Profits and sea levels
Apart from the continuing support for the occupation of East Timor, almost "part of the furniture" of Australian governments whatever the name of the party in power, there are two things which I find almost too much to take. They are; the attack on the modest but hard-won gains on Aboriginal Land Rights, and Howard's pronouncements on greenhouse gas emissions.
In this country of conspicuous consumption (and less conspicuous poverty) it is obvious that huge cuts in CO2 production are possible. But Howard and his friends are happy to see Pacific island nations swallowed up to maintain profits. Profit levels are more important than sea levels, according to this lot.
I just want to add a note of congratulations on the recent ASIET Activists Conference on East Timor and Indonesia. Due to family commitments, I could not be there. I am sure there are many people in a similar position. Thank goodness that for members of activist and solidarity groups, not occupied with "family responsibilities", their revolt has not been a "revolt into style" which capitalism thrives on, but a revolt into commitment and activism. You are there for the rest of us.
Keep it up!
Pastoral leases
Extinguish pastoral leases, compensate the pastoralists, they can then negotiate with the owners.
Palestine
Adam Hanieh in his "Noose tightens around Palestine" (GLW #290) illustrates very clearly the impossibility of dealing with an Israeli government dominated by religious fanatics whose attitude is to agree to nothing!
This quite insanely leaves war as the only option, since that is totally unacceptable to all rational people who the sooner the Netanyahu government is overthrown the better, although this alone is not enough.
There is much disquiet about the weakness of Yasser Arafat and suspicion of corruption within his ranks.
Meanwhile it is important to expose the unrelenting savagery of the Israeli government and its troops and to realise that there is an unending line of Hamas patriots seething with hatred for oppressors who must seem to be comparable with the Nazis. They are ready to sacrifice their lives as they view a situation they regard as comparatively hopeless.
This view was not helped by the arrival of the US Secretary of State Albright followed by an American millionaire intent on sabotaging any peace prospects by buying houses for Jews in East Jerusalem for long seen by Palestinians as their future base. I urge readers to again read the article by Adam Hanieh which shows clearly that the main villains of the piece are Israeli terrorists.
Terrorism
At the age of nine, I was a schoolboy in Vienna in 1932, when troops of the clerico-fascist government exterminated thousands of socialist workers — the only armed working-class in Europe — holed up in the city's workers' flats, using artillery mortars, grenades and machine-guns. The workers' futile resistance was in line with the Austrian Socialist Party's defensive strategy; the sort sanctioned by Doug Lorimer in his letter (17.9.97).
Despite meeting Lorimer's arbitrary conditions for "permissible" armed struggle, the workers' actions in this case still came under the current dictionary and media definition of "terrorism", namely "resisting a government by deliberate acts of violence". "Terrorism" is simply a ruling-class swear-word to throw at dissidents.
When Trotsky rejected "terrorism" in 1911 he was probably referring to a small group of non-mainstream anarchists with an ideology which has long ago ceased to exist; by 1917 he was at the head of what was by now accepted definition an armed terrorist group which started what was later called the October Revolution after it succeeded. On a different scale, Australian media referred — by the above definition correctly — to unionists' action in attacking the doors of Parliament with a jemmy as "terrorism".
Instead of using semantic subterfuge to distance ourselves from everything the establishment conveniently refers to as terrorism, we should point out the hypocrisy of such accusations coming, as they do, from people who are currently inflicting terror on humanity as well as on our planet. If we disagree with certain actions by individuals and groups of fellow dissenters from the system, we should do so by analysing these actions individually rather than by using ambiguous blanket terminology to cover vastly varied rationales.
Tariffs
In the latest edition of the socialist organisation Militant's monthly newspaper, there is a picture of Geelong town hall carrying a banner calling for retention of tariffs. Militant's caption says this is "the fight the whole town must undertake to save jobs".
To buy into the tariffs campaign is opportunist. Simply because unions have campaigned on the issue does not make tariffs progressive. As Green Left has reported, tariff rallies have been flag-waving anthem-singing nationalist beat-ups, with speakers including Jeff Kennett and Kim Beazley.
Tariffs amount to a subsidy to business. Subsidising business is no solution to the problem of growing unemployment and job losses. After years of massive government subsidies, and laying off thousands of workers, BHP is still closing down its Newcastle steelworks.
To give credence to the campaign for tariffs is to support the nationalist misleadership of the working class, which supports tariffs, from Beazley to Hanson. We should be opposing the tariff campaign for the deception that it is, and fighting to win unions to a campaign to take money back from the bosses for job creation, in higher taxes and nationalisation of industry — not a campaign to throw more money at them.
Men's issues
I was angered by the recent attack on Men's Issues, in your "ain't I a woman" column (GLW #289). The writer doesn't understand and doesn't know men's health issues. They are real and need addressing for society to be become more equal and progressive.
The column just seemed to be a sexist attack. I'm afraid that just because men's issues are new, that doesn't mean they don't need noticing. To label them a "backlash" etc etc is to be thought police.
Men die earlier, are 95% of the prison population, suffer more heart attacks, are fathers, are being alienated by services that work from an ideological feminist model. Progressive feminists are working alongside men's health workers, the same as progressive men have to be aware of women's health issues.
Not all men's health literature is good; not all feminist literature is good. Green Left Weekly could be a great forum for progressive men's work.
Anti-Hanson protest
While building Sydney's first demonstration outside a One Nation meeting on September 16, I got a real feeling that the anti-racist campaign can build and draw on the positive support we received from the broader population.
However at the demo, the International Socialist Organisation concentrated its efforts on abusing and physically intimidating the mainly elderly people who turned up, interrupting speakers from the platform to run over to their next victim and attempt to break through police lines.
These tactics put the protesters on a collision course with the cops, who were only too happy to respond with assaults and arrests. Even the fact they had the dog squad around the corner did not deter these "ultramilitants".
For the ISO, these demonstrations are the be-all and end-all of campaigning as they attempt to recruit with their "ultramilitant" face. However, fighting the cops hinders our efforts to broaden the campaign, with many observers and demonstrators being alienated from the campaign and deciding that they should not take part.
The only way to defeat racism is to build a broad campaign against all forms of racism, to build the anti-racism consciousness among society and put a political challenge to the racists and their politics of division. The ISO, by concentrating on ultraleft demonstrations to shut Hanson down are an obstacle to this.
Germaine Greer
The recent media-driven invasion of Germaine Greer was appalling. Not only did they invade Greer's privacy, but they provided a cheap commercial and superficial analysis of her actions and feminism. They even questioned whether Greer is really a feminist, considering her sexually liberated youth and involvement in magazines such as Suck.
I am sick and tired of this constant analysis and scrutiny of feminism and what determines a "true" feminist. Feminism can be about sexual liberation or politics — but most importantly feminism is personal liberation for women. It is not another movement to be downtrodden and limited by capitalist criteria.
I suggest that the media either demonstrate insight into the truth about women and feminism or dismiss their uninformed intentions entirely. Ultimately the media and the public should accept Greer as a wonderfully creative and intelligent woman. Perhaps women should redirect their focus on themselves and the future of their own feminism instead of scrutinising another woman's journey.
No surprise
It should come as no surprise to Australians that a Government which would legislate away the property rights of indigenous people would be composed of Ministers who have lodged false travel allowance claims.
Dr John Tomlinson
Paddington NSW
Yandina Qld
Henley Beach SA
[Abridged.]
Blackburn Vic
Footscray Vic
Kempton Tas
Summer Hill NSW
Gold Coast Qld
School of Social Science QUT