Reading through the messages of support coming in for Green Left Weekly's "Spring Offensive" fundraising appeal, I was reminded of the old saying: "You don't know what you have until you lose it."
Over in North America, there is a country with the biggest of everything. Biggest armed forces, biggest slice of the world pie, biggest carbon footprint — even the biggest debt! And if you believe the mainstream media, the political heads of the world's 20 biggest economies are now there, sorting out "solutions" to global warming and other critical issues.
But something is missing in that rich and powerful country, wrote Kathy Black, a leading activist from US Labor Against the War.
"I hope Australians realise how lucky they are to have a national newspaper that comprehensively covers today's critical issues facing workers, women, indigenous people, and our planet. Especially impressive has been their exposure of the evils of the empire and the questionable motives and actions of governments who have waged an unprovoked war in Iraq.
"US Labor Against the War is very appreciative of the efforts Green Left Weekly has made to link the struggles of workers for a fair economy — that provides living wages and decent working conditions — with the necessary scaling back of militarism and the wasteful billions that fund immoral and unnecessary wars.
"I urge all readers to make donations now, and keep this paper going. And I thank GLW for your superlative international solidarity."
This is a view echoed by other North American readers.
Michael Lebowitz, Canadian writer, lecturer and currently a director of the Centro Internacional Miranda (a left-wing think tank in Venezuela), wrote: "Whenever I think about GLW, I immediately wonder why there isn't a comparable paper in Canada or the US!
"GLW takes up the absolutely critical issues for our times: among them, the struggles of workers and communities, of immigrants and original peoples, and against capitalist destruction of what Marx called 'the original sources of wealth' — human beings and nature.
"In the struggle over the alternatives before us, socialism or barbarism, GLW is a real example of how critical and complex issues can be communicated to people in a way that can put people in motion.
"If only that example could be followed elsewhere, we'd be so much further ahead in challenging the hegemony of capital and helping to defeat barbarism. Keep that paper going — we all need it."
John Riddell, co-editor of Socialist Voice in Canada, wrote: "GLWis a beacon for all of us in distant countries working in the common cause of world solidarity. Here in Canada, GLW is known for its well-researched and illuminating reports on revolutionary struggles in Venezuela, Bolivia, and elsewhere in Latin America.
"But GLW covers every part of the globe and relates experiences in struggle to socialist theory — an indispensable tool!"
Richard Fiddler, from Ottawa, Canada, wrote: "GLW is a vital tool in the English language for all those fighting for a socialist world free of national oppression and imperialist domination. Especially important to me are the outstanding on-the-spot reports and analyses by Federico Fuentes and other comrades of the efforts by Latin American companeros and companeras to confront the challenges of building a grassroots-based socialism of the 21st century."
The Spring Offensive, launched at the start of September, has raised nearly $21,000 for our fighting fund. This year, we've raised $169,279. That's 68% of our $250,000 target. To be on target, by the end of this month we need to raise another $18,000. Please reach for your wallet or cheque book now and help us get there!