Wondering what anarchy is all about? An anarchist society is a voluntary non-hierarchical society, which is based on the creation of political and societal structures which is based on equal decision making power, people involved in the decision making the decision, where wealth is held in common and used in the common good. Very conservative concepts. Could you imagine that? A group of people believing in the collective wisdom of the population as a whole? Not wanting to follow a leader, a religious leader or a political leader, or a community leader? Unbelievable. That’s what anarchy is all about, about creating a society without rulers, and in order to create a society without rulers, we need to centralise both power and wealth. That’s the anarchist vision. Yes. That’s the vision.

Now, if you’d like more information about anarchy, or for this week’s edition of the Anarchist Age Weekly Review, issue 755, you’ve heard correctly, we haven’t had an issue for 2 weeks, but it’s out once again. Try the website, anarchistmedia.org. If you want to pod cast, again try the website or try 3cr.org.au follow the links and bingo, you can podcast the program, bring it down at any time. Tell your friends about it. You’ve now got no excuse, by saying I’ve got to be at work, I’m looking after the kids, I’m doing my toenails, I’m dying my hair, I’m washing my fingers, cooking my meals, no, you can pod cast, it’s up there for all eternity, until the world wide web collapses, when the electricity runs out, but that’s another story.

In today’s program we’ll be talking about a royal commission, apathy plus action, health, co-operatives or co-operative behaviour, the Howard government, the Rudd opposition, ahhhh, just wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful, boring, trivial, day to day stuff but the stuff which daily life is made about. Because the great thing about living in a capitalist society is that there is a lot of distractions, you can go on the world wide web, you can go down to your local coffee shop, you can read a magazine, it just goes on and on. Wonderful distractions. Somehow we think, that in a capitalist society, that politics, and all politics is, it comes from the Greeks the polis which is the affairs of the people, that the affairs of the people are somehow devoid from day to day reality. The problem is that in our society, there is a small minority that owns the means of production, distribution, means of communication, which dominates political activity in this country, and all you have to do is have a look at the alternative governments’ policies to realise that in this country, if you want to be elected into government, you need to do the bidding of the puppet masters. You need to define and redefine you policies so they suit the interests of the puppet master. Don’t fall for the garbage that parliamentary elections have anything to do with democracy, like I keep saying on this program.

Parliamentary elections and parliamentary rule has as much to do with democracy as the AFL has to do with promoting soccer in this country. Because real power doesn’t lie in parliament, it lies in the boardrooms of national and transnational corporations although parliament, can, the puppets in parliament can make life very difficult for their subjects and you or I are their subjects. I mean, what other field of human endeavour would you give a signed blank cheque to anyone? Hmm? But during parliamentary elections we are expected to give away signed blank cheques, we are expected to give somebody the power to make decisions for us for the next 3 years and if they lie to you, as we see continually, if they fade, if they change political parties, if they stand on their heads, there is nothing you can do until the next election when you go through the same process. Anybody who thinks religious belief is based on faith, hasn’t thought very closely or deeply about the parliamentary process. Parliamentary democracy is based on faith. The faith that somebody will do the right thing by you. Nothing else. What I find extraordinary, as we come up to the Federal election, is this idea that political action is limited to the act of casting a ballot every 3 years in order to elect representatives to make decisions on our behalves, representatives who, when push comes to shove, are nothing more than puppets for the puppet masters who own the means of production, distribution and exchange of communication. Pick up any newspaper, listen to any radio program, watch any television show, pay TV or free to air (I hate using that word) you will see that there is no debate, no discussion about the parliamentary process, about parliamentary institutions, about where power lies and people say, ohhhh, they are the same, their policies are the same – obviously their bloody policies are the same! Obviously you have political parties and group and independents that have got divergent policies, to those small sections of the community that dominates political and economic life in this country, but they don’t get the oxygen of publicity. The only people who get the oxygen of publicity in this country are those who are willing to play under the capitalist rules and the capitalist rules are very simple. They want to create a society where wealth and power is not held in common, where wealth and power continues to be the property of a small section of this society and while we continue to think that parliamentary elections have anything to do with democracy, we will continue to go through this process every 3 years and complain 3 years later because, well, you know, we didn’t ask for a GST, ohhh, I didn’t ask for that, I didn’t realise they would privatise all those public assets, well that’s what happens when you limit you political activity, you social activity, you’re community activity, to the demeaning process of casting a ballot every years. The life of the community is determined by the activity of that community.

