Lost: Innocence.
Found: A challenge for Truth.
So, we see main-stream media being called out of its banks. Flooding, anyone? How many people do you know have dreamed of deluge and flooding this past week? Hmmm.

Or...

Dorothy confronts the Wizard in OZ.

http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=56673&group=webcast

REPORT BY A CONCERNED GROUP OF WESTERN AUSTRALIANS

ON BEHALF OF THE AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE

AND THE PROTESTORS AT GENOA, WEEKEND OF 20-22 JULY, 2001

AND SUPPORTERS WORLD WIDE

ANALYSIS OF DATA BY F. WHITE

AT THE REQUEST OF ACTIVE, PERTH

IN THE SPIRIT OF CO-OPERATION BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THESE THREE WEB SITES

www.thetravelring.com

www.indymedia.org

www.active.org.au/perth/

--------
Aim:
--------
To prove beyond reasonable doubt that the ABC
misrepresented the circumstances surrounding the protests
in Genoa, Italy on the weekend of July 20-22, 2001.

-------------
Method:
-------------
Analysis of reports pertaining to the
violence and bloodshed on the streets of Genoa,
Italy. On the weekend of July 20-22 2001.
Two emails supplied by Bob Johnson, Editor ABC on-line

--------
Result
-------
For this report the word 'We' stands for the people of Australia.

The centre of the Italia city of Genoa resembles a war zone this morning

Reported: that the police have faced a series of
sustained attacks by protesters.

Facts : that the protestors have faced
a series of sustained attacks by
police.

Reported: the more extreme elements
of the anti-globalisation movement are
promising to avenge their comrade's death with
even more violent attacks.

Facts: Once news of Carlo Guiliani's death reached
protestors they all became very subdued.
There was a great outpouring of grief
by the estimated 200,000+ crowd that had
gathered in Genoa.

The next day a huge mound of red roses
were laid on Carlo's bloody murder site.
As far as we can ascertain, there was not a hint
of what the ABC alleges.

We ask the ABC to bring the evidence
forward, so we can see upon what they
are basing their opinions.

We the people of Australia have photographic
(and probable video) evidence to support our fact.

Reported: Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets

Facts: This is misleading because we, the people of Australia,
have almost a full page list of independent news items from
around the world that in fact estimates hundreds
of thousands of protestors gathered in Genoa.

Reported: Leaders of the worlds richest nations sat down
to discuss the intricacies of the global economy,
outside the steel wall...

Facts: There is reasonable doubt over whether these leader could
have had meaningful discussion about anything global.

With up to 300,000 people deliberately locked out.
Unable to voice an opinion. We question the right
of these 8 men to make decisions on our behalf
without consultation.

We the Australian people are part of the global
community, we feel that a discussion on global issues should
be attended to by representatives of each and every
country on earth.

We therefore suggest 8 men could not understand the
intricacies facing the global community.

Especially when they have, not only locked the democratic
right of free speech out, they have to ensure those
speaking out against them are brutally bashed and tortured,
and one murdered.

We also question the legitimacy of the statement that Canada
or Russia are in fact richer than all the countries of Europe.
We are not economists, but to us, that sounds at least
questionable.

Reported: examples of capitalist domination. Banks and
shops were ransacked, and cars were overturned
and set alight.

Facts: We question what this means exactly. We find
the reporter has not fulfilled his duty of care.
He does not state exactly who was responsible
for these acts.

Once again we request the ABC release the foundation
of this allegation so we can fully understand the
meaning behind the words.

We believe it infers the protestors were indeed
responsible for these acts, however, it was infiltration
of GOM and police into what is called the 'black bloc'.

We have the confession of at least one Italian policeman
to substantiate our claims and many hundreds of protestors
eye witness reports, photographs and video evidence of these
government infiltrators climbing out of police vehicles.
We believe they will gladly be supplied to us, by www.indymedia,org
if we request them.

We also question why none of the most violent "protestors"
were brutally beaten, it was only the pacificts, sitting,
walking along footpaths, sitting on walls, marching, that
were beaten. To the point where there were puddles of coagulated
blood on the pavements in Genoa.

This blood had to be hosed off the streets. If you doubt this
we suggest the G8 organise forensic testing in the streets of
Genoa, at a time when it is dark enough to show the blood
glowing from the concrete and the walls of the GSF offices.

We also request the G8 pay for the same forensic testing
in the jails in which protestors were taken.

Report: As expected, the ring of steel became the focus of their rage.

Facts: Protestors tried to climb the fences yes. They climbed them
and mischieviously hung underwear from the wire, and yes
probably some climbed them trying to make other statements.
But we have seen no evidence of rage.

