A-Infos (en) Anarchist Age Weekly Review No. 642 9th May-15th May 2005

[a-infos@ainfos.ca]

REVERSE WELFARE
Costello´s 10th Budget continues the Howard government´s reverse welfare
agenda.  The 2005 Budget is bad news for low income earners, disability
supporter pensioners, old age pensioners, the unemployment and single
parents.  The $21 billion tax cuts are skewed to assist high income earners
at the expense of the rest of the community.  The much touted $80 a week tax
cuts will only benefit those who have a taxable income of over $100,000 a
year, people who earn $10,000 a year only receive $1.30 tax cut a week.
Costello´s Budget is a divisive budget that is primarily directed at middle
Australia.  The minority of Australians who receive significant tax cuts
will soon find that any savings they have made will be eaten away by
increased private health care, education and child minding costs.  The
Budget is both inflationary and grossly unfair.  It continues to use
taxpayer´s money to pay for middle class welfare, while ignoring the plight
of 10 million Australians who rely on government benefits to survive.

If the Howard government was serious about its proposal to encourage people
entitled to old age pensions to remain at work and wanted people on
disability support pensions and single parent benefits to enter the work
force, it could have adopted measures that provide financial incentives to
join the workforce, not force them into poorly paid part time jobs that will
increase the number of working poor in this country.

Instead of providing significant tax cuts for people who have a taxable
income of $100,000 and minimal tax cuts for those earning $10,000, the tax
free threshold could have been lifted to $20,000 for people who earn less
than $50,000 a year.  The increased costs could have been offset by a less
generous tax package for those earning over $50,000 a year.  This measure
would have gone a long way to relieving the tax burden on those who need it
the most and it would have acted as a real incentive to those receiving
welfare benefits to voluntarily enter the workforce.

Costello has lost a historic opportunity to radically reform the tax system
by refusing to use the extra-ordinary amounts of money available to the
highest taxing government in Australia´s history to provide real welfare to
those who need it, not reverse welfare to the relatively well off.

´PENAL COLONIES´
The Risdon prison siege in Hobart highlights the pitfalls of pursuing
criminal justice policies that replace attempts to prevent criminal activity
and rehabilitate offenders with policies that promote enforcement of laws
and punishment of offenders.  Over the past decade prison populations have
almost doubled in Australia although crime has decreased during the same
period.  This has occurred as a result of politicians milking the tough on
crime card as one of their main electoral pitches during election campaigns.

Many elections have deteriorated into bidding wars between political
candidates who are attempting to curry favour with electors by outbidding
each other in the ´war against crime´.  Aided and abetted by a fourth estate
that tends to sensationalise criminal activity, the community begins to
believe they are in a midst of a permanent crime wave.  Concerned about the
perceived threat to individual and community safety, the clamour goes up for
harsher sentences.  Governments trying to position themselves into a winning
position during the electoral cycle, pass legislation that delivers harsher
and harsher sentences that don´t take into account the difference between
victimless crime and criminal activity that harms other human beings.

The jails are soon filled with people who would have benefited from a non
custodial sentence or diversionary programs.  The poor, the sick, the
mentally ill, fill the prisons, increasing the cost to the community both
financially and practically.  Prevention and rehabilitation programs are
jettisoned for enforcement and punishment, the community and governments
conveniently forgetting that most prisoners will be back in society in a few
years.  The current mindset creates a situation where a significant
proportion of those who have been in prison will, as a result of their
treatment in prison, become alienated from society and will probably
re-offend.

The current community attitudes towards crime and prisons, is both counter
productive and morally and ethically questionable.  Increasing the number of
people in jail during a period when society is experiencing a downturn in
crime, is hard to justify.  Current attitudes to criminal activity, prisons
and punishment create conditions that isolate and marginalise an increasing
number of people the community would be better off trying to reintegrate
back into society.  Continuing down the enforcement and punishment pathway
increases the number of ´outlaws´ in the community and creates the very
conditions that led to the Risdon siege.

NEVER NEVER LAND
Australia´s universities are beginning to shed staff at a rate of knots.
The tertiary sector has had an unhealthy reliance on the revenue gained from
international students.  In an attempt to prop up a grossly under funded
tertiary sector, the Howard government has over the past decade encouraged
the tertiary sector to chase overseas students.  The pressure has become so
great, that standards have fallen and the entry criteria for international
students has been lowered in an attempt to attract increasing numbers of
students to tertiary education places in Australia.

