Dusting off the blogging boots

I think... stay tuned.

Eco Radio 29 July - Peace Convergence arrests and the Campaign against Uranium Expansion

Eco Radio proudly flew the anti-war, anti-nuclear flag this week. We spoke with long time anti-war activist Ciaron O'Reilly about the protest actions and arrests at this year's Peace Convergence at Shoalwater Bay in Central Queensland.

The audio is online at Radio 4 All and Rad Radio's own Ili Tulloch has a story in Rockhampton's Morning Bulletin here.

We then heard a clip from Dr Helen Caldicott's If You Love This Planet, featuring Lawrence Wittner, Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany. Prof. Wittner is an award-winning American historian who has written extensively on peace movements and foreign policy. He is the author of seven books, including his most recent: Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, published by Stanford University Press. He also wrote an earlier trilogy of books Toward Nuclear Abolition: The Struggle Against The Bomb upon which Confronting the Bomb is based.

We heard Wittner’s evaluation of the global movement for disarmament, and an analysis of the pathology of war and weapons.

Finally, we checked in with Steve Holdsworth from Friends of the Earth about the campaign against the expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia. Time is ticking for submissions to the Environmental Impact Statement, so get it together and follow FoE's lead by making a submission here.























Music
Joy Division – Transmission
The Clash – Hate and War
The Drones – River of Tears
The Coup – 5 Million Ways to Kill a CEO
Elton Britt – Uranium Fever
Trillion Ft. Pataphysics and Project nRt – Say No to the Vaccine (censored by YouTube)
Scul Hazzards – Slaughtered Pigs

Eco Radio 17 June 2009 - ASEN, SoS and Northey Street

This week Kristy Walters from the Australian Students' Environment Network paid us a visit to tell us about what ASEN does, their plans for this year's Students of Sustainability conference and this Saturday's Cocktail Affair, which will help raise money to get Queensland's finest environment activists down to chilly old Melburn for SoS.

The Cocktail Affair is taking place at Kurilpa Hall in West End, this Saturday the 20th of June from 6:30pm. Be there or be square fools. Kristy also worded us up about the climate justice forum taking place this Friday at the Brisbane Square Library form 6:30, which will look at the human considerations of a post-Kyoto climate change solution. Details below.

Or you might like to get along to Northey Street City Farm's annual Solstice celebration. Rossco called in for a yarn about what to expect – lots of fire, food, good tunes and happy people. The Northey St mob are still in the process of mopping up after their second flood this year, so anyone who wants to go and help get one of Brisbane's finest community institutions looking pretty again would be much appreciated!

Eco Radio's roving reporter Eliza then gave us the people's view of last week's Climate Emergency Rally.

We also heard from Peak Oil Check-in, a program out of Vermont in the USA. This week the show was looking at the impact Peak Oil will have on the spread of pandemic diseases, much like swine flu.

Then Mumia gave us the lowdown on the spectacular collapse of one of the planet's greatest environmental vandals, General Motors.

Climate change: a global issue. How good is the global solution?

This first evening in a series of climate justice events will focus on the international UN climate talks, in the lead-up to Copenhagen in December 2009.

Friday 19 June, 6.30-8pm
Community Meeting Room, Ground Level, Brisbane Square Library (corner Adelaide and George Streets, City)
Please RSVP to Nicole Rankin by Tuesday 16 June
Email climatejusticebrisbane@gmail.com or mobile 0431 942 807

Speakers and discussion will explore problems with the climate negotiation process, and give a snapshot of thow those problems can be solved. Learn about how the climate negotiations impact on local people's struggle for justice and explore strategies for creating global climate justice through local solutions.

A facilitated discussion on how we can build the climate justice movement in Australia will conclude the evening.

Music

No Time – The Saints
Earth Died Screaming – Tom Waits
Mountain Song – Jane’s Addiction
Dancehall Girl – Salmonella Dub
Carnival – Chocolate Strings
Free Mumia – KRS One
Don’t Take a Knife to the Graveyard – Ouch My Face

Eco Radio 10 June 2009 - National Climate Emergency Rally and the Radtour

This week on Eco Radio we spoke with Ewan Saunders, one of the organisers of the National Climate Emergency Rally in Brisbane. The rally has united a coalition of different activist groups and is hoping to pressure state and federal governments in to actually doing something about climate change and our transition to a post-carbon future. The audio can be heard here.

Eliza then gave us the lowdown on last week's World Environment Day protests, organised by the Six Degrees crew who will also be out in force for this week's rally.

We also had a report back from Kasey Sparks, who was recently part of Friends of the Earth's Radioactive Exposure Tour. The Radtour takes in such abominations as the Maralinga test site and Ranger uranium mine. Here's a fun fact: Australia's cheese exports are actually a bigger contributor to our economy than the current revenue stream generated by the nuclear industry! Sorry vegans, this is proof that we should all eat cheese and leave the poison in the ground. Yep.

The interview with Kasey is on Radio4All!

Music

The Pledge (DJ Spooky Ill Bootleg mp3 remix) – Saul Williams
Anarchy Burger (Hold the Government) – The Vandals
Up to No Good – Rancid
Dontcha Hear Me - Lazy Grey
The Raft – Fat Freddy's Drop (during the community notices)
Leaky Lifeboat – Sonic Youth

Eco Radio 03 June 2009 - Greenwashing and CSR

Eco Radio this week spoke with independent researcher Michael Barker Michael Barker about evil corporations' use of Corporate Social Responsibility to manage their often problem problematic public images. Rather than change their behaviours toward workers and the environment, they pour millions into shallow PR to 'green' their image. If you missed it you can hear it here.

We also had a visit from Ellie Smith at Reverse Garbage to tell us about their events schedule for June and July, including this Friday at Green(wash)fest.

