Human rights in US
I have just read what could well be described as one of the most important books of the year: United States of America: Rights for All, published by Amnesty International, 153 absorbing pages, just nine months ago.
It is a well overdue, comprehensive and authoritative account illustrating very clearly that the US is by far the worst of the big powers in terms of human rights violations. I can do no better than quote a few lines from the introduction: This report reveals a persistent and widespread pattern of human rights violations in the USA. It highlights the racism and discrimination and physical and sexual abuse of prisoners, many of whom are held in inhuman and degrading conditions. It is an invaluable report on the land of the free.
I recall chairing a meeting in the UK for T.A. Jackson, a Marxist lecturer who memorably described freedom as freedom to work if you can find an employer and freedom to go hungry and be humiliated when such is not to be found. Every library should stock it. Its publication is a credit to Amnesty International.
Norman Taylor
Henley Beach SA.
Palestinian refugees
I was pleased that the viewpoint of Dr Hanan Ashrawi appeared in Green Left (#368). Her recent address to the Australian Legal Resources International concerning the Palestine refugees contained authentic information that the Zionists and most of the Rabbis would prefer to be withheld.
The United States government, acting on behalf of the American business concerns, was the instigator of the Camp David and Oslo Accords and the Wye River Agreement because they realised that continued conflict in the region would harm their investments.
Israel, known as Palestine at the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, had a population of 500,000 Arabs and 50,000 Jews. The rise of fascism in Germany led to large scale Jewish immigration. After the massacre at Deir Yassin in 1948 of 254 Arab men, women and children, over 800,000 Palestinians fled from Israel and they have been prevented from returning. In recent years, nearly a million Russian Jews have emigrated to Israel.
This absurd anomaly remains a major cause of conflict and is aggravated by United States Jewish settlers whose primitive ideology enables them to believe that after an absence of 2000 years since their ancestors lived in that country, they can settle anywhere in Israel or the occupied territories.
For peace to be achieved and maintained the Palestine refugees should be repatriated back to Israel and compensated for the property and possessions that they left behind since 1948. The United Nations should recognise the new state of Palestine for those refugees who wish to live there.
Bernie Rosen
Strathfield NSW
[Abridged.]
Sect charges
Coffs Harbour, 550 km north of Sydney, gained media prominence last week when the 21 July Sydney Morning Herald alleged that two local councillors were members of a Christian sect linked to Aryan supremacist organisations. ABC mid-north coast radio also gave the allegations some coverage.
Coffs Harbour has a sizable Aboriginal population, and the Coffs Harbour Advocate reported a multicultural resource worker as stating that 60 cultures were alive and well locally. Another local newspaper suggested that the SMH story was a beat-up designed to damage the prospects of two councillors in local elections (to be held in September).
The two councillors have stood down from formal duties for three weeks. Interestingly, the CHA of 24 July published a letter attributed to a person bearing the same name as one of the troubled councillors. While the letter targeted environmental extremists, it concluded ... public opinion is rapidly turning against such mindless extremists and increasingly rejecting their idiotic claims.
Aarn
Coffs Harbour NSW
Lost billions
The mainstream press reports that: Australia has 20% of the world's poker machines; Australians all have gambling problems; and in one year, we lost about $11 billion.
Stuff the first two points, there's $11 billion lying around somewhere! Crikey, and I thought a nation of people looking down at the pavement while out walking was a sign of a depressed, alienated society. It seems everybody else is already looking for this lost bonanza!
I wonder if they could give us some hints. Was most of the fortune lost missing the coin slot? Maybe we should look behind the banks of pokies down at the local.
Kerry must be a bit perturbed â $11 billion lost! How will the gambling industry survive this lost opportunity at super-profits?
Andy Gianniotis
Wollongong NSW
Men-only meetings
I would like to comment on Zanny Begg's article Environmentalist debate 'men's space' in Green Left issue 368.
I believe that dealing with our feelings about oppression is, at some point, a necessary step in becoming effective activists. For men, feminism can bring up feelings of guilt, anger, shame or hopelessness. Men must acknowledge and let go of these feelings if we are to be effective activists in the struggle against sexism, and useful allies to women.