How do you think we have pensions in this country? How do you think people have the illusory right to vote in this country? How do you think people did have overtime pay in this country? How do you think people did have access to sick leave and holiday loading and pension payments that allowed people to survive? How do you think we’ve got all that? Do you think that some government come along and said ‘ohhh, boys and girls, you’ve been very good today, here you are, here’s a lolly?’ No. It came through struggle. And what we’ve seen in this country over the last century, especially over the last 2 or 3 decades, is the rewriting of the historical record to make us think that change comes through the ballot box. That change comes from begging and beseeching. That change comes from working up the right channels. It doesn’t. The historical record shows the exact opposite. Change comes from when apathy is turned into action. Now I have no problem with political apathy. And I tell you why I’ve got no problem with the idea of political apathy. Because why shouldn’t any intelligent human being with one synapsing neuron not be apathetic about the current political process we have in this country. Why shouldn’t they be apathetic? Why shouldn’t they see parliamentary elections as some type of sick joke – some type of illusory power? Those people who see that are on the way to transforming this society into a society where wealth and power are held in common. But it’s one thing to be apathetic; it’s another thing to move into the next phase of political activity. And that next phase is action. And I’m not talking necessarily about hundreds of thousands of people taking the streets. But action comes in many ways. Each and every one of us, irrespective of how old, how sick, how many commitments we have, can become active. You can talk to people. You can articulate your ideas. You can form organisations. You can hold public meetings. You can use the new technology to disseminate your ideas. You can resist what is happening. You can take power out of the hands of a managed media and put it back into the hands of the people. Why do you think 350 million dollars were wasted to protect a few world leaders in Sydney 2 or 3 weeks ago? Why do you think the 4th estate was frothing at the mouth at the idea of a few hundred thousand people protesting in Sydney? Why did they for weeks set the scene which discouraged people from entering Sydney? Very simple. Because they know the more protest there is, the more mass action there is, the more people who vocally make their differences known, make their displeasures known, the greater the pressure on governments. And governments fall because of pressure on the streets. Look at all the major revolutionary situations that have occurred on the planet in the last 2 or 300 years and you will see the governments fall on the streets. You may be able to use the ballot to ameliorate some of the more unpleasant aspects of our society, but when it comes to radical social change, the ballot box provides one avenue, via which to place alternatives before the people. It is not an avenue which will lead to radical change.

You’re listening to the Anarchist World this Week, broadcast across Australia. My name’s Joseph Toscano, I’m hosting today’s program. The number for a copy of this weeks Anarchist Age Weekly Review issue 755, is (03) 8508 9856. you can download it from anarchistmedia.org Go to the website and you can join seditioncharter.org you can join direct democracy not parliamentary rule you can look at a lot of other activities and those of you who are coming to Ballarat on Monday the 3rd of December, hopefully there will be lots of you, it’s a Monday, it does mean you have to take a day off work if you are working, it does mean you have to come to Ballarat but we need to reclaim the radical spirit of the past, of the Eureka rebellion, you need to understand the past to understand the present and change the future. 4am to 4pm. Look up the website and you can download some posters of the Eureka celebrations. You can download a poster for this radio program which you can put up around your workplace, or you can send it to your friends via the web. The material’s there, it doesn’t take much effort. And also, at anarchistmedia.org a number of these programs, maybe every second week, there will be a transcript of the Anarchist World this Week. So you can use that material there to help you organise your own activities.

