Riverina Press Release

Australia First Riverina commends Daryl Maguire on his recent victory in the Liberal Party pre-selection ballot for the 2015 State election. We are overjoyed that we will be facing him as an opponent in the 2015 State election and not Mr Negline whom we consider a far more difficult adversary.

We did, however, receive a tip off as to a number of vocal supporters in Mr Maguire pre-selection plight and have decided that a closer inspection may be warranted.

A more detailed analysis of the support offered by Bishop Hanna of the Catholic Church and John Keyes of the Wagga RSL Club are in order. It seems that the Liberals can now claim to have the Catholic vote as we are sure in payment for Daryl's excellent work with the Catholic private healthcare system. As to Mr Keyes it seems he speaks on behalf of all 22 000 members of the RSL in claiming that he supported Mr Maguire on their behalf. What a wonderful gesture yet a very bold claim to make.

 

We should also note that we are not surprised Mr Negline was side swiped, as yes he is a Liberal by name, but he has proven to be a man of some integrity and honesty and the Maguire "backers" with  their own personal and lucrative self interest agendas around town, do not want to jeopardise the "status quo".

Medical Racketeering ?

http://australiafirstparty.net/

Wagga Wagga Cancer Care Centre – misappropriated non-service to the public?

by the Australia First Party investigations team

In a letter written to the Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser (“Misinformation addressed, cleared” Sep 26th 2013) Joe Schipp, Chairman of the Riverina Cancer Care Trust, ‘attacked’ one of our members.
Shipp denounced our man’s statement concerning an under-the-surface seething by the public in relation to having to pay for cancer treatment at the Riverina Cancer Care Centre (RCCC), given their perception it was a public hospital; Shipp said everyone just had it wrong.
Shipp’s comment was made after a number of concerned locals made reference to having made donations towards the construction of our cancer care facilities whilst under the belief it was to be a public facility where treatment would be 100% bulk billed. They were later to learn that they would, in fact, be substantially out of pocket for treatment.
It would appear that it is a service provider that serves only those who can really afford it.
Australia First has done research on the facility and as a result has found some interesting facts. It seems there are many questions raised by the alliances that were formed to bring about the construction of the RCCC. There is also some question as to who is making what from this most profitable of medical services?
A partnership was formed with the Little Company of Mary (Calvary Hospital) which leases the land, The Riverina Cancer Care Community Trust, which raised money for the building through public donations and Cancer Care Associates Pty Ltd, which is responsible for the running and ongoing maintenance of the Centre.
This is the sticking point in our minds, as we cannot see why the public were asked to raise over $4 million to build a medical facility that was privately operated. Not only that, but a private Cancer Care Centre that makes a profit for a private company!
So let’s get this straight.  The public donated a huge amount of money and continues to do so to this day. We would also have to assume that those raising money and involved in the Trust would also be entitled to some ‘compensation’.
Then at the same time, the Little Company of Mary makes a return on the lease of the land. But to top it off, you then have a private company making a return for the maintenance and staffing of the Centre.
Just how much they make is anyone’s guess but when you understand who owns that company it is easy to see that they would not be there unless they were making a big profit.
The Director and Secretary of Cancer Care Associates is a Mr Tony Hassan Noun.  We shall say “Mr” as he was using the title of ‘Dr’ until he was chastised by the AHPRA for having no formal medical qualifications…

What’s up, Doc?

“The weird, limo-riding father of spoilt, blonde, Veruca Salt-like princess, Beckaa Noun, in Channel Ten’s failed ”dramality” series The Shire is facing a different dose of dramality.

Businessman Tony Noun, inset, has been repeatedly mistaken for a doctor, with the use of the title ”Dr” on official documents under question.

According to reporter Ilya Gridneff, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency online national register has no listing for a Dr Tony Noun.

