It has exploited problems its policies have, to a large degree, created in these communities, to retain its grip on political power. Problems that could be tackled by a government that ruled for all Australians have been allowed to grow and fester. Its divisive policies have succeeded in damaging social cohesion and creating a dangerous ‘us and them’ mentality.

The Howard government’s treatment of indigenous Australians has been particularly offensive and odious. Its public pronouncements and legislative attempts to destroy the gains they made during the Whitlam era, is appalling. Its public support for historical revisionists, who have attempted to rewrite the history of colonisation, has sprinkled on the present the seeds that are needed to recreate the horrors of the past.

Political parties that exploit race, undermine the foundations of society. Hatred, intolerance, fear and insecurity are their long term legacy. My concern is that the ethical and moral wasteland that has been created by the most divisive government in this country’s history will, without the political, social, community and business leadership needed to drag Australians out of this moral and ethical swamp, continue to blight relationships in this country long after the Howard government’s political achievements have been recorded as a footnote in Australia’s historical record.

The victims of price fixing are consumers, any fine paid by Mr. Pratt pales into insignificance when compared with the profits that would have been made by his companies as a result of the price fixing arrangements that were made. I wonder if people accused of murder, rape and assault will in the near future be able to negotiate an out of court settlement.

Considering the increasing reliance of governments or revenue derived from people breaking the law, it is possible that in the near future people will legally be able to buy their way out of trouble. Penalties on people who are accused of breaking the law should be imposed, not rubber stamped, by magistrates and judges after back room deals are made.

If the current trend continues, it will not be long before people charged with criminal offences will be able to avoid the criminal justice system by negotiating out of court settlements for their transgressions. What at first seems a ludicrous proposition is not as silly as it sounds. The State governments increasing reliance on revenue derived from fines sets a precedent for justice auctions.

Pratt’s and Vizard’s ability to cut a deal with the ACCC and avoid the embarrassment of going to a public trial highlights that when it comes to justice in Australia, money talks.

Increasing levels of public disillusionment with the parliamentary process makes parliamentary reform a topic that needs to be publicly canvassed. Instead of calling for reforms that would entrench the power of Parliament, it is time urgent consideration was given to parliamentary reforms that put power back into the hands of the people.

Democracy – rule of the people, for the people, by the people – best flourishes in an environment where the people, not just Parliament, have the power to initiate constitutional change through citizen initiated referendums. Public faith in the parliamentary system could also be restored by giving electors the power of recall in between elections. If 20% of electors in an electorate are unhappy with the performance of their parliamentary representative, they should have the power to be able to call a fresh election in that electorate, to see whether electors still want to be represented by the person they elected. The power of recall makes parliamentary representatives accountable to the people who put them into Parliament, not faceless party bureaucrats.

Citizen initiated referendums and the power of recall are two reforms that can redress the imbalance of power that currently exists between electors and their parliamentary representatives.

Tasmania’s economy is built on tourism, fishing and the production of clean and green primary produce. It is particularly vulnerable to a consumer boycott. If every Australian who is opposed to the establishment of a pulp mill in the Tamar Valley, refuses to visit Tasmania and refuses to buy any products produced or made in Tasmania if the decision to build the pulp mill is not reversed, the effects on the Tasmanian economy would be immediate and catastrophic.

If such a boycott went ahead, it would not take the Tasmanian government long to realise that building a pulp mill in the Tamar Valley is not in the best interest of Tasmania.

Next time you see these new Australians at work, in church, on the streets in your neighbourhood, go up to them, tell them how ashamed you are of the way the Federal government is treating them and tell them they are welcome in this country.

Spending a few minutes expressing the reasons why you personally welcome them into your neighbourhood and community will go a long way towards making them feel both wanted and secure. Terrible things happen in this country when good people do nothing when their neighbours are insulted and attacked.

The problem isn’t the electorate is not interested in more radical options, the problem is that the concentration of media ownership in fewer and fewer hands over the decades has forced political debate to be confined within narrowly defined parameters that reflect the interests of that small section of the community that owns the means of production, distribution, exchange and communication.

