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I S S U E 8
* * * * * * *
No 1. May '89
Sydney, Australia
ISSUE 8 was put together by a collective who wanted to see an
anti-authoritarian, easy-to-read magazine which is applicable to
everyday life. We make editorial decisions by concensus, though the
views in each article won't always reflect each of our viewpoints.
In these cases we'll try and present an article with an alternative
opinion.
Contributions are welcome. The decision to print them is up to the
collective, but if we do we won't edit them.
We decided to charge 50c (although we don't really believe in
charging) because we need to cover costs or we won't be bringing out
another issue. But if you can't afford 50c - take one anyway.
@ @ @
Killer Cops and Cop Killers
---------------------------
The media is trying to equate the killing of a cop (allegedly) by a
Koori with the killing of a Koori by a cop. There is no equation to
be made.
If there was a dead cop for every Koori the filth have killed, this
country wouldn't have a police force.
Apart from this, the circumstances are totally unrelated. The filth
deliberately and consciously choose their role as protectors of the
rich and the ruling class. When they put on their uniforms, they
become a symbol of the oppression they uphold. Oppression that makes
everyday life unbearable for millions of us around the world. It is
not surprising when a cop gets killed, what is surprising is that we
let any of them walk our streets and live!
David Gundy's death was different. He was just an ordinary person
living his life quietly and doing no-one any harm. Inside, he was
the same as you or me. But he was shot because he was black.
The dead cop wasn't born a cop, he chose it. David Gundy's blackness
was not oppressing anybody. Cops kill blacks every day - killing and
injuring innocent people is part of their culture. Blacks do no kill
cops every day, their culture is considerably more advanced than
that of the filth.
The linking together of the two deaths by the media is just another
lie. A disgusting attempt to justify yet another black death.
(The writer of this article is white.)
@@@
May 5, around 300 aboriginal and non-aboriginal people rallied and
marched through the city to parliament house demanding a public
enquiry into David Gundy's murder. About 50 then marched on to the
supreme court to attend the royal commission. The cops scurried
ahead and blocked the door. People asked to be let in, it was their
right. The cops refused and soon every doorway was locked or blocked
by them. People demanded to be let through. The cops weren't
budging. Three suited lawyers came out. They called one of us over
and said what the cops were doing was illegal. They were disgusted.
A koori assistant with the royal commission came out and said we
must be let in, just no banners. The cops said go in the front door.
Those cops said go in the back door. They sent people from door to
door about four times. A Herald photographer got in. We watched as a
bunch of cops threw him to the ground. All the time outside groups
of cops were slowly surrounding the court and the people trying to
go in. Cameras and videos were all over the place. They weren't
all media.
@@@
*****************************************************************
* *
* David Gundy *
* *
* shot by special weapons operation section *
* *
* April 27, 1989. *
* *
* an innocent victim of police 'edginess'. *
* *
*****************************************************************
@ @ @
Health & Wealth
---------------
The food cooperative is an idea that has been around for quite a
long time and has often been put into pratice with a large degree of
success. It is practical to pool resources to buy a variety of
fresh, wholesome food that would otherwise be unavailable to many
people. When the group Community Action squatted two shopfronts on
Broadway in Sydney they were extending this idea in the form of a
cooperative community cafe called SLOTHS. It was much more than a
meeting place, because the people involved wanted to make somewhere
available where people could drop in and have healthy meals and
snacks, or just a drink, on a donation basis, making it available
for all. SLOTHS was succesful in its aims during the short time it
was open and is an encouragement to others trying to set up similar
places.
Establishing a cafe that is run by the people who will use it will
result in an environment where people can meet with others to share
similar ideas and concerns. Often it is very difficult for people
with only a small income, restricted living space or no permanent
place to live to eat well. Also many people may refuse to eat food
like meat and dairy products on principle, making it much more
difficult to find suitable take-away or prepared food. If you don't
live in a place where there are good cooking and storage facilities
(like a fridge) then it may be difficult to eat fresh, nutritious
food, simply because it is too expensive. Also most food that is
pure and chemical-free is considered 'Health Food' and is only sold
in expensive health food shops.