And when contacted and asked if he was a doctor, as referenced in three separate documents obtained by S, he said: ”This is a lovely witch-hunt, trying to have a go at the people in The Shire,” adding, ”I have done some work in healthcare. [But] no, I am not a doctor. I am not portraying myself as anything.”

When asked why several documents referred to him as ”Dr”, Noun explained: ”When you are a director or working in a particular field, people make assumptions. You’ll make your own assumptions about this and write what you want.”

An AHPRA spokeswoman says: ”It contravened the national law for someone to hold themselves out to be a registered practitioner if they were not. There are clear guidelines in relation to the use of ‘Dr’.”

Read more:   http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/power-couple-20120922-26dfe.html#ixzz2n9e3qPoL

It is also not irrelevant to note that Tony’s daughter Rebecca of the TV program “The Shire” is well accustomed to the high life bragging about paying up to $10 000 for a handbag. See: http://www.realityravings.com/2012/07/23/the-shire-now-we-know-what-beckaas-dad-does/

The matter of daughter Rebecca indicates that Mr. Noun has the Edelsten touch about him and family indulgences come first. Indeed, Rebecca has the ambition of becoming Miss Lebanon and had plastic surgery with that in mind.
The scale of the indulgence might be gained from the following link where the arrogance of lifestyle is clear.  Of course, we hardly claim that Tony Noun makes all of his money through the RCCC, as it is clear he also owns a number of other companies including a company called Inventis.
However, given he leads a lavish lifestyle and would not be involved in any business or investment unless he was to receive a handsome return. You can also imagine our shock when we found that a local and prominent Wagga doctor was a very large shareholder in Inventis.
The RCCC scam demands a people’s campaign of public exposure and action to get a little justice.
The Riverina Cancer Care Centre Pty. Ltd. has its offices in solid Liberal territory – at Sutherland. We know that Mr. Abbott has met Tony Noun and it is understood that Immigration Minister Scott Morrison – has too. With these connections, it would not be hard to imagine local Riverina Liberals being on good terms with him.
We demand action in the people’s interest not the politicians’ interest. Not only should the donated money be returned to the defrauded donors, but those responsible for the implementation of this deception should be held to account before the appropriate court and such other prominent persons who had knowledge of this whole scam should equally be brought before the appropriate court as accessories to that deception.
We would find it unbelievable that all our political representatives (Council, State, Federal) had no knowledge of this fraud. Some must have known.
Remembering that this Cancer Centre was promoted to the public as a treatment centre for the public – ie; not a private profit driven enterprise – many donors have announced their rage and feel deceived.  All felt that the Centre was to be a great leap forward in care for people throughout our region.

Some questions present themselves:

 
Question:  is this the only block of land this Cancer Centre could have been built on and was there no other vacant land in Wagga except this CATHOLIC owned property?? Perhaps the Council could have donated the land slated for the would-be Chinese Trade Centre???
 
Question: who decided the CATHOLIC Church should gain a profit from this deception? Where was the propriety of these politically prominent leaders around town when this obvious scam was engineered and executed?
 
Question: have any of these private companies connected to the RCCC money-spinner donated to local political figures?
 
Question: what was the tendering process for the building works for RCCC?
The people of the Riverina demand answers. They will find the truth

Adelong progress ?

Contribution (received 19.7.2013)

After the attack on the Australia First Candidate for the Riverina, (Lorraine Sharp) by James Hayes & "friends", I made contact with Lorraine (who I had never met or spoken to before) and Lorraine informed me that James Hayes had told her that she "must have got her information regarding the curfew from myself or Bunny Brown". This is not true, although not surprising James Hayes would accuse me as Hayes form over time has shown he is no stranger to bullying and undermining people who dare to disagree with him.

Now that I have communicated with Ms Sharp, I was informed by Ms Sharp that 'gang' leader James Hayes had engaged his 'mongrel pack of attack dogs' to contact and intimidate her about a contribution Ms Sharp made to the Tumut & Adelong times on the issue of the curfew. They were incandescent with rage (not as much as the truckies who travel at least an extra 2 hours over a dangerous road because of people like Hayes).

