I have procrastinated about washing my bandanna, ironing my white overalls, filling my backpack and polishing my Army Disposal boots because I am not convinced the APEC Conference in Sydney will have any lasting impact. As a puppet show - it has no peer, as a significant economic forum - that is another question.

What is not in doubt is the 20 national leaders who are meeting in Sydney from China’s President Hu Jinato to the US President George W. Bush, all who whole heartedly support an economic system in which the mean of production, distribution and exchange are largely privately owned, managed and directed. The triumph of globalisation and corporatisation in the late 20th century and early 21st century has seen powerful nation States transformed from independent entities that determined their own economic destinies, into proxies for nationals and transnational corporations.

The convergence of opinion that dominates political debate at the local and international level is a legacy of the transfer of power from the hands of the State into the hands of privately owned corporations. It is no accident the rise and rise of the corporate sector has been achieved at the expense of the public sector. The most ‘powerful’ leaders in the world will be making all the right noises at APEC about protecting the interests of their citizens, while paving the way for the corporate world to extend its economic and political tentacles.

World leaders, even those that claim they are democratically elected, no longer represent the interests of the people who elect them. They are hostages to an economic system that sets the political, social, cultural and ideological agenda of all the nation States that are represented at the AAPEC Summit in Sydney.

The domination of political activity by national and transnational corporations has made it very difficult for a hundred flowers to bloom in a garden that has been fertilized by the corporate sector to allow only a few stunted perennials to survive.

The Sydney APEC Summit is a carnival for capitalism. The puppet masters will make their puppets dance their macabre dance of death because national interests always come second to corporate interests. Thirty thousand (30,000) children are sacrificed every day on the altar of Mammon to lubricate the wheels of an economic system which needs to derive ever increasing profits, irrespective of the human, social and environmental costs to survive and prosper.

Marching under the banner of privatising the profits and socialising the losses, these 21st century quislings betray the interests of the people they represent, to curry favour of that shrinking minority that owns the means of production, distribution and exchange. Every leader at the APEC Summit is a hostage to an economic system that if left unchecked, will cause a great deal of misery and pain for the human race and the planet for a mountain of white goods. The ‘Cargo Cult’ mentality that dominates political and social activity will continue until a major catastrophe occurs.

The leaders at the APEC Summit are so beholden to their corporate puppet masters, they would have no hesitation in selling the people they represent tickets on the last train to hell, instead of working together to ensure the human race has one or two other options.

Unlike many other people who are appalled that $350 million of public money has been spent to massage John Howard’s ego and kick start his election campaign, I am grateful that Sydney’s central business district has been quarantined by steel mesh and thousands of police, secret service personnel, private security guards and members of the armed forces who are prepared to sacrifice their lives to protect the people of Sydney and Australia from being contaminated by the virulent political influenza that is turning intelligent, independent grown men and women behind the APEC steel curtain, into soulless puppets.

The APEC Summit offers no answers to the six billion people who live off a metre of soil on a sphere full of molten lava that is encased in an increasingly dirty and hot air bubble. Increasing population growth, finite resources and an economic system based on the satisfaction of manufactured, not real human needs, where ever increasing profits need to be generated irrespective of the human, social and environmental costs, requires an honest debate that canvasses radical solutions. How to create a sustainable economic system based on the satisfaction of real, not manufactured human needs, where wealth is held in the hands of the community not in the hands of the State and the private sector and used for the common good, is one debate the APEC puppets would never breach.

Communalisation – the transfer of power and wealth from the hands of the State and the private sector into the hands of communities where people make decision and elect or appoint delegates to co-ordinate those decisions at regional and national level – could, as many protestors are articulating, provide the answers to the questions the APEC Summit is not able or willing to ask.

On second thoughts, where is that bandanna, it does not matter if there is a little bit of dirt on the white overalls or the backpack is a little worse for wear, all I need to do is find those Army Disposal boots.

