Kyoto conference
Like Australia's recalcitrant failure to address the greenhouse gas emissions problem, financial support for the environmentally destructive Indonesian Government is one more example of the antipathy of the Federal Government towards ecological sustainability. If the sneering approach of the Australian and United States governments dominates the outcome of the Kyoto conference on atmospheric degradation the world can look forward to an even more rapid climate change with foreseeable and unforeseeable disastrous events.
We urgently need governments with a radically different view of ecological sustainability, not only in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the rest of Asia, but throughout the world. Developing countries must be given a sustainable example, not a destructive one driven solely by financial considerations.
Alawa NT
National Action provocation
We have been following with great concern the news coming from Adelaide about the continued provocations staged by the fascist and racist group National Action in Rundle Mall. We have been particularly worried at repeated attacks perpetrated by National Action members against the activists promoting Campaign Against Racism events.
Here in Melbourne the Campaign Against the Nazis has managed to squeeze National Action considerably through a process of promoting educational public events and confronting the National Action shop in the working class suburb of Fawkner with militant disciplined demonstrations.
Our demonstrations and other public events have been organised by developing a united front according to the simple rules of providing no platform for fascists or those who support the fascists, and maintaining an open platform for all organisations and individuals who agree with the main objective of the Campaign Against the Nazis to close down the National Action shops.
At our last meeting we passed the following motion:
Campaign Against the Nazis supports the right of the Campaign Against Racism to publicise its activities in Rundle Mall, Adelaide. We support the right to stand up against racist attacks. We resolve to support and provide resources to community campaigns aiming to close down the National Action shop in the Adelaide suburb of Salisbury.
In Melbourne some more public events to oppose the National Action shop in Fawkner are planned for the months leading up to our next mass demonstrations scheduled for March 15. It may be possible to coordinate some of these activities between Melbourne and Adelaide. Campaign Against the Nazis can be contacted at PO Box 798, Brunswick Lower 3056, phone 9513 1521.
Brunswick Vic
'Moral rights' legislation
As a film maker who has worked all over the world, I think Australia should be proud of the great contribution its writers make. Without them, our wonderful, unique and extraordinary stories would not be told. It is my passion to tell stories and moral rights are essential for me to protect that telling.
With moral rights protection, when an audience sees a film that I've written, whether it is today or in fifty years, they will know that they are seeing my work as I want them to see it.
For some ridiculous reason, the proposed Moral Rights legislation plans to give moral rights with one hand and take them away with the other, through a waiver. This is a bad joke.
The Screen Producers Association of Australia has said it has no objection to me having moral rights over works I have written, but insisting on an automatic waiver would suggest otherwise.
Producers seem to trust writers' judgments on creative matters, but only up to a certain point — the point they decide they don't need them any more. If they expect a writer to have a responsibility to the work and the producer, surely that responsibility should be reciprocated. That's what moral rights are all about.
The introduction of Moral Rights legislation is long overdue in Australia — to allow these Moral Rights to be taken away with a waiver would not only be offensive, but immoral.
Sydney
Student elections
It was interesting to read your article regarding the Guild and NUS elections at Edith Cowan University [GLW #295]. Thankyou for highlighting the way ECU's NUS delegates are being used as pawns in an NUS National Office Bearers game.
We will fight for the accreditation of the democratically elected delegates for 1997/1998, including delegates from an International Student Group, Resistance, Young Liberals and NOLS.
I would like to clarify some points: First, we would love to be able to afford the Electoral Commission's services to run our Student Elections, however due to the Multi-Campus structure, unique to ECU, it would cost in excess of $40,000. Voluntary Student Unionism has seen our membership dollars fall from $1.2 million annually to $300,000 to run an organisation which seeks to represent equally the interests of all ECU students on all ECU campuses.
We also believe in student control of student affairs. The reason that the upfront fees issue was not used as a major campaign tool was that we had already succeeded in stopping the introduction of up-front fees for undergraduates at ECU earlier this year.
The "technicalities" mentioned in Stuart's article knocked out potential candidates from all sides of the political spectrum — mine included. Furthermore, these decisions were upheld by an election tribunal which was independently chaired by Warwick Claydon, the President of the NTEU WA branch. You can't get much fairer than that.
The last comment in the article, that the losers in this farce are the students, does not do justice to Angela Luvera, a Resistance delegate, and the others elected. The students had their say. Regardless of ECU's relationship with NUS National Office, we will always see our primary role as representing our students, regardless of politics.
President, Edith Cowan University Student Guild
Perth
[Abridged.]
Democratic centralism and police spies
The point of my article in GLW # 293 was precisely to argue against the sort of paranoia evident in Chris Beale's letter in GLW # 295. No, "democratic centralism" is not a "magic wand ... to defeat police spies". I never said it was.
If Beale were to re-read my article he would see that I said "democratic centralism" helped prevent police agents from disrupting organisations, not from infiltrating or spying on them. The main thrust of the article was that getting paranoid and creating an atmosphere of "security" would not help combat the police, but would damage the movement.
After the victorious Russian revolution threw open the tsarist police's vaults and went through the files they discovered that many of their elaborate "counter-measures" against police surveillance had been futile. More ominously, the Philippines Communist Party in the '80s engaged in a campaign against "deep entry agents" that saw the persecution or execution of many good, committed party members. As a result they also lost a sizeable amount of support amongst their peasant base.
Yes "Big Brother" is watching, let's be aware of it, let's campaign against police spooks and breaches of our civil rights, but let's not get paranoid and let it deflect us from the main game. Oh, and I don't travel by taxis any more — can't afford to — I'm on Austudy.
Melbourne