• Doreen BURROW – Wollongong, NSW, (Radical Activist - over 50 years)

• Jean ELY & Ray NIELSEN – Melb, VIC, (Public Education Activist - over 40 years)

• Stuart HIGHWAY – Darwin, NT (Community Radical Activist - over 20 years)

• Dave KERIN – Melb, VIC (Workplace & Community Radical Activist - over 30 years)

• Peter McGREGOR – Newcastle, NSW (Community & Education Radical Activist – over 40 years)

• Alan PARKER – Sorrento, VIC, (Environmental Activist – nearly 60 years

In a period when ultimate political authority rests in the hands of that small section of society that owns the means of production, distribution and exchange - not in the hands of the people - Prime Ministers and Presidents act as Chief Executive Officers for those sections of the community that exercise real power. Parliament has been transformed from an institution that represents the will of the people to an organisation that creates the legal framework that allows monopolies to dominate every aspect of human activity.

In an era when real power lies in the boards of national and transnational corporations, the principal Minister of government has been transformed into the CEO of a vast taxpayer funded bureaucracy. This bureaucracy implements policy that reinforces and extends the power that is exercised by the heads of the boards of corporations that dominate economic activity in Australia and the rest of the world.

The transfer of power from the hands of the people into the hands of the corporate sector has helped to create a situation where poverty exists in the midst of plenty and where feelings of hopelessness dominate private and public life.

In an era when those institutions that were created to improve our lives by the blood sweat and tears of our parents and grandparents have been subverted to represent the will of that small section of society that owns the means of production, distribution and exchange, the last thing this country needs is a Prime Minister who acts as a CEO and parliamentarians who seem to have forgotten we pay them to represent the will of the people.

The Federal Labor government is seriously mistaken if they think they were elected to continue to implement Howard’s neo conservative agenda. The Prime Minister runs a very real risk of alienating the very people who put in the hard work to bring about a Labor victory. Unless the Rudd Labor government is willing to spill blood on the wattle (apologies to Henry Lawson) all the hard work done by the union movement, the Greens and radical activists to get rid of the Howard government has been in vain.

If Rudd and Gillard think their will not be a political price to pay for what is increasingly looking like a major betrayal of their most vocal and passionate supporters, they are sadly mistaken. Once the Labor Party’s ardent supporters realise that reform is not possible through parliament, they are likely to take up more radical extra parliamentary options.

If the political spoils go to the vanquished, not the victors, those Australians who want reform will soon realise reform does not come by working up the right channels. In such a climate, those activists who promote direct action as an alternative to the ballot box are likely to see their ranks swelled by those disillusioned Labor Party supporters who put their heart and soul into a Labor victory.

Given a leg up by the Howard government and a pliant mass media, their intellectual wet dreams were imposed on indigenous Australians, the poor, the dispossessed, trade unionists and anybody in the community who challenged their myopic straight jacketed view of the world. Supported by sections of the corporate owned media, lauded by the Howard government in the Australian Honours list, appointed to government boards – these high priests of hate, who doctored the past to justify the unjustifiable, poisoned the body politic with their infectious spittle.

These government funded intellectual pygmies should be the first heads to roll with a change of government. For the Rudd government to allow this band of cultural cowards to continue to gorge themselves on the public teat, is a betrayal of all those Australians who have been defamed by the historical revisionist accounts pedalled by this ugly undercurrent that came to prominence as a result of the Howard government’s patronage.

Most full time farm and packing shed workers are not employed directly by the farmer, but are employed by contractors. Faced with the problem of obtaining a steady labour supply and the ever increasing paperwork associated with employing people, most farmers pay contractors between $15 to $17 per hour for each worker they bring to the farm.

Some contractors do the right thing by their employees, charging them $2 to $3 per hour for their services. Others take up to 1/3rd of their pay as a fee for their ‘services’, adding insult to injury they charge them up to $10 a day for the privilege of being taken to and from the farm in overloaded mini vans. This leaves farm workers with less than $8 an hour once taxes and other expenses are taken from their wages.

