BNP vs. Indymedia

Posted on December 1, 2008 by @ndy

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Lee Barnes (LLB Hons) — the BNP’s very own Lionel Hutz — has issued legal threats to Indymedia UK. According to Barnes (LLB Hons), who heads the BNP’s Legal Affairs Unit, Indymedia may be subject to legal action and/or have the names, addresses, contact and financial details of the persons running or hosting the Indymedia website collected and published by the BNP’s “internal investigations team”. The same team, presumably, what was involved in collecting data from a small number of dissident BNP members expelled in December 2007.

On the 21st November 08 Indymedia UK received an email from someone claiming to be a legal representative for the British National Party, threatening to take legal action on a number of counts for publishing information on BNP members.

After the hilarity of the “little Fuhrer”, Nick Griffin, running to the safety of the Human Rights Act to try to prevent the publication of members’ details, Britain’s fascist party has resorted to threats.

The letter sent to Indymedia by Lee John Barnes LLB (Hons), from the “BNP Legal Affairs Unit”, threatens to take legal action, on the basis of theft, data protection and contempt of court, unless the list of members is removed.

The “lawyer” also attempts to shoehorn his charges into the form of anti-terrorism legislation, “The use of this information we feel is being hosted on your site for use only to incite acts of harassment, incite violence and direct targeted attacks against our members in the Leeds area”. He then goes on to explain the sections of the Terrorism Act under which Indymedia would be charged.

Lee Barnes (LLB Hons) is silly. He also makes BNP Fuhrer Nick Griffin look silly for describing the leaking of the membership list as “fantastic”!

Funnily enough, I received a similar cease and desist letter from the bizarros at mathaba.net back in April 2008:

Direct Email: [email protected]
Our Ref: LT/AU/DQ/US/MNN/Cor8.1
April 9, 2008
URGENT
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Sirs,

anarchobase.com

We wrote to you on this matter yesterday, and it was confirmed by telephone call to your offices that the letter had indeed been received. You are now obliged to answer us to avoid costs for delays in resolution of the issue which is urgent, and which is causing added stress and ill health to the target of this campaign.

Our research shows that you are providing services to anarchobase.com.

Our letter of yesterday put you on notice of the publication of articles on the above web site, which include but are not limited to, the one with the most serious allegations as it also deliberately names and targets the litigant and repeats false allegations which were the subject of the above mentioned litigation and which were quashed in the Royal Courts of England: http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=1099

Our letter of yesterday constituted notice to you of the above pursuant to Section 1 of the Defamation Act 1996 and other similar legislation in Australia, the United States, Canada and the many other countries where the Anarchobase publication has reached substantial audiences [my emphasis!], all of from which legal action can be therefore brought under the respective national legislations.

If you continue to provide services to the publisher of the above material or any future material in relation to this malicious campaign, whether that be hosting, Domain Names Services, registry services, or any other service you will bear liability for it.

Otherwise you must give the full name and contact details of the legal individual (legally registered legal entity such as company or registered association or individual person with full name and physical location of contact and presence) who is responsible for the publication of the defamatory articles…

Tricksy… very tricksy… although the several legal figures I consulted seemed to think that it wasn’t all that clever. (See : mathaba.net : last words, May 1, 2008.)

Both then and now, mathaba.net hosted the expert opinions of Nutzis Flavio Goncalves (Portugal) and Welf Herfurth (Australia), and members of the local branch of the New Right — another Nutzi groupuscule whose UK branch hosts regular London meetings organised by the Nutzi Troy Southgate — crowed online about their involvement in temporarily shutting down my blog.

    Above : Fredrick Töben (Adelaide Institute) and Welf Herfurth (ex-One Nation, ex-Australia First Party[?], mathaba.net) annexe Sydney using the MaGiCaL pOwErS invested in Horst Mahler‘s flag and on behalf of the Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, January 27, 2005.

In summary: last month I got almost 15,000 visits.

In other news, Antifa UK has joined who-knows-how-many-other-sites in publishing the BNP membership list. Handily, it’s available as a PDF, which means it’s easily searchable. If, for example, you wanted to discover whether any BNP members reside in Australia, all you have to do is pop the term ‘Australia’ into the Search function and — Voila! — Alex Trussler, Rick Smith, Benjamin Hugh Smith and a dozen other names are highlighted.

