LOT`S WIFE - Monash Student Association
Transcription
LOT`S WIFE - Monash Student Association
LOT’S WIFE don’t look back EDITION LI MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2011 FREE Bradley Manning for President? “The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings.” Kennedy’s words are true today. In a historic address to the American Newspapers Publishers Association ANPA in 1961, President Kennedy outlined the contradictory nature of the need for secrecy in matters of national security and the need for greater public access to the machinations of government. The ideals of free speech and a free press are enshrined in the American national consciousness. The concern expressed by President Kennedy in his 1961 speech is just as valid and relevant today as it was fifty years ago. Two recent chains of events have brought this issue to the forefront of the media spotlight; the actions of Anat Kam and the alleged actions of Bradley Manning. The current furore over the Wikileaks scandal bears many similarities to the Anat Kam affair. Kam, the young Israeli journalist, was accused of stealing over 2,000 military documents and leaking them to Uri Blau – a reporter for Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, Haaretz. Her aim was to expose war crimes committed by the Israel Defense Forces (IFD) in the West Bank. Manning, a young US soldier, was charged in 2010 with the unauthorised disclosure of classified information; he is currently being detained in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps brig. He is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing in May 2011, according to The Guardian. His aim was to expose war crimes he encountered during his military service. Manning has been accused of leaking the highly controversial Iraq War video which showed the killing of several Iraqis and two journalists via three air-to-ground strikes carried out by two US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters in Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, in the New Baghdad district in Baghdad. A major issue of contention raised in both cases is the lax security that allowed junior military personal to access highly classified, and sensitive, military information. Manning was stationed with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division at Contingency Operating Station Hammer, Iraq. This posting gave him access to SIPRNet – the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network: used by the US Department of Defense to transmit classified information. Kam has been accused of stealing the documents during her two-year compulsory military service, between 2005 and 2007, during which she was working in the office of the commander of the Central Command, which is responsible for the West Bank. Justice Zeev Hammer, who presided over Anat Kam’s court hearings, described the security failures at the GOC Central Command chief ’s office as “astounding” adding that he was “shocked to learn of these incomprehensible failures and negligent data protection”. There are many that see the actions of Kam and Manning as treasonous. Lot’s Wife was fortunate enough to speak with Greer Cashman, an Israeli journalist from the Jerusalem Post, and a board member of the Jerusalem Journalists Association (JJA), who stated: “I’m the only person with a dissenting opinion on the board – whom all support Anat Kam’s actions – and here’s why; at the time she copied the classified information, she was a soldier and not a civilian; therefore her duty was to the military, and to the security of Israel. What she did was tantamount to treason.” Former US ambassador to the United Nations under the Bush administration, John Bolton, said that if Manning did leak the intelligence he should be charged with treason. “Treason is still punishable by death and if he were found guilty, I would do it”, Bolton said. Counter to this view there are many who see Bradley Manning and Anat Kam as heroes; as defenders of democracy. CBS journalist Chase Madar states: “U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning has done his duty. He has witnessed serious violations of the American military’s Uniform Code of Military Justice, violations of the rules in U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10, and violations of international law. He has brought these wrongdoings to light out of a profound sense of duty to his country, as a citizen and a soldier, and his patriotism has cost him dearly.” As elucidated by President Kennedy, the need for secrecy in matters of national security needs to be balanced against the need for press freedom. President Kennedy’s address at the ANPA also stated: “No official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.” Are Kennedy’s words not still consistent with the current US ethos? If they are, then it is a serious problem whenever the government and the military cover up information in the public interest. The US military and government, as well as many mainstream media outlets reported that those killed in the Iraq War air-strike video were insurgents. The video released in 2007 by Wikileaks, proved unequivocally that the people killed were Iraqi civilians and journalists. Continued PAGE 8 Rainbow Serpent 2011 Only a month past and I can already feel the excitement building for Rainbow 2012. And so it is every year. As the months turn and January draws ever closer, whispers of Rainbow Serpent turn to roars of jubilation as bigger and better acts are announced. Yet this year the collective excitement about Rainbow was almost stifled at its very peak when, only a week prior, the Victorian countryside was inundated by flash flooding. The Facebook hive buzzed furiously with frenzied communication as friends and festival fellows shared Cooking with Chapelle part II ominous news reports about the Beaufort River breaking its banks and flooding the entire area. It was eventually revealed that the access road was underwater, and Rainbow 2011 hung precariously on whether the site would dry out in time. But hope and luck prevailed. Not only was the flooding succeeded by a solid week of sun, but the festival organisers reportedly injected funds into the local council to ensure the integrity of the access road. Rainbow was happening after all! Continued PAGE 17 Feature comic P. 8 P. 26 Consent and sexuality Film Review P. 9 P. 20 02 NEWS Staff List Contents Editors 03 Campus Life Timothy Lawson Joshua Kenner 06 Nation News Finance Director Fatima Hakim Photography Richard Plumridge Campus Life 07 World News 08 Editorials/Letters 09 Opinion Erica Lawson Nation News Christine Todd Declan Murphy World News Kimberly Doyle Martin Shlansky Creative Writing/Books Anastasia Pochesneva 12 Columns 14 Creative Writing 17 Music 20 Film 21 Books/Games Music Michael Stanisic Vivian-Amy Tran Film/TV 22 Visual Art 23 Science Jessica Marshall Science Aimee Parker Luke Nickholds 24 Essays 26 Extras Sport Andrew Mayes Kiran Iyer Thank You Harry Sabolcki, for your tireless assistance in almost every facet of production; Glen Heywood, for creating and running Switch, writing, proofreading and editing, and for your endless wise and optismistic advice; Fatima Hakim, for the many late-night hours you spent helping us and for being so on the ball with all our financial shit; Omar Hassan for running Left Action, and for being against the machine like rage; to all our writers and sub-editors – this publication would not have been possible without your efforts. Disclaimer While the Lot’s Wife editors aim to provide content which will be informative and entertaining for Monash students; and believe that all students should have the opportunity to express themselves. Equally, we recongnise the right of all students to read the publication without feeling threatened or offended by racist, sexist, militaristic, or homophobic material; therefore we refuse to publish anything of this nature. The views presented in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the Monash Student Association. Articles that are submitted are proof read and may be altered, chemically or otherwise. Contact Details Submissions: Please email content to: [email protected] First Floor Campus Centre Monash University Wellington Road Clayton, 3800 Ph: (03) 9905 8174 Fax: (03) 9905 4185 Facebook: [email protected] Lot’s Wife is your 100% student-produced newspaper It’s a great avenue to get your work in print, especially if you’re interested in photography, writing, typesetting, design or investigative journalism. Anyone can submit articles, funky graphics, reviews or whatever else that will print. If you’re happy just to read it, you’ll find a new copy around campus monthly during semester. Twitter: @lotswife2011 Writer’s meetings: Monday 12pm Lot’s Wife Lounge, First Floor, Campus Centre. http://www.msa.monash.edu.au/campus-life/lots-wife/ Lot’s Wife acknowledges the Kulian Nations as the original and ongoing owners of the land upon which the paper is produced. CAMPUS LIFE 3 MSA independence under threat from budget cuts In the current MSA funding agreement negotiations, Monash University is proposing budget cuts and further conditions that attack the independence of the Monash Student Association, in moves that can only be described as anti-student. The MSA relies on this funding to run important services like student rights and welfare, and to continue enhancing the student experience on campus through departments like Clubs & Societies, Activities, Wholefoods, and Sir Johns’ Bar. This move has coincided with other changes recently made by the University – including staff cuts, unit cuts, the introduction of a $1 fee per trip for the inter-campus shuttle, and increased parking permit prices – which are forcing students to pay for gaps in the University budget. These moves are placing detrimental strain on students, who already struggle to cover the excessive costs of tertiary education. Unfortunately, the University is proposing unreasonable changes in the current funding agreement proposal which is untenable for many different reasons. It means they can continue to cut our funding for vital student services every single year. We have no opportunity for responsible forward planning of the organisation, and will result in fewer clubs, fewer events, no new services (such as the renovation of Sir John’s), and will seriously hinder student advocacy on campus. The Monash Student Association calls on the University to recognise the important role student associations play in supporting students at Monash, and call on the University to: 1) Recognise that the MSA, and all Monash student organisations, need funding security in order to $1 extortion This year, Monash is introducing a $1 fee each way on the inter-campus shuttle bus. They have argued this decision is due to financial necessity. Yet, with this fee certain to have an array of negative effects on students, should we really be the ones to foot the bill? Monash is structured in a way that ensures many students have to travel between campuses to attend their various classes, most of which would be compulsory. In this way Monash is almost forcing students to pay yet another fee to ensure the completion of a degree. While one dollar may not sound like much, the current rate of Youth Allowance is 48% below the Henderson poverty line, and recent data indicates that the more a student works, the less likely they are to finish their degree. Many students rely on the shuttle bus regularly, and this fee, on top of the regular rent, food, transport and uni-related costs, might just be the straw to break the collective camel’s back. This further financial strain will also be felt with by those who do not qualify for concession cards, such as international students. Put simply, students should not have to pay for Monash services we are forced to use in the normal course of study. Students who cannot afford this fee will be left with no choice but to miss essential classes. This is further exacerbated by the fact that Monash still hasn’t implemented mandatory recording of lectures; some classes missed can’t be caught up on. Further, many units have specific tutorial attendance requirements, and if a student cannot achieve these they risk the possibility of failure, or lost marks. Thus, the fee ensures that students, who pay up to $1,135 in HECS fees for one class alone, are not only inhibited access to their education, but also risk failing units. While it can be argued that students can use public transport instead of the shuttle (assuming they already have a metcard or myki), this is not a viable Photo by Richard Plumridge plan for the future, and commit to a 3 year funding agreement. 2) Recognise the independence of the MSA as the democratically elected representatives of all Monash Clayton students; 3) Recognise that the current level of funding is vital for the continued running of services, and commit to no decreases in funding. 4) Recognise the increasing size and standing of the University, and acknowledge that any cuts in funding option for everyone. There are limited, if any, direct routes available to the Berwick and Peninsula Monash campuses, and while there is a bus between Clayton and Caulfield it is not a direct route, stopping leisurely through Chadstone on the way. This means that if students cannot afford the shuttle service, their ability to get to and from classes on time is drastically restricted. Many would be forced to arrive late and leave early, thus further restricting students’ ability to access their education. The introduction of a $1 shuttle fee will also have an impact on the safety of Monash students. The shuttle bus, when free, provided students undertaking night classes with a frequent, well lit service. Following the past year’s spate of attacks on international students, this type of service has become increasingly important. Now with the fee, some students will have no choice but to use public transport, which becomes infrequent into the night. Students who travel between Clayton, Berwick and/or the Peninsula campus will be in significantly more danger having to catch multiple train and bus connections rather than the shuttle. The environment will also suffer. Approximately 100,000 people use the shuttle service each year, saving some 920 tonnes of carbon emissions. The introduction of a fee means many people will choose to drive between campuses, often without car pooling, drastically decreasing the positive impact the shuttle has previously had on the environment. For a university that pretends to pride itself on green initiatives, they once again talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. Free travel on the campus shuttle is crucial to students. It ensures they can access the education they pay thousands of dollars for, safely and efficiently. Students must demand change- not spend it! By Esther Hood are inappropriate, irresponsible, and unjustified. 5) Recognise that the MSA, and all Monash student organisations, need to plan for major projects, and commit to allowing surpluses to carry over to future years to facilitate this. 6) Ensure that if the Federal Government allows for the creation of a student amenities fee, the University commits to ensuring that all of these funds go to the MSA, and other Monash student organisations, in order to represent students. To show your support for the MSA and to call on the University to adequately invest in students, visit the MSA website www.msa.monash.edu. au, join the ‘I Heart My MSA’ facebook group, grab an MSA Card, and contact Peter Marshall, Vice President (Administration), at Peter.Marshall@ monash.edu. By Imogen Sturni MSA President Monash University: Privatising public education. Monash University is a publicly owned statutory body with a huge, powerful and expensive management. Public money was used to buy land for the university, to build buildings for the university and to train staff for the university. As public funding for universities over the years has decreased, reliance upon external funding for universities has increased. Monash as a consequence has become less of a public institution and more of a privately sponsored institution. This raises serious question about whether the University is serving public needs and whether the rights of students and staff to pursue their academic interests is being protected. While the reduction in money from commonwealth grants to universities is real, the way the University has responded to this reduction has been a choice not a necessity. Over the past few decades Monash University priorities have been set by Monash University Council and Monash management rather than Monash University academics. This was not always the case. About thirty years ago Monash University Council was in effect a Professorial Board. This Professorial Board, which was closer to students and staff than the present Council, established priorities and appointed management including the Vice-Chancellor. Shortly after this time Monash Council became independent of the Professorial Board and acquired sufficient power to instruct academics to concentrate on teaching, research and publications while they would determine policies and appoint the Vice-Chancellor. While Monash Council is now composed of and has always been composed of some student, staff and ministerial representatives, the majority of members of Monash University Council are now directly or indirectly appointed by Monash University Council. This of course raises potential conflict of interest issues and explains the huge increase in the size and salaries of management over the years, and the alleged contempt Monash University Council and management has for students and staff who disagree with its local and global management plans. The Vice-Chancellor, the most powerful member of Council, can now assume that the majority of members of Council will agree with what he wants for they have been appointed directly or indirectly by the Council he heads. Monash University as a consequence is being run more and more for Monash University management and to cater to the research needs of business rather than for the academic interests of students and staff. To maintain the size of the University, and if possible to expand it, management is increasingly trying to access domestic and international external funding over and above that provided in Commonwealth Government grants. More and more academic interests and research priorities that cannot attract external commercial funding are being replaced by research projects that can. This orientation determines the allocation of space and the appointment of staff. As the Arts faculty and the pure sciences cannot attract external funding they are progressively being reduced in size. Courses that can’t attract full fee paying overseas students have progressively been replaced with courses that can. By Marlow Von Trier 4 CAMPUS LIFE OB REPORTS President Imogen Sturni The MSA has been working hard over summer to bring you the MSA Orientation Carnival, which runs from the 21st-24th of February on the Lemon Scented Lawns. O-Week is the perfect time to get your MSA Card, join as many clubs and societies as humanly possible, grab a Music on Menzies ticket – to see Bag Raiders and Miami Horror, and win your chance to skydive into Monash! While we’re working hard to bring you another amazing year, the University is still threatening to cut MSA funding by up to 10% each year. This means we are faced with a situation where we may not be able to provide you with the same great services, representation and events. Make sure you head to the website to pledge your support for the MSA. For more information about the MSA, the MSA Card, and any upcoming campaigns or events, head to the MSA website www.msa.monash.edu.au Secretary Sheldon Oski Hey new students and older returnees! I’m Sheldon, the MSA Secretary for this year. My job is to ensure an accurate record is kept of important documents for the MSA, such as minutes and timesheets. Most of my work recently has been geared towards organising Orientation Week. O-Week is a wonderful time of the year and if it’s not over when you’re reading this, make sure to go out and enjoy it while you still can! Make sure to join as many clubs as you can, see the O-Show and check out the MSA tent where you can chat to MSA representatives like me! OWeek is a great chance to meet people and make new friends – don’t pass up on the opportunity! Last but not least, make sure to buy the MSA Card so you support the MSA in running fantastic O-Weeks like this in the future. Treasurer Jenna Amos Welcome first year students and welcome back all returning students! As this year’s Treasurer I have spent the start of 2011 being briefed on the MSA’s finances, budgeting procedures and signing off on requisitions. Unfortunately, Monash University has threatened a 10% cut in MSA funding. Such a drastic reduction is threatening to hurt student services across the board. So if you enjoy student theatre performances, Activities’ events, reading Lot’s Wife, Host Scheme, Clubs and Societies and so on, get behind the ‘I [heart] MSA’ campaign. Activities James Gordon and Jenna Conroy 2011 is going to be a massive year with Jenna and James bringing you all the awesome events around campus. We have been working on O-Week, where we will host a Trivia Night and a Movie Night, both held on campus and both set to be great nights. Once the excitement that is O-Week has finished, we will be bringing you Horror Booze Cruise. This cruise will be on the Victoria Star and will depart from Docklands, Melbourne. Apart from organising these events, we have been visiting the first year students on Host Scheme camps and encouraging them to get involved with Activities throughout the year. Our amazing committee has been helping us with this and we’re all looking forward to seeing you this year. Education (Academic Affairs) John Monroe Welcome to the new academic year and – for some of you – the new experience that is university life. Part of our job is to ensure that the university understands and addresses student needs and concerns, so we’d love to hear from you about anything you think that Monash should be looking into, particularly regarding any trouble you may be having with course progression/unit availability/finishing majors. