I can make you a General……

The Australian Independent Media Network

First we are greeted by the image of Joe Hockey and Mathias Corman kicking back looking very pleased with themselves as they sucked on fat cigars.  The imagery is wrong on so many levels – a satisfaction enjoyed by the rich after a fine meal or a more intimate dalliance, which leads inevitably to ‘we just got screwed’.  It sends the wrong health message to kids and the wrong message to workers who I thought couldn’t smoke within a certain distance of a building.

Then we see Hockey dancing around his office.  I can certainly understand him being happy to see his family but one would have thought that he may not be in a ‘dancing’ mood considering what he was about to deliver.  If he was expressing relief that the process was over, I think that may have been premature.  This is going to be a hard sell and…

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Why can’t journalists ask the obvious questions?

The Australian Independent Media Network

Image courtesy of theaustralian.com.au

We are all frustrated at the lack of scrutiny afforded to our politicians, and in particular to the government’s repeated claims that we have a debt crisis. Why is it, however, that there don’t appear to be any journalists in the mainstream media who have the gumption to simply ask; “Prove it”? One of our readers has circulated a letter to the independent media sites (The AIMN included) asking that we continue to pose the questions that the mainstream media avoids. The reader, James Fitzgerald, makes a lot of sense.

I sent this to the Guardian Australia this morning, and to the ALP and the Greens as well as New Matilda, The Hoopla and Crikey in the hope that someone (or everyone) runs with it. The journalism sentiments apply to you, too:

Hello, thank you for being a part of the Australian free press.

I…

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‘Self-harm’/State-inflicted-harm

The Australian Independent Media Network

Image courtesy of liberonetwork.com

Self-harm or State-inflicted-harm. What role does language play in the displacement of one and the other? Who gains from this?

In this revealing article, poet Janet Galbraith* tells of her own experiences and identifies wider causes and culprits.

A while ago I started writing an article about the notion of what is often called ‘self-harm’. I had felt saturated by this word and angry about the ways in which it is used to refer to a whole range of experiences. But I found it really hard to write. I wanted to research and come up with something that would articulate what I was feeling in a way that would be understood to have some gravitas. In the end, I did not finish it. But tonight, after speaking over the past days with people in detention who are in such dire situations that so-called ‘self-harm’ feels inevitable…

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March in May

The Australian Independent Media Network

March in March saw tens of thousands of disenchanted voters take to the streets across Australia in protest against the Abbott Government. But it was just the beginning. After the marchers had dispersed, the anger at the government still simmered.

Now the people are marching again.

The AIMN has been contacted by the organisers to promote the next instalment: March in May.

This we are more than happy to do.

After March in March many in the mainstream media ridiculed it as nothing more than a rabble. It was just a group of lefties, they mused, coming along for the walk and waving a placard.

March in May will have a clear message (see list below). The media will know why people are marching. It would be foolhardy to ignore it.

Here is the promo The AIMN received:

Media Diary, Sydney Event Alert for May 18 2014
MARCH IN MAY…

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Entitlement

The Australian Independent Media Network

There is much inequality in the world, writes Peter Barnes, and much of it is due to the colour of your skin, or your gender, or your socio-economic status. For those who don’t suffer from inequality, there comes a sense of entitlement.

One of the great things about Australia is that any child can grow up to be Prime Minister.

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David vs Goliath – Maules Creek vs Big Coal

The Australian Independent Media Network

The destruction of the Maules Creek community by Big Coal is enormous. Kate O’Callaghan writes about the level of this impact and how the community is fighting back.

Last Saturday, four members of a group of 13 medical professionals and students were arrested after joining an anti-mining protest at Maules Creek. Spending more than four hours chained together at the site, the so-called Medics Against Coal felt compelled to act. In March, 92 year old World War II digger Bill Ryan was one of 60 people arrested at the blockade, disrupting construction by sitting on machinery. According to Bill, “I’ll continue to protest for as long as I can walk.”What’s going on at Maules Creek that’s driving so many everyday Australians to put their bodies on the line?

Maules Creek is a picturesque agricultural community, situated north west of Tamworth in the agricultural belt of NSW. It lies…

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The master of deception

The Australian Independent Media Network

Image courtesy of 4bc.com.au

I’m growing increasingly and unbearably exhausted by the track one reckless and irresponsible man is taking our country.

The man: Tony Abbott.

A man I would consider to be one of the most destructive and deceptive politicians in our history. I’ll make my case and you can make your own judgment.

Tony Abbott is dangerous and completely captured by corporate interests.

He’s a populist politician with no policy interest or conviction. A “weathervane” that does and says whatever he thinks he needs to to get power.

It’s not just me saying this. Ask those who have seen him up close.

John Hewson, Malcolm Fraser, Paul Keating. The list goes on. Their views on record.

I’ve spoken to people who went to university with him. The stories are true. He’s a complete and utter disgrace.

I’m not sure if he knows what he’s doing but…

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How we can defeat the Right (part 2): You’ve Got To Fight For Your Right To Vote

The Australian Independent Media Network

Voting is a right, use it. Protect that vote, fight any attempts to make it “easier” by kicking you off the rolls.

Enroll to vote, make sure you are in the right electorate, know your candidates and when you vote, vote properly.

Watch out for postal votes which return envelopes are addressed to a political party.

Watch out for aged-care facilities in which party hacks collect votes on behalf of residents, especially when ballots are filled-in in pencil.

Watch out for anyone voting on behalf of the aged or non-English speakers.

Come election time, make sure your less-than-mobile, non-Liberal-National party loved ones have access to a polling place, consider it quality time together – take them pre-poll voting then take them for a coffee.

The following links are for the state and federal electoral commissions, you can easily check you are enrolled and enrolled properly at these sites:

Australian Electoral…

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An appeal to young Aussies

The Sniper

The Sniper*

Australia is in trouble. Young Australians will have to save it, if you decide it needs saving.

Australia was a democracy. It has slowly become a Corporatocracy: government by Big Business. You will have to change that, if you think it is a bad thing. I will not tell you what to think.

You could argue that Australia is still a democracy. Australians vote in free and fair elections to decide who will run things until the next election.

You could argue that Australia believes in the principle of a free Press (or news media generally). The British parliament, the model for ours, recognised the Press as the Fourth Estate, granting it the right to sit in the parliament and report on the affairs of government.

You could argue that nothing has changed and all is sweet in the land of Oz. You could look more closely, dig…

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Abbott uses society’s vulnerable as means to an ideological end

The Australian Independent Media Network

Image courtesy of news.com.au

Can anybody make any sense out of what this government doing? asks Jennifer Wilson.

It seems to me that it’s a core conservative tradition to use  the most vulnerable people in society as a means to an ideological end. There are endless current examples of this: threats to pensions, restricted access to Newstart for unemployed youth, destruction of universal healthcare, proposed reduction of the minimum wage and a cap on that wage for the next ten years, all part of the Commission of Audit’s recommendations to the Abbott government prior to its first budget in a couple of weeks.

None of these measures will affect anyone as disastrously as they will affect the poor, and while middle class journalists  on a good wage, some of whom are Abbott’s most vocal supporters,  scream like stuck pigs about the flagged “debt levy” on incomes over…

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