The strident ‘Fact or Fiction’ advertisements only reinforce people’s negative opinions about the reality behind the rhetoric. If WorkChoices was so good for individual workers, the Federal government would not have to spend $300 million on telling them how good it is for them.

Despite the skill of the advertising agencies involved in selling the WorkChoices legislation, they cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Australian workers know that irrespective of how many times they are told their hard won rights and conditions are protected under WorkChoices, the removal of unfair dismissal laws means that the employer is always left with four aces in their hand when bargaining with their employees.

Workers have only one choice under the current WorkChoices legislation, they are either accept the contract they are given, or they find another job. If they do not sign the contract shoved under their nose, the employer can at any time dismiss them without giving any reason for their dismissal.

If the Howard government was fair dinkum about its advertising campaign, it would reintroduce and strengthen the unfair dismissal laws. Until the Federal government is willing to do this, its expensive WorkChoices advertising campaign is one the Nazi Propaganda Minister Gobbels would have been proud to sign his name to.

There is no more dangerous an extremist than one who has unfettered control of the State. The world leaders attending the APEC conference are some of the most powerful people on this planet. Even John Howard, a wannabe on the world stage, can, with the assistance of the NSW government, strip Australians of rights and liberties they have enjoyed for generations. Only a dangerous extremist would spend $350 million of taxpayers’ money and hold a city of 4 million people to ransom so he and a few mates can have a chin wag.

These dangerous fanatics have no hesitation in using the power they are able to exercise through the State to marginalise and criminalise citizens who want to exercise their democratic rights. When all else fails, they are willing to remove the iron fist from the velvet glove and crush any opposition to their sick ideological fantasies. If anybody is to be held accountable for the pitiful state the world is in today and the threat of climate change, it is the extremists and fanatics at the APEC conference in Sydney who are willing to pursue a growth for growth’s sake ideology, irrespective of the human, social and environmental costs.

These extremists and fanatics should be isolated and contained. If it means building the Great Wall of Sydney and having thousands of police, private security guards and the armed forces to protect the people of Sydney and Australia from this contagion, $350 million seems on second thoughts to be money well spent.

Japan, which continues to protect its local industries and is slowly being dragged kicking and screaming into the globalisation slipstream, has continued to pump out surpluses since the early 1950s. It is second on the current account balance stakes just behind China with a surplus of over $250 billion.

Little old Australia which has been leading the globalisation charge, now finds itself in the invidious position of having to make larger holes in the ground to dent the current account deficit. Selling of the farm is a short sighted strategy. When you sell off all you have got, all you are left with is a big fat hole in the ground.

Australian manufacturing is on its knees, the information technology has not paid the dividends that were promised. Australia finds itself in this dangerous position because of government policies that have promoted deregulation and globalisation. If we are running a current account deficit in the middle of a mineral export frenzy, think of what could happen if the world did not need our raw materials or global warming forces a shift from the growths for growth’s sake economic mentality that is all the rage today.

The importation of tens of thousands of guest workers puts further pressure on local workers. Australia, unlike China or India, does not export goods or services. Over a million Australian workers have fled overseas to take up better paying jobs.

The difference between society and community is choice. We all live in a society, whether we agree with the values that underline that society is irrelevant. We are born into, flee to, or immigrate to a society with fixed values and relationships. What values are dominant at a particular point in time are dependent on political, social and economic factors. Community on the other hand is a voluntary proposition. We all belong to a community; most of us belong to several, if not more, communities. Irrespective of what community we are born into, we can pick and choose what community we eventually belong to. Society is the child of the State, community is the child of the independent individuals.

Berg’s confusion is related to his implied definition of Libertarian. Libertarian is just another word for freedom lover (my apologies to Janis Joplin). The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) defines Libertarian as freedom to, not freedom from. That is why we find ‘think’ tanks like the IPA, who claim they promote liberty, supporting some of the most reactionary and authoritarian elements in society.

