Mills on May ’68

Posted on May 14, 2008 by @ndy

Demanding the Impossible, Jennifer Mills, newmatilda, May 2008.

Choice quotes:

“The movement’s strengths were its diversity and spontaneity, which is why it’s so often quoted by anarchists when they’re trying to tell people what to do. But those strengths are also what makes soixante-huit hard to pin down as a piece of history, to slot neatly into our [sic] narrative of post-war European development as tending inexorably toward democracy.”

“A quick look at the APEC and G20 protests will illustrate that technologies of surveillance have altered the policing of protest movements. Police at G20 had the media-savvy trick of making no [sic] arrests on the day then rounding up protesters across the country for months afterwards on painstakingly collated evidence. I’m not sure how much all this is costing the taxpayer but it’s costing the protesters a packet – it seems like there’s a new benefit gig every week – and now the Victorian Police will be compensated for their losses.

[“By the time it was all over, police had about 10,000 photographs and 3500 hours of footage to scan for malefactors. The white paper overalls worn by so many “persons of interest” presented a challenge. Police had to rely on glimpses of shoes, bandanas, glasses, earrings, moles, teeth and T-shirts to identify suspects. When the raids began around Melbourne and later in Sydney, police headed straight for clothes cupboards. The 109-page official Summary of Offences reads like a rag-trade inventory.”]

The methods of ‘68 have certainly been influential – if we remember nothing else, we remember the slogans. Many of the aesthetic techniques of the Situationists which infected the revolutionary attempt have since been seized upon by artists and media makers – the popularity of culture jamming, including shows like The Chaser, owes its existence to the Situationist International and intellectuals such as Guy Debord and Raoul Vaneigem.

As Naomi Klein has pointed out [sic] in No Logo, corporations are also appropriating the aesthetics and tactics of street artists and jammers. But for a generation which grew up after punk these double ironies are a fact of culture.

Perhaps the hardest thing of all about continuing the anarchist project is the art of navigating its tired language. Take crimethinc, at its best a movement which breaks revolutionary ground for a new generation of youth, at its worst a set of dirgeful instruction manuals for emos. It is part of the pleasure of youth to be alienated from the mainstream, but it is also true that times have changed. Information and choice are everywhere, and you can get a bottle of chardonnay for seven bucks. But are we any more free or merely saturated in images of freedom?”

On “corporations… appropriating the aesthetics and tactics of street artists and jammers“, see Anne Elizabeth Moore, Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity, The New Press, 2007.

On “punk”, “double ironies” and “facts of culture”, see Nike Web Site Is Taken Over By Protesters, Matt Richtel, The New York Times, June 22, 2000; The Empire Strikes Back… for a while anyway. There’s a million other examples. Go create some more. (That’s an order.)

Posted in Anarchism, History | 2 Comments

Let’s Play (Quasi-)Celebrity Anarchy!

Posted on May 14, 2008 by @ndy

It’s not fair. I’ve noted that Michael Costa, Keith Windschuttle and Paul Owens are ex-Trots, but what about all those ex-anarchists? Well, when I write ‘ex-anarchist’, I really mean those-who-may-once-have-called-themselves-anarchists but who now… well, no longer do. I think.

Here’s a sample:

Wendy Bacon (1946?–) : Thirty years go, Wendy allegedly wrote ‘The Question is not ‘Organisation or no organisation?’ but ‘what sort of organisation?’. And the same goes for structure’. A veteran of The (Sydney) Push, after having battled censors, bosses, developers and more, the structure Wendy currently contends with is UTS.

Van Badham (1978–) : Another student radical and a member of a fraction known as the Non-Aligned Left (NAL), in 1998 Van was also President of the New South Wales branch of the National Union of Students (NUS). Now Van subverts authority by writing plays: “distinctive voice, uncompromising political themes and razor-sharp wit… have become trademarks of her work”.

Michael Duffy (?) : a hack journo, Michael once worked at either Black Rose or Jura Books in Sydney. Well, that’s his story anyway. Nowadays he’s content being a right-wing Phillip Adams for the Pink Mafia at the ABC and an opinionist for the SMH.

