Just when it seemed that a bail-out by the International Monetary Fund was becoming the fashionable thing to do in the Asia-Pacific region, we at Green Left Weekly came to a startling realisation.
We realised that we are not in a position to apply for such generous, no-strings-attached assistance because we simply don't have large enough debts. Our need to raise money, despite being very urgent and real, doesn't quite fall into the multi-billion dollar bracket of debt that seems to be the prerequisite for the currency-propping deals recently done between Washington and some of our neighbouring countries.
So who can we turn to for help?
It's clear that those who benefit from the current system are unlikely to fund a networking, activist newspaper whose reason for existence is to facilitate the discussion and information exchange essential to strengthen the movements for social change.
The conservative federal government is hardly likely to donate money to keep afloat the best source of information about what is really happening in Australia under its rule.
The repressive Suharto regime — exposed each week by Green Left Weekly for its abuse of human rights in East Timor, West Papua and Indonesia — is not handing around the donation buckets for the newspaper that brings this information to Australia and the rest of the world.
Because of this, each week we ask our readers, subscribers and supporters to give money to the Green Left Weekly Fighting Fund. We rely on your continuing generosity to keep Green Left Weekly in production so that the paper can continue its vital role in Australian and international politics.
Please give to the Fighting Fund. Green Left Weekly — it's your paper.