BEATING UP THE REPUBLIC

by Merrill Gregory
The front-page headline of Adelaide's sole daily newspaper, The Advertiser (2/8/99), screamed "Republican Vote Surges" - Screamed because the print size was 38.1 mm (one and a half inches) tall. Half of South Australia, we are told, is now in favour of change. Only into the article do we read that what is being described here is the opinion poll run by The Advertiser itself. "The results will boost the hopes of the republican movement which has listed South Australia support as critical if a republic is favoured in the November 6th referendum."
This is what the article hoped to achieve, boost the hopes of the republican movement.

The poll found that 40 percent of people were against the republic and 11 percent were undecided. Hence the need to appeal to 'the sheep factor' among some of the 11 percent ("Look, most people want a republic, be on the winning side"). The Murdoch press has never given such a headline to any opinion poll, which does not support its globalist anti-traditional Australia agenda. Opinion polls for decades have shown that a majority of Australians have thought that immigration, for example, "had gone too far". Such polls have always been treated as marginal news in the Murdoch press, or ignored, and their objectivity attacked by any number of hack journalists and propaganda men.

The Advertiser poll is statistically worthless. Based on a sample size of 500 city and country people contacted by telephone on a Thursday night, its sample is far too small to enable anything meaningful to be said about the South Australian population as a whole. We are not told if equal numbers of men and women were contacted, what was the proportion of city to country calls, what were the age-based breakdown of the calls, how were those to be called chosen.
A poll run by a pro-republic organisation such as the Murdoch press is worthless in any case, because of the obvious problem of political bias.

Take heart and keep fighting - the republicans are clearly starting to feel nervous if they must resort to such tactics!

Yes!!! Say NO!!!

The people are beginning to ask "why have the rich capitalists and the socialists got together to push us into a republic? Even now, the Prime Minister is being bullied by the republican movement into changing one of the questions to be asked at the referendum. Spread the message - NO. NO. NO!

GENE FOOD LABELLING

by Betty Luks
Australian and New Zealand health ministers recently met in Canberra to discuss the worrying aspects of genetically modified food products, in particular the mandatory labeling of the products. It was reported that 500 food items are believed to contain by-products of modified plants, although, it is claimed, some would use only a small percentage of modified material. The ministers have agreed to require mandatory labeling of food produced using gene technology, and foods containing genetically modified ingredients.

While final details will be worked out by October of this year, the new rules will not apply until 12 months after that. This writer has problems with that. What is to happen to those with allergies, in the meantime? This writer knows of one young man who cannot eat any foods that contain fish or nuts. The allergic reaction that resulted from him eating such foods, would, at the very least, hospitalise him, at the worst, threaten his life. It is reported that certain tomatoes now have a salmon gene - to improve the shelf life of the tomato! How is the young man to know that a tomato he chooses off the supermarket shelf could have a gene that will endanger his life? How do we know his allergies are not the result of genetic engineering?
Is food for the body - or is it for the profits of the multinationals and/or the shelf life of the tomato?

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REJECTS DR. TOBEN

by Geoff Mourned
A letter received by John Bennett of the Australian Civil Liberties Union, sent from the Amnesty International Secretariat, London (July 20th, 1999), makes it quite clear that this group refuse to take up the case of Dr. Fredrick Toben, Director of the Adelaide Institute. Part of the letter from Amnesty said that it was Amnesty International's intention to exclude from prisoner of conscience status those who advocate the denial of the Holocaust and it confirmed what had been the de facto interpretation of the prisoner of conscience definition contained in Article 1 of Amnesty International's statute.

The writer of the letter, Matthew Pringle, Researcher, Central Europe/Western CIS, implied that Dr. Toben had been "engaging in activities aimed at diminishing the rights and freedoms of others. The decision of Amnesty International not to adopt Dr. Toben as a prisoner of conscience is consistent with, and inherently derives, from this position."

This comment endorses those organisations that want to "diminish the rights and freedoms of others" by endorsing attacks on freedom of historical research and who are, under the terms of this statement, "cleared of blame". By implication, it endorses 'racist' attacks on the German people who have been held collectively guilty of Nazi atrocities, and says nothing about the selective attacks of 'racism' leveled against those who want to preserve their own national identity.

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE GLOBALISTS

by Betty Luks
Australians have had the story of 'the utopia to come' by way of the 'globalisation of all things' through 'free trade and market economics', rammed down their throats for a number of years - just as we can be sure the Asian peoples have had their own versions rammed down their throats. But, according to Chalmers Johnson, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute in San Diego (Sydney Morning Herald, 5/7/99), the Asian version is being somewhat modified and the 'fairy godmother' - Capitalist America - is being turned into the 'wicked stepmother'. Surely Asian bankers and businessmen have been just as greedy, ruthless and ambitious as their American (and Australian) counterparts, and were willing to enter into the 'globalist utopia'?

