Charlie's Angels
Jo Ellis' indignation at Alison Dellit's review of Charlie's Angels (GLW #437) seemed to be more directed at the notion that anyone could dare criticise the ideological content of "popular culture" be it a film, book, CD, or TV show.
What is "popular culture" anyway? The phenomena can't be separated from mass production, and modern capitalism. Pulp fiction novels, blockbuster movies, syndicated prime time TV programs, and major label CDs are products for mass consumption, and as such need huge investments not just to make, but to distribute and market.
Who funds cultural projects has an ideological impact. Left artists/writers/musicians around the world usually have to finance their own projects or be supported by popular movements. Arnold Schwarzenneger's self-financed films may as well have been written by George "Dubya" Bush.
Ellis' description of "popular culture" as a site of (ideological) struggle seems to come from the naive view that changing your consumption patterns changes or even remakes popular culture products.
I would rather see a society in which those who wanted to contribute to a diverse cultural life have the means to do so. It's time to break open the ivory towers of cultural production, not continue to accommodate it.
Nick Soudakoff
Stuart Park NT
Depleted uranium
Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons used in the Gulf and Balkan wars and now against Palestinians, have left a legacy of radiological/toxicological sickness but a rigorous, public investigation into their use is being stymied by military and nuclear industry interests ("Peacekeepers face radiation testing as more deaths reported", SMH, 1 Jan 2001).
In the US, the Department of Energy has 500,000 tonnes of DU waste while the military wants a super dense metal it can use for penetrator shells and tank armour. Both needs are satisfied by DU weapons. However, because military DU demand is insufficient to cope with the growing DU stockpile it has been used in aircraft as balance weights.
The claim by the British Ministry of Defence that "depleted uranium is no more radioactive than ... a household smoke detector" is criminally disingenuous. When DU aerosolises, tiny radioactive particles can lodge in the lungs irradiating local tissue. This is why Qantas has to send its balance weights to the US for machining by operators wearing space suits.
When will Australia's Environmental Protection Agencies wake up to the health risks of an aircraft carrying DU bursting into flames? It happened at Bijlmer, Holland; it can happen here!
Gareth Smith
Nuclear Disarmament Party
Byron Bay NSW
Bob Dylan
I agree completely with Phil Shannon's accurate portrayal of political opportunist Barb Dylan, real name Bob Zimmerman (GLW #433).
In 1963 Pete Seeger came to Oz and met us privately. He sang some Dylan songs like "Hard Rain" on a fretless banjo. Next time he came he didn't sing any Dylan songs, or mention Dylan. I asked him why, and he gave a kind of ancient Buddhist facial reply, turning to me without speaking. I don't think he ever sang a Dylan song again.
Phil Ochs, the great song writer, was dumped by Dylan from jobs, because of his politics, and, in 1967, Ochs took his own life.
Dylan is a classic success story, and a classic sell out. His most famous quote was "There is nothing to protest about any more". There are hundreds of good songwriters in the USA, whose songs we never hear, even hundreds who are dead, whose songs we never hear. Only the ever-grinding saga, of the carefully stage-managed image of Barb Dylan.
Denis Kevans
Wentworth Falls NSW
Telstra
What does a phone company do? Unions have been fighting through the legal system in an effort to prevent outsourcing. Telstra out sourced much of its call centre work to Stellar, that has been paying workers $28,000 per year for 40 hours while the previous award rate in Telstra was $35,000 for 38 hours. It appeared to be a strong test case for a legal challenge.
An earlier legal decision in the IRC stated that the rate of pay should be the same as the workers were carrying out the same work in what was essentially a transfer of business. A business that is 50% owned by Telstra anyway.
What do you do if you are part of a huge corporation and a legal decision is not to your liking? Pay buckets of money for lawyers that help you change the rules of course!
The Federal Court has now declared the earlier decision wrong. This was not a transfer of business because "answering phones is not a distinct part of Telstra's business". What else does a telephone company do?
A ludicrous example of the flimsy nature of legal victories. We can tie ourselves in knots trying to justify our rights before the courts using convoluted language about fairness and rights. How quickly it can be unravelled by more clever words backed by more money and corporate prerogative.
Where was the broad community and industrial campaign to fight the privatisation of Telstra? Workers collective organising is the only reliable method of defending our current gains, let alone challenging the exploitation and stupidity of this system. Telstra should be put back into public hands for the benefit of the majority.
Melanie Sjoberg
Kingsford NSW