BY SIMON TAYLER
After almost two years of waiting, Actively Radical TV will be (re)occupying the airwaves of Channel 31. Tune in to Channel 31 on Sundays at 10:30pm and watch ARTV's new program. The new format includes documentaries, The Left News, The Palestine Report, Community Focus and more.
For the insomniacs and afternooners alike, you can catch a repeat of the Sunday program on Thursdays at 3am or Fridays 2.30pm.
The first program went to air on February 26.
Meanwhile, Art Resistance TV DVD Edition 10 is now available. It contains the documentary Fight for Workers' Rights: Oppose Howard's IR Laws. This documentary features the November 15, 2005, workers' demonstrations around Australia. Using material filmed in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth along with interviews with Kevin Reynolds, WA state secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy union; Joe McDonald, WA assistant secretary, CFMEU; Kevin Bracken, Victorian state secretary, Maritime Union of Australia; Sue Bull, Victorian CFMEU member and Sue Bolton, national trade union convener, Socialist Alliance.
The DVD also includes the December 2005 Green Left Weekly public forum on civil liberties, which featured Nicole Watson, Indigenous activist; Julian Burnside QC; and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib.
Burnside, who acted for the Tampa refugees, spoke on how the federal government's "anti-terror" laws will seriously undermine basic civil freedoms that have been recognised for at least three centuries. He outlined the impact this legislation will have on ordinary people who may be picked up by ASIO and who will disappear for 7 days before being allowed to make a phone call. The only words by law that one can say on that phone call is "I'm safe". Burnside added that if you receive a phone call from a loved one who has disappeared and you hear those words, you will know that they are not safe!
The DVD also contains an edition of Community Focus that takes a look at the situation of Aboriginal deaths in custody, following the story of Daniel Scott and TJ Hickey.
DVDs may be purchased individually or by subscription. For further information ring (02) 9564 1277 or visit <http://www.activelyradicaltv.com/>
From Green Left Weekly, March 8, 2006.
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