This underwear was hung because the protestors believed it was ludicrous
that Berlusconi had requested not to hang up underwear during
the G8 meeting.

If vicious, naughty knickers can be seen as agents of rage,
then this report may indeed be factual.

Again we request the evidence behind this report.

Reported: defiance and rage at the perceived injustices
of globalisation.

Facts: We can find no evidence at all to form this
judgement.

You are free to scour the web, but we feel
sure there is no such evidence available.

In the hundreds of reports and photographs,
videos and audio files we have seen, there is
nothing to support this statement.

Once again we request the ABC brings forth
the evidence to support its claims.

Report: After one particularly heavy skirmish, one
demonstrator lay dead. Dozens of others,
including police and some journalists, were
injured.

Facts: There is one glaring omission from every
report we've seen that sheds a different light
on Carlo's death.

The fire extinguisher was pushed out of the
police vehicle.

In the photos you can see it passed hand to hand
in the police vehicle, and Carlo's murderer
Eventually ensures if falls to the ground outside
the vehicle. Sealing Carlo's fate.

If the police were so scared, and shot Carlo through panic
why would they push something out of their car that could be used as
a weapon. Hardly a deadly weapon at that.

Why was he shot between the eyes and run over twice.
Why were those that came to his assistance chased
off by police?

We believe it was a deliberate act of provocation.

An act of murder, no less.

There is a sequence of 16 photographs on the internet
that clearly illustrates this.

We question also how police could be injured
when they were dressed up like militia and had
batons which they proceeded to use with gay abandon.

The protestors were unarmed.

In the hundreds of photo's we have seen, not one
shows a protestor with more than a molitif cocktail
against a wall of police.

Even this remains questionable because there is
the infiltration of the police.

It is also not reported here in Australia that
Carlo's father gave a press statement. In this
he said he felt only sorrow for his son's
murderer. He said he hoped that one day he would
realise he had done a very bad thing.

In this skirmish and over the weekend police
were indescriminate in their brutality.

The head of the Greek section of Amnesty International
was brutally attacked.

Undercover journalists were attacked. At least one journalist
from a UK mainstream newspaper was brutally attacked and despite his
scream of stop stop, the attack continued.

Until he could make it clear and show his press card.

Read his story: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/07/22/stifgneur02005.html

Report: Earlier in the day Silvio Berlusconi, the
Italian Prime Minister, publicly questioned
whether meetings like this could or should be
held in the current environment. Nevertheless,
the meeting continued, with one clear
concession to the concerns of those on the
other side of the fence. The group of eight
have pledged a billion dollars to a global
health fund to tackle AIDS, a move warmly
welcomed by the UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan.

Fact: On Fox News (foxtel) recently there was a report about
the election failures in the US system.

It was stated that it would take around 10billion
dollars to implement the preferred system of voting
in the US.

Based on a investigation carried out on the electoral
system because the debacle of their 2000 election.

Both the interviewer and the guests agreed that 10 billion
dollars was nothing to the US. Less than 1% of their
budget.

In fact they were all laughing at how little the upgrade
would cost and how simple the best solutions were.

A low tech option that ensured votes could be counted
electronically and manually if the need arose.

In light of this, for the G8 between them to offer 1
billion dollars combined, and the US alone something
like 300m could hardly seem like a serious solution
to the epidemic of Aids facing our developing nations.

If anything such a token gesture would only further
the angst of protestors. So wouldn't that be even
more reason to call off the summit?

Cancelling the third-world debt would release
many more billions of dollars. Installation
of a Tobin tax (goal of ATTAC, one of the
groups protesting) would have raised hundreds
of billions of dollars every year.

http://www.attac.org

Report: The violence and the police response to it
has shocked many.

Fact: Yes the police and violence did shock many.
However, if you look at the photographs all
over the internet, there is a clear correlation
between violence and police presence.

Therefore the 2 strings cannot be treated as
separate entities.

What the report should have said if it were
to be accurate is:

"The violence of the police response has shocked many."

So we call on the ABC to once again reveal the source
of the report and produce the evidence behind it's
inference.

Report: But there are real fears now
that the death of the young activist will spur
the more radical elements of the protest crowd
to even more violent activity.

Fact: Yes we agree. To extend the rationale we also
suggest it's precisely because of this type of
inaccurate reporting. Consequences of which
are suspicion, cynisicm and frustration. For
the protestors and only furthers the divide
between the leaders of the world and the protestors
issues.

Report: The more extreme Italian anarchist groups have
vowed to avenge the death of their comrade, and
the next 24 hours is set to be even more
explosive.

Fact: There is no evidence to suggest there are any "Italian"
anarchist groups at all.