The hold contractors have over farm workers is the main problem in the industry today. If the Workplace Ombudsman was serious about a fair days pay for a fair days work, they should be asking the Minister to pass legislation through Parliament that places controls over the activities of contractors so their workers are not exploited through the legal loopholes labour contractors currently use to pocket the lion’s share or the wages that farmers pay to contractors to provide them with a reliable steady workforces.

If I want to listen to and watch the brain dead lightweights that flourish in commercial radio and TV land, I would tune into the commercial sector. I do not expect to hear the same drivel when I tune into the ABC. Governments of all political hues are adverse to funding a truly independent media, that is why every effort has been made over the last 20 years by both Coalition and Labor governments to turn the ABC into a commercial clone.

What is the point of spending a billion dollars every year on the national broadcaster if the content is of the same poor quality and standard as the commercial sector? The gelding of the ABC by the Coalition government over the past decade was carried out to prepare the national broadcaster for privatisation.

A change of government provides a fresh opportunity for the national broadcaster to take on a more central roll in Australian life. A vibrant independent ABC that is willing and able to tackle the real issues that face Australians is the shot in the arm that is needed to make politicians and the corporate sector directly accountable to the people.

The ABC is at the crossroads, it can continue to try to mimic the worst elements of the corporate owned media or it can provide a positive alternative to the lacklustre boring, tedious, one dimensional commercial sector.

Interestingly, anarchist federations are the only societies that practise free trade. Need, not want, determines what is produced, how it’s produced and where it’s produced. It makes no sense in a federation for every member of that federation to replicate what every other member of the federation is doing. An individual anarchist community’s survival is dependent on its ability to be self sufficient and protect itself from external threat. When a local community makes the decision to join a federation – what it produces, how it produces it and the amount of resources that would be allocated towards self defence would change.

Inclusion in a federation changes the internal dynamics of an anarchist community. Economies of scale and the ability to pool resources to deal with the problem of an external threat could radically alter life in that community. It gives the community the ability to dovetail into the life of the federation, giving members the opportunity to concentrate on what they do best as individuals and a community.

Joining an anarchist federation alters the dynamics within a local anarchist community giving individuals opportunities to develop what they would never have been able to enjoy in a society where every bodies attention is focused on using the limited resources they have to be fully self sufficient.

To allow them to continue to shape society in their image is a recipe for more of the same. Change comes from ideas; whether our ideas can be used as a chainsaw to destroy their empire is dependent on us creating information networks that we own and control. If telling the truth is a revolutionary act, opening your mouth to tell the truth is the first step you need to take to create that new world in your heart.

The purpose of the celebration is to ensure that we reclaim the central element of the Eureka rebellion – ideas that are encapsulated in the Eureka oath – “We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties” – DIRECT DEMOCRACY, DIRECT ACTION, SOLIDARITY and INTERNATIONALISM. In 2007 the Eureka rebellion has been moulded and remoulded to suit current political concerns. I went to Ballarat in 2001 to take part in the Eureka celebrations. Imagine my surprise when I found out nothing happens in Ballarat on the day unless it falls on a Saturday or a Sunday.

If we don’t reclaim and celebrate days that are important to us, no one else will. Eureka is just one of the days that we need to reclaim. The Anarchist Media Institution – Reclaim The Radical Spirit Of The Eureka Rebellion Celebrations gives us the opportunity to remember the past and use the past to understand the present and change the future. History is full of pivotal moments - every town, every city experiences moments when those who exercise authority are directly challenged. The history of the struggle to create a society without rulers has yet to be written. By publicly reclaiming those moments, we become players in the struggle to create the society without rulers.

Join us next year at 4am on Wednesday the 3rd of December at Eureka Park (corner Eureka and Stawell Street Ballarat) and Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Rebellion – DIRECT DEMOCRACY, DIRECT ACTION, SOLIDARITY and INTERNATIONALISM.

