Olympic tokenism
Tinsel and glitter will not end racism nor will the token gestures and stereotyping of indigenous people that occurred at the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
The Olympics were a disgusting waste of money and catered once again to the wealthy few. The fact is nothing has got better for Aboriginal people, if anything they have gotten worse, for example mandatory sentencing.
Ask yourself: if the Olympics has provided a lasting legacy of reconciliation why has Ruddock not been reprimanded by the federal government for his comments this week. The fact that there are those within the indigenous community (as there are in every campaign for justice in Australia) who accept this tokenism, only serves to divide the indigenous rights movement.
Sadly, it is a myth that the Olympics brought us together. Green Left Weekly readers should understand and dispel this myth! Finally, the old cliche "Some of my best(est) friends are Aboriginal" does not justify the continuous bigotry directed at indigenous people.
Erin Cameron
Rockhampton Qld
Greens and S11
I am a subscriber to GLW and find it an essential source of information as a political activist. Your coverage of S11 has been excellent with the exception that in your reference to those political parties represented at the blockade no mention was made of the very public presence of the Greens, who formed part of the Green Block but whose members also occupied other blockade points.
A group of Greens I was part of blockaded an entry point in Queensbridge Street for three days and turned a number of would-be blockade-breakers away. We held a "The Greens" sign measuring 1x4 metres for all that time so couldn't be missed.
Also Senator Bob Brown visited every blockade point, visited injured blockaders in hospital and acted as a conduit of information from the blockaders, as well as speaking at the union rally.He strongly advocated support for the blockade rather than Hubbard's speak-fest approach.
Five Green MPs from federal and state parliaments, and two NZ MPs took an active part in the blockade. NZ Greens MP Sue Bradford was injured by police at the Whiteman St blockade point on the Tuesday morning. WA MLCs Jim Scott and Christine Sharp along with NSW MLCs Ian Cohen and Lee Rhiannon were constantly present.
Let's give credit where it is due and accurately report which parties to the left of the ALP were represented at S11. Otherwise history is falsified.
Dave Bell
Turramurra NSW
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Media lies on Palestine
I am outraged at the events in Palestine. Riots began with the provocative visit of Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the Al Aqsa mosque on September 28. Sharon, as defence minister in 1982, was widely held responsible for the massacre of Palestinian civilians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon.
I am particularly annoyed at the Western news coverage. One BBC TV bulletin was restricted to footage of two young men attempting to light Molotov cocktails. Its hourly bulletins are similar in scope, failing to report the size of these protests, their broad support and the Israeli army's brutal response. It is consistent with the international community's wariness to criticise the state of Israel.
The death toll has reached 40 and the number of injured well into the hundreds. Israeli military brutality have included the shooting of a man as he cowered, trapped behind an oil drum while attempting to aid his son, who had to cross the demonstration on his way home from school and had been injured from a volley of Israeli gun fire. The boy was killed.
Israel blatantly flouts international laws with the legalised abuse of human rights, arrest and detention without charge or trial, the use of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners as pawns, the demolition of Palestinian homes within and without Israel's borders, the discrimination against Arabs in Israel. Not to mention the continued military occupation and settlement of areas within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the two million or so Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Yet, in the face of all this, a BBC reporter interviewing a senior Palestinian negotiator asked: "When will [the Palestinians] put an end to the violence?"
Nicole Berrell
Lebanon
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Cuban health model
With the escalation of our health care costs to $47 billion in the year 1997/98, and with more than two-thirds of this funding being provided by the taxpayer, the federal government must instigate a vigorous audit on the value obtained for the public dollar.
When Fidel Castro came to power, the Cuban mortality rate was high and life expectancy was 48 years for males and 54 for females. Today, it rivals Europe or the US, with life expectancy of 74 years for males and 76 for females, and an infant mortality rate of only 7.1%.
Australia's figures are 75 years for males and 81 for females; infant mortality is 12.4% in the Northern Territory, 5% in Australia overall; the indigenous infant mortality rate in four times higher than the overall rate.
In Australia, the average expenditure per person per annum in 1997/98 was $2,536, in Cuba it is the equivalent of less than $25. These cost savings are not at the expense of service provision. Cuba has 21 medical schools, 37,000 nurses and 30,00 general practitioners — one GP per 500-700 people.
The United Kingdom recently sent Department of Health officials with 100 GPs to Cuba on a fact-finding mission. We could do well to emulate these efforts.
Tom Collins
Emu Plains NSW
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Carving up Palestine
The Israeli peace negotiation proposals are based on carving up the future State of Palestine into separate cantons. The so-called "Barak Plan" contains the following proposals: five territorially separated cantons, 14% of which will be controlled by Israel; 20% of the West Bank is to be annexed by Israel, land that is inhabited by Palestinians. In fact, the 2% of the above-mentioned 20% is Settlements. Most Israeli Settlements will come under Palestinian control but it will be under Israeli sovereignty. As for Jerusalem, it remains under Israeli sovereignty.
The Palestinian proposals are based on the UN resolutions 242/338/194/181. The Palestinian proposal for Jerusalem was for an Islamic control (by the Jerusalem Committee of the Organisation of Islamic Conference). However, it was ruled out by the Israeli PM Barak.
Genuine socialists are aware of the fact that under imperialism one can never achieve peace or equality. This is so because, "Modern Socialism is ... primarily the product of the recognition ... of the class antagonisms ... between proprietors and non-proprietors" — Engels. The Palestine peace negotiations are infested by the disease of class antagonisms.
Vahakn Savoulian
Mt Druitt NSW
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