For most men, this is very difficult to do in the presence of women. Men-only workshops, meetings or spaces can become a safe space where we can acknowledge the feelings that come up for us around sexism, and so lessen the paralysing grip these feelings have. This is not men-only organising in that it is not organising events, programs or policies, but a sharing of feelings. I agree with Zanny that it is not useful for men to organise against sexism without women, and that meetings of men and women together are essential to discuss and understand the workings of sexism.
In political gatherings where no such men-only meetings are organised, they will happen anyway, informally, as men naturally seek out other men to share their feelings about sexism with.
Having been to several left gatherings where men's workshops or meetings have occurred, I do not believe that they have ever become power-bases for men to re-assert their oppressive power over women from. I believe that they have only ever furthered the struggle against sexism.
Robin Hartwood Davidson
Dickson ACT
Men's spaces
Re: The men's space at the Students and Sustainability Conference (Green Left, July 21, 1999). From my long experience of men's consciousness-raising (CR) groups and men's festivals, men's spaces don't have to be anti-feminist or misogynist. They can be, but they don't have to be, depending entirely on the intention of those involved. The ones I'm familiar with have helped men to get to know one another better and create more intimate friendships between men.
Men's spaces have also helped men improve their relationships with women by reducing the stress that often accompanies relationships where men rely too much on women for intimacy.
If anything, such groups or spaces can help transform the lives of men, women and children by redressing the imbalance that often exists between men and women. Indeed, some feminists â Susan Faludi, Susan Griffin, Gloria Steinem â have argued in favour of such groups, noting the positive contribution they can and do make in changing the world.
Quite often CR groups and festivals provide time-out from work, from the frenzy of trying-to-do-it-all, from playing the role society expects us to play. They're a chance to re-create the self, which also has social benefits. The constant re-creating, redefining, restructuring of our lives is arguably the single most important thing we can do, both as individuals and as a people.
This ongoing process â call it evolution or revolution â is what ends oppression. Bringing every source of separation (racism, sexism, ageism, classism, homophobia etc) to the surface and dealing with it â individually and together â will bring about the change we seek. Isn't that what socialists are on about?
Stevie Bee
Turrella NSW
Shock jocks
Whilst I share your sentiments regarding the shock jocks, I have to finally agree with John Laws who states that he is an entertainer rather than a journalist. He has one purpose in mind â to stimulate listeners.
One sure-fire way to stimulate as many people as possible is to make a completely sweeping, oversimplified remark about an emotional issue. You will stimulate those who agree with you but, just as important, you will incite rage amongst those who disagree. That's the whole point of shocking people. Many people listen to these DJ's in order to feel enraged with disagreement (it also has the added bonus of making them feel more intelligent). The net result of shock reporting is a huge exposure and hence the resulting ad dollars.
Lets not blame the DJ's â they might be just money hungry. Why don't we blame the people who continue to listen? Once a DJ's ratings drop so too does their pay and eventually their position. People get what they deserve certainly rings true in this case.
The problem I have with these DJ's is insincerity. If only they believed half the guff they spew, then I would find them credible (if misguided) people. Laws, Zemanek and Jones couldn't possibly be stupid â quite the opposite â they can see both sides to a story. They are masters of propaganda and creation of controversy. Media Watch has been slamming these guys for years about their journalism but the great thing about the recent Laws-banks episode was they showed him up to be an insincere liar.
Thanks for the article.
Rigas Harbilas
Toxic dump
Residents in Cranbourne, Hampton Park and Lyndhurst are very concerned about a toxic dump at Lyndhurst. Lyndhurst was first established as a dump for household waste in 1989, approved by the then Cranbourne Shire Council. However, in 1991, the same council gave approval for the landfill to take 25% prescribed (toxic) waste.
The toxic dump at Tullamarine is very near to full capacity and we fear that the Kennett Government will turn the Lyndhurst toxic dump into the major toxic dump in Victoria.
We are called Ratwise and we are very small in number at present. We hope to increase in size and we need support from as many people as possible. We intend to make our campaign as big as what Werribee was. There are also ancient redgum trees growing in this area.
Please support our campaign against the Lyndhurst toxic dump. Please telephone Robyn on (03) 5996 7036 or email us on <ratwise@hotmail.com>. Thank you.
John L. Wickham
Cranbourne Victoria