That is why it is good to see people coming up with new ideas to
overcome these problems - forming community cooperatives where
the $ is not the ruling motive. Joining with others to form a
cooperative cafe, or just to be able to buy good food cheaply means
that you can avoid suporting unethical and exploitative companies
and ways of producing food. A really succesful example of this is
ALFALFA HOUSE, a food co-op in Enmore, Sydney, where members work
voluntarily to obtain discounted wholefood of a largely organic
nature. Consequently they are significantly cheaper than any health
food shops and still maintain an emphasis on organic food that is
produced in the most environmentally conscious way.
SLOTHS was in action for three days in Sydney and functioned
succesfully during this time. There have also been other examples of
cafes based on similar principles; in both Melbourne and Brisbane
anarchist cafes have been run on a more long term basis. Through
direct action in the form of food co-ops and cafes we can avoid
being exploited by the food industry and minimise our participation
in the exploitation of others. It is also a chance to develop a
community network in one area and that may lead to other activities
in the future.
Many vegetarians and vegans find it very difficult to find places to
eat that cater for their diet adequately. Considering that this is
the most healthy and unexploitative way to eat, there should be more
encouragement for people to take up these habits. Also for people
with little money to spare, a vegan diet is usually far more
nutritious than most conventional diets. Most mainstream food
outlets do not cater for this 'minority of extremists' as it is not
seen to be profitable. It is up to us to set up our own cafes where
we can probide this sort of food without the profit motive.
@ @ @
Who Are The Colonizers?
-----------------------
The British invaded Australia in 1788. Or did they? When the first
fleet landed, the vast majority of the British people were at home
in Britain struggling to survive, and with no interest in Australia
or even any idea where it was.
As we know, most of those people who arrived that day could hardly
be said to be invading - they certainly didn't want to invade,
anyway. They were brought here against their will.
So who did invade Australia two hundred years ago then?
The language they were using should give us a clue. They called
Australia "Terra Nullius". They came here speaking Latin! Two
thousand years ago an army invaded Britain speaking the same
language.
But these people were no more Roman than they were British. True,
they were the spiritual and cultural descendants of the Roman
invaders, even if they weren't their full-blood descendants.
But of course, the Romans weren't the last people to colonize
Britain. They arrived in about 50BC and stayed for 400 years. After
them came the Angles and the Saxons, two Germanic tribes, who gave
us the expression "Anglo Saxon" (which most British people aren't
really - any more than Koories are British). They also gave us the
starting point for the modern English language.
After them, the Vikings, who came from Scandinavia, piled in -
thinking everyone else is at it, we better join in while there's
still something left to take!
And then, nearly 1000 years ago, the Normans became the last people
to invade and colonize Britain.
So these people who colonized Australia in the name of the British
people were not British. In reality they were the descendants of all
this lot and the representatives of a European colonizing class.
Naturally, this class has never advertized its existence. They have
always preferred, instead, to carry out their disgusting acts in the
name of other people. That way nobody ever gets to identify them and
fight back against the real colonizers.
Of course, the important thing for them is to convince the people
that are being invaded that it is a whole nation that's doing the
colonizing. Usually they will never have heard of that country
before and certainly won't know who they really are.
A bit harder than that, is convincing the people back at home that
they are colonizing another country. This can be tricky - especially
when they've probably never even left the town or village where they
were born. But it's made much easier when you own the press and are
in control of all the channels of communication. And by the time
Australia was invaded, they'd had a good two thousand years
practice. More, if you trace their ancestry back through the Greek
empire and beyond.
So, with a combination of force and lies, playing on extreme poverty
and hardship, they eventually brought enough British people here to
fight their colonial war for them. Then they just stood back and
watched from a distance while two races, who had no real reason to
hate each other, fought.
