Slavery
George Bernard Shaw is famous for saying that under socialism no-one would be allowed to be poor. Guild socialist G.D.H. Cole, when asked what was the greatest evil, responded: not poverty, but slavery.
It is tempting to remark that the current federal government is in favour of both poverty and slavery.
Expanded "mutual obligation" for welfare recipients is code for greater coercion of the poor in return for no more real jobs and no more money.
Advertisements calling for submissions to Jocelyn Newman's welfare enquiry appeared in the press on October 23 and 27. Responses must be received by December 17. The address is: Welfare Reform Review, PO Box 7788, Canberra MC 2600, or <welfare.reform@facs.gov.au>.
Get a pen out and get a submission in.
Rydalmere NSW
Rigged president
The claims by the advocates of the "yes" vote for a politically appointed president that any Australian can become president or that his or her appointment would be a democratic process are absolute nonsense.
The sole purpose of the nominations committee is to filter out any nominee with an independent mind. That committee is composed of sixteen sitting politicians and sixteen appointed by the Prime Minister. Some democracy!
Only political lickspittles, media moguls, large property owners and industrialists with a history of political donations will survive that process, even supposing that the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition have not already selected their pea.
Alawa NT
Unwilling Democrats
A Friday (28/10) morning news item appeared to be a welcome wake up, hearing the announcement that the Democrats will oppose the amendments to industrial legislation contained in Reith's "second wave".
Did this mean that the ACTU leadership strategy of lobbying and faxing the Democrats had actually worked? Far from it! Meg Lees announced that the Democrats would oppose the amendments because she claimed that business was not enthusiastic.
It is time that union officials relinquished this futile kowtowing to the so-called balance of power notion and acknowledge where the Democrats really stand. Workers cannot rely on a party that was created as a split from the Liberals and has consistently approved anti-worker legislation. Workers are absolutely clear that the Democrats were responsible for the Workplace Relations Act being passed in the first place.
Active unionists have been demanding a more active campaign against the "second wave", but their demands have fallen on deaf ears. Now is the time to build on this opening and call for specific plans for the mobilisations which the ACTU have been hinting at for weeks. Open campaign committees will assist in rekindling the momentum that we saw in August when thousands around the country protested against the "second wave".
The success of the mass mobilisations in support of independence for East Timor showed that the Australian government can be made to carry out the will of the people. Anti-worker laws should be our next target.
Ashfield NSW
Reclaim the Nightie
I was disgusted and annoyed at the proposal by the women's collective at the University of Tasmania for a "Reclaim the Nightie" as part of this year's Blue Stocking Week (in "We need political women's rooms", GLW #380).
Disgust that Reclaim the Night and Blue Stocking Week, which were established as part of campaigns to confront the violence women experience throughout their lives and to defend the right of women to get better educations respectively, are again being trivialised and dismissed.
And annoyance that this violence experienced by women is treated as a joke by supposed feminists. Once again the popular procedure of making a comedy out of a subject such as violence against women has found its way into forums which should be ending it.
This type of action is all too common today and serves as but one of the methods used to condone certain behaviour towards women. No to Reclaim the Nightie and Yes to Reclaim the Night, and to working towards decreasing violent attacks against women.
Rockhampton
Vestiges of empire
Whether Australia is to become a Republic should not require debate. We are a confused mob if we cannot agree on an Australian Head of State, a President, instead of the Queen's representative, the Governor-General.
As a child I learned of things British and about being a colony of another's Empire. School days began saluting the Monarch and singing "God Save the Queen".
Puzzlement became curiosity and finally dismay as the history lessons unfolded. The hasty withdrawal of British capital and unrepentant demands for interest contributed greatly to Australian hardship in the 1890s and 1930s Depressions. The Legends of Gallipoli were sacrificed for King and Empire alone. British cannon fodder no less!
Churchill's denial of Prime Minister Curtin's wartime request that Australian troops return to defend Australian soil was tacit acknowledgement that England was, after all, on the other side of the world and concerned for its survival only.
Loyal Australian producers were suddenly "too far away" when Britain joined the European Common Market. To walk into Australian Municipal Halls and see "their Lizzie" adorning our walls is at best, an anachronism, at worst, an absurdity.
