Write on: letters to the editor

Pen-pal Greetings, my name is Bill. I am a 34 year old white male on death row in Alabama. Your address was passed on to me since I was looking for a pen-pal. I have been on the row for almost 7 years. I have had a few pen-pals, but find that most do not want to develop long time friendships. So I am trying to find some one I can share this time with. I like to read, write and I have poetry. I am a very good listener and never put my troubles on others. I am divorced for 11 years. My son that is 12, is my life, my pride and joy, heart and soul. I am 5'6" and weigh 138 pounds. Brown hair, brown eyes. Please see if you can find some one that is interested. I send my best wishes.
Bill Kuenzel
Z-489 Holman Unit
Holman 3700-8-D-9
Atmore Al 36503-3700 Volcanoes The French have chosen one of the worst places in the world to conduct their nuclear tests. Mururoa Atoll is the tip of a volcano that is gradually breaking up. It is close to a seismic zone that contains most of the world's active volcanoes. Since nuclear testing began around the world there has been a marked increase in earthquake activity. Even in the early '80s scientists were linking earthquakes in New Zealand to French nuclear tests. Three weeks after France exploded 3 nuclear bombs in the space of 3 weeks, Mount Pinatubo near Manila which had been dormant for more than 400 years erupted. In Australia an earthquake in Newcastle occurred shortly after a French nuclear device was exploded at Mururoa. In over 1,000 years Iran, a neighbour of the former Soviet Union, had only 3 major earthquakes in 893, 1678 and 1957. Since tests began in Kazakhstan some 30 years ago Iran has had 60 destructive earthquakes. It has also been noted that some earthquakes that struck Japan followed close behind Chinese nuclear testing. Since the latest French tests began in September Mount Ruapehu, which is a major volcano in the centre of the North island of New Zealand, has erupted while other ports of the country have experienced earthquakes and tremors. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are some of the most terrifying, lethal and devastating phenomena a person can experience. If certain irresponsible and aggressive nuclear powers continue playing with fire it will only be a matter of time before we will all get burnt in some way! I call for people to do whatever they can to protest at the continuing French and Chinese tests. By mass campaigning, boycotting, picketing, letter writing, etc we may hope to bring to an end this nuclear madness and the fear and disasters that it inevitably generates.
John Glue
Cooktown Qld
[Edited for length.] Congratulations I have just read your editorial on ozone depletion in GL Sept 27, 1995. What an excellent piece. You really nailed it as far as I'm concerned.
Tom McLoughlin
Friends of the Earth — Sydney Butterflies While awaiting the workers' paradise or economic nirvana through the nationalisation of key industry sectors, there is a little something that can be done to nudge the business world into a more ethical and community aware orbit. This is a practical strategy called conscious or ethical investing. In chaos theory it was observed that a small change in the initial variables of a system can produce a large system change down the line. This principle became known as the Butterfly effect, thus a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere may create the turbulence that leads to a tornado somewhere else. Ethical investing means putting your money where your values are. For example, say you don't like the way Big Business works. The so-called first tier banks, the big ones, are heavily into financing big business. Then have your savings with one of the smaller second tier banks which are mainly involved in financing housing and small business. Ethical investing may seem like a tiny response to such a huge problem, but it does slowly and gradually have an impact on the way that the community does business. Maybe a few butterflies will eventually lead to a real storm in the unstable jungle world of predatory capitalism. After a time protests suffer from diminishing returns. Perhaps we cannot persuade the government to stop ERA exporting uranium to France? But companies are related to other companies through legal ties and shareholdings. Track them down and boycott them until there is positive change.
Justin White
Bardon
Qld
[Edited for length.] Incoherent The recent debate in GLW on ISO/Socialist Alternative has been incoherent. We have had John Morris fatuously defend the recent expulsions from the ISO claiming it produced "a positive benefit". Dave Riley has pronounced that the ISO's "raison d'etre" is the "doctrine" (sic) of state capitalism (most people think it's the creation of socialism). Ray Fulcher seems to think that organisational autocracy is synonymous with Stalinism. The one sober issue to arise has been the question of "political independence" and organisations (Fulcher & Lorimer GLW #205). If Fulcher's argument that the ISO/SA tendency of "tailing" the ALP can be sustained by further evidence, then the DSP's position appears strong. But is "political independence" always contingent upon organisational independence? Lorimer even makes inclusiveness contingent upon organisational separation. Political subordination of the left to the ALP bureaucracy is apparently presented as an inevitable product of political participation. The same logic would therefore preclude participation in any union or organisation dominated by the ALP. A strategy for "breaking down of illusions in the ALP" should not be determined by organisational forms. The basis of the DSP's attitude to NUS has seemingly more to do with its political shift during the 1980s — the abandonment of its general support for the ALP at elections — than a concrete analysis of student unionism. It started with the idea of needing to build organisations separate to the ALP and then worked back to its analysis of NUS.
Lin Elliot
Strathfield West NSW
[Edited for length.]