textfiles/politics/SPUNK/sp000826.txt

                          I S S U E   8
                          * * * * * * *

                         No 1.   May '89

                        Sydney, Australia




  ISSUE 8 was put together by a collective who wanted to see an 
anti-authoritarian, easy-to-read magazine which is applicable to 
everyday life. We make editorial decisions by concensus, though the 
views in each article won't always reflect each of our viewpoints. 
In these cases we'll try and present an article with an alternative 
opinion.

  Contributions are welcome. The decision to print them is up to the 
collective, but if we do we won't edit them.

  We decided to charge 50c (although we don't really believe in 
charging) because we need to cover costs or we won't be bringing out 
another issue. But if you can't afford 50c - take one anyway.



                            @   @   @



Killer Cops and Cop Killers
---------------------------

The media is trying to equate the killing of a cop (allegedly) by a 
Koori with the killing of a Koori by a cop. There is no equation to 
be made.

If there was a dead cop for every Koori the filth have killed, this 
country wouldn't have a police force.

Apart from this, the circumstances are totally unrelated. The filth 
deliberately and consciously choose their role as protectors of the 
rich and the ruling class. When they put on their uniforms, they 
become a symbol of the oppression they uphold. Oppression that makes 
everyday life unbearable for millions of us around the world. It is 
not surprising when a cop gets killed, what is surprising is that we 
let any of them walk our streets and live!

David Gundy's death was different. He was just an ordinary person 
living his life quietly and doing no-one any harm. Inside, he was 
the same as you or me. But he was shot because he was black.

The dead cop wasn't born a cop, he chose it. David Gundy's blackness 
was not oppressing anybody. Cops kill blacks every day - killing and 
injuring innocent people is part of their culture. Blacks do no kill 
cops every day, their culture is considerably more advanced than 
that of the filth.

The linking together of the two deaths by the media is just another 
lie. A disgusting attempt to justify yet another black death.

(The writer of this article is white.)


                                 @@@


May 5, around 300 aboriginal and non-aboriginal people rallied and 
marched through the city to parliament house demanding a public 
enquiry into David Gundy's murder. About 50 then marched on to the 
supreme court to attend the royal commission. The cops scurried 
ahead and blocked the door. People asked to be let in, it was their 
right. The cops refused and soon every doorway was locked or blocked 
by them. People demanded to be let through. The cops weren't 
budging. Three suited lawyers came out. They called one of us over 
and said what the cops were doing was illegal. They were disgusted. 
A koori assistant with the royal commission came out and said we 
must be let in, just no banners. The cops said go in the front door. 
Those cops said go in the back door. They sent people from door to 
door about four times. A Herald photographer got in. We watched as a 
bunch of cops threw him to the ground. All the time outside groups 
of cops were slowly surrounding the court and the people trying to 
go in. Cameras and videos were all over the place. They weren't 
all media.


                                  @@@

  *****************************************************************
  *                                                               *
  *                         David Gundy                           *
  *                                                               *
  *           shot by special weapons operation section           *
  *                                                               *
  *                        April 27, 1989.                        *  
  *                                                               *
  *            an innocent victim of police 'edginess'.           *
  *                                                               *
  *****************************************************************



                             @    @    @


Health & Wealth
---------------

The food cooperative is an idea that has been around for quite a 
long time and has often been put into pratice with a large degree of 
success. It is practical to pool resources to buy a variety of 
fresh, wholesome food that would otherwise be unavailable to many 
people. When the group Community Action squatted two shopfronts on 
Broadway in Sydney they were extending this idea in the form of a 
cooperative community cafe called SLOTHS. It was much more than a 
meeting place, because the people involved wanted to make somewhere 
available where people could drop in and have healthy meals and 
snacks, or just a drink, on a donation basis, making it available 
for all. SLOTHS was succesful in its aims during the short time it 
was open and is an encouragement to others trying to set up similar 
places.