Music
Search and Destroy – The Stooges
Police and Thieves – Junior Murvin
We Want Your Soul – Freeland
War – Bob Marley
Your Children Aren’t Special – Bill Hicks
It's not Scotch, It's Whisky – Dick Nasty (playing at Brain Banana this Sunday at the Jube!

Eco Radio 20 May 2009 - CRAGs

This week on Eco Radio we had a visit from Omar Ameer from the North Brisbane Carbon Reduction Action Group. Omar told us about a group of awesome Brisvegans who are doing their bit to slow down the seemingly inevitable clusterfuck that is climate change. For the uninitiated, a Carbon Reduction Action Group or CRAG is an organisation of peeps taking climatic matters into their own hands, basically due to their frustration with our shitty governments and 'captains of industry' doing sweet FA. With an undertaking to reduce their carbon emissions – mainly by reducing their electricity consumption and travel patterns – CRAG members set about the business of fixing shit up before it's too late. Word.

Meanwhile the schmucks in Canberra, Washington, Geneva and probably Copenhagen grease the wheels of the capitalist death machine with a softly softly approach to the climate criminals. Go figure.

For more info about CRAGs in general a great resource is http://www.carbonequity.info/. For info about the North Brisbane CRAG hit up the link above, email NB.CRAG[at]gmail[dot]com or call Omar on 0413 664 369. They're having their next meeting on the 15th of June in Red Hill, so get on ya bike or PT and get involved. We'll hear from the North Brisbane CRAG later in the year when they do a bit of a stocktake on their carbon reduction efforts to see how things are working out.

We also heard some mutherf*ckin radness from the Stimulator and the latest edition of ITEOTWAWKIAIFF, and another of Mumia Abu Jamal's pearls of wisdom from death row.

Don't forget the Peace Convergence too!

Music
Gang of Four – Capital
Barons of Tang – Tango for Billy
The Slits – Typical Girls
Mexico City – Ghetto
Fireballs – Depression Manic
Chris Macro presents: King Tubby vs Wu Tang Clan – Money Rules Everything Around Me

Radio Democracy 24/12/08

Yes. The Rhythm, the Rebel...

Radio Democracy was very excited to speak to Brian 'Mr Hardgroove' Hargrove, bass player, band manager, and with Chuck D, co-writer from seminal NY hip-hop crew Public Enemy.

We spoke about 20 years of Public Enemy tours, the state of hip hop today, US politics and the future for the Enemy.

Without further ado... the interview!

Public Enemy are playing a series of dates around the country in the first week of January. Yeah boyee!

We also heard more from Radio Ecoshock out of Vancouver, Canada and a speech given by Gwynne Dyer. See last week for details.

Music
Bring the Noise - Public Enemy
I Don't Wanna be Called Yo Niga - Public Enemy
Fight the Power - Public Enemy
Politician - Kora
Gigantic - Pixies

Radio Democracy 17/12/08

There She Goes, My Beautiful World...

It's now official – Kev, Penny and Co are on the nose. The announcement of the government's long-awaited carbon pollution reduction targets has drawn suitable ire from greenies, a concerned public, and most surprisingly, from industry.

The announcement of a 5-15% target falls well short of the 25-40% environmentalists are saying is essential to stop runaway climate change completely screwing things up.
Many argue the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu wetlands and Murray-Darling basin are all set for irreparable damage thanks to the 5% figure.

Even 15% is likely to be pretty bleak, should next year's negotiations in Copenhagen actually succeed.

We spoke to Mathew Murphy, Energy Reporter with The Age in Melbourne to get some insight into what the targets actually mean and whether it was all as bad as it seems. He seems to think not, but says there is definitely room for movement into a higher percentage range.

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition's Anna Rose thinks otherwise. We heard last week about the AYCC's 'Your targets = Our Future' campaign, which was anticipating a 5-15% reduction target. The AYCC are going to be at the government's White Paper information sessions around the country, including in Brisbane tomorrow from 9 until 11am, at the Convention and Exhibition Centre on Merivale St, South Brisbane.

Fortunately people seem to care about what's in store – Radio Democracy tried to get in to hear the session and all 370 seats are already booked out. Being outside is always more fun anyway.

While we were on a roll with doomsday scenarios and climate chaos, we heard the first of three excerpts from Radio Ecoshock, featuring journalist and war historian Gwynne Dyer. Dyer was speaking in Vancouver about his latest book and upcoming radio series, which looks at the likelihood of war as a result of climate change.

While hardly the first person to run this argument, Dyer puts a very strong, logical case as to just how we can expect the shit to hit the fan. The first is a massive influx of Mesicans and Central Americans into the United States and increased border control (think Palestine, walls, guns, razorwire etc.), the second a drying up of the Indus River by India, leaving Pakistan thirsty, angry and armed with nukes and finally a collapse – through desertification – of the world's food producing regions. Case in point – the Murray Darling. More next week.

Music
Capital – Gang of Four
Moment of Truth – Blue King Brown
Burn Down the Parliament – The Herd
Cigarettes and Alcohol – The Leftovers
Car Song - Woody Guthrie
Conspiracy to Riot – Sage Francis

Radio Democracy Playlist 10/12/08

Human Rights Day

It is 60 years today since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed by Eleanor Roosevelt in the immediate aftermath of World War II.

And while the principles contained in the declaration are certainly noble, it seems sadly, after 60 years, many of these principles are yet to become reality.

The Federal Government has announced a consultation on a possible bill of rights for Australia, to be headed by Father Frank Brennan, who The Australian newspaper describes as a human rights skeptic.

We spoke to Phoebe Knowles, Campaign Coordinator for the Australian Human Rights Group, a coalition of over 60 organisations who would like to see better protection of human rights in this country.

She told us about what form the consultation will take, how people can make submissions and what a bill of rights would mean for Australia. A popular argument is that a bill of rights would prevent policies such as mandatory detention from coming into existence, so we asked Phoebe if this could even be applied to such idiocies as the mandatory internet filter. She thinks a constitutional protection of the right to free speech, association and expression could preempt the existence of the filter (as an example).