The Anarchist Media Institute is here for one very good reason. We are not here to form some massive top down organisation. We’re here to assist people to form their own organisations. To form a society within a society. Help create a duel power situation. Any materials on the website, you’re freely able to use to pursue those objects and if you aren’t computer literate you can always write to use and we’ll send you material PO Box 20 Parkville 3052. and if you think things are going to change with a change of government, if a change of government occurs, think again. Listen to the policies and see how very similar they are. Alright, let’s move onto, oh, before we do that, I’d just like to remind people, we have 30 or 40 cds made of the 5 interviews I had with the economist John Glasbrook. He talked about the 5 major economists which are having a profound effects on our economy. Now these interviews went over 5 weeks, you can either download the interviews via podcast, or if you can’t and you’d like a CD with the 5 interviews on them, you send us 20 50c stamps, that’s all we ask, to cover production costs, packing costs and postage costs, send it to PO Box 20 Parkville 3052, a book of 20 50c stamps. We’ll send you out the CD with the 5 interviews which you can then use, once again, to organise your own activities because it doesn’t matter how many years I appear on this program, it doesn’t matter how erudite or how stupidly I put forward ideas, change does not come from individuals, change comes from individuals form groups and take action to push for change.

Now that’s move on. I don’t know if any of you have kept an eye on activities in Victoria. I don’t know why you’d bother but, it’s very interesting. That’s been a Royal Commission into police corruption in NSW and Qld and WA, and a lot of fascinating material surfaced to the top. But in Victoria, where the Office of Police Integrity and Victoria Police are looking at links between organised crime and serving and retired Victorian police officers and the spate of murders, I think it was 28, which occurred in Victoria over a 4 year period, there seems to be no push for a Royal Commission. It’s all about increasing the powers of the Office of Police Integrity. And you think to yourself, a lot of nasty things have happened in Victoria over the last decade or so. We’ve seen the Drug Squad disbanded because it seemed that the old Victorian drug squad was an important part of organised crime in Victoria. We saw a period where there were a number of brazen executions carried out in public where fortunately no members of the community were actually killed. The 28 men lost their lives in this little gang war. And we’ve seen people and we’ve seen the media to a large degree, talk a lot about organised crime in a few bent cops and the relationships between organised crime and a few bent cops which was poopooed before the state election in November last year but which is now a matter of public record. And every time the push for a Royal Commission is raised, we are told like, oh well, look at the situation for a year and they’ll all be all the same, what we need is an entrenched authority against corruption. Well I’ll tell you why I support a Royal Commission, why I think a Royal Commission is necessary. The purpose of a Royal Commission is not to gather material for prosecution of individuals. The purpose of a Royal Commission is to shine a torch into those nooks and crannies which we don’t have access to, to bring into the public limelight all those little deals which exist, not just between bent cops and organised crime, but those deals which exist in Victoria between bent cops, organised crime, the business community and the political sector. That’s right, that’s what a Royal Commission could do, and maybe the main reason the government doesn’t want a Royal Commission, or the opposition doesn’t want a Royal Commission, and even the media wants a Royal Commission in Victoria, because we may find, by having a Royal Commission which provides legal protection to witnesses and immunity to witnesses, what we may find, is these tentacles which link the business community, the political community , organised crime and parts of the Victorian police force.

Maybe this is what they are concerned about being brought to the public attention. Because for every story that’s published, there are a dozen stories that aren’t published because of the legal ramifications and what a Royal Commission does, it provides a forum in which allegations can be publicly aired and light is shone on these activities. And maybe that’s why, as I said before, there’s such a resistance. Wouldn’t it make sense to hold a Royal Commission? I mean, governments and institutions and the police and business always talk about ethical behaviour and if you and I are not involved in ethical behaviour we’ll soon find ourselves in front of one of the courts but when it comes to putting a searchlight on these links which exist, which many people know exist, which many people are frightened to publish because of the legal consequences of publishing that material, which many people know where that legal money goes, how it’s invested in so called legitimate business. So no wonder there is such resistance to holding a Royal Commission in Victoria into the links between organised crime and sections of the Victorian police force. Because maybe once the investigation commences, once that Commission commences, the links that exist between business, the political sector, organised crime and Victoria police will become public knowledge and reform will have to occur.

You’re listening to the Anarchist World this Week, broadcast across Australia. My name’s Joseph Toscano, this program is streaming live on 3cr.org.au. It’s also podcast so you can pull it down and many of these programs are also transcribed. Yes, they’ve got a written format, website anarchistmedia.org. Let’s move on.

