While the Green Left presses may have been silent over the Christmas period, that didn't stop activists from getting out and winning new supporters to the project.
Between December 28 and January 1, a team of activists from Brisbane, Sydney and other cities, staffed a Green Left stall at the Maleny Folk Festival at Woodford in Queensland. Over the five days around 1500 back issues of the paper were distributed as samples and 300 of the current issue were sold. In addition, 130 people decided to become subscribers of the paper.
This is a great start to 1995. Subscribers are the backbone of the Green Left Weekly project. Building Green Left's subscription base over the break gives the project a great foundation to start 1995 in full swing.
From all accounts, the festival was a huge success, one that Green Left was pleased to have been involved in. In its own way the festival made a significant contribution to cultural diversity. At Maleny people challenged widely held beliefs through the media of music and performance art. It relied on the dedication and commitment of volunteers, rather than the slick promoters and profiteers who compromise art for profit.
Green Left is committed to the same thing in the print medium. It is no surprise that we found quite a number of new participants in the project at the festival. Many of the performers regularly lend their talents to help raise money for Green Left.
This year Green Left will be raising $115,000 to keep the project going. Like the Maleny festival we rely on volunteers, money raised and generous donations. You can be a part of this project. You can read, write, subscribe and distribute the paper. Green Left Weekly — it's your newspaper. n