The anti-war movement
Sue Bolton (Write On #561), like Raul Bassi and Pip Hinman (Green Left Weekly #560), have missed the central point of my original contribution (GLW #560). That is, we as socialists have a responsibility to move the movement, or key sections of it, beyond placing demands on the government or the UN. Socialists have certain tasks in the anti-war movement, beyond simply building large rallies, important as they are.
Critically, we need to make arguments and organise within the labour movement to take industrial actions against the war and the occupation. Primary amongst our tasks is building practical and tangible solidarity with organisations of the Iraqi working class like unions.
GLW has run a number of articles and editorials suggesting that significant-sized protests will be sufficient to end the war. From the editorial of GLW #544: "Through mobilising those opposed to the war on Iraq in large, highly visible public protests that raise the clear demand that the US and it's allies get out of Iraq — thus restoring to the Iraqi people the national sovereignty that the invasion has violated — the growing public disquiet about the war can be turned into an irresistible mass political movement."
Is this a strategy for success? Patently no. Protests are important for a range of reasons, but in and of themselves they are not going to stop war or end the occupation. Fifteen million marched against the war in February to no avail. In the week that half a million folks rallied in Washington against the Vietnam War, Nixon was preparing for the escalation of the war. It's incumbent on us to explain why, on questions of critical importance to the ruling classes, rallies and demonstrations have historically, ended only in bitter disillusionment.
Finally, Bassi and Hinman also argue that the anti-war movement was not a failure, and that to admit as much is to succumb to pessimism. They list that the war was stalled for three months, the movement forced the US back to the UN to seek approval and the movement denied the rulers the legitimacy they sought.
These are all true, and we need to acknowledge the impact of the movement. But the anti-war movement had one slogan — No war. The war has come and gone. Admitting that the anti-war movement failed to achieve its stated goal is simply stating the brutal truth. To do otherwise can only diminish our cause. What does fuel pessimism is that some in the anti war movement are unwilling to acknowledge the sometimes awful truth.
Bryan Sketchley
Brisbane
Saint Che?
In the time just prior to GLW becoming Socialist Alliance's paper it is a shame that Jorge Jorquera ("Che Guevara: liberation fighter", GLW #565) did not choose to produce a more critically analytical article on Che's thought and practice, which I would have heartily welcomed. What he has produced is pure hagiography — the life and times of saint Che.
I hold the opinion that Che was likely a good person whose heart was in the right place but that only goes so far. According to Che, "the principal actors of this revolution had no coherent viewpoint", but unity was achieved as a result of resolute action, inspired and in "close relationship with the people". A number of questions are raised here about revolutionary practice and the role of theory.
Do we need a coherent viewpoint to launch revolutionary action (or any other type of action for that matter)? What role then for political leadership? Is a close relationship with the people enough? Which "people" are we talking about — working class, peasants, petit bourgeoisie, all of them? None of these questions are addressed by the author.
Che's revolutionary exploits after 1965 are given scant regard. Che's efforts in Africa and South America raise important questions for socialists. Why is it that Che did not seek to base his revolutionary forces on the working class but on rural peasants? The most crucial of questions was also left unanswered: why was Che so unsuccessful in carrying through revolutions outside of Cuba?
I won't belabour the point but "What Che represents is the hope that emerges when people take their beliefs seriously and seize every chance they get to make a difference". If we (Socialist Alliance) really take ideas seriously then we should discuss them in all their detail rather than just memorialising past "heroes".
Phil Chilton
Perth
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
In GLW #565, Boris Kagarlitsky analyses the current crisis of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and comments in part: "While declaiming in ritual fashion about the miseries of the population the KPRF have no inclination to summon anyone to struggle. Instead of socialism they speak of 'great power patriotism' and view the main problem as the excessive number of Jews among the country's capitalist oligarchs. This is all strikingly reminiscent of fascist propaganda (my emphasis)."
But surely the "striking reminiscence" is far from coincidental. After all, this appalling party is the 500-strong remnant of a 20-million strong regime that Trotsky described in the 1930s as differing from Hitler's Germany "only in its greater efficiency".
Surely, it is long past time that Boris and Green Left Weekly abandoned any plans for transforming the menace that is the KPRF, let alone involving it in any new anti-capitalist coalition of the left.