John Flaus (1934–) : Another Push veteran, John is “The barefoot anarchist from working class Sydney who once went to the drive-in without a car.” A w e s o m e. After a long stint as a film buff on 3RRR (and a lot more besides), John’s gravelly voice can now be heard flogging stuff on TV (“Ah McCain, you’ve done it again!”). “I do quite a few voice-overs but I rarely get the opportunity to say something I entirely believe in,” he told the Herald. “I spoke from the heart. I didn’t need to enter into a sort of emotional state other than my own, which is what an actor must do when he or she prepares for a role.” Flaus, 72, left school in 1950. He says he has seen the battles the trade union movement has waged over the years to secure recognition, workplace safety and “the thing our current Prime Minister talks about – he likes to use the expression ‘a fair go'”.”

Germaine Greer (1939–) : You may remember Germaine from such seminal texts as The Female Eunuch (1971), The Obstacle Race (1979), Sex and Destiny (1984), Shakespeare and The Madwoman’s Underclothes (1986), Daddy, We Hardly Knew You (1989), The Change (1991), Slip-Shod Sibyls (1995), the whole woman (1999) and last — but by no means least — The Beautiful Boy (2003). Cranky and opinionated, Germaine was once associated with The Push; a far cry from “the flabby intellectual atmosphere of the Melbourne Drift”, apparently. Recently, Germaine sunk the boot into Steve Irwin, to popular, ah, acclaim.

Drew Hutton (1947–) : In the 1960s and ’70s, Drew was a Brisbane libertarian socialist (‘anarchist’). In 1984, he was one of the founders of the Brisbane Green Party, the second party of its kind in Australia. Worse things happen at sea.

Paddy McGuinness (1938–2008) : *groan* Paddy once hung around The Push. Then in 1963 he pissed off to Europe and got a job working for the KGB-front Moscow Narodny Bank, followed by a stint with the OECD. He returned to Australia and spent decades writing dribble.

Frank Moorhouse (1938–) : Author, but not a grave security risk: “By his own admission, writer Frank Moorhouse has benefited from almost every kind of government patronage – grants, awards, “soft diplomacy” jaunts overseas, even an Order of Australia. So he might have been peeved to find the government meanwhile had ASIO watching him, checking who came to his barbecues, what campaigns he mounted, which motions he moved at fringe meetings – exploring whether he was “an enemy of the state”. Not so. What left him “gravely disappointed” as he leafed through the thick file during his research at the National Archives of Australia was that his youthful anarchist activities ultimately weren’t taken seriously enough to make him a “grave security risk”. “I was furious,” he huffs. “They gravely underestimated the Sydney anarchists movement.”

Margot Nash (?) : Winner of the 1973 Award for Best Title for a Political Organisation, Margot was once a member of the Anarcho-Surrealist-Insurrectionary-Feminist (AS IF) collective. Now she’s a screenwriter and a director with a background as a cinematographer, a film editor and an actor. And an academic.

Richard Neville (1941–) : Another product of The Push, Richard is known for his having started (along with Richard Walsh and Martin Sharpe) Oz in Sydney in 1963. It played a very important role in disseminating ‘counter-cultural’ ideas. He’s also known for having appeared on The Mike Walsh Show (1973–1985), and being a ‘futurist’.

Paul Norton (?) : Used to be a young anarchist; turned into a not-quite-so-young Green… academic.

Jamie Parker (?) : A student activist and student union official (Chairperson) at Macquarie University and NUS (NSW State President, 1995; National Environment Officer, 1996), Jamie has since gone on to forge a career with the Greens, and sits on the Leichhardt Council. (He’s also been known to flog Horny Goat Weed.)

Christos Tsiolkas (1965–) : Christos barracks for Richmond. Despite this handicap, he’s somehow managed to become a writer, among a number of other titles co-authoring Jump Cuts (1996) with Sasha Soldatow (1947–2006). “Soldatow had been drawn to Sydney specifically by the anarchist libertarian tradition, which didn’t exist in Melbourne…”.

Marcus Westbury (1974–) : Culture vulture, TV personality and festival organiser extraordinaire, as a student Marcus was a member of the NAL, whose glorious victory in NUS elections in 1996 was trumpeted in the Workers’ Solidarity Movement paper (No.47, Spring 1996), much to the bemusement of local anarchists.

Posted in Anarchism, History | 14 Comments

Bad BAD Blogger: When Tories Attack!