Establishing a cafe that is run by the people who will use it will 
result in an environment where people can meet with others to share 
similar ideas and concerns. Often it is very difficult for people 
with only a small income, restricted living space or no permanent 
place to live to eat well. Also many  people may refuse to eat food 
like meat and dairy products on principle, making it much more 
difficult to find suitable take-away or prepared food. If you don't 
live in a place where there are good cooking and storage facilities 
(like a fridge) then it may be difficult to eat fresh, nutritious 
food, simply because it is too expensive. Also most food that is 
pure and chemical-free is considered 'Health Food' and is only sold 
in expensive health food shops.

That is why it is good to see people coming up with new ideas to 
overcome these problems - forming community cooperatives where 
the $ is not the ruling motive. Joining with others to form a 
cooperative cafe, or just to be able to buy good food cheaply means 
that you can avoid suporting unethical and exploitative companies 
and ways of producing food. A really succesful example of this is 
ALFALFA HOUSE, a food co-op in Enmore, Sydney, where members work 
voluntarily to obtain discounted wholefood of a largely organic 
nature. Consequently they are significantly cheaper than any health 
food shops and still maintain an emphasis on organic food that is 
produced in the most environmentally conscious way.

SLOTHS was in action for three days in Sydney and functioned 
succesfully during this time. There have also been other examples of 
cafes based on similar principles; in both Melbourne and Brisbane 
anarchist cafes have been run on a more long term basis. Through 
direct action in the form of food co-ops and cafes we can avoid 
being exploited by the food industry and minimise our participation 
in the exploitation of others. It is also a chance to develop a 
community network in one area and that may lead to other activities 
in the future.

Many vegetarians and vegans find it very difficult to find places to 
eat that cater for their diet adequately. Considering that this is 
the most healthy and unexploitative way to eat, there should be more 
encouragement for people to take up these habits. Also for people 
with little money to spare, a vegan diet is usually far more 
nutritious than most conventional diets. Most mainstream food 
outlets do not cater for this 'minority of extremists' as it is not 
seen to be profitable. It is up to us to set up our own cafes where 
we can probide this sort of food without the profit motive.




                                @    @    @



Who Are The Colonizers?
-----------------------

The British invaded Australia in 1788. Or did they? When the first 
fleet landed, the vast majority of the British people were at home 
in Britain struggling to survive, and with no interest in Australia 
or even any idea where it was.

As we know, most of those people who arrived that day could hardly 
be said to be invading - they certainly didn't want to invade, 
anyway. They were brought here against their will.

So who did invade Australia two hundred years ago then?

The language they were using should give us a clue. They called 
Australia "Terra Nullius". They came here speaking Latin! Two 
thousand years ago an army invaded Britain speaking the same 
language.

But these people were no more Roman than they were British. True, 
they were the spiritual and cultural descendants of the Roman 
invaders, even if they weren't their full-blood descendants.

But of course, the Romans weren't the last people to colonize 
Britain. They arrived in about 50BC and stayed for 400 years. After 
them came the Angles and the Saxons, two Germanic tribes, who gave 
us the expression "Anglo Saxon" (which most British people aren't 
really - any more than Koories are British). They also gave us the 
starting point for the modern English language.

After them, the Vikings, who came from Scandinavia, piled in - 
thinking everyone else is at it, we better join in while there's 
still something left to take!

And then, nearly 1000 years ago, the Normans became the last people 
to invade and colonize Britain.

So these people who colonized Australia in the name of the British 
people were not British. In reality they were the descendants of all 
this lot and the representatives of a European colonizing class.

Naturally, this class has never advertized its existence. They have 
always preferred, instead, to carry out their disgusting acts in the 
name of other people. That way nobody ever gets to identify them and 
fight back against the real colonizers.

Of course, the important thing for them is to convince the people 
that are being invaded that it is a whole nation that's doing the 
colonizing. Usually they will never have heard of that country 
before and certainly won't know who they really are.

A bit harder than that, is convincing the people back at home that 
they are colonizing another country. This can be tricky - especially 
when they've probably never even left the town or village where they 
were born. But it's made much easier when you own the press and are 
in control of all the channels of communication. And by the time 
Australia was invaded, they'd had a good two thousand years 
practice. More, if you trace their ancestry back through the Greek 
empire and beyond.

