The major central banks around the world are busily pumping taxpayers dollars into the private sector hoping to bail them out of trouble. Socialising the losses and privatising the profits is a game that is continually played by the private sector. Governments are so entwined with the capitalist system they have no option but to bail out the private sector when they run into trouble.

The consequences of a major credit squeeze could be catastrophic for many ordinary people. Faced with this situation, the taxpayer through State central banks is being asked to bail out the very corporations whose greed has put everybody at risk.

Capitalism, as we are told every day of our lives, is not the only economic system that can deliver the goods to the community. The negative effects of a system based on the creation of profits for majority shareholders, irrespective of the social, community and environmental costs, is being felt by everyone.

To continue to support an economic system based on greed that is willing to pocket the profits and demands socialisation of the losses makes no sense at all. The sooner we look at alternative economic models based on the satisfaction of real not manufactured human needs, the sooner the community does not have to foot the bill every time capitalism sneezes.

I’m afraid I have bad news for both Mr. Dunlop and Mr. Davidson – You cannot. Capitalism is an economic system under which the means of production, distribution and exchange are in large measure privately owned and directed. State capitalism is an economic system where the means of production, distribution and exchange are predominately owned by the State. Capitalism’s survival, whether privately or State owned is dependent on it generating ever increasing profits, irrespective of the human environmental and social costs. It is an economic system that flourishes in times of plenty. As long as it can create new markets and have access to new resources, it will continue to prosper.

Capitalism as an economic philosophy is ill equipped to deal with scarcity. Increasing population growth, finite resources and increasing environmental problems as a result of human activity have re-written the economic text books.

The principles that need to be applied to deal with scarcity cannot be put into practice by either the State or private corporations. The economics of scarcity revolve around co-operation, not competition and the common, not the private or State ownership of resources.

To tackle global warming, the ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange need to be transferred from the hands of the State and the private sector into the hands of the community. Communalisation buys the human race the time it requires to successfully tackle the serious environmental problems that have been created by both capitalism and communism.

Howard’s decade in office has heralded the death knell of the Liberal Party. Anybody who didn’t share his myopic would view was driven out of the Party. Today the Liberal Party is a victim of a tendency within the Party to isolate and eventually expel anybody in the Party who believes in Liberal principles. The Australia Liberal Party has as much to do with liberalism as the AFL has to do with promoting soccer in Australia. The Liberal Party of Australia formed by Robert Menzies in 1944 is a successor to previous conservative parties; it has never been interested in promoting progress and reform. It is a descendant of the Fusion Liberal Party formed in 1909 – a ragtag coalition of free traders and protectionists who supported free enterprise and opposed socialism.

Today’s Liberal Party has been hijacked by neo conservatives who espouse reactionary and conservative economic social values. There is no longer any place for a conservative Liberal Party in Australia. It is in urgent need of reform both at the political and organisational level. Ted Baillieu and Brendan Nelson represent a Liberal Party whose ideas are rapidly becoming irrelevant. Now that Labor has embarked on a reformist agenda, the only way the Liberal Party can save itself from itself is by embracing more inclusive and radical policies.

Considering it’s highly unlikely the Liberal Party will embrace change, it is more than likely they, like the Australian Democrats, will disappear from the Australian political scene in the very near future.

The rise and rise of this small group of cowardly curmudgeons is an indictment on a fourth estate that did not have the courage to expose the lies and mistaken assumptions the cultural cowards world view is based on. For the Rudd Labor government to allow this intellectual cancer to continue to grow is unforgivable.

Allowing the historical revisionist cancer to spread courtesy of its access to the taxpayer funded teat, is a betrayal of all those Australians who did not wait until the Federal government had changed to tackle what unfortunately is fast becoming a debilitating national disease.

The call for longer and longer sentences (even for victimless crimes) has created a revolving door culture that ensures that many ex inmates have little choice but to re-offend when released.