Currently the Howard government spends more taxpayer money propping up
private schools than it does on the tertiary sector.  Universities need
$1.7-billion every year from over 220,000 students to stay afloat.  Regional
universities are finding it particularly difficult to attract enough
international students.  Newcastle University has just made a decision to
shed 25% of its staff.  As expected, cuts are falling on those sectors of
the university that, as a result of their subject matter, aren´t able to
attract their quota of international students.  These cuts will impact
heavily on courses that local students want to take, but because of cultural
and language differences, international students aren´t interested in.

China, on the verge of an artificially engineered high tech revolution, is
upgrading its universities to keep its students at home.  Concerned that
large numbers of Chinese students going overseas could cause major political
ramifications for the Chinese Communist Party, funds are being invested in
the Chinese tertiary sector to stop the flow of students to Australia.
Australia´s traditional recruiting ground for foreign students South East
Asia, is not able to provide the number of students that are required to
keep the Australian tertiary sector afloat.

Student-teacher ratios have increased dramatically, overseas governments
are becoming increasingly concerned regarding the quality and the long term
benefits of the courses offered to their students.  Across Asia, the word is
spreading that Australian universities are providing ´Mickey Mouse´ courses
for their students.  Faced with falling student numbers (both local and
overseas), decreased government funding, increasing staff redundancies,
falling teaching standards and poor staff morale, the scene is set for major
confrontation on Australian campuses.

BRITISH VOTER TURNOUT
The historical low turnout of British voters is no surprise to anyone.  All
around the world, fewer and fewer people are participating in parliamentary
elections.  In both the US and Russia, it´s not unusual for fewer than 50%
of registered electors to cast a ballot, even during presidential elections.
In Australia, although we have had compulsory voting since 1921, over 10% of
people on the electoral roll normally vote informal or don´t vote at all,
while another 15% of Australians who are eligible to vote don´t bother to
register.  Howard´s historical majority in both houses of parliament in the
last Federal election was gained with a little more than the vote of 37% of
eligible electors.

The crisis with parliamentary rule is a very real one.  Many people become
so disengaged from the political process, that non participation in
elections is seen to be a legitimate option for them.  The greater the non
participation rate, the more questions are raised about the legitimacy of
governments and the decisions they make.  Apathy is a logical outcome of a
process that treats people with contempt.

People over the centuries and just a few months ago in Iraq, didn´t die for
the right to vote in a process that´s democratic in name only.  There is
nothing democratic about giving elected representatives a signed blank
cheque to do whatever they like over the next 3 to 4 years.  There is noting
democratic about giving power to a body that is severely constrained in
their ability to make decisions on behalf of the people they represent
because real power lies in the boardrooms of increasingly powerful
transnational corporations not in parliament.

Democracy-rule of the people, by the people, for the people-in a world
that is seeing more and more power and wealth concentrated in fewer and
fewer hands is becoming an increasingly difficult proposition.  The
political struggle in the 21st century is one that will become increasingly
dominated by those forces in society that want to see the political process
limited to the act of casting a ballot every 3 to 4 years to elect
representatives to make decisions on people´s behalf and those forces in
society that want to see the people make decisions and elect or appoint
recallable delegates to carry out the decisions people have made.

PAY THE PIPER
Vivian Solon´s extraordinary story is a vivid reminder of what happens when
over zealous bureaucrats, aided and abetted by government policy and a
pliant fourth estate, are able to deport people without judicial overview.
Vivian Solon was born in the Philippines; she had been in Australia for 18
years, had 2 children in Australia and had become an Australian citizen.
She was troubled by mental illness and failed personal relationships.

In 2001 she was involved in a motor vehicle accident, sustained head
injuries and was admitted to Lismore hospital.  A short time later this,
obviously distressed, woman was handed over to immigration authorities.
They took only 3 days to deport her.  She was taken to the airport in a
wheelchair and without too much fanfare was dumped in Manila.  Two years
ago, the Immigration authorities realised their mistake but did nothing to
rectify the problem.  Her family in Australia did not know she had been
deported and assumed she had met foul play, her children were put into
foster care and she disappeared from sight in the Philippines.  If this
story had happened to an Australian anywhere else in the world, it would
have created a storm in this country.