Now, I’m sure you’re all surprised, now what surprises me about the opinion polls, is not that the Rudd opposition is ahead, but that 45% of people who are going to vote in this country and about 20% what be voting in this election, but 80% will be so about 45% of 80% still think that having a liar, a cheat, a fraudster and a coward as a Prime Minister, who’s responsible for the introduction of socially divisive legislation, which marginalises and attacks the most vulnerable members of our community, and which has seen the percentage of profits which are generated through workers efforts, which go to workers pockets decreasing, the 45% of this community still think this is a wonderful government and our government is still a wonderful government despite what is happening. Now I did notice that the reactionary forces, (I hate to call them conservatives because they’re not conservative they’re authoritarian they’re reactionary, I mean, conservatives try to conserve things these people are trying to impose an authoritarian agenda on the rest of us) but I’ve seen the reactionary forces in this country have got a bit of a spring in their step, because of the latest poll that appeared in The Australian. Now it’s interesting how one poll can get people mobilised and all those reactionaries who thought that the end was nigh, are now walking around with a smile on their faces because the Howard led coalition government is off it’s knees and fighting back. Now they’re off their knees and fighting back not because the Prime Minister is smart or courageous, or the party has any policies that will tackle the problems their divisive social agenda and economic agenda and privatisation fire-sale have created, but because their puppet masters seen their boys and girls in trouble, have come out with all guns blazing. That’s right; they’ve come out boxing for their boys and girls. Not because a Labor government could challenge the power they are currently exercising, but because they’re concerned that a change of government will generate a climate for change that will eventually challenge their power. That is the ball game. The ball game is, that if a government is changed, there is momentum for real change irrespective of that governments policies. Irrespective of that oppositions’ policies. Even the conservative Labor Party poses the challenge to the authority to those people who own the means of production, distribution, exchange of communication, because they don’t know whether the party heavyweights will be able to keep a lid on the call for a change of tack, on the call for transformation, on the call for change. That’s the ball game. Changes of government put the puppet masters in a position of vulnerability because people might want more. That’s right. They might want more. And the policies which were elucidated during a parliamentary electoral phase, were policies had to converge in order for oppositions to generate the support they need among those sections of the community that determine what is good and what is bad.

It’s important that we continue to pull out all stops. To encourage people to agitate for a change of government. Whether you vote or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is that there is a tsunami of public pressure during this process. Because if we take the foot off the accelerator and put it on the brake and think Labor Party will be elected irrespective of a groundswell of public opinion, of action, then you will find that those sections of the community that own the means of production, distribution, exchange of communication, will dominate the debate. They will be able to influence people to continue to support the economic policies which have benefited them so well. It’s important that we continue to challenge this government’s authority. It’s important that we continue to act on the behalf of those people who find themselves marginalised, or insecure because of the policies that have been carried out by the Liberal/National Party. Credibility is the name of the game. If all you hear in the capitalist media, I won’t use the word mainstream to describe them, they’re not mainstream they’re extremists, if all you hear in the capitalist media is the debate about who will make the best managers in a capitalist society post election, then all those other important issues will not be raised. And if you think the Australian Labor Party or even the Greens will raise them for you, think again. The Coalition government will be defeated and the Labor Party will be forced to abandon Rudd’s conservative rhetoric if it is elected into office because of pressure from below. Because of a questioning of the political processes. Because of the questioning of policies and most importantly of all, because of a push to ensure the means of production, distribution, exchange of communication don’t continue to remain in the hands of a self-serving minority which uses the parliamentary process to dominate the political agenda and ensure that policies which benefit it continue to be the only policies that see the light of day in this country. So, if you think you are going to sit back at home and twiddle your thumbs and wait to the election, and it will all be hunky dory, it won’t be hunky dory. A change of government provides opportunities. It provides momentum for change. A re-election of the current government will ensure that the momentum stops. That’s business as usual. The puppet masters continue to dominate the political decision making processes and the economy in this country.

You’re listening to the Anarchist World this Week, broadcast across Australia on the national community radio satellite. The number once again for a copy of this week’s edition of the Anarchist Age Weekly Review which canvasses many of the subjects which are brought up on this program is (03) 8508 9856. You can download the weekly from anarchistmedia.org you can write to us at PO box 20 Parkville 3052 if you want a tape of the 5 interviews conducted by John Glasbrook about the 5 leading economic thinkers of our time, just send us 20 50c stamps to PO Box 20 Parkville 3052 to cover costs for producing the CD packaging, posting etc.

