91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳

BY ALISON DELLIT

This is the second week of our campaign to get more Friends of 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly — people who will give a regular donation to the paper, to help us ensure that we can keep covering the news and providing analysis you won't find in the Murdoch, Packer and Fairfax press.

Every week, we aim to cover the stories the corporate media buries, from Auburn to Baghdad, from union battles to the fight against deforestation.

GLW's more prominent supporters have sent us messages of support for the campaign. While welcome, this support is not enough. We rely not on funding from prominent organisations and individuals, but from support from working people. As little as $10 or $20 a month can make a huge difference to our shoestring budget.

If you think you can help, fill out the form on page 5 or visit . We thank you for your continuing support.

[Alison Dellit is the editor of 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly.]

Friends of 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly:

Never has journalism been more important, yet so much of the media is little more than the propaganda of great power. That's why 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly is so crucial. In Australia, it provides the only comprehensive and independent coverage of politics and international affairs. It is indispensable and deserves our support — John Pilger. I am very pleased to greet all of you in the occasion of the launching of Friends of 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly. I found this important journal as a wonderful window to know news supporting the struggles of the peoples of the world, and especially of Latin America. My best wishes to 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly — Leonel Vivas, ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Australia. As our mainstream press moves further to the right and mostly forgets those with little power or money, 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly provides a crucial social justice perspective and lots of stories you won't find elsewhere. I particularly like its international flavour with is so much broader than the commercial media which seems to have blacked out most of the world — Wendy Bacon, Australian Centre for Independent Journalism. GLW is the only national newspaper that exposes the Building Industry Royal Commission for what it really is, an attack against workers and civil liberties for the entire Australian working class. I urge people to get behind GLW and other forms of progressive media so that truth continues to be told Victorian Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union secretary Martin Kingham. What I can say? The GLW is the true newspaper in this century; its criticised and always on behalf of weaker people, not on behalf of powerful government. It's a small newspaper but the words can bit the world, strong and bitter words. Long live GLW. Keep crawling — one day you will stand-up right in front of all — Mohammad Dahlan, Aceh-Australia Association.

Having to buy GLW on a street corner as a young journalism student helped me learn very quickly that corporate media is drenched in lies, spin and whopping big holes (from the news that doesn't make their pages.) Today, as I live in the US, we consult GLW every week as we set our news agenda. From the Australian intervention in the Solomons to coverage of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela and the WTO, GLW consistently gives voice to those systematically shut out of international corporate driven news agendas. Thanks GLW, our job would be so much harder without you! — Deepa Fernandes, Anchor, & ). 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳'s international coverage is the most extensive and analytical for left activists seeking clarity and direction. It is an invaluable source — Malik Miah, South San Francisco. To the struggle against the tide of misinformation, deceit, selective reporting and partiality, may you always bring the gifts of insight, courage and love of the truth. When the jaws of corporate media ownership open yet wider in their voracious hunt for more fodder, may you maintain unblinking independence and freedom. As debate is stifled by the powerful and rich, may you continue to think laterally and speak alternatively — Sister Susan Connolly, Mary McKillop Institute for East Timorese Studies. On behalf of the Seraiki National Party I would like to congratulate you for successfully running this weekly and updating the site without any break and I would like to ask the entire humane and oppressed communities and their representatives of the world to come ahead and join the true forum that 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ is. The web site of 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ is indeed a great opportunity to reach and understand each other — Ahmed Mustafa Kanjoo, Seraiki National Party. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly is the finest revolutionary newspaper in the world. From its layout to its coverage it makes links with the new worldwide movements against neoliberal imperialism and the drive by Washington to establish a new empire. It brings to the world news of the labor, environmental, women's, gay and lesbian, and the Aboriginal struggle movements in Australia. It deserves the financial support of its readers everywhere — Caroline Lund and Barry Sheppard, Solidarity, USA. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ is an important paper for anyone interested in staying informed and understanding the issues. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ puts current news into its historical context. The issue of Palestine, for example, is one of the most reported issues, yet one of the most misunderstood at the same time. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ not only reports on Palestine just about every week, but it never fails to give critical information needed to properly understand the current situation — Rihab Charida, Sawiyan, Coalition for Palestine. May I confess that I have become a GLW addict and that one of the first things I do Sunday mornings is to see what's new in your web? The information you provide is in many cases our main link to the situation of the Asia-Pacific Region. GLW is an open window to the other side of the world and we appreciate that very much from the Spanish State — G. Buster, Viento Sur (Spanish State) Here in South Africa, 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly has proven to be an indispensable, journalistic and activist tool of principled internationalism. There is simply no better regular source for news of activist and mass struggles from around the world as well as insightful and radical analyses of key national and global issues confronting socialists. The impact and importance of 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly goes well beyond the borders of Australia and the Pacific region. It's continued production is an imperative — Dale McKinley, Anti-Privatisation Forum, South Africa. Australians in the mass will tell you that of course they live in a free society and yet as far as this country's mainstream media is concerned, it is one of the most monopolistically controlled and manipulated societies, opinion-wise, in the Western world. The narrow frame of analysis which passes for debate in the dominant media is both worrisome and laughable to anyone who bothers to investigate world events in any depth. Thank goodness, therefore, for publications like Green Left Weekly which provides both alternate interpretations and information that somehow never seem to make it into the omnivorous Murdoch press. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly is therefore not so much one-sided as other-sided, and thus an essential corrective to a corrosive, right-ward leaning cultural climate in present-day Australia — Raymond Evans, Adjunct Professor of History at Griffith University. Kerry the Wacker Packer and Stupert Murdoch have a stranglehold on the media in Australia. Fairfax and the ABC have the occasional story that attempts to expose the dark underbelly of economic fundamentalism in Strayia. Fortunately for those interested in Indigenous issues, asylum seekers, poverty, education, ecology, politics, peace, justice and the third world there is an alternative. It is a beaut little paper the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly — John Tomlinson. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly has always been one of the sources of inspiration to the comrades who have dedicated themselves in producing a revolutionary paper here in the Philippines. Thus, the birth of OBRERO-Pahayagan ng Manggagawa (WORKERS-Paper of the Working Class) as one of the concrete examples of this inspiration — Gerry Arances, Obrero, Philippines. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly plays a significant role in Australian progressive media. Through street sales, it gets out to the community, rather than just 'preaching to the converted'; it provides excellent coverage of international issues, and is an accessible, activist paper that encourages action and engagement in social and environmental struggles — Cam Walker, environmental campaigner. I have found GLW to be an invaluable source of information and analysis of international events. By championing the struggles of working people in an objective manner you have demonstrated your commitment to one of the first principles of socialist organising - that we have no interests separate and apart from those we claim to represent. All the best for the future — Mike Treen, International secretary, New Zealand Alliance Party.

From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, November 26, 2003.
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