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been busy organising student representatives to sit on Academic Progress Committees, which decide what should happen to students who’ve had ‘unsatisfactory progress’ in their degree – and we’d like to remind you that there are heaps of resources available to you if you’re struggling in any way, like the Health and Wellbeing Hub, study skills workshops in the libraries or the Disability Liaison Unit. Check out the Monash website or email us: ([email protected] or [email protected]) for more information. Education (Public Affairs) Esther Hood The Education (Public Affairs) department has spent most of the summer producing its major publication for the year – The Counter-Faculty Handbook. The handbook is designed to inform you what to really expect from classes, using reviews from students who have already taken the unit. Swing by and pick one up from MSA reception! Amongst other campaigns, we will be opposing the shuttle bus fee and parking permit increases, and continue the fight for a fair funding agreement for the MSA. Monash is still forcing a 10% cut on a one year basis (with the potential for cuts every year). If you enjoy plays from Monash University Student Theatre, Sir John’s Bar, Wholefoods, events like Music on Menzies, after exam parties, student rights services, and everything else in between, make sure the MSA can continue to fund them by signing the petition at http:// gopetition.com/petition/38979.html. Environment and Social Justice Bianca Jewell and Cassie Speakman Firstly, we’d like to say welcome to 2011 and hope you have a fantastic year! Since starting in January, we’ve been busy thinking up campaigns, planning projects and preparing awesome events for the year. We’ve also been doing a lot of work on the new Monash Community Farm – from designing and budgeting, to writing up grant proposals and figuring out how the project will be managed. The Monash Permaculture Garden, located west of the campus centre, is flourishing with an abundance of mints and climbing beans towering above our heads, while our young banana tree has benefitted from all the rainfall this season! If you would like to get involved with the Environment & Social Justice Collective (ESJC) this year, feel free to come and visit us (turn right at MSA reception, next to the Activist Space) or send us an email at [email protected]. Hope to see you soon! Queer (Female) Katie Heading I’ve spent a lot of my time looking at creating a Queer Ally Network, which will hopefully see staff ‘Allies’ introduced at Clayton who have training in dealing with issues that influence the queer community. The visibility planned for this project is something I think will help make Monash increasingly queer friendly. By the time this goes to print there will have been two Queer Affairs Committee meetings; together we’re looking at creating an ‘Anti-Homophobia in Schools Campaign’ and a queer-specific mental health awareness campaign, so I’ve been busily researching and compiling information for both campaigns. For those who are new (or old) this year, there’s usually at least one Queer Officer in during the day, so if you have any issues you think we could help with, drop by the office – and make sure that if you’re a queer student you pop into the Lounge! Queer (Male) Lance Charisma It’s been a crazy couple of months, with Office Bearer training beginning back in December, and I’ve spent the time settling in to the role of Queer Officer and getting a head start on my projects for the year. We have a lot planned for this year, for both queer students and for ‘Allies’, so there are plenty of opportunities to get involved. During O-Week write a message of support for thisoz.com, join in our scavenger hunt, or just come by our stall and see what we’re about. For queer students new to Monash, hop on by the queer lounge any time, or if you need a little encouragements visit on Wednesday afternoons for free fancy tea and baked goods. In the future, look out f Pride Week, coming up in week five. Women’s Vittoria Careri and Jasmine Crooks Welcome to another exciting year in The Monash Women’s Department! We’re gearing up for some awesome events, including but not limited to: free women’s self-defence workshops, feminist reading groups, and workshops set to develop corporate and leadership skills for women. We’ll be keeping everybody updated via the Monash Women’s Department’s Facebook page and our e-Bulletin, which you can sign up to anytime. Our forum (http://msawomensdepartment.proboards.com) is an excellent place to share and lurkers are completely welcome. We also provide a safe and autonomous space for women, which is a great place to socialise, read from our bookshelves, have a cuppa or take a nap between classes. If you want to get involved, or just check it out, head up to the first floor of the Campus Centre and turn down the corridor on the right of the reception desk. Welfare Matthew Polmear and Tom Cheah After a much needed spring clean and reorganisation of the office, the welfare office put together its collective creative mind grapes to action. We perused the former 2006 ‘Survival Guide’ and 2002 ‘Cheap living guide’ published by former welfare officers. Groundwork was completed on Free Food Mondays, including budgeting, recipe plans, and logistical stuff. Financial motions for the cost of Free Food Mondays were passed also. We’re in the midst of introducing more free stuff for students. Stuff that matters – like sunscreen and condoms! Survival week will be in week four. We’ve planned to address things like tenancy rights and mental health. We’ve planned to make sure that this year’s derelicte ball will be totally off the hook! You’ll hear more from us during O week and when the semester begins. Be sure to see us every Monday night in the Airport lounge at 7:30pm for free and tasty, tasty food from week on onwards. CAMPUS LIFE 5 First year reflection Photo by Miki Mclay 2010 started with a kiss on a doorstep in the pouring rain and ended outside a warehouse party sweaty, slightly dizzy and high on life. Those, and every single moment in between - heartbreaking and perfect - made this year one of the best ones I’ve ever lived through. The longest, warmest, most incredible summer I’ve lived through. One perfect night with Luke and James and the rest of those kids (and we all went mental and danced). Standing on the bridge that went across Bell Street, stumbling home slightly drunk at two in the morning, filming traffic on my phone for five minutes and whispering along to Group Four on my own. A first heartbreak. Memories of you from underneath the streets of the city. Drains, words scribbled over concrete, then over each other. Cigarette smoke blown out your window. Death and rebirth. The wrong side of the river. World of Boxes with Didz and cheeky drinks after work, trolling Twitter using company internet. Bonus points at trivia for me and James’ impromptu performance of a certain song we both like. Weekly Mama Dukes/stalker dates with Coral, planning gymnastics routines. Randomly starting a conversation about dance music and production with some cutie in glasses with a tongue piercing, blasting fierce beats with his friends on the Menzies Lawn on my first week of uni, ending with me giving him my number and forgetting his name about ten seconds later (oops). Having absolutely no idea, at that point, how significant to me that boy was to eventually become. The Radio Monash crew. Impromptu broadcasts at 7PM when I should have been studying, all the durries I smoked on the balcony with Tim and Fatima. Barbara Lounge DJ nights. Stefan’s fairy-floss chicken, all of the amazing crap on YouTube Bill and James managed to find. Hardcore Frape. Snowtrip. Skype sessions with the dirty kids. The satisfaction and pride I took in running my own show on dirtyRadio. Razor-wire, bridges, trains. “Adrenaline is my drug of choice, the kick drum is my dealer.” Front-row for Massive Attack: blinding lights, news feeds, ‘Karmacoma’, ‘Jamaica an’ Roma’. ‘Atlas Air’, a bassline so fierce I honestly thought the world was about to end. Autechre at the Hi-Fi. Dancing alone in the front row like a madwoman while my friend sat in front of the speakers soaking up the atmosphere. Enduring three hours of terrible music (and worse people) for Underworld at Winter Sound System. Eye contact with Karl Hyde for a full five seconds after jumping up on the rails during ‘Bird 1’. Rez/Cowgirl, James’ hand in mine. The exact moment they dropped the bassline for ‘Scribble’ and thinking, yeah - everything’s pretty fuck- ing okay. Born Slippy. NUXX: no words necessary. (“Melbourne! I feel you!”) Living on forty dollars of groceries a week. Strategically stealing toilet paper from uni. Instant noodles and coffee. Essays to write, bills to pay, comfort in routine. The moment I walked out of my final exam (PLT1050), feeling the sunshine on my shoulders, free for three long months. Partying in Doormoe with my favourite northside crew. Drum and bass and Maddy and Jules. Red Head Redemption. Famous on Twitter. Acid and pancakes and so much love. ‘Robot Rock’, the joy of having so many good friends chilling out in my house and sharing good conversations. So many goodbyes to so many good people. (Didz, Nick, Chris.) Comforted by the knowledge that they’ll be back again, soon enough. All of the people who found their way into my life this year, for whom I’m so, so fucking thankful. Thank you, 2010: you were something beautiful. To everybody I was lucky enough to share it with: thank you. 2011 - bring it, baby. By Miki Mclay 6 NATION NEWS Tight Squeeze It’s 7:55am and you’re squashed on board an express train to Flinders Street. On one side of you there’s a bicycle and its owner. The handlebars are jutting into your kidneys with increasing enthusiasm. On the other side, an impenetrable tangle of half-awake bodies, lurching toward you with every sudden surge of the train. Your nose is a mere two inches from the deodorised armpit of a towering teenage boy. Someone grasps for something to keep them steady and grabs your chest instead. It’s the beginning of a very intimate train ride with over a thousand complete strangers. Welcome to the Sydenham service. With a morning peak average of 1100 passengers over the past eight years, it is Melbourne’s most overcrowded train line. The maximum capacity for one of Metro’s most modern trains, the X’Trapolis, is 798 passengers. Overcrowding problems are not just limited to the Sydenham line. Load surveys released under Freedom of Information highlight an alarming trend. Excluding the grossly under-used Alamein line, all Melbourne train lines have experienced passenger numbers exceeding or within 5% of maximum capacity over the past eight years. An unexpected increase in train patronage over the past fifteen years could in part explain passenger overcrowding on Melbourne’s metropolitan rail network. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures reveal that patronage jumped 35% in the period between 1996 to 2006, an increase that former operator Connex and the State government seemingly failed to predict and prepare for. An assessment of the privatised rail network by the Institute of Public Affairs in 2007 claimed that increased patronage and overcrowding are the signs of a successful metropolitan train system, rather than a failing one. Commuters, however, aren’t as optimistic about the situation. Henry, a 73-year old re- tiree from Bentleigh, reflects on a more friendly experience in years gone by. “The old rattlers weren’t pretty, but they got us there in one piece. An old codger like me was guaranteed some breathing space. Now, well it’s all about numbers isn’t it. Numbers and profit.” The most dramatic examples of passenger overcrowding have been evident on the Sydenham, Werribee, Epping, and Pakenham lines. All have experienced commuter numbers exceeding 1200 passengers during both morning and evening peak periods. The troubled Sydenham line is expected to endure further congestion with an electrification and extension of the line to Sunbury expected in 2012. Under the government’s $38 billion transport plan, the electrification will introduce thousands of new passengers to the metropolitan rail network, passengers that had previously relied on Vline services. Public Transport Users Association president, Daniel Bowen, says that the opening up of the Sydenham to Sunbury rail corridor will undoubtedly lead to an increase in patronage. He added, however, that he supported the project so long as frequent and reliable services were added to the timetable. “Provision of high-frequency electric train services to Sunbury is the best way to encourage high rates of public transport use in Melbourne’s north-west,” he said. Of concern is that most troubled train lines are within growth corridors earmarked for substantial population booms within the next decade. Such expansion, as outlined by the Victorian government’s “Melbourne 2030” plan, might unfortunately come at a cost for rail commuters. To add insult to injury, Metro Trains Melbourne expects to double commuter patronage by the conclusion of its eight-year contract. A consistently below average service punctuality from Metro Trains Melbourne and its predecessor, Connex, has also added strain to the bloated network. Quarterly performance bulletins released by the Department for Transport reveal that Metro is yet to achieve a month on or above average punctuality targets. With cancelled or late trains becoming something of a regularity, passengers are left to hope that there will be space on the train for them. When it does eventually arrive. Elise, a receptionist from Sunshine, makes the half-hour trip into the CBD each day for work. She is one of the many disgruntled passengers that experience cramped, almost suffocating conditions on metropolitan trains. “There’s essentially a guarantee each morning that I’ll be crammed in, jolted around and churned back out again. We’re pretty full by the time we get to Footscray but there’s always a foolish few who squeeze on and make the experience all the more suffocating.” Examples of such passenger desperation are rife across the network, with little to prevent commuters from crushing into the carriage. Andre Hernandez, a customer service representative for Metro Trains Melbourne’s, said that no passenger maximum existed on Metro trains. “As such we expect our customers to use their judgement as to whether or not they should board a particular service or carriage. We deem a service safe to depart once the doors are able to completely close.” Action has been taken by the state government since 2006 to ease commuter overcrowding across the network, primarily through the purchase and gradual introduction of 38 new X’Trapolis trains. The impact on Melbourne’s choked train lines is likely to be minimal, however, with the trains only able to run on six of Melbourne’s eighteen train lines. In speaking to a political enquiry on train services earlier this year, Andrew Lezala, CEO of Metro Trains Melbourne, strengthened this commitment to construct a healthy and durable system. “We have a line interest with our customers and we want to use the timetable changes to...allow us to make the railway system more reliable and more recoverable when it is experiencing difficulty.” Meanwhile, public frustration with cramped peak hour services continues to escalate. A passenger survey of 820 Melbourne commuters revealed that an overwhelming 80 per cent of train users are unsatisfied with the level of overcrowding on Melbourne’s metropolitan train network. Another 68 per cent pinpointed that they felt safety was an issue on peak hour trains. Gus Taylor, a primary school teacher from Oakleigh, says he’s had his concerns about passenger welfare on overcrowded peak hour trains. “When the train surges, so do we. We’re so tightly compacted that if one person topples, so do the next few. God forbid someone gets seriously sick or something goes wrong, because there’s no physical way of moving them out unless we all move too. And we can’t until the doors open.” The passenger survey also revealed that commuters feel more frequent services would be the best method of combating hazardous overcrowding. An approach that the Public Transport Users Association strongly supports with it’s “Every Ten Minutes To Everywhere” campaign. “Running trains every ten minutes is possible right now on most of the system...what’s needed is for the government to invest in more services right across the day, seven-days-a-week, to cut waiting times, to get people out of their cars, and to get Melbourne moving,” Daniel Bowen states on the PTUA website. With Metro Trains Melbourne introducing new timetables allowing for greater service frequency from this June, relief may be within reach for the every day commuter. But will this timetable adjustment be too little, too late for tired, frustrated passengers? David Purchase, Victorian Automatic Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, called for Vicroads to offer a six-month registration payment option in April this year. “An up-front, lump sum puts pressure on the household budget. For example, the total fee payable for renewing a light motor vehicle registration in Victoria is typically $516.60, $567.20 or $612.30, depending on the postcode. They are big hits to have to pay in one go,” Mr Purchase said. Purchase recommended that the Government consider an alternative and user-friendly method of payment. He proposed a six-month payment option for vehicle owners, which he believes, will help spread the financial burden. “Australians already have various options to pay for other essential goods and services. Mortgages, rates, utilities, motor finance and insurance are all available at monthly, quarterly or halfyearly instalments,” Mr Purchase said. Despite Mr Purchase’s attempts at persuading the Victorian Government to include this issue in the 2010-2011 State Budget, his arguments proved unsuccessful. Mr Mohammed Ali, ex-enquiries agent for VicRoads, said that registration options have been an ongoing issue. “It wasn’t a problem, until other states had allowed it. Being the only state that is left out, it does make it unfair, because we can now compare between states,” Mr Ali said. Rachael Bentley, a VIC resident originally from QLD, said, “I still have the car registered in Queensland because their payment options are much easier to deal with. If Victoria implemented the same kind of system I would definitely change the registration over to reflect where I now live.” “It would be easier if a six-month option were available,” Sarah said. “$300 is a lot more manageable than $600”. Mr Ali advised that VicRoads had no plans on extending the 6month registration to non-concession cardholders. “At the time of working, nothing had been legislated, nor was anything implemented”, Mr Ali said. While most households expect annual registration payments, many would struggle to fit it into their yearly expenditure. A 2003 Australia Bureau of Statistics study revealed the normal Victorian household earns on average $986 per week, with $898.40 of this being spent on typical household expenditures. “It just isn’t possible to budget that sort of money,” Sarah said. “Once the groceries, petrol, electricity, gas and insurance is paid, there just isn’t enough to cover it all. It is more than my weekly pay after tax,” Sarah said. The penalty for driving an unregistered car is an on the spot fine of over $500. “Not paying for registration, it isn’t an option. I can’t afford to get caught,” Sarah said. Registration costs are often made all the more painful by insurance payments. These are often issued at the same time. Mr Michael Jaballah, a RMIT university student on a low-income health care card agrees that the six-month option helps him deal with the payments. “The payments with the six-month option are hard enough, I don’t know what I would do if I had to pay for the 12-months upfront,” Mr Jaballah said. “At the same time my registration is up, my insurance is up. Sure it costs more to pay the registration bi-annually and the insurance monthly, but, it is a lot more manageable and the reduce in stress is worth the extra,” Mr Jaballah said. “We should be given the choice. Obviously the system is in place or they wouldn’t be able to offer it to people with concession cards. I just think it is unfair and not very Australian,” Sarah said. By Christine Todd NEWS HIT Vicroads, come on Sarah sits slumped at the kitchen table with her unopened mail and overdue bills spilled across the surface; it’s going to be another sleepless night. “I can’t even imagine what is in the unopened mail, the company names on the envelope are enough to put me off at the moment, I know my registration is due soon and I can’t afford it,” said Sarah. $624.10. “How can I afford that? I can’t. I don’t have that sort of savings, I don’t have credit cards and there are no payment options. I can’t afford it.” Sarah is a prime example of the Aussie battler. A single mother working hard to pay her mortgage and make ends meet. All she wants is a break, and having to make such a large payment will be difficult. VicRoads doesn’t share her perspective. Victoria is the only Australian state to offer the twelve-month registration payment as their only option. All other states offer six-month options, with South Australia and ACT also offering three-month and nine-month. Owners of cars, 4WD’s, vans, trucks, motorcycles, prime movers and buses in Victoria are all subject to the twelve-month registration lump payment. While low-income concession and pensioners receive payment subsidies and payment options, the average citizen must pay upfront. By Samantha Jones NEWS HIT WORLD NEWS 7 Mubarak – Saudi Arabia is waiting for you THE pieces on the board are moving in the Middle East. Two US-backed dictators toppled and shaken in as many weeks and Tahir Square - the largest city square in the Arab world – belongs to the people of Egypt, and it is defended. January 25 was no doubt inspired by the Tunisia revolution with slogans such as “Get out Mubarak! Saudi Arabia is waiting for you”, referring to dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s flight to Saudi Arabia after he was forced out of office and the country on January 14. Ben Ali has been in power since 1987 and Hosni Mubarak since 1981, over half a century between them. Tunisia was seen as a haven of stability for foreign investors. A popular tourist destination ruled with an iron fist; an ideal destination for investment and a cheap source of labour. The protests took everyone by surprise, sparked on December 17 by the desperate act of a young unemployed man who set fire to himself after officials prevented him from selling vegetables in the streets of Sidi Bouzid. His desperation tapped into a deeper frustration with the excesses of the ruling elite, inciting long-held anger over police brutality, rising food prices and the lack of basic rights and freedom of the press. Despite this, in April 2008 French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared on an official visit to the country that “some people are way too harsh with Tunisia, which is developing openness and tolerance in many respects.” Since the late 1990s the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United States, and many European countries have praised Tunisia as a model of economic reform in North Africa. If Tunisia is a model for praise, Egypt is a goldmine. According to the Congressional Research Service, the US has given Egypt an average of $2 billion annually since 1979, much of it military aid,. This makes Egypt the second largest recipient of US aid after Israel. Egypt is also a favoured destination for US practiced rendition. The US rendition of Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib and his torture at the hands of the Egyptian authorities is a terrifying example of what Egyptians face daily under Mubarak – all backed by US money and acquiescence. Joe Biden appeared on PBS on the January 27. When asked if he would call Mubarak a dictator Biden said, “Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalising relationship with - with Israel ... I would not refer to him as a dictator.” Tony Blair went as far as to describe Mubarak as “immensely courageous and a force for good.” The real player behind the scenes is the US, but with mounting protests it is clear the US can no longer pursue its ‘friendly dictator’ policy in the region, making moves towards a new stratagem. Obama is leading the charge for rapid implementation of stable broad based government, echoed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to The New York Times the US is reportedly devising a blueprint with Egyptian officials, and the backing of the Egyptian military, for a new transitional government consisting of the usual suspects and headed by the current Vice-President Omar Suleiman. Meanwhile, Omar Suleiman has been accused of inciting the lynching of foreign journalists and other Westerners, claiming foreigners amidst the demonstrations were stirring up trouble. The regime is showing further signs of collapse. Egyptian state television announced the executive committee of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) had resigned en masse, including Mubarak’s son Gamal, once viewed as his heir apparent. Current defence minister, and close ally of Omar Suleiman, Hossam Badrawi will reportedly take over as NDP secretary general and political bureau chief. The US administration has welcomed the reshuffle. America’s anxiety for stability in Egypt and the comprehensive media coverage of the events reflects Egypt’s strategic importance. The Suez Canal is a key passageway for oil deliveries between the East and the West, bypassing the long journey around Southern Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and cutting routes by almost 10,000 kilometres. More than two million barrels of oil transit Suez each day through the Canal and a pipeline that runs alongside it, accounting for at least two per cent of global oil output. Clearly, there is a lot at stake in Egypt. Mubarak’s reactionary and brutal attack on peaceful protesters on February 2 epitomises the desperation of the incumbents. Protesters were assaulted by paid thugs and police in civilian clothes, attacking them with rocks, sticks and firebombs in an attempt to crush the pro-democracy movement. They were unable to intimidate the protestors and government ministers were forced to apologise for the brutality. However, Mubarak instead placed blame for the violence on the Muslim Brotherhood. Yet the Brotherhood, Egypt’s official opposition, has been slow to jump on the bandwagon, at first condemning the protests of January 25 then begrudgingly joining them on the January 