So, with a combination of force and lies, playing on extreme poverty 
and hardship, they eventually brought enough British people here to 
fight their colonial war for them. Then they just stood back and 
watched from a distance while two races, who had no real reason to 
hate each other, fought.

The Koories, naturally enough, fought back to defend themselves and 
the land. But the people they had to fight against had virtually no 
control over what was going on (and were probably totally spun out 
by the whole situation) so they felt it was them that was being 
attacked. So they fought back and things just grew from there.

Meanwhile, the real colonizers are laughing as they count their 
millions, safe in the knowlege that everyone is too busy fighting 
each other and struggling for survival to stop and turn on them, 
their real enemies.

And this is still the way it is even now - in an age where a lot of 
us think we're more enlightened. We're still fighting for the 
colonizers' survival!!!

It's time to stop fighting each other and identify our real enemies. 
Because the bastards are still counting their millions and laughing 
at us. Stop and think. You know who they are.

It's time for people of all races and cultures to unite and forget 
the differences that they've put between us. It's them we should be 
fighting, they are our enemies and while we're fighting each other, 
we're fighting for them.

There's millions more of us than there are of them. They won't stand 
a chance if we're united and they know it! That's why they 
constantly fuel the fight with their newspapers and their radio and 
television. Don't listen to them. Think for yourself. 

Stand up and fight back! Now.



                            @    @    @



My Life
-------

"That's my life!" I thought, looking at the pile of bits of paper 
and things on the rush-matting floor by my bag (the one i've been 
living out of for nine months). A half-filled-out divorce 
application form, a screwed up green DSS form saying "Invalid 
Pension - Medical Examination", a crushed pack of Serepax and a 
crushed pack of Mogadon. A lock cylinder for me next squat and a 
slightly battered book called "Old Worlds And New Australia".

The only real cause for hope was was a shiny new copy of "The 
Alternative Printing Handbook" which Carol bought yesterday at Black 
Rose.

Maybe tomorrow *will* be different!




                             @    @    @




Community Action
----------------

After three weeks of careful planning, a newly-formed group of about 
thirty people squatted two shops in Sydney's Broadway. The shops had 
been empty for a long time, were fairly run-down and were next door 
to each other. It was Sunday afternoon, the 9th of April.

At midday on Monday, they opened for business. A desperately needed 
community cafe was in number 151, serving hot food and tea and 
coffee - all free, but donations helped frovide the food etc. It was 
one of the most comfortable places in Sydney to go and sit for a 
while and meet a few people. There was also a small bookshop section 
with magazines and pamphlets etc.

Next door, in number 149, Self Help Housing Advice had set up their 
housing advice centre and were ready to do whatever they could to 
help fight the appalling housing problem in this heartless city. A 
new group, they formed partly in response to the state government's 
axing of all housing advice agencies and the demise of the UUST 
(Union of Unemployed Squatters and Tenants).

Also in 149, was Radio Skid Row, inner Sydney's homeless community 
radio station. Although they are being put up, for now, in the 
studios of Radio Redfern (Sydney's Koori station), this can't last 
and their situation is getting pretty dire.

Everyone involved put a lot of work into the places - including 
paintin the rather tatty shopfronts - and the centre was well 
established by the time it opened - 23 hours after being squatted!

It should have been there for ever, and made a massive improvement 
to the lives of everyone involved and hundreds of people in the 
South Sydney area, but it wasn't that simple.

On Wedenesday they were accidentally discovered by some properties 
dept. officials who came back later with the council cops. Later, 
the mayor showed up in his fucking flash limo, refused to identify 
himself, checked the place out and called in the filth to evict 
them. He obviously wanted the community centre closed before the 
rest of the council had a chance to discuss it at their meeting two 
hours later.

A few members of the various collectives - working under the 
co-ordinating name of "Community Action" - went to the council 
meeting, only to be met by three cops on the door (somebody was 
obviously feeling a bit nervous!) And now they are going through a 
drawn-out process where the council is thinking of offering them 
some premises somewhere.

Where and when (and, of course, if...) are something we'll have to 
wait and see, I suppose. But a really well put together 20 page 
submission (produced in 2-1/2 days) and a lot of local support 
should increase their chances of success.