Thus it was upsetting to see Boris involved in helping to organise an anti-capitalist conference in November — together with the Russian branch of ATTAC and the youth wing of the KPRF. This meeting was to include a press conference with Susan George from Paris ATTAC and Gennadi Zyuganov, the leader of the KPRF. Surely we should all be relieved that such a bizarre, indeed shameful, platform was not in the end convened.
Tom Freeman
Melbourne
Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority misleads minister
The recent antics of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA) over the Water Police site in Pyrmont seem to be straight from the farcical comedy Yes, Minister. The Authority is so intent on its own narrow bureaucratic agenda that not only is it prepared to appropriate publicly owned foreshore land, it is even prepared, it seems, to mislead the minister for planning and infrastructure, Craig Knowles.
As a result, Knowles has apparently misled parliament.
During parliamentary question time the member for the Southern Highlands, Peta Seaton, asked Knowles about the nature and cost of additional staff or services in relation to the Water Police Site. Knowles replied: "I am advised that a security officer was stationed at Elizabeth Macarthur Bay from 5pm, 25 October 2003, until 5pm, 26 October 2003, and that the total cost of this service was $912, at a rate of $38 per hour."
By contrast, locals report that security guards were observed patrolling the site, 24 hours a day, seven days a week from October 25 until after November 20. The total cost would have been in excess of $12,000. So, well may we ask, why did SHFA tell its minister this service only cost taxpayers $912?
Marcelle Hoff
President, Friends of Pyrmont
<http://www.pyrmontpoint.net>
Guests
I was taught from the earliest age that guests are special. As a child, when guests came to our home, we shared with them the best of what we had. Sometimes it was with a grudging respect, especially if we didn't much like them, or they frightened us, though we would never, even for a moment, let our guests know if this were the case.
We were not a religious family, nor a particularly wealthy one, these were not our motives. We cared for our guests because not to do so would betray the most profound essence of our humanity. We shared with our guests because they reminded us of who we are, what we believe, what we value and what we want most for ourselves — the best we can offer. In my family's values, our guests became who we were: respected members of our family, our town, our nation, our civilisation. If only for a moment in time spent with us.
In Nauru, in Port Hedland, in Villawood, we Australians have guests. I, as an Australian, have guests. For how long they will stay is unknown, many are uninvited, some may be not what they seem, some may return from where they came, but for however long they are my guests they are a special category of me. I must, by all that is most human, offer them what is best of me as I would for my own children.
To do so is not merely a mark of a caring civilisation, it is the mark of our deepest respect for ourselves and for our own humanity.
My people are in prison. Let my people go.
Mark Svendsen
Highgate Hill Qld
Whitlam's protege
The only way the new leader of the federal opposition, Mark Latham, could have achieved a more right-wing shadow cabinet would have been to appoint Kim Beazley to the shadow defence portfolio. It is now even more difficult to distinguish the opposition from the coalition.
Mark Latham has been called Gough Whitlam's protege. Fair enough. Mr Whitlam went into the Pine Gap US spy base roaring like a lion and came out bleating like a lamb.
Latham went into the US embassy full of anti-American bluster and came out standing in front of the US flag and swearing support for the US alliance.
That conga-line has suddenly got longer.
Col Friel
Alawa NT
Right-wing policies
Mark Latham has advocated right-wing economic policies. Why believe him now when he claims he will reduce poverty and inequality?
Latham talks about upward mobility but his lower tax agenda will impede upward mobility by disadvantaged people. Wealthy families will buy top quality education and healthcare while poor families rely on budget-constrained public services.
Many people spend much of their lives towards the bottom of society economically. A robust social security system is critical but Latham opposes this.
Even the few who go from "rags to riches" would generally be better-off if their lifetime income were spread more evenly over time.
Latham portrays high-income recipients as hard workers who deserve a tax cut. He ignores property income. Furthermore, having a well-remunerated job is not a sacrifice people make to benefit society.
Overwhelmingly it's something people do to benefit themselves. The better-paying jobs are usually the more inherently satisfying jobs and employed people are normally happier than unemployed people.
Rhetoric about mobility is no substitute for policies to reduce the gap between rich and poor.
Brent Howard
Rydalmere NSW
Crikey!
I bet the flaming crocodile is getting pretty Bob-savvy.
And how does the biggest numbskull fan of Irwin, George W. Bush, feel about the offering of infant yum-yums to a crocodile?
After all, George is a notorious baby-killer who doesn't even pause to keep count.