28. When the Brotherhood’s leader, and former UN weapons inspector Mohamed ElBaradei, finally visited Tahrir Square he fainted while giving his speech. Yet the protestors have defended their square for days from vicious onslaught. During the first days of unrest the Mubarak regime deployed riot police, rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons against the protestors. When this did not succeed the regime ordered regular police off the streets and opened the jails in a bid to ter- rorise the population with gangs of criminals looting and attacking people. Brutality only inspires further courage. February 4, the ‘Day of Departure’, saw Tahrir Square swell again. “We are the heart of the Egyptian people, the ones who make this country work,” said Samar Atallah, 29. “We’re here for peace. We are not hundreds, we are not thousands, we are millions.” The protestors have set up committees and militia to defend houses and clean the streets; there has been an incredible increase in volunteerism. Water deluge left over from military water cannons aimed at protestors is used to clean the streets of the country many Egyptians see as theirs for the first time. As Nabil Habib, a 26-year-old software engineer described to The Guardian, “before we lived in fear of the police and never had the chance to take responsibility for our own communities, but now we are in control. You see the same sentiment among all the volunteers who are going around picking up trash and debris from the streets.” Obama believes Mubarak made a “psychological break” with his hold on office by announcing he will not contest further elections and was silent on whether the dictator should stand down immediately. A “psychological break” was not enough for the people of Egypt. People power has not just toppled two dictators, but inspired democratic movements across the Arab world in Algeria, Jordon and Yemen. The rules of the Middle East imperialist system are being rewritten from below. As one sign in Tahrir Square read, “Game over, next player.” billions of gallons of toxic sludge dumped into the waterways of the rainforest. The Indigenous Ecuadorian plaintiffs claim that Chevron’s drilling practices have caused cancer rates to skyrocket. Chevron has denied any responsibility for the ongoing disaster and stated that the court’s decision is “illegitimate and unenforceable”, and that the “perpetrators of this fraud [must be] brought to justice”. Increase in Afghan child deaths The United Nations has estimated that during 2010, there was a 155% increase in the deaths of Afghani children as a direct result of the decadelong war, compared to the same period in 2009. This increase is due to the increase in improvised explosive devices, suicide attacks and airstrikes. While the estimation of civilian deaths is notoriously difficult due to the nature of US drone strikes in the mountainous border region, the total civilian death toll stands at somewhere between 15,000 and 35,000. British students still revolting over fees British students have decided to continue their protests over the tripling of University tuition fees, following a heavy-handed response from Police in the aftermath of last December’s mass protests. Police were accused of attacks on freedom of speech when they allegedly harassed student leaders and closed down websites that provided advice to students who were in fear of reprisals and arrest in relation to their protest participation. The Palestine Papers The Palestinian chief negotiator and cabinet have resigned in the wake of the “Palestine Papers” published by Al Jazeera. The satellite news network obtained more than 1,500 internal documents detailing more than 10-years of negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The documents reveal the extent to which the Palestinian Authority have been complicit in allowing illegal Israeli settlements, and had forewarning of the War in Gaza. Pressure on Indian PM to step down Opposition leader Rajnath Singh has increased pressure on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resign on “moral grounds” in the wake of the 2G spectrum scandal. Government officials have been accused of undercharging mobile phone companies for licenses due to corporate lobbying. However, some have blamed the opposition BJP for an “opportunist attack” on the government citing that politicians and officials involved have already resigned and been charged. Obama aims to cut deficit Still reeling from the Global Financial Crisis and two very expensive wars, the Obama administration has promised to cut the US deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years through massive spending cuts. Though Obama’s “austerity budget” will cut into crucial public services, the cuts may not be steep enough for a Congress controlled by smallgovernment, lower-tax Republicans. Egyptian Revolution Sparked by the public police beating and death of blogger Khaled Said, millions of Egyptians held 18 days of mass protest based around Tahrir Square in Cairo, which ended with the resignation of authoritarian dictator Hosni Mubarak. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is now in charge, promising to re-write the constitution and hold elections. However, Egypt’s military rulers have not ended the 3-decade-long state of emergency and have called for all strikes and protests to be ended, leading to many protesters to claim that the army have usurped the people’s revolution. Global Summary Tunisian Revolution More protesters demanding the removal from office of all those connected to the old regime have been killed by police in the town of Kef. Initially sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi following the confiscation of his illegal street stall, the ouster of authoritarian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was achieved by weeks of mass protests. The new government of Mohamed Ghannouchi has been purged of most members of the former ruling party, bar himself. Berlusconi to stand trial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been ordered by a judge to stand trial for paying for sex with an underage woman and using his position to cover it up. While the media-mogul and multi-billionaire PM has passed 17 different laws to legally protect himself over the years, this time, his ‘gifts’ of a car, a diamond necklace and thousands of Euros to his alleged underage lover may put an end to Berlusconi’s honeymoon as ‘the Teflon man’. Chevron won’t pay - Ecuador An Ecuadorian judge has ordered US oil company Chevron to compensate victims of 40 years-worth of environmental damage caused by By Kimberly Doyle World News Editor By Glen Haywood 8 EDITORIALS/LETTERS YOUR student union, or the “Monash Student Association”, is the representative body for all students at Monash. It is thanks to the student union that Lot’s Wife can be printed and student run initiatives like Wholefoods and the Co-operative Bookshop are facilitated. The student union represents the collective interest of students. Membership in your student union was compulsory until the middle of 2006, and as well as serving to unite students it was a major source of funding for student union activity. After the Liberal party introduced ‘Voluntary Student Unionism’, or ‘VSU’, which made it optional to join the student union, a large amount of the funding that student unions received was stripped away and the union was weakened. The Labor party is currently considering reversing VSU. What is a union? Why do unions matter? A student union is different to a trade union, but similar ideas apply, about uniting and organising collectively in the interest of all. But what real collective participation is there in the Monash student union by students? Do you or anyone else who isn’t in a position of power have any say in the activities of the student union? The ‘ruling party’, the president, the treasurer, and other office bearers are the ones that dispense with the funds and decide what is in your interest for you. Shouldn’t a union that claims to act in the collective interest, that is, in the interest of students, organise, act and make decisions collectively? The student union is in this way a microcosm of a government, or the State. The Monash student union is a bureaucracy, with a few ‘representatives’ at the top with all the power, making all the decisions. Cooking with Chappelle, part 2 In January 2008, a full-page article titled “Cooking with Schapelle” was published in the orientation edition of Lot’s Wife. The article detailed various ways to prepare marijuana for eating, and sparked outrage amongst antidrug groups as well as some students. We believe that marijuana should - at the very least - be decriminalised in Australia. We are publishing this article in the hope to further open the debate on the legalisation and decriminalisation of cannabis. As with “Cooking with Schapelle Part I”, in this article we present to you a range of fantastic marijuana recipes. However, like all good things marijuana should be enjoyed in moderation. After all, even too much chocolate can be terribly bad for you. Special Butter (version 1) Ingredients: -500ml cooking oil (not canola or vegetable oil, but oil with a high burning/carcinogen point like Mustard Seed Oil or Rice Bran Oil) -Quarter of an ounce of special herb (broken up with fingers) -As much leaf/kiff that you can get your hands on (also broken up) -One cooking thermometer Method: -Plan to be home for the whole day. -Start the process as soon as you get up in the morning (when you are not stoned). -Turn exhaust fans to maximum and open kitchen window. -Put all ingredients into a stainless steel pot and place on a gas stove. -Set gas stove at lowest possible heat. -Place stainless steel pot half on, half off heat. -Flick the tiniest amount of water into the pot with your fingers (note: ensure that it is the tiniest speck of water, otherwise you might burn down your kitchen and the hot oil will splash everywhere). -Measure the temperature regularly and ensure that the temperature does not exceed 90 degrees Celsius. -Stir the pot regularly and ensure that the herb does not burn, and does not accumulate on the bottom of the pot. -Allow to cook on low heat, stirring every 10 minutes or so for roughly 6-8 hours (hence why you should start cooking in the morning). -When finished, allow oil to cool, then strain the herb out (unless you want some extra flavour in your dish. If the herb is burnt, throw the herb out). -Use the oil as a butter replacement for your cookie or cake recipe. Test the strength before giving to friends, as the strength of your butter depends on the strength of the herb, The ‘Go’ party holds the vast majority of positions in the union. On an unrelated note many members of ‘Go’ are also members of the Labor party. For the last 6 years in succession the president of the student union has been a member of ‘Go’ and the vast majority of office bearers have also been members of ‘Go’. Instead of organising students to protest things like VSU, or giving more funding to those student facilities that need it most and yet lack it, the student union is a self-sustaining bureaucracy that holds 10 barbecues a week and deems it a job well done. So go forth, ask questions, glare at people angrily, demand to know how the student union spends its funds, organise, bang your fist on the table. Smash things (e.g. fascists). Special Butter (version 2) -Start with as much leaf or bud as you can, get rid of all the stems then put it in a stainless steel or cast iron pot with 750g of butter and cover with cold water. -Bring the mix to the boil then lower the heat so it is just simmering. -After the leaves have fully wilted blend the mix with a stick blender (if you don’t have a stick blender you can use a food processor or a normal blender). -Keep cooking the mix for another 45 mins. then with a potato masher push the plant matter down, skim the liquid off the top with a cup and strain into a deep but not wide bowl. -Once it is too hard to get the liquid out strain the pot into the same deep bowl then pour a little boiling water over the plant matter while still draining to get any leftover butter off the leaf. -Double up a plastic bag and empty the matter into it, poke a few holes at the bottom and hang it over the bowl to keep dripping, after about an hour you can use your hands to get the rest out. -If there are any scrappy little leaves From PAGE 1 Bradley Manning’s confinement has been shown to be inhumane. A 2006 bi-partisan National Commission on America’s Prisons was established and called for the elimination of prolonged solitary confinement. The report states:“Prisoners end up locked in their cells 23 hours a day, everyday... [the treatment] is so severe that people end up completely isolated, living in what can only be described as torturous conditions.” Bradley Manning has given up his life for something he believes in. Bradley Manning for president? By Timothy Lawson Letters to the editor Dear Lot’s Wife, Dear Lot’s, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are among others trying to expose the crimes of war in which thousands upon thousands of people, including thousands upon thousands of women and girls, have been killed, harmed and dislocated. Unlike us they have done this at considerable personal cost and risk to themselves. I am not suggesting for one moment that Assange’s good political work should be used to excuse abusive sexual behavior. Both rape and mass murder are crimes. But we must also acknowledge how our collective ineffective action against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were and are the political foundation for them. RE: “TOKEN RIGHT-WINGER HAVING A SPIEL” (EDITION 14, 2010). Marlow Von Trier, PhD student. and the length of time that your butter is mulling for. Note: when testing the strength of your herb butter, ensure that you remain patient and don’t start smoking your herbs. That would be unwise and will blur the effects of the cookie, so that you are unclear on the strength of the cookie. Warning: Do not drive, operate heavy machinery, or speak to any figures of authority. Also, make sure that you have cleared your schedule and have a range of DVDs to watch on your couch. Don’t worry about getting comedy, everything will be funny. Just steer clear of horror. Bradley Manning for President? I must take issue with the letter of the edition published in the final issue of Lot’s Wife last year. Its author, Andrew Murphy claimed that “at Monash University I am one of the most oppressed, endangered ... variety of species, that is, white, straight, male, Catholic Christian man”. Mr. Murphy clearly needs a dose of reality, and a reminder that he has in fact categorised himself as the most privileged “species” in this country and on this planet. So please stop complaining about those who are not male, Christian, white and straight daring to have a voice and challenge your privilege, on this campus and in this newspaper. There was nothing “token” about your rant. It is the most “mainstream” and “popular” opinion to have. An Independent thinker firmly grounded in reality. (Arts 3) still in the liquid strain it until it is clean trust me it will taste better. -Leave the bowl in the fridge for at least 16 hours then pull the butter off the top with a knife and scrape all the dirt off the underside. -Wrap it up and you can keep it in the freezer for 6 months. You can repeat the process using the same butter up to 3 times but after that the butter can’t handle anymore THC. Also if your butter is strong enough you don’t need a killer recipe, just a recipe with butter in it for example when you fry something like onion on a pan you will use oil or butter, even if it is 2 tea spoons strong butter will do it for you. If you don’t like the flavour add some spices or herbs to the butter and let it sit over night. Easy garlic and herbed mull butter Ingredients: -500g butter -half head of garlic -good handfull of parsley -like wise spring onions -like wise rosemary -1 chilli -half tsp black pepper Method: -Add garlic chilli onions and rosemary to a pot with a little bit of butter. -Cook untill everything is smelling killer about 4 mins. -Add the butter and rest of the ingredients to the hot mix in a bowl and mash it all up until it is well combined. -Wrap it up in glad wrap and store in the freezer and it will be good for at least 6 months. With this butter you are able to make savory dishes like chicken kiev, garlic bread, mash potato, risotto, even a chunk on a hot steak. Pretty much all French recipes have butter in them so you have a lot to choose from. Devil’s Hash Cake Ingredients: 1 package Devil’s Food cake mix 1 cup Canna-butter (cold) 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts 1 package choclate chips 1 package toffee chips 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk Method: You chop the cold cannabutter into the cake mix until it’s finely chopped. Then spread it into the bottom of a glass baking dish, lightly sprayed with cooking oil. After it’s evenly pressed into the bottom of the pan, spread out the chopped nuts, the chocolate chips and the toffee pieces evenly onto the top. Open the sweetened condensed milk, and pour over the top of the nuts and chips. Pop the whole thing into a pre heated oven 325 degrees F. Bake until the sweetened milk bubbles to a light golden colour. Take the pan out and let it cool completely, or wait until it quits bubbling, then serve with vanilla ice cream. OP-ED 9 Consent and sexuality – the murky waters of the Assange rape allegations Trigger warning: this article contains references to sexual assault that may cause distress to survivors. WHEN I heard reports that Julian Assange, co-founder of whistleblower organisation Wikileaks, had been accused of sexually assaulting two women I was shocked and reluctant to believe them. The possibility that someone so seemingly committed to holding governments to account for their human rights crimes could themselves be a perpetrator of such a fundamental assault on a person’s autonomy is a hard one to stomach. As a community blogger from Feministing. com commented, “most people have a resistance to believing that people ‘like us’ - people who do things we like and admire - could be guilty of acts we don’t like or admire.” I was no exception. And I was not the only one shocked or in denial about the allegations. Michael Moore urged us “not to be naive about how the government works when it decides to go after its prey” and to “never, ever believe the ‘official story’.” Journalist John Pilger called the sexual assault allegations a “political stunt,” while Assange’s UK lawyer Mark Stephens stated “the honeytrap has been sprung.” Assange himself claimed to be a victim of “revolutionary feminism.” It was at this point that something seemed to have gone wrong. Two women had alleged that they had been sexually assaulted, one raped, and prominent members of the so-called progressive left were encouraging the public to instinctively dismiss their claims. How could this have happened? Some of their distrust was understandable. Wikileaks and Assange were in the process of challenging the right of the most powerful country in the world to control information, including evidence of war crimes. Assange had faced death threats while Sarah Palin encouraged the US government to pursue him with “the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders.” Still, the women claimed that Assange had been responsible for “one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape,” according to a statement from Scotland Yard. Early reports of the allegations were quickly misconstrued to mean that the crime centred on the accidental breaking of a condom, while rumours that unprotected (consensual) sex was illegal in Sweden flew through cyberspace. The first incident, described in the actual allegations, is alleged to have occurred when one of the women, referred to as Miss A, returned to the flat she was allowing Assange to stay in while in Stockholm. Miss A claimed that Assange repeatedly prevented her from reaching for a condom by holding her arms and pinning her legs. After Assange agreed to use a condom, he is alleged to have “done something” to it in order to break it. Five days later, Assange is alleged to have initiated unconsensual sexual contact in the form of rubbing his genitalia against Miss A. The other woman, Miss W, alleges that after having consensual sex with a condom at least once, Assange proceeded to have unprotected sex with her while she was asleep and therefore unable to consent. Surely these allegations deserve serious contemplation. Whether these allegations of sexual assault are true, no-one can yet know. However, it seems logical to admit the possibility that they may be. For public figures like Michael Moore and John Pilger to brush them off as a political conspiracy seems rather too close to the denialism seen too often in rape cases. So-called feminist Naomi Wolf took the discourse to another level when she claimed that the communication surrounding the alleged sexual assaults of both women constituted “model cases of sexual negotiation.” While Naomi Wolf may consider it to be a desirable situation for an individual to initiate unprotected sex while one’s partner is asleep, in Sweden, the UK and Australia such an act would be considered rape, unless agreed to at a prior time. However, notable human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson seemed to entertain similar sentiments when he said, while representing Assange at his extradition hearing this month, that because the alleged assault of Miss W occurred within the context of consensual sex, “[i]t’s not natural to call this rape.” These statements from notable members of the political community betray a disturbing misunderstanding of what meaningful consent entails in the context of sex and seem to trivialise the experiences of many survivors of sexual violence. For years, anti-sexual assault campaigners have sought to emphasise that consent cannot be assumed. Consenting to one sexual act does not mean one is consenting to all sexual acts. Consenting to taking off one’s clothes does not mean one has consented to intercourse. Consenting to sex once does not mean consent can be assumed for all subsequent sexual acts. The idea that a person cannot be raped by someone they have previously consented to sex with is a relic from times in which womens’ sexuality was viewed to be the property of their male husbands. This was seen most obviously in the fact that rape within marriage was not criminalised in Australia until 1981, prior to which a wife was deemed to have consented to unlimited sex in her wedding vows. Consent, in Victorian law, is defined as a ‘free agreement’ that cannot exist in a situation of fear or coercion. Thus, it seems to make perfect sense that even within the context of consensual sex an individual must be free to withdraw that consent at any time and have that desire taken seriously. Sadly, it is likely we will never know the truth of the Assange rape allegations. Two major potential biases exist – the bias usually faced by sexual assault claimants within the legal system and the bias against Assange created by the intense media coverage. But regardless of whether this particular case is valid or not, the issue of sexual assault and consent in society seems to be misunderstood, still. And the worry is that for every public commentator who minimises the crime alleged against Assange or who attacks the character of the claimants, more sexual assault survivors will stay quiet and deny their own experiences. and malicious activities, along with other actors, like Shell. And this is why authorities are coming down so hard on Julian Assange. Governments figure that the more they can keep their citizens from knowing, the easier they are to keep pacified. WikiLeaks, personified in its figurehead Assange, aims to challenge this and for that reason is a threat. Assange has been accused of rape in Sweden, but it is quite clear this is not what he is being pursued for. Regardless of what he did or did not do in Sweden, people do not get put at the top of Interpol’s Most Wanted list for rape. Tragically, Sweden is a country with an incredibly low rate of investigations and prosecutions for rape, like most Western countries. It is easy to say that these countries should be doing more to punish perpetrators of rape, but for the time being, they simply refuse. If the subject of their investigation was not Julian Assange, they would not be