Flat Earth Society on mandatory sentencing
The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and the Premier of Western Australia deserve accolades for their forbearance in dealing with the ill informed demands for tougher sentencing they themselves have created.
They have shown through their mandatory sentencing policies that they can eliminate, by encouraged suicide, those who might continue to carry out minor property offences such as pencil stealing and biscuit pilfering.
Both the Premier and the Chief Minister have claimed their legislation does not discriminate on the grounds of race despite overwhelming evidence which demonstrates that young Aboriginal people are disproportionately jailed as a consequence of Western Australian and Territory mandatory sentencing laws.
The justification both these men have provided for persevering with mandatory sentencing is that the public wants it. The public want honest politicians, lower taxes, more services, less red tape, more holidays, lower interest rates, higher pay, a decent social security system, less unemployment and many other things which they are unlikely to ever get.
I am concerned that eventually mandatory sentencing in both these places will go the way of the dinosaurs. Therefore it is important for all members of the Flat Earth Society to join with me in offering solutions to the Premier and the Chief Minister.
In order to ensure they are in a position to capitalise upon public hysteria about crime I suggest they give full consideration to introducing two new crimes, namely: Attempting to prove innocence; and Failing to plead guilty as charged.
Such charges should be sufficient to keep their prisons full if vigorously applied.
Deagon Qld
[Abridged.]
Buena Vista Social Club
I have to disagree with Federico Fuentes and Marina Carman when they state that the film, Buena Vista Social Club, reinforces the lies and distortions about Cuba. Obviously this film was never intended to be a political statement about the Cuban revolution.
Admittedly, when I saw the film, there were times when I wished explanations about the dilapidated housing and other seemingly negative aspects of Cuban society had been made. But the film was made by a musician wanting to bring Cuban music and specifically these Cuban musicians to the attention of Western audiences. We can't expect such endeavours to contain everything we would like to hear and see.
I went away from this film feeling moved and uplifted by the beautiful music and the spirit of the Cuban Revolution, which I believe these musicians portrayed. The scene at the end when the Cuban flag is brought onto the stage highlighted this for me and many of my friends.
Many may not understand this spirit. That is not the fault of the film, but the anti-Cuban propaganda machine. If people draw the wrong conclusions then we as revolutionaries need to set the record straight, but not negate the value of this film.
Capitalism will attempt to distort the truth or even to exploit revolutions for its own ends. For example, in the past Che Guevara's popularity was used to sell cigars. If Cuban music is used to make profits or even attack the Cuban Revolution we shouldn't attack the popularity of this music, just as we wouldn't attack the appeal of Che Guevara. Rather, we explain what he actually stood for.
This film can also be used as tool to begin discussions about Cuban society.
Melbourne
[Abridged.]
GST on tampons
Feminists have recently demanded that tampons should not be classified as any old good, and be made exempt from the GST. The reason behind this is firmly rooted in feminist theory. As tampons are something that only women of a certain age use, and more, need, to tax them is discriminatory. Sexist, just as a GST on yarmulkes would be racist.
If tampons are so utterly necessary, why aren't feminists like Senator Natasha Stott Despoja campaigning to have them made free of all charge, like tertiary education used to be? Is it because women do not want to be seen to be looked after by a sugar daddy taxpayer? Or is it because the feminine hygiene industry might disagree quite vehemently with such an imposition on their freedom to trade?
Feminism started out with noble ideals, but has lost a lot over the years through contradiction and splintering. In the debate over the GST on tampons, it has become a group of whining schoolgirls complaining that their father doesn't give them enough money.
Their credibility is further tainted by the fact that this debate became a public issue because of the deputy leader of the Australian Democrats, a party which had the power to block the GST. Failing that, they fought tooth and nail to have the GST on food removed, but nothing else for some reason.
[Abridged.]
Privatisation
Popular opposition to the further sale of Telstra is encouraging. However, a remarkable claim keeps appearing in the press. Capitalism is good for the workers because it generates profits which are distributed to workers as dividends and through superannuation and insurance policies.
