Peter Boyle
On September 7, the US Senate approved a US$453 billion military budget for 2007. It included another $50 billion for the Iraq war, on top of the $314 billion spent so far on the invasion and occupation. The vote was 98-0 in favour, with just two senators not voting.
This buys an unimaginable amount of high-tech killing, maiming and destruction. Just the extra for the Iraq war exceeds the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of at least 120 countries. More than 100 countries have a GDP less than half of that!
I was wondering how to make the point in this column that the Green Left Weekly Fighting Fund is about $50,000 behind schedule when I came across that US$50 billion figures. Numbers like these underline the David-and-Goliath character of our struggle.
"Don't you despair at this unequal contest?", asked a passerby at one of our regular street stalls. "What keeps you going?"
My partner received an answer to this just the other day. Uriel, a veteran Latin American community activist, stopped to get a Green Left Weekly from her. She told him of the upcoming Latin American Solidarity Conference in Sydney on September 30, adding that the Venezuelan revolution and other rising movements in Latin America are inspiring many activists, even here in far-away Australia. He leaned forward and said: "But people like you who come out in the street every week with this paper inspire us!"
This is a message of inspiration we need to take to heart, because we have some hard work ahead to keep Green Left Weekly running. An excellent effort by our supporters raised $6349 last week, bringing us to $127,087 or 51% of total. As we have only three and half months left of the year, we'll need to sprint.
Please help this David with a donation to the Green Left Weekly Fighting Fund. You can deposit it at Greenleft, Commonwealth Bank, BSB 062-006, Account No 901992. Alternatively, send your cheque or money order to PO Box 515, Broadway NSW 2007, phone it through on the toll-free line 1800 634 206 (within Australia only), or donate online at: <http://www.greenleft.org.au/fogl.htm>.