Anarchist campaigner and publicist, Dr Joe Toscano is launching his anti-election campaign......
** * *** * *MEDIA CONFERENCE** * *** * * DATE : THURSDAY 1ST NOVEMBER, 10.30AM VENUE : Forecourt Australian Electoral Commission, 2 Lonsdale St, Melbourne TOPIC : Direct Democratic Activists Will Be Converging Outside Polling Booths Across The Country On Saturday The 10th Of November Victorian Senate Candidates Dr. Joseph Toscano and Mr. Stephen Reghenzani and a number of their supporters will be holding a media conference on the 1st of November to launch their I DIDN'T VOTE - ASK ME WHY? I VOTED INFORMAL - ASK ME WHY? Election day campaign. Democracy should be much more than casting a ballot every three years. The people involved in a decision should be able to make that decision - DIRECT DEMOCRACY. On election day we encourage all those Australians who will not be voting or will be voting informal, because they have no faith in the parliamentary system to stand at least six meters from the entrance of polling booths, holding up signs or wearing badges that state:- I DIDN'T VOTE - ASK ME WHY? I VOTED INFORMAL - ASK ME WHY? On the 10th of November, political and social activists who are no longer willing to support the myth that power lies in parliament and who believe that parliamentary democracy is nothing more than two minutes of illusory power will be taking the message that people involved in a decision should make that decision - DIRECT DEMOCRACY directly to the Australian people. Written and authorised by Joseph Toscano. Victorian Senate Candidate. 205 Nicholson Street, Footscray. Parliamentary democracy - two minutes of illusory power - why vote? I am 49, I have NEVER voted at a Local, State or Federal election and am not on the Electoral Roll, but I am standing as a SENATE candidate for Victoria at the Federal elections on the 10th of November, 2001. Although I am standing as a Senate candidate, I DON'T WANT your vote and WILL NOT be VOTING at the election. I am standing because I'm very concerned about the shortcomings of the parliamentary system and want electors to think about why they bother to participate in the parliamentary farce. Parliamentary democracy is nothing more than two minutes of illusory power. Every three years Australians are forced by legislation (Section 245 Ð Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 Ð 'It shall be the duty of every elector to vote at each election') to give BLANK CHEQUES to PARLIAMENTARIANS to make decisions for them for the next three years. Irrespective of what they are promised a politician can legally change their mind while they are in parliament and an elector can do nothing about it till the next election. Even this scenario is an illusion because REAL power does not lie in parliament, it lies in the boardrooms of national and trans-national corporations. What parliament can or cannot do, is not only prescribed by the Australian Constitution, its power is limited by the needs of an economic system, it does not control. I am no longer willing to tolerate this SHAM and encourage Australians to seriously think about why they are participating in and supporting a system of government that makes a laughing stock of democracy. The more people who don't participate in this election, the greater the pressure that will be placed on the government for reforms that puts democracy back into the political and social equation in this country. I want to live in a society which is based on DIRECT DEMOCRACTIC principles where the people involved in a decision make that decision. In a society based on direct democratic principles, people appoint or elect recallable delegates to coordinate decisions for them, they don't elect representatives to make decisions for them. I want to live in a society where wealth is held in common, as everybody who runs a household knows, if you don't control the financial strings, it doesn't matter what decisions you make, you can never bring these decisions to fruition if you don't control your economic destiny. On the 10th of November, I have decided NOT to exercise my constitutional right to vote. I encourage Australian electors to consider my stand when they go to cast their ballot in the election. If parliamentary democracy is as we're told the pinnacle of human achievement, why does the Australian State force people to vote, you'd think that people would flock to the polls every time an election was called. I have teamed up with another Senate candidate for Victoria, Mr. Stephen Reghenzani, for this election. Mr. Reghenzani is on the electoral roll, but will be voting informal at the election on the 10 th of November. He encourages those people who are dissatisfied with the parliamentary system to vote informal at this election, to show their dissatisfaction with parliamentary rule. Just in case you think what you have read are the rantings of a telephone box minority, think again. 14% of electors didn't vote (9%) or voted informal (5%) at the recent Aston by-election in Melbourne. At the Federal election in 1998 around a million electors who are entitled to be on the roll were not enrolled. Eight per cent of electors on the Commonwealth Electoral roll didn't vote or voted informal at the last Federal election. Dr. Joseph Toscano Victorian Senate Candidate Written and authorised by Joseph Toscano, 205 Nicholson Street, Footscray Melbourne. -------------------------------------------------- Anarchist Media Institute P. O. Box 20, Parkville. Vic. 3052 Australia Telephone: (03) 9828-2856 (24 hr Message Centre) Fax: (03) 9482-4371 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anarchist World This Week Radio Programme on the net: - http://www.freespeech.org/anarchistAge Wednesdays 10am for one hour on Community Radio 3CR in Melbourne and on community stations across Australia via the Community Radiop Satellite -------------------------------------------------- For background information, including Joe Toscano's 1998 antielection campaign visit: http://www.takver.com/history/elections/index.htm -- with solidarity Takver Takver's Initiatives - http://www.takver.com Radical Tradition, an Australasian History Page Visit Anarres Books - http://www.anarres.org.au -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