The current prison systems emphasis on punishment, not on treatment and rehabilitation, has helped to create a dangerous outlaw culture. Ex inmates continue to be treated as outlaws, despite in many cases their best attempts to integrate back into society.

The tough on crime auction that’s held before each State election may win those promoting these policies a few votes, but it does not decrease the crime rate. The ‘out of mind out of sight’ attitude that dominates political policy making towards prisons and prisoners only increases the number of offenders who re-offend.

The mass media’s tendency to lead the charge for longer sentences for more crimes and harsher conditions and punishment, not rehabilitation, has not decreased the crime rate. These calls have created an increasing number of embittered inmates who in many cases re-offend when released from jail because they continue to be treated as outlaws despite having served their time. A community that does not direct its efforts towards treating and rehabilitating prison inmates only succeeds in making a noose for its own neck.

If you want to call anybody utopian, the label should be applied to those people who put their faith in a religious or secular ruler. What is more utopian than believing that a ruler will do the right thing by you? Anarchists don’t wait for pie in the sky; they don’t waste their time sacrificing their lives for illusory concepts such as God, King and Country. Their feet are planted on terra firma; their destiny is determined by their efforts and the relationships they enjoy with those around them. Anarchists refuse to put their faith in a religious authority, or their trust in a King, Queen President or Prime Minister.

If you want to place the label utopian on somebody, what is more utopian than putting your faith in a secular or religious ruler. Anarchists understand every human being is flawed. That is why they are not willing to put their fate in the hands of an external authority. The purpose of creating a non hierarchical society is to ensure that no one can use the State apparatus to impose their will on other people. Anarchists are the only ones to acknowledge in the way they organise that no one can be trusted to experience authority over another person, let alone a whole community.

To dismiss the anarchist project as utopian is ludicrous. What is more utopian than giving a ruler power to exercise authority over you - hoping against hope that somehow they will do the right thing by you, your family and your friends?

Coming from a Christian background, the feast days I remember are Christmas and Easter. Other readers from different religious backgrounds would have their own special days. Birth, deaths, marriages, baptism, confirmations etc are other days that have a religious as well as a secular tinge to them. I have always believed it is important that we have periodic ‘feast’ days when we come together to commemorate events or figures that are important to us as a political movement.

Anarchism is both a local and international movement, the desire to live in a community without rulers is an idea that occurs and reoccurs in the historical account of humanity. Events, individuals and movements come and go, but the ideas driving these events remain the same.

The desire for liberty, not the liberty to do what you want, but the liberty to live your own life free from external coercion is a universal desire. Feast days are important. We need to honour the past and create new days to mould the future. The Anarchist Media Institute’s Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion celebration is one of our attempts to find a day in Australian history that encapsulates many of the ideas that are important to us as anarchist – Direct Democracy, Direct Action, Solidarity and Internationalism. Every community has its own very important dates to commemorate. Sometimes, like the Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner story in Melbourne, you have to dig deep to discover it.

Other times you have to create your own day. For some time I have been toying with the idea of holding a NO RULERS DAY on the ludicrous Queen’s Birthday holiday that is held in most of Australia in early June. I’d be interested in feedback on this idea. Holding a No Rulers feast day on the Queen’s Birthday holiday in Australia would highlight the anarchist project to create a society without rulers where people cooperatively govern themselves. Currently I am interested in kick starting the process to organise a NATIONAL NO RULERS DAY in 2009. As I said before I am interested on feedback on the idea.

In May 1891, the Melbourne Trades Hall Council appointed representatives to organise a political labour convention. The Progressive Political League of Victoria was founded as a result of this meeting. The new party adopted the political platform of the NSW Labor Electoral League which demanded electoral reform, reform of the labour laws, social reform and supported Federation on a ‘democratic basis’.

Two of the electoral reforms they were aiming for were the abolition of plural voting and equal electoral districts on a population basis. The reforms of the labour laws they were seeking included – “a law enacting a maximum Labor Day of 8 hours, the establishment of a department of Labor, the establishment by law of Courts of Conciliation for the settlement of dispute between employers and employees and prohibition of the importation of Chinese and Coolie Islanders and of labourers under contract”.