Anybody who loves liberty understands that their freedom is intrinsically linked to the freedom of the people around them. Their freedom to develop themselves to their full potential is dependent on the creation of a society where the individual is free from both want and fear.

Following a policy of self sufficiency ensures that an anarchist society can continue to survive and prosper despite extensive economic boycotts. Most anarchist communities will form federations to ensure they can survive economic downturns. An anarchist federation will also be able to mobilise the resources of the federation to come to the aid of members of the federation who face external threats. The alliances that would exist between different anarchist federations would also help to bolster a community’s ability to defend itself in periods of thread.

Anarchist societies are not ‘walled’ communities. The desire for people to live their lives independently and freely is a universal need. People living within the borders of a belligerent neighbour would share the same desires as those living in an anarchist community. The development of a viable non authoritarian opposition within surrounding communities would be the best defence system an anarchist community could have. The greater the degree of local opposition to people who exercise authority in surrounding communities, the less likely any attempts to invade a neighbouring anarchist community would be.

People living in an anarchist community would also have to make the decision about whether what they have is worth defending, and whether they are willing to pay the cost to defend it. They may decide to acquiesce to the demands of a belligerent neighbour because it is not worth the cost. In some situations, it is better to back down and live to fight another day, than be destroyed in an un-winnable contest. As the US has found in Iraq and the Russians found in Afghanistan, it is one thing to invade a country, it is another thing to win the hearts and minds of an invaded people.

This year, I will be standing with one other person as a Victorian Senate candidate on a platform of:-

The power of recall,

Citizens Initiated Referendums and,

Direct Democracy as a viable alternative to parliamentary rule.

If you want to stand, there are a few hoops you have to jump through.

Although I’m not on the electoral roll, I can stand as a candidate because you only have to be ELIGIBLE to be on the roll to be able to stand as a candidate. So if you want to stand, you DO NOT have to be on the electoral roll, but you have to be an Australian citizen who is not bankrupt or ‘tainted with treason’ – (I assume that rules you out).

Let’s assume you are eligible and you want to stand, what do you need to do next? Nothing until the Prime Minister calls the election. Once the election is called, you need to race down to your FEDERAL (Not State) electoral office and grab nomination papers.

If you want to stand as a candidate for a House of Representative seat, you need the signatures of 50 people on the electoral roll in the seat you are standing for and $350.00 - You will need to do this within a week of the election being called.

If you want to stand as a Senate candidate, you need the signatures of 50 people on the electoral roll in the State you are standing as a Senator for, and $750.00

A few points if you are standing as a Senate candidate:

People standing by themselves will automatically be put below the line on the Senate ballot paper. That means anybody who wants to vote for you will have to fill every box below the line for their vote to be formally counted. You are allowed to have the word independent put next to the box on the ballot paper.

If you want a box above the line with the registered political parties, you will have to submit a group ticket with at least 2 names on it to get a box above the line. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE THE WORD INDEPENDENT PRINTED NEXT TO THE BOX ABOVE THE LINE. So your little box above the line stands naked, while the registered political parties have their names next to their box. It seems the registered political parties are so frightened of the power of independents; they do not want electors to know who they are.

If you do put in a group ticket, you will have to put in a preference list. If you do not, your name will be placed below the line.

‘Democracy’ – parliamentary style, is an expensive and time consuming business. Whether it is worth the effort to rain on their parade is a decision you and you alone, will have to make. You can ignore the whole ugly process, you can cast a ballot for a representative, and you can throw a few punches during the election campaign by raising alternatives to the parliamentary farce. The ball is in your court.

Superintendent La Trobe had been notified two days earlier - the 4th of October 1841 - that a party of Aborigines had robbed Mossies station at Westernport. La Trobe decided that same night to send troops to deal with the situation. Mr. Powlett, the Commissioner of Crown Lands (who came to Westernport to sell off the Aborigines land to squatters) and two police joined Lieutenant Samuel Rawson of the 28th Regiment who had been sent to Westernport in early October to protect the squatters from Aboriginal attack. On the 10th of October, four days after the killing of Yankee and Cook, Rawson and Powlett were notified about their deaths. They left in an open row boat hoping to quickly find the Tasmanian Aborigines. By this time, 14 armed men were involved in the hunt for the Aborigines. After a fruitless day of searching, they decided to return to Melbourne to find Aboriginal trackers to help them in their hunt.

