LL:DDV: Maribyrnong 2002 meeting Wed May 29 7.30pm
Hi all, Please forward this email to anyone who might be interested... Maribyrnong 2002 Planning Meeting: 7.30pm Wednesday May 29th Old Ballroom Trades Hall, cnr Lygon and Victoria Sts Maribyrnong 2002 is a two day protest and festival outside the Maribrynong Detention Centre which will take place on Friday 28 - Saturday 29 June. This event has been initiated by the Refugee Action Collective, but ALL groups and individuals are invited to paricipate. Regular network meetings have been planned to allow different groups that wish to take part in Maribyrnong 2002 to come together and share their thoughts, ideas and proposals as to how the event should unfold. The next meeting will take place on Wednesday May 29th at Trades Hall, cnr Lygon and Victoria Sts, in the Old Ballroom at 7.30pm. At the last meeting, members of various groups began to plan and take responsibility for various aspects of the festival/rally/protest, and shared thoughts on different actions and events that could take place. Music, food, soccer matches, balloons, protest actions, pinata's and colour are some of things that were discussed. Bring along your ideas and skills to help make this event a success. It should be an exciting occasion, and inclusive of the various strands of the pro-refugee movement. There will be room for all to make their own contributions to a memorable event at Melbourne's own suburban detention centre. Giada Caluzzi (Refugee Action Collective) on behalf of the Maribyrnong Network ph: 9659 3505 (Refugee Action Collective office) email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] website: www.maribyrnong2002.org http://briefcase.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Briefcase - Save your important files online for easy access! -- 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
LL:DDV: Beneath Clouds screening 3CR fundraiser
Beneath Clouds The acclaimed Australian film directed by Ivan Sen (Dust, Wind and Tears) Winner of the Berlin International Film Festival First Movie Award the story of two teenagers thrown together on a journey with no money and no transport. Lena (Danielle Hall), is on the run from her aboriginal upbringing and in search of her Irish father who left her when she was young. Vaughn, (Damian Pitt) is an angry young aboriginal teenager who is on the run from a low-level security prison. Meeting while hitchhiking on the road to Sydney, Lena and Vaughn come to understand each other through their respective search for purpose, love and identity. 3CR Radiothon Benefit screening for Accent of Women and Tuesday Breaky Sunday 2 June 5pm for 5.15pm Cinema Nova 380 Lygon St Carlton Forum follows the show at 7pm with Melissa Brickell on Stolen Generations food and drinks available Tickets $15/$12 available from Indira at 3CR - 21 Smith St Fitzroy 9419 8377 orPetra 0408 161 454 -- 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
LL:DDV: Budget protest
The Socialist Alliance has called a speakout and protest against the Federal Budget under the slogan, Welfare not Warfare. It will take place from 5pm on Friday, May 24, on the Nike corner (Swanston and Bourke sts, city). Speakers include Karen Moran, disability officer with the CFMEU, and union and student activists. All welcome -- bring placards opposing this attempt to whip up militarism and racism at the expense of health, education and welfare. For more details or to add your support, ring 0418 316 310. * Please forward widely * www.socialist-alliance.org -- 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
LL:DDN: close pine gap - no star wars
CLOSE PINE GAP NO STARS WARS Information Evening Thursday, 6 June 6 - 7.30 pm Boardroom, Level 3, 410 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills (near the corner with Devonshire Street. If you arrive after 6 pm and the front door is locked, please dial 65 on the dial system on the left) info on Pine Gap - buses - costs - timetable - ideas for actions - legal matters - affinity groups - and more Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition PO Box A899, Sydney South NSW 1235. Phone: (02) 9212 0800. Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- 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
LL:ART: Behind Mark Latham's new ideas
The following articles were published in The Guardian, newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, May 23rd, 2002. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Guardian: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au Subscription rates on request. ** Behind Mark Latham's new ideas On May Day (of all days), Mark Latham, who presents himself as a Labor Party guru and policy-maker, gave a talk to the Fabian Society on the Future of the ALP. A few days later he launched a document entitled Ownership: A New Agenda for Political and Industrial Labor. By Peter Symon(CPA General Secretary) He opened his speech to the Fabian Society by railing against the fact that for the last six years, since the defeat of the Keating Government in 1996, the Labor Party has been raking over old debates and practicing an old style of politics. He is encouraged by the election of Simon Crean as Labor Party leader. His theme of modernisation is music to my ears, Latham said. Mark Latham claims that Crean is modernising the Federal frontbench, modernising the Party's structure and rules, modernising the Party's policies and platform. Another of Mark Latham's favourite words is new -- new Labor policies, new politics, new public philosophies, new economy, new ideas, new constituencies, new growth theories, etc. Mark Latham's new ideas smack very much of Tony Blair's New Labor which is already running into trouble in Britain on a number of fronts. He quotes one of the Labor Party's early leaders, Andrew Fisher, we are all socialist now. In obvious repudiation of this Mark Latham goes on: Today we are all crossing over. What we are all crossing over to becomes apparent as Mr Latham warms to his topic. He has the regulation swipe at Karl Marx just to make sure that everyone knows where he stands. For all his errors and delusions, Karl Marx got one thing right. The dialectic propels history towards a new synthesis, a new politics beyond Left and Right. One wonders whether any of his audience of Fabians saw anything wrong with that claim? Karl Marx never ever drew any such conclusion. In the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels said: The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all the other proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat. (Birth of the Communist Manifesto p 103) This hardly sounds like a synthesis, a new politics beyond Left and Right. But Mr Latham's reference is not about giving his audience an understanding of Marx, it was to make it clear that he differentiated himself from Marx. Just to make doubly certain that no one will accuse