A-Infos (en) Anarchist Age Weekly Review No. 641

[philmcc@optusnet.com.au]

Number 641
2nd May-8th May 2005
 
NO GLOBALISATION WITHOUT DIRECT DEMOCRACY-ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE
´WE SWEAR BY THE SOUTHERN CROSS TO STAND TRULY BY EACH OTHER AND FIGHT TO
DEFEND OUR RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES´-EUREKA REBELLION OATH 1854
 
HERE WE GO AGAIN!!
The current ´leadership´ struggle between John Howard and his Treasurer is
the type of garbage that the media loves to devote its attention to.
Considering that policy decisions are made by Cabinet and that Liberal Party
policy is made by the party and trumpeted through a pliant fourth estate,
who leads the Liberal Party and whether Costello or Howard remain Prime
Minister till 2007 is neither here or there.

That doesn´t mean that a Prime Minister is not able to stamp his mark on a
weak and pliant Cabinet.  The stronger the Prime Minister, the more powerful
the office becomes.  Whether Howard or Costello is Prime Minister isn´t the
main game.  Both men bring different styles to the office.  Costello may
soften the Liberal party´s image but he won´t make any major changes to
policies.  Even Mark Latham ´the wildcard in the deck´ didn´t deviate from
the globalization and privatization agenda that currently dominates global
politics.

Leadership speculation makes good copy and allows reporters and political
commentators to feel they are important players in the ´drama´ that is
unfolding in Canberra.  A change of leadership is not as important as the
fourth estate thinks it is.  Changing leaders is a little bit like changing
a captain mid voyage; the oceans, the skies, boat and crew has not changed,
what has changed is the person at the helm.  The captain is still contained
in what he or she can do by the limitations imposed by the size and type of
boat they are in charge of and the elements.

Changing the Prime Minister doesn´t change the constraints the new Prime
Minister works under.  A change in who is leader of the party or the nation
does not alter the fact that real power doesn´t lie in Parliament.  Current
constitutional and institutional arrangements reinforce the power of the
corporate sector at the expense of the individual, the community and the
State.  Leadership speculation is a diversion that reinforces the myth that
Australia´s institutional and constitutional arrangements do not need to be
altered.  It reinforces the myth that all that needs to occur to resolve the
problems faced by Australians is for the country to change the current Prime
Minister or elect a new government into power at the next Federal election
in 2007.

CITIZENS?
The pre budget attack on the unemployed by the Howard government continues
its successful ´divide and rule´ strategy.  Words like ´dole bludger´, ´work
shirker´ and ´work shy´ are used by government ministers to create the
illusion that a particular subgroup within the Australian community is
bludging off the rest of the community.  The Howard government, supported by
a pliant fourth estate that seems to act as a de facto arm of the Howard
government, helps to create the illusion that the country is divided into
the deserving and the non deserving poor.

The Howard government´s ideologically driven agenda has created a rapidly
increasing number of poorly paid, part time, dangerous jobs that employers
are not able to fill because Australians are unwilling to join the ranks of
the working poor.  Faced with this dilemma, they have embarked on a campaign
to bring in large numbers of unskilled workers through the back door,
bypassing the normal immigration procedures and rules.  They have also
continued to press their successful ´divide and rule´ campaigns and are now
directing their attention at single parents and people on disability support
pensions.

Language plays a central role in the government´s campaign to denigrate
millions of Australians and their dependents in the eyes of the rest of the
country.  In the process, they are no longer regarded as citizens with
rights and responsibilities but as burdens to the community and fraudsters.
´Mediterranean back´, ´work shirkers´, ´dole bludgers´, ´single mothers´
´illegal immigrants´ are pejorative terms that are used to strip sections of
the community of their rights as citizens.

It´s important that Australians refuse to play the Howard government´s blame
game, it´s time they recognize their common humanity and remember that the
differences between those Australians that have a full time job, are
relatively happy and live in a supportive family environment are relatively
minor.  Anyone of us could find ourselves in the same position through the
loss of a job, sickness, an accident or family difficulties.

The difference between Australia and many other countries around the world
is that through political, workplace and community struggles over the past
century, Australian´s have created a society that provides for citizens who
find themselves in difficult circumstances.  To allow this government or any
other government to strip us of these rights is a recipe for disaster.