Now that Hayes and his attack dogs have implicated me Ms Sharp is finding out a hell of a lot more about the curfew issue.

There is the issue of the "sham curfew meetings" run by James Hayes where the sole purpose was to bully, but pretend to be neutral and allow people to vote who lived nowhere near the highway, people from Ellerabie, Batlow and others miles away voted, the meeting was held at a time and place where truckies could not get there, (Hayes usual style).

Hayes and his 'friends' say the town would be nothing without the Progress Association - I make the following points since Hayes and Stephanie Smyth took over the Progress Association.

1. The only service station in town closed down.
2. One of the only two cafes closed down.
3. The post office was set to close (the only reason it stayed open was because of money from my company (Bendigo Bank and volunteers).
4. One business has reduced staff.
5. Not one new job has been created - NONE for young people.
6. The town is growing older, anyone with an education or people who really want a job leave.
7. No trucker (external income source)will live there because of the curfew - they won't come to Adelong.
8. Because the Progress Association wouldn't support Tom Wiles to have the 100 year deflection wall at the unique historic gold reef area reinforced - a very important part of the river was washed away. James Hayes turned up at a meeting between council and Mr Wiles (but when Hayes saw me there and realised he couldn't bully, he left before the meeting).
9. The Progress Association refused to support the removal of the log jam in Adelong creek, when the flood came it washed down against the bridge; formed a 'dam' and directed the flood down the main street of Adelong - this is why the town flooded.
10. The Progress Society refused to get council to build a protective wall on the creek bank next to the caravan park, Paul Mullins had the protective trees on the bank removed and the second flood cut into the wall again and a permanent cabin had to be removed. As of two months ago the Progress Society refused to contact council about it.
11. The Antique fair (the major income earner for the town) has broken away and formed their own organisation. Stephanie Smyth and James Hayes never helped, but decided they would make all the decisions and control the money.
12. Adelong is known throughout Australia as the town hostile to truckies, thanks to Hayes and this organisation. They are quite happy to put lives at risk on the dangerous Gocup Rd.
13. Adelong has been on the 10 most deprived town list in NSW for years, and the Progress Society have done nothing.
14. The Progress Society are council "bum lickers" what ever the anti-Adelong Tumut Shire Council decides the Progress Society promote in Adelong.
15. The Progress Society do not represent the people of the town and ignore any problems individuals have. A long time ago people have given them up (I walked away from them shortly after Stephanie Smyth became involved).
16. The one and only member who has been part of the organisation since its inception (the 1990's), is ready to walk away, because they do nothing.
17. The Progress Society know that the Tumut Council want Gocup Rd fixed, so they can promote it as the major entrance into the Tumut Shire and exclude Adelong from traffic into the Shire, but have done nothing, it seems as if they want tot further destroy Adelong.
18. The Mayor of the Tumut Shire Council, Trina Thomson has stated she wants the curfew to stay - to force the state and federal government to pay to have Gocup Rd fixed.
19. When the Tumut Council 'misled' and told them they couldn't afford the initial $100,000 needed to get grants for the swimming pool - this was 'accepted' and the money was 'sourced' from the bank (over $10,000 was my money). In other words the progress Society donated $100,000 to the Shire.
20. Three out of 7 councillors voted for Adelong to have a heated pool (they needed one more after the election). they followed James Hayes in actively campaigning against these people. Hayes would get in - they caused Adelong to miss out on a heated pool.
21. The Progress Society never complained when Councillor James Hayes did a 'backflip' (so he could become Deputy Mayor) and supported the worst possible outcome for Adelong. A six lane rather than a 7 lane pool that the Adelong Swimming Club wanted - these people took over the swimming pool committee then sold the people of Adelong out.

I could go on ....