In further fallout from the “fantastic” leakage, a man in Belfast is Not. Happy. Nick.

Or so says the Belfast Telegraph (Union man who is behind the door about BNP membership, Ciaran McGuigan, November 30, 2008):

This is the outspoken BNP member who faces the boot from his frontline trade union role because of his hardline views. Right-wing activist Tim Clarke isn’t usually ‘behind-the-door’ about his opinions — but he’d kept his British National Party membership a secret from his colleagues in the Nipsa trade union [“NIPSA is the largest trade union in Northern Ireland representing 44,000 members across the civil and public service and the voluntary sector”].

But the Social Security Agency civil servant was outed along with thousands of supporters of the right-wing organisation when a disgruntled former member published their details on the internet.

Now Clarke’s union colleagues want him booted out of their trade union . . . and out of his civil service job. They’re understood to have complained to the union’s hierarchy about Clarke’s continuing role as a branch secretary in the public service union.

Nipsa’s general secretary John Corey yesterday confirmed that inquiries had been received from local union branches about the BNP membership issue. He said that the matter would be raised by the union’s general council. Said Mr Corey: “Across the UK, trade unions have made clear they consider BNP membership to be incompatible with trade union membership. “Trade unions stand for upholding the rights of every person, equality for all and against any forms of racism.”

[Continued…]

“Mr Griffin and Mr Irving have every right to be heard in a free society and students attending the debate have the right to listen without being subjected to irrational attacks by a bunch of far left thugs.

The real threat to our freedom today is neither a properly constituted political party (i.e the BNP) whose support is growing daily in the face of increasing dictatorship from Brussels and unsustainable population growth due to mass immigration, nor a controversial but generally misrepresented historian who has been gagged by the liberal media for doing his job when they don’t like the findings of his research.

The real threat to our civil liberties today comes from the multiculturalist and pro-globalisation liberal/left agenda which seeks to impose itself on every aspect of life in modern Britain. The BNP is the only real opposition to these sinister anti-democratic forces which are destroying the whole fabric of our society.”

~ Tim Clarke, Belfast, United Kingdom, A letter to The Times, November 26, 2007 inre ‘Rival students clash as Holocaust denier turns up for Oxford debate’

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media | 4 Comments

Arson against Swedish social centre Cyklopen

Posted on December 1, 2008 by @ndy

BEFORE

As if the cops weren’t bad enough…

AFTER

“As I stated on the Bombshell forum Andy, you are a liar, a hypocrite and no better than the trash that you fight against.” ~ Dion, December, 2007
“Anarchy is a fag. Thanx to the people who have supported us… and to the random people letting us know about this anarchist knobjockey Mr Moran.” ~ Chunga (The Worst), September 2007

Arson against Swedish social centre Cyklopen, UK Indymedia, November 30, 2008

In September last year people from all over the world descended on Stockholm and converged at the grand opening of the newly built social center Cyklopen, the Cyclops. The building was the result of a long struggle towards a self run cultural space on in Stockholm and an architectural wonder. Built in a total DIY spirit, the building was built around two stacks of containers that acted as the supporting structure and small meeting and storage rooms. The façade of the house was made of several doors, a draw bridge and a collage of mismatched windows. The inauguration saw workshops about Oaxaca, social centers and autonomous spaces, trauma support, feminism and class and much more. A newly started kitchen provided ambitious food on a donation basis and there were parties with DJs and bands in the evenings. A long article was written in CrimethInc’s Rolling Thunder Magazine #4 that tells the story of the house and contains many photos.

Yesterday, just a little more than a year after the opening of the house, it burnt to the ground. Arson is suspected and it is more than probable that Nazis were behind the attack. Every year sees a lot of Nazi activity around Sweden this time of the year as the Nazis celebrate the imperialist Swedish ‘war’ king, Karl XII. Today in Lund, the southern city that the king lived part of his life, about 50-70 nazis demonstrated and were met by resistance from about 1000 anti-fascists, some of who clashed with both nazis and police. In Stockholm two nazi/nationalist demonstrations have taken place and clashes are occurring throughout the city as bottles, flares and fireworks are being used to attack the nazis. Police are hunting groups of anti-fascists throughout the city and trying to contain them.*

The 30th November demonstrations used to be the big show of force for Swedish nazis but in recent years the Salem march has become the main yearly event and has attracted up to 2000 nazis, making it one of the biggest nazi demonstrations in Europe. The Salem march has been happening every year on the 9th of December since 2001 and was started as a day of remembrance of the murdered bonehead and nazi sympathiser Daniel Wretström who was killed in a gang fight on the 9th of December 2000. The nazis claim that he was the victim of anti-Swedish violence and multi-cultural society. Every year their march is met by a large anti-fascist mobilisation and are always outnumbered but protected by a huge police force.