HO HUM!!
John Elder´s observation in the Sunday Age (1/5) about the ceremony that was
held outside the Dandenong R.S.L. to mark the unveiling of a mounted
helicopter, to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, raises
important questions about how history is moulded and remoulded to suit
contemporary political concerns.

The hijacking of the Anzac commemorations by the Howard government to
justify its nationalistic and militaristic policies is a classical example
of what happens when only pieces of the historical jigsaw which support the
government´s ideological agenda are revered and honoured.

Contrary to the almost universal picture that was painted on Anzac Day,
Australia was a divided nation during WWI.  Many Australians believed that
WWI was fought by workers at either end of a bayonet.  The peace movement
during WWI was so strong it was able to defeat conscription referendums that
were held in late 1916 and in late 1917.  It´s no exaggeration to say that
the peace movement saved the lives of another 60,000 young Australians who
would have been willingly sacrificed on the European killing fields by the
Hughes government, if the referendums had been successful.

The same story unfolded during the Vietnam War, the peace movement and the
draft resistors movement played a pivotal role in the withdrawal of
Australian troops from Vietnam.  Thirty years after the fall of Saigon, the
role the peace movement played is gradually being written out of the
historical record.  More and more stories are appearing about Vietnam that
denigrate and ignore the profound role the peace movement had on Australia´s
dubious military in Vietnam.

The same respect and admiration that is shown for those who died and those
who fought in war should also be shown for those who in many instances made
great personal sacrifices to expose the hypocrisy behind the reasons given
to justify armed intervention in the affairs of another country.  Monuments
and remembrances should not be just the sole preserve of those who did their
duty, but they should also be erected for those who refused to be cowed by
authority and questioned and resisted the State´s attempts to force them to
participate in wars that are extremely difficult to justify.

RELAX!!  DON´T WORRY!!
SHE´LL BE RIGHT!!
All you folk, who read the Anarchist Age Weekly Review, relax, don´t worry,
global warming is a green, environmentalist plot.  Yes, that´s right!  What
do those people at the weather bureau know?  I know a few readers are now
growing bananas in Melbourne and mangoes in Hobart, but that´s no reason to
worry about global warming, is it?  It´s just a normal variation in
temperature, isn´t it?  What do these tree hugging hippies know about global
warming?  Most of them are into hydroponics these days and don´t get out in
the sun too often to worry about the temperature.

Just in case you keep an eye on the weather bureau statistics, don´t let
April´s batch rattle you.  Just remember it´s all a green plot hatched by
ferals who hate the world and want to destroy civilisation.  Now let´s get
back to this year´s batch of weather bureau statistics.  Australia has just
had the hottest and almost the driest start to the year on record.  The
national temperature between January and April was 26.9 degrees, the highest
since records began.  Don´t worry, be happy, the country has had 150mm of
rain between January and April this year, the second driest year on record.
You can relax because during the same period in 1965, the rainfall was
148mm, so all you greenhouse ferals put that in your bong and smoke it.

It seems that the nation´s farmers are beginning to behave like tree hugging
hippies; they´re concerned that the extended dry period and the extremes in
the temperature will plunge Australia into another drought.  What are they
concerned about?  They´re the most efficient farmers in the world; they can
grow crops on the smell of water evaporated from open irrigation channels.
Can´t they?  Maybe not, they seem to be concerned that there won´t be enough
winter rains and they won´t be able to grow pasture for livestock.  Doubting
Thomases.

Don´t worry, be happy, she´ll be right, it´s just green propaganda.  The
greenhouse effect doesn´t exist, except in the imagination of a whole heap
of ferals, who don´t know what they´re talking about.  John Howard knows
that it´s just a green plot, that´s why Australia hasn´t signed the Kyoto
Accord.  Why should he?  Anybody who´s afraid of a few bad weather bureau
statistics hasn´t got the balls to be a man.  Onward Christian soldiersŠŠŠ.