My two cents: seeing as 60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights hasn't exactly changed a whole lot, maybe an Australian bill of rights – as much as the UDHR itself – could do with a revision. A lot has changed in the last 60 years, and while the concept of universal human rights should be strived for, perhaps the way we frame the concept needs to be redefined a little, or a lot.

Ahem. Glad I got that off my chest.

Check out the Australian Human Rights Group and the government consultation sites for more information.

Dave was in again with an report on the activities of the 'clean coal' lobby, which are ramping up in anticipation of the government's announcement of its emissions reduction targets next week.

The greenwash is going into overdrive as the dinosaurs refuse to die.

Climate Change minister Penny Wong is currently in Poznan, Poland for a United Nations Climate Change summit and the elephant in the room is Australia’s expected emissions cuts.

Senator Wong is remaining tight-lipped about Australia’s target, but it is anticipated that the Government will announce a figure of 5-15% on Monday.

That’s a 5-15% cut on 2000 levels by 2020.

Like many other environmental groups, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition says this isn’t enough. We spoke to Jess Willis from the AYCC to discuss their ‘Your targets = our future’ campaign.



Music
Door Peep – Burning Spear
Alternative Energy – Combat Wombat
Time to Evolve – Bill Hicks
Paranoid Android – Easy Dub All Stars
Revolution Get Down – The Bellrays
A Public Dis-service Announcement from Shell/... And we thought Nation States Were a Bad Idea – Propagandhi
Eureka – Unkle Ho
Nights in Venice – The Saints

Not working, blogging

The revolution grinds on in earnest.

Watching Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson I am reminded yet again that our lot is one that has been railed against since way before my time. HST flipped his lid after the '68 DNC - the sight of Chicago cops clubbing hippies, with the blessing of the Democrats and Chicago Mayor Daley was too much. Fast forward to Denver and St Paul this year, or RNC-NYC in 2000.

Spot the difference.

Here we are forty years later. Hunter did as much for journalism and the mainstream as he did for the counterculture and acid. The parallels between the freak-out 60s psychedlic culture and the acid-eating doof scene of today are so obvious that comparison is vapid and unneccessary... but where is our Hunter, Tim Leary or Merry Bunch of Pranksters? We have the hedonistic individualism, the drugs, the music... but where the fuck are the people? I guess the only difference is that seemingly everyone was doing it in the 60s, whereas now it is just one of a myriad of splintered interest-specific subbacultchas.

The political and the psychedelic were much more connected back then. Since the emergence of rave culture (and its derivatives in the years since) the psychedelic experience - or whatever you want to call getting high and dancing like a muppet - has become an almost exclusively apolitical ritual. Sure, there is a sense of oneness and unity on the dancefloor, in the mud or wherever it may be, but the vast majority of the punters are there to get munted, forget about the ugly world they're forced to inhabit and maybe get laid. There's no tuning in; just turn on and drop out.

What would Hunter do? He blew his fucking brains out, such was his disdain for the zeitgeist.

Happy Birthday Zed!

33 years strong, still a vital part of Brisbane's media landscape (desert?)

This one's for you.




FSU x

P.S. Happy birthday to my sis Meg too. Born on the very day ZzZ came into existence!

Article on Eureka St

Here.

Radio Democracy Playlist 03/12/08

This week RD’s intrepid reporters were at the rally calling for the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Construction unions are gearing up their campaign to see the industry watchdog – a relic of Howard's IR regime – abolished.

The ABCC has proven to be a fairly useless institution, with no major achievements beyond what the unions call a 'criminalisation' of union activity.

They say the $165.4 million earmarked for the ABCC would be better spent on improving health and safety standards, which have dropped in the time of the commission's existence.

New Radical Radio ratbag Eliza and I went to check it out.


Dave was in again to fill us in on the changes to indigenous language teaching in the NT – what seems like a surefire way of further decimating these cultures.

I was going to link to some stories on Sydney Indymedia, but found the following message:

Due to disgruntled trolls spamming the newswire we have gone offline for the time being.

Bummer.

We then heard from Dr Helen Caldicott, and the second part of her interview with Bob Alvarez.

In part one of the interview, Alvarez spoke about the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership proposed by the Bush Government.

Alvarez has written a report on the GNEP – which criticises the effectiveness of the program, which effectively recycles fuel rods from nuclear reactors, extracting plutonium and uranium for further use.

Here’s the rub – the process releases about 15,000 to 20,000 times the amount of radioactivity into the environment that a nuclear reactor does!

A whole heap of dodgy radioactive isotopes are released into the atmosphere, which would seem to make this whole process kind of counterproductive.

In this second part of the interview he speaks of the logisitical and financial limitations of the GNEP and the far reaching implications for the environment and our health.

Finally, we heard about the ABC/SBS review and 'no clean feed' campaigns.

The future of both the ABC and SBS are at a crossroads, with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy reviewing the role of the national broadcasters.

In October Senator Conroy released the Towards a Digital Future discussion paper, which called for submissions on the future direction of the ABC and SBS.

Friends of the ABC and Save Our SBS are asking anyone who would like to see advertising abolished on SBS, or kept away from the ABC to make a submission to the review.

The deadline is next Friday the 12th of December at 4pm Canberra time. Save Our SBS has a sample submission on their website at saveoursbs.org and Friends of the ABC also have information on their site at fabc.org.au.

And while you’re taking the time to write to Senator Conroy, let him know how you feel about the proposed mandatory internet filter. Rallies are planned nationally next week in opposition to the so-called ‘clean feed’, which could block as many as one in 12 legitmate sites and significantly slow down Australia’s third-world internet infrastructure.

Web activist organisation GetUp! Is running an email campaign against the filter – to sign up visit www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet .

For more info about next weeks’ rallies, go to stopthecleanfeed.com.

