The Isocracy Network

"We've always had wars. Humans are a warring species. Without an army to defend us, someone will always try to conquer us."

These assumptions have become axioms of our culture. They generate despair but also a certain comfort because they relieve us of the responsibility to change.

Some politicians and pundits declare that human nature makes peace impossible, that war is built into our genes. They point to research by evolutionary biologists that indicates our closest genetic relatives, the chimpanzees, make war. Therefore war must be part of our heredity.

The reaction of progressive activists to the bombing of Gaza by Israel, such as the events of this week (Operation Pillar of Defense) or more extensively to Operation Cast Lead, is immediate and justifiable. How passionate we were, and rightly so, when Israel engaged in its onslaught against Gaza in Operation Cast Lead just a few years ago. But today in Syria the regime has killed more than ten times as many civilians and the only protests we see are those carried out by a handful of Syrian expatriates. Robert Fisk wryly remarks "we demand justice and the right to life for Arabs if they are butchered by the West and its Israeli allies; but not when they are being butchered by their fellow Arabs". [1] Fisk is equally wise in suggesting that for those who engage in an amoral calculus, that this is a proxy war on Iran.

It is nevertheless perplexing to witness the lack of concern; Jonathan Freedland wonders about this strange pariochial internationalism [2], however in the comments that follow that something can be discerned. There are fears that the Syrian opposition is largely controlled by foreign Islamist forces, and that they are no friends of the liberal and democratic Arab Spring of the successful revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya. On a related matters, there are those who argue that the the Syrian opposition has been as guilty, at least, at human rights abuses in the civil war. Others are concerned with the potential of international intervention and liberal imperialism, especially after the events of Libya. These are reasonable claims for concern. On a politically amoral level, there are those progressives who do not speak out because of the geopolitical implications, or even because they have sympathy with the Baathist regime and its ideology. Unsurprisingly, because these positions are the most distant from the internationalist libertarian socialist perspective of isocracy they can be dealt with first.

Rising Up and Rising Down, William T. Vollmann’s enormous catalog of human violence and the thin, nearly-plausible excuses we make for it, is indispensable reading for the radical activist. In its initial printing, it fills seven encyclopedic volumes, requiring an almost superhuman effort to read. Written over more than two decades of journalism and spentt in the teeth of the worst political upheaval, Rising was often researched at very real risk to Vollmann’s life and seems to have drained all but the most bitter humor or levity from his prose. The “readable” trade paperback is a work that Vollmann himself says was done “for the money,” and “in hope that it might actually be read.” Indeed, after a reading of Rising Up and Rising Down in even this abridged format, the thought of wading in up to your neck with a seven volume collection seems almost suicidal.

Rising Up and Rising Down is not subtle with its metaphors. The front cover depicts a dove - a symbol of peace - tumbling down upon a darkened floor, wings haplessly outstretched, its neck forlornly broken, or perhaps breaking. The back cover, beneath the text, depicts a blurry hammer smashing something unseen. The first pages are in narrative form, ‘Three Meditations on Death,’ and give the reader precisely the proper mindset for absorbing the rest of the book. Vollmann wearily catalogues his stream-of-consciousness ruminations about mortality in three places - the Paris Catacombs, amidst bare skulls and yellowed bones dating back to the Roman era; a forensic morgue in the midst of the investigations that will (or will not) close the book on the questionable deaths of a few of violence’s victims; and the battlefield-streets of Bosnia, that defy the forensic search with their senseless slaughter.

Francesco Fantin was born near Vicenza in Northern Italy in 1901. He left school at 14 and began working in a textile factory to help support his family. Fantin grew up differently, he came from a “reverso” family – “one who is against”. The growth of fascism in Italy posed a significant challenge for Fantin, an avowed anarchist. Faced with increasing repression in Italy, in fear of his life, Francesco immigrated to Australia in 1924. He moved to North Queensland working as a labourer in Queensland and Victoria. His brothers, Alfonso and Luigi, joined him in North Queensland a few years later. Francesco Fantin was actively involved with many other Italian anti-fascists in North Queensland in struggles against the local fascists. Italy joined the war on the 10th June 1940. Three days later on the 13th June 1940 the Australian Aliens Registration Central Bureau received information Fantin was a fascist active around Cairns. Military intelligence soon took an active interest in Fantin. On the 13th February 1942, an order was issued to arrest the enemy alien Fantin (Q18 117) from Edmonton. After his arrest police officers from Cairns searched a room occupied by Fantin at Sawmill Pocket Edmonton and among other incriminating evidence found a colourful handkerchief with a picture of Durriti.