him of any lingering socialist ideas he says, A future Labor Government will not socialise the means of production, distribution and exchange. Despite enormous evidence to the contrary, he declares that market forces work better than planned economies, free trade works better than tariffs and industry welfare, competition policy works better than monopolies, public and private, while job security lies in a good education and lifelong learning. Mark Latham claims that the most powerful trend in Australian politics is the emergence of free agents -- the new class of consultants, contractors, knowledge workers and entrepreneurs in the new economy. These free agents have crossed over the industrial relations divide. Small and self-reliant, they see no need for trade union or employer representation. Their idea of a good society is a deregulated economy, quality education and safe and supportive neighbourhoods. [these] free agents are doing it for themselves, with flexible hours and lifestyles. Free agents It is on these free agents doing it for themselves that Mr Latham obviously wishes to orient the Labor Party. He claims that there are now 800,000 home-based offices. The fact that computer technology has created the possibility of doing work from home cannot be disputed, but how free are such consultants and contractors? Is it not a fact that many are consultants and contractors to big corporations? Many are no more than employees working for a contracted wage but without the legal entitlements of award workers. Many pay their own workers' compensation and insurance. They are pay for their own holidays, long service leave, sick leave and superannuation contributions. If one follows the telephone lines which connect the computers of the knowledge workers to the rest of the world it will be found that they are also tightly tied into one or another business enterprise or corporation. Otherwise, how could their knowledge become useful to the rest of society? It is a fact that intellectual property has these days also become a commodity for sale and purchase. However, knowledge by itself
LL:ART: A war Budget
The following articles were published in The Guardian, newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, May 22nd, 2002. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Guardian: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au Subscription rates on request. ** A WAR BUDGET The Federal Budget wages war on the poor, on the sick, the aged, the unemployed, people with disabilities, working class families, working women, and Indigenous Australians. It wages war on the environment. It wages war against the people of Afghanistan and whoever else the US might decide to fight in its so-called war on terrorism. It wages war on asylum seekers who come to our shores for assistance. It wages war on those who dare to criticise or take action in opposition to the Government's big business policies. By Anna Pha It's a blatant class Budget, Peter Symon, CPA General Secretary told The Guardian. Working class families and those most disadvantaged in our community are having their living standards forced down substantially. Many will be driven into poverty. Absolute priority is being given to military spending in preparation for future military adventures against the multitude of 'enemies' being named by US President Bush. On the other hand billions are being channelled into the pockets of the private insurance companies, to military contractors, private health providers, to private schools and other big business friends of Howard and Costello. The discriminatory intentions of the Government have never been clearer, said Mr Symon. Talkback radio has been flooded with desperate callers, panic-stricken that they will not be able to afford essential medications or will be removed from their disability pension. Some even talk of suicide. This budget is committed to big spending on the 'War on Terrorism' and preventing asylum seekers from reaching Australia at the expense of our 'War on Poverty' at home, said Father Norden, spokesperson for the National Coalition Against Poverty. It is time the Government got serious about eradicating hardship and poverty in Australia rather than continuing to introduce measures to make life tougher for those on low incomes, said Father Norden. Thousands of people with disabilities will be forced into the Job Network system if the Senate passes the Government's measures. (See page 5) Their income will be reduced by $52 a fortnight, many of their concessions will vanish, at the same time as their medication rises by $1 (28 percent) per prescription. The government hopes to drive more people into the private health sector by continuing to underfund and undermine Medicare and the public health system. The savings from its callous and cruel health and social security cuts (including cuts to unemployment assistance) will be poured into the war machine, policing, security, intelligence communications, locking up asylum seekers and turning people away from our borders. The only military threat to Australia is the Government's blind allegiance to the warmongering of US President Bush. There will be a new battlespace communications system for the development of intelligence infrastructure called e-security. The Government speaks in terms of sharing information with the private sector. Later in the year we can expect further increases in military spending which are not included in this budget. ASIO receives a huge boost to its funds, as does the Australian Federal Police for Threat Assessment. These funds are to enforce the new terror laws currently before Parliament. Priorities back to front The defence allocation is a whopping $13.144 billion with another $2 billion on public order and safety. The education budget is less than $12 billion and an increasing proportion of that are handouts to the private sector at the expense of public education. Tax on superannuation is to be cut for those on high incomes, but not for low or middle-income workers. Choice of superannuation fund is back and aims to destroy the industry schemes which were initiated by trade unions. They are to be replaced with retirement accounts and other investment schemes being promoted by the finance sector. The proposed Baby Bonus is geared to assist high income women who could gain as much as $48 per week. The 30 per cent of working women on low incomes will receive less than $10 a week. Privatisation is high on the agenda, with plans to sell the remainder of Telstra, Medibank Private, Sydney Airport, ComLand, assets of the Defence Housing Authority and many other government properties. Taken as a whole, the budget represents a further retreat by the Government from its responsibility to provide social security, health, education and other essential services to the community. The areas in which the Government is not retreating -- military
