Reviewed by Zac Wright

Raw. Confronting. Impressive. Fade up to reveal a large banner with the words "welcome to a non-violent demonstration"’ written in slightly skewed black writing. In a blink of an eye the images of police brutality and amazed protesters fills the screen. "The whole world is watching"’ they chant, if only the world were watching this Channel 31 Access News video. Set in rough chronological order from the Sunday evening through to the Wednesday evening with a somewhat droll narrative lulling in and out throughout the film to explain when the raw jittering footage occurred. Amazing moments include an extreme close up of a police officer removing his identity badge, an unknown figure letting WA Premier Richard Court's tyres down, and the now infamous footage of an unmarked police car running over a protester and then driving away with no concern for her safety. Also caught is footage from inside the forum, images of empty seats and disappointed organisers.

Melbourne Rising is the one video that attempts to document the true nature of the actions and activities that occurred during S11. Though in places it fails to reach the real core of the diversity of ideas and people involved in the protest it does give a great taste of the three days. There is no doubt that this is the type of film the Victorian Government and police do not want us to see, which is exactly why I suggest everybody go and find a copy right now. But the last words of this review must go to the person that I consider the star of the film, Dr Bandana Shiva, Forum delegate from India who attended to outline the negative affects of globalisation on women in India, who states "I would much rather give up my participation in a forum, I would never give up my solidarity". Available from the New International BookShop, Trades Hall, for $20 or $65 for groups.

By National Treasurer Jim O’Connor

The hard work of the Socialist Party for S11 (school strike, first aid, marshalling, free coffee etc) generated considerable interest in and support for the Socialist Party, a grand total of $2,262.10 was raised from donations and sales during the period Sept 10 to Sept 13. In addition Melbourne members raised $270.50 from regular street stalls and $18.50 from a video showing.

In the next period SP has ambitious plans.

Firstly we are planning to organise a speaking tour for a Nigerian socialist and trade union activist, at a cost of about $2,500. However such visits are one of the most effective methods of promoting international solidarity in the struggle against global capital. We are hoping to move to a more accessible party centre and office located in central Melbourne. Finally we need funds urgently to ensure we can send our delegate to the CWI International Executive Committee meeting in November. This is vital to ensure that our work is based on a global perspective. Members should seriously consider what further sacrifices they can make for our great cause of socialism. Readers and supporters who are impressed with our work and wish to encourage us are also invited to send a donation to our Fighting Fund.

Send your donations (cheques payable to Socialist Party) to

PO Box 1015,

Collingwood 3066.

OBITUARY - LUCY MAY

Born 3rd September 1960
Died10th September 2000

Lucy May, aged 40 and seven months pregnant, was murdered on the night of Sunday September 10th. It is ironic that she would have been safer at S11 with her comrades and friends than she was at home. Lucy met the Socialist Party (then Militant) in 1995 during the Save Albert Park protests in Melbourne. She was arrested several times, alongside hundreds of others, in that long campaign to save the park from Kennett's Grand Prix. She became a regular contributor for this paper writing on SAP, including a report on its London rally. It is a measure of her warmth, that her death led to obituaries in our socialist press in Britain and many messages of condolences being received from throughout Britain.

Lucy moved on after the peak of the SAP protests to involvement in the MUA dispute in 1998 and was a regular at SP meetings until her death. Lucy was the most gentle of people at first glance. She brought presents to meetings, on every house visit, every special occasion. She had a mind for the incidental. She was a great worrier, especially for other people's interests. Many a friend and comrade received long phone calls from Lucy at all hours offering concern and support. Her activism and radicalism stemmed first and foremost from a deep caring for people. It was from the heart first, the head later, like many socialists.

Lucy was also very strong and determined. She knew how to look after herself. She wasn't afraid of the consequences of struggle as seen by her frontline position at the MUA and SAP protests. We all feel cheated of enjoying Lucy as a mother and of seeing her son. Her brutal murder was a dark shadow over SP members during the S11 protests. She will never be forgotten by us.

Weeks ago, Israeli and Palestinian leaders were on the verge of signing a new peace agreement, and Yasser Arafat was joking and sipping tea with Ehud Barak. Now, the Middle East teeters on the brink of a new, regional war, and a Bosnia-type ethnic war threatens to explode within Israel itself. MANDY RABIN of Maavak Sozialisti in Israel sends an eyewitness report to the Voice. LIKE A raging forest fire, an uprising that started in the West Bank and Gaza has spread into Israel proper and ignited mass demonstrations throughout the Arab world.

The subsequent kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah has led to Israel threatening to declare war on Lebanon and Syria, and on Palestine. Meanwhile, a section of Israeli Jewish workers, whipped up by reactionaries, have launched attacks on Palestinians living within Israel, leading to the horrific prospect of a possible degeneration into an inter-communal civil war. The Palestinian masses are enraged at the brutal violence used against them by the Israeli police and armed forces, with more than 70 Palestinians dead, and over a thousand wounded; and ordinary Israelis, faced with the prospect of both a regional and an internal war, fear for their very existence, for the first time in decades.

