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Melbourne Indymedia is a
collective of independent media groups and producers offering
grassroots, non-corporate coverage of struggles, actions and
celebrations. Everyone is a witness. Everyone is a
journalist
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June features >>
Features from May 1 2002 until May 31 2002
SAY YES |
May 30 2002 |
Yes Men
Disband the World Trade
Organisation
On Tuesday, May 21, a representative of the
World Trade Organisation (WTO) announced the dissolution
of the organisation to a shocked but supportive Sydney
audience of the Chartered Practicing Accountants (CPA).
The WTO would reconstitute itself as a new organisation
dedicated to assisting the world's poor instead of the
rich.
The representative was actually from the yes men, a group of
anti-corporate activists who have pulled off previous
elaborate hoaxes on the WTO. The story spread around the
world, from Australia, to England, to the Canadian
Parliament, where MP John Duncan took the floor to ask
"what impact this will have on our appeals on lumber,
agriculture and other ongoing trade disputes."
The yes men run the WTO parody website gatt.org, frequently
mistaken for the real thing http://www.wto.org/.
Through this they receive requests for appearances. The
WTO has made numerous attempts to shut gatt.org down,
but to no avail. It seems to be the only thing getting
shut down these days is the WTO.
Yes Men press release - World
Trade Organisation to disband
Announcement
of WTO closure goes to Canadian Parliament
Read
the Yes Men Speech
[ sydney yesmen
documents + gatt.org
+ rtmark
]
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9/11 |
May 28 2002 |
Corporate
Media Begins To Rethink Bush &
9/11
The US
Corporate media has begun to ask
some questions of the Bush administration's advanced
knowledge of the September 11th attacks on the World
Trade Center and Pentagon. This follows revelations of
an August
6th CIA memo to Bush regarding possible attacks, and
Congresswoman
Cynthia McKinney calling for a congressional
investigation into what warnings the Bush
Administration received.
The revelations aren't over. "Adding more fuel to the
fire, NBC reported last night that two days before Sept.
11, Bush was given a 'detailed war plan' to dismantle
bin Laden's al Qaeda network," says the New
York Post.
"NBC reported that Bush was given a national security
directive to sign for a plan that was 'pretty much' the
same as the one the United States followed after the
attacks. The plan included asking other countries to
cooperate and share intelligence, disruption of al Qaeda
cells using covert actions, the freezing of al Qaeda
bank accounts and stopping its money-laundering
operations."
[Read
an eyewitness indymedia description of White House Press
Secretary Ari Fleischer's May 17 news conference.]
CBS
news anchor Dan Rather recently admitted, in an interview
with the London Guardian, that America's news media has
been suffering from "patriotism run amok."
Even New York City's tabloid press has begun to lay
the heat on the Bush administration. The
arch-conservative New
York Daily News may have come the closest to the
truth when it wrote: "this flap is a largely
self-inflicted wound, prompted by what one outside
presidential adviser acidly called the Bush team's
'incredible penchant for secrecy.'"
"All the evidence points to government labs. Is this
why the FBI has failed to solve the anthrax case?" asks
George
Monbiot in the Guardian.
A well researched primer
into the case of Bush's foreknowledge of the 9-11
attacks is provided by ex-LA cop Michael Ruppert, who
spoke at a confence in Sydney recently.
The alternative media, including the Portland Indymedia
Center and the Guerrilla
News Networkhas been questioning the official
version of the September 11th for months.
[ cop vs
cia
]
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EAST TIMOR |
May 20 2002 |
East Timor Celebrates Independence - But How
Independent?
East Timor became the world's newest nation on
May 20, 2002. At midnight, the United Nations
transitional administration handed over control to the
East Timorese government, giving the East Timorese their
long-sought goal of self-determination. There are
questions though as to whether East Timor's new western
government system came from pressure from international
financial bodies and at the price of an already directly
democratic clan system.
Currently East
Timor and Australia are negotiating a treaty to jointly
develop petroleum in the Timor Gap. The resource was
previously carve up between Australia and Indonesia, by
both Labour and Liberal Governments, during the Suharto
dictatorship. Will these revenue possibilities as well
as international support from donor governments allow
for an independent East Timor? A recent article by La'o
Hamutuk states that "most donor governments are
reluctant to give funds directly to the new East Timor
government and are lobbying for the World Bank to act as
the middle man." For the past two years the World Bank
has managed the Timorese fund and disbursed it to
projects controlled by the World Bank.
Timorese,
Australians and Papuans demonstrated Sunday in Dili,
and circulated a letter which they sent to the new
incoming President of East Timor stating demands dealing
with the situation of West
Papua and Aceh
and the new
Timor Gap. They demanded that incoming president
Xanana recognize the situation and call for an end to
the occupation. Pictures
and story.
Stay tuned as Simba from New York Indymedia reports
on this historic event.
Reports: May
16 | May
17 | May
19th | May
20th
Small
Voices reports on East Timor
[ Ford
and Kissinger's involvement + Democracy Now!
coverage of Independence in East Timor + east timor action network
]
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INDY INFO |
May 12 2002 |
Melbourne
Indymedia Update
Things at Melbourne Indymedia have been going
along quite nicely. Many thanks to everyone that
contributes and makes the site happen, and to everyone
that uses it. Indymedia is participatory media so if
there's something you'd like to see on the site, make it
happen.
We're always looking for new people to get
involved in the melbourne indymedia collective,
there's lots to do. Join
our weekly announcement list for melbourne indymedia
updates and meeting info.
Don't forget to use the active
calender, rather than the newswire, for all your
events and meetings. Have a read of our editorial
policy and process
document for more info on how the site works. Also
check out our new
publish blurb.
The Melbourne Indymedia collective does weekly
reports on RRR, 102.7 fm, every Tuesday at 5.15. We also
have an archive
of coverage from the woomera protests. And don't
forget the
PIMP!! A system that allows you to upload audio
reports from a phone onto the newswire, just like an
answering machine!!
We're always happy to accept donations
or other forms of support. We're all volunteers
doing this for a better world. Contact
us if you have any feedback, suggestions or want to
get involved. mim@antimedia.net
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TERRORIST LAWS |
May 5 2002 |
Government
Push to Pass Terror Legislation
Update - May 9 : Senate
Committee fails to protect democracy Terror
Laws - Last days
The
federal government is looking to rush through so called
'anti-terrorist' legislation in the next couple of
weeks. Public dissent is mounting to the proposed laws,
with wide
spread criticism coming from Amnesty International,
Liberty Victoria, the ACTU and host of other community,
legal and activist groups.
The laws would grant ASIO, Australia's spy
agency, wide ranging new powers, including the right to
detain citizens without charge and without access to
lawyers, and allow the Attorney General to ban certain
organisations.
The
legislation also targets internet activists, would
allow greater
surviellance of internet communications and it's
broad definition of 'terrorist' could easily lead to
attacks on a wide range of social justice groups,
including indymedia.
Protests
have been held at the senate hearings into the
legislation. A
rally has been called, this Saturday, to demand the new
laws be scrapped.
Transcripts of the Melbourne hearings, 1,
2.
All
the transcripts of the committee hearings.
[ electronic frontiers
australia + amnesty
international + statewatch
]
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June features >>
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