Bits of the World in Brief

The Redfern Black Rose Anarchist Bookstore, 36 Botany Rd., Alexandria, Sydney 2015 Australia, sends us the following news from down under:

March 4: A flotilla of 60 odd boats and other watercraft (windsurfers, surfboards, rafts) attempted to hinder the entry of two U.S. destroyers capable of carrying nuclear weapons. 300 people carried out a 96-hour vigil across the Naval yard where they were docked.

March 8: Warships farewelled (and good riddance) by 10 vessels of the Peace Squadron. An unsuccessful attempt was made to paint bomb the USS Buchannan from an ultra light aircraft as the warship was leaving the harbor.

April 2: Three cyclists rode onto the airport tarmac and forced a United States Galaxy transport jet to abort a landing approach to Alice Springs Airport. After aborting its first landing approach, the aircraft had to circle and landed successfully the second time. 60 protesters greeted it from behind the airport fence. Three people jumped the fence, ran onto the tarmac dodging police and paint bombed the plane.

This protest comes amid the upgrading of the Pine Gap spy satellite base, 19 km from Alice Springs, and vocal protests over using one of the Rhyolite spy satellites to intercept and collect intelligence from Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Another U.S. base, Nurrungar in South Australia, will be critically important for the laser and particle beam satellite weapons now being developed in the Star Wars program.

FE Note: Glad to get this report and we encourage readers to send in news of what is happening in their area.

Was it a “mandate” for Ronald Reagan last November? Reagan did not even win a majority among registered voters. When the 72.4% turnout is taken into account, registered voters break down as follows:

Reagan: 42.6%

Mondale: 29.6%

All Others: 0.2%

Nobody (not voting): 27.6%

Adding in those who didn’t register (or couldn’t register—including the many made homeless and “permanent-addressless” by Reagan’s policies)...Based on the 52.9% of the voting age turnout:

Nobody: 47.1%

Reagan: 31.2%

Mondale: 21.6%

All Others: 0.1%

Many new people were indeed persuaded to register for the 1984 elections, but the percentage of registered voters who actually went to the polls declined from 75.2% in 1980 to 72.4% in 1984.

Be sure that if this were Nicaragua the U.S. press would call the election invalid due to massive voter boycott of nearly 50%.

—by Terry Phelan, from Mutual Aid Alternatives, c/o The Social Action Center, 434–4037, 221 Central Ave., Albany NY 12206.

The Vietnam Victory Memorial Committee will be dedicating America’s first memorial to those who died fighting against the United States government’s illegal and immoral war in Vietnam. The names of all of those who made the supreme sacrifice of giving their lives for peace will be listed on the monument.

The Committee is asking the help of the public to find all of those whose names should be on the memorial. Since these individuals died opposing the government’s war, there are no official records of their deaths.

Anyone with knowledge of a name which should be on the memorial, please send the information to Vietnam Victory Memorial Committee, Box 9364, Phoenix AZ 85068.

The excuses people use to leave the libertarian milieu vary with each individual, but the worst we’ve seen recently comes from the “Libertarian Socialists (SF Branch)” (are there more?). They sent us a reprint of an anti-abortion article which lined up squarely with the right-wing pro-lifers and which quoted glowingly from death-squad supporter Sen. Jesse Helms. When we sent back a sharp rebuttal to the Lib Socs and asked why they had sent such statish rubbish that obviously had as its goal the enactment of anti-abortion laws, a second letter in return exposed how far down the road of reaction they have traveled. Billy Mick wrote us, “Few anarchists seem to realize that the state does on occasion perform a legitimate function.” How true, Billy, that’s why they’re anarchists. But worse, Billy and his boys say they aren’t going to depend on the state to enforce their view of the world on women. He tells us, “We favor direct action against the places of infanticide,” thus making common cause with the proto-fascist religious nuts who harass pregnant and distressed women at abortion centers and finally don’t stop at bombing them. Billy should understand that anarchy means not forcing your will on others.

