The governance of fear

Editorial: the governance of fear

This month, full on politics seem unavoidable. The new 'anti-Terrorism legislation' and IR being introduced by the government will affect Australia in a deep way. Both legislations (in my view) are highly defensive and rely on fear and antagonism. This is the fear of those who are in a situation of power: fear of dissent, fear of difference, and fear of assertive workers. This creates a climate from which no one can be unaffected, which is particularly damaging for the creative professions and for the health of our cities.

None of these legislations provide a sustainable way to the future. The promise of higher income does not take into consideration that resources are limited, that we have an already damaged environment and that our global and local social environment is eroded.

How can we be unaffected by the discrimination and silent suffering that Muslim Australians are undergoing? I wonder about their feeling of being unwelcome - whether they are or not - about those kids who see themselves portrayed as the “other” on television.

It is our own inability to protest and to coordinate a response to this outrage and the fact that there is a new malicious element determining the relations between people that I believe we should be fearful about.

So, among all the activities that as AFP we are trying to generate, I would also encourage you to join us at the national demonstrations on Tuesday and to consider signing the petition opposing the anti-terrorism legislation.

Beatriz C. Maturana
arch-peace president


Habitat III World Urban Forum in Vancouver June 2006
As part of Arc Peace international, AFP has been invited to attend the Habitat III World Urban Forum in Vancouver June 2006. This will also provide an opportunity to participate in the ARC-PEACE conference, which will take place around the same time. (ARC•PEACE International Architects Designers Planners for Social Responsibility, is and NGO in consultative status (category II) with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations).

Arc Biennial Brisbane:

The Brisbane Arc Biennial was an exciting event that congregated local and international speakers from the arts and urban environment. The biennale also offered a good opportunity for AFP to network with other organisations and people. Anthony McInneny and Beatriz C. Maturana participated in two of the panels, one dealing with design and sustainability and the other with public art and public space. They will be presenting their talks soon at words@bld50.

photo: Beatriz C. Maturana, Cameron Tonkinwise , Tony Fry and Anne-Marie Willis

One interesting feature of the Brisbane Arc Biennale was its excellent quality together with the affordability of the talks and events, most of which were free to the public and students.
This makes us wonder as to why similar events, with similar or higher levels of sponsorship can cost as much as $90 per day for students (Future Shock- http://www.2050.org.au/) ?!

Are you interested to be part of our AFP team?
We need more active members to take care of the many aspects we are trying to cover. We need support with:
· coordination of campaigns
· overseas projects
· media and publicity
· assistance with membership
· website development (good knowledge of HTML and PHP and others are necessary)
· coordination of forums/seminars
· newsletter production

This is all volunteer work, however, as for the existing team, commitment and professionalism are essential. If you are interested but not sure yet as to how to assist or about the time demands, please contact us and we will explain in more detail – we work as a team and we support each other on each others tasks. The more people we have, the easier it becomes for everyone involved – so we can also ensure fun as part of the work.

If you cannot be an active member, but would like to contribute, why don’t you help us with the Internet forum? It is easy, you can add news, respond to topics – do as little or as much as you can. You can also take care of an issue of your interest and add and keep the topic going – ie. Environment, reconstruction etc.

Note: send us your photo (portrait) to be included in our Architects for Peace’s front elevation…

Sydney, we are on the way there!
To our Sydney members, whatever we are doing in Melbourne, can be done in Sydney – some would say 10 times better, hum… - let’s see.
Our Team in Melbourne was formed by members that met as the result of the birth of AFP. So, the same thing can happen in Sydney and everywhere else. We are an optimistic bunch and we have no reason to be other way, as AFP has provided us with the opportunity to meet great people everywhere.

Our Melbourne team will be visiting Sydney soon. We will grab a car, drive to Sydney and hopefully meet you all!
We are thinking about a get together at the Botanical gardens. We also have work we presented at the intentCITY conference, under-construction workshop and more recently the Arc-Biennial in Brisbane, so if you can help us to organise it, we could have a slide night/ drinks and chat. How does it all sound?
Please let us know what would be the best date to meet, we are thinking about a weekend in mid–December, early January?

The under-construction workshop: a day of learning, sharing and fun!
Did you attend under-construction? If you did, we want to hear from you, please send us your name and write your comments at "under-construction" blog: here. Find all about at the AFP website/under-construction







Actions in Australia:
The anti-terrorism legislation petition: we have decided to continue collecting signatures until before November 28th, so please consider signing or/and pass it to others.
IR: On Tuesday 15 November, come and join hundreds of thousands of Australians in standing up for decent working conditions and workplace rights. And bring your friends!
Details: http://www.butterpaper.com/talk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1073#1073