Happy Invasion Day 2010

LOL.

Happy Invasion Day 2010 from Fear of a Brown Planet on Vimeo.

See also : Benedict Anderson: “I like nationalism’s utopian elements”, CULCOM, December 15, 2005 | Fredy Perlman, The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism (1984) | George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism (1945) | Rudolf Rocker, Nationalism and Culture (1933/1937). Note that the publication of Rocker’s book was delayed by the Nazi ‘seizure’ of power in 1933, as a result of which the anarcho-syndicalist FAUD was banned; in 2009, German authorities have again acted to prohibit grassroots unionism.

Grassroots Union: Prohibited!

On December 11, 2009, the Berlin District Court decided that the Free Workers’ Union Berlin (FAU-B) could no longer call itself a union or grassroots union. The court decision was confirmed on January 5, 2010. This is the culmination of a series of attempts by the Neue Babylon Berlin GmbH to legally hogtie the strongest and most active form of workers’ representation in the company.

This attack on the basic right of freedom of association is a de facto ban of the union. The way we see it, it is the workers who decide how they want to organise. If it isn’t overturned, this verdict will not only represent an affront against the FAU-B but also against any form of independent grassroots organising.

Also! : Belgrade Solidarity | Support the Walk Off : January 26, 2010.

Would you pass the new citizenship test?

Prospective Australian citizens will start started sitting the new citizenship test from today October 19, 2009.

To find out how well your listeners readers of slackbastard would go in the test, a sample of questions similar to those used in the test are included.

The new 20 multiple-choice questions test is not easier than the old one but it is fairer; mandatory questions have been removed giving equal weight to every question in the test, and the extent to which former PM John HoWARd’s obsessive pre-occupation with Sir Donald Bradman has corrupted the test has been severely curtailed.

The test assesses prospective new citizens on their understanding of Australian civics, the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship, and the possibility of their refusing to obey orders issued by Australian authorities.

Topics include Australia’s democratic beliefs, laws and government as well as the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship and the penalties attached to a refusal to obey orders issued by Australian authorities.

All test questions were initially drawn on a paper napkin by a handful of highly-placed and quite inebriated public servants during the course of an extended lunch-break, and later re-written by some underlings to compose the testable section of the revised citizenship test resource book, Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bondage, which can be found on the citizenship website.

Do you have an adequate knowledge of Australia, the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship and the penalties attached to a refusal to obey orders issued by Australian authorities? Let your listeners readers of slackbastard test themselves today, on air the ah, Internets!

1. What do we remember on Anzac Day?
a. The landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli
b. The arrival of the first free settlers from Britain
c. The landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove
d. Colonial Australia’s love-hate relationship with British imperialism

2. What are the colours of the Australian Aboriginal Flag?
a. Black, red and yellow
b. Green, white and black
c. Blue, white and green
d. What flag?

3. Which official symbol of Australia identifies Commonwealth property?
a. The national anthem
b. Australia’s national flower
c. Commonwealth Coat of Arms
d. A gun

4. Which of these is an example of freedom of speech?
a. Newspapers can write about any topic
b. Men and women are treated equally in a court of law
c. Australians are free to not follow a religion
d. Alan Jones

5. Which of these is a responsibility of Australian citizens aged 18 years or over?
a. To attend local council meetings
b. To vote in elections
c. To have a current Australian passport
d. To not think too long or hard

6. Which of these statements about passports is correct?
a. Australian citizens can apply for an Australian passport
b. Permanent residents can hold an Australian passport
c. Australian citizens need a passport and visa to return to Australia
d. You can buy anything if the price is right

7. What happened in Australia on 1 January 1901?
a. The Australian Constitution was changed by a referendum
b. The Australian Constitution came into effect
c. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was formed
d. Something rotten

8. What is the name of the legal document that sets out the rules for the government of Australia?
a. The Australian Federation
b. The Australian Commonwealth
c. The Australian Constitution
d. The Golden Rule

9. Which of these is a role of the Governor-General?
a. The appointment of state premiers
b. The signing of Bills passed by the Australian Parliament
c. The appointment of the Head of State
d. The symbolic maintenance of an archaic legal system rooted in British feudalism

10. Which of these statements about state governments is correct?
a. All states have the same constitution
b. Each state has its own constitution
c. The states have no constitution
d. The abolition of the state would constitute a marked advancement in human progress