‘Direct Action’ is a magazine of the Solidarity Federation. The content in Issue No. 40 – Autumn 2007 edition, has material you would expect to find in this type of magazine. This issue is divided into 4 sections. Articles canvas national, historical and international issues. The ‘back end’ consists of reviews and an interesting article on football (soccer) – “Football: Take Back The People’s Game”.

The magazine also has an extensive Contact list which gives readers the opportunity to contact the Solidarity Federation through the national office in Manchester or 18 ‘locals’. It also has a Contact list of fellow travellers; many of the groups listed in the Friends and Neighbours list are surprise, surprise – anarchists.

I am not sure if the Solidarity Federation is linked to the Solidarity Organisation that was active in Britain in the 60s, 70s and the early 80s. if it is, they have come to their position through the Marxist jungle – jettisoning the authoritarian elements in their effort to create a non-authoritarian egalitarian society.

‘Direct Action’ is a well written and well presented magazine. The edition I have seen – No. 40 – lacks theoretical articles. I assume other issues of ‘Direct Action’ have their fair share of theoretical articles.

Views stated in the magazine are not necessarily the views of the ‘Direct Action’ Collective (which edits and lays out the magazine) or the Solidarity Federation. Don’t expect to see who has written what article because ‘Direct Action’ does not published contributors names. Reading ‘Direct Action’ is a good way of finding out what the anti authoritarian movement in Britain is thinking and doing. Have a look, it is time well spent.

‘Direct Action’ – ISBN 0261 – 8753

‘Direct Action’, PO Box 29, SW PDO, Manchester, M155 SHW UK.
Web : www.solfed.org.uk
Email : da@direct-action.org.uk
Tel: 07984675281.

Subscription: 15 pounds overseas, 10 pound Europe, 5 pounds UK.

Who does he think he is kidding? Compulsory voting was introduced federally in 1921 because Australians were not voting. They were staying away in droves because they understood that parliamentary elections are essentially nothing more than 2 minutes of illusory power. If I stood on a street corner and gave away signed blank cheques, I would have my sanity questioned or I would be taken away and charged with fraud.

Every 3 years, Australians are forced by legislation to give a signed blank cheque to a politician to make decisions for them for the next 3 years. No wonder people have to be forced to vote. Maybe if real power resided in Parliament - not in the boardrooms of national and transnational corporations, maybe if electors had the power to recall non performing politicians in between elections, maybe if Australians were able to initiate Constitutional change through Citizen Initiated Referendums, maybe if Australians were able to make decisions and elect or appoint delegates to carry out these decisions – people would flock to the polls.

Apathy is a legitimate response to a system of government that is democratic in name only. Instead of the Victorian Electoral Commission calling on the State government to increase the fine for people who choose not to vote, their time would be better spent advising the State government why 10% of eligible voters don’t bother to register to vote - 5% vote informal and 5% don’t bother to vote - although they are on the electoral roll.

CNT No.339, NOV 2007, Organo de la Conferedacion Nacional del Trabajo, Pza Tirso de Molina 5-6, 28012 Madrid, SPAIN
Tel : 913690838
Fax : 914200856
Email : redaccion@periodcocnt.org

DIRECT ACTION, Nos. 40, Summer 2007, DA Collective, P.O. Box 29, South West PDO, Manchester, MI5 SHW, ENGLAND. 079 8467 5281
Email : da@direct-action.org.uk
Web : www.solfed.org.uk

LA LETTRE de L’HOMME LIBRE No.4 2007, Bulletin interieur de liason du Cerle d’Etudes Psychologiqus, Mercel Renoulet, 32 Rue Gauthier Du Mont 42100 Saint-Etienne, FRANCE

ROJO Y NEGRO No.207 NOV 2007, CGT, C/-Sagunto 15, 10 Madrid 28010, SPAIN, Tel:9144531326
Email : presna@rojonegro.info

UMANITA NOVA Vol 87 No.39 EL 2nd DEC 2007, Settimanale Anarchico, C.50 Palermo 46, 10152, Torino ITALY.
Tel/Fax (011) 857850
Mobile 338-659436
Email : fat@inrete.it

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 122 Paid Up Members)

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’

553 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne (outside US Consulate)

Email : womenforpeace@optusnet.com.au
Web : www.womenforpeace.org.au

Feminine opposition to weapons manufacture war and mans destruction.