There’s a couple of events taking place for human rights day in the next few weeks. There’ll be a screening of a documentary named HOPE This Saturday at Metro Arts, which tells the story of Amal Basry, who survived the SIEV X tragedy, in which 353 legitimate asylum seekers – including 146 children – drowned at the whim of the Howard Government’s heartless refugee policy.

Zed’s own Andrew Bartlett will introduce the film, which is screening at 6:30 this Saturday at Metro Arts, 109 Edward St, Brisbane
Entry: By donation

Further info: Paul, Ph.3392 3843
 Email: paul@rac-qld.org

There’s also a public forum taking place on Human Rights Day itself, next Wednesday the 10th of December.

The forum will feature broadcaster Phillip Adams and Stephen Keim, former barrister for Dr Mohamed Haneef.

Entry is free, but bookings are essential – to do that call 3136 6400.

Finally, on Saturday the 13th of December, the Aboriginal Rights Coalition are organising an ‘Aboriginal Rights are Human Rights’ rally, calling on the Rudd Government to end the NT intervention and welfare quarantining and drop the charges against Palm Island man Lex Wotton, who was recently jailed for his part in the 2004 riot on Palm.


The rally will take place at 2pm in Brisbane Square, out the front of the Treasury Casino next Saturday the 13th of December. (Update - this is actually at Queen's Park, one block over from the internet filter protest).

The ARC is also having its weekly organising meeting tonight at 6:30 at the TLC building at 16 Peel St Sth Brisbane.


Music
It’s Up to You –Steinski
Rudie Can’t Fail – The Clash
Forward to Death – Nomeansno
By the Time I get to Arizona – Public Enemy
When they Dropped the Atomic Bomb – Jackie Doll and his Pickled Peppers
Rall0 – Salmonella Dub (feat. Hirini Melbourne & Richard Nunns)
Pledge of Resistence – Saul Williams

Radio Democracy Playlist 26/11/08

Ding dong, the witch is dead

With great glee RD this week grappled with the much-anticipated demise of the Howard (mis)government's dumb-arse Workchoices laws. The introduction of the Fair Work Bill is the final nail in the coffin for Workchoices, although more lefty elements of the union movement, the media (and even the ALP) have labelled the new regime as Workchoices Lite. Ha de har har.

I spoke with IR academic Dr Rae Cooper to try and get some sense of what the 613-page document contained, and to see if it delivered on the pre-election Forward with Fairness policy. (Worst. Name. Ever.)

If you can be bothered, the audio is here. (it was recorded over Skype and sounds a little shitty...)

We then heard about local street rag The Independent's campaign against property developer Mirvac's new project and the SHAC gang in Melbourne's potential eviction. Mira la siguiente .

Independent Mirvac campaign

Local community newspaper The Independent is mounting a campaign against property developer Mirvac over their Waterfront development in Newstead.

The Indy has run a number of stories in recent weeks in relation to the proposed development, which would see a section of public access to the river closed.

The Independent says it received a significant number of letters in response to the campaign, which have been presented to Lord Mayor Campbell Newman.

In response, the Lord Mayor has reaffirmed his commitment to providing access to the river for all of Brisbane, but said that any development approved by council could not be changed at council’s demands.

The Independent says anyone with concerns about the development should make a written submission to the Brisbane City Council CEO at GPO Box 1434 Brisbane 4001.

SHAC

Meanwhile Melbourne students occupying a university-owned property are facing eviction this Friday after their proposal to collectively run the house was rejected by the University of Melbourne.

The Student Housing Action Collective says they’re not planning on going anywhere, despite a request from the university to leave voluntarily.

SHAC are calling for community support at a rally on Friday.

For more information go to www.shacmelbourne.blogspot.com

We were then hoping to hear from Dr Helen Caldicott, with the second part of her interview with Bob Alvarez, but technology failed... maybe next time.

Finally, we got the latest from Mumia Abu Jamal.

Music
There's Power in a Union – Billy Bragg
Keep it True - Blue King Brown
John Howard – Victims of Noah
Greed, $, Useless Children - Jay Reatard
Damaged Goods – Gang of Four
Today’s Lesson – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Milkshake – Holy Fuck
Holiday in Baghdad – Tijuana Cartel
Your Attitude is as Fucked as My Dress Sense – Dick Nasty

More photos

I know, it's taken a week... Sydney boys The Dunhill Blues at the Swap Meet Party from Outerspace!

Swap Meet Party from Outerspace photos!

I'm not sure how many blogger will let me put up, but here we go...

Radio Democracy Playlist 19/11/08

No nukes is good nukes

The good news...
The Ranger mine crazily located in Kakadu National Park is due to cease operations this year.
The bad news...
Another 7 years' worth of uranium was discovered in the area, meaning Ranger's life may be extended.

The ACF says this is a dumb idea but no doubt state and federal governments, much like Energy Resources Australia and its owner Rio Tinto, are all rubbing their hands together at the thought of digging up the filthy $hit. At least behind closed doors. Apparently the Australian population doesn't much like the idea of selling nukes to non-NPT signatories. So maybe – hopefully – not.

Which lead us right into our next piece. We heard Dr Helen Caldicott's conversation with Robert Alvarez, who has written a report into the US's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. The GNEP is a hare-brained product of the Bush administration, which if I understand correctly, is about processing and reusing spent uranium, plutonium and the like. While I'm all for reduce, reuse, recycle, I don't know that this is the best application of that philosophy. Yikes.

The more things change, right?

We then heard Mumia Abu Jamal's take on the election of Barack Obama on the US. MAJ says the machine behind Obama is – you guessed it – THE SAME as previous governments of both the Republicans and Democrats.

América latina está en marcha

Finally, we heard an update on three different Latin American countries and the typical political skulduggery that they suffer.