bothering. The real goal is to extradite Assange from Sweden to the US, where legal types are frantically pouring through lawbooks to find something with which they can possibly charge Assange. Of course, the US state’s commitment (or lack thereof ) to flawless legality is well-demonstrated by the continued existence of their prison camp at Guantanamo Bay... which is another way of saying, Assange has every reason to be afraid. After all, let’s look at the treatment doled out to alleged whistle-blower, Bradley Manning. Authorities have been in a frenzy trying to establish some link between him and Assange, but have found none. Nonetheless, Manning has been accused of leaking secret documents detailing atrocities committed by Coalition forces in the Afghanistan War, and has been clamped down upon accordingly. He is currently being held in solitary confinement in a military base in Virginia, locked in his cell for 23 hours a day – a cell in which he is not even allowed to exercise, is under constant surveillance, and is not allowed a pillow or sheets for his bed. He has been held in these conditions for nine months so far and appears no closer to being charged with anything nor going through any kind of judicial process. Manning’s crime, like Assange’s, was exposing some of the dark truths hidden from us by our governments. The US Government does not want people to know the reality of the occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq. They do not want people to know about soldiers who shoot dead civilians for the sheer thrill of it, or the scale of torture in Afghan jails, or about how nasty the US-backed regime in Kabul is. The last thing they want is for Afghanistan to become another Vietnam – which it is in the sense that their military campaign is hopeless, but which it is not in the sense that there is no mass anti-war movement, yet. However, if the horrors of these wars become more firmly ingrained in the public consciousness, making the news again and again, thanks to Wikileaks... who knows. And again, the response of the US Government boils down to one thing – it is intensely anti-democratic. It does not want people to know about its wrongdoing because then they might object and try to stop it, yet is this not the point of democracy? People have the right to know what their governments are up to, even if it is horrifying, and the right to force it to stop if they dislike it. The US Government is certainly not going to espouse the view that people should have any control over their government, or even knowledge of its activities beyond what the government allows. This is a totally alien concept to the US administration. For this reason, WikiLeaks should be wholeheartedly supported for trying to bring democracy that little bit closer, and our rulers’ responses should be seen for what they are – an attempt to stop that attempt succeeding. By Rebecca Harrison Wikileaks: the US war on democracy OVER the past couple of months, it has been impossible to miss the furore raging around WikiLeaks and, in particular, Julian Assange. Ever since the whistle-blowing website began to leak the US embassy cables now known as “Cablegate”, world leaders have been falling over themselves to denounce it, and him. Sarah Palin, predictably, labelled Assange “an anti-American operative with blood on his hands”, and called on the US Government to hunt him down like they would a leader of al-Qaeda or the Taliban. As for that US Government, Obama condemned the leaks as “deplorable” and Clinton claimed that they “put people’s lives in danger”. In Australia, Gillard commented on the “illegality” of the leaks before realising that she could not cite any laws they might have broken. What these world leaders’ fierce denunciations of WikiLeaks demonstrates is that, far from being the defenders of democracy in a world of anti-democratic foes, our rulers are in fact staunchly opposed to democratic rule themselves. Given that the main principle of democracy is, as the quote goes, “government of the people, for the people, by the people,” surely it is common sense that the people might have an idea of how they are governed. Likewise, it is common sense that people should know exactly what their governments are up to, and have the right to dictate to them what they should be up to. Unfortunately, it is also common sense that this is not how the world works, and the way its rulers have come down so hard on accused whistleblowers like Assange demonstrates this perfectly. The world’s rulers do not want the inconvenience of ordinary people participating in government. Logically, then, they do not want ordinary people knowing about all of the things they do in government. If they knew, they might be motivated to do something about it, and that is not desirable from our rulers’ perspective. The reason that world leaders, and especially US politicians, have been so frenzied in their attacks on WikiLeaks is that the documents leaked contain a lot of information they absolutely do not want out there. For instance, the fact that the US State Department had foreign diplomats spied upon at a UN conference, or that Mark Arbib was essentially a spy for the US within the Australian government. While these things are diplomatically embarrassing, they are clearly not going to destroy the US State’s ability to conduct foreign policy the way Clinton suggested it would. For a start, the Australian government rallied around Arbib and claimed that what he did was nothing unusual. Clearly, no threat to the USAustralian alliance there. Nonetheless, WikiLeaks has revealed a lot of things. WikiLeaks revealed the extent to which Shell Corporation has infiltrated the Nigerian government, the answer: massively. WikiLeaks has released a lot of information about the USA’s ongoing military action in Yemen. And of course, WikiLeaks has detailed a lot of the brutality in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, including the infamous video in which US soldiers seemingly sought to get a cheap thrill out of shooting dead civilians from a helicopter. US politicians have responded to these kinds of leaks by claiming that they “put people’s lives in danger”. Presumably, by revealing to Iraqis and Afghans the oh-so-hard-to-see reality that life under military occupation sucks. But when WikiLeaks reveals the brutal ways in which many Afghan and Iraqi civilians have been killed by occupying forces, who has done the real wrong – WikiLeaks, for revealing the extent and details of the killings to the general public, or the occupying forces, or conducting the killings in the first place? Personally, I’m going to say the blame rests squarely with the ones orchestrating the killing: the US state. But really, this is what a lot of the leaks boil down to: that the US state has been engaged in many, many devious By Jessica Smith 10 OPINION The hypocrisy of Israeli “democracy” laid bare FOR most people, the defeat of a dictator that has brutally ruled over his people for 23 years, and the possibility that another is teetering, is news to celebrate. Particularly, when these dictators have been challenged and defeated by popular revolutions involving hundreds of thousands of workers, students and the poor. This kind of democratic collective power has not seen success in the Middle East for decades. Born out of a rejection of poverty and political repression, the demands of the movements in Egypt and Tunisia are similar: jobs for the unemployed, affordable food, and new governments untarnished by participation in the corrupt, old regimes. It is no surprise that these incredible events have inspired people everywhere. Messages of support for the revolution have flooded the Internet. There have been tens of thousands marching in Yemen, mass strikes in Algeria, and even the normally quiet Jordan has seen large sit-ins, resulting in the King dismissing his cabinet just two months after appointing it! It’s hard not to rejoice in the feeling that we are at the beginning of new era of Arab revolutions. Even The Economist acknowledges that “the idea that Arabs are passive or docile has been thoroughly discredited.” But not everyone is happy to see democracy in action. As one Egyptian observer tweeted prophetically, “every Arab leader is watching Tunisia in fear. Every Arab citizen is watching Tunisia in hope and solidarity.” This fear was on display at the emergency summit of the Arab League convened after Ben Ali was toppled, but before the protests in Egypt began. Speaker after speaker warned that “the Tunisian revolution is not far from us’’ and, ‘’the Arab citizen [is in] an unprecedented state of anger and frustration.” You would think that Israel, being the “only genuine democracy in the Middle East”, would be an exception to this club and would instead come forward to welcome the events unfolding. Yet far from expressing its solidarity with the latest democratic kid on the block, Israel has been one of its most vocal opponents. Deputy PM Silvan Shalom claimed that if regimes neighbouring the Israeli state were replaced by democratic systems, Israeli national security might significantly be threatened. Benjamin Netanyahu is worried that the proliferation of dictators similar to Ben Ali makes the Middle East “an unstable region” - not because of the repression they deal out, but because they might be democratically overthrown. This contempt for democracy is nothing new. Despite what it may claim, Israel is no more a champion for democracy than George Bush was. Internally, Israeli leaders have consistently and deliberately undermined elected Palestinian leaders who challenge their rule. When they disliked the outcome of the democratic elections in 2006 that brought Hamas to office, they lost interest in democracy. They continue to deny equal rights to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. And while Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian population is made possible largely because of US financial and military aid, Israel also works closely with many ruling regimes in the Middle East – including those that claim to be its enemy – to repress popular movements abroad. As Shalom rightly pointed out, “new systems” in Arab countries – free and fair elections “would defend or adopt agendas that are inherently opposed to Israeli national security.” Israel, a state that is built on the repression of the Palestinian majority within its de-facto borders, surrounded by Arab masses who are hostile to its very existence, has always been reliant on diplomatic games with two-faced Arab dictators. So for Israel, democracy movements that challenge these duplicitous regimes represent a fundamental existential threat. It has always been petrified that further pro-democracy revolutions in the Middle East might challenge its dirty deals with the various regimes. This is why they supported fascist Phalange against the PLO and the left during the Lebanese Civil War, why they have always backed the widely despised Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and why they tremble at the thought of prodemocracy revolutions in Tunisia and elsewhere today. The struggles against Zionism, imperialism and reactionary Arab leaders have always been connected in the Middle East. The Israelis know that the populations of the Arab countries are much more hostile to them than are their collaborationist leaders. So it would be better for Israel if their voices continued to be suppressed. Zionists rightly recognize that it will not be the Palestinians alone that pose a threat to the state of Israel, but a mass movement of workers and oppressed from across the region. The revolution in Tunisia gives us a glimpse of how this movement could be built. the ‘announcement’ that child refugees were to be released (a policy which had been part of the ALP’s platform since the 2007 election anyhow) to conceal what was actually an expansion of the mandatory detention system. This gave a progressive cover to the construction of more prison camps. Next came the tragedy of Christmas Island in late 2010, where more than 30 refugees died when their boat dashed against the rocks on the border. Predictably, the government mouthed the platitudes of sorrow. However, at the same time that they wept their crocodile tears, they locked up all of the survivors. Clearly, their sympathy and sadness only extended so far. All of this was complemented by the disgraceful election campaign, which was as racist as it was banal. In an undoubtedly race-fuelled election, each of the major parties sought to conceal what was an embarrassingly similar list of right-wing policies by once again turning asylum policy into a political football. The human rights of the refugees, evidently, come a distant second to the electoral interests of the ALP. All of this highlights the vital necessity of building an organised opposition to the shocking system of mandatory detention. In Australia, we need to rebuild the refugee rights movement. We need to build a campaign that is uncompromising in its demand for the freedom of the refugees, and that is capable of countering the racism of our parliamentary leaders. The major parties have a monopoly over the terrain of the refugee debate. A campaign that coheres thousands of people, including students, could provide a clear challenge to that monopoly. It could reject as racist the Liberal Party’s mantra that we need to “stop the boats”, and it could provide an alternative to the jaded capitulations of the ALP. It could dispel the myths underpinning the public’s antipathy towards refugees. It could turn back the tide of public opinion, and force the parliament to react to popular sentiment. At Monash University in 2011, the best way to get involved in that campaign is through the Monash Refugee Action Collective (MRAC). MRAC is a newly formed student activist organisation that seeks to mobilise the student body to take progressive action in opposition to mandatory detention. It links up students at Monash with the central refugee rights campaign. MRAC is proud to join the fight for social justice and human rights, and should act as the perfect vehicle for anyone who wants a just policy towards refugees in Australia. The launch meeting for the collective will take place in Week One on Thursday 3 March. Look up the MRAC facebook page for more upcoming events. Certainly, the refugees have not acquiesced under this inhumane system. They have refused to become submissive, and have staged protests, rebellions and riots within the camps right across 2010. These demonstrations are a testament to the courage and humanity of those inside the camps, and they ought to be an inspiration for all of us on the other side of the fences. The refugees are right to resist their imprisonment, and we should match their attempts by building a campaign that will help win them their human rights. For ongoing coverage of the revolutions sweeping the Middle East check www.sa.org.au -MARXISM 2011 - Ideas to Challenge the System - (April 21-24 @ Melbourne Uni) An entire weekend dedicated to leftwing discussion and debates. Featured speakers will include journalist John Pilger, Afghanistan correspondent Anand Gopal, author of Lenin Rediscovered: What is to be Done? In context Lars Lih and Lebanese socialist activist Farah Kabaissy. Including socialist activists from Greece, the Philippines and the USA. By Omar Hassan Asylum seekers revisited When the ALP swept into power after a vibrant campaign in the 2007 election, many of us held our breath in anticipation that perhaps the end of the Howard era was to herald a new policy towards refugees, based on compassion and humanity. Three years later, that hopeful anticipation has been unceremoniously dashed. The Labor government has proven itself willing time and again to rival the Liberal government that preceded it in its brutality towards the refugees arriving on Australian shores. It has continued the denial of even the most basic human rights through its system of mandatory detention. This system is currently seeing roughly 6000 refugees imprisoned around Australia for the ‘crime’ of fleeing persecution, war, occupation and genocide. 2010 was a year of horror for these innocent people, and if the year just passed is any predictor of the year to come then 2011 can only bring with it the promise of more indefinite detention, more racist scapegoating, and more inhumanity. The statistics alone substantiate such a claim. Reports on self-harm within the detention centres are not frequently released by the Australian Government, but we know that between July and September there were 79 incidents of self-mutilation amongst the refugees. Additionally, there was a quadrupling of self-harm rates inside the camps within the first half of 2010. We also know that at least 5 refugees committed suicide over the course of the year, a tragic indictment of the Labor Government’s policy of mandatory detention. If we consider the self-harm rates alongside the suicide numbers, and if we add to these the increase in hunger strikes right across the country, and the re-introduction of lip sowing as a method of protest, the picture that is cumulatively painted is one of desperation, frustration and powerlessness. This is the reality of life inside the euphemistically titled ‘detention centres’. Apparently, however, the simple fact that they are imprisoning over six thousand innocent people inside what Australian of the Year for 2010 Patrick McGorry called “factories for producing mental illness” does not satisfy the Labor Government. In fact, Labor has actually intensified its attacks on those already locked up in the detention centres. We saw this quite recently, with the deal between the Australian and Afghanistan governments to forcefully deport potentially thousands of the Afghan asylum seekers who are currently detained. This deal is a disgrace. A report in 2004 called “Deported to Danger” confirmed that sending refugees back to the country from which they fled was in many cases tantamount to murder. Even more outrageously, these Afghani refugees are being sent back to a country occupied by Australian troops! As Wikileaks revealed, the war in Afghanistan “scares the hell” out of Kevin Rudd, just apparently not enough to refrain from sending thousands of people, mostly of the persecuted Hazara minority, back to the oppression from which they fled. Such is the nature of the government’s hypocrisy. There were multiple other attacks throughout the year as well. These included the decision on April 9 to freeze all visa applications of Tamil and Afghani refugees, a move which left thousands of them confined in a sort of immigration limbo, with no recourse to challenge the decision and with no end in sight for their indefinite detention. Then, a little later in the year the Government sought to use By Declan Murphy OPINION 11 A soldier’s perspective Racket’ by two time Medal of Honour winner and former US Marine Smedley Butler: “How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets?” “War is racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”Smedley Butler Australia’s long-standing engagement in international wars continues, with the government continuing to be part of the occupation of Afghanistan as it heads into its ninth year, as well on-going involvement in areas such as East Timor. In this context, I spoke to former Australian Army Major and now political activist Chip Henriss (who was one of the founders of the Australian anti-war group Stand-Fast), about his personal and often complex relationship with the military machine and his journey from soldier to activist. Emma Palackic: Hello Chip, thank you for giving up your time up to talk to me. Could you tell us about what it was that made you question the military and decide to do something about it? Chip Henriss: To answer this I think it’s valuable to have a bit of my background story. I served as a US Marine from 1985 to 1987. I found the Marines to be a lot like what I imagined prison to be like. In 1987 I jumped ship in Hobart and was AWOL for nine months. During that time I got married to my first wife who was Australian. I then went back to the US and was discharged. I returned to Australia a month later and continued my life here. In 1991 I was at University and became an Australian citizen. For many reasons I felt bad about the way I left the Marines. An opportunity came up to join the Australian Army Reserve and become an officer while studying. I joined up and I have to admit I loved the Australian Army. I enjoyed the people and the training and the real team work approach... I was approached by the Regular Army and joined full-time in 1995 as a Public Relations (Media Officer). PR teams go everywhere and are often among the first people to go... I served in Papua New Guinea; as a peace monitor on Bougainville, and I was with the first wave of Australian soldiers to land in East Timor on 20 September 1999. My politics began to shift to the left after university… [and] [w]hat made me a revolutionary was constantly looking at issues from poverty to war and seeing that the cause of the problems always fell back to the same people and their system. When I left the Army in 2001, I remained in the inactive Army reserve. When we invaded Iraq I resigned completely. EP: How great a scope did you have within the military to discuss the politics behind occupation? How strong is the disciplinary apparatus within the military? CH: I left the Army in October 2001. During my time, I never felt that I couldn’t discuss politics but as an officer many of my colleagues were conservative thinkers. Many, but certainly not all, were from the upper middle class and were products of their upbringing... What the Army will not tolerate is a refusal to take part. Sabotaging operations or refusing orders is where a soldier could find themselves in trouble with Army discipline system. It’s a little like working for a supermarket, you go there and do your job and get your pay cheque. You don’t necessarily think about the slave labour involved in the goods you sell, or the insecticides used on the produce or the cruel conditions imposed on the animals raised for meat. EP: In the words of Smedley Butler, “Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.” These words were spoken in the 1930s, but are surely applicable today. Do you see imperialism as a class question, were class dynamics reproduced within the military itself? CH: Yes, imperialism is a class question and class dynamics are institutionalised within the military. The entire officer and soldier system is class-based. What has changed, however, is that one can change class within the [military] system. One might be from a working class background like myself but through education and so on join the officer class... EP: I’m interested to hear your thoughts on economic conscription, where people are compelled to join the army because of their poor economic circumstances. This is particularly pertinent in the United States because of the Global Financial Crisis and high unemployment. What do you make of this? CH: This is nothing new. The ruling class makes the military very seductive, for young men in particular. Movies and veteran parades all add to the social status given to soldiers... One example of the linkage between imperialism and economic conscription is the denial of free tertiary education. In the US it is difficult for a lot of working class families to afford higher education and the US Military offers incentives to help soldiers pay for university when they leave the service. The denial of free education and the corporatisation of universities is a crime of oppression. EP: You mentioned earlier you served in East Timor. What do you think the Australian government’s role in sending troops there has been? CH: Overall I enjoyed my daily life as a PR officer in the Australian Army... In PR Corps we got to see a lot of the “action” without the discomfort that the ordinary infantry soldiers have to endure. In saying that I did see terrible things, especially while [I was] serving in East Timor. I had people come up to me distraught and in tears because the Indonesians had taken their family members away. One man was just carrying a pair of runners that belonged to his son. He was crying and begging me to help him. There was nothing we could do except hug him while he cried... We saw bodies being pulled out of wells, scenes of mass killings, like the church in Suai, and remains of people who were murdered... I think the primary motivation for the Howard Government was that it had