In Australia, it is next to impossible to legally change the political process because the power to reform the parliamentary system through constitutional change lies in the hands of Parliament. Only Parliament has the power to initiate constitutional change through a referendum. It is highly unlikely that Parliament would ever initiate, let alone support, constitutional change that dilutes the power parliamentarians are able to exercise.

To compound matter, real power does not lie in Parliament - it lies in the hands of that small section of the community that owns the means of production, distribution, exchange and communication. The convergence of the policies that are currently being articulated by the major political parties reflects the reality they are faced with. They either support the current political paradigm or they face political oblivion. Faced with political irrelevance, political parties that aim to change the framework within which ideas are expounded and situations reviewed, quickly modify their principles of association and policies to reflect current political and economic reality.

The convergence of political opinion and policies Australians are experiencing during this election campaign is a direct result of the inherent weakness of a political system where real power lies in the boardrooms of national and transnational corporations, not Parliament.

When you think about it, it is extraordinary that 21 million people living on a continent cannot even tackle child poverty or homelessness, let alone the major issues that affect us. Our inability as a people to tackle issues that everybody agrees are important - is directly related to the inherent weakness of a political system that is democratic in name only. Parliamentary democracy has as much to do with democracy as the A.F.L. has to do with promoting soccer in Australia.

Faced with what seem to be insurmountable deficiencies in the parliamentary system, it is time debate was focused on the political process, not the current auction for votes. Increasing community disillusionment by a sophisticated electorate, spells the death knell for a parliamentary system that is unwilling or incapable of reforming itself. Parliamentary reform that transfers power from the State and the corporate sector back into the hands of the people is both desirable and necessary.

In an era of the concentration of power in the hands of the executive and unaccountable corporations, it is highly likely that democracy as a political concept will wither on the vine without reform.

If ultimate political authority is to rest in the hands of the people, political processes need to be developed to ensure that authority remains in the hands of the people.

The power of recall, citizen initiated referendums and direct democracy are three mechanisms that can be used to put power back into the hands of the people and stop the drift of power into the hands of unaccountable rulers.

The power of recall is not a new idea; it is a political mechanism that is used to ensure that parliamentarians are directly responsible to the people. If 20% of electors sign a petition in between elections that they want a fresh election to be called because they have lost faith in their representative, a fresh election would have to be called to see if the electorate wanted a new candidate to represent their interests in Parliament. The power of recall breaks down the power of political parties because it makes representatives responsible to both the electorate and the political party that supports them.

Citizen initiated referendums break the constitutional logjam that has prevented parliamentary reform in Australia. It is a political mechanism electors in Switzerland have used for generations to promote constitutional and community change. If 10% of electors sign a petition that asks a particular question be put to the people in a referendum, that question has to be put to the people in a referendum. If the referendum is successful, the Constitution is altered to reflect the will of the people. Giving the people the power to initiate constitutional change strengthens the democratic process.

In an era of instant communication, direct democracy is becoming a much more realistic alternative. In a representative system, electors give parliamentarians a signed blank cheque to make decisions for them for the next 3 years. In a direct democratic system, electors make decisions and then elect or appoint delegates to coordinate decisions at a local, regional and nation level. If major changes need to be made by delegates to coordinate decisions, these decisions go back to the people who originally made the decision for ratification.

What at first may seem a complex and inefficient way of making decisions is a relatively efficient way of making decisions because it replaces the adversarial parliamentary system with a cooperative system that is geared to solve practical problems facing the community, not score cheap political points.

Political systems that cannot reform themselves to deal with contemporary issues – implode. As a country and as a species, we face what seem to be insurmountable problems of our own making. In order to deal with these problems, we need to harness the collective wisdom of the community, not just put our faith in rulers to find a solution to these problems.

To allow further concentration of power in the hands of unaccountable corporations and a political executive that is unwilling or unable to serve the people, is a recipe for disaster. We either embrace democratic political reform and harness the energy of the people to tackle the major problems that face us, or we descend into barbarism.

The decision whether we embrace democracy – rule of the people, by the people, for the people – or barbarism, is ultimately lies in our hands.

The major reason people, with relatively minor health issues, use public hospital Accident and Emergency departments is cost. Currently 1 in 5 prescriptions are not filled out by patients because of cost issues, and many Australians do not access private medical services because of cost factors. The changes introduced to Medicare during the last Federal election campaign have tended to assist those who have the disposable income to access private health services, not those sections of the community that do not have the income to access privately run services.