Posted on May 13, 2008 by @ndy

More blah : Reasons You Will Hate Me, The happiest place on earth. | triple j’s hack: Undermining your boss [mp3] | gatewatching, Victorian Liberal staffers sacked for blogging | Christian Kerr, Blogs help Libs divide and conquer themselves

Sheesh. You’d think that Simon Morgan and John Osborn were the first yuppie functionaries to have criticised the Tory Party leadership, not the latest. In any case, the editorial brains at the Herald Sun are unhappy: “Rather than confronting what he admits are “genuine deep-seated problems” in his own party, Mr Baillieu should be tackling the Brumby Government with both hands and positioning the Liberals for the best possible tilt at the 2010 election”. Osborn isn’t taking things lying down, however, releasing an email in which Tory state campaign manager Susan Chandler allegedly made an unflattering reference to Tory candidate Adam Held: “The email referred to Mr Held as a “greedy fucking Jew” after he asked for more campaign material” (Disgust at Liberal’s anti-Semitic email, news.com.au, May 12, 2008).

Unfortunately for Susan, as a result of Osborn’s leak, she’ll be desperately seeking a new employer (hopefully not another greedy fucking Jew). The cheeky young Tory continues:

“I am comprehensively appalled at the clearly anti-Semitic nature of Ms Chandler’s email.

“There is no place in the Liberal Party for that sort of base prejudice. I call on the state president (David Kemp) to terminate her employment immediately.”

Mr Osborn also lashed out at the investigation into the blog activity he was involved in.

He said the investigation was “a sham” after other internal Liberal emails, in which Mr Morgan describes federal Liberal MP Fran Bailey as a “stupid fat bitch” were published in The Age today.

“By releasing selected internal Liberal Party emails to the public, Mr Baillieu and (retiring state director Julian) Sheezel have demonstrated at best incompetence and at worst a disingenuous cover-up,” Mr Osborn said.

“Furthermore, Ms Chandler’s involvement as an investigator has tainted the process irrevocably and her involvement in the federal by-election campaign for Gippsland is a concern,” he said.

Yeah: Osborn is deeply concerned for the future of the Tory Party. Furthermore, Ted Baillieu Must GO!

See also : Liberal bad blood, Paul Austin, The Age, May 12, 2008: “Spiteful blogs and damaging emails have laid bare the factional warfare crippling the Victorian Liberal Party. Paul Austin reports.”

Young Tories: Recruiting now! (January 31, 2007) | Let’s do the Kutasi! (July 22, 2006) | I Was A Teenage Tory : John Hyde Page (December 13, 2006) | Many Young Liberals are racist, sexist, homophobic nerds. And proud. Who knew? (July 19, 2006) | HoWARd’s South Park “pals” (April 10, 2006)

Posted in Media, State / Politics | Leave a comment

Trot Guide 2008 : Introducing the Leninist Party Faction

Posted on May 12, 2008 by @ndy

More blah : Paul Norton, Are you obsessed with sects?, Larvatus Prodeo | Zounds! DSP National Executive statement on LPF split (wave of kaffiyeh to Ed Lewis): “On Tuesday May 13, the DSP National Executive recognized that this split had already taken place and therefore expelled all 39 members of the LPF remaining in the DSP in order to protect the security of the DSP. The LPF’s split actions left the DSP no other real choice.” Splitters!

On May 10, 2008, the national leadership of the Democratic Socialist Perspective (formerly the Democratic Socialist Party) decided to purge all of the members of a minority faction – the Leninist Party Faction – from the DSP. The LPF was formed at the end of the DSP’s 22nd congress in January 2006. Its platform was supported by a bit less than one-fifth of the DSP membership in the election of delegates to the 23rd DSP congress (held in January 2008).

According to Bob Gould (Australian DSP divides: Dysfunctional marriage is finally dissolved by the expulsion of the minority, Ozleft, May 12, 2008) “The LPF has about 50 members in Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, and some members at large overseas. The DSP majority has about 150 members, although it claims more, and quite a few of those 150 are not active.” On the surface, the split has been provoked by irreconcilable differences over the future of the Socialist Alliance. The LPF apparently believe this dog has had its day; the majority, led by Peter Boyle, that’s there’s life in the old girl yet. Allen Myers, a member of the LPF, goes into some detail regarding the recent history of the DSP, its entanglement with the SA, and subsequent split in ‘The Political and Organisational Degeneration of the DSP’.