But, the story they now tell, in seminars across the nations, goes something like this: "With the end of the Cold War the US decided it had to launch a rollback operation in East Asia if it was to maintain its global hegemony"...The campaign worked in two phases.
Phase one was "First, a major ideological barrage" by American professors of economics (who had "never faced a 'market force' in their lives") to soften up the Asians.
Then came phase two. Once the Asian economies were more or less 'naked' and very vulnerable, the hedge funds were let loose on them. The hedge funds easily raped Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea and then turned the shivering survivors over to the IMF, not to help the victims, but to ensure no Western bank was stuck with non-performing loans. The IMF was then let loose upon them, insisting the Asian nations reform their social infrastructures and economies.

Then it all got out of hand, and one of the biggest hedge funds got greedy and the US had to bail it out, thus bringing the shady scheme out into the open. And so, (the sorry tale continues), the final straw was when Vice-President Al Gore gave a speech in the Malaysian capital denouncing its head of state for trying to protect his country from international speculators. At the end of it all Chalmers Johnson observes, "The Americans do not seem to understand that their message of free trade and market economics is in serious disrepute."

CAPITALISM AND THE SOCIAL BODY

Capitalism is the term coined in the mid-1800s to refer to an economic and social regime in which the ownership and benefits of capital are appropriated by the few to the exclusion of the many, who, through their labour make capital productive. Contrary to its claims, capitalism is the mortal enemy of democracy and the market. Its relationship to democracy and the market economy is much the same as the relationship of a cancer to the body whose life energies it expropriates.

In a healthy Market economy, enterprises are human scale and predominately locally owned. Economic exchanges are shaped and controlled by people through the expression of their cultural values, their purchasing decisions, their democratic participation in setting rules by which the market will function, and their ownership of local enterprises.

What measures we do have relating to the depletion of our forests, soils, fresh water, fisheries, the disruption of our climatic systems, the unravelling of our social fabric, the decline of our educational standards, the loss of legitimacy of our major institutions, and the breakdown of family structures, give us reason to believe that the rate of depletion of our living capital is even greater than the rate of decline in net beneficial output.

Governments do not compile the indicators that reveal the truth of what is happening to our wealth and well being. And the power holders, whose financial assets are growing, experience no problem.

It is time to acknowledge the obvious fact that capitalism is a disastrous failure for reasons inherent in its values and institutions. To create a world in which life can flourish and prosper we must replace the values and institutions of capitalism with values and institutions that honour life, serve life's needs and restore money to its proper role as servant. Those of us who recognise our collective folly for what it is cannot limit ourselves to taking stands against harmful policies and practices. We must advance awareness of the viable and attractive alternatives it is within our means to choose.

A COMMON AGENDA

The shrinking of the world through increasing interdependence, overwhelming common problems and modern communications systems presents us with unprecedented opportunities, which could be of advantage to us all. SEAD (Scottish Education and Action for Development) is about to celebrate 21 years of highlighting what people in Scotland and worldwide have in common. SEAD has long believed that people throughout the world need to come together to tackle the systems, which increase poverty and destroy environment. By learning from each other and taking action we have the ability to become citizens again.

The power of "ordinary people" should never be underestimated. Iniquitous, intimidating and (to most people) incomprehensible they may be, but the international monetary system, and transnational corporations are shaped by people. They did not descend from a superior planet. People create these institutions that control so many lives, and people can dismantle them with the power and will.

Residents of Easterhouse, Glasgow, initiated an anti-dampness campaign to build sustainable housing in one of Europe's most deprived areas.
An illegal community radio station is started under a hospital bed in a South African township.
The crofters of Assynt reclaim their own land.
People on Nicaragua's Atlantic coast decide through consultation to reject an unsustainable deforestation project which would have created jobs in an area of high unemployment.

These are just a few of the many examples SEAD's work has discovered of people taking control and making change. Sead's concept of "Mutual Solidarity" is a valuable process of people worldwide learning from each other, sharing information, expertise and ideas.

Excerpts from 1998 Schumacker Lectures, printed in 'The Social Creditor" Australian address: 3 Beresford Drive, Draper, Qld., 4520.

NO! MR. HOWARD, YOU DO NOT HAVE A MANDATE

An anti-GST Campaign has been launched by Mr. Bruce Ingle, Chairman of the "Consumers' Association", c/o Box 184, The Basin, Vic., 3154.