This organisation is not the Adelong 'progress' association, it's aim is to destroy the fragile town of Adelong. James Hayes and Stephanie Smyth are leading the gang that are destroying Adelong.


If these folks are so concerned about maintaining the curfew why have they not reported the Toll trucks that cart for Visy (breaking the curfew all the time)? They are hypocrites who attack only the owner/driver and small business.

Graeme Crain
Adelong

The Underclasses

Contributed:

 

 

The Department of Housing (Wagga Wagga Office), requested that I attend their office today to pick up the keys for my Daughters flat and remove the contents of the said flat.

 

I attended the D.O.H Office at approximately 9.45am and collected the keys. D.O.H Client Service Officer instructed me to attend the said location and remove the belongings, once the contractor had removed the security board from the doorway.

 

Myself and another Daughter attended the said location at approximately 11am, from the onset we were set upon by Mr J. P, who continually walked past yelling out and intimidating us. On several occasions Mr P walked up to the door of the flat looking in (in contravention of a current enforceable AVO for that location and DOH regulations relating to him and the said location). We ignored Mr P's behaviours and continued to pack up the flat as quickly as we could, so we could leave the location. As we were leaving the location at approximately 12.30pm Mr P started yelling threats at us, Mr P said "I'll smash your head in" and "why don't you go and have a whack with my Mum, she's in there" (pointed to a flat ). Mr P then said "I'm going to shoot P.W and your whole family, P.W's a dog crying to Police because my Mum scratched his face". At this point I became concerned for our safety and said to my Daughter "let's go, I'll call the Police". I called 000 at 12.36pm to report the situation and requested Police attend. I also called DOH to notify them of the situation at their premises. An hour later Police still had not attended, I called Wagga Police Station and spoke to a Cst Burmeister and he said "a job was on the system but Police are busy". At 3.01 pm I called Wagga Police again, as Police had still not attended and Sheree answered and said she knew nothing of the matter. At 3.20pm DOH called me to see what the situation was, I told them and they said you need to call the Police, I said I had but they were too busy to assist me. At 5.19pm I called Wagga Police again (as they still had not attended) and Cst Burmeister informed me Police were still busy, but should be there soon. I told Cst Burmeister, I had to attend the said flat again to pick up remaining items, as I was required to return the keys to DOH the following morning as the contractor would be boarding the doorway again, Cst Burmeister told me "now would be a good time to go back to the said flat as the Police had J P in custody on other matters and his Mother (K.P) was also in attendance at the Police Station as his support person.

 

At 5.40pm I returned to the flat with P.W and started removing the remaining items from the flat, at 5.45pm K. D B approached me at the said flat and told me she was going to bash my head in and also stated she was going to bash my Daughter, K.DB was screaming and yelling in a highly aggressive, threatening and frightening manner. K.DB's Mother K P then came to the door of the said flat (albeit Ms P has bail conditions not to approach me). Ms P said "fuck them, they'll call the police, the dogs". (truth is, K.P & co are a constant menace to society always calling Police telling lies about innocent people and threatening all and sundry with violence, they are notorious around Wagga yet nothing is ever done about these folks) K.DB and Ms P then left screaming and yelling. I called Police again 000 at 5.50pm, as at this point I was in fear of being assaulted. I also pointed out to the 000 operator I had first contacted Police regarding this matter at 12.36pm and Police had not attended. I ran to my car when I could not see K P and K. DB out the front and drove home in a terrified state. I again called Wagga Police Station and spoke to a Cst Whithers and asked him if Police were going to attend over this ongoing and frightening matter, Cst Whithers said "Police are just doing change over now, they should be there sometime soon". It is now 10.00pm and still no Police in sight.

 

I believe this is a politically motivated, deliberate failure of duty of care and absolute dereliction of duty on Police behalf, as I and my family have recently been victims of actual violence and attempted home invasion at the hands of these people. My daughter has been a victim of ongoing extreme violence at the hands of J P and my young son has been traumatised and suffering stress as a result of K P's recent unwanted, unprovoked and uninvited violence at my property.