Peru – Anti APEC site shut down
Organisers of political demonstrations against the 2008 APEC meeting in Peru have claimed a website they are using to coordinate actions has been shut down.

The anti-APEC 2008 site was down on Sunday night, with local organising groups claiming interference on the part of the Peruvian Government and international – namely US – security forces.

The activists asked: “How can they promote economic integration, prosperity and a culture of peace when freedom of expression is restricted?

"The internet is one of the few spaces remaining for activists fighting neoliberalism – what other forms of repression will be seen at APEC Peru 2008?"

The website is now back online, with actions scheduled for the rest of the week.

For more information: www.antiapec.tk (in Spanish) or indymedia.org.

Mexico – More confrontations in Zapatista country
See Kristin Bricker's story at Narconews here.

Colombia – Yet another unionist arrested
Briarpatch magazine provided us with a comprehensive overview of the case of Liliany Obando, a Colombian trade unionist, activist, independent filmmaker and single mother of two who has been under arrest in Colombia since August.

To learn more about the Free Liliany Obando campaign, go to www.colombiasolidarity.net.

Musica
Emergency – The Herd
The Elite – Bill Hicks
Bulshit Politicians – Propagandhi
Peligro – Mano Negra
Legalize It – Elephant Wise
Pig City – The Parameters
We Call Upon the Author - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Radio Democracy Playlist 12/11/08

This week we spoke to Jess Maynard, who is in the NT community of Yuendumu participating in the ActNow Challenge – a youth empowerment and community development program. Jess is in the Territory for 10 weeks learning the Warlpiri language, working and sharing a whole heap of artisitic and cultural experiences with the local indigenous mob. She said as a city-slicker, visiting this part of Australia is a bit like going to another country – I imagine she's right. Yuendumu has been in the news lately because of a series of claims and counter-claims in an article in the Melbourne Age, which quoted Yuendumu woman Peggy Brown as saying: ""It’s working, no doubt about it", in relation to the ongoing clusterfuck that is the NT Intervention.

Next, death row inmate and radical activist/journalist Mumia Abu Jamal gave us his take on the ongoing financial catastrophe. Mumia's regular dispatches are available at prisonradio.org.

Radio Democracy was delighted to have a new ratbag in the studio this week. Dave came by to give us the lowdown on the proposed "Clean Feed" – a mandatory internet filter the Federal Government is hoping to introduce to 'protect the children.' Dave's story is posted below, and Greens Senator Scott Ludlam's questions for Comms Minister Senator Steven Conroy here.

Today's program was dedicated to Mama Africa – the longtime civil rights and anti-apartheid activist and musician Miriam Makeba, who sadly died after performing in Italy this week.


Sounds
Blister - Axe to Grind
Flow & Plenty - Busker
The Drones - I am the Supercargo
The Upsteppers - World at my Feet (playing at 4ZzZ fundraiser Dub Day Afternoon!)
Combat Wombat - Corruption Dub
Miriam Makeba- Pata Pata


Mandatory Internet censorship
David McLagan
The Labor Government is proposing to introduce mandatory internet censorship, which will require all Internet Service Providers (ISP's) to provide a mandatory filter, blocking access to 'blacklisted sites'. The 'blacklist' will be initiated and monitored by the Australia Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). This latest campaign to control the final frontier of totally free media is being championed by Labor Senator Stephen Conroy, who has coined this 'you’re with us or against us' quote "If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd-Labor Government is going to disagree."

So this is about trying to protect our family's children from things such as internet pornography, child pornography rings and internet predators. Taking the freedom of speech question out of the equation just for a second, this proposed legislation is a pathetic attempt to stop a problem that didn't even stem from the internet. Child pornography and paedophilia exist in the real world; they were around before the internet. Now no one is arguing that these things are very wrong and yes children need to be protected. Nor is anyone arguing that the internet has undoubtedly increased the amount of this content that is out there. But child pornographers are not caught online due to the invisible nature and secrecy of child pornography ring. They are caught through police breaking into human networks and the information and contacts that they get from these people and their computers.

As we can see if this is to be done then it must be effectual or it’s simply not worth doing. So how well can the ACMA control the internet when there are currently around 8 billion web pages? Currently there are two types of filtering techniques that could be used; firstly index filtering. This involves blocking all content on a pre-determined 'blacklist' of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs - the address), Internet Protocol addresses (IP addresses - the numbers identifying points on the internet) and Domain Name System (DNS - used to associate human-readable or memorable names with the IP addresses). The second technique is content analysis filtering. As the human resources required to read through every potentially 'dangerous' page is impossible this is done by artificial intelligence, which uses a complex system of algorithms to determine whether a page is ok or not. These systems are commonly referred to as "guessing engines". Therefore if the policy is implemented our internet access will be censored by a meagre 'blacklist' that is meant to keep up with the highly dynamic environment of the internet, where new pages are born everyday and previously banned pages can simply move to other unknown locations or alternately by software that guesses whether a page is ok or not.

Another major issue related to this protection is the ease of getting around content blocking. Onion-routing is technology that can allow you to roam the internet with freedom and privacy. Simple downloading of a program called the TOR-project allows this. The messages you send and receive are encrypted, using onion-router technology, your messages are sent through layers (like an onion) to remove the encryption and therefore allow the content, origin and destination of the message to remain anonymous. This has been frequently used in countries like China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, where web browsing is tightly filtered and monitored. Countries, which our government has hypocritically accused of preventing freedoms of speech.

Internet censorship requires additional software, so this leads to the question whether or not this will slow down connections. The government claims that a recent report of ISP content filters showed that this didn't affect broadband performance. But the truth of the matter after reading the findings of the report indicate this to be very misleading. The report 'Closed Environment Testing of ISP - Level internet content filters' involved six different ISP content filters. Results showed even when the programs were connected and not filtering there was a reduction, be it small (generally less that 10%). When filtering the performance of broadband speed was reduced by 2% in one case, 20-35% in three of the cases and in the remaining two performance speed was reduced to less than 15%. The effectiveness of content blocking from a pre-determined 'blacklists' was too questionable - around 88-90% for three products and around 95% for the other three. Two of the products also blocked 8% of 'non-blacklisted material, whilst the others blocked around 3%. Notably performance speed didn't correspond with the level of security.