50%
Keep your eye on the voter turnout in the British general election.  Faced
with the task of voting for politicians who are contemptuous of the
electorate and who can do whatever they like after the poll, more and more
Brits are beginning to think that it´s just not worth the effort.  The voter
turnout has fallen from 77% in 1997 when Blair was first elected into office
to 59% at the last general election.  Considering that Blair and the
neo-conservative Labor Party hadn´t helped the US invade Iraq before the
last general election, it´s possible that the voter turnout will fall to
below 50%.

Neo-conservative Labor rule has been very good for the corporate sector;
their policies have laid the groundwork for a future conservative government
to finish the privatisation agenda that has been put in place by ´new´
Labor.  Devoid of policies, the British Labor Party has been running a
campaign that´s lacklustre and bereft of ideas.  The fourth estate has been
divided in its support for Blair; concerned that the election of a
conservative government may strengthen the extra parliamentary opposition,
it has by and large supported the Labor Party.

The corporate press knows that the best way to depoliticise the population
and weaken protests, is by supporting a re-election of a Labor government, a
government that has done all the things Thatcher couldn´t do because of the
extra parliamentary opposition to Thatcher´s rule.  The forthcoming general
elections, irrespective of who wins, are bad for parliamentary rule.  More
and more people are becoming disillusioned with a democratic process that is
democratic in name only.

The challenge for anarchists in Britain is the same for anarchists who live
in ´parliamentary democracies´, they need to capitalise on the growing
disillusionment with the parliamentary process and take the next step beyond
the ´Why vote? Don´t vote?´ campaigns that anarchists normally conduct
during elections.  Whether anarchists take that next step, will determine
whether the anarchist movement can break out of the marginalised situation
it currently faces in countries which hold parliamentary elections.

ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER
Q.  WHAT ROLE DO MARKET FORCES PLAY IN AN ANARCHIST SOCIETY?
A. Market forces play a central role in any anarchist community.  The
relationship between those who produce goods and services and those who
consume goods and services is a pivotal one in any society.  The problem
with market forces in a centralised economy or a capitalist economy is that
they can be manipulated to enrich individuals and minorities within a
community, at the expense of everyone else in that community.
Anarchist market forces revolve around the satisfaction of real human needs,
not manufactured needs.  Producers and consumers discuss, plan, produce and
share what is produced.  Production isn´t determined by a central authority
or a market place that produces goods to satisfy manufactured needs.  Profit
does not play the dominant role in a market economy that is based on the
satisfaction of human needs.  What is produced, how it´s produced and how
it´s distributed, is determined by the community as a whole.  No one section
of society is able to dominate the process and enrich itself by exploiting
the needs of other members of that community.
Anarchist market forces are able to both satisfy human need and conserve
finite resources for future generations.  A tomato is a tomato is a tomato.
Having a heap of companies compete against each other to sell tinned tomato
in cans adorned with different company logos, is both inefficient and
wasteful.  You don´t need 10 companies to produce the same product.  The
duplication that occurs is a waste or resources.
Production in an anarchist society is planned, rational, and efficient and
is dependent on the satisfaction of real human needs, not manufactured
needs.  What the needs of an anarchist society are, are determined by the
people who make up that community.  They determine what their needs are and
they use resources that are held in common to make their decisions a
reality.

ACTION BOX
´BANNERS´
I belong to a little group of like minded people who meets every Wednesday
morning somewhere in the city of Melbourne to raise our concerns regarding a
myriad of issues.  Whether it´s Federation Square, Federal Police
Headquarters, Parliament House, Parliamentary offices of the State or
Federal politicians, Consuls, transnational corporations, radio, TV,
newspaper outlets, the High Court, Supreme Court or other parts of the city
­ we reclaim public space and use those few rights and liberties we
currently enjoy to make our opinions known.
Half a dozen people milling outside a site trying to hand out leaflets to a
public who thinks you´re trying to sell them something, can be pretty
depressing.  Things seem to change dramatically when you hold up a bright
colourful banner that tells people why you are there.  People from across
the street, passing traffic, the people behind the hurriedly closed doors;
all know what´s going on when you have a banner with your message emblazoned
across it.  Banners are useful in terms of attracting publicity, supporters
and making your point.  Just in case you think you can´t afford a banner, if
every person who turns up to the vigil / protest you´re involved in donates
$2.00 a week, within a few months you´ll have more than enough money to pay
for a professionally made banner.
If you want to save money, as issues change and as your interests as a group
change, you can have the lettering removed from the banner and have new
lettering put on it.  Computers make it relatively easy to generate
lettering as well as pictures for your banner.  Before you know it, you´ll
become the bete noire of the rich and powerful.  Police will turn up at your
little gathering; it´s amazing how much heartache a banner and a half dozen
people can cause to people in authority.
We´re been getting together now for about 6 years.  We would have
participated in around 300 demonstrations or vigils during that period.
Have we changed anything?  I´m not sure.  What we´ve done is let those
people who exercise power, know that they can´t get away with whatever they
like, as citizens we have both rights and responsibilities.  If we don´t
exercise those rights, we will never be able to fulfil our obligations and
responsibilities to our fellow human beings.  Think about it, get yourself a
banner and before you know it, Hey Presto!! you´ll become a force to be
reckoned with.