 

Ironically the original arrangements were for DOH Client Service Officer to meet me at the said flat and provide me with the keys, these arrangements were changed as the Client Service Officer said she had to think of her personal safety around "those sort of people" and would need Police to attend with her, so it would be easier if I attended the DOH Office and collected the keys there. Nice, my personal safety is of no concern only their own ? Clearly by Police response or total absence of, my safety as a "regular" citizen is of no significance (obviously I'm not a part of the privileged or protected class around town). If the public are to be subjected to this real danger without protection by the law, when going about their everyday business, then the time has come for the public to have the means to protect themselves. As an older Woman I cannot accept this situation as any sort of notion of safety while out in public, where Police ignore attacks on vulnerable woman at the hands of notorious wild animals!

 

We wonder if the privileged class around town were subjected to this type of terrifying behaviour, would the Police ignore them ?

 

Further,it would have been common courtesy for Cst Burmeister to call me and notify me that K P was no longer at Wagga Police Station, had I known that I would have immediately left the said location and therefore been able to avoid the second incident of the day.

12.30am, Police finally arrive, Sgt Reardon, proceeds to tell me that she has spoken to K.P and she is telling her a "different" story, (what a surprise K.P a compulsive liar is telling her a different story). Sgt Reardon insinuates I am "making it up" regarding the first reported issue as J.P was in custody today at Wagga Police Station, I guarantee J.P was not in custody at Wagga Police Station between the hours of 11am and 12 noon today, as he was terrorising myself and my daughter at the said location. Sgt Reardon then reduces herself to a childlike tantrum, as it all seems too inconvenient for her to investigate the matter at hand, she refuses to speak with witnesses and then changes track completely and proceeds to tell me I am a bad Mother unlike her as she knows where her children are at all times, which is more than she can say for me, excuse me, what has Reardon's opinion of me as a Mother (which means nothing) got to do with the reported issue of the day that I have been trying to report for the last 12 hours? Sgt Reardon presumes much considering she knows nothing about me. Sgt Reardon unilaterally decides she is not going to bother doing anything about the reported crime of the day and leaves (and stops her partner taking any notes). Public relations with the Wagga Police have hit new lows, and one wonders what exactly some Police are doing in a Police uniform ? An absolute disgraceful display in Policing, this sort of attitude does nothing for the overall image of the NSW Police Force. As far as the perpetrators of today's crimes (well known vermin in the community), they continue their reign of terror aided and abetted by Sgt Reardon as citizens are denied their rights under law as determined by Sgt Reardon.

 

 

What a disgrace !

What a joke !

 

Sound Familiar ?

The Chinese Want To Spend Billions Constructing A 600 Acre “China City” In New York State

By Michael Snyder, on December 5th, 2013

 

     

The Chinese have made trillions of dollars flooding our shores with super cheap products, and now they are using some of that money to buy land and property all over America.  For example, there is now a proposal to construct a multibillion dollar “China City” that would span approximately 600 acres in a remote area of New York state.  This “China City” (that is actually what it would be called) would be located on Yankee Lake in Sullivan County, New York.  The plans anticipate large numbers of Chinese businesses, plenty of homes for Chinese immigrants, a Chinese high school, a college, a casino and even a theme park.  And the first 600 acres is only for “phase one” of the plan.  Ultimately, the goal is for “China City” to cover more than 2,000 acres.  Those promoting this plan say that it will be a great way for New Yorkers to learn to appreciate Chinese culture.
So should we be concerned that the Chinese want to place a little slice of communist China right in the heart of New York state?
Should we really be allowing other nations (especially ones that publish maps showing what will happen when they nuke us) to be setting up self-sustaining communities inside our own country that have no intention of integrating into the wider culture?
David North of the Center for Immigration Studies is one of those that is sounding the alarm over this project.  According to him, the eventual goal of the “China City” project is to essentially take over two small towns and cover a total of more than 2,000 acres…

The first version of the plan to emerge was a grandiose one. It would cover more than 2,000 acres (more than three square miles) spread over the towns of Mamakating and Thompson. It would include a Chinese theme park, a city full of China-related businesses, a high school, a college, and 1,000 residences. Every province in China would have an office there and the place would be replete with symbols of Chinese culture. For more on these plans see CCOA’s website, festooned with golden dragons and text in both Mandarin and English.  When finished it would be a $6 billion project, its backers say.

