Self-help movement
In regard to Angela Matheson's reviews of Susan Faludi's book Backlash — The Undeclared War Against Women and Gloria Steinem's Revolution From Within (GLW #58), the conclusion of Faludi's book that we need an uncompromising and forceful mass women's movement should be supported, as against Steinem's view of personal self-esteem as the goal.
But I think there is a difficulty with the review's total acceptance of Faludi's arguments against the self-help phenomenon. Which, understandably, is a reaction against the view expressed in Steinem's book that the problem is with women themselves and that therefore personal self esteem through self-help is the goal.
I agree that the plethora of books dealing with self-help don't generally conclude that women who suffer from physical and sexual abuse, and their effects, such as drug and alcohol addiction, are a product of the oppression of women under capitalism and perpetuated in the family. But rather than trash the entire phenomenon, I think we need to extract what is useful for women and use it to our advantage.
Women who find themselves in abusive relationships and/or have alcohol or drug problems need more than just an exhortation to become politically active. To do so requires a level of self-esteem and confidence that many women suffering from the effects of abuse don't have. Some of this can be gained through political activity, but often this is not enough to overcome emotional problems.
Along with being part of a mass social movement, women need to feel it is okay to ask for help in dealing with the effects of abuse and consequent emotional stress. Otherwise, we run the risk of giving the impression of telling women they are weak for needing and asking for help.
The 12-step self-help groups have become enormously popular over the past few years, because they are an alternative to traditional therapeutic situations. Rather than being in a potential power relationship in traditional one to one therapy, they are free, voluntary and peer based, which I think is very important and an improvement on expensive professional therapy. These programs are not the end goal, but they can be of immediate help, because there is not much else.
I think this is a problem in which a Marxist interpretation of psychological phenomena and psychological life in general would help. It would also make inroads into the froth of contemporary psychology to explain reality more fully and with an emphasis on action.
Kerry Nebauer
Brisbane
[Edited for length.]
Hot air
The cover story "The Earth Summit's Missed Opportunities" (June 17) systematically pointed out the hot air exchange at Rio by ers", where not one agreement was decided to have any substantial binding action.
Environmental Youth Alliance contacted the environment department in Canberra for any information that they received during the summit and could share with us. What we received is an embarrassment to our esteemed "Whoops — I forgot to read before signing" environment minister, Ros Kelly. It was statements sent back from the summit to the children of Australia. One could only read it in a patronising Patsy Bisco voice.
She told us that Brazil is a long way a way from Australia and that when we all go there we too will find this out (as an unemployed "child", my prospects of getting to Brazil are not looking good!). She also told us they are very poor in Brazil and she is there to convince them that they can not develop in the way of countries like Australia and the United States. She ended on a happy note though by saying that we can all do our bit and recycle while using "green" products.
Thanks Ros; I feel informed and empowered to action.
Elle Morrell
EYA National Coordinator
Dulwich Hill
Perth brewery — 1
In opposing the claims of the Swan Valley fringedwellers concerning the spiritual significance for Aboriginal people of the sacred grounds of the Waugal at the foot of Kings Park on the Swan River (Write on, July 1), Gordon Payne in his letter of "outrage" failed an elementary test. He did not say what interest he has in this issue. Asserting that "the left has been hoodwinked" is a really pathetic substitute for an honest analysis of the different interests at stake.
I spent many hours enjoying Kings Park as a young white child protected from poverty, racism and the colonial controls of a conquering state. I am now aware that Aboriginal people have much more than a sentimental attachment to a nice piece of land or an old building, let alone the crudely exploitative attitude peculiar to capitalists and their hangers on.
I also know that one of the worst tricks of Australian racism is to play off one group of Aboriginal people against another. It is scandalous for any white person to pretend to know what some Aboriginal people regard as sacred. Sadly, it will be a long time yet before most of us are aware that Aboriginal spirituality is a wholly different perspective, which we can only begin to appreciate by questioning many of the ruling ideas of the society in which we have to live.
It is revealing that Mr Payne describes the disputed area as "the Brewery site", and that he fails to refer to the disgraceful legacy of the WA Labor government, which is responsible together with Hawke and Holding for the absence of national Land Rights legislation. That bloody brewery is a perfect symbol for the oppression of Aboriginal people, whose land has been stolen and who in return have been given no rights and few opportunities other than the tragic escape of paying to get drunk.
Victor Hugo wrote: "Anger may be ill considered and absurd; we may be mistakenly angered; but only when there is some deep-seated reason are we outraged." This little wisdom, written on behalf of the European poor, speaks for Robert Bropho and the Swan Valley fringedwellers. The support they have finally received in recent weeks is reassuring.
Roderic Pitty
Sydney
Perth brewery — 2
Gordon Payne's letter in the July 1 Green Left deserves a reply even if just to straighten out his "pathetic string of misinformation" in his letter.
1. Aboriginal opinion is not divided on the brewery issue. Over 90% of Aboriginal communities across WA support Robert Bropho in his efforts to get the old Swan Brewery demolished and the area made into parkland. This includes tribal communities at Marandoo and Yakabindie. 2. Gordon Payne is correct that Stirling Highway does bisect the site, but Robert Bropho and the Aboriginal protesters have more chance of winning the demolition of the old Swan Brewery than closing Stirling Highway.
3. The doctors so readily condemned by Gordon Payne and some others rightly see that if the WA government's "restoration" plans go ahead, this will undoubtedly increase the risk of fatalities.