The treatment of asylum seekers is a black page in this country´s history.
Day after day, another story about the indifference and brutality meted out
to asylum seekers by the Howard government, becomes public knowledge.
Efforts that have been made by well intentional people to change government
policy on this issue have fallen on deaf ears.  The government continues to
enjoy majority support for policies that indefinitely incarcerate children
and adults in the most inhumane conditions because they have had the
audacity to seek asylum.  Faced with a government that refuses to modify its
position on asylum seekers and an indifferent public, it´s time that
international assistance is sought to rectify this intolerable situation.

It´s time that Australians who are concerned about the gross systematic
government and legal sanctioned abuse of asylum seeker´s human rights, took
their concerns to the international arena.  It´s time that calls were made
for overseas visitors to boycott Australia and the international community
to boycott Australian products until legislative changes are made that stop
treating asylum seekers as criminals who can be indefinitely detained behind
barbed wire because they are seeking refuge in this country.

An effective boycott of Australian exports and an effective boycott by
overseas visitors would force the government and those Australians who
continue to support these policies to rapidly reassess their attitudes
towards asylum seekers.

ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER
Q.  WHY DO DIRECT DEMOCRACY AND COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP OF WEALTH PLAY SUCH A
CENTRAL ROLE IN THE STRUGGLE TO CREATE AN ANARCHIST SOCIETY?
A. The central question facing anarchists is, what structures do people need
to create to live in a society that doesn´t need or have rulers.  Rulers are
able to exert their authority over the rest of the population because they
enjoy a monopoly on the exercise of power and have access to enough wealth
to allow them to exercise that power.  Creating decision making structures
that allow everyone to become involved in the decisions that affect them,
transfers power from the hands of a minority into the hands of everyone
living in that community.
Rulers thwart the attempts of people to manage their own affairs because the
needs of rulers always take precedence over the needs of those who they are
able to exercise power over.  Breaking down hierarchal structures, gives
people the power to create structures and mechanisms that allows them to
directly exercise power.  Direct Democracy is one way people who have broken
down hierarchical structures can exercise power at a local, regional and
national level.
People can make all the decisions they want to, but if they don´t have
access to the resources to make those decisions a reality, the decisions
that have been made are virtually meaning less.  Anarchists understand that
direct democracy is democracy in name only, if wealth is not held in common
and used for the common good, that´s why anarchists place a premium on the
struggle to transfer wealth from the hands of a minority into the hands of
the community as a whole.  Parliamentary democracy is a classical example of
what happens when people have the power to elect representatives but don´t
have access to the common wealth.  Real power in a society based on
representative democracy continues to lie in the hands of those who enjoy a
monopoly on wealth.
You can´t create a society without rulers-an anarchist society without
having simultaneous access to both power and wealth.  Power to determine
your future as an individual and a community and wealth so that individual
and community decisions that are made have the chance of been implemented.

ACTION BOX
WHY JOIN DIRECT DEMOCRACY
NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE?
Our efforts to get Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule off the ground
have been relatively slow.  Currently we´re averaging about 4 new members a
week; at this rate I don´t believe we will be able to register Direct
Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule as a political party before the next
Federal election.  Parliamentary democracy is, as you and I know, two
minutes of illusory power.  The difference between a dictatorship and a
society that has a parliamentary system is that every 3 to 4 years people go
through the ritual of electing a new batch of rulers.  While people believe
the democratic process is confined to casting a ballot every 3 to 4 years,
the chances of change, let alone radical egalitarian change, are non
existent.
It´s one thing to clap and cheer if the electoral participation rate fails,
it´s another thing to take the issue forward and provide an alternative to
the parliamentary farce.  What may seem a simple idea to you and me, can be
a very difficult idea for people whose reality is fashioned by what they see
on TV, hear on radio or read in the newspapers to grasp.  In steps Direct
Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule, the main purpose of the organisation is
not to win parliamentary seats, the central purpose of the group is to
provide a viable practical alternative to the parliamentary process.  Most
people see ´politics´ as something outside their control, the purpose of
Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule is to explain to people they don´t
need rulers or representatives to make decisions on their behalf.  Even if
in the unlikely event a member of Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule is
elected into parliament, there are mechanisms within the group´s
Constitution that force the parliamentary representative to carry out the
will of the members.
Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule could be a direct challenge to the
illusions, myths and lies that surround the parliamentary process.  In order
to pose a direct challenge at the next Federal election we need to push the
membership rate to about 10 new members a week.  We are aiming to have
enough members to apply for registration as a political party by the 30th
June 2006.  This gives us a year to go through any legal challenges if other
registered political parties try to block our registration.
Why a registered party?  Very simple, it allows the name DIRECT DEMOCRACY
NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE to be placed next to the candidates name on the
ballot paper and it gives the party the power to lodge bulk nominations
around the country without having to worry about finding 50 electors in each
electorate to nominate candidates.  It´s over to you; if you still have a
copy of the application form we sent you some time ago, have another look at
it.  If you download a copy from rulebythepeople.org or don´t have access to
a computer, write to P.O. Box 5035, Alphington 3078, VICTORIA for an
application form.