All these points on this very poor legislation aside and back to our rights, our freedoms of speech. I'm an adult over the legal age of 18 and have the choice to look at pornography if I care to do so. I have this right to do so because as I stated I am not a child. The Labor government is telling us that we all need to be treated like children and that they are our parents so they will tell us what we can view. There is a clear solution to the problem of protecting our children from the 'evils' of the internet. Let parents, who have a responsibility to help their children grow and make better decisions do so. Don't let a government trying to play mummy and daddy to the whole country tell us what we can view. On the governments own website there is a page with a link to download free content filters. A perfect response, case closed. The government has provided a free, adequate response to a relevant issue they feel may affect children and parents get to make their own decisions in how they actually raise their kids. Therefore why take this legislation to another level. This clearly indicates there is more to this policy, more sinister issues. If the government softens us up with a first level of content filtering it makes the next level that much easier to bring in. Contrasting political views, religious views, swearing, music, even past historical events that don't sit quite right, anything that the government deems inappropriate could be eradicated from our access. It would make it very easy to govern if people didn't even know any alternate existed.

This is clearly a case of politicians who simply don't know anything about the position they are in trying to blindly push forward without even considering the reality of the situation. The Labor government is trying to close the eyes of the people in this country and tell them that everything will be warm and fuzzy in there. People need to keep their eyes open and use the last bastion of totally free media to view the reality of this situation what they are trying to do.

http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib310554/isp-level_internet_content_filtering_trial-report.pdf
http://www.netalert.gov.au/
http://www.efa.org.au/
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2138157.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/10/2414895.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/31/2129471.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/24/2399876.htm

Radio Democracy Playlist 05/11/08

Black Justice

While one black man was deservedly (thankfully, I might add) nominated president in the USA, in Australia another black man was the victim of a justice system that resembles the US's deep south under segregation. RD spoke once again to Lauren Mellor from the Aboriginal Rights Coalition about this Friday's International Day of Action in solidarity with Palm Island man Lex Wotton. There are actions happening all around Australia and in Aotearoa (NZ), the UK, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia.

Radio Democracy – all of 4ZzZ, in fact – will continue to cover this story, and bring you information on how you can get active. The Brisbane rally is taking place outside the District Court at 9:30 am tommorrow, as Lex is being sentenced in Townsville. His legal team are reported to be mounting an appeal against the guilty verdict.



Sailing the seas of donations please
We then heard from Ben, who's aboard the good ship Steve Irwin with the rest of the Sea Shepherd crew while they're in Brisbane. The Sea Shepherds are having a benefit gig at the Arena on Friday the 21st of November and are also putting out a call for some donated supplies while they're in our fine waters.

Shh... don't mention the war

The Federal Government this week announced a $250 levy on all Australian university students – just don't call it compulsory student unionism. Actually, there's no danger of that happening; the NUS-ALP love-in that has been happening since Ruddy came to power has taken the teeth out of the NUS's 'repeal VSU' campaign. National Prez Angus Mc Farland was nice enough to remove himself from the US election coverage to tell us nothing about what this meant for student unions in the future.

The Obama Show

We had a look at a few stories to come out of the US election where people got grumpy about voting annoyances. Bazza went on to win as you well know, but there were at least a couple of incidents, including famous lefty actor Tim Robbins saying he'd be arrested before he would be denied his vote.

Music

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil-Scott Heron
Police Brutality – Combat Wombat
We've Got a Bigger Problem Now – Dead Kennedys
I Chase the Devil – Max Romeo
Can't Wait to Finish School – Kicks
Singie – Dubmarine
Demolition Girl – The Saints
Babylon – Dubbly (under the community notices)
Imagine This – Wax Audio (for George)

Best make a cup of tea...

...if you plan to read my scintillating 24-hour essay about the Beijing Olympics!


The 2008 Beijing Olympics, like all others before, was by and large a media spectacle. While this is nothing new, the scale of Beijing – its budget, the hype, the city itself – was unprecedented. While it seems unlikely that any games would be less lavish than its predecessor, China made it clear that they wanted to take things to the next level. One only needs to consider the scheduling of events to suit the large North American audience as evidence of the extent to which the Olympics is made for television. Perhaps more spectacularly, the revelation that the opening ceremony’s pyrotechnics were digitally altered for television audiences is demonstrative of the extent to which the Olympics is more about creating an audiovisual extravaganza for selling eyeballs to advertisers than it is about “One World, One Dream.”

This essay will examine the extent of media influence over, and coverage of, the 2008 Olympics, with significant attention paid to peripheral coverage of the taboos of the games – Tibet, human rights and the democracy movement in China being the most striking examples. It will employ a content analysis approach to coverage of the games, examining positive and negative portrayals of Chinese authority and how this changed as the spectacle unfolded.

The tumult of the torch

The Olympic cycle runs not at four years, but almost eight – from the time the International Olympic Committee announces the winner of the bid to the final curtain of the closing ceremony. The lead time involved in the case of the Beijing Olympics is even greater, with Beijing’s Olympic bid being defeated by Sydney in 1993. China had waited long for their chance to open their doors to the world, and intended to make the most of the public relations opportunity the games would present. The games were the most expensive ever, with a total cost estimated at $42 billion (The Economist, 2008). Moreover, they were the games with the most extensive media coverage ever - the developments in streaming internet video capabilities meant an unprecedented amount of footage would go to air (Atkinson 2006).