The Culture Campaign and the Cyclops are a part of the autonomous fabric that makes up the resistance to the nazi presence in Sweden and would be an obvious target for the nazis.

On the website of the Culture Campaign (Kultur Kampanjen) the following statement is posted:

    Today 29/11/2008 the Cyclops has been burnt to the ground, nothing remains of the building. Our house had no electrical connection and no heating system, what could have caused the fire? The fire-department’s opinion is that the fire spread unnaturally quickly. The fire-department, the police and we all agree that it seems that the fire was was started intentionally.

    When we arrived at the Cyclops earlier today at 12:00 there had been a burglary and everything of value had been stolen. The only valuable items left in the building were two gas bottles (which we use for heating). We spent the day mending the graffiti boards, painting the cinema rooms and cleaning. We left the Cyclops just before 17:00. Around two hours later the fire started, in the lower right corner, and spread quickly. When police and fire-fighters arrived there was no way to save the building.

    The Network Against Racism (Nätverket Mot Rasism) had planned an event at the house around the same time as the fire started. The event was cancelled a few days ago but had been publicised. Tomorrow, November 30, is the day that the Swedish king Karl XII died and several nazi groups have arranged manifestations. Next week, December 6, the nazis will be demonstrating in Salem, Sweden. Stockholm is the city in Sweden with the biggest nazi presence during this time of the year. The connection between this and the fire at our cultural house is hardly a coincidence. The activities and content of the Cyclops been characterised by anti-authoritarian thinking and diverse culture and have acted as an irritation against the totalitarian currents of society.

    There is no doubt that the Cyclops has been the target of a nazi attack. The nazis must not be allowed to grow stronger without resistance!

*Stockholm – Police arrested at least four people Sunday in the southern city of Lund after clashes between left-wing activists who opposed ultra-nationalists commemorating the 1718 death of Swedish King Karl XII. According to police and local news media, left-wing activists tried to prevent some 50 right-wing supporters from marching to a memorial on the outskirts of the university city of Lund. Counter-demonstrators reportedly threw stones and other missiles at police deployed to protect the right-wing marchers, who had been granted permission to march. Scores of people were briefly apprehended. The king, who reigned from 1697-1718, is regarded as a hero by ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazi groups, who mark the anniversary in Lund and the capital, Stockholm. Several arrests were also made in Stockholm, where two right-wing groups marched in the afternoon and early evening through parts of the downtown area. Sweden was at war with Russia, Denmark, Saxony and Poland during the king’s reign. He was killed November 30, 1718, when he was hit in the head by a bullet during a siege in neighbouring Norway.

“If [Swedes] are so interesting to you, move to [Sweden].” ~ Fruitsalad, Melbourne Punx Forum, October 2008

See also : no truce, no mercy, no surrender, no rest, no more – this is war, cross yr stitches, November 30, 2008

Posted in Anti-fascism, War on Terror | 2 Comments

Beautiful Homes & Gardens

Posted on December 1, 2008 by @ndy

Dan’s ‘Sustainable Self Sufficiency Gardening Blog’ — growing your own food, herbs, sustainable, self sufficiency, home and community gardens project — contains lots of info on the former, especially as it applies to Marvellous Melbourne.

‘Food Fight’ is another worthwhile resource if you’re interested in food politics. Every Tuesday 5.30–6 pm on 3CR (855 AM). “Food Fight serves a weekly feast of slow food for thought for guerilla gardeners and grassroots gastronomes.”

‘I Want to Live Here’ is another blog created by a mob called Earthsharing. It’s also a film competition, “a step forward in exploring the intricacies of our housing crisis. We want the competition to reflect economics as essential, interesting and accessible to all.” Entries are screening this Wednesday, December 3rd @ The Order, 401 Swanston Street, City:

With a raft of challenging, humourous and even risque films entered for the $3000 first prize, we hope you can attend an entertaining night’s activity. Ten short films will be shown over the night. Then the big drumroll for the winner’s announcement will see a smile on someone’s face. The Melbourne Craft Cartel will spice it up with a number of zesty stalls in attendance. Why not do some Crassmas shopping and support local craft? Yes it’s all about local economies and helping them thrive! Comedian Rod Quantock will give us a serve or two on the Great Australian Dream – where has it gone?

