in a government, instrumentally have dared to criticise the governments policies. The Liberal/National Party has attempted to strangle the national broadcaster, initially financially and now a few weeks before Howard calls the next election, by launching a series of government attacks on its credibility. It's no accident that Alston has launched into a tirade against the A.B.C.'s so called bias. It's transparently obvious the Howard government is trying to guarantee favourable coverage for its bankrupt election policies by allowing the Packers to acquire the Fairfax media empire if the government wins the Federal election. If it has stitched up a deal with the Packers, it needs to protect its flank from attacks from the Murdoch Camp as they were also very keen to acquire Fairfax. In an attempt to protect itself from attacks from both Murdoch and the A.B.C. it has launched a broadside on the A.B.C. to intimidate the administration and staff from publicly criticising their policies and activities. It knows that if it can neutralise the A.B.C.'s criticism of its policies, it will be able to withstand any sour grapes the Murdoch media monopoly throws its way. JOSEPH TOSCANO (Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society). ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK EL LIBERTARIO Vol13 No.40 April/May'98, Carlos Farina Brasil 1551 C.P. 1154, Buenos Aires, Argentina Tel 305-0307. INDUSTRIAL WORKER Vol.95 No.5 May'98 I.W.W. 103 West Michigan Ave, Ypsilanti MI 48197, Michigan USA ghq@iwww.org LE MONDE LIBERTAIRE No.1124 21-27th May'98, 145 Rue Amelot 75011 Paris France, Tel 01 48053408, Fax 01 49299859. UMANITA NOVA 78th year 8th Mar'98, C/- La Coop Tipolitografica Via S.Piero 13a, 54033 Carrara Italy. A) ANARCHISM TOWARDS THE 21ST CENTURY B) TOWARDS AN ANARCHIST SOCIETY - Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society Position and 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. DEBT ELIMINATION APPEAL - PUSH US OVER THE LINE Our debt stands at $822.70. 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, Australia. THANKS!! DEBT 3.6.98 - $822.70 WAR ON THE WHARFIES WEB PAGE - http://www.users.bigpond.com/Takver/soapbox/index.htm ANARCHIST AGE MONTHLY REVIEW BACK!! ISSUE NO.80 OF THE ANARCHIST AGE MONTHLY REVIEW WILL APPEAR IN EARLY JULY 1998 AFTER A TWELVE MONTH BREAK Subscribers to the AAMR have received complimentary copies of the AAWR during this period. AS WE DON'T WANT TO SUSPEND PUBLICATION IN THE FUTURE - ONLY SUBSCRIBERS WILL RECEIVE THE AAMR NEW SUBSCRIPTION RATES:- * $48.00 - 12 issues WAGE EARNERS * $30.00 - 12 issues NON WAGE EARNERS. Please make out cheques and money orders to LIBERTARIAN WORKERS and post to PO Box 20, Parkville 3052 Melbourne Australia. NEW ANARCHIST GROUP - NEITHER MASTER NOR SLAVE Secretary Emile 48, Box 24 Balaclava 3183, Melbourne Australia, NMNS@EARTHLING.NET MONTHLY ANARCHIST BOOK DISCUSSION MEETING When: Sunday 7th June at 3.00pm Where: Lincoln Hotel, Cardigan Street, Carlton. Telephone: Steve on 9429 9837 (after hours) or Greg on 9386 4967 (after hours) ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK Has been won by the Federal Communications Minister, Senator Alston for trying to intimidate the Australian Broadcasting Commission - must be an election round the corner. 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.