Please send AKIN SARI A POSTCARD OR LETTER OF SUPPORT TODAY!

Write to:

AKIN SARI, c/- Melbourne Remand Centre
P.O. BOX 500, St. Albans 3021
Victoria, AUSTRALIA

The director of Texas' science curriculum has been fired for bias - for creating the impression of being in favour of the theory of evolution. Chris Corner, who’s been the Texas Education Agency's director of science curriculum for 9 yrs, resigned after officials recommended she be fired. The TEA cited an email Ms Corner had forwarded, announcing a presentation criticising 'intelligent design'. An official memo said "Ms. Comer's e-mail implies endorsement of the speaker & implies TEA endorses the speaker's position on a subject on which the agency must remain neutral." (Austin American-Statesman [US])

The chief executive of Macquarie Group, Allan Moss, was able to pay tax of 25% on a $6m options bonus he received last yr, a lower rate than bus drivers pay on their overtime. The tax treatment available to Mr Moss, the highest-paid chief executive in Aust with a salary of $33.5m last yr, means he can pay tax on his options gains at nearly half the top income tax rate of 45%. More than 2000 high income earners on the staff options plan at Macquarie Group can choose not to pay income tax on the bulk of the gains they may receive from their options. The complex but effective tax treatment has been revealed in a staff options handbook released by the bank to the stock exchange last week, showing how staff can use a little-known section of the 1936 Income Tax Assessment Act. Mr Moss's ability to pay tax of 25% on his options gains compares with the 30% tax rate a Sydney bus driver must pay on any overtime. The average NSW wage earner on a salary of $61,500 also pays a higher effective tax rate – 26% - than Mr Moss was able to pay on his options payout. (SMH)

Over half the Aust population has inadequate access to primary health care, acc to govt statistics. Figures from the Dept of Health & Aging show 12m Aust, 59% of the population, live in "districts of workforce shortage" for doctors. Health Min Tony Abbott said 'crisis' was "a much overworked term." (The Age)

An ALP candidate & former union leader has bought a luxury beachfront terrace for almost a million dollars, miles away from the electorate he's standing in. Ex ACTU leader & current ALP candidate Greg Combet & his wife paid $940,000 for a beachfront terrace in Newcastle. The terrace is over 10km away from the electorate of Charlton, where Mr Combet is standing. Mr Combet has rented a flat in Charlton, but intends to move out once the election is over. (Daily Telegraph)

QUOTE OF THE MOMENT: "The state of being private; the state of not being seen by others." "Not done in the view of or with the possibility of disturbance by others; Intended only for one's own use; Not accessible by the public." The definitions of 'privacy' and 'private', according to wiktionary.org

QUOTE OF THE MOMENT: "B/c they don't teach the truth about the world, schools have to rely on beating students over the head with propaganda about democracy. If schools were, in reality, democratic, there’d be no need to bombard students with platitudes about democracy. They’d simply act & behave democratically & we know this doesn’t happen. The more there’s a need to talk about the ideals of democracy, the less democratic the system usually is." Noam Chomsky.

QUOTE OF THE MOMENT: "One party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - & both commonly succeed, & are right." - H.L. Mencken

QUOTE OF THE MOMENT: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." Alan Greenspan, ex head of the US Fed Reserve, in his memoir.

QUOTE OF THE MOMENT: "Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable...Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, & struggle; the tireless exertions & passionate concern of dedicated individuals." Martin Luther King.