So much for the good news; the bad news is that the ‘Marxist Solidarity Network’ — consisting of six Melbourne-based former members of the DSP — appears to be no more. Well, online anyway. Marcus Strom wrote at the time:

While “Trots split” is hardly earth-shattering news, to merely dismiss it as an irrelevance is a philistine error. The split reveals a lot that is awful about the ‘revolutionary’ left. It shows that all is not well in the DSP, its sectoid method of organisation and the state of the left in general.

Unfortunately it shows that the only modes of organisation that the far left knows is high-pressure sectoid madness or “liquidationist” merger with the ‘mass movement’. The crisis of the far left points to the urgent need for the Marxist left to develop a coherent and authoritative political centre in the labour movement, devoid of a sectist culture, yet committed to developing theory and practice at the highest possible level.

The MSN group includes Jorge and Roberto Jorquera, longstanding DSP members. Jorge has been a leading cadre of the organisation for at least 20 years. The six were members of the “Leninist Party Faction” led by ousted national secretary John Percy and ideology hatchet-man Doug Lorimer.

The LPF – I trust you’re keeping up up with the acronyms – formed after the DSP’s last congress, which reaffirmed its commitment to build the Socialist Alliance as a “multi-tendency socialist party”. Percy and Lorimer had argued that the SA had served its purpose (to do over the International Socialist Organisation, [basically)] and that it was best to close it down and rebuild the DSP as a public socialist organisation.

Previously on DSP Blues:

If anyone thought that my take on the DSP’s role in the SA was too cynical, measure it against the words of DSP national secretary, John Percy: “Remember what was the actual initiating event that prompted us to think about this tactic? The decision by the British Socialist Workers Party to contemplate election work after two decades of abstaining totally from it. We thought, ‘Here’s an opportunity to make an approach to the local International Socialist Organisation, for joint work, joint election campaigns and a regrouping of the left.’ They either had to respond positively, or suffer a political blow and organisational losses.

“In that respect, our tactic worked: they’re certainly a lot weaker than they were in 2001, suffering splits and attrition. And at their Marxism conference in September, they had half the attendance of recent years, with just 40 at their final session. We’ve suffered also, but not as much as them” (J Percy, ‘Party-building report to October 2005 DSP national committee on behalf of national executive minority’, The Activist, Vol.15, No.12, October 2005).

The “tactic” of setting up the SA was successful because of damage to the ISO. Now I leave it to the ISO to say what they think about whether they are as damaged as Percy says, but, whatever the reality, that is the perception that Percy is so self-congratulatory about…

On the ISO, see Further Adventures in Trotville (May 4, 2008).

Posted in Trot Guide | 23 Comments

Bad blogger! But “if you read it you’d be laughing”

Posted on May 11, 2008 by @ndy

Two Tory Party hacks, Simon Morgan and John Osborn, have been sprung casting aspersions on their Party leader, Ted Baillieu, via their maintenance of a blog, hewhostandsfornothing.blogspot.com. As Alpine Opinion writes, the blog has since had access restricted. (See also : Blog betrayal: Libs sack rats, Josh Gordon, The Age, May 11, 2008.) Fortunately, portions of it are still available online.

Bizarrely — or perhaps not — millionaire Baillieu’s critics refer to him as ‘Red Ted’ (Morgan and/or Osborn write “Among some unkind souls, Ted Baillieu is described as Cottee’s – because he’s thick and rich”); a reflection of the dominance of the ultra-right over ‘Liberal’ Party politics. This is further evidenced, in NSW, by the election of Alex Hawke.

The stranglehold the far right has on the NSW branch of the Tories — tolerated for over a decade, with a nod and a wink, by HoWARd and the Federal branch of the Party — has finally started paying electoral dividends for “the Uglies”, as their dirty tactics are transposed from successful internal struggles for control over branches to the battle for seats, power, and the ability to impose their ideology through government channels. Of course, if they were smarter, the Uglies would simply allow the out-sourcing of such activity to continue to remain in the safe hands of the bizarros of the Exclusive Brethren, the radical Christian sect only too happy to Prepare Ye, the Way of the Lords. In the meantime, Alex Hawke, former Führer of the Young Liberals, and loyal lapdog to David Clarke, has branch-stacked his way to a seat in the Federal Parliament, having secured pre-selection to one of the safest Tory seats in the country: Mitchell. In July, HoWARd stated that “I… completely support the decision of the Liberal Party preselection committee in Mitchell, I totally support their (decision)”. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

See also : Unholy battle for Bible belt, Paul Bibby, Sydney Morning Herald, November 23, 2007

And more recently by the exclusion of Scott Morrison, the member for Cook and a former Liberal state director, from the Tories’ Port Hacking branch (Lib farce: MP outcast by own party, The Sydney Morning Herald, March 25, 2008).