Peter Woodforde
Melba ACT
International court for Saddam?
So will the US now make Saddam Hussein face charges in the International Court of Justice about his crimes against humanity? I don't think so. It would give Saddam a voice to mention America's war crimes against Iraq and their use of napalm, cluster bombs and depleted uranium against civilians and soldiers defending their land against an unauthorised illegal invasion.
This case could also show yet again how this invasion was based on lies at the highest level. Lies that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Lies that Saddam was a leader in some terrorist ring or connected in some way to al Qaeda and the S11 attacks. Lies that we in the "free world" were somehow at risk by his regime.
And against massive public opinion our government went along with those lies and became complacent in disobeying the UN, the murder of innocent people and to the use of violence as a means of resolving conflict. We need a "regime change" in Australia.
I was in Iraq in "peace camps" during the lead up to both Gulf wars. We were pressuring for a non-violent solution and we met ordinary people who are now probably dead or involved in a guerilla resistance war. Iraqis are proud people. They said they would never allow America to occupy their land. Remember Vietnam and the endless suffering of innocent people.
After 12 years of brutal US-led sanctions that killed 50,000 children every year, I'd guess if you gave Iraqis a choice which brutal dictator they would like to see brought to justice most would say George Bush.
I think the only way peace will be achieved in Iraq is for all foreign troops to leave Iraq, for America to pay compensation for the havoc and destruction they created, and let Iraqis regain control over their land, oil, reconstruction contracts and destiny.
I think this whole Iraq conflict has been an important opportunity for the world to see clearly America's plan for global domination. Unfortunately for Bush (and Howard), we the people, with the aid of the internet, have now united as the second superpower rivalling the first. The challenge now is not to be involved in this dead end cycle of violence but instead choose love and compassion for humanity.
Dean Jefferys
Wanganui NSW
Depleted uranium
Recent investigations into depleted uranium (DU) contamination in Iraq by the Canadian-based Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC) led by a former US military doctor, Asaf Durakovic, have revealed radiation 2500 times higher than normal on destroyed Iraqi tanks where children play.
Now experts are calling for a thorough analysis of water, soil and milk around the Basra suburb of Abu Khasib but the British Ministry of Defence has stated that their own investigation showed that radiation was limited to hot spots where the DU munition had entered the tank and that it was fused with the tank's metal and thus could not be ingested or inhaled. This is very strange because one of the hallmarks of DU munitions prized by the military, is its ability to be pylophoric: it gives off a flash of light and vapourises when it impacts with a hard target.
There is plenty of evidence that DU is dangerous. A US Federal Aviation Administration report warns that independent breathing supplies and protective suits must be worn when DU is handled (it is used in the ailerons of Boeing jumbo jets and helicopter rotors).
In 1995 an El Al Boeing cargo plane crashed in the Amsterdam suburb of Bijlmer, its DU counter weights were never recovered and probably vapourised in the fireball. Subsequently there has been a huge increase in birth defects. Unfortunately, this example is complicated by the fact that the aircraft was carrying chemical weapon precursors bound for Israel.
The first Gulf War left a huge crop of child cancer victims in Iraq where DU munitions had been used and, further, it is implicated in the so-called Gulf War Syndrome, which has afflicted thousands of veterans. Currently, soldiers who served in DU-areas in Kosovo and Bosnia have contracted cancers.
DU munitions offer a cheap solution for the US Department of Energy to get rid of thousands of tonnes of this waste, but still radioactive product, but dumping it on civilians in war zones is a crime against humanity.
Now that US and Australian forces regularly play war games in the Northern Territory, one wonders how much DU contamination is occurring. After all, there is no liklihood of the Howard government dissenting from the US and British position that DU weapons pose no radiological hazard.
Gareth Smith
Byron Bay NSW
Capturing Saddam
The capture of Saddam Hussein won't make any difference to the Resistance in Iraq. They aren't fighting for the return of Saddam, but for freedom from occupation by the United States and its collaborators. If anything, his capture will strengthen the Resistance because it will deny the occupation forces the excuse they have persistently been pushing — that Saddam and his cronies are organising the resistance.
The former dictator was never in a position to lead the resistance. He is not a military strategist and his high profile meant he was constantly on the move or in hiding. The leadership of the resistance rely on anonymity. They need to be mobile and to blend into the crowd. You won't see any diminution in the number of attacks on the Coalition forces or their collaborators because of Saddam's capture.
