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| Issue No 116 |  |
19 October 2001 |
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ReviewFlashbacks
Cultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.
As Gill Scott Heron put it: It's a rerun, the late late show, a black and white flick from ages ago. The government is again cravenly swinging into step behind the US administration as it re-organises its corrupt international partners. Lets think about other ways of acting. To prove to the editor that I have moved on from the 1970s (even if only as far as 1980) but that my principles of peace and justice have remained fairly solid, I have unearthed the lyrics to a great song by a great band. The Clash made their concerns obvious with the title of their triple album, Sandinista. Anti-war and anti-imperialist ideals permeate this album, as they did on the next Clash album Combat Rock. (both of which I have on VINYL, of course). Sandinista came out during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. The boys did not ignore this, slipping a line into Washington Bullets about the Afghan rebels. 'N IF YOU CAN FIND AN AFGHAN REBEL/THAT THOSE MOSCOW BULLETS MISSED/ASK HIM WHAT HE THINKS OF VOTING COMMUNIST I seem to remember the record company selling the triple album at a bargain price and reducing the band's royalties because they wanted them to do a single album, following their double London Calling. The band promptly produced a triple and the record company was not amused. As fans we got a great bargain. The Call Up sums up an attitude we can hope will prevail. ITS UP TO YOU NOT TO HEED THE CALL-UP/'N YOU MUST NOT ACT THE WAY YOU WERE BROUGHT UP/WHO KNOWS THE REASONS WHY YOU HAVE GROWN UP/WHO KNOWS THE PLANS OR WHY THEY WERE DRAWN UP ITS UP TO YOU NOT TO HEED THE CALL-UP/I DON'T WANNA DIE/ITS UP TO YOU NOT TO HEAR THE CALL-UP/I DON'T WANNA KILL/ FOR HE WHO WILL DIE IS HE WHO WILL KILL MAYBE I WANNA SEE THE WHEATFIELDS/ OVER KIEV AND DOWN TO THE SEA ALL THE YOUNG PEOPLE DOWN THE AGES/ THEY GLADLY MARCHED OFF TO DIE/ PROUD CITY FATHERS USED TO WATCH THEM/ -TEARS IN THEIR EYES THERE IS A ROSE THAT I WANT TO LIVE FOR/ ALTHOUGH GOD KNOWS I MAY NOT HAVE MET HER/ THERE IS A DANCE AND I SHOULD BE WITH HER/ THERE IS A TOWN UNLIKE ANY OTHER ITS UP TO YOU NOT TO HEAR THE CALL UP/ 'N YOU MUST NOT THE WAY YOU WERE BROUGHT UP/ WHO GIVES YOU WORK AND WHY SHOULD YOU DO IT?/ AT 55 MINUTES PAST ELEVEN THERE IS A ROSE... A further listen and/or a read of the lyrics (a wonderful production called The Armagideon Times no.3 inserted in the packaging of the record, with great cartoons from Steve Bell) leads you to Charlie Don't Surf inspired by the US in Vietnam. A few lines hit home as Afghanistan gets bombed and we turn away their refugees (and the US drops one days food for 37,000 people into minefields while approximately 7 million are suffering food shortages). WE BEEN TOLD TO KEEP THE STRANGERS OUT/WE DON'T LIKE EM STARTING TO HANG ABOUT/WE DON'T LIKE EM OVER TOWN/ACROSS THE WORLD WE GONNA BLOW EM DOWN CHARLIE DON'T SURF AND WE THINK HE SHOULD/CHARLIE DON'T SURF AND YOU KNOW THAT HE AINT NO GOOD/CHARLIE DON'T SURF/FOR HIS HAMBURGER MAMA/CHARLIES GONNA BE A NAPALM STAR
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   Interview: The Green MachineNick Bolkus outlines Labor's environmental stance and lays down the gauntlet to Bob Brown's Greens. Industrial: Regaining Control France�s 35 hour week stems from the program of the Left coalition government which went to the polls in June 1997 with the policy of �worksharing�. Unions: Home Of The Longest DayAustralia has a dubious new prize to put in its cluttered national trophy cabinet. We are increasingly the most over-worked nation in the world. Campaign Diary: Week Two: FightbackLabor's doing everything to win a normal campaign - but this is no normal campaign. Economics: Who Will Notice When You Die?Johann Christoph Arnold asks whether the anti-globalisation movement is the answer to an epidemic of loneliness. History: American TerrorIncredible revelations about the work of the US National Security Agency through the Cold War years help put the current War of Terror into perspective. International: Global Day of Action In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US last week, the ICFTU has announced that preparations for the Global Unions Day of Action on November 9 will go ahead. Satire: World Gripped by Fear as Howard Third Term LoomsThe global community has uniformly condemned the recent terrorist attacks, which horrifically helped revive the re-election prospects of John Howard. Review: FlashbacksCultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.
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