In other news, one of the Tories what got done for distributing a racist shit sheet in the week prior to last year’s Federal election, Greg Chijoff, has been fined $750 for the privilege. “He was fined not because of the pamphlets’ content – they purported to be from a non-existent Islamic organisation with Labor Party connections – but because they did not say who was responsible for their distribution” (Chijoff: fine and a higher penalty, Geesche Jacobsen, The Sydney Morning Herald, May 8, 2008). “Three other accused, including the husband of the former Liberal MP Jackie Kelly, are still before courts for similar offences in St Marys. Another pleaded guilty with no conviction being recorded.” The other accused are Gary Clark (Kelly’s husband); Troy Craig, formerly of the Glenmore Park Action Group; Jeffrey Egan, a former member of the state executive; and Robert Holstein. Clark and Egan have plead not guilty; Craig guilty; while Holstein — who has successfully applied for an adjournment — is due in court on May 20, and is yet to enter a plea. The charges all five face have been brought under Federal electoral laws requiring Party political material to bear the relevant names, addresses and authorisation — the shit sheet was claimed to have been published by the fake “Islamic Australia Federation”, and bore the ALP insignia.

Posted in !nataS, Media | Leave a comment

It’s the End of the World as We know it

Posted on May 11, 2008 by @ndy

#32

#31

#30

Posted in Anarchism, Media, State / Politics | 3 Comments

Salute: Peter Norman

Posted on May 10, 2008 by @ndy

“Finally I am proud to release the Salute The Movie film trailer. Salute is the film by Matt Norman about the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Black power protest. The film comes out in July 2008. I hope you enjoy the trailer and please pass it on to as many people as you can. Thanks.”

“Salute – The Movie” is a journey back to the 1960’s and beyond, to examine what has now become one of the most famous Olympic moments in history.

The 1968 Mexico Olympics was notorious for so many reasons. When The Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia prior to the games, as well as the mass killings of Mexican Students during the Student protests, Vietnam, the Assassination of Robert Kennedy Junior and Martin Luther King Jr, sports and politics were destined to meet. The American outcry followed by complaints of unfair high-altitude, proved to be just the beginning. Nevertheless, America could never have foreseen the dramatic momentum that has prevailed over 35 years since the event that is “The civil rights movement”.

‘Salute…” being written, directed and produced by Peter Norman’s Film Director nephew Matt Norman, promises to be a fascinating and exclusive insight into the drama that was the Mexico Olympics, as well as the drama that followed in the lives of all three men on that dais.

This film is personal. It’s about three men that consider themselves brothers for life. Matt Norman has been welcomed into this acceptance of brotherhood with both Tommie Smith and John Carlos which gives this film a truth all of it’s own; A family one…

To find a truly amazing man you must first know that man from start to finish. This is Peter Norman’s untold story…

Peter Norman (June 15, 1942 – October 3, 2006), ‘Tell your kids about Peter Norman’, Martin Flanagan, The Age, October 10, 2006: “During the Sydney Olympics, a reporter from The Washington Post was amazed to find only one reference to Norman — an image on the side of a house in Redfern. Yesterday’s ceremony included a letter of respect from dual world record holder Michael Johnson and an anecdote relating the deep regard in which Norman was held by long-time 400-metre hurdling champion Edwin Moses. The US Track and Field Federation has declared October 9 Peter Norman Day.”

Posted in Film, History | 16 Comments

“Crazy Greek anarchists” et cetera

Posted on May 10, 2008 by @ndy

Greece: Suspected anarchists firebomb central Athens tax office, no injuries
The Associated Press / International Herald Tribune
May 9, 2008

ATHENS, Greece: Greek police say suspected anarchist arsonists have firebombed a tax office in central Athens and caused extensive damage but no injuries.

Police say a group of 30 youths threw petrol bombs at the building and set it on fire.

