Pensions
The federal treasurer Peter Costello has been saying that with an ageing population in the next 40 years there will be insufficient revenue to provide pensions and adequate health services for older Australians.
This is an inadvertent admission that the capitalist system is geared for the benefit of the very wealthy and that the Liberal Party government does its best for them.
As the capitalist system is so deficient that it cannot provide adequate pensions and social services for an ageing population, it is time that the Australian people gave serious consideration to a socialist system that can.
Bernie Rosen
Strathfield, NSW
Research
Kim Bullimore accuses me of not doing "an ounce of research" in my "diatribe" against Doug Lorimer, who previously wrote a fairy-tale obituary for the terrorist Yasser Arafat (GLW #607). May be Bullimore should do some research herself. She claims that the late Yitzhak Rabin was a member of the Irgun. She is wrong. Yitzhak Rabin was a member of the Palmach. He was the commander in charge in June 1948, when David Ben Gurion gave the order to sink the Altalena, a ship carrying arms for the Irgun underground. She also stated that Ariel Sharon was a member of the Irgun — again she is wrong. Ariel Sharon was a member of the Haganah and assisted the British in the capture of the Irgun fighters.
Bullimore doesn't make any sense when saying that "Yitzhak Rabin was in the terror groups Irgun and Palmach, as was Ariel Sharon". Firstly, the Irgun and Palmach were completely different movements and secondly whilst some may say that the Irgun were terrorists, the Palmach certainly were not.
Rachel Freeman
London, England
Aboriginal health
As a born and bred Bomber supporter with a jumper signed by Michael Long on my wall, I have the utmost respect for this champion of indigenous rights. It is important for non-Aboriginal Australia to acknowledge the evidence of history in relation to Aboriginal health policy. The persisting low level of investment in primary health care, the confused responsibilities between state and federal governments, the demonstrated absence of political penalties for neglect, and the past failures to maximise social dividends by engaging Aboriginal people and organisations in service delivery. What is needed is a true and firm commitment to the health of aboriginal peoples in all levels and all sectors of government by building real and sustainable partnerships.
Among the key issues that will impact on Aboriginal health are educational achievement, access to adequate housing, transportation as it effects access to services and the cost of food in regional and remote areas, employment opportunities and social issues such as child abuse, family violence, drug abuse and crime. Better integration by government agencies for the provision of basic infrastructure, social, economic, and health strategies can improve performance in each area. This requires government departments to devote a substantial amount of their capacity to work with community sector agencies in a community development and capacity building manner.
Dr Colin Hughes
Glen Forest, WA
US marines
Bravo to US marines Jimmy Massey and Jeremy Hinzman for refusing to kill unarmed civilians and children. They told Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board that their command had killed 30 plus civilians within 48 hours while on checkpoint duty in Baghdad (Sydney Morning Herald, December 9). Naval Petty Officer Pablo Paredes told a press conference he didn't "want to be part of a ship that's taking 3000 marines over there, knowing that 100 or more of them won't come back" (San Diego Union Tribune, December 6). Military training does its best to extirpate conscience, empathy or sensitivity in recruits but there's always a few prepared to pay the cost of conscience and disobey.
Through whistleblowers like these come revelations of torture and the indiscriminate killing of unarmed civilians and children in Iraq. It is these embarrassments that lie behind US demands that, without its permission, American citizens must be exempted from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Unless ICC signatories acquiesce, an amendment to the budget bill now before the House of Representatives would cut "an economic support fund designed to foster democracy and human rights around the world, as well as promote the rule of law in Muslim countries to bolster counterterrorism efforts" (Boston Globe, December 5). Jordan, for example, would lose about $US250 million "in a two-year old program to foster pluralism and secular education, potentially undermining the Bush administration's declared goal of spreading democracy in the Mideast" (Boston Globe).
What is the US afraid of? A case will only come before the ICC if the US fails to institute a genuine prosecution; no loss of sovereignty here. The answer must be in the US desire for secrecy, for suppression of the truth and its penchant for covert operations. Given Australia's long involvement in the development of the ICC it has a deep obligation to counsel the US to support international law. Unfortunately, John Howard has no stomach to ask Bush to ratify the ICC and drop its terroristic tactics.
Gareth Smith
& Maxine Caron
Byron Bay, NSW
From Green Left Weekly, January 26, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.