Mutual Aid Disaster Relief

I recently recorded the voice over for a video called The Age of Democracy produced by AntiMidia from Brasil. It's a great take on voting and elections emphasizing that for real change we need to organise horizontally. Over the last 15 years, several social movements and anti-capitalist groups have answered the call of the Zapatista National Liberation Army and the entire Zapatista Movement for a campaign "from below and to the left" for radical changes. Since the first march that traveled through 32 Mexican states in 2006, Zapatists have proposed listening to communities and promoting values such as anti-capitalism, horizontalism, and equality. Our proposal, like the original Otra Campaña, is to offer a vision of politics beyond the parties and the institutional left that, financed by the rich and the state itself, flood the streets and the media with their propaganda and the notion that only through the state institutions can we promote profound changes. Many of the major movements and revolutions underway in our times share the idea that it is better to change the system in a direct, popular, self-organized way and without the instruments of state management and repression. Only practice and debate that considers these experiences can show people that politics exists beyond voting and bourgeois representative democracy. For this reason, Antimídia and Facção Fictícia present "The Age of Democracy," a video and an article designed to stimulate debate on the origins of democratic voting, its limits and proposals for overcoming it and building a truly egalitarian and free world - a world where many worlds fit! We echo the words of Sub-Commander Moses, who reminds us that "we don't tell you to vote, nor do we tell you not to vote. We simply tell you to organize".

Well it's been a while since I've uploaded a podcast. I've been taking a break partly due to the craziness in the world and partly because I want one. The sedition was actually produced for the 4ZZZ program Eco Radio. First up on the show is an interview with Izzy Brown about the protest and festival at the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia. The protestival was planned for the end of July but because of COVID-19 has been postponed until the end of September. I went the the Vomit Cabaret the previous night so I play two performances from that. The song by The Songs Of Tom Smith leads nicely into a discussion about Ursula Le Guin's book The Dispossessed. The final major issue covered is the refugees who are detained in hotels in Brisbane and Melbourne. Here in Brisbane there's an ongoing blockade at the Kangaroo Point Central Hotel where activists are demanding freedom for the 120 men locked inside. One of the men who is locked in the Mantra Hotel in Melbourne is Farhad Bandesh. Farhad is a musician and artist. Being detained offshore and onshore for seven years has not stopped him making music and art. The show ends with his song Friendship.

With protests continuing in cities all over the world, the Channel Zero Network has some reminders on how to support those who have been arrested, and those who may be arrested in the future. More info available here -https://rebelsteps.com/episodes/6-jail-support.html

No-one in Australia can go to a pub right now but Andrew Leavold is still hell bent on making a film called PUB. The film which is in production is about St Kilda artist, satirist, and musician Fred Negro (real name). It's also about the changing face of that Melbourne suburb and the Australian music scene. Andrew called into the show and we found out all about the film which is currently the subject of a crowd funding campaign. This film can give us a hope for the future. One day the pubs and live music venues will open again and we'll be able to watch PUB in a cinema somewhere. "For me it's a character study of a neglected, misunderstood and under-appreciated Aussie character who has never received his dues (not to mention a very old mate of mine, so I know EXACTLY the right stories to tell). It's also a love letter to St Kilda itself, former bohemian haunt and Mecca of Musical Excess, now tarted up and gentrified to the point where those pockets of grunge that gave St Kilda its disreputable character, its very essence of being, exist as tiny pockets of True Believers. In a very real sense, Fred Negro is like a Davy Crockett and the bars he and his keepers of the Rock'n'Roll flame fiercely protect are the Alamo, surrounded by "Mexicans" in $100,000 sports cars and Gucci suits."

COVID 19 is spreading fast around the globe. While we can thank the virus for infecting people like Peter Dutton and Prince Charles it's killing a lot of innocent people and affecting our lives enormously. Governments, elites, and some in the middle class are more concerned about the crash diving 'economy' than people. The economy is not actually a real thing but people are. A swift complete shut down would have this thing crushed in less time with fewer casualties. Mutual Aid groups are springing up all over as more and more people lose their jobs or are required to self isolate or both. Neighborhoods are coming together because we can't rely on the government we need each other to survive this. This week on Subversion #1312 I caught up with Acacia Ridge resident Hannah who initiated a mutual aid group for her area. Refer to our website subversion1312.org for resources

This is a special bonus interview sedition of Subversion #1312. It features an interview I did with American singer/song writer David Rovics who is currently in so-called Australia. David is an indie/folk political sing/song writer. He identifies as an anarchist. Since the 1990s he's been writing songs and touring the world performing them. My friends and I used to joke that no matter what the topic David Rovics has written a song about it. War/peace, refugees, free media, workers' rights, students rights, renters rights, and even children's songs.

This show is a banger! We have an interview with Izzy Brown about BHP Billiton and their plans for the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia. This will be the third time the lizard is returning to Roxby Downs. Olympic Dam and Arabunna and Kokatha country. So yeah, this is this is volume three of the Lizard. Well, BHP is being very sly they, are pushing through for an expansion, have been doing it in a very uncouth manner with the help of the South Australian government, they're expanding the water usage and potentially the pipeline into Arabunna country and around Lake Eyre [Kati Thanda ]. They're upping their daily rate to 50 million liters of water per day from the Artesian Basin. This is just crazy isn't in a time where, you know, water is in shortage and something that we should be preserving. The South Australian government has given them in the green light to expand on their water use, expand on their underground mine, and also build new tailings dams. Dams that don't reach reach the requirements of the new global standard that BHP has signed on to since those last disasters in Brazil. A report back from the Brisbane muscians and community rally for refugees on Saturday, and we'll hear from one of the detainees. Plus Bad Cop No Donut which includes a first hand report from Izzy about the police incident at the Reggae Stage during the Sydney Street Festival in Melbourne. Plenty of music to smash the state by as well. The picture is of the Mound Springs which have been affected by BHP Billiton's activities taking 35 billion litres per day out of the Great Artesian Basin.

During this sedition of Subversion #1312 we are joined in the studio by members of Brisbane's all abilities, all inclusive Whoopee-Do Crew. Tom Smith created the Whoopee-Do Crew and it combines his passion for music and caring for people. Tom and Nigel joined us to share their stories because the Crew are launching their new album All The People Cheer Me Up. Surprise is too that Colin Young our co-host is also in the Whoopee-Do Crew. Tune in to find out about this grassroots initiative which gives people in the community a sense of belonging and creative outlet. Also Bad Cop No Donut and some reflections on borders inspired by news that there is a quasi border close to where this show is recorded. That being an Australian Border Force alternative place of detention at Kangaroo Point Central Hotel Brisbane. There's a musicians and community rally on Saturday Feb 29.

This sedition of Subversion #1312 features an interview with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief member Jimmy Dunson. So-called Australia where this show is - as was predicted - feeling the brute force of climate change. When I conducted this interview fires were and had been destroying large parts of the country, now there's been huge destruction caused by floods. Brisbane where I live and Australia in general does not have an organisation like Mutual Aid Disaster Relief but we really need one. That's why I did this interview.

The members of Vomit Cabaret join us this week to read the play The True Story of Karl Marx by Bernadette Le Goullon. One thing striking in this play is how Jenny Marx did a lot of work on Das Kapital but received little credit. In among the play is new songs from Anti-Flag, The Songs of Tom Smith, and Mau Power. Police brutality and misconduct is reported in Bad Cop No Donut.