AUSTRALIAN RADICAL HISTORY
THE EUREKA SERIES No.1  2005
EUREKA REMININSCENCES
During the Eureka Jubilee celebrations that were held in Ballarat in 1904,
the survivors were encouraged to write to the newspapers to tell their own
stories about what happened on the 3rd December 1854.  Many took the
opportunity to recount stories they had told no one, as it had not been
fashionable or wise to admit that they had participated in armed revolt
against the government and the Queen.
Fifty years later, it became acceptable for the survivors to tell their own
accounts about what happened, stories appeared in The Ballarat Star, The
Ballarat Courier, The Argus, The Evening Echo, Geelong Advertiser, The Mt
Alexander Mail and The Australasian.  The Melbourne Age, a newspaper that
had thrown its full support behind the uprising, 50 years later all but
ignored the celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Eureka
rebellion.  Interestingly, the participants in the rebellion were labelled
insurgents and what had been dismissed as ´disturbances´ or a ´riot´ in
1854, was an insurrection in 1904-´insurrection-armed rising against
established authority´.   A central theme in these articles highlighted that
the rights and liberties people enjoyed in Victoria and the rest of
Australia in 1904 were directly related to the sacrifices the Eureka miners
made on the battlefield in 1854.
In the 50 years between the Eureka revolt and 1904, successive Victorian
governments had attempted to rewrite history and downplay the sacrifices
made by the miners by claiming that the reforms that followed the rebellion
were a direct result of government policies not as a consequence of the
Eureka rebellion.  The writing and rewriting of history to reinforce
government policy is an important role that governments play.  The Bracks
Labor government and the Liberal Opposition used the 150th anniversary
celebrations in Ballarat last year to rewrite the story surrounding the
Eureka rebellion claiming the Eureka rebellion was a rebellion about
parliamentary representation.
As anarchists, we celebrate the Eureka rebellion because it encapsulates
many of the central themes of anarchism - Direct Democracy, Direct Action,
Internationalism and Solidarity are the central themes of the Eureka revolt.
On the 3rd December 2005 we will be reclaiming the radical spirit of the
Eureka rebellion and using that spirit to try to understand the present and
try to change the future.
Join us at 4.00am on Saturday 3rd December 2005 at Eureka Park (corner
Stawell and Eureka St Ballarat) and celebrate the essence of the Eureka
rebellion - Direct Democracy, Direct Action, Internationalism and
Solidarity.
EUREKA REMINISCENCES-Published by Ballarat Heritage Services 1998.  ISBN
0646352385.  Reprints the recollections of participants in the Eureka revolt
that were published in local newspapers to mark he 30th and 50th anniversary
of the Eureka rebellion.
BALLARAT HERITAGE SERVICES, P.O. Box 2209, Ballarat VIC 3354 AUSTRALIA.
Email:info@ballaratheritage.com.au