To maintain ceremonial ties that embrace the last vestiges of an Empire made strong by steam power portrays Australia as subservient to another country's titular head. The Queen is the pinnacle of a class system inappropriate for contemporary Australia. Britannia no longer rules the waves and the world's Empires have all but disappeared.
The Australian "Ship of State" now deserves an Australian Captain, "one of our own". Advance Australia, a "fair" Republic is on offer.
Bega NSW
Democracy's price
So the Government which secretly reserved hundreds of thousands of Olympic tickets for the rich is about to put a higher price on fundamental political rights in NSW.
The Government has tried to whip up concern about the large number of small and new parties that contested the last Legislative Council election and the fact that a couple of representatives of smaller parties were elected on preferences of other small parties. However, the real scandal is that the Labor, Liberal and National parties are consistently over-represented in Parliament despite the steady decline of the major party vote.
The changes will further entrench the "two-party system" and will do nothing to prevent abuse of the electoral system by anyone who has access to significant funds. With the anti-major party vote nearly 30%, this move should be seen as a crude attempt to force voters back behind the major parties.
Left and progressive parties should be unanimous in opposition to this Bill so it is regrettable that the NSW Greens have welcomed the proposals as a "victory for democracy". It is also shortsighted because the Greens relied on the preferences of parties like the Communist Party, the Progressive Labour Party and the Democratic Socialists to get their quota.
Chippendale NSW
Townsville bombing
I am writing to say how disgusted I was to read that the two men who were convicted of the bombing of the Townsville AIDS centre last June only received sentences of nine months.
The nail bomb which was set off in the Admiral Duncan, a gay pub in central London on Friday April 30 killed two people and injured 60. The most seriously injured survivor, ironically a straight man who was having a drink in the pub with his pregnant girlfriend (who was also killed), was released from hospital only last week, six months after the explosion.
The man arrested for the bombing had allegedly rubbed the nails used in the bomb with human excrement, so as to infect any wounds that the bomb inflicted. His plan worked and several victims of the bombing have been left with one or both legs missing. According to the anti-fascist magazine, Searchlight, the bomber initially denied having any far-right politics, but in the June edition Searchlight's front cover showed him with prominent members of ultra-right parties.
The man is being held on remand awaiting trial.
Before the bombing in Soho, police believe that the man planted nail bombs in Brixton, a prominent Black area of London, and Brick Lane, an area with a large Asian community. In those areas many were injured but none were killed. Many anti-racist activists, including prominent lawyers, received threats from a racist and homophobic organisation calling themselves the "The White Wolves".
Whether it is London or Sydney, Bangaldeshis or gays, it is clear that we are a common target for those whose politics come from the gutter.
South Sydney
I feel angry at the recent axing of the South Sydney football club. The "criteria" used to get rid of Souths were very selective. For example, the strength of Souths' juniors was not taken into account.
Also, I read recently in the Sydney Morning Herald that Souths could meet all their financial obligations without relying on the $500,000 payments from Optus and News Limited that all ARL clubs are owed (unlike several other clubs who would have to rely on bank loans).
Most of what tradition is left in the game is with Souths. There is their foundation club status and 20 premierships. More importantly though, unlike a lot of other Sydney clubs, Souths have not 1) relocated outside their community (e.g. Norths); 2) changed their identity (e.g. Sydney City); 3) merged (e.g. Balmain-Wests); 4) sold out to News Limited (e.g. Cronulla.
I am not a South Sydney supporter. For over 20 years I was a keen Bulldogs fan, attending several of their matches each year. Due to the events of 1995 I (like a lot of other people) lost a lot of my interest in rugby league. The last Bulldogs match I attended was in 1994. Since 1994, I have seen a few football matches on TV, but if Souths go, I don't think I will bother to keep up even this minimal level of interest.
The Souths club has a good record of community involvement (its generous sponsorship of junior rugby league in its area). Also, we should not make it easy for the capitalist News Limited empire to get its way! For these reasons and others, GLW readers should support Souths attempts to fight its axing.
Narwee NSW