The success or failure of the proposed ‘privately run government supported after-hours medical clinics’ will be determined solely by the cost of the services they provide to the public. If government funding is restricted to private groups that set up clinics that bulk bill all patients for all services and who provide emergency medications free of charge, people will use the after-hour super-clinics and reduce the pressure on overstretched, under-funded public Accident and Emergency departments. If they do not bulk bill all services, people who experience medical problems after-hours will continue to use Accident and Emergency departments.

An added benefit of setting up privately owned bulk billing super-clinics is they will act as competition to already established medical clinics that do not bulk bill, and they will force them to bulk bill their patients for in-hours and after-hours services.

Whether the new super-clinics are able to survive in the long term will be dependent on whether the remuneration provided to doctors who bulk bill by the government funded Health Benefits scheme, reflects the true cost of providing privately run health care services.

The pain and suffering of 3 years of civil war (1936 – 1939) and 36 years of dictatorship were put aside to give the new democracy a chance to establish itself. The Reclaiming Historical Memory legislation is designed to formalise a process that has seen the mass graves identified, remains returned to relatives, and the physical manifestations of the Franco government replaced with more appropriate symbols.

The Spanish people, unlike Australians, have looked at the brutality of their past, brought it out into the open and have as a people and a nation attempted to heal the wounds that have caused so much suffering.

Australians and future Australian governments can take a leaf out of the Spanish example to help tackle our own festering historical sores. Instead of promoting historical revisionist accounts of our history which deny the brutality of the colonisation process - the reconciliation process between indigenous and non indigenous Australians could be jump started by similar legislation being passed in the Australian Parliament.

Australia has a black history most of us know nothing about; the process of denial is a virus that infects all levels of Australian society. As a people, we will never achieve our full potential if we continue to deny a past which continues to haunt indigenous Australians today.

To acknowledge the past at an individual, community and national level is the first step that is required to formulate a reconciliation process between indigenous and non indigenous Australians that is based on truth and justice, not denial and charity.

On the 11th of November 1880, thousands of people gathered outside the old Melbourne goal to protest the hanging of Ned Kelly. Those who gathered there that morning believed Ned Kelly never received a trial according to the law of the day.

Thirty eight years later on the 11th of November 1918, World War One came to an end when the Armistice was signed. World War One – a war fought by workers at either end of a bayonet for the glory of God, King and Country brigade resulted in the unnecessary deaths of over 60,000 young Australians on the European killing fields.

Fifty seven years later the 11th of November 1975, John Kerr’s dismissal of the Whitlam led Labor government opened a constitutional Pandora’s Box that has not been closed 32 years later.

This Sunday - the 11th of November, let us spend a few minutes reflecting on those pivotal moments in this county’s history that occurred on the 11th of November that have helped to shape the Australian character. To ignore the lesson of this important day, is a mistake that we can as a nation, can ill afford to make.

The negative aspects of modern police work revolve around the police force being used to uphold and enforce laws that concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a minority. Police work that prevents violence and protects the weak and vulnerable from exploitation is work that anarchists do not have a problem with. A police force’s allegiance in a capitalist and communist society is to the State and that small minority that owns the means of production, distribution and exchange. Its second duty is to the community.

What form an anarchist police form will take, is a matter for conjecture. I envisage that an anarchist police force will consist of a core of full time professionals who are appointed by the community. They would be assisted by part time community police officers who would also perform other works. It is important that the role of police is clearly understood and supported by the community. The greater the degree of community work the more effective policing would be.

Most issues would be resolved at a local level; more serious criminal activity would be referred to a full time policing agency. The community would also have the power to remove full time police officers whose activities cause the community concern. Policing is an important aspect of any community. Who controls the police, community participation in police work, and the relationship between community and full time policing professionals, plays a pivotal role in an anarchist police force.

Society changes, technology changes, culture changes. Strategies that may have been appropriate 10, 20 and 100 years ago, may no longer be appropriate today. Strategies that may be appropriate in one central setting, may not work in another. Strategy is a work in progress. If you cannot knock down a brick wall, you would be stupid if you did not look at other options because it is always been done this way. You could dig under the wall, fly over it or take a step sideways and walk around it. Radical though isn’t it.

Principles do not change, strategies do. Anarchists want to create a society without rulers. How individuals, groups and movements approach that task is determined by the situation they find themselves in. You are not going to use the same tactics you have used in a parliamentary democracy as you would use in a dictatorship. Tactics and strategies change with specific circumstances.

Not every anarchist group will use the same strategies and tactics. Whether a group survives, prospers and grows is determined by the effectiveness of the strategies and tactics they adopt. If things are not going your way, it is stupid blaming and alienating the people you need to create an anarchist society. Isn’t it much more productive to look at your current strategies?