The spark that ignited the current conflict was the provocative visit by Ariel Sharon, the right-wing leader of the opposition Likud party, to the Temple Mount, a disputed site, holy to both Muslims and Jews. Many Palestinians feel extreme anger and frustration at a peace process that has been dragging on for years, brought them nothing and is going nowhere. After seven years of peace negotiations, the Israeli army is still occupying most of the West Bank and parts of Gaza, and Israeli soldiers still shoot at unarmed civilians.

The Palestinian masses see their would-be state taking the shape of a brutal dictatorship: Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority is an oppressive, dictatorial regime, with heavy press censorship, where journalists, human rights activists and strike leaders are frequently arrested without trial - with the active consent of Israeli and US leaders. Palestinians have been humiliated time and again by Arafat's concessions over refugees, Jerusalem, etc. Palestinian workers and youth living within Israel have also been disillusioned with the Oslo peace process. In addition to continuing to be second-class citizens, they have borne the brunt of the four-year recession in Israel, with unemployment in some towns and villages reaching 35%-40%. Although 95% of Israeli Palestinians voted for Ehud Barak, his government has turned a blind eye to their distress. The recession has led to attacks by the Israeli State on working class Jews also. This has led to extreme anger, bitterness and a sense of betrayal amongst Israeli workers and youth and in the absence of a genuine, mass workers' party to provide an alternative, a layer of workers have turned to the ultra-orthodox party, Shas. In 1993 the Committee for a Workers' International (the socialist international organisation to which the Socialist Party is affiliated) and its small forces then in Israel, were the solitary voice predicting that the Oslo peace process, on a capitalist basis, would be incapable of resolving the underlying causes of conflict, leading to future hostilities. Unable to solve the fundamental problems of the national question, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders - serving the interests of the capitalists - drafted the Oslo accords to achieve 'stability' in the region by means of oppression, with the Palestinian Authority playing the part of a puppet regime, repressing the Palestinian masses on behalf of the Israeli state and US imperialism.

The uprising, led by the Palestinian youth, shows the incredible potential power of the masses when they move into action. The Israeli army, with all its sophisticated weapons, could not suppress the anger, determination and willingness to sacrifice of the Palestinian masses. Tragically, this movement lacks a socialist leadership, with a clear program, strategy and set of demands, able to channel the mass energy into challenging the rule of capitalism. In the absence of a socialist leadership, the movement has taken on a religious, anti-Jewish character, fuelled by the forces of Islamic fundamentalism on the ground. In Israel, for example, Palestinian demonstrators stoned buses carrying Jewish workers. This kind of action, instead of uniting Jewish and Palestinian workers against their true enemy - the capitalist system - only serves to deepen the divide, and has led to an escalating spiral of violence within Israel. Most recently, hundreds of Jewish youth have attacked Arabs in mixed, urban centres within Israel, leading to injuries and death. The escalating violence threatens to explode into a regional war, with a possible Bosnia-type, ethnic war erupting between Arabs and Jews within Israel itself.

Even if the capitalist leaders manage to calm the situation and stave off an all-out war, any period of quiet will be temporary, because the fundamental causes of the explosion will remain. A genuine, socialist leadership, with roots in the Palestinian masses, could explain that the real enemy and cause of the problems are the capitalists and their system. Such a leadership could channel the mass energy into a strategy to fight and defeat both Israeli and Palestinian capitalism. The Palestinian masses could make a class appeal to the Israeli working class to struggle for their own rights, against the Barak government, which is hated by Jews, and for the establishment of socialism in Israel. The only solution to the national question in the Middle East lies in the establishment of a socialist society. Maavak Sozialisti (CWI - Israel) is fighting for the establishment of a socialist Israel, alongside a socialist Palestine, as part of a socialist federation of Middle Eastern nations, on a free and voluntary basis.

Working people of the region could then use the region's vast resources and technological know-how to eliminate poverty and unemployment, which are the breeding ground for national and ethnic hatred. Democratically elected committees of working people on both sides could reach agreement on issues that are impossible to solve under capitalism, such as the plight of Palestinian refugees, and Israeli settlers. Capitalism offers the people of the Middle East nothing but a future of bloodshed, terror and social degeneration. Only a mass struggle for socialism can bring the peace, freedom and prosperity that all peoples of the region so desperately long for.

S26 in Prague-shades of S11 in Melbourne Demonstrators' actions resulted in the IMF/World Bank calling off their conference two days early and again reminded them that they cannot carry out their decisions without serious opposition to their actions. This was despite police carrying out extreme brutality in the jails, beating, gassing and sexually harassing demonstrators who were arrested. There were unconfirmed reports that police attacked, arrested and beat up medical assistants on the demonstrations.

The Committee for a Workers International (CWI) contingent had a lively, successful intervention on the demonstration, although one Czech CWI member, among a small group of CWI members, was beaten up by fascists after the demo and taken to hospital. A couple of CWI public meetings were held every night during the demonstrations and new recruits for the CWI were made. Over 450 copies of the CWI's Czech paper were sold on the demonstrations. One demonstrator commented that it was the first time people from East and Western Europe had united together against capitalism. Another said: "I was on the march that blockaded the venue where the IMF delegates were going to have their opera. "We sat in the road, and then we went and sat on the front steps of the opera house.

"I thought that if people can get together like this there is some hope for the future."