Speaking of crafty stuff, check out ‘The Fabric of Resistance’:

One of the things that has becomes very clear in doing and talking to other people about radical craft is that political and radical craft is far from a new idea. What is also clear is that this amazing herstory is way too absent from history books. It seems that even feminist political action herstory books marginalise the art and creative responses to political issues.

So we have started this wiki as a public archive of profiles of activists who use(d) craft as a way of communicating their ideas, resistance and vision. And at some point in the future, all these stories will be collated into a book…

On a vaguely related and hippycore note:

Dial House has been described as “paradise”… The garden is a maze of vegetable plots, native tree plantings, fruit bushes, and flower beds teeming with humming bees and birdsong, and a multitude of hidden shelters and sitting places adorned with sculptures and carvings. The building itself contains artists’ studios, rehearsal rooms, libraries, and social spaces. At the 2001 gathering many possibilities for the house were discussed, such as art venue, healing workshop space, jazz festivals, permaculture convergences, poets’ retreat, fireworks parties, willow sculpture courses, and more…

Anarchy Rules: The Dishes Stay Dirty
Penelope Green
The New York Times
January 3, 2008

THERE are certain things you can count on in a punk house. A killer name: Anarchtica, Scribble Squat, Collective A Go-Go, Firebreathing Kangaroo. Lots of bikes and skateboards. Homemade tattoos. A tattered photocopy of “Soy, Not ‘Oi!’,” the vegan anarchist’s “Joy of Cooking.” Guests are always welcome in a punk house, if they follow the rules: “Don’t be a jerk!” reads a guest policy sign in one…

GRAB AT YOUR OWN DREAMS
BEFORE SOMEONE TURNS THEM INTO A NIGHTMARE

Posted in Anarchism, Art, Cats, Music, Poetry, Sex & Sexuality | 4 Comments

Victorian local council election results (far left and far right)

Posted on November 30, 2008 by @ndy

How excitement!

LEFT

Initial results indicate that the people of Queenscliffe are not allying themselves with socialism, SA candidate Chris Johnson coming last of nine candidates with 102 votes. In Maribyrnong (Stony Creek Ward), SA candidate Stuart Martin got 811 votes, and came second of three candidates: Sel Sanli (ALP) gaining 2888 votes and Steven Curry (Greens) 587. Unfortunately, there was only one vacancy, so for Stuart it’s better luck next time. Also in Maribyrnong (Wattle Creek Ward), Margarita Windisch has come third. Results:

1) CLARKE, Michael 2870
2) PURNELL, Ingrid 893
3) WINDISCH, Margarita 607
4) SALLMAN, Leon 344
5) BRAY, Garth 168

Although again, with only the one vacancy, SA has been unsuccessful on this attempt.

In Greater Geelong, SA stood two candidates: Lisa Gleeson (Brownbill) and Bronwyn Jennings (Cowie). Results:

1) ABLEY, Barbara 3613
2) SULLIVAN, Paul 2493
3) MONTGOMERY, Nick 1499
4) GLEESON, Lisa M. 1060
5) BAYLISS, James 329

1) SAUNDERSON, David 4285
2) KONTELJ, Eddy 3334
3) LJUBANOVIC, Vinko 1263
4) JENNINGS, Bronwyn 1144
5) STOJANOVSKI, Robert 547

Each Ward had one winning candidate.

In Moreland, results are through for South Ward. Here SA stood three candidates: Vannessa Hearman, Turan Ertekin and Sue Bolton. Unsurprisingly, the ALP retained its stranglehold on the council — helped, allegedly, by the use of feeder tickets. (An oldie but a goodie.) Congratulations to Josephine Connellan (Greens), Lambros Tapinos (ALP), Alice Pryor (ALP), Samantha Bassegio (ALP), Nicholas Porfyris (ALP) and all the other squawking hacks at ALP HQ.

