Write on: letters to the editor

Write on Gareth Evans I am as outraged at your Gareth Evans competition as I was with my daughter who reckoned GE and Martin Evans vindicate phrenology. "The ducks are on the board Dad", she says. Don't get me wrong, GE has his faults: convoluted soporific monologues, syncopated political timing, and a stentorian temper that won't suffer fools gladly, as the Flaco plane incident proved. But just as Yeltsin is drying out the tinder for another revolutionary inferno, so GE is helping prepare the ALP for a massive purge. Look too at the Machiavellian mastery of approving a military dictatorship's genocidal "annexation" of yet another secessionist movement. Timor is Indonesia's thirtieth. Plus half the loot (oil) goes to a socialist government (i.e. the US). No, I'm afraid the GLW is pruning poppies again. Australia needs this firebrand quixotic radical. It's an open secret that he declined the Nobel peace prize; that Chirac physically trembles in his presence. Intellectually too GE is the equal of anything the opposition throws up — Bishop, Reith, Fisher ... he's our Prince of Wales. By nature GE is a boffin and weekend golfer — cursed with Welsh good looks and Charisma. A lay down misere for a PM — he won't stand while Carmen remains a woman. No, GE will go on being a trojan horse for egalitarianism. I can see him on Bank and superannuation boards selflessly devoting himself to more micro-economic reform, ripping off the odd book and hacking around the greens. Michael Widdup
North Rockhampton Qld ISO Andrew Watson (GLW #204) hits the nail on the head when he says that "Cliff's theory [of state-capitalism] is of little relevance to IS members in their day to day work". He is also right to say that the theory was used to "set the [British] SWP a world apart from the rest of the left". I believe it was this misuse of the theory, rather than the merits or demerits of the theory itself, that was the main problem with the SWP. I was therefore surprised to read that, according to Andrew, I endorse "sect-building". On the contrary, I came to realise that the activities of the ISO and all other "vanguard" sects are futile. The Alliance for Workers' Liberty (who organised the symposium that I commended to GLW readers) vigorously defends the key elements of the Lenin/Trotsky tradition. Does this make the AWL a sect? In an organisation like the SWP, the ideas of "the leader" are an important ingredient of its politics. Cliff genuinely believes he is a "Leninist", and the SWP is frantically trying to "build the revolutionary party". Criticism of these ideas and practices is not "blaming Cliff alone" or "dirt". It is a necessary part of any serious stocktaking, in Australia as well as in Britain. Roger Clarke
Brisbane Anti-nuke campaign The French government has gone ahead with their second test and the people of Tahiti (and indeed France) have demonstrated in practice that they continue to be opposed to the testing. In Newcastle, however, the anti-nuclear campaign has slowed right down. Before the first test, the French government was trying to convince the world that they could stand up to any protest. This was patently an attempt to demoralise people into believing that nuclear testing was inevitable. However, the opposite is true. The 1992 decision by the French to suspend testing is proof that they cannot withstand sustained, determined protest by people all over the world. If, however, we suspend our campaign, the French government's bravado becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy — and people will get demoralised. Claims that people have lost interest in protesting are, to say the least, untested. In fact there are a number of indications to the contrary. At the last protest, Solomon Islands trade unionist, David Tuhanaku, called on the Australian community to "keep the fire burning" and was well received. Suggestions by others that the campaign should continue also had a good response. We need to think beyond the short term towards rebuilding a vibrant peace and anti-nuclear movement in this country — one that is not hostage to the electoral interests of any political party. A meeting has been organised for Newcastle activists on Tuesday October 17 at Trades Hall to get the campaign moving again here. Kamala Emanuel, Jane Beckmann, Alex Bainbridge
Democratic Socialist Party
Newcastle NSW