In a recent survey of 929 businesses, Bruce found that 668 were against the GST, 133 wanted more information, 49 were for the GST, and 79 'didn't know'.

The Consumers' Association information emphasises, in an open letter to John Howard, 100,000 businessmen object to being his unpaid tax collectors at their own expense. The campaign has at least two parts: one is a petition to the Governor General requesting the legislation be disallowed - according to Section 59 of the Commonwealth Constitution - and the other part is a survey of the politicians as to how they determined the vote they cast, for or against the legislation. Please send for further information, petition forms and for an information tape ($7.00 posted) to the above address - please include a donation towards expenses.

THE PATH TO POWER - RISKS AND REWARDS OF GENETIC MANIPULATION

The basic living cell could be described as a globe, or sphere, with a protective outer membrane, which is permeable. It is filled with thousands of different types of proteins and enzymes (another form of protein) in varying proportions according to function and purpose of the cell in the body of the plant, animal, or so on. At the heart of the cell is the nucleus, in the form of chromosomes, the 'brain centre' for the whole cell.

In the most common human cell there are 46 chromosomes, 'worm-like' chains of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and amino acids (proteins). These proteins are synthesised and configured in accordance with a code encapsulated in the master, the associated DNA. If the chromosome is examined in more detail, it will be seen that it forms a double helix; two strands connected by 'rungs' rather like a rope ladder. The important point is that four discrete components of the nucleic acid form the 'rungs' of the ladder, they are combined in pairs, in several permutations, for each 'rung' up the ladder.
The section of the 'ladder' responsible for defining a particular protein is called a gene, and, according to the variable - or deliberately varied - structure of the DNA, so proteins may be produced according to the function required, to be incorporated within the body of the parent organism.

With the discovery of DNA in 1953 came the pre-emptive techniques to tinker with the rungs of the DNA ladder. Given the basic commonality of cells throughout all life forms, it wasn't long before it was discovered it was possible to artificially change the order between species as well as within species until we have now arrived at genetic engineering or modification. Selected plants are now rendered immune to certain chemicals, such as herbicides, to transfer genes between species, say from fish to corn, thus modifying the DNA controls and responses to achieve chosen characteristics, such as resistance to extremes of temperature, etc.

In the case of notorious 'terminator' seeds, the characteristics are incorporated in successive stages. The first is for the seed to be produced with the terminator gene in place, but with the breeder crop only grown up to the stage before this gene is programmed to be activated, to yield the still genetically dormant but still fertile seed to be harvested for commercial sale. The second stage involves that in which the farmer completes the cycle to produce the crop to maturity, only to discover that at this stage the terminator gene will be activated and the seed genetically 'liquidated' - in other words rendered infertile.

Given this vast potential across the board in the agrichemical and pharmaceutical fields, science has placed the power to control the world's food supplies in the hands of the multinational conglomerates.

In a world of unbridled materialist madness only a few, such as the Persian scientist Seyyed Hossein Nasr, have had the courage to point out the latent moral and physical dangers of interfering with nature, and the growing dichotomy between science and the environment. What no one can be certain of at this stage, apart from proven effects on the environmental and ecological balance, have been the long-term consequences between the species.

Prince Charles, in an article published in the Daily Telegraph headed, "Seeds of Disaster", said "... the genetic modification of crops is taking mankind into realms that belong to God, and God alone."
Taken from "On Target" (U.K.) An abridged version (Vol.28 Nos. 25&26. June 1999)

SELLLNG THE FAMILY FARM

New Zealand farms are being purchased by foreign companies and amalgamated into very large units. In Southland more than NZ$14 million worth of farms have been purchased. Athlumney Farms Ltd. of Ireland has spent nearly $5 million purchasing 5 farms to create one giant dairy unit to milk 5,000 cows. A Swiss company Biofarm Ltd. has spent over NZ$6 million creating a 1,670 ha dairy farm. The government's Commerce Commission has approved the sales.

The farms are described by the Commission as no longer viable as smaller units. What nonsense! New Zealand families have farmed smaller units for decades. It is only financial policies of high interest rates, high taxation and debt that drive farmers from their land. Is New Zealand not only to be gutted, but also to see everything, including the traditional family farm, run by foreign conglomerates who employ a handful of local workers, these the surviving sons and daughters of the previous owners?

Of course, the threat is not a recent one and rural and small town families have been leaving in droves for years. The present dispute over US duties on New Zealand lamb is only a diversion from a reassessment of the fallacies our present economic system is based upon. Farming leaders need to seriously examine the economic model presented by the government. It is certainly not the only option available.
Source: New Zealand "On Target".