Let’s move on. Well, have you noticed something interesting about the government intervention in the Northern Territory? Have you noticed how all those wonderful doctors who thought they were going to do something by jumping to the government’s demands to have doctors volunteer their time to assist people in the Northern Territory, indigenous communities, are beginning to realise, have you noticed? I was just amazed. I was involved in indigenous health care in the mid 1970’s and here we have these doctors telling us the same things that we’ve all heard before. The major problem in indigenous communities in the Northern Territory is not child sexual abuse. The major problem is poverty. Children continue to have chronic ear infections, retarded growth curves, because of the lack of access to food in stores which charge exorbitant prices. Respiratory infections because of poor living conditions, diabetes in the adult population because of change of dietary practises, the lack of health facilities, the lack of proper housing. So we are seeing the same problems that these people have spoken about for decades because of the government inaction in these communities. Where people have come in thinking they’ve got all the solutions, hung around for a few months and then disappeared and left the situation in a worse situation than it was. And if you think the government’s changes in terms of quarantining welfare payments, removing the work for the dole schemes which existed in these communities, closing down smaller communities and forcing people to move to larger communities is really going to change anything, think again. I mean, this is one of Howard’s electoral gambits, to claim the high moral ground and once again we have seen this government has no interest in the indigenous community except an interest in stealing their land so that land can be used to extract natural resources and I wouldn’t be surprised that behind this push for intervention, is a push by mining corporations, some of the richest corporations on this planet, who could resolve the problem the problem of indigenous poverty tomorrow if they were willing to share the profits made from extracting these resources fro aboriginal land, behind this push to break down that sense of community and that sense of co-operative ownership. It’s no accident, as I’ve said before on this program, the federal government wants to introduce individual ownership, it wants to breakdown the idea of co-operative ownership of the land. Individual owners can then be plucked off one at a time and that freehold title to land that people hold through collective ownership disappears. It’s no accident the government cancelled the current land sharing arrangements in indigenous communities in the Northern Territory in order to have control of that land. And like the invasion of Iraq, as Mr Greenspan said, was all about oil, the invasion of the Northern Territory is all about minerals. It has nothing to do with this government’s concerns with indigenous Australians, if they had any concern it could have been resolved decades ago. And again, don’t believe me, I’m full of the proverbial, listen to some commentator, listen to the people that were there, the people who went in with stars in their eyes, with the right sentiments in their hearts who are now becoming very disillusions and very angry that they are being used as shock troops to remove what few rights indigenous people have over the land in the Northern Territory.

You’re listening to the Anarchist World this Week, broadcast across Australia on the national community radio satellite.

Let’s talk about health. Health seems to be the big issue today, doesn’t it? Or more importantly, access to health care. We even have the presidential aspirant talking about a universal health care system in America. Lo and behold, while in Australia, what we have seen is the privatisation of the more profitable aspects of the health care system. And the diversion of taxpayers money to prop up the private health care system. Now look, I’m the first one to admit, that if you have access to private health insurance, you can receive some very good health care. You can get in months and years before somebody on the public waiting list to have a non-urgent procedure performed. But if you are involved in a major motor vehicle accident or need intensive care, you’re better off in the public health sector. Because the private health care system is designed to cherry pick the more profitable cases and try to keep out the more chronic non-profitable cases. And in Australia, there is an increasing number of Australians with chronic health problems, over 30% of the population, you begin to realise, like the public education system, the public health sector is being asked to do more for less. So, no wonder many people prefer not to work in the public health sector. No wonder people working in the public health sector tend to get disillusioned and burnt out. I mean, how would you feel if you were asked to do the impossible with minimal resources? And the great tragedy about the health care debate in this country has been that this government and the opposition to some degree see the solution to the woes of the public health sector lying in the privatisation of the public health sector. And what has happened over the past decade highlights what happens when you our public money which should go into the public sector into the private sector – you create a second rate system which has trouble attracting medical staff, nursing staff, pathology staff, and the list goes on and on and on. Where people wait years with chronic medical and surgical conditions which should be treated tomorrow and which can be treated tomorrow if they have access to private heath insurance. And nothing highlights this more than the fact about dental services. Dental services have never been included in the Medicare system. So, it’s not a matter of generating more wealth. If 21 million people living on a continent, not a huge burden, we have 21 million people not 1 billion people as in China or a billion or 1.3 as in china or a billion in India, around 250 million in Bangladesh, a country the size of Tasmania, we have 21 million on a continent which is going through good economic times which have basically based on the extraction of raw materials, materials which are being virtually given away on the world market, whether it’s natural gas, whether it’s iron ore, whether it’s basalt, it is virtually given away and as far as the payback to the population, you find that most of these companies are so well financed at avoiding their taxation liabilities or more importantly, the taxation laws are written to ensure that thy pay minimal taxation.

