Pornography and censorship
Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with Angela Matheson's disgust at the images of violence and degradation which form the basis of pornography (write on, May 15), censorship is not an effective method to deal with it. Illegality just makes pornography more forbidden and thus more attractive. Driving it underground will increase its profitability.
Only by opening up the whole area of pornography and the associated area of eroticism can you begin to deal with the distortions of human sexuality. Openness about what was seen as "private and hidden" has served women well over the past 20 years. Incest, domestic violence, differing experiences of sexuality — all were virtually "unspeakable" and, for many, too pornographic to even acknowledge.
It's only by open discussion, by a process of community education and attitude change, that questions of human sexuality and their distortions under capitalism can begin to be dealt with. People have to feel confident about their sexuality, to speak out about it and deal openly with its very variable expression. Then they will not find exploitation of that variability attractive, and the market for pornography will drop.
The other real problem with censorship is: who decides? For the Fred Niles, women's sexuality and right to make decisions about their fertility is obscene and must be criminalised. Censorship gives them a field day for their bigotry.
There's nothing naive about recognising the inappropriateness and dangers of censorship.
Pat Brewer
Glebe NSW
Simplistic analysis
The article by Ian Bolas "The Australian peace movement — moral queasiness" (April 24) illustrates the sort of simplistic and hypocritical line that stopped people joining the peace movement.
Simplistic because the world is not black and white. Just because one side is an imperialist doesn't mean the other government should always be supported unequivocally.
Hypocritical because by supporting Iraq you are supporting a war (albeit against an imperialist). People don't join peace movements to support a war.
Bolas's argument is that the Australian peace movement was ineffective because it didn't support Iraq. My argument is that to be more effective the peace movement has to be larger. The only way it will grow is if it takes a position which is best for all oppressed people.
Tyrion Perkins
New Farm Qld
Oil exploration
Re Greenpeace moves against 45D and 45E of the Trade Practices Act (May 8), dealing with BHP exploration for oil along the coast of Western Districts in Warrnambool Victoria.
My experience of this was holidaying last January at Port Fairy about 25 km west of Warrnambool, finding along the coast of Port Fairy blotches of oil along the shore line. Port Fairy is well known for its holiday beach and beautiful shore line. The town for many years has relied on tourism.
If there is any link to BHP and its exploration for oil, the City council of Port fairy would be very interested, as it costs equipment and personnel hours to clean up the beach.
Also noticeable was the amount of dead fish and marine life along the shore line. If this is caused by the oil, the public would not be very pleased.
Les Courtney
Moonee Ponds
Selflessness and parenting
Every mothers day card says it all: "Because you selflessly devoted yourself"; "Because you never once thought of yourself"; "Because you sacrificed yourself for us" — that is why "you're so special."
It's no wonder mothers (fathers day cards don't have quite the same message) push themselves into a guilt stricken frenzy to live up to the image of a "good" mother. Having just survived mothers day as a parent, David Munn's comment (write on, May 15) that "the principal quality necessary to adequately nurture children is selflessness" was the final insult to my intelligence.
The idea that selflessness is synonymous with good parenting is a relatively new one, and its prime use by the mainstream media, advertising industry and government is to guilt trip women into staying at home with the babes, and for that matter the sick, elderly, disabled, and any other section of the population the government doesn't want to adequately fund.
It's not a "selfless" parent a child needs most. this teaches children nothing about the rights of all members of the family, and society in general, and truly "selfless" parents are probably dangerously stressed out anyway. A child needs a sane, relaxed family, free from the pressures of finding free or at least affordable quality childcare, education and healthcare, and quality housing and living conditions.
Teresa Dowding
West Croydon SA
[Edited for length.]
NT coppers
An ode to the N.T. blowaway squad and the Minister for Malevolence:
Oh there's coppers in the garden, coppers down the back,
Their little shorty shotguns
Will kill you if you're black
Or green
Or red.
Quite dead.
C.M. Friel
Alawa NT
For unity of socialism
In the post Stalinist era we find that the parties which emerged out of the tragedy of the Comintern attempting to claim for themselves the mantle of hegemony over the "broad left". We now have the absurd situation of parties acting as if other left parties did not exist, producing newspapers that claim to speak for the broader constituency. Can we really afford such pretensions in the current circumstances? Our continued division places us in danger of being reduced to an insignificant appendage of the ALP or the Democrats.
The leaderships of left political parties have at their disposal millions of dollars worth of assets collected from rank and file members over decades. These assets should be put to use for the greater good of the socialist movement. While control of such assets may be important to individuals concerned, they are completely insignificant in the wider historical context. We call on left leaderships to rise to the occasion, to be mature, to recognize their historic responsibilities and work for the unity of socialism!
Vicky Dennison
Des Lawrence
Jeff Richards
Prospect SA
Third World debt
As we move into the 1990s the Third World debt crisis and with it perpetual poverty, has been solidly institutionalised by the IMF and the World Bank. The economies of countries like Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines to mention only a few, function almost exclusively to repay debts.
These repayments which have to be in hard currencies take up nearly 40% of their GDP. Human suffering on a grand scale and the inevitably wholesale destruction of the environment are the tragic fallout of such policies. Meanwhile the IMF rewards prompt interest payments with new loans which however do not directly benefit the country but improve the debt service industries. To complete this vicious cycle, any chances of introducing vital birth control measures are zero because more than ever before children are seen as survival assets.
Yet the repercussions of this crisis will be felt all over the planet. Environmental destruction will lead to catastrophical climate changes, and social unrest could trigger major wars. Thus the economic power brokers of the Western world are well advised to abandon their neo-colonialistic adventures and do something which will really help the developing countries.
Michael Rose-Schwab
Rapid Creek NT