The Koories, naturally enough, fought back to defend themselves and
the land. But the people they had to fight against had virtually no
control over what was going on (and were probably totally spun out
by the whole situation) so they felt it was them that was being
attacked. So they fought back and things just grew from there.
Meanwhile, the real colonizers are laughing as they count their
millions, safe in the knowlege that everyone is too busy fighting
each other and struggling for survival to stop and turn on them,
their real enemies.
And this is still the way it is even now - in an age where a lot of
us think we're more enlightened. We're still fighting for the
colonizers' survival!!!
It's time to stop fighting each other and identify our real enemies.
Because the bastards are still counting their millions and laughing
at us. Stop and think. You know who they are.
It's time for people of all races and cultures to unite and forget
the differences that they've put between us. It's them we should be
fighting, they are our enemies and while we're fighting each other,
we're fighting for them.
There's millions more of us than there are of them. They won't stand
a chance if we're united and they know it! That's why they
constantly fuel the fight with their newspapers and their radio and
television. Don't listen to them. Think for yourself.
Stand up and fight back! Now.
@ @ @
My Life
-------
"That's my life!" I thought, looking at the pile of bits of paper
and things on the rush-matting floor by my bag (the one i've been
living out of for nine months). A half-filled-out divorce
application form, a screwed up green DSS form saying "Invalid
Pension - Medical Examination", a crushed pack of Serepax and a
crushed pack of Mogadon. A lock cylinder for me next squat and a
slightly battered book called "Old Worlds And New Australia".
The only real cause for hope was was a shiny new copy of "The
Alternative Printing Handbook" which Carol bought yesterday at Black
Rose.
Maybe tomorrow *will* be different!
@ @ @
Community Action
----------------
After three weeks of careful planning, a newly-formed group of about
thirty people squatted two shops in Sydney's Broadway. The shops had
been empty for a long time, were fairly run-down and were next door
to each other. It was Sunday afternoon, the 9th of April.
At midday on Monday, they opened for business. A desperately needed
community cafe was in number 151, serving hot food and tea and
coffee - all free, but donations helped frovide the food etc. It was
one of the most comfortable places in Sydney to go and sit for a
while and meet a few people. There was also a small bookshop section
with magazines and pamphlets etc.
Next door, in number 149, Self Help Housing Advice had set up their
housing advice centre and were ready to do whatever they could to
help fight the appalling housing problem in this heartless city. A
new group, they formed partly in response to the state government's
axing of all housing advice agencies and the demise of the UUST
(Union of Unemployed Squatters and Tenants).
Also in 149, was Radio Skid Row, inner Sydney's homeless community
radio station. Although they are being put up, for now, in the
studios of Radio Redfern (Sydney's Koori station), this can't last
and their situation is getting pretty dire.
Everyone involved put a lot of work into the places - including
paintin the rather tatty shopfronts - and the centre was well
established by the time it opened - 23 hours after being squatted!
It should have been there for ever, and made a massive improvement
to the lives of everyone involved and hundreds of people in the
South Sydney area, but it wasn't that simple.
On Wedenesday they were accidentally discovered by some properties
dept. officials who came back later with the council cops. Later,
the mayor showed up in his fucking flash limo, refused to identify
himself, checked the place out and called in the filth to evict
them. He obviously wanted the community centre closed before the
rest of the council had a chance to discuss it at their meeting two
hours later.
A few members of the various collectives - working under the
co-ordinating name of "Community Action" - went to the council
meeting, only to be met by three cops on the door (somebody was
obviously feeling a bit nervous!) And now they are going through a
drawn-out process where the council is thinking of offering them
some premises somewhere.
Where and when (and, of course, if...) are something we'll have to
wait and see, I suppose. But a really well put together 20 page
submission (produced in 2-1/2 days) and a lot of local support
should increase their chances of success.