The current election campaign has to date been fought within very narrow policy constraints. Alternatives to the current economic system, methods of production or cultural or social norms are never canvassed as legitimate political concerns. Only a few stunted perennials are allowed to grow in a garden that has the potential to sustain hundreds of alternatives.

In such a political hothouse, debate has a pantomime edge to it; dominated by widely exaggerated gestures and stock character types who trot out policies that benefit those who currently exercise power. In an era when policies that challenge the status quo are ignored or pilloried, political convergence is the price political Parties pay for parliamentary success.

An anarchist economy isn’t based on private or State ownership. Assets are held in common by the community. What is produced, how it’s produced and how it’s distributed is determined by need. An anarchist economy is suited to deal with the problem of scarcity. It is a living organism that works co-operatively. It is best suited to deal with the problems of finite resources and increasing population growth.

Capitalism – an economic system based on the creation of profits, irrespective of the human, social and environmental costs – flourishes in times of plenty. It will only be called to account when there are no more cultures and environments left to plunder. Use determines who temporarily owns what in an anarchist society. Resources that are not used - go back to the common pool. The distribution of both products and services is based on need.

An anarchist economy is a lean mean economic machine that can turn on a 5 cent piece. It is based on the satisfaction of real, not manufactured, human needs. The people living in an anarchist society, share in the common wealth, not because of who they are or what they do, but because they live in that community. It is a fluid economy that can be rapidly mobilised to deal with economic problems because an individual’s survival and prosperity is linked to the survival of the community they live and work in, not the work they do. A change of jobs does not have a bearing on the individual’s standing and survival within an anarchist society.

While a private or State run economic system has a great deal of difficulty dealing with the problems of greenhouse warming, an anarchist economy could, with minimal disruption, rapidly focus on and deal with the same problem.

The 21st century is the anarchist century because an economic system based on the satisfaction of real - not manufactured - needs, sustainability, co-operation, ownership based on use and sharing of the common wealth is best equipped to deal with the challenges thrown up by the very real human and environmental problems that have been created by private and state capitalism.

In Australia, the mainstream media and the Howard government has championed the cause of historical revisionists who have attempted to rewrite the story of colonisation in this country for short term and long term political gain. The resistance to the historical revisionists’ attempts to rewrite history in Australia has been almost non existent. Few Australians have protested against reactionary Australia’s attempts to ignore the brutal and savage realities of colonisation. The struggle to rewrite history isn’t just an academic exercise; it has consequences for the here and now.

The current attempts to roll back the gains made by the indigenous land rights movement by privatising collectively owned land are directly related to the public acceptance of the revisionist version of history.

The Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner Commemoration Committee was established to publicly challenge the revisionist interpretation of history. Every year, we will be publicly commemorating the execution of the freedom fighters Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner – 2 Tasmanian male Aborigines who were publicly executed in Melbourne on the 20th of January 1842. With the help of 3 Aboriginal women – Pyterruner, Truganini and Planobeena – they were involved in a campaign of armed resistance in the Dandenongs and the Mornington Peninsula in 1841 (today’s Greater Melbourne) against white colonisation.

JOIN US AT - MIDDAY – SUNDAY 20th JANUARY 2008
At the site the execution took place
Corner FRANKLIN & BOWEN STREET MELBOURNE
(Opposite the City Baths)

TO RECLAIM THE PAST AND USE THE PAST
TO UNDERSTAND THE PRESENT
AND CHANGE THE FUTURE

LEST WE FORGET!!!

In his reasoning for the acquittal, Judge Willis stated:-“there being no reservation in the grant, lease or licence from government in favour of the Aborigines, the possessor had also a right to turn off by all lawful means any person, whether white or black, who should trespass on his run”. Superintendent La Trobe shocked at Willis’ judgement, asked Governor Gipps whether the legal principle established by the case was “sound” and “incontrovertible”. He believed there was “a manifest inhumanity” in attempting to exclude all Aborigines from the land. La Trobe was concerned that Willis’ judgement meant that the squatters would recommence massacring the Aboriginal population. “It might induce a return to the lamentable scenes of 1839 and the earlier part of 1840” – (La Trobe was alluding to the numerous massacres that occurred during this period as the squatters fanned across Victoria). Willis clearly stated that, unlike the Bonjon case, the court had jurisdiction in matters of aggression between blacks and white.