On their way back, they called in to see Mr. Westaway and his labourers, who told them they had been shot at during the night. The Tasmanians had stolen guns and ammunition and 22 pounds in banknotes. Tunnerminnerwait, hoping to drive Westaway’s workers from Westernport, burnt the notes realising the timber cutters would leave their employer if he could not pay them. It took Rawson and Powlett five days by boat to get back to Melbourne. They called in at all the squatter camps they came across raising the alarm about the Tasmanian Aborigines.

On the 29th of October 1841 almost a month after the first raids had started, the Port Phillip Herald carried the first report about the raids across Dandenong and Westernport that were being conducted by the heavily armed Aborigines.

Rawson and Powlett arrived in Dandenong on the 29th of October to meet up with a party of 6 policemen, 6 black trackers, Mr. Thomas - the Aboriginal Protector for the Melbourne area, a cart, a tent and a squatter or two. The Tasmanian Aborigines had travelled from Cape Patterson back to Dandenong on the same day the search party arrived to steal more guns, ammunition and supplies from the squatters.

On the 30th of October, the Aborigines laid down the gauntlet to the pursuing party, leaving messages at a station that they would not be taken alive and would fight to the last man and woman. By now, the police party had swelled to 18 men on horseback and 6 on foot.

NEXT WEEK: ‘Fun and Games’

This book about the Eureka rebellion was published in 2004 for the 150th anniversary for the rebellion. It is easy to read, full of beautiful illustrations and gives the reader a detailed account of events which occurred before and after the rebellion. It is a type of book you could give to a young teenager to read as well as adults who have a superficial understanding of the topic. It is well laid out and many of the illustrations would not be familiar to most readers. If it has any shortcomings, they are found in the analysis of the events that occurred.

What the book does is provide the reader with enough information to formulate their own analysis about the importance of the Eureka rebellion. The 150th anniversary of the rebellion came and went in 2004. Three years later, Eureka does little to fire the imagination of Australians. To a large degree, this has happened because the radical nature of the rebellion has successfully been squeezed out of public discussion.

Geoff Hocking ably demonstrates in his book that Eureka was a revolutionary event that cannot be dismissed as a riot over gold licences. Monday the 3rd of December 2007 marks the 153rd anniversary of the Eureka rebellion. Unlike Bastille Day or the 4th of July, very few Australians will be marking, let alone, celebrating this milestone in our history. ‘A Pictorial History Of The Eureka Stockade’ highlights why the 3rd of December is a pivotal moment in Australian history that should not be forgotten. Even in Ballarat, no public events are held on the 3rd December (if the 3rd does not fall on a Saturday); those events that are held are normally held on the first Saturday after the 3rd.

In 2002, the Anarchist Media Institute launched the Reclaim The Radical Spirit Of The Eureka Rebellion celebrations to mark Eureka on the day it occurred. 2007 will be the 6th year we will be conducting these celebrations. This year, the 3rd of December falls on a Monday. We encourage as many people as possible to join us at 4am at Eureka Park (corner Eureka and Stawell Streets) Ballarat, to kick off 12 hours of activity that include walking to the old Ballarat cemetery to pay our respects to the diggers and soldiers (workers at either end of a bayonet) who died as a result of that revolt.

On Monday the 3rd December 2007 we will be marking the day by celebrating the aims and methods of the Eureka rebellion – DIRECT DEMOCRACY, DIRECT ACTION, SOLIDARITY AND INTERNATIONALISM – ideas that are as relevant today as they were 153 years ago.