4. Heritage value of the old Swan Brewery is also contentious. The only remaining part of the original building, the stables, was demolished years ago. What Gordon Payne does not mention is the surrounding area's significance to Aboriginal people. Historical records in the Batty Library show the area was a meeting place, a provider of drinkable fresh water and an area holding religious significance to Aboriginal people.
5. Jack Mundey, the BWIU and other unions supporting demolition saw the brewery issue for what it was — another WA Inc deal with big developers like Multiplex, thus setting a precedent for more development along the Swan River foreshore and finally an attempt to spite Robert Bropho, an Aboriginal prepared to take on the racist Carmen Lawrence Labor government and defend Aboriginal culture.
The struggle to demolish the Old Swan Brewery by Robert Bropho and his supporters is about defending Aboriginal spirituality. It is a struggle to win back Aboriginal culture, especially for urban Aboriginal youth.
Aboriginal people don't want an "Aboriginal Heritage Museum", they want land and culture — something Carmen Lawrence will never deliver.
The left rightly sees the WA government as it is, a racist pro-big business government that will stomp on the rights of all minorities including Aboriginal people.
Leon Harrison
Perth
[Edited for length.]
NUS
Jorge Jorquera's account of the role of NUS in the current Austudy campaign is selective and misleading. He claims wrongly that NUS has somehow swung behind the loans option and that NUS has narrowed (whatever that is) the campaign.
To justify the first claim, he refers to comments by the right-wing General Secretary of NUS, Pablo Campillos. He conveniently fails to mention the substantial work undertaken by other NUS officebearers and by the NUS-resourced Cross Campus Education Networks. Jorquera also fails to note that Campillos' comments were made in contravention of NUS policy and that his comments were condemned widely within NUS. The SA Branch unanimously voted for Campillos' resignation and will be presenting motions to that effect to the National Executive.It hardly accords with notions of intellectual honesty and good faith to substitute the comments of one isolated individual for the quite different actions of an entire organisation.
As for the claim that NUS has narrowed the campaign I can only ask, where is the evidence? Issues raised at meetings and rallies organised by NUS this year include: Austudy, loans, childcare, the exploitation of overseas students, HECS, guaranteed minimum incomes for all, progressive taxation and much more.
Let's get a bit real here. If Jorquera wants to blame NUS for smaller rallies recently, then the abstentionism of Resistance should also come into question. The fact is that NUS has fewer resources and less money than many of its member student organisations. Progressive office-bearers have worked long and hard to make this a successful campaign.
Of course, there are problems within the NUS. Any organisation that has such a wide cross-section of society as members is going to have different views and conservatives within it. NUS has Liberals and Labor-right members of its Executive who consistently attempt to undermine it. Nonetheless, it is the responsibility of progressive students to encourage and work with NUS when its aims concur with our own — and to work to change NUS when they don't. I suspect Jorquera's comments are motivated by experiences of earlier campaigns and his analysis — one I once shared — is significantly outdated.
Chris Francis
Richmond, Vic
Sexuality
Brother Giacon (letter 1July) has raised the issue of sexuality for consideration as social discourse — although this was probably not his intention.
The construction of sexuality reinforces power relations in all societies and thus cannot be ignored by the agencies of social change now instrumental to the conservation of our natural environment. The ways in which this nexus translates into social action (for example, Resistance distributing Fantastic Sex Facts to students) may appear distasteful to some people and may run counter to their own purveyance of information.
However, I wonder whether the strength of Brother Giacon's objections extends to the vast array of sexual messages presented to teenagers every day in every form of media available to them, and which perpetuate a consumerist status quo, or whether his gaze is restricted to Strathfield Railway Station.
Janis Shaw
Dickson, ACT
He's everywhere
I laughed myself silly over the ludicrous and delightful "Fidel gets around" (GL #61). The following tiny poem occurred to me, based on vague and happy childhood memories of The Scarlet Pimpernel:
We see him here, we see him there,
We seem to see him everywhere.
Is he in heaven, is he in hell,
That damned ubiquitous Fidel?
Rosemary Evans
St Kilda Vic
Hypocrisy on Bougainville
While the Keating government applies sanctions on Yugoslavia and the Serbian people, this government manufacturers and supplies the New Guinea government to put down people fighting for freedom and independence in Bougainville.
While Mr Hawke shed crocodile tears for the students in Beijing, bullets manufactured by his government were killing people fighting a desperate battle for freedom in Bougainville.
To give you a further example of the hypocrisy of the Australian Labor government: The Hawke government recognised the right of independence of the Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian people but refused to recognise the right of independence and self determination of the Bougainville people.
The Australian government contributes millions of dollars towards the upkeep of the Papuan armed forces, and in so doing contributes towards the violence of putting down people fighting for independence and freedom in the country of their origin.
Are the Australian people going to stand by and allow the atrocities being committed by Papuan armed forces against freedom loving people to continue or are they going to do something about it?
Papua New Guinea forces have already taken over the island of Buka, part of northern Bougainville, and they have a foothold in the south, getting ready for the big push against the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. That must not be allowed to take place.
These people have lived on the island of Bougainville since time began for them. All they are asking for is to be left in peace, in the country of their origin.
The Australian government diverts our attention to other trouble spots in the world, while a real fight for freedom and independence is taking place right here on our own doorstep at Bougainville.
Send in your protest now to Gareth Evans (supposed architect of peace) and help stop the slaughter in Bougainville, now, where innocent people are dying for freedom.
W.G.Fox
Brisbane
[Edited for length.]