On the 20th of December 1841, the 5 Van Diemens land Aborigines appeared before Judge Willis – a man described by Governor Gibbs in 1843 as – “an apologist for the cruellest practices by some of the least respectable of the settlers of the Aborigines”.

NEXT WEEK: ‘The Right To Give Evidence & Capacity To Plead’

‘Convincing Ground’ wets the reader’s appetite for the thousands of other stories that have moulded this country’s character that have never been told. It is important the historical revisionists’ interpretation of history is challenged by bringing to the public’s attention the history that was never recorded in the history books, but continues to live in oral histories, bundles of letters hidden away in libraries, and handwritten diaries that have been collected but never studied.

This book – a collection of facts, observations and opinions wets the appetite for more. The future can only be changed if the historical revisionist seed falls on strong ground. If it takes root, it won’t be long before the horrors of the past are repeated. We can only learn to fall in love with ‘our’ country if we know our past. Bruce Pascoe’s ‘Convincing Ground’ lifts a tiny corner of the sheet that prevents Australians from falling in love with ‘their’ country.

If you want to get hold of Bruce Pascoe’s latest book, ask your local book store to order a copy in for you. If they can’t, contact the publishers for a copy.

ABORIGINAL STUDIES PRESS

GPO Box 553, Canberra, ACT 2601, AUSTRALIA.

Tel: (612) 6246 1183 Fax: (612) 62614288

Email: asp@aiatsis.gov.au

Web : www.alatsis.gov.au/aboriginal_studies_press

Not that the Norwegian was adverse to all forms of spotlighting. 30 or 40 years ago when he was much younger and went camping with his young family on the shores of Lake Tyers in Victoria, he loved going out spotlighting during the full moon at 2am or 3am. He and 4 or 5 mates would blow up a tyre’s inner tube, crisscross the bottom with rope, put an old car battery on top of the rope and attach a few leads to the terminals. Those leads were inturn connected to a number of hand held lights.

Spotlight in one hand, they would wade out into the salt water, shinning the light on the water. Prawns would be attracted to the light, and as they rose to the surface, they would scoop them up and put them in a bucket. When the bucket was full, they would wade back to the shore. Some nights were more successful than others. The Norwegian followed the example of his more experienced mates who had the job of spotlighting prawns down to a fine art. The same technique was used to spear flounder down on the Mornington Peninsula in the 50’s and 60’s. You would attach a torch to the top of a handheld spear, and once you came across a flounder, it would quickly become tomorrow’s lunch.

Not that much, if any, prawn or flounder spotlighting goes on these days. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a law against it. Considering you need a licence to fish, and can only take a limited number of fish because of rapidly dwindling stocks, prawn and flounder spotlighting, unlike kangaroo and rabbit spotlighting, has become another forgotten Australian art form.

The Howard government has not only turned somersaults for their economic puppet masters, they have created a moral and ethical wasteland where the dispossessed and the powerless in Australian society are manipulated, abused and exploited for short term political gain. Race, culture, religion are the weapons that have been used by the Howard government to divide and rule.

Eleven years after the Howard government was elected, more and more people are beginning to see behind the divisive rhetoric.

Desperate and clinging at political straws, the Howard government is throwing cash at the electorate, while flagellating indigenous Australians and African refugees, hoping that the very real consequences of WorkChoices on working people will be ignored. This government has created a moral and ethical wasteland; it has filled the Board of some of the most powerful government bodies in this land with its ideological soul mates. The cancer it has introduced into the public arena will continue to grow long after John Howard and his government become a distant uncomfortable memory.

No wonder people, desperate to see the end of this government, cowed by legislation that criminalises dissent, will grab at any opportunity to see the back of John Howard and his divisive cowardly government.