With the arrest of the fifth American charged with espionage this year, secret police head, William Webster of the FBI announced that presently more persons are facing spy charges than in any time in American history. Authorities blame the willingness of so many citizens to play the “Price is Right” on money problems, the desire to live out the fantasies of spy novels, and, the most intriguing: “A lot of the people we’re getting now (in the war industries) were in college during the Vietnam era, when it was O.K. to be disloyal to your government.” Getting to be that time again, isn’t it?

The continuing effort to assist and free the imprisoned Vancouver 5 has not abated since they began serving their harsh sentences handed out to them last year for a series of bombings and other direct actions. Julie Belmas and Brent Taylor will soon be appealing their 20-year sentences at a scheduled hearing in the hope that they will be reduced. Also, the Ontario Crown announced it still intends to proceed against Taylor for a cruise missile plant bombing, although no date has yet been set.

Ann Hansen, designated as the “ringleader” of the 5 by the vicious judge who sentenced her to life imprisonment, has been subjected to continual harassment at the women’s prison she was assigned to. Both she and Belmas are set to be placed in a newly built high security unit which would remove numerous privileges they now enjoy.

Doug Stewart and Gerry Hannah also remain incarcerated. The Free the Five Defense committee is in desperate need of funds for the appeals, probation hearings and for the day-to-day costs of mailings, printing, etc. Donations are welcome at Box 48296, Bentall Sta., Vancouver BC V7X 1A1 Canada. Also, the latest Free the Five newsletter has just been published and is available through us or the defense committee.

SAN FRANCISCO—In April, the anarchist Bound Together Bookstore had its window kicked in and a worker assaulted by a small group of “skins.” The past year has seen an increasing problem with the “skin-heads” in the Haight-Ashbury district with many of them openly espousing a Nazi-tinged brand of patriotism. Sexism, racism, homophobia and anti-semitism are their trademark and they have been involved in many incidents of physical and verbal abuse of area residents and merchants.

In a recent leaflet distributed by the skinhead/nazis, they marked specific groups as targets claiming they either were “anti-American” or spread disease. These included punks, anarchists, communists, gays and hippies.

The information in this item was taken from the latest Brix & Bottles, an anarchist quarterly, available from 1369 Haight, San Francisco CA 94117. B & B reminds us that “it’s important to remember that not everyone with a shaved head is in league with (the fascists), as some have suffered by association.”

Bound Together Bookstore always produces attractive catalogs and may be reached at the same address as above.

If President Bonzo’s exoneration of the SS killers buried at Bitberg, West Germany was an isolated incident one could perhaps dismiss the charge that Reagan is soft on fascism, but two other items on his European tour suggest his bias. One, the prez stayed with the godson of Hitler during his stay in Germany and, two, a remark he made six months ago which created a furor in Spain during his visit there.

During a discussion about the legality of American mercenaries fighting along with the contras in Nicaragua, Reagan said that such activity was “a well established tradition in our country.” He added: “Well, if you get into the moral issue of it, we were certainly tested with regard to the Spanish Civil War. I would say that the individuals that went over there were, in the opinions of most Americans, fighting on the wrong side.”

He was referring to the Communist Party-dominated Abraham Lincoln Brigade which went to Spain to defend the republican government against a fascist revolt led by Francisco Franco and aided by Hitler and Mussolini. Besides showing which side he preferred in the conflict, Reagan, a compulsive liar, wrongly reported the feelings of the American people who overwhelmingly supported the anti-fascists in the 1930s.

The Pagans for Peace are holding a Gathering for Life on Earth, July 19 through 22 in Central Ontario. They will focus on political-spiritual synthesis for those pagans involved in peace, feminist, Green, gay, native, and anti-imperialist activity. There will be camping free from electricity or running water. For information contact Pagans for Peace, Dragonfly Farm, Lake St. Peter, Ontario, K0L 2K0 Canada.