no choice. There was going to be independence and in order to secure the oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea... we needed to go in... But we had to do this while keeping friendly with the Indonesians. That’s why we actually had joint check points with them and pretended that it was East Timor militias that caused the destruction, when we really knew all along it was the militias under the control of the TNI [Indonesian Military] as well as Indonesian military units... My favorite quote is from ‘War is a EP: What do you make of Kevin Rudd’s statement to Hillary Clinton in 2008 that “the US must be prepared to use force [against China] if everything goes wrong”? At this point in human history where the capability exists to obliterate the earth, what is our way out of this mess? CH: The way out of this mess is by the workers taking control and working to build a new system dedicated to our interests. It is the only way out. What have the ruling class ever given that workers didn’t have to fight for? I hope this conference [Marxism 2011] helps spread those ideas. I am a revolutionary because I believe there are enough resources and know how to share throughout the world. We can do this sustainably we just need to shift our priorities. I would like to add that our revolution must be executed with compassion and joy. It is serious business but we don’t have to take ourselves so serious that we forget how to have fun. Life should be fun. By Emma Palackic 12 COLUMNS around the uni for more info, there are going to be some great bands playing. If you think you’d like to have a show or get involved in any way then drop by the station, you can find us upstairs in the Campus Centre, off the Airport Lounge. Or contact info@ radiomonash.net to find out more. We hope to see you soon, LOTS OF NEWS HIT COMING RIGHT UP! News Hit is an online publication. It’s like a magazine, only we’re inadequately resourced to pay for printing. So we’re a website. Happily, News Hit is approximately 92.75 times more awesome as a result. We have infinite space for articles, reviews, feature stories, satire, rambling diatribes, multimedia and whatnot. You can also submit comments on said awesomeness 24/7, as seems to be the custom with all things on the Internet. Brothers Craig and Danie¬l Butt developed News Hit early in 2009 when they were penniless university students to help fellow impoverished university students hone their writing skills, get experience with online publishing and build up a portfolio of published work online. News Hit quickly expanded to incorporate many other curious, resourceful and impecunious students who jumped at an opportunity for much the same reasons. As the name of the site suggests, News Hit has something of a split personality. Though much of the content it attracts is jovial in nature, to pigeonhole it as a class clown is rash. We feature a range of content on everything from politics to travel. We’re sharing content with Lot’s Wife this year. Selected Lot’s Wife articles will be appearing on News Hit and Monash Clayton’s premier student publication will also have its own space on News Hit. Likewise, the best of News Hit will be published in Lot’s Wife and we’ll be providing this monthly column that you are currently reading right now at this present moment in time. So why is this new relationship worth checking out? For one thing, you can instantaneously respond to the Lots articles featured on News Hit by harnessing the magic of the Internet. You can also check out what we’re doing at News Hit. John Potter is on a roll with his satirical submissions at the moment, we’ve got some regular podcasts going up on the site and we’re renowned for our reviewing prowess. As the holidays roll to an end and the urge to write increases from inkling to irresistible, expect to see more feature articles. So check us out. NewsHit.com.au is the address. That’s NewsHit.com. au. And while you’re there, be sure to befriend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS feeds. But not necessarily in that order. NewsHit.com.au If you’re a music lover, budding journalist, DJ, complete novice, crate digger, mad producer, musical prodigy or you just like our water cooler, Radio Monash might be the place you find your calling. Jaffys and postgrads alike, all are welcome at our office. There are some huge gigs on the horizon for Radio Monash this year as well as our usual program of student radio and great training programs. We are starting the year big with our launch party at the Tote Hotel on Thursday the 24th of March. Keep your eyes out Campbell McNolty Radio Monash President The Antlers @ Corner Hotel 9/2/11 The Antlers are a Brooklynbased band who have been gaining momentum since their 2009 release Hospice. This album tells the story of an abusive relationship through the analogy of a hospice worker and their terminally ill patient. The Antlers have been enlisted to play at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival and I was lucky enough to catch them at their sideshow at The Corner Hotel. The band took to the stage with a sense of anticipation growing in the audience. From the first few notes the band had the audience’s undivided attention. Throughout the set there was little movement apart from a subtle swaying to the rhythm of the songs. The band played their 2009 masterpiece in its entirety only breaking to play a new song off their upcoming release. The band sounding much fuller than on the recordings, the trio could easily be mistaken for a much larger band. The band perfectly captured the intense emotional rollercoaster of the protagonists in the story being told. Vocalist Peter Silberman’s delivery of the lyrics were dripping with emotion, helping to bring the song to life, the occasional faltering in his voice only adding to the sincerity of the lyrics. Darby Cicci created both haunting soundscapes on his keyboard as well as a solid bass rhythm which provided grounding for the songs. Despite a solid performance, songs ‘Kettering’ and ‘Two’ stood in a world of their own. The Antlers delivered a flawless and intense performance until a slight lyrical blunder at the start of their closing song, ‘Wake’. It sought to lighten the morose mood of the audience. Had it not been for this slip to distract from the atmosphere they’d created, it would not be uncanny to see some audience members shed a tear. The band returned for an encore to close not just a reproduction of their album but a reinvention making it feel fresh as if it were for the first time and conclude what was both a moving and amazing performance. Matthew Corcoran, Music Director Wu-Tang vs The Beatles: Enter The Magical Mystery Chamber Mashup albums are interesting things. One of the best reviewed mashup collaborative efforts in recent times, that of Jay-Z and Linkin Park, on the Collision Course EP, was still met with elements of intense dissatisfaction, with certain critics panning elements that other reviewers praised. Genre, in general is a rule unto itself, so when you find artists being matched up digitally with artists they’d likely never collaborate with in the real world, it’s sometimes embarrassing, at times brilliant, but always interesting. Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers is a Beatles vs Wu-Tang Clan mash by one Tom Caruana. This isn’t the first time the Beatles have found themselves mashed with hip hop. Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album, took accapellas from Jay-Z’s The Black Album and tunes from The Beatles’ White Album, and sadly, the most imaginative aspect of that effort was the title. So I was prepared to watch the Killa Bees and the four world famous Liverpool boys blend each other into garbage. I didn’t want that to happen, but I was prepped. Anticipation on getting my hands on this limited edition EP was high, and pressing play, I wasn’t disappointed. The sampled Beatles tracks are recognizable, while also being smartly mixed in with those unmistakeable grimy Wu-Tang vocals. A defining achievement of this effort was how individual tracks were given a completely different aesthetic by Caruana’s mixing. Method Man’s ‘Uh Huh’, a hard body banger from the Def Jam Vendetta soundtrack is given an almost ballad like makeover. The pitch matching throughout the entire album is also very impressive. I’d go so far as to say ‘Ol’ Dirty Bastard’ sounds tuneful thanks to Caruana’s mixing. The scattered interviews with the Beatles and their fans are well matched with those of the Wu, and give a refreshing take on what could have been a boring effort of beat matching. Caruana manages to give this mix personality. The two hugely different groups are put together so well, they sound like they were made for each other. As far as mashup albums go, this is definitely one of the best I’ve heard. I’d recommend it to anyone who isn’t a close minded musical wanker type aficionado, but I’d even chuck it their way, just to hear them whinge about how nobody respects anything anymore. Anyway, in my opinion, there is a huge amount good with this album, and practically nothing bad, let alone boring. Grab this one if you can, but grab fast. By “limited edition”, they really do mean limited. Dan Gale, Production Manager How to navigate a career in IT There is so much more to a career in IT than answering technical support phone calls and asking the customer: “Have you tried turning it off and on.”’The purpose of this article is to help provide career advice for students studying the following degrees: Bachelor of Business Information Systems; Bachelor of Computer Science; Bachelor of Computer Science; and Bachelor of Software Engineering. The skills and attributes these qualifications aim to develop include: • Understanding the methods, tools and techniques used in the planning, development, implementation and management of information products and systems • Understanding the legal, ethical and philosophical issues relating to information technology • Developing skills to apply the methods, tools, research skills and techniques used to develop correct, well structured and documented information products and systems • Understanding organisational and social issues arising from the use of I.T. in organisations, including privacy and civil liberties issues • Ability to effectively use computer hardware and software technologies • Understanding basic computer structure and operation, and demonstrate use of the associated vocabulary • Demonstrating understanding of the basics of operating systems and system software • Ability to identify factors that affect computer performance • Understanding the relationship between a problem description and program design • Understanding the management of problems using recognised frameworks • Applying problem solving techniques at different levels of abstraction and understanding the effect this may have on a system specification For further examples see: www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/ courses/index-ug-byfaculty-it.html Previous students with these qualifications first jobs have been: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3D Modeller Analyst Programmer Animator Application Security Analyst Application Security Designer Artificial Intelligence Programmer Audio Programmer Business Analyst Computer Service Technician Corporate Webmaster Database Administrator Data Modeller Game Developer Graphic Designer Hardware Engineer Information Consultant Information Service Manager Interactive Programmer Internet Developer IT Consultant IT Project Manager Knowledge Manager Multimedia Developer Multimedia Specialist Producer Network Administrator Network Analyst Online Manager Production Manager Programming Specialist Project Administrator Project Manager Quality Specialist Software Architect Software Consultant Software Developer Software Engineer Software Programmer Systems Administrator Systems Analyst Software Architect Systems Engineer Technical Development Manager Technical Engineer Technical Writer Telecommunication Engineer Tester Trainer Web Developer You should consider joining one of these professional associations, as relevant to your interests; many of which you can join for free or at a much-reduced student rate. • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) www.acm.org • Association of Commonwealth Archivists & Record Managers (ACARM) www.acarm.org • Australasian Chapter of the Association for Information Systems www.aaisnet.org • Australian Computer Society (ACS) www.acs.org.au • Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS) www.nla. gov.au/aclis • Australian Information Industry Association www.aiia.com.au • Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry www.aimia.com.au • Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) www.alia.org.au • Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) www.asa.org.au • Australian Society of Indexers (AuSSI) www.archivenet.gov.au • Internet Industry Association www. iia.net.au • International Council on Archives (ICA) www.ica.org • Multimedia Victoria www.mmv.vic. gov.au Enhance your employment outcomes - become involved with clubs and societies at Monash University such as: • Faculty of Information Technology Society (FITS) Email: fits@ monashclubs.org • Monash Postgraduate Association (All) www.mpa.monash.edu.au/index.html • Monash Student Association (Cl) www.msa.monash.edu.au As detailed above, a career in information technology is extremely versatile; in this rapidly globalising world, education in information technology is a field that looks certain to continue to expand. Anonymous data presented here on employment outcomes for Monash University graduates has been gathered from the national Australian Graduate Survey that is conducted twice a year by Monash University in association with Graduate Careers Australia. When it is your turn please remember to complete the form! 14 CREATIVE WRITING Harry Sabolcki PISSMAGEDDON ****** ABSTRACT Here I sit, at the pub again; Twelve P.M. ‘Banjo’ says ‘I see the vision splendid, of the sunlit plains extended, and at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars’ While I see ‘just livers distended, and chairs and tables upended, and Clancy riding the porcelain bus.’ ****** A PROPHESY The fifth horseman, He stares at me, From the foam of my schooner, He stares at me. And the angels blow their trumpets, and the strumpets blow the angels. Booze is the Devil. I should know. ****** A JESTER The day at the pub is as usual, I’m not going to rhyme. Just pint after pint. A fellow dropped a pepper shaker, I yelled ‘Assault!’ But the joke was lost on most of them. ****** THE FIFTH HORSEMAN I experience, through my drunkenness, A kaleidoscopic effect, As kaleidoscopic as a kaleidoscope. Simile Fail! Simile Fail Fail Fail Fail Failure Failure IS all that happens in a drunkard’s life. ‘Tis Pissmageddon, and booze the fifth horseman. ****** LESSON But, at last it’s open: Here I sit, at the pub again; Twelve P.M. CREATIVE WRITING 15 Gavrilo Grabovac ‘spute’ I conspute them conspute them hyper-fecunded rutes cunfend them his rebus fructibus how your rods of fixation unfixed them ‘Recycling service attack’ Recycling service attack put the please your virgin oh oh Oh! frim loptkergh without seeming however that a mincing point is a reflection in the glass with lines running down but a tree is a reflection a ball is a reflection no reflection isn’t a reflection with a fringe of pure yellow tufts and many little dark eyes. (no title) Quel orage bricolage quel nuage de cendres descendre descends des sons dès sans son sans sens seulement Più po po più pu eu più peu plus ‘Фуњара’ SCUM ‘Bureau’ Vagabundus was directed to a wooden bench where it became apparent one might sit down whilst one waited to be called not desiring to appear as if he were refusing the hospitality which they had so graciously accommodated him with in the form of this wooden bench he sat down it was then that he apprehended the heralding shadow of a form of the most pure tedium about to overtake him should he continue to endure to sit on this wooden bench for very much longer thus springing up he commenced a vigorous pacing up and down the corridor of the most fanciful sort first he put one leg forward then the other it was really most peculiar. Ani Pochesneva ‘Closing eyes reading lullabyes’ horse watches, the flames flicker in and out. bright yellow paintbrush shapes point towards meaningful directions. horse listens, ready to gallop. I am reluctant. I believe these flames are deceptive, liars. the pointed ends of these two flames can only be described as frantic and desperate. ah, no. they’ve heard me. and now I see what the horse sees. two eyes. eyelashes; a suffocating wave washes over me, it is their honesty. they quickly turn away. and spell is slightly broken. I wonder how long the horse has been standing there. this horse is naturally brave... it appears to be in control now, the tail gives this away. unfamiliar objects and moving things gather around the flames. some spit icy dread into the onlookers nose and hearts, others relax and murmur. all appear in front of their expressive dancing shadows. my favourite is the tower of ‘strawberry suede’ lipstick, which mimics the stance of the vase. it is the more nervous of the two. more insecurities, I’d like to talk to it sometime. maybe it might feel better if I let its painted whispers swim into my mouth. there is something so peculiar about the man waving. the night is closing but I am still only interested in the horse. this rainbow of light, in which the horse is a part of, illuminates the unseen fractals. next time I look, the horse is gone. echoing murmurs of the mantel top reveal nothing. but I know where it went. 16 CREATIVE WRITING Estelle Pham You’ve made a mistake. As a voyeur, you are free from attachment and perspective. [You are a voyeur] The second door has been gendered as a window. The panels of the second door open their arms to welcome in afternoon drones and skins of darkness. They too, morph into spectators of those ‘insiders’. The Do-It-Yourself peach and azul sheets drape from above. They will eventually learn how to become masters of Tango. Tango is sophistication and becomes auspicious over dormant dimensions. They will be surreptitious from the outer gaze. Yet every thread will continue to Tango in the sol tarde. This is Rake’s bed room. This is the real room. The real room is this. Is this the real room? For it imitates. It mimics not our skins but our estranged selves, our dubiety, our crisp corners that have aged with one and two rancour. The unspoken is finally granted breath outside our bodily confinements. These parts become their own entity, free to Tango in the real room, freely. You, the voyuer watch intently as the skins of darkness flesh minimalism; where shapes of rage and vexation flutter aimlessly in the real room. On the cross side, physique is like an egg shell and the self is denoted to yolk-ness. No doubt, the egg yolk is a fragile and volatile thing. Delicately woven together for one purpose; to clasp our wild emotions together. Eggs may go vertically, horizontally and diagonally but they cannot veil their crackly skin. Nor can they cling onto their perfect yolk. On that side, Rake and Broom lie on the bed; half sleeping, full dreaming. Experience transcends awkwardness and silence drapes over them just like bedsheets. Silence. Silence flourishes, but weeps at the same time. Flourishing because it always has companionship. Yet weeping because it will never be alone. Never will it be its own embodiment, but simply an extension of Rake and Broom. Silence then withdraws, Broom reaches out her hand towards Rake’s body, but Rake’s attention is fixated on the tiny mosquito that is fat from drinking her blood. Broom’s vision is entrenched by Rake’s henna hair. What a mess! She pulls her close so that their bodies materialize into pressed flowers. Then weep. Weep like the willow that is fatigued from wrinkling. Weep for the undulating silence. Follow the weeping, trails a cascade of Broom’s tears. She unfolds her paper crane and in that moment, no thing dares to observe. Not the Do-It-Yourself sheets, not the fat mosquito and not even the real room, dares to mime. The Wind sect.A Somedays you are lucky enough to find a person, another mind who can transport you there. In that space you know your existence too well. You know that you are more than your skin that makes you both visible and invisible. Suddenly you are empowered to take off that skin and realise why your heart thump thump thumps away! I know then what you were inspiring and encouraging me to be. MUSIC 17 Rainbow Serpent 2011 From PAGE 1 Access to the site was restricted to punters until Friday, meaning we couldn’t travel up and get settled in a day early like usual. But the floods meant that much of the heavy setup equipment (such as the stages) could not actually be brought safely on site until Thursday, giving the organisers precious little time to get the festival up and running. Friday was beset with disorganisation. Cars became bogged right at the gate, causing the line to stretch kilometres down the road even in the wee hours of the morning. When entry was finally achieved and campsites set up, many were forced to pack back down again and move to a different area less water-contaminated. Yet the Rainbow crew did an amazing job of getting the festival up and running at all, and totally successfully at that. The Red Bus, or Sunset Stage, had by far the best setup of the stages. Well-shaded and bedecked with colourful artwork, the atmosphere was wonderful, not to mention the awesome labyrinthine tree/branch structure at its rear. Not all the stages, however, were quite so successful. The Chill Stage was a joke. No more than a few couches and a couple sails overhead, it was no place to chill, while the Main Stage was afflicted by a most unpleasant odour. It smelled like poo! No joke, the stage host to the biggest international acts had the strong aroma of defecation, only on the immediate dancefloor though, curiously. The hill surrounding was free of offensive odour, where one could stand more comfortably to perhaps appreciate the MIND-BLOWING lasers on display. Of powerful wattage and various colours, from my campsite they made the trees look like they were exploding. The Market Stage – constant beating heart of Rainbow – was solid as usual. Art installations of all sorts speckled the landscape. Many more, it seemed, than previous years. Far too numerous, however, were the market stalls. Reportedly over 150, they totally dominated the festival proper, making the distance between stages and campsites quite far and time-consuming to traverse. One cannot adequately describe the setup of Rainbow Serpent without homage to the best festival toilets ever. Plentiful, well-serviced and almost always clean, the Rainbow compost toilets are almost heavenly in comparison to the facilities at some other festivals. The Lifestyle Village hosted massage, video arts, and many other activities. However it was this year dominated by the presence of Alex Grey, famed psychedelic artist from the US. Many of his paintings were on display, and on Saturday afternoon he and his wife Allison gave a much-lauded speech. Unfortunately though, the general reception of Alex Grey seemed one of disappointment and disenchantment, perhaps because, in my opinion, the easiest way for artists to ruin their work is to talk about it. Enough preliminaries, the music! Amazing artists galore, the music is of course what Rainbow’s all about. Far too many enjoyable acts to mention, but there were definite standouts. It’s hard to deny Opiuo rocked the house on Saturday at the Market Stage with his silly, slinky analogue bass, while the night before, Circuit Bent danced me around in circles with their crazy scales and glitchy beats. Barons of Tang was, as usual, foremost for me among the bands, spiced up even further this year by the appearance of two agile sirens performing aerial acrobatics suspended only by purple silk ribbons. I was surprised to very much enjoy Mathew Johnson, when I usually retreat from techno, but when I walked in on a bass sound I can only describe as junglethrum I felt compelled to stay for a while. Spoonbill was typically enjoyable, but the timing of his first Main Stage performance gave him a very hard act to follow. After all, the real highlight of Rainbow 2011, the single source of much of the excitement (and certainly some extra ticket sales) was Shpongle Live. Shpongle is a seamless synthesis of very