The building was closed at the time of the attack late Friday.

The fire brigade says it has brought the blaze under control but that the flames caused widespread damage to the building’s basement and first floor. No arrests have been made.

Anarchist arsonists frequently target government property, as well as banks and foreign diplomatic cars in Athens and Greece’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki.

Et cetera…

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism | Leave a comment

Michael Costa is an odd fellow

Posted on May 10, 2008 by @ndy

[Image courtesy machinegunkeyboard]

Michael Costa

Costa’s obscene outburst at unions
Andrew West and Andrew Clennell
Sydney Morning Herald
May 5, 2008

MICHAEL COSTA stormed across the room – his face flushed, his hands clenched – towards John Robertson, the secretary of Unions NSW. “You blokes can get fucked,” he screamed. “You’re going to look like dickheads on Monday morning.”

Er, well yeah, maybe. Certainly, the NSW Labor caucus doesn’t seem to object to making the vast majority of delegates to the annual NSW ALP conference who voted (702/107) against the privatisation of the electricity system look like “dickheads”. However, as it stands, Costa & Co. may be forced to discipline the ALP rank ‘n’ file and the unions a few more times before they — perhaps inevitably — capitulate…

The Right Honourable Michael ‘I did not have sex with that woman’ Costa is a former Trotskyist (a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party, now the DSP), union and ALP Secretary. “There’s never been a Labor Council Secretary like Michael Costa”, wrote another former Secretary, Michael Easson: “Few could match… his grasp of business and strategic nous as well as his feel for getting a message across plainly, often bluntly… We’ve not seen anything like it. One day soon, I suspect a similar observation might be passed on his role as a Minister in a NSW Labor Government.” (See also : ALP faithful grow into mandarins, Brad Norington, The Australian, April 14, 2007.) Costa is also a trainspotter, and revealed as much when he addressed fellow Senator Lee Rhiannon (May 12, 2004):

The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: I am very happy to elucidate my answer. My first experience with the notion of quelling was, I think, at Kronstadt during the Russian Revolution when Trotsky took a brigade of the Red Army and crushed the anarchists. In my previous manifestation as a young Trotskyite I supported his decision in an historical sense. I have had time to reflect on the mistake of supporting that decision, but every time Ms Lee Rhiannon speaks I tend to think that Trotsky may have been right about suppressing anarchists because they do not add to the parliamentary process or the complexities of managing government. I certainly would advocate it for the Greens. Ms Lee Rhiannon can take some comfort in the fact that she had the ultimate victory when Stalin managed to get a pickaxe in the back of Trotsky’s head.

Well, the front of his head, apparently, but you get the point. (Ho ho ho.)

Other, local, former Trots include revisionist historian Keith Windschuttle, and the boss of Australia’s Worst Union (AWU), Paul Howes.

Union Power and the New Mandarins

The decline in the labour movement has proven to be the wave upon which a number of its representatives have surfed into state power. This decline is evidenced in the declining number of industrial disputes (the result of an exercise of industrial power by the unions) and the even steeper decline in union membership. Australian Social Trends, 1996, Industrial Relations: Industrial disputes: “In the period 1969-83, the number of industrial disputes recorded annually fluctuated considerably but was consistently higher than the number of disputes in the period 1983-94. Since 1984, there has been a steady downward trend in the number of industrial disputes. While this is part of a world-wide trend, the decline in Australia has been much greater than in other parts of the world. In 1994, there were 560 industrial disputes — the lowest number since 1940.”

Prices and incomes policy 1983-96

The Statement of Accord between the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) was endorsed in February 1983/4. Shortly after the ALP won the federal election the Accord became government policy. In September 1983 the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission agreed to establish a centralised wage fixing system based on productivity and price movements as outlined in the Statement of Accord. The ACTU agreed to exercise restraint in wage claims in exchange for social programs.

During the first three years of the Accord wages were indexed, but at the end of 1985-86 the government and the ACTU agreed to partially index wages. Subsequently, indexation was abandoned and wage adjustments were significantly below the inflation rate. In 1987 the Industrial Relations Commission recommended a two tier system. The first tier was an automatic flat increase for everyone. The second tier was related to identifiable improvement in productivity. In the following years the two tier system remained with increasing flexibility occurring. For example in 1991 the first wage increase was replaced by a tax cut. The Accord was abandoned in March 1996 following the change of government.