Whether the 21st century becomes the anarchist century, will be determined by our ability to change our tactics and strategies to suit prevailing conditions. To say we must do things in a particular way because that is how they are always done or to do nothing because the prevailing conditions are not ‘right’ for change, are recipes for frustration and cynicism. We must be willing to change our strategies and tactics to suit the prevailing climate in the communities we live and work in. To refuse to modify our tactics and strategies is a recipe for failure and irrelevance.

Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner spent their last days in these quarters, having to cope with the cramped conditions, lack of sanitation and the rats that shared the accommodation with them. The two men awaiting their execution were not even afforded the luxury of joining the gangs of men in irons who were taken out of the walls each day to work on a treadmill that constantly broke down.

Eighteen convicts competed for the honour to win the post of Public Executioner. Some wanted the heads of the Aborigines as a bonus payment for their services – as Aboriginal heads were attracting a good price from ethnologists in England. A convict named John Davies won the contest. He had been transported for life for sheep stealing in 1831. Arriving as a convict in Sydney, the following year he was sent to Melbourne prison in 1840 to work as the prison’s messenger. Davies had been tempted by 2 inducements – the new Executioner would receive a ticket of leave (which enabled him to wok locally) and 10 pounds (a fortune for a convict). This 5 foot 4 inches, 46 year old convict with the ruddy face and hideous grin, who had no experience with executing, was to take centre stage at the execution. The prison Scourger (the convict who carried out the whippings) John Styleman – was appointed as Davies’ assistant.

The Clerk of Works – James Rattenbury – was responsible for the erection of the scaffold. The scaffold described as a “narrow shaky stage that barely afforded standing room for two prisoners and their executioner” consisted of 2 heavy uprights sunk into the ground about 12 feet apart, a beam was nailed on top, around which the ropes were tied. Six feet above the ground, short planks supported the ‘drop’ – an other plank hinged at one end and secured at the other by a conglomeration of wood and bricks, which upon a signal from the hangman, could be tugged away by a rope - completed this architectural marvel. This remarkable invention was reached by 2 ladders.

NEXT WEEK: ‘Carnival Time’

Emilio Canzi was born in Piacenza in Northern Italy on the 14th of March 1893. Emilio worked as a shopkeeper’s messenger until he was drafted into the Italian Army in 1913. He fought in Libya and was involved in the Vittoro Vecto battle, reaching the rank of Sergeant Major when he was demobbed in 1919. He became involved in the anarchist movement and fled Italy in June 1922, one step ahead of Mussolini’s Black Shirts. He returned to Piacenza in 1927 was arrested, released and left Italy in 1928.

In France, he became involved in the Paris based Anarchist Committee for political victims. In September 1936, he joined the Ascaso Division’s Italian column operating in Aragon in Spain. He joined the International Brigades and commanded the 36th Brigade operating in the Huesca district. He was wounded in June 1937 and returned to France throwing himself into support work for anarchists who were fleeing from Franco’s victorious forces.

Emilio Canzi was arrested by the Nazis in October 1940 and sent to a concentration camp in Hinzert Germany. In March 1942 he was transferred to Italy and interned on the island of Ventotene. When Mussolini’s government fell, he was sent to a concentration camp in Arezo. He escaped in September 1943 returning to Piacenza where he established the provinces first partisan unit. Partisan groups all over Northern Italy attacked the German occupation force eventually forcing them out of Italy. As Commander of the XIII Zone, he began to irritate both the British and Communist forces in the region. He was arrested by communist partisan units in April 194 but was soon released. At the end of the war he took up his place in the anarchist movement and participated in the Libertarian Communist Federation convention in July 1945 and the Italian Anarchist Federation Congress in Carrara in September 1945. A British truck crashed into him in October 1945 and he died in Piacenza hospital on the 17th of November 1945.

This 50 page pamphlet is much, much more than the short summary I have presented. It is full of facts, figures and the emotions surrounding the life of man who lived in and became involved in some of the most tumultuous events of the 20th century. His story is the story of many men and women whose sacrifices have been written out of the historical records. This is an interesting for anyone interested in anarchist history. To get hold of a copy contact:-

Kate Sharpley Library, BM Hurricane,
London WCIN 3XX, UK
www.katesharpleylibrary.net

It seems the rules of nature are something that we have been genetically hot wired for; when it comes to human relations - that is another thing. I am sure every single one of us has a story about the mistakes we have made when judging human character.

The same principles can be applied to political life. I have come across two examples this week about the dissociation between political cause and effect. A disability supports pensioner, who lives in particularly difficult circumstances, who is called up by Centrelink to join the workforce, is going to vote for Howard. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that wouldn’t be able to afford living in Bennelong in Sydney, but that is another matter. He had not made the connection in his mind the push to force him to do part-time poorly paid work was directly related to legislation that the Howard government had pushed through Parliament. A person that wouldn’t dream of jumping into a waterhole full of crocodiles, seems happy to support a political party that is making his life a misery.