Fantin had been transferred to an internment camp in Loveday, South Australia, despite the anarchist and anti-fascist Francesco Carmagnola making representations told the authorities that Fantin was an anti-fascist, not a fascist. Ironically, Francesco Fantin, Valentino Ciccotti and Francesco Carmagnola opened the anti-fascist club, the Matteotti Club, in Melbourne in 1927. Around 60 anti-fascists were interned with over 350 fascists, at Camp Loveday. Fantin was targeted by the fascists because of his stringent anti-fascist views. He was beaten on a number of occasions. He was murdered on the 16th November 1942. Francesco was struck from behind with a piece of wood while drinking at a tap. When he fell to the ground he was beaten and kicked to death. Giovanni Casotti, a fascist from Western Australia, was sentenced to two years imprisonment for manslaughter. It has been proven beyond doubt the authorities, realising they were responsible for Fantin’s death, organised a cover up. To add insult to injury, Fantin was buried outside the internment camp’s cemetery. His bones were removed from his grave and destroyed a few years after his burial.

On September 5, after nine months of protests by students and their supporters, Le Conseil exécutif du Québec ("the Québec cabinet"), declared a freeze on tuition fee increases. This decision did not come from the benevolence of the new cabinet, led by Pauline Marois of Parti Québécois. Nor did it just come from the simple fact of a large number of people engaged in protest over time. In a period where victories such as these are less common, it is necessary to understand what happened in Québec that was different, so that lessons can be learned and perhaps replicated.

The campaign began with the proposal by the cabinet, by Jean Charest of the Parti libéral du Québec, to raise tuition fees by almost 75% between 2012 and 2017, or over 125% from the relaxation of tuition fees from 2007. Students responded quickly, The first National Day of Action scheduled on November 10th, 2011. Social science students at the Université Laval went strike on February 13, followed by some at Université du Québec à Montréal. Over the next two months, the number of striking students rose to at least 180,000, but with over 200,000 attending a protest on March 22. By this stage the protests had the support of the major student organisations, especially Coalition large de l’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (CLASSE), and increasingly members of the community.

It was quite clear by this stage the protest had reached major proportions. Certainly, it also had dramatic moments. Around one hundred student protesters were arrested on March 20, after demonstrators blocked a bridge with concrete blocks. On May 6, protesters were attacked when outsiders (and possibly agents provocateurs) started throwing projectiles into the crowd. In the reaction that followed, and with clashes between the police and protesters, ten were injured, and two seriously, one losing and eye and another a skull fracture.

1. Put Public First! Dr. Joseph Toscano and Dr. Jean Ely for Melbourne, 27th October
2. Big Steps: Wage Justice for Early Childhood Workers, November 17
3. Isocracy Network Annual General Meeting, November 24
4. Reclaim the Spirit of the Eureka, December 3

Everywhere we go, everywhere we turn we are being watched, tracked, surveilled. It's impossible to walk to the shops without being caught on someone's cameras. Everyone carries with them a portable tracking device with GPS and a microphone, we've been enticed into spying on ourselves for a shiny toy and apparent convenience.

There was a time when this wasn't the case, when CCTV cameras were rare and not placed every few feet along a shopping strip. There was a time when a person could walk down the street without some nameless entity being able to press a button and see where they were with accuracy down to a few metres.

This is not George Orwell's 1984, this is far more insidious and it's getting worse every day. The business of surveillance is worth billions in the currency of your choice. The agenda of surveillance of everyone all the time is vigourously promoted by both corporate capitalists and the state.