Guests: Dr. Ismail Al-Jalili, Ophthalmologist & Chairman of the National Association of British Arabs & former President of the British Arab Medical Association, Brendan Ross – Humanitarian Advocacy Co-ordinator with Oxfam Australia.

- Acc to the Brookings Institute’s Iraq Index, b/w March ‘03 & ‘07 an estimated 2,000 Iraqi doctors & professionals were killed & almost 12,000 fled the country.

- Acc to Refugees International, Iraq now represents the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world.

- Up to 4,000 Iraqis applied for refugee status to Australia in ‘03, but little is known of their fate.

- Currently an estimated 8 million are living in absolute poverty (not able to access food, healthcare, water/sanitation or humanitarian assistance).

- 2 million have fled to (mostly) Syria & Jordan. (Dr. Al-Jalili puts this figure higher at 2 million in Syria & 1 million in Jordan).

- 2 million displaced in Iraq.

- 90% of victims of the crisis are women & children.

- During Saddam’s rule, child malnutrition was at 19% (under sanctions). Today it is at 28% or more.

- Only 30% of Iraqi children are currently going to school (less than half of the figure of ‘06).

- The teacher’s population in Baghdad has fallen by 80% & the universities are likely to continue emptying for the remainder of ‘07. Teachers & students are likely to stay at home for fear of killings & persecutions.

- Despite Dr. Al-Jalili’s recommendations, the plight of Iraqi doctors & academics has been ignored by the British and US governments.

- Most specialist doctors have now left Iraq. Dr. Al-Jalili describes Iraq as a ‘10th World’ country.

- Acc to Brendan Ross, Oxfam will not (or cannot) take funding from the US, Australia or Britain due to being seen as collaborating with ‘belligerents’. They are unable to operate in Iraq due to lack of humanitarian space.

Additional: Cholera, typhoid & tuberculosis have broken out sporadically. Acc to the Boston Herald 22 Sept ‘07 – “Cholera is also spreading. The disease, detected in August but confined to Northern Iraq, has spread south. As cholera spreads south to Basra, 100,000 tons of water purifying chlorine are stuck at the Jordanian border over fears the chemical could be used in explosives. A world health organisation spokeswoman said Iraq has registered 1,500 cases confirmed as cholera” - (Confirmed by BBC News Sept ‘07).

- Funds for humanitarian assistance & rebuilding (originally $20 billion) have slowed to a trickle ($453m) due to billions of dollars going into a ‘black hole’ due to both US & Iraqi govt corruption (confirmed by the BBC Report ‘The Baghdad Billions’ broadcast in Nov in ‘06). “Iraq has become a vast financial black hole... mismanagement & corruption on such a gigantic scale that much of the money is now untraceable. The cost to rebuild the infrastructure is estimated is $60 billion”.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/documentaryarchive/6126196.stm

- by John COLLINS

THE ANVIL No.3 JAN/FEB 07, Newsletter of Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG), P.O. Box 2120, Lygon S Nth, East Brunswick 3057, AUSTRALIA.
Email : Macg1984@yahoo.com.au

HOBNAIL REVIEW No.11 SEPT 07, A Guide to Small Press & Alternative Publishing from an Authoritarian & Libertarian Left Perspective, Box 208, 235 Earls Court Rd, London SW5 – 9FE, UK

UMANITA NOVA Vol.87, No.30 30th SEPT ’07, Settimenale Anarchico, C/-Federazione Anarchico Torinese, C.50 Palermo 46, Torino, ITALY.
Tel/Fax : 011 857850
Mobile : 3386594361
Email : fat@increte.it

• 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

“SEDITION – Conduct or speech inciting to rebellion”

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 113 Paid Up Members)

JOIN US THIS WEEK :

Wednesday 11.30am – 17th October 2007
Corner Collins and Swanston Streets, 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.

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Write to:

AKIN SARI, c/- Melbourne Assessment Prison
371 Spencer Street, Melbourne 3000
Victoria, AUSTRALIA