Jamaica?
Thanks for you article about race relations in Cuba, by Edwin and Jo Hoffman (GLW #124).
I would like at this point to bring in little Jamaica, only 90 miles south of Cuba, where I lived for many years. In both Haiti and Jamaica there are far more "black" (though actually dark brown) people than there are in Cuba, as white immigration from Spain (mainly from impoverished Galicia) continued for many years to Cuba. Cubans still call all Spaniards "gallego".
It isn't generally known that Jamaica was, along with Mexico, the only country in the Caribbean to keep up diplomatic relations with Cuba throughout the period when all Latin American countries, on US orders, treated Cuba as a pariah. Jamaica has had a Cuban consulate in Kingston from 1959 on.
And in Jamaica the racial mixture is even more rainbow-hued than in Cuba, for we have brown, beige, white, Lebanese, Syrian, Jewish, Chinese, and Indian. I worked with all races, and relations were extremely happy. It would be difficult to be racist in Jamaica, because who would you be racist against? The present prime minister is brown (Patterson), the previous one was Lebanese (Seaga), and the one before him was mostly white, and educated in Britain (Manley).
There is poverty, crime and unemployment in Jamaica, but among residents there is racial harmony. It never occurred to us to notice whether our friends and colleagues were brown, beige, white etc. They were simply our friends and colleagues.
Rosemary Evans
St Kilda Vic
Non-profit bookshop
There is a very interesting non-profit organisation in Hobart that the readers of GLW may be interested in.
The NPO is called "Books For Learning". It came into existence after the partners of a bookselling business here decided that they had had enough of the trade, that they had never been particularly interested in making lots of money, and so they would no longer try. They created a fully incorporated, tax-deductible organisation, handed over all their stock to it, and began non-profit bookselling in earnest.
They sell books for as little as it costs them to buy them (i.e. wholesale plus a minimal charge for power, phone, etc. about 7.5% which is waived if you are a member of the organisation). Once you become a supporter ($5) the Chomsky volume that would ordinarily have cost you $25, you can get for about $16. Even if you are interstate, they can still get you your books cheaper than anyone else. Also, since they have better contacts with most of the obscure American and English publishers than most other booksellers, they can get books that no-one else would bother with, or will be able to get them faster.
The idea of such a non-profit business is so radical that they find it practically impossible to get anyone to believe that they are not making any money. If you take a moment to think about what would happen if they were successful, you can see why they are confronting the limits of most people's understanding. People can't accept that there is no profit-motive.
Ironically, Books for Learning is in danger of folding for lack of support! It would only take a few people to lighten the workload (you are allowed to work for NPOs on the dole), and a few score supporters (even self-interested ones!) to keep it all going (or a substantial donation, or a substantial number of donations).
Anyone who wants more information ought to see Glenn or Informal at their shop on the second floor of 11 Elizabeth Street, Hobart (next door to the GPO). You can ring them on (002) 237 384, or write to them at GPO Box 1124, Hobart, 7001.
Patrick Spedding
Hobart
Stop the genocide
I hear with sadness and anger that I have lost yet another brother to the white man's evil poison. When will it stop? When will we be strong enough to say No More.
Every day we see the fight to stop deaths in police custody get stronger and stronger. I want to know when we are going to fight to stop death in the custody of brewing companies?
Our children are losing their parents, we are losing our brothers and sisters and the Aboriginal race is losing the fight to survive.
I will no longer sit back and "mind my own business". My apathy will not be responsible for another "death in custody". It is time to fight.
The brewing companies hold our brothers and sisters in chains like no white man's prison ever could.
We must stop the genocide.
Phelix Marx
Kuranda Qld
Spitting
I'm writing to complain about the actions of Green Left Weekly sellers at the Brisbane rally and march (17.11.93) protesting Daniel Yock's murder in custody.
I recognise that selling (or receiving donations for) your paper is vital to its continuation, however I doubt that the publication's existence depended on it being sold at the protest, and even if it was, frankly, who cares? The fact remains they had no right to do so.
Organisations, collectives, individuals etc were repeatedly asked not to sell or distribute paraphernalia during the lead-up to the protest. The various indigenous communities wanted the focus solely on the issue at hand, surely it was obvious that it is totally inappropriate for other groups to attempt to benefit from such a day. Not to mention disrespectful and insensitive to Daniel's family and the general Murri community.