But for now, the first phase is only going to cover about 600 acres…

A revised version of the initial offering was proposed later; this would, as a modest start to the broader project, include a college, an urban area, some family housing, and lots of student housing; it would cover less than 600 acres and would all be in the town of Thompson, whose officials, a local lawyer tells me, are somewhat less hostile to the plan than those in Mamakating.

And this is not the first time that this kind of thing has been proposed.  As I reported last year, a different Chinese group has purchased 200 acres of land in a rural area of Michigan and hopes to create a “China City” out there…

A Chinese group known as “Sino-Michigan Properties LLC” has bought up 200 acres of land near the town of Milan, Michigan.  Their plan is to construct a “China City” with artificial lakes, a Chinese cultural center and hundreds of housing units for Chinese citizens.  Essentially, it would be a little slice of communist China dropped right into the heartland of America.  This “China City” would be located about 40 minutes from both Detroit and Toledo, and it would be marketed to Chinese business people that want to start businesses in the United States.

You can read the full article about that project right here.
Most of the time, when the Chinese gobble up our properties they do not do it in such large chunks.  But make no mistake – they are voraciously buying up real estate right now.  In fact, CNN recently published an article about the cities where they are the most active…

New York and Los Angeles top the list of U.S. cities they are most interested in, according to Juwai.com, a website where Chinese buyers browse global real estate listings.
More surprisingly, Philadelphia and Detroit come in at No. 3 and No. 4.
The top 10 list is rounded out by Houston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlanta, San Diego and Memphis.
Chinese buyers purchased $8.2 billion worth of U.S. property in 2012, according to Juwai.

It has been estimated that the Chinese are now buying one out of every ten homes sold in the state of California.  And this buying spree actually appears to be accelerating.  The following is a brief excerpt from a recent CNBC article entitled “Chinese buying up California housing“…

At a brand new housing development in Irvine, Calif., some of America’s largest home builders are back at work after a crippling housing crash. Lennar, Pulte, K Hovnanian, Ryland to name a few. It’s a rebirth for U.S. construction, but the customers are largely Chinese.
“They see the market here still has room for appreciation,” said Irvine-area real estate agent Kinney Yong, of RE/MAX Premier Realty. “What’s driving them over here is that they have this cash, and they want to park it somewhere or invest somewhere.”

So where did they get all of this cash?
A lot of it came from us of course.  We have lost tens of thousands of businesses and millions of jobs to the Chinese, and now they are literally buying up little pieces of America with the money that we spent on all of the cheap plastic trinkets that they exported to us.
And they are not just buying up residential real estate.  They are buying lots of commercial real estate as well.  In fact, in a previous article I talked about how one Chinese firm recently purchased one of the most important landmarks in New York City…

Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd. (0656.HK) will buy office building One Chase Manhattan Plaza for $725 million, adding to a growing list of property purchases by Chinese buyers in New York city.
The Hong Kong-listed firm said it will buy the property from JP Morgan Chase Bank, according to a release on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange website.
Chinese firms, in particular local developers, have looked overseas to diversify their property holdings as the economy at home slows. Chinese individuals also have been investing in property abroad amid tight policy measures in the mainland residential market.
Earlier this month, Chinese state-owned developer Greenland Holdings Group agreed to buy a 70% stake in an apartment project next to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., in what is the largest commercial-real-estate development in the U.S. to get direct backing from a Chinese firm.

