The initial response by the world's richest countries to the earthquake and tidal wave disaster in southern Asia was pathetic. While many of these countries have poured billions into invading and bringing misery to the people of Iraq, they cannot seem to find anywhere near enough money to seriously help the mainly poor people who have been made destitute by this natural disaster.
The US government pledge of US$35 million contrasts sharply with the US$152 billion it has spent in its invasion and occupation of Iraq. Its initial pledge of US$10 million was less than it spends in a single hour of occupying Iraq.
The British government pledged only US$1.7 million, while spending many billions in Iraq, and the European Union as a whole pledged only US$5 million.
Australia promised just A$35 million and some additional practical assistance — despite spending close to $1 billion on the Iraq war so far. In contrast, ordinary people in Australia responded with great humanity and solidarity. The people of Victoria alone pledged almost as much as the British government's initial pledge in one day.
The economic rationalists who run most of the world's governments obviously believe that killing people is more rational than saving lives. It's time to reorient their priorities to human need, not war and corporate greed.
Nearly 60% of Australians now believe the war in Iraq was "not worth it". The Socialist Alliance has been campaigning for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq and we now call on the federal Coalition government to immediately divert all the resources it is spending to assist the US occupation into helping the victims of the disaster in Asia.
Further, we will continue to demand that the Australian government end its material and diplomatic support for the Indonesian military's war on the Achenese people, which is continuing despite the devastation of Aceh by the earthquake and tsunami. The ongoing war on the Tamil people in Sri Lanka must also end if the assistance to tsunami victims is to be fairly distributed.
In addition, the Socialist Alliance:
1. Condemns the cynicism of the Australian government's PR stunt of increasing its "aid" to Indonesia to $1 billion but requiring half of that to be repaid with interest, and not increasing aid to other less "strategic" countries affected by the tsunami.
2. Emphasises that $1 billion is a tiny amount when compared to the government's expenditure on its military, and especially to the amount of profits extracted from the affected countries by Australian corporations over many decades.
3. Notes that by tying aid to Australian control over its expenditure (many Australian officials are being located in offices in all the countries affected), the Howard government is using the suffering of the people in the region to entrench and extend the Australian ruling class's military and economic control in the region. Australian corporations will make huge profits from the "reconstruction" of these countries — Australian "aid" to the victims is in fact a huge subsidy to Australian big business (just like it is in Iraq).
4. Demands that the Australian government massively increase its aid to all the countries affected (the projected budget surplus for 2004-05 is $6-7 billion) and give it without strings attached.
5. Demands that all foreign debts of the 12 countries affected by the tsunami be cancelled.
6. Acknowledges the huge outpouring of solidarity by ordinary people in Australia and around the world, and contrasts that with all Western governments' slow and still paltry responses.
7. Condemns the Indonesian and Sri Lankan governments' use of the disaster as cover for further attacks on the Aceh and Tamil liberation struggles, and extends the Socialist Alliance's solidarity to those resistance movements.
[This article is based on statements issued by the Socialist Alliance national convenors]
From Green Left Weekly, January 19, 2005.
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