AUSTRALIAN RADICAL HISTORY
PETER SIMONOFF
Thousands of Russians immigrated to Australia, some legally, many illegally
after the failure of the 1905 Russian revolution.  Many of them became
active in Australia soon after they arrived.  The Union of Russian
Immigrants was formed in 1910.  Their paper ´Australiiskoye Ekho´ (the
Australian Echo) as published till 1916 when it was closed down under the
War Precautions Act.  It reappeared as ´Worker´s Life´ but was closed down 2
years later in 1918.  In 1919, it reappeared as the English language paper,
´Knowledge and Unity´ (foreign language papers were banned in 1919).
After the Russian revolution, Peter Simonoff, a Russian immigrant, was
elected Soviet Consul General by the Russian Workers Association (the group
was previously known as the Union of Russian Immigrants). The Australian
government, a government that had sent Australian troops to fight against
the Bolsheviks in Russia, refused to recognise him or the government he
represented.  (Interestingly, two Australian soldiers who fought with the
counter revolutionary white armies in Russia won Victoria Crosses for
bravery.)
Peter Simonoff, a self-educated man, wrote a book called ´What is Russia´ in
1918, in an attempt to let Australians know what the Russian revolution was
all about.  The Australian censors prohibited the publication of the book.
He then took his struggle to union and socialist meetings that were held to
support the Bolshevik revolution in Russia.  His talks led to his arrest and
conviction on two charges ´engaging in propaganda work in Australia
supporting the Russian revolution´ and ´discussing the Russian revolution in
public´.  He was fined 50 pounds plus costs and was sentenced to 6 months
hard labour on each charge.  The Hughes government tried to deport him to
Vladivostok while he was waiting for his appeal to be heard (knowing that he
would be shot by the white forces when he arrived), but didn´t manage to do
so.  He appealed the original conviction, lost his appeal and eventually
Peter Simonoff, the Soviet Consul General in Australia, was sent to prison
for a year for talking about the Russian revolution.
He left Australia and returned to Russia in September 1921 because he was
unable to get the Australian government to recognise him as the Soviet
Consul General.  Ironically, he was shot in one of the many purges of old
Bolsheviks that occurred in Stalin´s Russia in the late 1930´s.