So where is all of this eventually heading?
Should we all start learning how to speak Chinese?
Please feel free to share what you think by posting a comment below…

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=526059207097361434#editor/target=post;postID=7243444098354681309

 

Why People Continue To Vote Liberal Or Labor

http://wakeup-world.com/2013/10/09/the-psychological-state-of-the-state-the-societal-stockholm-syndrome/

9th October 2013

By Lee Maddox and Tim McK

Guest Writers for Wake Up World

With the Australian federal elections over – apart from a few squabbling electorates demanding recounts – Australia’s two-party system has continued to devolve to resemble a mongrel mix of zealous nanny state paternalism and oligopolistic corporatocracy. The mainstream media circus entertains and purports to inform, but presents content within strict boundaries that exclude serious criticism. And when truly independent thinkers occasionally manage to gain a foothold in the system, they are summarily ridiculed with ad hominem attacks in efforts to discredit the person, and by extension, their ideas.

At present Australia has an education system that trains people to fit into the system. While I believe the private education system provides better education than the state one, both still follow the same curriculum because all students still need to attain the same certificate of education. The more elite schools train the managers of society while the others school their students to be employees. There is a bit of crossover, but that is the rule rather than the exception.

 

And do you know what? We accept it! Society as a whole may or may not know of the problems inherent in it, but we love it nonetheless. Of course not those of us reading this, who are awake and have taken action against this system. As for the rest of society, not only do they love it, they develop compassion and loyalty for it … and embrace it. At times they even willingly fight to protect it.

The best slave is one who thinks he is free

Politicians allow the public to think we are free to vote for whomever we like when “democracy” rolls around at election time. Some voters are actively loyal to the Liberal, National or Labor parties, others vote for them as the lesser of the presented evils. So we’re stuck with Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum. But is the sun rising and scattering the cockroaches?

A few non-mainstreamers have slipped into the Senate via a flaw in the very system designed to keep them out. So will the major players accept this? Hell no! They plan to change the rules to restore their entitlements to power. These upstarts can’t be thinking there’s hope. Back to the salt mines for you, boy!

The state is adamantly determined to uphold the status quo that they have even convinced the public that it’s no use fighting the system, and to instead embrace our captive society so we don’t allow such incursions by those seeking to instigate real change. I recall my school’s Head of Campus at the end of Year 9 driving home the message “don’t play the system.” That’s verbatim. And this was at a well known school in the ‘elite’ category. The subtext: you can’t change anything, so don’t even try. I’ve forgotten just about every direct quote from a teacher, but that comment stands alone in my memory. As a born contrarian, I have ever since considered it a challenge, not a command.

So what is it then? What is it that urges us to take a stand and resist when it seems everyone else just follows suit? The basis of the Stockholm Syndrome, a term coined by psychologists post 1973 after the bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, is that a person held captive has a subconscious need for personal preservation that will drive them to do what it takes to survive, even if it means building a rapport with their captors. Some go so far as to love and even defend those that have them in bondage from the very people trying to rescue them.

How is this paradigm any different today?

It’s not. Societal Stockholm Syndrome (SSS) can easily develop in such a system where people don’t consciously recognise they’re held captive within a certain paradigm. This is because the system can be perceived as acting benevolently towards the public through means such as handouts to people who don’t actually need them, election promises (which frequently go unfulfilled) and the welfare system.

It’s hard to try and wake someone up who is so dependant on the very system that has enslaved them. But there is hope. A global alternative media network is growing exponentially, born out of the need to resist the control of the status quo. And it’s gaining momentum, as it continually unplugs people from the system and wakes them up from their learned helplessness.

The only true way to break free of this SSS is to resist. The very act, nay, even the thought of resisting is in essence resistance itself, because this captive society that has been created around us is fundamentally a mental prison, and any act of resistance has to begin in your mind.