Their social reform agenda included holding referendums to decide whether public libraries, art galleries and museums should be open on Sundays, no more Crown land to be alienated, the land and the material thereon being the common property of the people, a tax on land values exclusive of improvements, sufficient to secure for the community the unearned increment and a cumulative tax on all earnings above 300 pounds.

The Progressive Political League of Victoria’s political program was hardly a revolution program. The political program of the Party was adopted by the Melbourne Trades Hall Council in June 1891. The Progressive Political League of Victoria had 10 members elected to the Legislative Assembly’s 90 seats in the 1892 election. The 1892 election result turned out to be the highpoint of the Progressive Political League of Victoria. It went into political decline soon after the 1892 election.

“The theory that land is property subject to private ownership and control is the foundation of modern society and is eminently worthy of the superstructure. Carried to its logical conclusion, it means that some have the right to prevent others from living; for the right to own implies the right to exclusively to occupy; and intact laws of trespass are enacted whenever property in land is recognised” – Ambrosse Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary 1911.

The pamphlet advocates the only tax that should be imposed in society is a tax on land. The more land you own, the more taxes you pay. These ‘taxes’ become the birthright of each citizen. Each citizen would receive an equal share of the revenue raised. If you tax land, the pamphlet claims there is no need to tax income. Using ownership of land as the principal income source of a community drives down the price of land, giving Australians who currently cannot enter the property market the mechanism to buy an affordable home. Bryan Kavanagh suggests that “real estate currently drives the economy into boom and bust”. The ideas that are outlined in his pamphlet are not new. The Georgists have advocated similar ideas for over a century. The concepts outlined in ‘Unlocking The Riches Of Oz’ are also attractive to anarchist.

Anarchists have always stated that human beings have a right to enjoy the fruits of society because they are a part of that community. An anarchist’s access to resources is not dictated by birth, what they own, or what they do. This pamphlet raises ideas that are attractive to anarchists because it raises the idea that human beings have a birthright to land. We may not agree with how the Land Values Research Group have decided to go about the task of helping people reclaim their birthright to land but we do agree with the sentiments that underlie their calls for major reforms to the taxation system to place burden of taxation on land holders.

If you want to get hold of this attractive thought provoking little pamphlet try www.lvrg.org.au www.prosper.org.au or try the publisher – The Print Press Tel: 03 9569 4412 Fax: 03 9563 1005 email: printpress@bigpond.com

Thanks to Rhonda for putting this thought provoking pamphlet into my hot little hand to review. I have had it for a while, lost it, but fortunately found it again when I was going through a pile of correspondence. I have no hesitation in recommending this treasure to Anarchist Age Weekly Review readers.

I took them off the ledge, putting them on the ground next to my feet and did what had to be done to rehabilitate the ledge. So far so good. I stepped back to admire my handiwork when I accidentally stepped on the small wooden drum from New Caledonian, before I knew it I had set off a chain reaction with a little bit of help from Newton’s chum – gravity - each memento fell over onto the floor. Picking them up one by one, checking for any significant damage before I put them back onto the ledge, I suddenly realised what had happened was a metaphor for life.

How many times have you tried to smooth over the past and all you have managed to achieve is more arguments, stress and pain? You think you are doing the right thing, but before you know it, all hell has broken loose. You see a problem, you do what you can; before you know it, you have created more problems than you have bargained for. Maybe it’s true that the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions. It seems if we don’t keep our wits about us, we are more likely to stuff things up than smooth out those wrinkles life throws our way. As Ned Kelly is reputed to have said as they opened the trapdoor on the gallows “Such is life” – the footballer Ben Cousins can vouch for that.