FILM REVIEW
 ´BOUGAINVILLE-
OUR ISLAND OUR FIGHT´
Produced, Filmed & Edited by Wayne Coles-Janess IPSO-FACTO Productions 1998.
´Bougainville-Our Island Our Fight´ gives the viewer a glimpse into a
bloody struggle for independence that didn´t rate a mention in the Western
media.  At the height of the Bougainville War of Independence, a war on
Australia´s doorstep, a war that most Australians didn´t even know was
happening, Wayne Coles-Janess was able to evade the Australia government
engineered blockade of Bougainville and gave the world extraordinary images
about what happens when a proud and independent people take on a multi
national corporation that has destroyed their way of life.
The Papua New Guinea (PNG) government supported and armed by the Australian
government, used overwhelming military force and a decade long naval
blockade of Bougainville that reduced humanitarian aid coming into
Bougainville to a trickle, to force the people of Bougainville to abandon
their struggle.  Wayne Coles-Janess´ documentary gives people an idea of the
devastation caused by the blockade and PNG military intervention on
Bougainville.  The Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA)-local independent
fighters whose weapons came from abandoned WWII military caches, weapons
they were able to fashion from local materials and those they acquired after
successful battles with PNG forces, - are the only indigenous independence
movement in the late 20th century that has brought the activities of a
transnational mining corporation to a grinding halt through independence
struggle.
The human cost was enormous, over 10,000 people, mainly the elderly, women
and children (almost 10% of the population) died as a direct result of the
Australian supported 10-year naval blockade of Bougainville.  Wayne
Coles-Janess showed through his powerful images the full horror that was
occurring in Bougainville as a result of the cutting off of almost all
humanitarian aid to the island.  The people of Bougainville´s fight, was a
fight to preserve their culture, environment and land from exploitation by a
powerful transnational mining corporation that exacted a terrible price from
the people because they were shutting down its operations.
While the world continues to reel from the horror of the Pol Pot regime in
Cambodia, a regime whose policies led to the death of 10% of the Cambodian
people, nobody seems to be willing to draw the parallel with what happened
in Bougainville-a horror story Australia was responsible for.  Six years
later after the film was made, five years after a ceasefire was negotiated
because the people could no longer bear to put up with the suffering of a
new generation of children who knew nothing but pain and death, the naval
blockade was lifted when the people of Bougainville agreed to have unarmed
foreign troops on the island to maintain a ceasefire with PNG.
Six years later the tenuous ceasefire holds, parts of the island especially
the area around the original mining site in central Bougainville are
virtually ´no go´ areas, the rest of the island is waiting to participate in
a pull for independence sometime in the future.
Wayne Coles-Janess´ haunting images highlights what happens when people have
had enough and stand up to reclaim  their independence and freedom.  His
powerful images and the strength, resolve and dignity displayed by the
people in his film (people who risked everything to reclaim their
independence and culture and protect their environment), is a reminder to
all of us that nothing is impossible.
For further information regarding the only documentary made about the
Bougainville war for Independence contact Ipso-facto Productions Tel: +61
0411 159 454 Fax: +61 02 9770 4263, www.ipso-facto.com.au
email:info@ipso-facto.com.au
Thanks to Ipso-facto Productions for providing the review copy of
´Bougainville-Our Island Our Fight´ - an award winning documentary on
indigenous peoples struggle for survival and independence.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION
Faced with the choice of attending May Day celebrations or a family
christening, I opted for the latter.  I haven´t been to a christening for
many, many years and was surprised they still played such a significant role
in some people´s lives.  The great thing about the Roman Catholic Church is
that they enjoy a monopoly on the birth to death racket.  A lack of priests
has forced the Roman Catholic Church in Australia to hold mass christenings.
Four children were christened into the Church on May Day, relatives and
friends gathered round, some listening to the priest´s words, most
oblivious.  I always make the effort to listen as it gives you an insight
into why the Church is able to exert such a strong stranglehold on so many
people´s lives.
Last week, 500,000 people gathered in St. Peter´s Square in Rome to watch an
old man in a white dress and bright red Dorothy ´Wizard of Oz´ shoes take on
the mantle of Christ´s representative on Earth.  Maybe the priest´s words
would give me an insight into why so many continue to put their faith in
such a discredited institution.  Nothing in the priest´s words made me any
wiser.
The ceremony was as expected, all about the Church.  It was an initiation
ceremony into the Church, the Godparents played the central role in the
ceremony, and their job is to ensure the child keeps the faith.  Listening
to the polycot babble at the end of the ceremony, it was obvious that the
Roman Catholic Church´s message is one that still resounds loudly in many
parts of the world.  The Church promises eternal salvation, pie in the sky
and a meaningful existence, a trifecta in the eyes of a people who are
searching for something, anything to give meaning to their lives.
The Roman Catholic Church maintains its hold on people by making them
believe that they need intermediaries between themselves and God in order to
secure eternal salvation.  If you don´t go through the initiation rites,
you´re denied eternal salvation.  The only problem is that many other
religious organisations run the same protection racket, no wonder so many
people have died in the ´turf wars´ that have broken out between the world´s
main religions over the last few thousand years, as they carve out paradise
for God´s intermediaries on Earth.