As anticipation of the event intensified, so did the political campaigns against China’s authoritarian rulers. By the time the Olympic torch relay began, the darker side of China’s domestic affairs and relationship with Tibet were in sharp focus. In a column penned as the attacks on the torch relay intensified, a Washington Post columnist described attempts to extinguish the torch as the “new Olympic sport” (Applebaum 2008). The so-called “Journey of Harmony” was quickly descending into farce, with as many tracksuited Chinese security operatives lining the torch’s path as genuine spectators at times. Cities along the route were locked down and pro-Tibetan dissenters arrested or prevented from protesting the torch relay. Such was the disruption to the torch relay and perhaps more importantly, ¬the awful PR for the Olympic brand, that London games organisers plan to make the 2012 relay an low-key, entirely domestic affair (ABC 2008).

It was only logical that calls for a boycott would soon be heard, as the relay took a beating with almost every twist and turn. The Tibetan independence cause – a favourite of celebrities and athletes at the best of times – had never had a better opportunity to make its mark on the world’s headlines. The Australian athletes and most media quickly dismissed the idea of boycotting the games – the argument ran that our athletes had worked so hard to get to Beijing that it would be punitive toward their efforts and do little for the causes activists were championing. Even liberal Age columnist Tracee Hutchinson dismissed the idea, following then-senator Andrew Bartlett’s call for a boycott:
“The idea that Australian athletes boycotting the Beijing Games will have any impact beyond an immense personal sacrifice is a nonsense. It doesn't, as the good senator stated in his press release, make our athletes "complicit" supporters of China's actions in Tibet, Tiananmen Square or anywhere else for that matter,” (Hutchinson 2008).

While this an understandable position, boycott agitators in the blogosphere began to draw attention to the obvious, if only a little tenuous, parallels between Beijing 2008 and the Nazi-era Berlin games of 1936. It was an argument that held water, and caused a splash in Melbourne’s Age when the games started:
“Historical equations, of course, always lack nuance. But the parallels between Berlin 1936 and Beijing 2008 remain odiously apparent. Chinese nationalism is rampant, the poison by which the so-called Communist regime sustains its right to govern today,” (Mordue 2008)
The eerie commonalities don’t end there. The Olympic torch is itself a product of the Nazi regime – Hitler’s chief propaganda man Josef Goebbels and official Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl are almost entirely responsible for entrenching the torch in the ritual of the Olympics (Bowlby 2008). Then, as now, it was an opportunity for the host nation to parade their jingoistic pride through other countries’ territory.

All eyes on Beijing
But the China-bashing, bandwagon-jumping masses would soon fall quiet; the show was about to begin. Another of Mordue’s musings from the very piece in which he made direct comparisons to Nazi Germany summed it up well – despite his misgivings about the nature of Chinese authority and fearful face of rampant nationalism, he found himself transfixed by the show, clinging to a glimmer of hope that the Olympics actually would bring about democracy in the country (op. cit.). The very notions of unity, equality and transcendental achievement by ordinary people that typify the Olympics are undoubtedly attractive, even for the harshest of cynics or realists.

The fixation was now firmly upon how China would stage-manage the extravaganza. How would the western media, with its boisterous claims for liberty and objectivity operate within the authoritarian Chinese state? Would there be room for peripheral reporting on topics such as human rights by nosey foreign journalists? As early as 2006, The Wall Street Journal was reporting the ‘relaxation’ of controls imposed on foreign media operating in China for the games (Fong 2006). Less than six months later, Chinese authorities were again assuring journalists, and presumably their employers, that they’d be well looked after when they arrived to Beijing (Xiaofeng 2007). The last thing China needed as it promoted an image of openness and engagement with the west was an embarrassingly draconian media regime. It would hardly sit well with the champions of free enterprise who would be looking at China as the next big market.

In the immediate lead-up to the games, many journalists still had their reservations about the treatment they would receive in China. Easily an equal number were still contemplating the issues that were seemingly off-limits for them as reporters. The Walkley Magazine, the official publication of the Australian journalists’ union the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, understandably devoted the bulk of its pre-Olympic issue to the concerns journalists were facing in reporting on Beijing 2008. Notwithstanding the platitudes of the Beijing Organising Committee (BOCOG) and Chinese Communist government, the perils for foreign journalists were still apparent:
“Under local law, a foreign national can be detained for 72 hours before the Chinese authorities are required to inform the detainee’s embassy that he or she is in custody,” (Jeffery 2008: 16).
This law would not be relaxed for the estimated 20,000 foreign journalists covering the Olympic Games. In a country where Chinese journalists who fail to tow the party line – by choice or otherwise – are routinely imprisoned, beaten or worse, and where 180 foreign correspondents had identified violations of the 2007 press freedom laws for foreign media, such fears weren’t paranoia (RSF 2008).

This doesn’t mean that journalists were afraid to tackle the taboos of the land of the sleeping giant. The ABC’s Eric Campbell produced an eye-opening report on the eve of the games, which showed how one of the few acceptable forms of public dissent – a process called “petitioning” – had been clamped down upon as China did its best to promote a squeaky-clean and harmonious image (ABC 2008). Campbell’s dispatch, much like other work before his, showed the lengths Chinese authorities were willing to go to to promote the image of a unified, peaceful, friendly and open nation. It didn’t take an investigative journalist of Campbell’s calibre to see this was all a ruse however, as cryptically named departments such as the “Spiritual Civilization Office” – who organised monthly “learn to queue” events in the lead up to the games – were set up in anticipation of the influx of foreign visitors (Terrill 2007).

Let the games begin
The charade continued as the main event captured the world’s imagination. Rather embarrassingly for the Beijing organisers, it quickly emerged that parts of the televised opening ceremony were just like the façade of openness and democracy in China – fake and manipulative. It emerged that the spectacular hoax of the opening ceremony wasn’t limited to the creative post-production of the fireworks display, with widespread reports of lip-synching and ‘faked’ Chinese ethnic minorities in the international media (Hutcheon 2008). This wouldn’t discourage eager viewers, as after all, the opening and closing ceremonies stood apart from what the actual games were about – the sport.