Results:

1) CONNELLAN, Josephine 5003
2) TAPINOS, Lambros 4018
3) PRYOR, Alice 2710
4) ANDERSON, Christopher 1411
5) BOLTON, Sue 834
6) SALIBA, Raghida 654
7) KHODER, Faddela 619
8 ) HEARMAN, Vannessa 548
9) BASEGGIO, Samantha 462
10) ELGOOD, Peter John 386
11) MALIGNAGGI, Adrian 182
12) ERTEKIN, Turan 148

For the Socialist Party, the news is a little better. In Yarra City (Langridge) Stephen Jolly got himself re-elect. Results:

1) JOLLY, Stephen 3141
2) STONE, Amanda 2830
3) BARBOUR, Geoff 1735
4) FARRAR, Jenny Maree 1064
5) LONG, Michael 791
6) McFEELY, Tom 660
7) MILLS, Lindy 545

Less good news for the SP in the neighbouring Ward of Melba however: Denise Dudley coming second-last (eighth) with just 246 votes.

RIGHT

In the Mulgrave Ward of Monash City Council, too-racist-for-One-Nation-Party candidate Neil Henry Smith got 604 votes. Presumably — Alas! — ratepayers will now “be forced to pick up the tab for those overseas cot cases transported to Monash by Kevin Rudd and his merry politicians”.

1) KLISARIS, Paul 7352
2) BAINES, Charlotte 5110
3) DRIEBERG, Micaela 2863
4) SHIELL, Craig 2840
5) O’CONNOR, Sharon 1140
6) BAKER, John 1037
7) TUNG, Li Chuan 1022
8 ) DOYLE, Michael 706
9) KOCHHAR, Shashi 627
10) SMITH, Neil Henry 604
11) ANTONIAZZI, Ilaria 471

In Shepparton, bitter disappointment for Diane. On the bright side, the President of the Australia First Party out-polled five of her political rivals. On the dark side, she in turn was out-polled by thirteen others…

ANARCHY!

Well, Joe at any rate.

Melbourne City Council Leadership Team votes are finally in (12:14AM), and it appears ex-Tory Party Leader Robert Doyle will be replacing Businessman John So as Lord Mayor of Melbourne.

1) DOYLE, Robert (Lord Mayor) / RILEY, Susan (Deputy Lord Mayor) ACTIVATE MELBOURNE 15135

2) BANDT, Adam (Lord Mayor) / MALTZAHN, Kathleen (Deputy Lord Mayor) THE GREENS 8729

3) McMULLIN, Peter (Lord Mayor) / WILSON, Tim (Deputy Lord Mayor) McMULLIN-WILSON FOR MELBOURNE’S FUTURE 7267

4) NG, Catherine (Lord Mayor) / MAKINGS, Terry (Deputy Lord Mayor) C MELBOURNE GROW – CATHERINE NG 6315

5) SINGER, Gary (Lord Mayor) / PAINTER, Joanne (Deputy Lord Mayor) TEAM MELBOURNE 6056

6) FOWLES, Will (Lord Mayor) / WILSON, David (Deputy Lord Mayor) FOWLES A FRESH VISION 5004

7) MORGAN, Gary (Lord Mayor) / ANDERSON, Michele (Deputy Lord Mayor) MORGAN CLARKE – OUR CITY – YOUR COUNCIL 4526

8 ) COLUMB, Nick (Lord Mayor) / CALWELL, Sue (Deputy Lord Mayor) PASSION FOR MELBOURNE 2712

9) TOSCANO, Joseph (Lord Mayor) / ELY, Margaret (Deputy Lord Mayor) SHIFTING THE BURDEN 815

10) ROBERTS, Shelley (Lord Mayor) / FARAH, Abdiaziz (Deputy Lord Mayor) RESIDENTS EQUITY – AFFORDABLE RESIDENT RATES 719

11) CRAWFORD, Robert King (Lord Mayor) / KENNEDY, Michael (Deputy Lord Mayor) MELBOURNE SUPERCITY. WORLD 684

More exciting results as they come through!

Posted in State / Politics, Trot Guide | 12 Comments

Cosmic Psychos : ‘Custom Credit’

Posted on November 30, 2008 by @ndy

For Craig and Gerald…

Recorded on 2-track using hired and borrowed equipment and released as the Down On The Farm EP on Mr. Spaceman Records, 1985. Peter Jones — Guitar, Vocals. Ross Knight — Bass, Vocals. Bill Walsh — Drums, Vocals.