I questioned one of your "paper-boys" at Musgrave Park on arrival at the rally, his reasoning was that he was outside the park boundary, which he seemed to think made it OK. During the rally, a local elder yet again made an impassioned request that people cease to use the day as a platform for their own issues, what did I find at the Roma St Forum at the other end of the march? More GLW representatives who sadly seemed incapable of understanding what the protest was about or of showing any respect for the indigenous people there.
It's not what I would've expected from GLW, and it certainly won't be forgotten by myself and many other people at the protest. I demand a full public apology from GLW to Daniel's family and the Murri community, and an assurance that this situation will never be repeated. Until then, in my opinion and that of others, your publication isn't worth spitting on.
Get an education.
Tracey Wing
Brisbane
[We faxed a copy of the above letter to GLW sellers in Brisbane. They sent the following reply.]
I am amazed at the attitude expressed by Tracey Wing in her letter
"Use the day as a platform for their own issues"? The copy of Green Left Weekly mentioned carried the front cover banner headline: "Black deaths in custody: the killing must stop!"
The lead article in that issue was probably the most comprehensive and truthful report on the circumstance around the tragic death of Daniel Yock in the entire print media of Australia.
In light of the distortions printed by Brisbane's Courier-Mail, it was vitally important for the real story to get out in detail, to both members and supporters of the Murri community and the general public.
Tracey Wing totally ignores the crucial fact that GLW has campaigned tirelessly in support of the Black deaths in custody campaign and Aboriginal land rights, revealing the facts around Mabo to the Australian people.
No other broadly circulated publication has so strongly and consistently campaigned on the issue.
If Tracey Wing is really so concerned about supporting the Daniel Yock campaign, she should favor the circulation of GLW, not its restriction.
Secondly, the statement made at a supporters' meeting prior to the march was that publications should not be circulated within the march and rally "without permission."
We specifically sought permission from a leading member of the Murri community at Musgrave Park, pointing out the cover and feature article, and were told to "go right ahead."
When a few other people expressed opposition, we decided to restrict our sales to the streets outside the park, not wanting an argument to cause distress to the Murri community.
Most importantly, apart from one announcement from the platform at the end of the Musgrave Park rally, the only people protesting the distribution of GLW were whites!
In fact, a number of Murris approached our sellers asking for copies, once they saw the content of the paper.
Those who express such moral outrage at the role of GLW, should take a more balanced view of the whole matter.
Do they really want to support public knowledge of the Daniel Yock campaign or do they have some other axe to grind against GLW?
Jim McIlroy
Brisbane
Tasmanian PSA
Greg Vines (Write on, December 1) accuses me of misrepresenting facts in my article on the recent PSU branch elections (GLW #121).
Fact 1. Vines states "our success rate in fighting the sackings of members has been 100%". Over 800 public servants have been either sacked or accepted voluntary redundancy since Ray Groom came to office last year. Some of those were TPSA members.
At the time of Groom's horror budget last year, Vines, general secretary of the largest trade union in Tasmania, and Jim Bacon from the TTLC promised an explosive, united industrial campaign to save jobs.
On November 30 last year, the ACTU national day of action, 5000 workers marched to parliament. The TWU went on a 24 hour strike, as did workers at Pasminco EZ, the waterside workers, and even the teachers, who had never been on a 24 strike before. The TPSA leadership could only manage to recommend a 2 hour stoppage. Vines campaigned against a call by some officials in the TTLC for a general strike.
Fact 2. Voluntary unionism with hefty new penalties, and enterprise agreements were introduced as part of Groom's draconian industrial relations package last year. Hardly a peep out of the TPSA leadership during the campaign or in the time since.
Fact 3. Vines says, "We regard members' job security as our first and highest priority". Since Vines' letter, it has been revealed that the Groom government wishes to privatise the Government Printing Office and Forestry Commission. Up to 500 workers will be affected by this decision, most of them TPSA members. What was the TPSA's response? Vines wants to sue the government for damages. Is job security or lawyers' fees the TPSA's "highest priority"?
Fact 4. Vines was one of the first and loudest opponents of Ray Groom's 40% parliamentary pay rise which has raised MPs' salaries from $47,000 to $65,000 per year. The Mercury newspaper then revealed that Greg Vines as general secretary of the TPSA gets just over $67,000 per year. The politicians are still a bit behind, but more importantly, 99.9% of his membership has a lot of catching up to do.
Dave Wright
Hobart