BOOK REVIEW
´ROSALIND FRANKLIN ­
The Dark Lady of DNA´
Brenda MADDOX, Harper Collins Publishers 2002 ISBN 0 00 25714 8
Who better than Brenda Maddox, the chairperson of the Association of British
Science Writers and award winning biographer to tell the story of Rosalind
FRANKLIN, the ´dark lady´ of DNA.  Maddox slowly and lovingly builds a
picture of Rosalind Franklin, a brilliant scientist whose contribution to
Crick and Watson´s ´discovery´ of the Double Helix was conveniently
forgotten by the very men who gained a Nobel Prize and scientific
immortality on the back of Franklin´s unacknowledged and secretly purloined
scientific data.  Not content with obtaining scientific immortality,
Watson´s account of the discovery of DNA in Double Helix published in 1968,
completes the character assassination of Rosalind Franklin.  Her life was
cut short in 1958 at the height of her career when at the age of 37; she
died of complications due to ovarian cancer.
Maddox weaves in and out of Franklin´s life, probes where others have
refused to go, gradually building a picture of a scientist who was
formidable, short tempered, meticulous, brilliant, industrious and
´alarmingly clever´-a title given to her by her aunt when she was 6-´she
spends all her time doing arithmetic for pleasure, and invariably gets her
sums right´.  The author meticulously dissects Rosalind´s life, giving the
reader an insight into what made her tick.  Her experiences are catalogued,
analysed, dissected and archived as a result of the author´s unnerving
attention to detail.  Slowly Rosalind emerges from the pages of Brenda
Maddox´s biography a strong vibrant woman, the product of parents who were
able to buy her the best education money could buy.
Her banishment to the dustbin of history is doubly poignant; as if she had
lived, it´s quite possible she may have discovered the secrets of the Double
Helix long before Watson and Crick were able to use her unacknowledged
research data to fill in the missing pieces in their own theories and
research.  Brenda Maddox´s account of Rosalind Franklin is in its own way as
important and powerful a story as Rosalind Franklin´s own story.  Her
biography of Rosalind Franklin highlights a story that is repeated over and
over again.  Scientific research is the culmination of the efforts of many,
many people, a few are honoured and remembered, the great bulk are used,
forgotten, their stories buried for all time.  Brenda Maddox has
successfully used her biographical pick and shovel to dig up Rosalind
Franklin´s banes for all the world to see.
Thanks to Brian from Clifton Hill, Melbourne, for the review copy of
´Rosalind Franklin-The Dark Lady of DNA´.  If you want to get a hold of
this 400-page bestseller, try your local bookshop, it´s quite possible they
may have some old copies in stock.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION
Pigeon?  What´s a pigeon doing in a suburban post modern temple of
consumption? Happy as a lark? (I wonder if pigeons can be happy as a lark)
It wanders towards the food court looking for the donut crumbs littering the
floor.  Heavy traffic today, the pigeons walking against the traffic,
dodging children who squeal with delight when they see a pigeon going the
other way.  Talk about crush, people everywhere looking for that last minute
Mother´s Day gift.  It took me a while to work out it was Mother´s Day; the
red paper hearts and ´buy this and that for your mum´ gave the game away.
No Mother´s Day for the centre´s workers.  They´ll be there on Mother´s day
selling whatever they have to sell to get their hands on the money they need
to live.  The east European gentleman running the ugg boot shop will have a
word to the bloke selling socks.  The gift shop will be quiet; their claim
to fame is that an episode of Kath and Kim was shot in their gift shop. For
months the owner of the shop boasted that Kath and Kim shopped at his gift
shop.  Things haven´t been quite the same since.  The bored girls doing
nails will continue to buff and shine.  The checkout staff will be ringing
the till, Mother´s Day or no Mother´s Day.  Today is different.  It´s the
day before Mother´s Day and everybody is in a frenzy.  People are lined 3
deep at the card shop, the perfume counters are packed, and the gift shop´s
seething with humanity.
´My legs won´t take me any further!´ barks the man behind me, down his
mobile phone.  ´Meet me at the lift I can´t move´.  The pretzel shop has
people standing 6 deep, even the ice cream shop is surrounded by a huge
crowd.  Today is no ordinary day; even the fish shop and butcher are
crowded.  Mother´s Day, a day invented by traders to give business a bit of
a lift, is doing what it was meant to be doing.  How many people know or
care why we celebrate Mother´s Day?
In Japan they celebrate Children´s Day.  One of the most disturbing days of
my life happened in Japan.  The land was covered with snow; a giant copper
statue of Buddha captures the sunlight.  Tiny colourful hand sized windmills
spun in the breeze, their bright colours broke the monotony of the pristine
snow flakes (I can´t believe I written such a corny line).  A young a couple
had just planted a tiny hand held windmill in the snow, the whole thing
looked picturesque on the way out.  I stopped at the little obligatory gift
shop to buy a little memento, fortunately they had a flyer written in
English which gave a brief outline of the work the temple did.  It seems
that couples all over Japan who have lost a child come to this shrine
outside Aomri (or was it somewhere else, 3 years plays havoc with the
memory) and plan a tiny windmill to help them cope with their lost.
What I initially thought was a picturesque site, was a spiritual cemetery
for young children who had died.  The young couple I had seen where grieving
parents, not tourist poking their nose into other people´s business.