Geoff Hocking records the history of that event in ‘A Pictorial History Of The Eureka Stockade’, we keep that spirit alive by remembering and celebrating both the events and the spirit of the rebellion.

Join us at 4am on Monday the 3rd December 2007 at Eureka Park (corner Eureka and Stawell Streets) Ballarat to breath new life into the Eureka story. ‘A Pictorial History Of The Eureka Stockade’, is one of those books that every activist should have in their collection. If you cannot find it in your local bookshop, try the publishers:-

THE FIVE MILE PRESS PTY LTD

950 Stud Road, Rowville 3178, Melbourne AUSTRALIA

Tel: + 61 3 8756 5500 Email : publishing@fivemile.com.au

Thanks to Bill and Anne for entrusting their copy of the book to me to review – I give them the book back grudgingly.

Wind back the clock – “One of my workers died today”. The disjointed phrases that had been wafting over me as I waited, suddenly took on a new meaning. I did what I normally don’t do - listen to somebody else’s conversation. I could have turned away; it was none of my business. Why should I turn away? If people conduct their affairs in a public space and something interesting is said, my attention is automatically focused on what they are saying. Normally I don’t listen to other people’s conversations. They can be so boring and meaningless, they just wash over me. Overhearing other people’s conservations is the price we pay for living in a city of 4 million people.

“She was only 21”, “She jumped in front of a train” “She was a good worker; she had lots of friends at work”.

I sat mesmerised as I turned into an auditory voyeur. I vaguely remembered about an ‘incident’ that had occurred on Melbourne’s rail network that morning. The media doesn’t report suicides in Melbourne, in an attempt to stop copy cat deaths. If they do interfere, the euphemism used to report a suicide is an ‘incident’. You cannot hide the fact the trains won’t be running for a few hours during peak period. I should have walked away but continued to listen. “That’s tragic” - I heard the young woman say. Her friend made some comments, I couldn’t make out about why he thought she had killed herself. I nodded; it is tragic for the woman involved.

Her family and friends will carry the burden for the rest of their lives, possibly blaming themselves for the tragedy. It is tragic for the train driver; he’ll have to cope with what has happened. It is tragic and sad when somebody so young feels so hopeless about life’s possibilities they see no other viable option for themselves other than death. Maybe if we listened a little more closely to what those around us are saying, we would pick up those little clues that could help to turn situations like this around.

The boycott of the Gaza Strip is so petty that an Under 19 soccer team from Gaza has been refused entry into England to play in a local tournament. The tragedy about what has happened is that the football establishment has not openly opposed this boycott. The million people that live in Gaza live in what can only be described as the world’s largest prison camp. Every aspect of their lives is controlled by the Israeli government that enters Gaza Strip at will murdering militants and civilians almost at will. The US continues to block any attempts in the UN to have troops stationed in Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the brutal military occupation tat has destroyed the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure but not the spirit of the people.

I was surprised to learn that people still surf in Gaza and that an elderly Jewish surfer living in the US who is a member of a group called ‘Peace Through Surfing’, has donated surfboards to the Gaza surfers.

It is heartening to see there are hundreds of small invisible bonds being established at a person to person level between the people living in Palestine - especially in the isolated Gaza Strip – and the rest of the world. When that bond is established between Jews living inside and outside Israel and Palestinians living inside and outside Palestine, there is hope that the myopic world boycott of the Gaza Strip, that has been engineered to force Palestinians living there to change their legally elected government, it is time that boycott was broken.