A middle aged woman, who had been complaining for months about the change in her working conditions, looked almost orgasmic when she told me she was worried about her little mate Johnnie. Irrespective of what people were saying, no one was going to stop her voting for Howard. Once again, I didn’t have the heart to tell her she couldn’t afford to live in Bennelong in Sydney. She had no idea that her changed circumstances were related to the WorkChoices legislation. A sane women who wouldn’t dream of jumping into a pit of vipers, was more than willing to give her vote to the political party that had caused her dilemma.

Many people have no idea about the political process and how their life is moulded by political decisions. While people are happy to have rulers do the thinking and make the decisions for them, the chances of reform, let alone radical change, are Buckleys and none.

President Soeharto took over the Indonesian government with the help of the C.I.A. in 1965, in a coup that resulted in the slaughter of over 2 million Indonesian. The military dictatorship he headed was responsible for atrocities in East Timor, West Papua, Aceh and many other parts of Indonesia that are hard to describe. While he was in charge of Indonesia, he stripped over $40 billion from the country and stashed his loot in overseas banks.

He has been brought to account for his crimes against humanity and continues to occupy a central position in Indonesian affairs. Soeharto has been deemed to be too ill to stand trial, although he was seen gloating in public when the results of his defamation case were announced. The Indonesia judiciary is full of Soeharto appointments and the decision in his favour was not unexpected. Although Soeharto was forced to hand over nominal power to Parliament, he continues to exercise a great deal of power in Indonesia. Nothing happens without his approval.

Te transfer of power from the Soeharto led dictatorship to Parliament was a transfer in name only. Soeharto and his supporters continue to hold important positions in the country. The tragedy about the defamation verdict is it makes a mockery of the Indonesian judicial system. Patronage and widespread corruption is the legacy of the Soeharto dictatorship. The military continues to exercise real power in Indonesia. They have carved up the country into their personal fiefdoms. For all the talk of democracy and change in Indonesia, nothing has changed. Even the deaths of 2 million Indonesians in a 3 month period in late 1964 and early 1965 is still not acknowledged, let alone discussed.

While Pinochet was hounded to his grave, Soeharto continues to be courted by the Indonesia Parliament. Public criticism of him and his family’s business interests is tantamount to a death sentence. While this grubby mass murderer continues to escape prosecution because his supporters dominate the Indonesian judicial system, nothing changes for the bulk of Indonesians.

BULLETIN OF THE KATE SHARPLEY LIBRARY, No.35 July 2003, Major Articles on Anarchism In Siberia - BM Hurricane, London WCIN 3XX, ENGLAND

HOBNAIL REVIEW, No.12 OCT 07, A guide to Small Press & Alternative Publishing, P.O. Box 208, 235 Earls Court Rd, London SW59FE, ENGLAND, UK
Tel : 07887658209

UMANITA NOVA Vol 87 No.34 EL 28th OCT 2007, Settimanale Anarchico, C.50 Palermo 46, 10152, Torino ITALY.
Tel/Fax : (011) 857850
Mobile : 338-6594361
Email : fat@inrete.it

HEARTLAND RECORDS – OCT 07, P.O. Box 67, Bllan 3342, Victoria, AUST
Email : heartbeatrecords@mysoul.com.au
Web : www.thebard.com.au
Tel : 03 5368 9554
Mobile : 0432 528 634 CD Superficial Heroes available from Heartbeat Recods

THE BEACON, OCT 07, Journal of the Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church, 110 Grey St, East Melbourne 3002, AUSTRALIA. Tel: 03 9417 4178 FaxAnswering 03 9417 4178 – 10am-3pm Weekday Servives 11am Sunday

• 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 116 Paid Up Members)

JOIN US THIS WEEK :

Wednesday 11.30am – 14th November 2007
Corner Collins & Williams Streets, Melbourne

DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE - www.rulebythepeople.org

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‘LIFE WASN’T MEANT TO BE EASY’

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Millions of Austs have been locked out of the economic boom & social isolation is "a fact of daily life" acc to 1 of Aust's top businessmen. Michael Chaney, the outgoing Pres of the Business Council of Aust, said many Austs continued to suffer poor education, poor health, & entrenched disadvantage. He said the education system was failing the 300,000 young people who didn’t have either full-time jobs or a place in further education. Mr Chaney also said many of the policy promises by both major parties would do little to help people locked out of the mainstream economy. "Economic prosperity should be the catalyst to unwind disadvantage - not perpetrate it" he said. (The Age)