The corporate world wishes to protect their monetary fiefdoms. One of the largest examples of which being the self-proclaimed intellectual property lobby. They have successfully managed to gain state support for the notion that a civil dispute, such as copyright infringement (e.g. downloading a digital copy of a song or video), is a crime. Thus enabling their subornment of the apparatus of law enforcement for their private financial benefit.

The state, on the other hand, has been in the business of watching the people, both its own and those of other states, for far longer. For the state the purpose is control and the maintaining of power of those running the state. They tell the people they want to control that it is to protect those people from the Bad People; terrorists, organised criminals and pædophiles. It's always the same bogeymen and it plays on the politics of fear. The state tells people that there are lots of Bad People out there, but the state can protect them just as long as the people do what they're told and live their lives the way the state dictates.

If you aren't doing something wrong then you don't have anything to fear.¹

One of the most common, usually pro-state, arguments is that you have nothing to hide then there is nothing to fear from the prying eyes of state based surveillance. This argument is flawed in very fundamental ways, as has been repeatedly proven, both in writing and practice. Daniel Solove, professor of law at George Washington University, demonstrated this in both his book, Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff Between Privacy and Security, and his related article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.²

It doesn't even take corrupt practices by those with the power to pry into the lives of regular people to demonstrate the flaws in the “nothing to hide” argument. Especially when this is extended to corporate surveillance. It is also very easy for those engaging in surveillance to blur the line between what they view as legitimate surveillance and what may not be or definitely is not in any way legitimate.

The revelations last year of the practices of News International staff in the pursuit of private information to sell newspapers is a prime example of the how easy it is for those with the ability to pry into the lives and business of others to go too far in the pursuit of their goals.

To supporters, Israel is the only democratic state in the Middle East, a wealthy, liberal democracy and homeland for the Jewish people. Yet to many, the occupied territories of Palestine are an example of colonialism and apartheid.

Do the actions of Israel constitute apartheid, a claim vigorously denied by Israeli supporters who say such policies are motivated by security rather than race? In a special lecture, academic Dr Virginia Tilley will explore and discuss this divisive topic.

Dr. Tilley is an international specialist in comparative ethnic conflict. An expert in apartheid, she was researcher at the Centre of Policy Studies in Johannesburg and a senior member of South African Human Sciences Research Council, studying the transition from apartheid to democracy.

She has also written a number of articles on Israel's occupation policies and is the author of "The One State Solution" (University of Michigan Press 2005) and editor of “Beyond Occupation” (Pluto Press, forthcoming).

She is currently an associate professor at the University of the South Pacific (Fiji) and Director of Governance Studies.

To be held on Saturday July 21st at United Voice Victoria 117-131 Capel St, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3051

https://www.facebook.com/events/440974115936032/

Introduction

The Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers, established by the Prime Minister on June 28, 2012, is designed to provide advice on the policy options available to prevent asylum to prevent asylum seekers risking their lives on dangerous boat journeys to Australia.

The Panel will accept submissions from interested organisations to provide input to this work.

The following submission, addressing the Terms of Reference of the Panel, is a contribution by the Isocracy Network, an incorporated association in the state of Victoria.

Yours sincerely,

Lev Lafayette
on behalf of the Isocracy Network, Inc.

Submission to the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers

The source, transit, and destination country aspects are very well known and thoroughly documented. We are contributing no new information by stating a rise, from the 1990s onwards, in asylum seekers using irregular migration from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and most recently from Sri Lanka. We need only refer to our previous comments in Reference #1 for the causes of this increase and the solution. However the opportunity is taken to make a particular note the significant number of Chinese asylum seekers, the top source country. This rarely reported, as nearly all arrive by plane and then apply for asylum.

The opportunity is taken here however to reject the statistically invalid claims that certain government policies from 2004 and 2008 were a contributing factor to a reduction in asylum applications during that period. A comparison of Australian applications in Australia and globally show a very high level of correlation. Statistically, external factors are the primary and overwhelming cause of the quantity of asylum seekers to Australia.