TIERRA Y LIBERTAD No.229 AUG 2007, Periodico Anarquista, Apartado 7.056 de Madrid, 28080 SPAIN,
Tel : 917970424
Fax : 915052183
Email : tierraylibertad@nodo50.org

• 4.00am - Dawn ceremony - Eureka Park at the Eureka Memorial

• 6.00am - Breakfast Eureka Park (bring your own food and drinks)

• 10.00am - March from Eureka Park to Bakery Hill to reaffirm the Eureka oath

• 10.30am - Presentation of Eureka Aust Day Medal at Bakery Hill

• 11.30am - Walk to Old Ballarat cemetery to pay our respects to all those who died in the Eureka battle who are buried at the cemetery

• 12.30pm - Walk back to Eureka Park through the centre of Ballarat

• 1.30pm - Late lunch and conversation at Eureka Park - (bring your own food and drinks)

• The name of the person nominated

• A few sentences outlining why they should receive the award

• A contact address for the nominee (We need to contact them if they wish to receive the award)

• The person you nominate can be a public figure or somebody only known to a few people

P.O. Box 43, Clunes, 3370, Victoria AUSTRALIA

andrewpstretton@yahoo.com.au

MONDAY Nights @ 9.30pm on Channel 31 in Melbourne
Starting on Monday 3rd September.

Please don’t forget that SKA TV is - not for profit community media organisation - that relies on the generosity of volunteers and donations. So feel free to donate some of your time & money, so we can continue to show you the truth.

SIGN THE SEDITION CHARTER ONLINE - www.seditioncharter.org

If you’re computer literate and many of us are not, write to us for a copy of the Sedition Charter, at :

P.O. BOX 5035,
ALPHINGTON 3078,
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Terrible things happen when good people do nothing. Openly defy this government’s attempts to muzzle and intimidate opposition to their neo conservative authoritarian agenda – SIGN the ‘Sedition Charter’ TODAY!

THE POWER OF RECALL – Electors having the constitutional right to recall parliamentary representatives in between elections

CITIZENS INITIATED REFERENDUMS – The people having the power to initiate constitutional change through referendums

DIRECT DEMOCRACY – Electing delegates with limited mandates, to co-ordinate decisions that have been made by the people, not electing representatives to make decisions for us.

(We Currently Have 111 Paid Up Members)

JOIN US THIS WEEK :

Wednesday 11.30am – 12th September 2007
2 Casseldon Place, Melbourne

DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE - www.rulebythepeople.org

An anarchist analysis of local, national & international events. Tune into your local community radio station to listen to the Anarchist World This Week. If they don’t broadcast it, ask them why not! If they’re one of the 150 community radio stations around Australia that are affiliated to the National Community Radio Satellite, they are able to broadcast the Anarchist World This Week.

2BAY, 2BBB, 2BLU, 2DRY, 2HOT, 2OCB, 2WOW, 2XX, 3CH, 3CR, 36CR, 3MGB, 3REG, 4NAG, 4RRR, 5BBB, 5RRR, 6YCR

MULTI-COLOURED GLOSSY A3 POSTER AVAILABLE FOR 20 50c STAMPS.
(Price includes packaging, poster in secure cylinder and postage anywhere in Australia)

‘LIFE WASN’T MEANT TO BE EASY’

Happy APEC week Sydneysiders!

Foxtel has broadcast a doco on Adolf Hitler, which was written & produced by a writer who has had a long association with neo-Nazi groups. The program, broadcast on the History Channel, was a condensed version of the book 'Hitler's War', by David Irving. Ex politician Barry Cohen, who watched the program, said "the impression given was that [Hitler] was a kindly old gentleman who made some unwise military decisions." Irving has stated the Communist govt of Hungary was largely controlled by Jews, that parts of the Diary of Anne Frank may have been forged & Trevor McDonald, Britain's 1st black TV newsreader, should only read news about "the muggings & the drug busts." (The Australian, Wikipedia)

Ex-pupils of an exclusive British college have made a video in which they pretend to hunt poor people. Ex students of Glenalmond College posted the video 'Class Wars' on YouTube. The video shows tracksuit-wearing teenagers being chased & shot by mounted huntsmen. The video, which was partly filmed on the school grounds, also shows a teenager in a baseball cap being pulled out of a river & given a mock beating by 2 tweed-wearing attackers. (MX)

QUOTE OF THE MOMENT: "Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit." - Eli Khamarov.