This argument disregards the highly non-egalitarian distribution of profits under capitalism. A socialist system which distributed the same profits in an egalitarian fashion would financially benefit about 85% of the population.
Alternatively, if there were no distributed profits, wages could be higher and/or prices could be lower. Since wage and expenditure distributions are much less unequal than the distribution of profits under capitalism most people would also be better-off under a system with no distributed profits but increased wages and reduced prices.
Logically, if privatisations are a bad idea, nationalisations — with minimal compensation for wealthy shareholders — must be a good idea. When will this truth dawn on the millions who oppose the full privatisation of Telstra?
Rydalmere NSW
Globalisation
I read with interest the article "Globalisation — understanding and resisting the monster" (GLW #392). I am concerned with the amount of time left-wing organisations spend opposing the establishment of a global market.
Much of what I read is reminiscent of the buy Australia campaign run by that noted capitalist Dick Smith. Indeed, one Queensland convenience store recently went so far as to place "foreign goods" on one side of the aisle and "Australian made" goods on the other. This places substantial pressure on people to avoid the foreign product.
This sort of approach reflects a type of economic Hansonism, which is to be resisted at all costs. I fail to see what is so great about preserving the economic independence of the nation state.
Of course, international capital exploits workers and drains resources from poor nations to the so-called developed world. However, this has been going on for over 200 years. The challenge for us as socialists is to form international bonds with trade unions and green organisations so that we can present a united front opposing those who control the means of production.
We have seen how effectively the MUA used their international connections to win a battle on the waterfront, this should only be the tip of the iceberg. I would encourage all people to use the Internet to locate and establish links with those progressive organisations which operate on a global scale. In the long term this is our only hope.
Whiterock Qld
Rape
I subscribe to Green Left because I admire the high standard of journalism. Sometimes, however, greenie, leftist ideology can get in the way of sound logic. Mostly, when this happens, I'm slightly amused and let it go by. Not this time though.
Margaret Allum has really gonged out in her article (February 9) "Are men biologically programmed to rape?". I have followed the controversy created by Thornhill's and Palmer's book in the mainstream media, noting that it boils down to a question of whether men rape because they are sexually attracted to their victim (the view of the authors) or because they want to exercise power over their victim (supported by the authors' mainly feminist critics).
It should be noted that, in Neo-Darwinist parlance, reproductive desire is shorthand for being sexually attracted. This point is apparently lost on Margaret, who says that "Rape in society ... has nothing to do with the desire to reproduce. The only scenario in which this may be a factor is the use of rape in war against ethnic groups to produce children of the perpetrator's ethnicity."
The authors of the book would probably say that Margaret has referred to one of the few instances where rape occurs for reasons other than sexual attraction. She needs to think a little harder before next time putting pen to paper on this issue.
Keep up the good work.
Mt Ommaney Qld
National Textiles
Further to National Textiles being bailed out by the Liberal government with taxpayers' money. Why?
After all what they and other firms like them have done is misused funds in their care.
Understand that if, for instance, a solicitor did the same thing with funds entrusted to their care they would be jailed.
So why have not charges of misuse of funds entrusted to their care been laid against the responsible executives in National Textiles?
Balmain NSW
Animal rights
I'm a believer in equality and justice, but my concerns are not confined to the human race alone. Not an issue of Green Left Weekly goes by without an incorrect or dismissive reference to our animal cousins, who by the way, suffer some of the greatest crimes of our inhumanity in research laboratories and on intensive "farms", and so on.
Green Left Weekly February 9 (page 11): "Animal behaviour cannot be extrapolated to human behaviour because humans do not act on the basis of mere instincts." In fact, animals do not operate purely instinctually and are capable of independent thought.
Conversely, it is impossible to unravel the threads of human nature to distinguish absolutely which of our behaviours are purely instinctual, although sexual passion may be one obvious example.
If animal behaviour cannot be extrapolated to humans it is because the human animal differs physiologically and psychologically as much (or as little) from other animals, as the multitude of species differ from each other. Maybe it would be a good idea to exercise more editorial muscle for the sake of philosophical consistency!
Bundeena NSW