STOP PRESS
BELIEVE IT OR NOT!!
One and a half years ago Mr Ralph Hahnheuser added some shredded ham into
animal feed at a sheep feed lot at Portland in Victoria, in a last ditch
attempt to put a spoke in the live sheep trade to the Middle East.  He held
a press conference to publicise what he had done in an attempt to get the
government in Saudi Arabia (the eventual destination) to reject the animals
before they left Australia because the addition of ham to the animal feed
broke the Saudi government´s strict halal requirements.
One and a half years ago Mr Ralph Hahnheuser was pillared in the press,
abused by the live sheep trade and charged with a serious criminal offence
of ´contaminating feed to cause economic loss´.  Mr Hahnheuser´s actions
meant that 70,000 sheep had a temporary reprieve as an export licence could
not be issued for another 2 weeks.
Armed with what they believe was a very strong case, the prosecution
presented their case in Geelong (a large regional town) on the periphery of
the live sheep trade before a jury in the County Court.  Mr Hahnheuser´s
defence team, led by David Edwardson QC, argued that the prosecution got it
all wrong and that the defendant had contaminated the feed to prevent
unnecessary cruelty to the sheep, not to cause economic loss to the
agribusinesses involved in the live sheep export trade.  To everybody´s
surprise, the jury agreed with the defendant´s legal team´s argument and
found Ralf Hahnheuser not guilty of the crime of ´contaminating the feed to
cause economic loss´ to the agribusinesses involved in the live sheep export
trade.
The court win couldn´t come at a better time as the Howard´s government in
an attempt to bolster its alliance with its coalition partner, the National
Party, has given the green light to the recommencement of the live sheep
export trade to the Middle East although the Howard government´s very own
Keniry Inquiry recommended that sheep exporters not send sheep from
Australia´s southern ports to the Middle East in the high summer.
Mr Hahnheuser´s creative direct action has shown that irrespective of the
negative media response, juries, unlike magistrates and judges, are more
willing to look at the wider issues when confronted with what are
essentially political trials.

Joseph TOSCANO / Libertarian Workers
For A Self-Managed Society.



ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK
ANARCHIST BLACK CROSS, P.O. Box 300, Brunswick East 3057 Victoria,
AUSTRALIA. Email abcmelb@yahoo.com.au             SOLI WORKERS SOLIDARITY
1st May ´05, I.W.W. P.O. Box 145, Moreland 3058 Melb AUSTRALIA.
Tel:0403139818, melb@iww.org.au,  www.iww.org.au
FREEDOM, Vol.66 No.8 23rd APRIL 05, Anarchist News View 84b Whitechapel High
St, LONDON E1 7Q, ENGLAND, TEL/FAX 020 7247 9249, www.freedompress.org.uk
TIERRA Y LIBERTAD No.201 April 05, Periodico Anarquista, A Gonzalez,
Apartado 7056 de Madrid, 28080 Madrid SPAIN.  tierraylibertad@nodo50.org
ROJO Y NEGRO No.177, APRIL 05, Publicacion Mensual Anarcho Syndicalist, C/-
Copania 9, Pamplona / Iruna, SPAIN, tel:948224766, fax:948212399,
email.rojoynegro@ctv.es

OTHER ANARCHIST RECEIVED THIS WEEK
AN IRREGULAR GIPPSLAND PEACE NEWSLETTER No10 MAY ´05, Peter Gardner C/-PO
Swifts Creek 3896, Vic, AUSTRALIA. ngarak@bigpond.com
COALITION FOR PRISONERS RIGHTS NEWSLETTER, Vol 30 No4 April 05, P.O. Box
1911, Sante Fe, NM 87504-1911, UNITED STATES      THE STUFF YOUR BOSS
DOESN´T WANT YOU TO KNOW, Solidarity Federation, P.O. Box 469, Preston PRI
8XF, UK solfed@solfed.org.uk