Despite criticisms of the light entertainment approach to the broadcast of the games, where a legion of television personalities from Channel 7’s other lifestyle programs were employed over serious sports journalists, it was overwhelmingly a success for the network. It was the highest rating games ever, with some 17 million people having watched some part of the televised coverage in the two-week period (Meade 2008). Channel 7’s tireless cross-promotion of its post-Olympic scheduling during the games would also prove fruitful, with the network shoring up its position as ratings leader after Beijing (ibid.). Regardless of the quantitative success of the games in terms of Seven’s market share and advertising revenue, the approach they took to the games wasn’t a massive hit with audiences; it was considered by many to be the worst ever coverage of the Olympics (Field 2008).

Secondary broadcaster SBS fared much better in the eyes of the critics, if not the ratings or revenues. The multicultural broadcaster’s ability to focus on competition between nations other than Australia was surprisingly successful. Understandably, it transpired that audiences would rather watch a finals bout between two small nations with little connection to Australian culture than a second-rate performance by an Australian (Ricketson 2008). The fixation upon a broadcaster’s home country was internationally panned by critics during Beijing 2008 (though hardly a new phenomena) and SBS, possibly more by circumstance than design, had come out on top with its best-of-the rest approach.

The Hangover
Of the enduring outcomes of Beijing 2008 a more open and democratic China does not appear high on the list. While the Olympics are an undeniably useful nation building device for the host nation as much as other competitors, there hasn’t been any great rush toward the democratic ideals the west would like to see China employ. Of course, advertisers and the networks fared well from the games with “60% of Australia’s TV audience tuned in to the one spectacle” (Munro 2008), although as Ricketson points out, while the advertisements themselves may be memorable, brand recognition even weeks after the event is poor. The Olympics, like many other major events, attract big name, big budget ad campaigns with very little connection to the actual product or service being advertised (op. cit.).

It is heartening to learn however that much of China’s liberalised media laws for foreign reporters have been maintained beyond the October sunset clause. While these laws are still comparatively restrictive and inconsistently applied, the move has been welcomed by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (The Australian 2008). Sadly, Chinese journalists still operate within the same punitive environment as before.

While the $40 billion infrastructure program that prepared China for the Olympics will undoubtedly have ongoing benefits for China’s people, the road to democracy is still a long and arduous one. The big gain is that we are now paying attention. The American century is over.
Public engagement with China is best encapsulated in Tony Blair’s words, writing for the Wall Street Journal:
“People ask what is the legacy of these Olympics for China? It is that they mark a new epoch – an opening up of China that can never be reversed. It also means that ignorance and fear of China will steadily decline as the reality of modern China becomes more apparent,” (2008).
Determining if it is Blair’s optimism or the cynicism of others that is misplaced is the question as the Chinese century begins.

Reference list

ABC News Online (2008) ‘2012 Torch Relay will not Leave Britain: Report,’ 31/08/08, as viewed at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/31/2351138.htm

Applebaum, A (2008) 'Journey of Harmony', in The Washington Post, Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page A15 as viewed at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041402452.html

Atkinson, C (2006) ‘Why NBC will charge you dearly for Beijing Olympics,’
Advertising Age. (Midwest region edition), 06/11/06 Vol. 77, Iss. 45; pg. 1, as viewed on Proquest

The Australian (2008) ‘Liberal Media Rules Become Permanent’ in The Australian, 20/08/08, as viewed on the Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre

Blair, T (2008) ‘We Can Help China Embrace the Future,’ The Wall Street Journal, 26/08/08, as viewed at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121970878870671131.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Bowlby, C (2008) ‘The Olympic torch's shadowy past’, BBC News Online, as viewed at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7330949.stm

Campbell, E (2008) ‘China – Foul Play,’ Foreign Correspondent, 29/07/08, accessed at http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2008/s2312321.htm

The Economist (2008) ‘Our revels now are ended,’ The Economist 28/08/08

Field, K (2008) ‘Fans left unhappy by Seven's 'worst' Games coverage,’ The Australian, 13/08/08, as viewed at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24176176-5017275,00.html

Fong, M (2006) ‘Politics & Economics: China to Relax Limits on Media For '08 Olympics,’ in The Wall Street Journal, 04/12/06, pg. A.11, as viewed on Proquest

Hutcheon, S (2008) ‘More ceremony fakes unearthed,’ in The Sydney Morning Herald, 15/08/08, as viewed at http://www.smh.com.au/news/off-the-field/additional-ceremony-fakes-unearthed/2008/08/15/1218307191766.html

Hutchinson, T (2008) ‘Tickets on the boycott bus? Not for me,’ in The Age, 22/03/08
as viewed at http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/tracee-hutchison/2008/03/21/1205602653982.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Jeffery, N (2008) ‘Not going to game plan,’ The Walkley Magazine, Iss. 51, June/July 2008, p. 16

Meade, A. (2008) ‘Seven's record Beijing Games TV ratings,’ The Australian 28/08/08 as viewed at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24252453-7582,00.html

Mordue, M (2008) ‘Crouching tiger, hidden dragon,’ in The Age, 11/08/08, as viewed at http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-20080810-3szo.html?page=-1

Munro, P (2008) ‘What the telly tells us, ad nauseam,’ The Age, 10/08/08, as viewed at http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv--radio/what-the-telly-tells-us-ad-nauseam/2008/08/09/1218139163627.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

RSF (2008) China - Annual report 2008, as viewed at http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25650

Terrill, R (2007) ‘Orwell goes to the Beijing Olympics,’ in the International Herald Tribune, 22/08/07, as viewed at http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/22/opinion/edterril.php

Xiaofeng, G (2007) ‘Gov't guide for Olympic reporters,’ in China Daily (North American ed.), 11/05/07, p.3, as viewed on Proquest