Number of Industrial Disputes, 1996–2007, Australia:

1996: 543
1997: 447
1998: 518
1999: 729
2000: 700
2001: 675
2002: 767
2003: 643
2004: 692
2005: 472
2006: 202
2007: 135

See also : Industrial Disputes, Australia, December 2007, ABS, March 13, 2008. Note that the number of disputes is one indicator of industrial unrest; the number of participants, and longevity of the dispute, are others. Some of the key disputes which the ALP effectively neutralised towards the beginning of its last period of Federal rule include the Australian Pilots’ dispute of 1989 and, prior to that, the successful de-construction of the Victorian Builders’ Labourers’ Federation. On the BLF, see Liz Ross, Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win! Builders Labourers Fight Deregistration 1981-1994, Vulgar Books, 2004. Finally, John Stone of the HR Nicholls Society tips his hat to the Drover’s Dog:

By way of illustration, I remind you of the airline pilots’ dispute in August-September, 1989. In that dispute, we saw a Prime Minister actively facilitating:

o Use of ‘the troops’ (RAAF) to help defeat the walkout by a key body of airline employees;
o The bringing of common law actions for breach of contract against individual pilots to the same end;
o Use of Sections 45D and 45E of the Trade Practices Act for the same purpose;
o The import of foreign pilots to take the place of Australian pilots who had withdrawn their labour;
o The import of charter aircraft (and associated foreign crews) to supply services being withheld by the Australian pilots; and even
o The provision of some kind of financial assistance designed to assist a major employer (Ansett Airlines) and thus help ‘keep it in the field’ until the Australian Federation of Air Pilots had been crushed.

Mr Hawke’s zeal in all these matters thus went even further than our own. The H.R. Nicholls Society had never argued that a body of employees should not have the right to be represented by a union (or Association) of their own free choosing—a basic right which Mr Hawke and Sir Peter [Abeles] were determined to deny to the pilots.

Trade Union Membership as Proportion of Employees, 1912–2001:

See also : Social Democracy: No Future? Introduction to Articles on the Retreat of Social Democracy, Aufheben, 7, Autumn 1998: “Social democracy is in retreat. That its institutions continue to be the focus of struggles raises the question of what we want and how we should fight. But to answer such questions requires a proper understanding of the nature of social democracy. In this, the Introduction to a series of articles on the current retreat of social democracy, we unravel the essence of this dominant form of political mediation of working class needs.”

The Retreat of Social Democracy… Re-imposition of Work in Britain and the ‘Social Europe’, Aufheben, 8, Autumn 1999: “In this, the latest exciting instalment of our analysis of social democracy in retreat, we show how the left-of-centre governments now dominating the European political arena are attempting to re-impose work through common neo-reformist policies. We argue that reports of social democracy’s rebirth have been greatly exaggerated: and we never lamented its passing anyway.”

Posted in !nataS, History, State / Politics | 1 Comment

miscellaneous rantings and ravings // may day

Posted on May 9, 2008 by @ndy

Money is funny. Capital is money, capital is commodities. By virtue of it being value, it has acquired the occult ability to add value to itself. It brings forth living offspring, or, at the least, lays golden eggs.

A slackbastard appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.

It’s a Rich Man’s World — And That’s Official. On the stockmarket today, here’s a look at the closing numbers – racism’s up, human rights are down, peace is shaky, war items are hot – the House claims all ties. Jobs are down, money is scarce – and common sense is at an all-time low with heavy trading. But it’s not all bad news.

There’s unimaginable horror in Burma, but The Generals are OK; The Generals are OK wherever they are. “War is like love”, said Brecht, “it always finds a way”.

In Jakarta, police arrested hundreds of anarchists at the May Day carnival. They were released later that night, but a Polish comrade who was arrested was deported soon after.

In Japan, too, anarchists and others celebrated May Day. “Part time workers, freeters [a compound of “free” in English and the German “arbeiter”], and other low income earners whose lives are fraught with instability gathered together in places all over Japan for Mayday, choosing “Independent Mayday” celebrations over existing union events.” … ‘A 33-year-old man who works as a temporary day-laborer and attended the event had this to say: “I’m fed up with wages too low to live on and thuggish employment practices. I’ve been doing temp-work for almost 10 years, and I think it’s time that irregularly employed workers raise their voices.’