In 2007, people’s personal experiences with speed cameras and red light cameras has taught them these measures have been introduced to raise revenue, not tackle the road toll. Every time a Victorian receives a letter in the mail that they have been penalised for driving at 64km/hour in a 60km zone, their belief that current road laws are designed to collect revenue, not improve the road toll, is reinforced.

People tend to obey laws when they believe those laws are on the statute books to protect them. They tend to ignore them when they believe they are unfair. The ill will that is generated in the community by the placement of speed cameras in locations that have been chosen to collect revenue, not impact on road safety, has created a climate of resentment against all road laws. Community resentment at what many believe to be an unfair system that is designed to target drivers’ hip pockets, not decrease the road toll, is reflected in the disturbing trends outlined in the Sunday Age (16/12).

If we want to have a further impact on the road toll, we do not need leaders who are willing to risk short term unpopularity for long term benefits. We need leaders who are willing to take Victorians into their confidence and introduce road safety laws that are designed to have an impact on the road tolls, not laws that are primarily designed to increase State revenue.

Only when people see and understand the need for particular road safety laws, will the pent up resentment in the community that currently prevents the road safety message from getting across dissipate.

Published by the Anarchist Media Institute, Written by Dr. Joseph TOSCANO EAM, this booklet will be launched at the Tunnerminnerwait & Maulboyheenner Commemorations in Melbourne on the 20th of January 2008.

Order your copy today – send 20 x 50cent stamps to:

AMI – P.O. Box 20, Parkville 3052, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

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’

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

A charity has been forced to pay copyright fees, b/c their staff radio can be heard by the public & their Xmas carol event involves kids singing copyrighted carols. UK charity Dam House received a visit last yr from the Performing Rights Society, who told them they’d need to pay for a license, b/c the radio in the kitchen of their tea-room can be heard by the general public. They managed to pay the 230 pound annual fee by holding a raffle. However the PRS questioned them about what other activities they allowed on premises, & told them that their annual children's carol concert would be taken into account when calculating their license fee, as it incl songs which were copyrighted. This yr the annual event is in doubt, after their fee was raised to 470 pounds. Wigan Observer [UK])

A lawyer representing the US govt has told a British court that the US has the right to kidnap citizens of other countries. Alun Jones QC told the Court of Appeal that it was acceptable under US law to kidnap people if they were wanted for offences in USA. 'If you kidnap a person outside the US & u bring him there, the court has no jurisdiction to refuse - it goes back to bounty hunting days in the 1860s' he said. Jones said 'The US does have a view about procuring people to its own shores which is not shared.' (The Times [UK])

A 6yo girl who was left brain-damaged at the hands of her parents will receive unsupervised visits from her mother, despite the Dept of Community Services claiming it could 'end in tragedy.' DOCS Dir-Gen Dr Neil Shepherd wrote 'the course that’s been embarked on may end in tragedy'. However he was unable to prevent the visitation order made by the courts. Both the girls' parents were charged with abuse after she arrived at hospital aged 10 months, with a fractured skull, underfed, & covered in bruises & scars. Her foster mother says the girl has already had several visits with her biological mother, & has complained of being locked out of the house, of her mother's male friends threatening to put her in a washing machine. 'She is absolutely petrified' she said. 'I have no problem with her seeing her mother in supervised visits, but it has to be in her best interests & when she comes home sobbing & banging her head against a wall that is not in her best interests.' (Daily Telegraph)

Roughly half of all wage deals checked by the Coalition's workplace watchdog have failed the 'fairness test' & been sent back to employers for correction. The Workplace Authority confirmed 26,833 agreements had been rejected for failing to comply with minimum standards since the PM introduced the test in May - 49.2% of those that have been fully checked. Another 142,000 agreements have yet to be fully checked. The standards are meant to ensure employees who lose conditions such as overtime receive some compensation. (The Australian)

QUOTE OF THE MOMENT: 'There’s no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight.' Ricardo Sanchez, ex commander of Western forces in Iraq, on the war.

QUOTE OF THE MOMENT: 'The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.' Karl Marx.