UN and Cambodia
Of all the crimes against humanity committed in the name of the UN (Gulf War, Bosnia etc) by far the worst is the role of the UN in Cambodia as detailed by John Pilger in his latest film Return To Year Zero. Despite their protestations of neutrality the actions of the UN have strengthened the Khmer Rouge ("Party of Democratic Kampuchea") and could result in their returning to power.
While it is good that SBS showed the film it was disappointing that they followed it with a panel who unanimously supported the UN's role as if to appease right wing critics.
Gareth Evans said on May 15 that the Hun Sen government is not recognised by the international community having been installed by the Vietnamese Army. This ignores the wishes of the Cambodian people. It contrasts starkly with Gareth's support for the government of Panama, installed following the US invasion in 1989, and the continued occupation of East Timor by Indonesia.
UN policies on the Khmer Rouge who Prince Sihanouk described as "Those naughty dogs who must be caressed" have reached a new low. People working for the UN are being told that only 100,000 people died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge whereas the true figure is over 1 million. And mines are still being cleared by civilians, many of them children, "one leg at a time" according to Dave Evans, a volunteer prosthesist.
If this is how the UN keeps the peace may we all be spared the imposition of a UN peacekeeping farce.
Alex Cooper
Chris Green
Melbourne
Proportional representation
In a recent edition of GLW (April 28) the point was made that it is ridiculous for Italy to think it can solve corruption by abandoning Proportional Representation (PR) for the less democratic First Past The Post (FPTP). While this is true, it is important to understand that there are many forms of PR and they are not all equally good. Italy's, while appearing fair is actually one of the worst, although still better than FPTP.
While it is important for the Left to fight for greater PR we need to be aware of the virtues of the different systems, and focus our campaign on the better versions. If the Italian left had made this case it is possible that they would now have voted in a system like that in Ireland or Germany, rather than Britain.
Stephen Luntz
North Carlton Vic
For better or for worse?
Murdoch, Packer, and Black like to insist that their media empires are free from any sort of editorial control, but it seems that not even the humble comic strip is free from censorship.
"For Better or For Worse" is a comic strip currently being run in the Adelaide Advertiser on a daily basis. It began the "consummate family strip of the eighties" by the creator of Garfield, Jim Davis.
Last week the strip was omitted from the Advertiser due to the fact that Lawrence, a teenage character in the strip, came out as gay.
In the United States over a dozen papers refused to run the comic. The editor of one of those papers, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, said that he had problems with the strip because it "clearly condoned the gay lifestyle".
This is not the first time homosexual characters have appeared in comic strips. Doonesbury had a homosexual character introduced back in 1977. The character eventually died of AIDS.
Lynn Johnston, the writer of "For Better or for Worse" has been considering the revelation about Lawrence for five years. The issue strikes close to home for Johnston, whose brother-in-law is gay. She was the first person he told.
Adam Hanieh
Adelaide
Anti-Israel bias
I am getting a little bored with Green Left Weekly's anti-Israel bias as reflected most recently in your interview with official PLO representative Ali Kazak (GLW 12/5/93).
Last week visiting Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beillin told the Australian press that Israel would be returning the entire Gaza Strip, most of the Golan Heights and a substantial segment of the West Bank to Arab and Palestinian rule. But, according to Ali Kazak, this offer constitutes no "significant change". To me at least, it sounds a little bit different to the previous Israeli government's stand that "not one inch" of the occupied territories would be exchanged for peace.
Earlier GLW articles claimed that Israelis who wanted to give land back to Palestinians were "outrageous racists" (GLW, 21/4/93) and that an interim autonomy arrangement would constitute a "bantustan" (GLW, 5/5/93).
One may well ask what Israel has to do to satisfy Mr Kazak and GLW. I dare say that you would still not be happy if Israel returned to the 1947 partition borders and permitted the approximately half a million Palestinian refugees from the 1948 civil war to return to their homes that no longer exist. No doubt Israel would still be a bastion of racism and imperialism whatever its internal political changes.
Surely as one of the few remaining left-wing publications left in Australia, GLW has a responsibility to ensure that progressive viewpoints from both sides of the Israeli/Arab conflict are heard in its pages. This could include coverage of the Israeli left, which is now at the centre of governing power, or coverage of the views of local Australian Jewish left organisations such as the Jewish Democratic Society and the Sydney Jewish Left.
Isn't it about time the Australian left abandoned the "good anti-Zionist Jews/bad any other Jews" line that dominated the 1970s and 1980s.
Philip Mendes
North Caulfield Vic
Congratulations
Just about the first thing I turn to when I get my copy of Green Left each week is the "and ain't I a woman" column.
It provides not only ongoing coverage of important and topical issues in the women's movement but I also find it extremely inspiring and informative. Green Left deserves congratulations for providing such a quality piece each week.
As someone who has been involved in the women's movement for a number of years, the debates, controversies and discussions featured in Green Left provide a way of staying involved as activists in these debates and relating them directly to the day to day struggle by women for liberation. Green Left puts the conditions faced by women in our everyday lives into a perspective of struggle, a perspective that enables us to continue to be inspired by the battles being fought by others involved in struggle in Australia and also internationally.
It's this kind of coverage that's sorely lacking in all other media: a feminist-oriented and activist-oriented approach to struggle, where women are inspired to get involved in the collective movement for our own liberation.
Kath Gelber
Canberra