So although huge profits are being made at the expense of this country, very little of those profits go back into government coffers to provide basic health care. Health care, access to health care, is a right. It’s not a charity, it’s not a privilege, it’s a right. And in many regards, Australians have the health care system they deserve because they have not been willing to agitate for a more fairer share, or a fairer access to the health care system, and each of us gets sick sooner or later, irrespective of how well we think we are. And the reality is when you’re faced with a major sicknesses, or a member of your family or friend is faced with a major medical problem or a chronic medical problem, it can make life exceptionally difficult for people. So it’s all very well for Mr Abbott to sit there pontificating about providing 500 extra nurses to a public health system that requires 20,000 extra nurses to provide the services which are provided in a private health care setting. But when you look at their little program for 500 extra nurses, what they’re going to do is create another beurocracy. They are going to create 25 privately owned health care companies in public hospitals providing private education to 20 nurses. That’s the mathematics. 25 private institutions in public hospitals which will be using public facilities, will be paid by the taxpayer, to produce 20 nurses per year. Come on. Has anybody done the mathematics? Has anybody looked at the privatisation by stealth program this government has? This announcement has nothing to do with access to public health care, this announcement was about the continuing drive to privatise the public health sector, force people to pay private health insurance, and if you can’t pay private health insurance, bad luck. It’s your bad luck. That’s the reality that you and I face because we have allowed this to occur. We have allowed this to occur because we’ve left it up to the experts. We’ve worked up the right channels. We’ve voted at the election. We’ve begged and beseeched for them to do the right thing by us and on every available indicator, sure, we may have bigger houses, more white goods, but the payback, we have to work longer hours, in order to repay the interest rate on the debt we’ve needed to accumulate in order to have a rood over our heads, educate our children and have access to health care. So privatisation whether it’s in health, whether it’s in education, whether it’s in roads, is not the universal panacea that you and I have been led to believe, and although you may have a bigger pay-packet, you’ve got a bigger debt to service and you have to use part of that pay packet to buy medications at a chemist. Did you know that 20% of all scripts are never presented to chemists because people don’t have the money to pay for those medications? This is just one small aspect of it. So as I said before, in many regards, we live in the society we deserve to live in. because we believe the propaganda. We’ve allowed the experts to dominate the political process. We’ve given the politicians free reign. We’ve believed the propaganda, that change comes from begging and beseeching and signing petitions. Change whether it’s reform, whether its radical change, comes from action. Apathy may be a legitimate response to the situation we find ourselves in. But in order to move the next step, we need to marry or bring to the alter apathy and action.

You’ve been listening to the Anarchist World this Week broadcast across Australia on the national community radio satellite. My name’s Joseph Toscano, I’m hosting this program. If you’d like a complimentary copy of this weeks Anarchist Age Weekly Review you can download it from anarchistmedia.org should be up sometime tomorrow. The program is podcast you can download it at any time, tell your friends about it, just go to 3cr.org.au or go to anarchistmedia.org and follow the links and you’ll get access to the podcast. You can write to us, yes we do answer mail PO Box 20 Parkville 3052. you can join seditioncharter.org or look at Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule, join both of those organisations which are doing a lot of good work. And don’t forget, see you in Ballarat on the 3rd of December 4am to 4pm at Eureka Park cnr of Eureka Street and Ballarat Road. 4am, celebrations, 4am to 4pm, Monday the 3rd of December and if you want those tapes with the interviews with John Glasbrook on economics, send us a book of 20 50c stamps to PO Box 20 Parkville 3052. Thankyou for listening to Anarchist World this Week, broadcast to the national community radio satellite streaming live on 3cr.org.au now podcast, may even be a transcription of the program on the website next week.