many musical styles, incorporating a huge array of instruments and brain-twisting electronic sounds, all combining into one of the best and most respected electronic music acts in the world. Deeply psychedelic, experimental and complex. The brilliant minds behind Shpongle are Simon Posford and Raja Ram, and this year to Rainbow they came with a host of live musicians and performers. And it was quite a spectacle. Not only the performance but the veritable sea of people in attendance was in itself something to behold. Simon Posford also played a set under his classic, genredefining psy-trance alias Hallucinogen, and brilliantly incorporated the live drummer from Shpongle. It was awesome. Yet despite Shpongle and everything else, I nominate Hypnagog as the very best set of Rainbow 2011. Felix Greenlees has been jamming out on piano since early childhood, and along the way has played more than a little bassoon. Naturally, he evolved to writing incredibly funky psy-trance under the alias Terrafractyl, which mentally spins you around with so many twisting notes it sometimes feels like dancing to a psychedelic orchestra. In the last couple of years, Felix has been writing more glitchy/breaks style music under the name Hypnagog. This year at Rainbow, he played under both guises, but Hypnagog was particularly special. Sliding easily between styles, and always eminently melodious and interesting, the music blended perfectly with the waning orange light of a beautiful Saturday afternoon. In general, Rainbow was great fun as always. Fantastic weather held the entire long weekend; the new site (since last year) was once again green and lush. Wonderful people, music, food, wares, fire-twirlers, performers, art... the atmosphere at Rainbow Serpent is one of my favourite things in this world. Though I didn’t have quite as much fun this year. The Rainbow crew did do an amazing job of getting the festival up and running so well under the circumstances, but the flooding did impede the full setup, and it showed. And finally, though I’m very glad I did see Shpongle Live, I imagine the entire band, plus Alex Grey, would have taken a large portion of the budget for this year’s festival. That would explain the seeming lack of other top notch international artists. But oh well, that just makes me think about who’ll be playing next year...!! Headliners Klaxons took to Centre Field in similarly quirky attire. They made their presence known with favourite “Atlantis to Interzone”. They dazzled with their unique harmonies, delivering all of the old favourites – “Magick”, “Gravity’s Rainbow” and “Golden Skans”. The crowd was less impressed with some of the new tunes, however “Echoes” proved the band still had its knack with harmonies. The show rounded out aptly with “It’s Not Over Yet”, a blessing from the band to party on into the night. After some high-calibre festival pizza and free cocktails courtesy of Field Day’s commendable recycling initiative, we settled in front of Centre Stage as close to the front as we could push (not very close). Art vs. Science started off the night’s entertainment. As usual, they fuelled the festival energy with their hypnotic beats. “Magic fountain” was a fun addition to the set list. Even those who hated the Art vs. Science style with a passion could not resist the contagious build-up of the song. Such was the recipe for their success. Time will tell whether the new tune they sampled – with a name that tells all, “Bumble Bee” – will reap the same success. With only two memorable words to the song, it would perhaps be better suited to a children’s compilation. I’m sure, however, the many thousands of denim hot-pant-clad festival babes enjoyed the excuse to surrender to the hypnotic incantation. All in all, the festival provided something for everyone. The facilities ranked far above average for a festival. Although grossly overpriced, the midstrength drinks on offer were affordable thanks to the recycling initiative which had been enforced. The diversity of the line-up rounded out an awesome day to start the New Year. By Joshua Kenner Field Day in the Domain NEW Years Day in Sydney: the morning after a brilliant firework display off Sydney Harbour Bridge and its surrounds. It took a champagne breakfast to assist me out of bed on the 1/1/11. That, and the anticipation of the entertainment that was to unfold at Field Day in the Domain. A leisurely walk up King Street in the warm sun soon brought me to the first class venue for the event – Sydney’s Botanic Gardens. The first act of the day, Chromeo, set an exceptionally high standard for those to come. Dave-1 in all his dark handsomeness, and P-Thugg with his beer gut loping proudly over the synth, engaged the crowd in front of Centre Field with their latest tunes. Patty and Selma, the keyboards resting on the legs of female mannequins, added some extra personality to the show, while Tenderoni and Bonafied Lovin’ were highlights. The afternoon provided a feast of DJ remixes and funky rock courtesy of The Rapture, Errol Alken and Duck Sauce. Despite the repetitive and all too familiar beats emitted by Duck Sauce, the whole festival gathered around in anticipation of those two little words: Barbara Streisand. If there had been a roof, it would have been raised when the humming chorus kicked in, as everyone seemed to jump about in unison. While the likes of Tame Impala and Marina and the Diamonds entertained festival goers on the Island stage, Left Field was the scene for Indie rock fans. Jamaica charmed the crowd with their French accents and genuine energy. Antoine Hilaire’s voice was reminiscent of many a lead rock singer from much heavier bands, hinting at the diversity and potential of the hitherto-unknown but nonetheless-mature band. Just as it had been for Jamaica, the crowd was small when Mystery Jets appeared on stage in their completely weatherinappropriate, elaborate attire. By Laura Aston 18 MUSIC Guineafowl Interview GUINEAFOWL are Sydney-ites but we won’t hold that against them, as they make some amazing music. Although conceived merely a year ago, Guineafowl have formed a large fanbase through their Oxford Art Factory residency earlier this year. Live favourite ‘Botantist’ also turned a few heads with its wall-falling clip landing them a spot in Rage’s inaugural top fifty countdown – rage’s FIFTY. We’re releasing their debut EP, Hello Anxiety, on February 11th. You can check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/guineafowl or download a free track from here: http://www.universalmusic.net.au/ freedownloads/guineafowl Feature Album Review: Nas - Illmatic Putting on your headphones and pressing play on the 1994 debut album of American hip hop artist Nas is like stepping into a moving portrait of the New York Queensbridge housing projects in the mid 90s. Illmatic is a mix of vivid imagery conjured through street narratives and an exploration of the artist’s own mentalities and mind-states. From an early age Nas devoted his time and energy to rapping, his first arrival on the New York hip hop scene was with a verse on the track ‘Live at the Barbecue’ with the hip hop group Main Source, the track was part of the groups highly successful 1991 album Breaking Atoms and bought attention to the aspiring artist. In 1992 Nas released the single ‘Halftime’ which was featured on the soundtrack to the film Zebrahead, gaining him even more exposure. Illmatic was Nas’ debut album, the culmination of years of hard work perfecting his vocal and lyrical signature. The album showcased the talents of Large Professor, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Q-Tip and L.E.S, an unprecedented collaboration from some of the city’s finest producers. Illmatic has been hailed as one of the best hip hop albums of all time and it is undoubtedly one of the most influential and prolific albums of the 90s. It was listed as one of thirty-three hip hop/R&B albums in Rolling Stone’s “Essential Recordings of the 90s” and ranked 400 in the 2003 Rolling Stone publication of the 500 greatest albums of all time, a list which only included seven other hip hop/rap albums. Just what is it that makes Illmatic such an influential and defining hip hop album? This is actually a difficult question to answer. Many people I have talked to about the album cite it as one of the best albums ever produced or say that it is one of their favourite albums, yet seem at a loss to adequately explain exactly what it is about the album that makes it so respected. In this article I will attempt to piece together some of the elements that make Illmatic such a compelling listen. The production on the album is flawless. A defining element of the album’s production is that it is collaboration from many highly respected producers, a very unusual occurrence as most albums at the time featured the work of only one producer. Although multiple producers worked on Illmatic, they were still able to achieve a unified sound and feel to the album, whilst strengthening it with their own unique production methods and styles. The content of Illmatic is perhaps one of its strongest features; the album is an exploration of life in the Queensbridge housing projects as Nas experienced it. Perhaps the best track to describe to bring about an overall flavour of the album would be the intro track; ‘The Genesis’ is an audio montage that begins with the sound of an elevated train and a recording of Nas’ debut verse on the track ‘Live at the Barbecue’, this is played underneath excerpts from the equally classic hip hop film Wild Style, in which two characters Hector and Zoro converse; this sample has Hector saying ‘And your sitting at home doing this shit? I should be earning a medal for this. Stop fucking around and be a man, there ain’t nothing out here for you.’ to which Zoro replies ‘Yes there is, this!’ This sample may allude to Nas’ mentality that even though he is from a very poor neighbourhood, where there is a lot of depression and little prospects for the residents, there is something out there for him, hip hop! Following this sample, Grand Wizard Theodore’s ‘Subway theme’ kicks in with Nas, his brother Jungle and fellow rapper AZ talking about the ‘bullshit on the radio’, counting money and smoking cannabis in order to set the stage for the album. Music writer Mickey Hess has stated that ‘Nas tells us everything he wants us to known about him. The train is shorthand for New York; the barely discernable rap is, in fact, his “Live at the Barbeque” verse; and the dialogue comes from Wild Style, one of the earliest movies to focus on hip hop culture. Each of these is a point of genesis. New York for Nas as a person, “Live at the Barbeque” for Nas the rapper, and Wild Style, symbolically at least, for hip hop itself. These are my roots, Nas was saying, and he proceeded to demonstrate exactly what those roots had yielded.’ The content of the album may cover topics that are quite common throughout hip hop such as gang violence, drug use and the general malaise of poverty stricken urban communities but Illmatic has a unique approach that blends intricate lyricism and complex metaphors to create a much deeper presentation of these themes. This verse from the track ‘New York State of Mind’ presents some very vivid images in just a few lines. The ‘black rats trapped’ is a very powerful metaphor that describes the overcrowding, violence and desperation of ghetto communities. “In the P.J.’s, my blend tape plays, bullets are strays Young bitches is grazed each block is like a maze full of black rats trapped, plus the Island is packed From what I hear in all the stories when my peoples come back” Another of the reasons for Illmatic’s success and perhaps its admiration among hip hop fans is the high standard of lyrical proficiency displayed. As Marc Lamont Hill, a writer for the international webzine Popmatters, writes “Nas’ complex rhyme patterns, clever word play, and impressive vocab took the art to previously unprecedented heights. Building on the pioneering work of Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, and Rakim, tracks like ‘Halftime’ and the laid back ‘One Time 4 Your Mind’ demonstrated a high level of technical precision and rhetorical dexterity”. This verse from the song ‘It ain’t hard to tell’ is a perfect example of this. “It ain’t hard to tell, I excel, then prevail The mic is contacted, I attract clientele My mic check is life or death, breathin a sniper’s breath I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps Deep like The Shinin’, sparkle like a diamond Sneak a uzi on the island in my army jacket linin Hit the Earth like a comet, invasion Nas is like the Afrocentric Asian, halfman, half-amazin Cause in my physical, I can express throuh song Delete stress like Motrin, then extend strong I drank Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell From the spliff that I lift and inhale, it ain’t hard to tell” The line ‘I drank Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell. From the spliff that I lift and inhale,’ May seem confusing and abstract but it has a deeper meaning if looked at carefully. In this line Nas is saying that he’s hanging out with Medusa and instead of being turned to stone by her (one is supposed to turn to stone at the sight of her) that he’s the one that is getting her stoned by giving her shotguns (the term for inhaling cannabis and then exhaling in another person’s mouth) from his spliff. Basically, she will be stoned instead of him. This is a great example of the intricacy of Nas’ lyrics. A must listen for all fans of hip hop, an album that would interest most writers, poets and lyricists and an amazing contribution to music, Illmatic is one of the greatest musical achievements of the 90s. As Nas himself states verbally he is “iller than an aids patient”. By Timothy Lawson How did the name Guineafowl come about? When I was at school, I used to have really long hair. It was so long that it covered my eyes; the teacher gave me the nickname ‘Guinea pig’. From then on, the name stuck with me. It got to be such a dominating nickname that my real name was partially forgotten. The nickname eventually evolved to ‘Guineafowl’. For me, the name is a pseudonym, because I wanted the name to have some meaning and even though it evokes more negative memories than positive ones, the profoundness and sentimental significance of the name is more important to me. What are some of your major music influences? It is slightly tough to put them all out on a plate. The music that inspires me is very broad. The bands that I am really getting into have gone pretty big over the past few years, such as ‘Talking Heads’, ‘Cure’ and ‘Arcade Fire’ – pretty inspiring in terms of the noise that they make as well as their lyrics. Which show that you have played has been your favourite so far? There have been a lot of really good shows. We played 59 shows last year, which is quite a lot for a band on its first year I guess. I would probably say the third show we played; it was in a really small room at a club in Sydney called ‘Wall Bar’. We were jumping and it got so crazy that the venue staff thought the ceiling would come down. What can you tell us about the new EP? We are just about to release our fivetrack EP called Halloween Party. It is based on my demo, which I recorded about a year ago. I started recording this EP in my living room in my apartment, I only had to use my laptop and an acoustic guitar and that started the first two songs, and those are also singles. Do you do your own mixing? No, I did for the demos but for proper mixing we did it in Surry Hills in Sydney, at a place called BJB studios. Tell us about the creative process behind writing your lyrics? The good ones usually come together – like the music is born and a couple of minutes later the lyrics are born. There are some stories that I have got in my head and lists of experiences, things that I have heard or whatever. They are always there; it is just the matter of when the piece of music comes on that suits that story and that story will merge with my brain and fall into the music. Sometimes that doesn’t happen and the music is just left hanging out there with no dance partner. The good songs that I release, the ones that I like or think of as worthy to be heard by other people, usually come together very quickly. If you could play any show with any artist in the world, dead or alive, who would that be? Brett Whitely. Yeah, if I cold play some music and he could paint it; and we do a heap of heroin, that would be awesome. By Timothy Lawson MUSIC 19 Reviews Cobra Skulls - Bringing the War Home Label: Fat Wreck Chords Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Go Down Under The Aquabats! - Hi-Five Soup! The German Measles – Color Vibration 7’’ / MCDONALDS – Is Forever Having recently performed a number of shows around Australia as part of the inaugural No Sleep Till Festival, Californian punk-rock karaoke kings Me First And The Gimme Gimmes are set to release a brand new EP this February. For those uninitiated with the group, here’s the deal: Me First And The Gimme Gimmes are a five piece band made up of scene veterans who only play punk rock covers of old school pop hits. The group also occasionally throw in riffs and musical extracts from classic punk tunes into their interpretations, just to keep things interesting. Finally, each release by the Gimme Gimmes features a running theme which connects its songs together; from its title alone, it should be fairly obvious that Go Down Under’s title refers to the fact that this latest EP is comprised entirely of Australian classics. The record opens with the group’s blistering cover of INXS’s ‘Never Tear Us Apart’, a sensational introduction which sees the track (including its distinctive opening guitar riff) transformed into a Ramones¬-esque romp. Frontman Spike Slawson’s smooth and melodious vocals are definitely the highlight of the song, with the spotlight only momentarily shifting towards its conclusion by a ripping guitar solo courtesy of Chris Shiflett (yes, believe it, the guy from The Foo Fighters is a Gimme Gimme). Next up in proceedings is ‘All Out of Love’ (originally by Air Supply), another classic that is only further amplified by the incorporation of a segment of Black Flag’s ‘Rise Above’ into proceedings. The crowning jewel of Go Down Under however is definitely the group’s rendition of ‘Friday on My Mind’. Many commentators have lamented the exclusion of any AC/DC or Midnight Oil material from this collection, but the truth is that The Easybeats are far more essentially Australian than either of those acts could ever be. Overall, this really is an example of Me First And The Gimme Gimmes at their best; they have taken a song that is both remembered and is meaningful to adults from the baby-boomer generation and converted it into a pop punk party anthem that any self-respecting member of Generation X or Y can call their own. Perhaps the only way in which Go Down Under disappoints is its length; with five tracks that span a mere twelve minutes, the record is pretty short even by punk rock standards. Whether it was due to the hectic recording and touring schedules of its respective band members or there just weren’t enough good Australian songs to actually cover, it is unfortunate that Me First And The Gimme Gimmes didn’t decide to stretch out the collection to a full length album. Regardless, Go Down Under is another success from a band that aren’t afraid to have a bit of fun and not take themselves too seriously. During the late 90’s, ska was a pretty big thing in mainstream music. Groups like Reel Big Fish and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ruled the airwaves, and everyone knew that “skanking” was a type of dance rather than slang for the act of prostitution. This golden era was destined to be short lived however, as the turn of the century and the subsequent popularisation of groups like KoRn and Limp Bizkit soon ushered in the dark age of nu-metal. Of those brave souls who continued on despite this horrific turn of events, The Aquabats! stood out for a number of reasons. First and foremost of these was the obvious fact that the group always performed in matching lycra outfits and battled supervillians onstage. Their songs were usually characterised by upbeat tempos, blaring horns and lyrics that furthered the band’s own bizarre superhero back story. Those days, however, appear long gone. The release of the group’s fourth album Charge!! saw The Aquabats! taking an entirely new direction with their music. The departure of the majority of the band’s horn players over the years had resulted in a greater reliance upon synthesizer melodies to fill out their sound live, and realising that it would probably be easier to hold onto a single keyboard player than an entire brass section in the post-ska world, The Aquabats! successfully evolved into a far more new-wave influenced outfit. While this move alienated some long term fans, the strength of Charge!!’s song writing ensured an overall smooth transition for the group. Which brings us to Hi-Five Soup!. Featuring more synths and an even more juvenile approach to music than the band has displayed in the past, I must admit that I think that The Aquabats! may be finally past their prime. Whereas previously the group produced music for adults wishing to recapture the youth of their childhood, this latest album really just sounds like it was written for children. Hi-Five Soup! unfortunately just seems to lack the wit and irony of their earlier records, with tracks like ‘B.F.F.!’ and ‘Hey Homies!’ proving to be particularly grating. The album’s significantly cleaner production doesn’t help greatly either, with much of the band’s sonic punch lost beneath layers of studio sheen. For most listeners, there is little relief on offer to help numb the pain that is Hi-Five Soup!. While ‘Shark Fighter!’ and ‘The Legend Is True!’ manage to recapture some of the genius that has previously been displayed by The Aquabats!, it seems the many years in the musical underground have finally taken their toll on the group. Considering the already niche market that the band plays to, it is hard to tell what the reaction from long terms fans will be to Hi-Five Soup!; as far as I am concerned however, it is an unfortunate entry into the discography of a bizarre yet unique band. Let’s just hope they can produce something a little more worthy of their mighty name next time. The German Measles and MCDONALDS! Two great bands from the USA that members of the late (and great) Cause Co-Motion! (famous lo-fi+punk+ETCETERA band) are working on. The German Measles is a proper example of rock and roll, or punk, or ETCETERA. It’s rock for the sake of rock. Living in the present, enjoying in the present. Messy rock, hard to hear on clicking and skipping vinyl rock, with a bit of sugar on top. Side A – ‘Color Vibration’ – grating, jarring, hard to digest, with some strawberry jam on the side via guitar riffs. Side B – ‘I Don’t Like Your Friends’ – extremely catchy and hummable rock, completely silly subject, which is the point. Rock is accepting the human lot for what it is, and making the most of it while we haven’t yet been shot or neutered or lobotomised. This is the subject of the song ‘Eternity’ on their Wild EP (“the oldest generation will be you and me / thanks to nano technology / we’ll live to see the land swallowed by sea / … and we’re gonna live forever!... Eternity”). There are two meanings, it’s ironic; we don’t live forever, we’re mortal, we’re born, we die, we don’t know any better, we’re human... we’re all irredeemable and ignorant, so make the most of what little good there is to be found in this mortal coil. MCDONALDS is more rock for its own sake, ETCETERA. The singer has a languorous, tired sort of tone, but his heart’s in it... as far as anyone’s heart can be in anything. The opener ‘Chicken Noodle Stew’ gets stuck in your head, the second ‘Never Give Your Heart Away’ makes you dolorous. A couple of the songs tend to repeat themselves and drag a little, but the thing as a whole carries through on its tired energy. It’s rock, not ‘I signed my soul to Sonycore’, or any other number of things that masquerade as rock. Good times, bad times, rock times, “all you got is wasted and it’s wasted time”... that’s really it isn’t it, we’re all just wasting time. And a gentleman never tells. Label: Fearless Records Label: Fat Wreck Chords Ever since the release of their 2006 debut Draw Muhummad, Nevada natives Cobra Skulls have been making waves with their own unique brand of punk rock. Combining country and rockabilly with politically charged melodic punk, the band has been steadily building their fanbase over the last couple of years through constant touring with such distinguished scene veterans as NOFX and The Bouncing Souls. Having recently signed to the bastion of independent music that is Fat Wreck Chords, Cobra Skulls latest EP Bringing the War Home is yet another quality entry into the group’s steadily growing discography. Featuring four new originals and a rollicking Bad Religion cover just for good measure, the overall sound of this latest EP is a logical extension of the direction the band displayed on their last full length album, American Rubicon. What this means is that, generally speaking, Bringing the War Home has a far greater emphasis placed upon melody and well constructed lyrics than upon the more hardcoretinged sound of their early days. As is standard for any Fat Wreck release of late, the production on this record is top notch without ever sacrificing a scrap of immediacy, something which cannot always be said about several older items in Cobra Skulls back catalogue. The furious ‘Doomsday Parade’ gets Bringing the War Home underway in a blistering fashion, both due to its quick pace and scathing lyrics concerning American migration policy. Equally appealing is the follow-up, ‘Ice in the Night’, whose catchy chorus is surely the centrepiece of the track. However, it is the group’s rockabilly tinged cover of ‘Give You Nothing’ late in the piece which truly seals the deal for the record; it may not be their own material, but what Cobra Skulls do with the song is simply fantastic, retaining all of the energy of the original while simultaneously morphing it into something instantly recognisable as their own. Bringing the War Home may not be a very lengthy release (it clocks in at just over 12 minutes), but there is certainly enough meat to this small collection of songs to keep fans and casual listeners alike very happy indeed. With a unique sonic take on punk rock and a strong socio-political message, Cobra Skulls are definitely a band to keep an eye out for in the near future. By Matthew Woodward By Matthew Woodward By Matthew Woodward By Gavrilo Grabovac 20 FILM Reviews Black Swan Coming across as a sort of pseudo companion piece to his 2008 hit The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky manages to craft an intriguing and confronting film that manages to start 2011’s movie going experience off with a bang. The plot seems rather simple, Nina (played by the brilliant Natalie Portman), who is a second string dancer at the New York Ballet Company, is givin the opportunity to dance as the lead in the companies newest production of Swan Lake. Throughout the arduous rehearsals for the role with company director Thomas (Vincent Cassel), it becomes clear that Nina is quite capable of playing the fragile and elegant White Swan but lacks the power and passion to capture the intensity of the Black Swan. Enter Lily, a new dancer at the company who seems to be vying to steal the role away from Nina, and with her devil may care attitude she just might manage to do it. Nina, consumed by her roles and hell bent on making her leading debut, begins a slow decent into madness and paranoia as she tries in vein to grapple with the duelling personalities of the two swan queens. Although this sounds like a reasonably standard plot what manages to keep it from becoming simply a standard film is the way in which the subject matter is treated. The subtlety and the intensity that is used to show Nina slip from reality, causing the audience to second guess themselves as to whether or not what they have just seen was real or not. The trick editing, the use of mirrors to disorient the viewer and the way in which Nina’s hallucinations are presented keep the audience there alongside the characters the whole time, never recoiling from a close-up or confronting camera angle to allow some distance from what is happening on screen. Aronofsky has gone against convention here, instead of shooting the ballet sequences as big, bawdy spectacles, he has opted to continue the almost documentary style of filming he perfected while making The Wrestler. This helps to keep the audience emotionally connected to the characters, as Nina is twirling on stage we are right there with her in a close-up and not somewhere in the fourth row watching the show. What truly makes Black Swan True Grit a remarkable film though, is its performances. Natalie Portman is amazing in her portrayal of the fragile Nina. The way in which she seems to be as scared, if not more so, than the audience at her spiral from sanity, her constant needing of approval from the ballet director over he dancing as well as her cautious approach towards Lily, unsure to see her as friend or foe. The breakthrough part of her performance though is the very unnerving relationship she has with her overbearing mother (played by Barbara Hershey). The scenes between these two characters have a sense that Nina has been emotional stunted by her mother and has never really developed past the age of about twelve, letting her mother control every aspect of her life from her dancing even to clipping her toenails. It’s here that Portman truly shines as she manages to slowly grasp the ideas of the Black Swan, she too manages to grasp the idea that she should control her own life. Portman is not the only standout in the cast, Mila Kunis turns in a brilliant performance as the vindictive Lily. She manages to switch up emotions so easily in this role jumping from friendly and supportive dance partner to sinister and conniving that you start to think she too might all be part of Nina’s paranoia. Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder (as the former lead dancer in the company) both turn in sterling performances that help to not just elevate the performances of the lead actors but the film itself. With Black Swan, Aronofsky has created another brilliant film that deals with big ideas, on a small scale. By taking a simple story and injecting it with so much passion and suspense, he has secured himself as one of the best American filmmakers working today and Natalie Portman’s brilliant performance will finally earn her the Oscar she so greatly deserves. High Distinction By Chris Swan News Hit Since their debut film Blood Simple was released in 1984 the Coen brothers have made a film every two to three years on average and have always been masters of subverting genre and telling great story’s. And while Joel and Ethan’s adaptation of the 1968 novel by Charles Portis might seem on the surface to be a fairly straightforward genre exercise and maybe Steven Spielberg’s executive producer credit may have you wondering what your actually in for as well as speculating over the ending after the credits roll. On closer look True Grit is subversive in something that has always been a staple for the Coen’s, Their vision of America and the characters that inhabit it. allowing the audience to build up our own vision of what this character might be like based on hearsay from other characters in the film, which leads to an effective reveal of his character. Even with a star studded cast the film’s real standout is young urban achiever, Hailee Steinfeld, who was 13-years old at the time of shooting. Even if most of True Grit’s attention seems focussed on Bridges, Steinfeld truly is the star of the show and it is quite clear, not long after the opening of the film, that she is the one with the ‘true grit‘. With her fearless resilience in the harsh world and her seamless delivery of some amazing dialogue, Stienfeld provides a rock for the Coen‘s Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out with one thing on her mind- capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man whom apparently has ‘true grit,’ Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose heavy drinking and degenerate character do not strengthen her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined along the way by pompous Texas Ranger Labour (Matt Damon), who’s after Chaney for his own purposes. The three form the most unlikely of posses and setting out into ‘Indian country’ where the land is as unforgiving as the winter is bleak. Bridges aka El Doodarino, slides seamlessly into character as Cogburn, who slurs and growls through the great dialogue and for all intents and purposes looks like a drunk bum on a horse whilst all the while giving an outstanding performance. Rooster could almost be a distant relative of Bridges character Bad Blake from Crazy Heart for which he won an Oscar only last year. Love him or hate him, Matt Damon is hilarious as the smarmy LaBoeuf (pronounced LaBeef ), offering a dry wit in altered speech patterns that continually play with convention, and Barry Pepper is a stand-out gem and very surprising, adding to what amounts to be a wealth of supporting riches, as gang leader Lucky Ned Pepper. Josh Brolin’s Tom Chaney is mentioned many times throughout the film but doesn’t appear until near the end, thematic exploration. Sure, the film ain’t perfect, it doesn’t really push the boundaries of the western genre and some will rightly argue the film seems to hasten to its conclusion very suddenly, leaving much unanswered about its characters and its intentions. Some will take great pleasure in such mechanics of storytelling, feasting on what is left unspoken or unseen. The scripts use of language is intelligent, layered, hillariou and at times incomprehensible. This is a film that will surely reward repeat viewings. The brothers Coen have made it clear that this is not a remake of the John Wayne Oscar winning version (That I sadly haven’t seen as yet). In a recent interview, they said they had seen the original film in theatres when they were kids but haven’t revisited it since then, and now only have a vague recollection of it. Both films were adaptations of the novel, however, True Grit is also a continuation of the Coen’s preoccupations with greed, mortality, religion, redemption, mythology, crime and punishment and humour all in a world inhabited by strange characters who look and talk funny. No character is quite what they seem and defiantly not what we expect, and play their part in turning a basic plot about retribution into something more timeless. True Grit is essential viewing, an a significant instalment in the Coen brothers’ exploration of what it means to be an American. HIGH DISTINCTION ByTom Campbell News Hit BOOKS/GAMES 21 Book Review: The Fry Chronicles Stephen Fry is surely the personification of absolute perfection. A curious remark to make you might say, given that a completely antithetical assessment forms the focus of his latest autobiographical installment. Granted, no one is really perfect. But there is something quite remarkable and highly admirable about Fry’s self-portrait. Most intriguingly and surprisingly, the autobiography is constructed heavily on his perceived character weaknesses – enduring celebrity, chronic insecurity, a quiet sensation of personal failure – and the list goes on. Those who are familiar with Fry’s extraordinary talents as a writer, actor, broadcaster and comedian (this list, too, goes on) will be interested to know that he is isn’t really preoccupied with discussing them. Instead, these incarnations form the basis of a narrative framework for frank, revealing and Hamlet-esque discussions about the darker recesses of his character. The result – I can confidently say – is that this work is the most genuine, poetic and absolutely perfect piece of literary self-analysis I have ever read. The Fry Chronicles picks off where his previous memoir Moab Is My Washpot ends. It charters his deviously eventful exit from high school, through to his inspired, re-oriented entrance into Cambridge University as reader in English Literature, and finally chronicles his immediate post-uni endeavours in comedy and writing. A further memoir, we are told, will deal with the heavier stuff to come in his thirties and thereafter. Given that the story ends with Fry somewhat innocently taking his first line of cocaine signals an interesting trend in his self-portrait; the marrying of instances of success and happiness with chronic feelings of inner dissatisfaction and difficulty. There’s no doubt that Fry has lived a remarkable life. This book is an incredibly enthralling story that even a writer of lesser talent could reasonably pull off with some measure of entertainment. The basic elements of a comedic epic are all there; love, comedy, drama, sex, celibacy, tobacco, prison, money, champagne, Aston Martins, Apple computers, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Rowan Atkinson... But what really makes The Fry Chronicles so captivating is the intensity and Fryian wit. Fry’s anecdotes about college life and celebrities of all varieties are heightened in value by his rhythmic, charming prose and deepening process of self-examination. Like a true poet, Fry permeates his experiences with personal reflections and considerations about the world. Wilde would be proud of him no doubt. It’s as if the entire book is actually an enlightening, intellectual conversation, which just happens to be funny and autobiographical at the same time. But, you might say, if Fry finds it so necessary to persistently profess his flaws and vulnerabilities, reminding us of his inferiority to other dramatic and comedic greats, then why is it so easy to admire him? The Fry Chronicles is – or at least seems to be – genuinely honest. The concentration of self-criticism over self-promotion makes one get the sense that Fry isn’t opening himself up for the reader, but is self-examining. The business of autobiography, he tells us, has to do with self-revelation and discovery. What a fresh take on a politically adulterated genre of literature this is! Autobiographies these days are all about legacy – fundamental principles that the author (usually a politician) wants to champion or claim for his own, some admirable, some a bit tiring. Nelson Mandela and freedom from oppression, Tony Blair and the politics of modernization, John Howard and…um… Costello? But with Stephen Fry, autobiography dabbles in the wondrous, abstract intricacies of the human condition. Without explicitly mentioning it, Fry strongly advocates that stunning intelligence is unbreakably connected to the pursuit of truth. It is really Fry’s excellence as a humble and interested human being that makes this memoir so remarkable, rather than his natural comedic exuberance or his eloquent turn of phrase. Fry’s simple honesty and insatiable curiosity – qualities that people never fail to undervalue – are the lifeblood of the book. We would all do well to take a similarly introspective look at ourselves and discover our own compelling features of human frailty. Then, and only then, might we be able to come up with an assessment that’s maybe half as definitive and entertaining as this. Fry’s ability to define and embrace his own flaws is one of the most perfect things that any human can do. The reader’s wonderful privilege is that this acceptance is conveyed with a marvelous humour and literary spark. Great people don’t need to remind others of their greatness. So it seems with Mr Fry. Self-criticism is the new arrogance. Period. Why can’t politicians get that? By Duncan Wallace Video Game Review: Donkey Kong Country Returns Donkey Kong Country is back. This revitalised two-dimensional side scrolling game sets the standard for the genre, just like the original Donkey Kong Country game did back in 1994. The developers, Retro Studios, should be commended for their work on the series. It has successfully re-interpreted a classic, keeping nostalgia in check while still making a very fun game. If you think of this title as a strict remake, you will be bitterly disappointed - consider it a re-invention that takes the franchise forward, but still maintains the soul of the original series. The crux of the Donkey Kong Country series was its level design, and that has carried over to Returns. The stages are clever and inventive, and an effort has been made to make each and every level different. Some highlights are the mine cart and rocket levels, which are well separated in the game and greatly contribute to the pacing of the entire production. The levels exude a great sense of nostalgia, with the areas of the game being based on areas from the original. This is enhanced with excellent sound design, with remixes of some of the original Donkey Kong Country’s music. But be warned: Retro have made this game more difficult, although they have also accommodated for this by giving Donkey Kong a lifebar. Two hits and you’re dead, instead of the usual one-hit death in the original game. Finding Diddy Kong expands your health by two as well. A co-op mode has also been added to further spice up the game; I had a good time with it but keep in mind that double the players drains double the amount of lives you have. If you die too many times, you get the option to have the computer play through the level for you, so younger, lazy or pathetic players can progress without too much difficulty. The graphics are good for a Wii game. Compared to a third-party title this game shines, but when contrasted with other titles such as Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Returns looks a little shabby. The designers have gone for a cartoony feel, contrasting the realistic look of the original series but it works nonetheless and distinguishes this game as a re-interpretation, rather than a remake. Like other Wii games, Donkey Kong Country Returns seems to be stuck on the idea that you need to have some sort of motion aspect to the game, but that aspect doesn’t work in this game. You need to shake the remote to roll, blow and slam in this game and it can become a tedious exercise, particularly because all three of those moves need to be used frequently. I’d prefer to play Donkey Kong without having an arm spasm afterwards. The rest of the controls work well and are simple, but it would have been great to have an option to play on the classic controller or Gamecube controller. The current format doesn’t hinder the game, but it could be improved. I have two other small complaints. I would have loved to have played as Diddy Kong in the single player mode. He has “NINTENDO” on his cap, so he is practically a mascot, and yet he is not playable in single player. Oddly enough, I believe he is more popular than Donkey Kong and he should not have been reduced to a power-up for Donkey Kong. Again, this doesn’t hinder the game, but I feel that it would have been an improvement if Diddy was playable. It also would have been nice to have a limit on the enemy designs. Ultimately, enemies add further character to a game and some designs are great. I loved the Pirate Crabs, and not just for the connotations that that may infer. But there are other enemies that are just forgettable. In Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3, Rare (the developers of the Donkey Kong Country series) had all of the enemies listed in the Instruction Booklet and went for quality not quantity. It was about designing the levels for the enemies, not the enemies for the levels. It gave the older games character, and is part of the reason why series like Mario are successful. How often do the enemies change in Mario? That said, I cannot remember a game in between the prior Donkey Kong Country games that I have loved as much as this one. Retro Studios are fast becoming my favourite developers. As a reviewer, I always try to find points of improvement for a title, but my issues with this title are so minor and easily fixed in a potential sequel that you would be doing yourself a disservice in not playing this game. One thing is certain: Donkey Kong is back, and I certainly hope it’s here to stay! By Harry Polites News Hit 22 VISUAL ART Photo by Richard Plumridge Don’t be shy about submitting visual artwork to Lot’s Wife. More is always welcome. Get your art out there! SCIENCE 23 Stop crying Nina! Like a toy in the hands of squabbling Spanish children, Australia’s climate passes between periods of wet, cool weather, and warm, dry weather. At the moment, La Nina has us in her grips and she’s dumping water all over the place. up the Southern Oscillation, a see-saw of surface air pressures which are high on one side of the tropical Pacific and low on the other. Every 2-7 years the effect will reverse, keeping the Eastern and Western Pacific in an irregular cycle of wet and dry weather periods. What are La Nina and El Nino? The Southern Oscillation occurs as a result of interactions between the surface of the ocean and the atmosphere above it. It takes place in the Pacific Ocean as it is such a large body of water that it takes a long time for winds and currents to pass across it. Changes to the surface temperature affect the atmospheric winds (higher temperature, less wind), which in turn impacts on the surface temperature of the ocean. These weather fluctuations have been occurring for centuries at irregular intervals and with varying severity. La Nina events will often follow El Nino, but this is not always the case. La Nina (Spanish for ‘Little girl’) is an ocean-atmosphere phenomenon in which cooling of the sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean leads to wetter weather across tropical Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. This weather pattern typically lasts 9-12 months and has global effects. El Nino is a warming of the ocean surface temperature which usually occurs around Christmas time (South American fisherman named it El Nino for the ‘Christ Child’ or ‘Little Boy’ in Spanish). It usually lasts 1-2 years and causes drier weather conditions in Australia. The Southern Oscillation Together, La Nina and El Nino make Drought and Flood in Australia The severe drought experienced in Australia over the last decade has broken...with a flood. 