Bush and his leaders in Iraq will have a field day about Saddam's capture. The media will go into frenzy mode. They will interview anyone and everyone involved in the hunt for Saddam. Investigative journalism will be thrown out the window, as it was during the invasion when the media were embedded or more appropriately "in bed with" the military. But none of this will make one iota of difference to those who are continuing the struggle for a free and independent Iraq.
Adam Bonner
Meroo Meadow NSW
Iraq still in chaos
Despite all the optimistic predictions put forth by the US policy-makers following the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deadly attacks on the coalition forces are going on unabated.
In fact, the arrest of Saddam has not only failed to end or reduce the attacks, but also complicated the situation by creating some serious question marks in people's minds.
First, the supposition that the Saddam loyalists are the main factor behind the attacks proved completely false, because in spite of Saddam's capture as well as the death of his sons, the bombings and ambushes continue. So, who are the attackers?
Second, the secretness of Saddam's jailing and interrogation has inevitably raised different questions. For example, some believe that the US officials are extremely worried about the possible disclosure of some secrets by Saddam, which might damage severely the image of the Bush administration and lead to terrible scandals.
Third, the controversial timing of Saddam's arrest, which is supposedly based on the Bush administration's breathtaking efforts to be re-elected in the forthcoming elections, has obviously cast doubts on the US forces' real intent in the capture of the notorious tyrant. Many people are of the opinion that Saddam had been arrested long before the formal announcement of the coalition forces.
Fourth, before the recent explosions in Karbela, it was widely believed that the attackers are mostly Sunni Iraqis, whereas the Karbela blasts showed that the bombers were not merely confined to the Iraq's Sunni minority.
Fifth, "How is Saddam going to be tried and punished?" is one of the main questions raised by his capture; some believe that this may turn into a serious source of concern both among the coalition forces and the Iraqi political circles.
In short, it seems quite unlikely any of the various games such as Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad or Saddam's sudden capture, which were carefully played by the Bush administration, is able to save it from the Iraq quagmire or even increase Bush's chance of success in the approaching election.
Nasser Frounchi
Iran
Miss University
Narendra Mohan Kommalapati (GLW #557, 'Miss Cod Fillet'?), you obviously have never been associated with competitors of such beauty pageants as Miss University. If you had you would be well aware of the time and effort these young people have directed away from their studies and work to be successful in their chosen expressional interests.
Whether it is sporting, intellectual or, in this case, beauty competitions, people such as Rose McDonnell (Write On #556) strive to be the best at something. If genetics have given them the ability to do this, I think they should go for it.
Other females around the nation promote high standards in their area of expertise, these standards are bound to be reflected in the younger generation but yet they are not frowned upon.
Narendra Mohan Kommalapati refers to the roots of the problems associated with beauty competitions. If the "problems" are that the competitors are portrayed as objects with no personalities, then maybe Narendra should challenge all varieties of competitions worldwide, as competitions revolve around a person's ability to do something well. And if this means that the person is recognised for this trait, then it taken upon them to deal with this recognition, not the those with uninformed and spiteful views.
If Narendra is concerned that she too might be expected to look like Rose McDonnell, she can relax, as it is also expected of her to become a paediatric doctor like Rose McDonnell and hold her own with other top female competitors such as Alicia Molik and Cathy Freeman in their chosen field of competition.
Sit back and think about the motives behind the young women that enter such beauty pageants as Miss University, Narendra, you too might decide to engage in competition, perhaps ignorant disregard? Well you are already the excellent at that!
Ben March
Perth
Aboriginal leadership
An Aboriginal group in Adelaide at the Otherway Centre are leading the way in Australia by working for refugees and asylum seekers. This year they have published an A2-size poster of an Afghan family in, as it were, a crib scene with the Christmas story on one side and the words: "Is there room in Australia for this Afghan family?"
It is a very powerful statement!
It is so good to see our Aboriginal people taking such leadership and initiative that I want the whole world to know what they are doing. The father is actually employed by the Otherway Centre as part of their involvement with others. The site address is <http://www.acc.asn.au\>. Do have a look at the poster, please.
Another interesting snippet is also on the internet and that is the comparison between Santa Claus and St Nicholas. One is commercial and the other is compassion. This can be found at <http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Bris?pageID=36> and go to compare Santa Claus and St Nicholas.
Helen-Mary Langlands
From Green Left Weekly, January 14, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.