STOP PRESS
NEVER LET THE FACTS
GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY
Three years into the US led war on terror; ´terror´ attacks have increased
threefold.  Using their own statistics and using their definitions, the ´war
on terror´ isn´t looking too good.  If we take their definition a step
further and get rid of the ideological claptrap surrounding the word
´terror´ and define a ´terrorist´ as individuals and groups that use
organised violence against a government-terrorist attacks have increased a
hundredfold if you factor in the killings and destruction that has occurred
as a result of the ´coalition of the willing´s´ illegal invasion of Iraq.
Putting these unpalatable facts aside and using the Pentagon´s definition of
a terrorist as someone who uses violence against the USA, the ´war on
terror´ has resulted in an increasing number of armed attacks against the US
and her allies.

It seems that the peace movement´s assertion that the invasion of Iraq would
lead to more terrorist attacks against US targets, has been vindicated.
Faced with a formidable opposition and a ´liberated´ people who believe that
the US invaded Iraq to steal their oil, it looks like the Bush
administration has fanned the flames of terrorism, not put them out.  Faced
with a very expensive occupation that is being bankrolled by the US
government, not profits derived from Iraqi oil, a very shaky coalition that
is losing its stomach for the grinding confrontations they are currently
experiencing, an increasingly powerful peace movement and an opposition that
seems to have very little trouble recruiting resistance fighters, the US is
trying to extricate from its precarious position by privatising more of its
war efforts by offering the spoils of war to foreign private corporations
who use well paid mercenaries to conduct the war in Iraq on behalf of the US
government.  

As the number of body bags grows and the US public´s love affair with the
neo conservative war profiteers wanes, the US and its allies will eventually
be forced out of Iraq.

Joseph TOSCANO / Libertarian Workers
For A Self-Managed Society.
                   
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UMANITA NOVA Vol.85, No.3 17th April, Settimenale Anarchico, C/-Federazione
Anarchico Torinese, C.50 Palermo 46, Torino, ITALY, tel/fx:011 857850,
Mobile:3386594361, email:fat@increte.it
SPARKS No.117 April/May 05, P.O. Box 92, Broadway 2007, NSW, AUSTRALIA
www.sparksweb.org

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 ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS
Discuss All the News That Fits online - www.apolitical.info/phpBB2
A judge who slept & snored thru the evidence of the alleged victim in a rape
trial will have no action taken against him. The woman was giving about
alleged sex attacks which began when she was 6yo. Documents show Judge Dodd
snored out loud as he slept for 15 minutes at a time, causing laughter &
comments from the jury. Not only did the victim leave the stand "destroyed
&
humiliated", she also feared the judge's behaviour may have influenced
the
jury's verdict after the defendant was found not guilty. The accused rapist
was later convicted to 12 years' jail for a sexual assault on another
person, in a hearing before a different judge. The woman said "it was like a
circus. I felt like pure entertainment b/c he was sleeping constantly".
"You could actually hear him snoring - he'd sleep for 15 minutes & wake up in a
panic." The Judicial Commission found Judge Dodd "fell asleep
momentarily on occasions during the trial", but ruled he was fit to remain on the bench.
Strangely, despite accepting the judge was unconscious, the Commission
claimed there were no "examples of non-responsiveness" & that it had
not affected "his understanding of what was going on". (Source: Daily
Telegraph)
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, ordered all Catholic bishops to
collect evidence of child abuse in secret & not involve the law. In May 01,
the then-Cardinal wrote a letter which was sent to every Catholic bishop,
ordering that investigations into child sexual abuse in the church be
conducted in secret by priests & not referred to the legal system. Ratzinger
was head of the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, the body
descended from the Inquisition. His letter asserted the church's right to
hold its inquiries behind closed doors & keep the evidence secret for up to
10 years after the alleged victims of priestly sex abuse reached adulthood.
(Source: Herald Sun)
Despite an extreme shortage, overseas-trained doctors have been prevented
from taking positions in NSW hospitals because of Immigration Department
discrimination against gay people. Both Campbelltown & Liverpool Hospitals
found qualified psychiatrists in the UK who were able to fill 'area of
need'
positions. However they were unable to come to Australia, b/c the
Immigration Dept wouldn´t issue their partners with a family visa. Roger
Gurr, the Clinical Director of Liverpool Hospital's mental health unit, said
it was a major blow b/c "NSW needs 41 trainee psychiatrists to enter the
system every year. This year there were only 19 accepted into training".
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone conceded gay people were treated
differently under immigration laws, but her office said there were no plans
to change the law. (Source: MCV newspaper)
QUOTES OF THE MOMENT:  "The people I saw & treated at Baxter were the
most
damaged people I've seen in my whole psychiatric career. Up until that time,
I'd never met an adult-onset bed wetter. I'd never met someone with
psychological blindness. & there were also a few physically crippled people
who believed they were unable to walk & this was probably psychological
too." Dr Howard Gordon, ex psychiatrist at Baxter refugee detention centre.
"Many years ago I worked for a man who forced a pair of employees who´d just
ended their relationship to move to adjacent workstations. He did it purely
for his amusement. Doubtless everyone has a story of this ilk. But
scientific evidence that leaders really are different in their personal
pathology from the rest of us has been lacking - until now. Case studies by
psychologists have claimed 'successful psychopaths' really exist. These
are
portrayed as emotionally detached, with superficial charm & an unbounded
preparedness to use others, differing only from personality-disordered
criminal psychopaths in being law-abiding & less impulsive. B/c such reports
are ultimately anecdotal, Belinda Board & Katarina Fritzon of Surrey Uni
decided to test whether there was any overlap b/w the personalities of
business managers, psychiatric patients & hospitalised criminals
(psychopathic & psychiatrically ill). Their results, published last month,
make startling reading. Board & Fritzon found that 3 of 11 personality
disorders (PDs) were actually commoner in managers than in disturbed
criminals. The 1st was histrionic PD, entailing superficial charm,
insincerity, egocentricity & manipulativeness. There was also a higher
incidence of narcissism: grandiosity, self-focused lack of empathy for
others, exploitativeness & independence. Finally, there was more compulsive
PD in the managers, incl perfectionism, excessive devotion to work,
rigidity, stubbornness & dictatorial tendencies."
ATNTF weekly anarchist news report www.apolitical.info
Now also available in Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian,
Portuguese & Spanish.

ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK
Awarded to the corporate owned fourth estate and the government gelded ABC
for continuing to deny the important role the Australian peace movement
played in WWI and during the Vietnam War.

STAMP APPEAL  - We spend over $500.00 on postage stamps per month.  If
you´re writing to us or have any spare stamps floating about stuff them into
the envelope & send them to us.  JOIN our $5.00 a month group & send us a
book of 10 50 cent stamps every month.

A DOLLAR A DAY
Increasing financial problems have forced us to review how The Anarchist
Media Institute´s finances are raised.  Currently subscriptions and
donations only account for about 40% of the income necessary to cover our
costs.  To overcome this problem we´ve launched a:-
SAVE THE ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE ~ ´A DOLLAR A DAY´ CAMPAIGN
We are looking for THIRTY People, interested in our activities, to pledge to
donate
´A Dollar A Day´ for twelve months.  You can donate monthly or yearly.  Make
out cheques and money orders to:- Libertarian Workers and send to PO Box 20,
Parkville. 3052. Melbourne. Australia.  Those who pledge will receive a ´I
Saved The Anarchist Media Institute´ A3 poster which you can frame and put
up at work or home - A great talking point if nothing else.  We´ve got the
ideas and energy but we need your financial assistance to keep going.  Go
on, become one of the Magnificent Thirty that saved the Anarchist Media
Institute.
7 READERS HAVE JOINED THE ´DOLLAR A DAY´ CLUB-23 TO GO. JOIN TODAY! EMPTY
YOUR POCKETS OF LOOSE CHANGE & SAVE THE ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE

DOWNLOAD THE WEEKLY!!
Interested in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review?  Want to get hold of your own
copy, then download it from http://anarchistmedia.org/weekly.html.
Email it your friends, it´s the cheapest and best birthday present you´ll
ever buy them.  Go on, be a devil, spoil the day of all those people you
know who wield power in society and email them the Anarchist Age Weekly
Review.