The suggestion in itself raises eyebrows with those
who understand the anti-corporate protestors.

This indicates to many that whatever the source of
this report is knew that these people were in fact
Italian, if so, they must have known they were infiltrators.

Simply put, until Genoa, there was no such thing
as an Italian anarchist group.

Particularly not one that jumped out of police vans.
Never seemed to be attacked by the police and always
lead the police towards the peaceful protestors.

As these 'Italian anarchists' ran into the pacifists
they appeared to disperse. Strangely, easily navigating
the streets of Genoa, a very difficult town to find your
way around in if you are not familiar with it.

What was the reality?

The bulk of the real black bloc left Genoa. They
were disgusted at their counterparts they saw acting brutishly
and leading police into their fellow protestors.

The protest groups are closely affiliated and have a democratic
free speech expression of protest, what makes the black bloc
different is they attack the corporations in so much as their
targets are McDonalds, Banks, Nike. Basically any company they
feel is exploiting humanity.

This is why they protest wherever world leaders attend meetings.
To try and get the point across that our world is not one which
should be putting profit before humanity.

There are around 500 different groups in these protests and
they all work together very cohesively.

They use the internet as their preferred mode of communication
just like many millions of other people all over the world.

There is nothing sinister about this. It's very logical.

The bulk of the protestors realised that what they witnessed
in the streets that day was not the usual organised strategic
methods of what is a very misunderstood group the real Black Bloc,
which consists of mainly males but with a smaller number of females.

They would never rampage and riot. Well they had never done this
at any other protest before why would they start when they had
20,000 baton swinging police around them and the US military
around the harbour?

It simply doesn't make any sense.

There was mounting evidence that the black bloc had been infiltrated
by either the police, people working for the government or people
working for some other kind of international organisation.

We would like the ABC to again reveal the source of this report
and produce the evidence to back up their claims.

-----------

Conclusion:

-----------

After studying a myriad of testimonials submitted by protestors.

A police confession.

Video evidence and photographs of the violence and bloodshed
(some submitted with this Report)

We find, therefore, beyond reasonable doubt, that you did
publish, as Bob Johnston, Editor puts it "a number of reports on
our site over the last few days ... these can be found on our
Breaking Stories (Archive section) and a number on our AM site",
at least some of which were misleading.

We request you forward to us every report you published so
we have our right of reply.

We believe this occured because your sources were biased
and misinformed. You obviously did not bother to check
for truth content in your articles before they were published.

We further attest that this is dereliction of duty by the
reporters and editors concerned.

But we believe the full responsibility lies with John Howard
and Mr Shiers.

We base this statement on the surrounding circumstances of the
4 Corners report a couple of weeks ago.

When, despite the fact that ABC legal personnel had checked
the validity of all the surrounding facts of this report,
Mr Shiers claimed that it was within his job description
to ensure all truths were checked before a report was made
public.

We therefore call upon the immediate resignation of Mr Shiers
for dereliction of duty.

Further more, because the ABC is owned by we the people of
Australia, our appointed representative, the leader of our
democratically elected government, Mr John Howard is
indeed ultimately responsible for the appointment of Mr
Shiers.

We therefore also conclude that Mr Howard has been
derelict in his duties as the democratically elected
representative of the people of Australia.

He lacked the ability to ensure his appointment to
the position of head of the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, Mr Shiers, carry out his duty to report
in the interests of the Australian people.

We hereby rescind his mandate to represent us as the
leader of Australia and demand his immediate resignation.

We also believe he is not entitled to a superannuation
payout because he betrayed the trust we had put in him
to represent us, as a country, as a people, as citizens
of this world we call earth.

Fact: beyond reasonable doubt these reports
were misleading and new reports should be written that closer
reflect the truth.

We would also request you make an apology to the hundreds
of thousands of people who protested on our behalf in
Genoa.

We also advocate educating your readers and listeners (shareholders)
rather than treating them with this type of contempt.

We are not America. Propaganda is not in the ANZAC spirit.

Please honour our great soldiers and keep their memory alive.

We the people of Australia demand more accountability from
our elected representatives.

We also demand a change in constitution whereby our taxes
are not spent on trivialities while our infrustructure
falls around us.

Lastly, in view of Mr Howard's speech to the press on Wednesday
1st August, 2001 and some of his more unusual behaviour in the days
earlier, we question why he did not make reference to the fact that he
had been inspired by an email that was sent to him on the 29th July, 2001
and was written by Fiona White.

He inferred that it had been some kind of nebulous inspiration,
the meaning was actually fairly unclear.

Thankyou.

The People of Australia

Submitted directly by the People of Perth,

Commonwealth of Australia