Write on: letters to the editor

CPA A naive attitude to the former USSR seems to have been common to most Communist Parties with the exception of the Trotskyites and those influenced by them. In Australia, Ernest E. Judd, secretary of the Socialist Labour Party in the 1930s, exposed and condemned the evils of Stalinism. From 1964 Laurie and Eric Aarons brought about a radical change for the better concerning the attitude to the socialist countries. Realism replaced naive idealism. Trotskyism was no longer synonymous with treachery. Stalinist slanders were repudiated and his crimes condemned. The best way to see this change is to contrast the attitude to the Soviet Doctors who were framed in 1952, and exonerated after Stalin's death, with the writers Daniel and Sinyavsky in 1966. In 1952 the Party blindly accepted the verdict of the Soviet court, whereas in 1966 the majority of Party members rejected its verdict and demanded the two writers' release from prison. The media have repeated since 1989 that Communism has collapsed. According to the Marxist concept of Communism it has never prevailed. What collapsed was a bureaucratic form of socialism in its embryonic stages of evolution. The historical analysis that appeared in your paper which was written by John Percy will assist the thoughtful reader to learn from the merits and mistakes of the former CPA and provide some measure of optimism for the future.
Bernard Rosen
Sydney
[Edited for length.] Muroroa cracks French president Jacques Chirac announced he will complete the nuclear weapons test in our back yard, and he has consistently denied the nuclear tests would have any environmental impact. 1300 leading French scientists who signed a special petition demanding an end to the nuclear tests have been denied full access to information about the effects of the blasts. They claim that the best qualified scientists had been left out or; like those working for France's official Commission on Atomic Energy (CEA); were not independent. CEA officials insist that the atolls are stable enough to stand the nuclear tests. Le Monde reported that a secret 1980 military report had mapped extensive cracks in the structure of Moruroa. One crack was 4.5 kilometres long and 3.5 metres wide, another on the atoll's north side was 8.5 kilometres long. Most major fissures have been filled with cement by the test site team since the map was drafted, but some 100 additional tests have since been carried out underneath the atoll.
Don Mackay
Port Macquarie NSW
[Edited for length.] Hindmarsh inquisition Ngarrindjeri women were wise to shroud their beliefs from prying eyes. Just look at what the tyrannical powers are doing with these beliefs today. A royal inquisition, no less, contests their validity and now demands, by subpoena, access to sensitive information. The insensitive way in which the government has dealt with the matter has led to community and family splits, anxiety, insecurity and fear. The issue revolves around the ever evolving concept of fecundity. The exponential rate of coastal degradation is alarming. Those who live and look and listen on these banks note that life is diminishing here. Those who conduct surveys substantiate this fact. Furthermore, studies of the Murray River system conclude that development which encourages population increase along and around the waters must cease if the river is to be saved. One doesn't have to be a Ngarrindjeri woman to feel the pain of what is happening. It is not so much the secret women's business that the people of Australia need to hear, but rather the secrets of local and state government misconceptions and of power dictated by the dollar. In view of the apparently condoned development of Kumarangk/Hindmarsh Island, the state government's proposal of a $4 levy to clean up the river system is hypocrisy.
Linda Downing
Adelaide
[Edited for length.] Congratulations Congratulations on the success of the John Pilger talk on East Timor. It was excellently organised and very well promoted, as shown by the capacity crowd and queues at the door on the night. I hope all those that attended will also support the "No more Dili massacres" rally in Melbourne on November 12.
Malcolm McDonough
Melbourne ASIO A front page article in the October 25 Australian titled "ASIO warning: threat of racist backlash" reported that ASIO's annual report contained an "unprecedented warning" about a possible violent backlash by extremist, "home-grown", anti-Asian militia groups in Australia who oppose the government's push for closer ties with Asia. The findings have apparently prompted ASIO to boost its surveillance of "anti-Asian" groups. The article described the "volatile" nature of recent "anti-Indonesian" protests during the visit of Indonesian vice-president Tri Sutrisno and development minister Habibie which, it said, have "raised security concerns". Anti-Asian racism had nothing to do with these protests which were predominantly organised by East Timorese and pro-East Timorese and pro-Indonesian democracy groups. Most of these demonstrations were calling on the Australian Labor government to end its military ties with the Suharto dictatorship. ASIO's approach, in essence, is an attempt to redefine racism to mean opposition to authoritarian regimes in Asia. Democracy and self-determination are not "cultural" issues, as the Suharto government insists, but basic human rights. You can be sure that ASIO won't be keeping tabs on Nick Bolkus for interning Asian refugees who have fled regimes supported by the Australian government.
James Balowski
Assistant National Coordinator
Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (Aksi)
Chippendale NSW
[Edited for length.]