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ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS
Discuss All the News That Fits online - www.apolitical.info/phpBB2
Kids from socially disadvantaged areas are twice as likely to die before
their 1st birthday than other Aust kids, a report has found. The report by
the Aust Institute of Health & Welfare, titled A Picture of Aust's
Children,
also found indigenous kids continued to fare worse than other kids on all
indicators. They´re 2.5 times more likely to die in their 1st year; almost 6
times more likely to be the subject of care & protection orders; & those
aged b/w 10 & 14 are detained in juvenile justice detention centres at about
30 times the rate of other kids. (Source: The Age)
5000 Victorians have spent longer than 24 hrs lying in hospital emergency
depts in the past financial year - with almost 100 waiting for more than 3
days. The benchmark set by the Vic Govt was 12 hrs. 26,585 patients waited
longer than that before being admitted. 5009 patients who needed to be
admitted to a ward spent more than 24 hrs on emergency trolleys waiting for
a bed. Of those, 512 waited more than 2 days b4 securing a bed & 98 waited
more than 3 days. (Source: The Age)
A Snr judge has criticised the Vic Govt for its handling of young people in
state care, saying they´re victims of "sloppy & disgraceful
behaviour". In
the Vic County Court, Judge Peter Gebhardt yesterday attacked the Govt as he
sentenced a 17yo offender raised under state care. He said state care should
be made aware of the "consequences of their incompetence". "I´ve
had a
number of young offenders before me who´ve been the victims of sloppy &
disgraceful behaviour by the Dept of Human Services," he said. "What can
1
say of a dept whose behaviour & activities makes lives worse? The dept has
much to answer with respect to the pattern of neglect & indifference, a
pattern we see far too often in this court." The court was told the youth
had had 22 different homes & had been to 8 high schools. He was put into
state care at a young age when his father went to prison. Judge Gebhardt
said while the youth was in care - "a scarcely appropriate word" - he
was
abused by a foster family. (Source: The Age)
At least 33 Austs have been wrongfully detained by the Immigration Dept in
the past 2 years, the Govt revealed last night, as it continued its hunt for
a deported Aust woman missing overseas. Acting Immigration Minister Peter
McGauran said the incidents occurred b/w July 03 & Feb last year. He said
the cases had prompted the Govt to expand its inquiry into the case of
Cornelia Rau. Ms Rau, a mentally ill European-born Aust resident, spent 10
month falsely detained as an illegal immigrant. (Source: The Age)
ATNTF weekly anarchist news report www.apolitical.info
Also available in Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian,
Portuguese & Spanish.

ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK
Awarded to the Howard government´s rapidly disintegrating South Pacific, you
beaut, new improved, boy´s own, imperial adventure.

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

´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

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.

DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE
Week TWENTY-73 members
477 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 and 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


ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK
­ 3CR RADIOTHON
Wednesday 15th June 10am-11am
Dig deep and keep the Anarchist World This Week broadcasting across
Australia for another 26 years. For every $2 you donate, receive a
complimentary copy of the Anarchist Age Weekly Review ($100-one years fee
subscription) Receive a legal legitimate tax deduction for donating to the
3CR Radiothon Send cheques of money orders to
3CR Attention: Joseph Toscano PO Box 5035 Alphington 3078 Vic Australia.

EUREKA 151ST ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
Join us
4am Saturday 3rd December 2005 at
The site the battle took place
Eureka park (Stawell and Eureka Street Ballarat)
4am Dawn ceremony
7-10am Communal breakfast (bring your own food and drinks)
10am March to Bakery Hill to retake the Eureka oath.
10.30am Presentation of Eureka Australia Day Medal at Bakery Hill
11.30am March to Ballarat cemetery to pay our respects to the workers at
either end of a bayonet who died during the eureka rebellion
12.30pm March back to Eureka Park through the centre of Ballarat. Late lunch
& conversational for those participating who are still able to stand up (BYO
food & drinks).

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
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