2010 was the third wettest year in Australia’s records, reversing the dry conditions across Queensland, New South Wales, and parts of Victoria and South Australia. At the beginning of 2010, 70% of New South Wales was in drought; now, the whole state is officially droughtfree. The Murray-Darling Basin has had below average rainfall since 2001, but 2010 brought the wettest year on record, boosting the water storage levels in dams across Victoria. models, which are used to project long term changes to climate and the effect of increasing greenhouse gases, are unable to reliably predict the interaction between global warming and El Nino. A warmer atmosphere may increase the strength and frequency of El Nino, or it may actually weaken it. Or, as some models predict, it may not affect it at all. Despite the recent rainfall, southwest Western Australia has experienced its driest year on record, and some parts of the state remain in drought. Whether or not global warming influences the Southern Oscillation is uncertain, but it is known that El Nino and La Nina weather events have been occurring for hundreds of years and will continue to occur. Severe events have a devastating effect on infrastructure, the economy and people’s lives, so better understanding of the factors involved is important for planning and management of these events. Is global warming responsible for the severe changes in climate? It’s not known exactly how the greenhouse effect contributes to these natural weather patterns. Severe droughts and floods have occurred throughout history, but there is suggestion that the warmer climate produced by the greenhouse effect causes stronger weather patterns in both La Nina and El Nino episodes. The frequency and intensity of the Southern Oscillation has increased since the 1970’s, but what is driving this is unknown. Computer climate By Aimee Parker Science Editor Q&A Why do mosquitoes bite some people more than others? What’s the best way to prevent being bitten? Mosquitoes are attracted to your skin by movement, heat and carbon dioxide, the chemical compound emitted when you exhale. Yet some people seem to be mosquito magnets, getting bitten far more than the people around them. This is due to the combination of 300400 chemical odours which are emitted from the human body, some which act as mosquito attractants, and others as repellents. Studies have shown that blood type may play a role, with Type O presenting the tastiest meal, while chemicals produced by those who are stressed may actually repel mosquitoes. Pregnancy and alcohol seem to increase mosquito appeal as pregnant women exhale more carbon dioxide, and alcohol increases body temperature as well as changing the chemicals on the skin to something more appealing to mosquitoes. High concentrations of cholesterol or steroids on the skin, influenced by the metabolism of the individual, are also attractive, as is lactic acid which is produced when we exercise. With the recent proliferation of these irritating insects, the best way to repel them has been a topic of great interest. Repellants which contain DEET are thought to be the most effective. DEET is a chemical which masks the chemical odours on your skin so that mosquitoes are not attracted to you. Other suggestions include burning citronella oil or candles, applying Vicks Vaporub, or consuming large amounts of garlic or Vitamin B. The efficacies of these measures are unconfirmed, but see what works for you. Failing that, find someone who is more susceptible to mosquito bites than you are, and use them as a decoy. Why do mosquito bites itch? When a mosquito inserts its proboscis (feeding tube) into your skin it injects a small amount of saliva. The saliva contains an anticoagulant to keep your blood flowing until the mosquito has finished its meal. It also causes a small immune reaction within our body, resulting in redness, swelling and itching. This response is useful as it lets us know that we’ve been bitten so we can avoid further bites. However, some people have little or no reaction to the saliva, while others have quite a strong response. Children are usually more reactive to mosquito bites, while adults seem to develop some tolerance over time, decreasing the response. Can mosquitoes transfer diseases such as HIV? Mosquitoes act as carriers of certain disease, transferring them between humans. Mosquitoes may carry Ross River, Dengue or Barmah Forest viruses in Australia, and Malaria or Yellow Fever in other parts of the world. Mosquitoes are able to transfer these diseases as the virus or parasite spends part of its life cycle within the mosquito. There hasn’t been any evidence to suggest that mosquitoes can transfer HIV, even in areas with large numbers of mosquito and many cases of HIV. There are several reasons why HIV is not transferred. Firstly, a mosquito would have to bite an infected person at a stage of the disease in which HIV particles are present, and would have to ingest some of these particles. These particles would then have to survive in the mosquito, which is not part of the life cycle, and end up in the saliva. To then infect another person, a HIV particle would have to be present in the small amount of saliva transferred when the mosquito feeds. This very unlikely scenario has not occurred up until this point, and should not be cause for concern. Is there anything good about mosquitoes? Mosquitoes are actually an important part of the ecosystem, and eradicating them entirely would disrupt that system. Mosquito larvae are the main source of food for the young of some fish species, and mosquitoes make up a large part of the diet of some bats and frogs. Also, the male mosquitos do not suck blood, but instead drink plant nectar. When they do this they collect a bit of pollen and transfer it to the next plant, as bees and other insects do. This is very important for pollinating crops which provide a food source to larger organisms. By Aimee Parker Science Editor How to....make your own Lava Lamp! What you need: •A clean 1 litre juice or soft drink bottle •3/4 cup water •Vegetable oil •Fizzing tablets (such as Alka Seltzer) •Food colouring What to do: -Pour the water into the bottle -Pour in the vegetable oil until the bottle is almost full. Wait a few minutes until the water and oil separate -Add a few drops of food colouring and allow it to sink down into the water -Break a fizzing tablet in half and drop it into the bottle. Watch the mesmerising bubbles begin! -To recharge you lava lamp, add another fizzing tablet. To improve the effect, shine a torch up through the bottom of the bottle. The Science: The oil and water do not mix because the chemical composition of each is different. The oil and water molecules are attracted to themselves but not to each other, so the oil forms droplets within the water. The oil floats on top of the water as it is less dense, or relatively lighter, than the water. The fizzing tablet is able to dissolve in water, so when it sinks to the bottom and begins to dissolve, bubbles of gas are released. As the gas rises toward the surface, it takes blobs of coloured water with it. When the gas reaches the surface it escapes and the blob of water sinks back down. To enhance the funkiness of your lava lamp, try a little scientific experimentation: 1. Does the temperature of the water affect the reaction? 2. Does the size of the bottle affect how many blobs are produced? 3. Does the effect still work if the cap is put on the bottle? 4. Does the size of the tablet pieces affect the number of blobs created? From ScienceBob experiments, www. sciencebob.com Lame science joke of the edition Q: What did the male magnet say to the female magnet? A: From your backside, I thought you were repulsive. However, after seeing you from the front, I find you rather attractive. 24 ESSAYS A LOOK AT THE BUDDHIST NO-SELF DOCTRINE The purpose of this essay is to examine the Buddhist no-self doctrine and the difficulties that arise when it is combined with the rebirth doctrine. I will begin by describing the noself doctrine and how it fits into the Buddhist philosophical framework. I will then look at a difficulty that arises when the Buddhist no-self doctrine is combined with the Buddhist rebirth doctrine: When there is no self, then who or what is it that is reborn? I will propose an answer to this question which I believe is consistent with the teachings of the Buddha. Buddhist philosophy holds that we experience suffering (dukkha) because we are caught in the continual cycle of death and rebirth (samsara). The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to achieve liberation from this continuous cyclic existence; the final attainment of this goal is known as nirvana. Sidertis (2007, p. 32) explains that the Buddha holds that the reason we experience the suffering of samsara is because we are ignorant of the three characteristics: impermanence, suffering and nonself. In defining the Buddhist no-self doctrine, it is important, firstly, to define what is meant by the term ‘self ’. The definition offered by Sidertis (2007, p. 32) states that, ‘By ‘the self ’ what Buddhists mean is the essence of a person’. The concept of ‘the self ’, for the purpose of this essay, refers to what is known as atta – the eternal soul: the permanent essence within everybody that survives death and is reborn in various different forms from one life to the next. The Buddha’s no-self doctrine rejected the notion of a permanent essence or ‘soul’ that persists through countless lifetimes; this notion is known as anatta – literally meaning ‘no soul’. The Buddha’s rejection of atta is based on the notion of impermanence: the idea that nothing remains the same for more than an instant, that everything is transitory, that all phenomena is in the process of constant change. According to Hick, ‘To be born is already to have begun to die. Everything that comes to be passes away. Even the most apparently solid and enduring realities are secretly in process of dissolution... as a philosopher the Buddha saw this universal transiency as arising from the fact that everything, all distinguishable entities and processes (sankharas), are composite’ (Hick 1976, p. 332). This ever-changing, impermanent nature of reality is, as I mentioned earlier, one of the key concepts in Buddhism and the doctrine of noself arises from it. The esteemed Buddhist monk, Buddhagosa in the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification) wrote, ‘For there is suffering, but none who suffers; Doing Exists although there is no doer; Extinction is but no extinguished person; Although there is a path, there is no goer’ (Buddhagosa, p.587). This may seem to imply that Buddhists do not recognise ‘the self ’ at all; however, there is a Buddhist need for describing ‘the self ’ in order to function in society, even in monastic life. This ‘self ’ is a fictional self, a self as a concept that can be used for its convenience, ‘the empirical self – the conscious personality that plans for the future, and remembers past and present experiences (including, may it be, experiences in former lives) as moments through which he has lived – is treated by Buddhist thought as being real. Acknowledging all this, Buddhist writers explain that although in ordinary life we have to speak of the self, the concept is only a convenient fiction’, according to Hick (1976, p. 335). There is also a framework within Buddhism for describing and analysing human nature. This framework breaks what a person is down into five aggregates; these are known as the skandhas: the physical body (rupa); feelings or sensations (vedana); cognition, recognition, and interpretation (sanna); action states, which mould character, including will or volition (sankhara); the stream of consciousness (vinnana). It should be noted that Buddhists use the skandhas to refer to human nature only as a tool to help analyse and describe what it is that makes up a person: Since the Buddhist view holds that there is no self, none of these elements, alone or in conjunction, make up a person or ‘the self ’. The Buddhist view holds that you are constantly being reborn, that because everything is in constant change there’s nothing permanent that you can identify and use to identify what it is that makes up the self. Buddhists use the term ‘empty or’ ‘emptiness’ to explain that everything lacks an unchanging substance, everything lacks an inherent existence; so there is nothing that exists independently. The notion of emptiness is therefore dependent on the doctrine of dependent origination. The doctrine of dependent origination is the idea that everything happens as a result of prior causes and conditions; that nothing originates independently, that all events or happenings – whether internally (in the mind) or externally (in the world) are causally conditioned by other events or happenings. Thus nothing comes to be without being caused or conditioned by something else; nothing exists autonomously or independently. The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (2003, p. 29) explains ‘a key principle [in Buddhism] is dependent origination. This fundamental principle of Buddhism states that everything arises and ceases in dependence upon causes and conditions. The fourthcentury Indian Buddhist thinker Asanga identified three key conditions governing this principle of dependent origination. First is ‘the absence of designer condition’, which pertains to the issue of whether or not there is a transcendent intelligence behind the origin of the universe. Second is ‘the condition of impermanence’ which relates to the notion that the very causes and conditions that give rise to the world of dependent origination are themselves impermanent and subject to change. Third is ‘the condition of potentiality’. This very important principle in Buddhist thought refers to the fact that something cannot be produced from just anything. Rather, for a particular set of causes and conditions to give rise to a particular set of effects or consequences, there must be some kind of natural relationship between them’. So the theory of dependent origination, not only supports, but is crucial to the no-self doctrine. Many authors have pointed out the inconsistencies and difficulties that arise in Buddhist philosophy when the doctrine of no-self is combined with the doctrine of rebirth: the question asked is: if there is no independent, persisting self then who or what is reborn? (Hick: 1976; Reichenbach: 1990; Gowans: 2003). Reichenback (1990, p. 126) is particularly sceptical, stating ‘this view of the self (with or without the doctrine of momentariness, which simply exacerbates the problem) has serious implications for such basic Buddhist doctrines as the law of Karma, rebirth and liberation. For example, if there is no self, then espousal of rebirth seems nonsense, for it makes no sense to say that the same person would be reborn. That is, there can be no difference between birth and rebirth; we merely choose to call a newborn the reborn. Rebirth, like the doctrine of the self, is a fiction’. Hick (1976, p. 335) notes that ‘the Buddhist conception of rebirth entails the possibility, and in some cases the actuality, of memory of former lives. [Also that] the Buddha himself, at the time of his enlightenment, recalled thousands of his previous lives and there are numerous cases in modern times, made use of in Buddhist apologetics, of ordinary people who have apparently remembered fragments of an immediately preceding life’. This begs the question, that if there is no self, then who or what is it that is reborn? To begin to answer this question it is necessary to define what rebirth is in the Buddhist sense. The Buddhist doctrine of rebirth differs from that of the notion of reincarnation as expressed in Hinduism. The Hindu notion of rebirth is linked to the concept of an eternal soul that persists through death, thus in Hinduism the soul of a person moves from one life to the next: it is a fixed entity. Hick (1976, p.348) states that ‘the reports of individuals who are said to remember fragments of a past life, often discussed in support of the Buddhist doctrine of rebirth, have helped to fix the meaning of the word as signifying rebirth within the evolution of life on this earth. But the idea that rebecoming [or rebirth] must take the form of rebirth from the womb is not a Buddhist belief. The traditional Buddhist view is rather that it may take this form or other forms in the numerous purgatorial and heavenly ‘worlds’. For the Buddha himself taught that only a small minority of rebecomings are as human beings’. Furthermore, the Buddhist notion of rebirth, as opposed to the notion of reincarnation, is inherently based in the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence. Therefore rebirth is a process in which there is no eternal essence or ‘soul’ that is passed on, rather, what is passed on is the system of character dispositions, the karmic deposit of former lives, animated and propelled onwards by the power of craving. A simile that can be used to help understand this concept is taken from the Milindapanha by Hick. Hick (1976, p.351) describes the story in the Milindapanha in which a King is in discourse with a Revered Buddhist named Nagasena who explains that if some men were to light a lamp from a different lamp, that the flame would pass over but there would still remain two separate lamps. The second lamp receives the qualities of the first lamp, but remains distinct. Hick (1976, p. 343) explains that ‘at death the nama-rupa (embodied existence) disintegrates. Its elements come apart and the psycho-physical individual ceases to exist. He does not survive death, and he is not reborn to live again. That particular conjunction of elements which had held together for, say, seventy years is no more. But nevertheless an aspect of him does continue – not indeed eternally, but until it has finally expended itself, or become blown out (nibbanna) at the end of many lives. That which thus continues through aeons of time, playing a central role in the formation of individual after individual, consists of a system of character dispositions, the karmic deposit of former lives, animated and propelled onwards by the power of craving.’ In other words, in Buddhist thought, there is a part of the individual that does persist through death. Hick (1976, p. 345), in an attempt to explain this contradictory occurrence, states that that which carries over or ‘rebecomes’ is called vinnana, but not the vinnana that is consciousness and one of the five skandhas but ‘something more like the unconscious dispositional state which constitutes the karmic deposit of the past’. This still leaves us with the question, if there is no-self, what is it that is reborn? Hick (1976, p. 346) says that ‘the first thought of the new life stream, which is the immediate successor to the last thought of the dying individual, is thus sometimes called the ‘relinking consciousness’. This first ‘thought’ is however not necessarily a conscious thought, and indeed in the case of an embryo clearly it cannot be. It is rather a complex dispositional impulse, carrying a set of basic character traits and a store of unconscious memories, all powered by the craving for existence. It might thus be better to speak, not of a first thought, but of the first moment in the mental life of the new individual. That this first moment must be the immediate successor to the last moment of the mental life of the expiring person, without hiatus, follows from the anatta doctrine, with its denial of any empirical self other than the continuous stream of (conscious) and (unconscious) mental life’. I find this description of the process of rebirth to be a plausible answer to the question, if there is no self then who or what is it that is reborn? The main reason I find this to be a plausible answer is because it describes the Buddhist notion of the rebirth process in a way that is compatible with the Buddha’s no-self doctrine. By Timothy Lawson References: Gowans, C 2003, Philosophy of the Buddha, Routledge, London. Gyatso, T 2003, Lighting the Path, Thorsons, Harper Collins Publishers, London. Hick, J 1976, Death and Eternal Life, Collins, Glascow. Reichenbach, B 1990, The Law of Karma: A Philosophical study, Unversity of Hawaii, Honolulu. Sidertis, M 2007, Buddhism as Philosophy: An introduction, Ashgate, Aldershot. ESSAYS 25 Originally published in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, 1917 Anarchy! Upon reading the word, certain ideas were probably drawn up in your mind. You thought of violent riots, unruly youths with liberty spikes smashing windows with bricks and lifting the TVs behind them. Maybe burning cars rained from the skies. Now, that’s all very well and good, but the word has lost, in the popular lexicon, its original meaning. You shouldn’t suppose Anarchy means unruliness, disorder, general tumult, and doomy gloom. No, it gets better! The word “anarchy” carries a certain historical weight; we can draw the roots of the word back to the Ancient Greek language. It is made up of the Greek prefix ‘an-’, which is to say ‘not’, ‘a lack of ’, and the word ‘archos’, meaning ruler, someone who governs, or an authority. The meaning of the word, then, is ‘a lack of ruler, ruling body, a lack of (an) authority.’ Anarchy then, is the political theory and practice in pursuit of the state in which we find ourselves without government, or authority presiding over us, where we all stand not above or below the other. To achieve anarchy is to achieve the abolition of hierarchies. Now there are many flavours of Anarchy, as it is not a dogma, but all correct interpretations of Anarchy will share these latter things in common. How did the word acquire the pejorative sense that most associate with it today, however? Well, it is a commonly accepted notion within all major modern societies that to be without government is undesirable, that government is necessary to the healthy functioning of a society (more correctly, (a) STATE, that body into which we are (in)voluntarily segregated), and so to be without government, is to be in a state of ‘chaos’, of disorder, upheaval - it’s unthinkable. Hang on, there! Government isn’t a bad thing, you might say. Aren’t we all generally more or less free these days? Don’t they know what’s best for us? Didn’t we get rid of all the Enemies of Freedom in all those Great Wars we waged? I thought we had made it mandatory to be free back in 19XX? A good question. Why is government an obstacle to liberty? Ask, why is authority an obstacle to liberty? Well, not all authority is bad. The ‘authority’ you and a person with whom you were in conversation with and exercising over one another an authority influencing each other’s views is beneficial to you both. In conversation or argument you refine each other’s ideas. Likewise with books, and other sources of information. It is hierarchical authority that concerns the Anarchist most, which underpins all (major) modern societies, whether that of the Capitalist society, or that of the ‘Communist’ society (which remains a STATE). The amalgamation and concentration of power in a few individuals or groups or organisations, who preside over the rest of us. The supreme manifestation of the hierarchical authority that exists is the STATE. The STATE is, in short, the collection of all the bodies which govern; judiciary, legislative, military, economic, and political bodies, as summarised by Malatesta in ‘Anarchy’, that take it upon themselves (oh, very graciously, don’t doubt it! It’s terribly, dreadfully kind of them, really) to micro-manage the functioning of society, to ensure their mandates are strictly observed (generally with the use of force where dissent occurs), that govern even the most prosaic aspects of daily life one would perhaps have been inclined to think should be private to each of us, and that, most importantly, direct and dispense with the power of labour (physical or intellectual) of the people as they see fit, always preserving the interest of the state above all others. The state remains apart from the society which it governs and develops its interests independently, apart from, and over the people which it governs. It becomes something alien, something separated from the people that elected it (in some cases) to represent their interests. It is made up of the governing class, then, and we are the governed class. Anarchism aims towards the creation of a free society, in which power is not concentrated at the top in a few entities which exert and enforce it over others. A free society is hard to define exactly. A free society is NOT, however, (all of which enjoy a hierarchical power dynamic) a ‘representative democracy’, ‘very nearly almost democracy’, ‘free society which has a very sparse selection of freedoms, but, well, you’re free to choose between them’, and so on, in which power is quite clearly balanced violently to one side. A free society involves direct organisation of it, by individuals who have freely decided to associate for their common benefit, and who do not seek to exploit other persons involved, who seek to establish a society wherein the interest of each individual is equally preserved. More pressingly, a free society must be inhabited by free individuals, who think freely, and act freely. But surely you’re dreaming, you say! Where do such societies exist? Well, we must create one. How? There are many considerations to make at this point. Could you in good conscience utilise violence as a means of liberation from hierarchies and states, for instance? Granted, there is a difference in violence employed as a means of defence, the violence of the repressed, and the violence of the oppressors, but (and I paraphrase very loosely) “a liberty won with the blood of others is not a liberty at all...” Bakunin believed that violence should be aimed at the destruction of the institutions that support hierarchy, and not at people. Kropotkin believed we were justified in the use of violence as a (defensive?) liberating tool. No good anarchist would claim to know the answer to such a question though, for there are many. I do not claim that anarchy is the ‘ultimate solution’, or that it has all the answers, and it doesn’t; it isn’t something fixed, or a dogma, or an ideology. Anarchism is something that reflects the most base human instincts; towards freedom, towards common kindness, towards the encouragement of free thought, and towards the free expression of the individual, love for your fellow humans, for your environment, and the life that grows in, and from it (which includes us), and so, consequently, abolition of hierarchical institutions (including states), and all political theories or conceptions that would support and nourish them, which repress and enchain us. Smash a fascist today! By Gavrilo Grabovac 26 EXTRAS Samurai Sudoko Next month in Lot’s Wife: The history of Lot’s Wife Drugs and society, volume 1 The Afghan War diaries Harry’s meditation on abortion This image appeared on the back cover of Lot’s Wife May 6, 1970. The newspaper served as an important force in amassing students to protest the Vietnam War
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