EUREKA AUSTRALIA DAY MEDAL
Know someone who was born or lives in Australia who you believe should be
honoured for their efforts to create a better and fairer world. Then
nominate them for the
EUREKA AUSTRALIA DAY MEDAL
ON THE 3rd DECEMBER, THE ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE WILL BE HONOURING 20
PEOPLE WITH A EUREKA AUSTRALIA DAY MEDAL AT BAKERY HILL - BALLARAT
(The site where the Eureka Oath was taken 151 years ago)
WE NEED YOUR NOMINATIONS.  Send them to:
EUREKA AUSTRALIA DAY MEDAL
P.O. BOX 5035, ALPHINGTON 3078, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.
Or Email your nomination to: anarchistage@yahoo.com
Tell us why you´ve nominated that person and send us your contact details so
we can contact you in case we need further information about your chioices.

DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE
Week NINETEEN-72 members
478 TO GO!!
(The trickle of applications has started to flow again-turn that trickle
into a flood.  Send your completed application form in today) Fill in that
Application Form we recently sent to you and send it ASAP to P.O. BOX 5035,
ALPHINGTON 3078  
If you haven´t an Application Form, download it from Web:

www.rulebythepeople.org
or write to us at P.O. BOX 5035, ALPHINGTON 3078 for a Application Form
ALREADY JOINED
Photocopy the spare copy you´ve received with your membership card and
distribute to your friends, workmates or set up a stall in the places you
live and work in.  Whether Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule becomes a
reality ultimately rests in your hands.  Web: www.rulebythepeople.org
Email: supporters@rulebythepeople.org    Tel: 0439 395 489
BUILD an alternative to the fossilised parliamentary system.  Stop giving a
signed blank cheque to politicians to make decisions on you behalf.
JOIN: DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE
Written & Authorised by Dr. Joseph TOSCANO
Suite 4 / 2187 Princess Highway, Clayton 3168, Victoria, AUSTRALIA
MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE THE GROUP´S 2nd NEWSLETTER IN EARLY JUNE
Go to rulebythepeople.org & sign up to our low traffic official group news
broadcast email list.

****    EUREKA BANNERS / FLAGS APPEAL    ****
($1,500 NEEDED)
Graeme Dunstan, the lantern maker for the Eureka Dawn Walk, has designed a
number of Eureka flags and banners we can use to celebrate forthcoming
anniversaries of the Eureka rebellion at Ballarat on 3rd December.
The designs can be accessed from our website <<anarchistmedia.org>>
These flags and banners will form an important part of the march from the
Eureka stockade site to Bakery Hill to the cemetery and back to the Eureka
stockade site.
We have launched an appeal to raise the $1500 needed to make these flags and
banners.  Send cheques and money orders made out to: LIBERTARIAN WORKERS,
P.O. BOX 20 PARKVILLE 3052, VIC, AUSTRALIA with a note saying you want the
money to go towards the Eureka flags and banners
The flags & banners will give the ´long march´ the visual component it
currently lacks.
RECEIVED SO FAR $200.00    -     $1300.00 TO GO

ANARCHO-SYNDICALIST FEDERATION-EAST
Wants to contact readers who are interested in finding out what they´re up
to and who may want to join them.  Write to them at:
P.O. BOX 2282, RICHMOND SOUTH, 3121, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.
Email: 
asf@yahoo.com.au      Web: www.asf-east.tk

MELBOURNE ANARCHIST COMMUNITY GROUP
P.O. BOX 2120, LYGON STREET NORTH
EAST BRUNSWICK 3057, VICTORIA AUSTRALIA

´NO WAR$ / NO Forbes / NO CEO´s´
Forbes Conference CEO´s
assembling at Sydney´s Opera House on the evening of 29th August 2005.
A 30­organising a30-organising@lists.rists.riseup.net  Peacebus.com
The Forbes CEO conference will have high profile neo-con war profiteers and
their political courtiers attending the conference in Sydney on 30th August
2005.  Log in to find out what the anti globilisation resistance is doing to
welcome them to Aust.
A30-organising@lists.riseup.net  peacebus.com


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 reflect the personal
opinions of the authors, they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the
publishers, the Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society/Anarchist
Media Institute. 
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.
                   
ANARCHISM-ADVANCING IN DIVERSITY STRIKING IN UNISON-YAMAGUCHI KENJI
WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY-THE ANARCHIST CENTURY