The new rallying cry of nonregular workers may become “Precariats of the world, unite!”

In Venezuela, autonomous social movements are struggling. “For the oppressed, there are no substantial differences between oppressors. Another May Day is here, and all of us workers must struggle right now to wrench our rights from the bosses. Let’s take up our own battle flags and not give in for anything, not the elections of fair-weather friends or the promises of demagogue leaders with clay feet. Let’s reject their simplistic thinking, demobilize the polarization and recover the autonomy of our movements. One hopeful lesson of solidarity sums it up best: The people, united, advance without a party!”

a-films is an autonomous anarchist film collective. they do video workshops in palestine and lebanon and produce short films.

The “Ricardo Flores Magón” Insurgent Militia (MI-RFM) are an interesting mob, who recently sent out May Day greetings to the world, possibly from somewhere in Mexico, or possibly not. According to one source:

Mexicans in the FARC & the FARC in Mexico
Thursday, March 13, 2008

After the Colombian Air Force (FAC) bombed the camp [in Ecuador] of FARC leader Raul Reyes with Brazilian airplanes and Israeli guidance systems, the camp lay destroyed in the early morning hours of 2 March. When the Colombian military special forces picked through the bodies just moments after the dust settled, they came across an interesting find.

Mexicans figured among the dead.

Six days later, the Colombian vice president, Francisco Santos, said that there were “several” Mexican youths being trained by the FARC while residing at Reyes’ camp. At least one Mexican, Lucia Morett Alvarez, was taking a course on explosives[?]. This fact [?] resonates with the as yet unconfirmed rumors that Raul Reyes had been in contact with a Mexican insurgent off-shoot called the Ricardo Flores Magon – Insurgent Militias. Other information connecting the FARC with insurgencies inside Mexico is likely on the recovered computers, but so far has not been leaked.

According to the Colombian government, however, at least four Mexicans have been confirmed as dead from the bombing of Reyes’ camp…

Other reports are more equivocal: Mexico to probe FARC link, Bill Weinberg, World War 4 Report, March 18, 2008.

In Cuba, “With respect to the situation in Cuba these past few weeks, the Cuban Libertarian Movement MLC (affinity group of Cuban anarchists in exile) speaks up to answer the unknowns and the challenges facing Cuban society. Ours is the voice of uncompromising commitment to freedom, equality and solidarity that has always been the sound of the Cuban anarchists.”

In the UK, naughty antifa have been busy. “In the early hours of this morning [March 14, 2008] several Leeds venues recently used for meetings of the fascist British National Party were attacked. The BNP have used these venues on a number of occasions, and the venues were in full knowledge of whom they were hosting. —- The venues were: —- Ireland Wood Social Club, Leeds —- The Dog & Gun public house, Killingbeck, Leeds —- Woodkirk Valley Country Club, Tingley, Leeds —- The attacks on the venues took the form of damage to property, comprising glued locks and the smashing of several windows with red paint being thrown inside. —- The purpose of this action is to send a clear message that we will do all we can to prevent the fascist BNP spreading their racist poison within West Yorkshire, and will actively confront those who provide them with resources and/or attempt to turn a quick profit from assisting them. Nick Griffin and his shabby cohorts may wear suits and ties instead of blackshirts, but we are not fooled as to the true nature of the fascist BNP.” ~ Yorkshire antifascists

See also : May Day / Labor Day / International Workers’ Day 2008 / a sizzling BONK holiday, slackbastard, May 2, 2008

PS.

Arsonists attack police station
Dylan Welch
Sydney Morning Herald
May 9, 2008

Unknown people have set fire to the front of a police station in Sydney’s southwest overnight, leaving the front doors of the station blackened and cracked.

Officers inside Kingsgrove police station, on Paterson Avenue, were alerted to the fire shortly after 11pm by a neighbour who noticed the glow of the fire.

They came outside to find the entrance area of their station burning. The fire was smothered by officers with a fire extinguisher, but not before the front of the station was left damaged.

A clear liquid accelerant was later detected on the ramp leading to the front doors and police are examining security camera footage from the entrance.

My money’s on Kiwi or possibly Greek anarchists being responsible. Or possibly a collaborative effort by English, German and Swedish anarchists. These people are like football hooligans who travel the world looking for violence, don’t ya know.

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