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Wild Pumpkins At Midnight : ‘Sending A Vampire’

Posted on November 30, 2008 by @ndy

Recorded at Bananas Studio in Haarlem, Netherlands, May 1992.

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

I’m An Individual!

Posted on November 30, 2008 by @ndy

Posted in Anarchism | Leave a comment

Tom Gabel : ‘Anna Is A Stool Pigeon’

Posted on November 29, 2008 by @ndy

A song by Tom Gabel (Against Me!) about “Anna”, the FBI informant and media *. ‘She thinks she’s a hawk / But she’s just a fucking snitch’.

“Anna is a wise one for her years, and she knows she needs to step back, watch, and listen to gain a clearer understanding of her surroundings. She notes mentally what people are wearing and how they act. The next day, with her clothes and behavior tailored to mimic the diehard protesters, she finds acceptance and, according to Lapham, an open door to the inner circle.” ~ Anna’s Story: “Living in the shadows, FBI informant brings down an eco-terrorist cell”, Lisa Floreancig, insurance, quarter 04|08 | See also : What Makes a Good Environmentalist Go Bad?: “Ecoterrorism spreads as green movement enters mainstream consciousness” (Lisa Floreancig): “Lapham says he is unsure whether the FBI has a personality profile of eco-terrorists, but he has his own definite opinion. “I can tell you from my experience what kind of people they are,” he says. “They tend to be anarchists; they believe that the system is corrupt, and that you shouldn’t support the system in any fashion.” Currently, the FBI has nearly 200 eco-terror investigations open, with no end in sight.”

FBI confidential informant also said to be provocateur (June 11, 2006)

Anna the Medic, one of the FBI’s top informants, has cut a wide swath through the antiwar and animal rights movements.

Listen, my children, to the story of Anna the Medic, who travels the land, bringing the harsh scrutiny of federal law enforcement to Americans engaged in political protest.

In the past two years, Anna, whose real name may be Anna Davies or Anna Davidson, has turned up at rallies and marches from South Florida to Northern California, with a lot of stops in between. She has demonstrated for animal rights and protested the Iraq War, all the while meticulously gathering information on political dissidents for the FBI. According to FBI affidavits, Anna has been a paid informant in 12 investigations of “anarchist” groups. She’s a veritable Scarlet Pimpernel, on the federal government tab… ~ Broward-Palm Beach New Times (June 22, 2006)

See also :

“My name is Anna, and I’m an FBI informant.” “Hi Anna!” (September 25, 2007)
Eric McDavid found guilty; ecoterror plot foiled; US citizens and planet breathe easy (September 28, 2007)
Neigh (October 2, 2007)
“Anna” Goes to Elle (April 24, 2008)
Eric McDavid : Twenty Years Jail (May 14, 2008)


Top : “Anna” // Bottom : “Setha Sann”
Posted in Music, State / Politics, War on Terror | 1 Comment

New! Improved! IR laws doubleplusgood

Posted on November 29, 2008 by @ndy
    “While WorkChoices pared back rights to five minimum standards, Labor’s new rules write into the law 10 workplace standards and a further 10 rules covering workers on federal awards who earn less than $100,000 a year.”

Doubleplusgood.

The five minimum standards under the previous Tory government (under legislation tabled in Federal Parliament in November 2005, with changes coming into effect in March 2006) were otherwise known as ‘The Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard (the Standard)’, and concerned:

    1. Guaranteed basic rates of pay and guaranteed casual loadings
    2. Hours of work
    3. Annual leave
    4. Personal leave and
    5. Unpaid parental leave

Based on a full-time employee working 38 hours per week and applied on a pro-rata basis according to the hours worked by the employee, this would have meant:

1. A Federal Minimum Wage or guaranteed basic rate of pay under an applicable Australian Pay and Classification Scale. For casual employees covered by a workplace agreement, a casual loading of 20 per cent is guaranteed. (The standard Federal Minimum Wage was originally set at $12.75 per hour. It was subsequently increased to $13.47 per hour on 1 December 2006 and to $13.74 per hour on 1 October 2007. In 2008 the Australian Fair Pay Commission further increased the standard Federal Minimum Wage to $14.31 per hour. This increase took effect from the first pay period on or after 1 October 2008.)