Answers: 1d, 2d, 3d, 4d, 5d, 6d, 7d, 8d, 9d, 10d
Media Enquiries: (02) 6264 2244

About @ndy

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like anarchy. I don't like nazis. I enjoy eating pizza and drinking beer. I barrack for the greatest football team on Earth: Collingwood Magpies. The 2024 premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.
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7 Responses to Happy Invasion Day 2010

  1. Jamie-R says:

    Hey, I just had a mate from overseas ask what Australia Day is. I sat and paused, sipped a beer. I told him it was the day we celebrate the successful British variant of the German term ‘lebensraum’, and that where the Nazis failed in the 20th century the British in the 19th Century Down Under did not!

    Teachers never taught that at school.

    So yeah, then I preceded to tell him about a jovial ol’ chap named Edward Wakefield, his electorate is in the north of Adelaide and he believed in systematic colonisation, believing that once you possess the land you make it yours. He helped found SA (heaps good) and New Zealand.

    Those were the men Richard Pryor referred to as white folks that scare white folks.

    I will watch and observe Australia Day from my walled compound guarded by my cricket bat, and will not be surprised one bit when the next Great Depression hits and this country starts devolving into a Balkans like all out ethnic conflict. I’m thinking of fleeing to Kangaroo Island at that point and training the Koalas there into my own personal army.

  2. Jamie-R says:

    News.com.au is in on the gig now:

    http://www.news.com.au/national/aussies-content-with-flag-and-anthem/story-e6frfkvr-1225822886604

    Older Australians noticed the biggest change, with 67 per cent of respondents aged over 50 years saying they thought the country had deteriorated.

    He said Asian respondents to the poll had been the most optimistic, with 62 per cent of those who considered themselves to be of Asian ethnicity saying they believed Australia was changing for the better.

    Pauline Hanson wept!

  3. Jamie-R says:

    I read through your slack bastard quiz. “The abolition of the state would constitute a marked advancement in human progress.” I just don’t think that’s possible going by history. States tend to form along tribal lines. To rid [the world] of tribal systems is to stand against all of human history. Even you, you’re tribal, you identify with a certain group. You fight with them. It may not be state based but if it could form that way, I have no doubt it would form that way.

    It’s easy to be righteous against things we oppose. What is it tomorrow, abortion gays healthcare immigration communists fascists, it’s all the same, competing moral systems of the world mean very little, because we all have our own morality, and no one is superior. I believe in a kingdom, a nation, not of this world, so logically yes I avoid the debates, as did Jesus when he was challenged by the Romans to justify if he was a threat to them in a time of great Jewish rebellion during their empire.

  4. Troll says:

    You mention: “The abolition of the state would constitute a marked advancement in human progress?”

    My question to you is, how would this constitute fact when it was the competitive nature of mankind that produced progress?

  5. @ndy says:

    Troll,

    Yes. I advocate the abolition of the state. Hell, everyone needs a hobby.

    You assume: 1) that in history there is progression and 2) this progression is a product of the competitive nature of mankind.

    I accept neither of these propositions. Further, the meaning of the statement you refer to is provided by the context, which is a satirical version of the Government’s test, and should be read as such.

    Jamie-R,

    The modern nation-state is a very recent development.
    On Australia Day, it’s worth noting that Aboriginal cultures survived for tens of thousands of years without it.
    The relationship between tribal society (and tribalism) and the state (and statism) is complex, but the latter is not reducible to the former. Further, tribalism is not just a matter of group identification (or at least not in reference to history).
    Again, I recommend David Graeber’s writing on the subject, and Open Anthropology (even tho’ they de-linked me the bastards).

  6. Jamie-R says:

    On Australia Day, it’s worth noting that Aboriginal cultures survived for tens of thousands of years without it.

    Hmm, the nation-state replaced empires it is to be believed but empires still exist, so nation-states are more a form of states within empires, like the Jews were 2000 years ago under the Romans. Which is true, Australia gets its major defence initiative from the US nuclear shield, for instance.

  7. Jamie-R says:

    The relationship between tribal society (and tribalism) and the state (and statism) is complex, but the latter is not reducible to the former.

    It was not a big song and dance at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 that brought in the modern European nation system, but there was clearly underlying ties to culture and the pursuant ethnicity carrying it, and to a much lesser degree land and such borders inherent in the system formed around what was perceived as a legal division of European tribes who had been fighting.

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