2. Maximum ordinary hours of work limited to 38 hours per week (which can be averaged over a period of up to twelve months) and reasonable additional hours.

3. Four weeks paid annual leave per year (five weeks for some continuous shift employees), except for casual workers. Up to two weeks of this can be cashed out at the employee’s written election where their workplace agreement allows it.

4. Ten days paid personal/carer’s leave per year and two days paid compassionate leave for each relevant occasion, except for casual workers. Where this paid personal leave has been used up, two days unpaid carer’s leave for each carer’s leave occasion. This unpaid leave is available to casuals.

5. For all employees other than certain casual employees, up to 52 weeks unpaid parental leave.

Almost three years, 98,000 mousepads, 77,000 pens, 100,000 plastic folders and a change of Government later, under Labour, there are 10 workplace standards. The Fair Work Bill 2008 (with Bonus! explanatory memorandum) was introduced into the House of Representatives on 25 November 2008.

In a radical departure from the high standard set by the Tory Government, the Standard formerly known as Fair Pay and Conditions (FPCS) will now be known as National Employment (NES). Former student union hack (and closet Communist) Julia Gillard reckons that “The NES provide employers with the flexibility and simplicity they need while also ensuring employees’ key entitlements are protected” (which sounds just like something Stalin would say). The NES are:

    1. Maximum weekly hours of work
    2. Request for flexible working arrangements
    3. Parental leave and related entitlements
    4. Annual leave
    5. Personal/Carer’s leave and compassionate leave
    6. Community service leave
    7. Long service leave
    8. Public holidays
    9. Notice of termination and redundancy pay
    10. Fair Work Information Statement

“In the mid-19th century for example, right in the beginning of the industrialist revolution right around here in Boston, there was a rich literature of working class people, what were called factory girls, young women coming from the farms to work in the mills, or Irish artesians, immigrants in Boston, very rich literature, it was the period of the freest press ever in the country and it was very radical. They had no connection with European radicalism, they had never heard of Marx or anything else, and it was simply taken for granted that wage labor is not much different from slavery, and if you rent yourself to somebody that’s not different from selling yourself. Actually in the Civil War in the United States, a lot of the northern workers actually fought under that banner, were against chattel slavery and they were against wage slavery. And the standard slogan of the people was “the people who work in the mills ought to own them and run them”. It took a long time to drive that out of people’s heads. In the 1890s there were cities, like Homestead, Pennsylvania, that were taken over by working class people with these ideas, and they’re still there.”

Posted in State / Politics | Leave a comment

Sharpies

Posted on November 28, 2008 by @ndy

The Skins ‘n’ Sharps site is tops, and regularly updated.

History

Skins ‘n’ Sharps–original, tough, colourful and at times controversial. A Melbourne-based youth culture in the 70s like no other. Skins ‘n’ Sharps symbolised an exciting time for me as a teenager growing up in suburban Melbourne. Youth in the early 70s began to create their own significant look. They designed their own tailor-made clothes and handmade shoes, then combined them with off-the-shelf clothing to create their own individual look…

The song playing is ‘God’ by The Wild Cherries (feat. Lobby Loyde [1941–2007]):

See also : Blackburn Sth Sharps! (September 12, 2006) | Tomorrow is Today: Australia in the psychedelic era 1966–1970 by Iain McIntyre, Arts Hub, December 20, 2006 | Wild About You by Iain McIntyre and Ian Marks:

When the subject of 1960s Aussie garage-punk/R&B/psych music comes up in conversation, most aficionados of the genre will grin knowingly, nod enthusiastically and immediately rattle off a list of their personal fave raves. A list that inevitably includes: the Missing Links (Wild About You, You’re Driving Me Insane), the Purple Hearts (Early in the Morning, Of Hopes & Dreams & Tombstones), Toni McCann (No, My Baby), the Throb (Black, Fortune Teller), the Wild Cherries (That’s Life, Krome Plated Yabby), the Black Diamonds (I Want Need Love You, See the Way), the Elois (By My Side), the Atlantics (Come On, It’s a Hard Life), the Moods (Rum Drunk), the Pink Finks (Louie Louie), the Morloch (Time Machine), the Running Jumping Standing Still (Diddy Wah Diddy, My Girl), the Lost Souls (This Life of Mine) and a hundred others besides. Not a bad gallery of legendary names and awesome recordings, hey?

Posted in History, Music | 2 Comments