Nauru targeted as nuke dump site

The Guardian
February 2
2005
$1.50
The Workers’ Weekly
# 1213
COMMUNIST PARTY OF AUSTRALIA
ISSN 1325-295X
Iraqis vote
First step towards democracy & independence
The courage shown by millions
of Iraqis in Sunday’s ballot in the
face of car bombings, suicide killers
and mortar attacks by terrorists,
(who are misnamed “resistance
fighters” by the media and even
some on the left), is a huge tribute
to their determination to take this
first step in the long struggle for
a democratic, independent and
sovereign Iraq.
From first accounts, the turn-out
of voters in Iraq was higher than
expected even though some voting
irregularities have been reported
by groups of NGOs monitoring
the election within Iraq. The voter
turnout seems to have been higher
than in overseas countries such as
Australia where the media and, once
again, some Trotskyist organisations, inculcated fear of the consequences should they take part in the
elections.
Proportional
representation
The Iraqi electoral system
is more democratic than that in
Australia in that it is based on proportional representation and each
Party or alliance of organisations
entered a ticket of candidates.
It is nonsense for the Bush
administration (and no doubt
Howard will echo his master’s
The so-called
resistance is made
up of former Baathists
and external terrorist
organisations
voice) to claim it was all down to
the work of the US Government
and its invading troops. Let it never
be forgotten that successive US
Governments armed and helped
finance the Saddam Hussein regime
especially during its eight-year war
against Iran. The poison gas used by
the Hussein regime to kill its own
citizens in the north of Iraq was supplied by the US.
2
page
Freed by
US but still
a marked man
Mamdouh Habib
Furthermore, following the first
Gulf War in 1990 when the Iraqi
people rose against Saddam Hussein
they were crushed with the connivance of the US government of
Bush Senior. They saved Saddam
Hussein.
The objective of the Bush
Government is and remains the permanent occupation of Iraq and the
seizure of its rich resources, especially oil. It is, even now, building
a number of military bases which
will be permanently occupied by US
forces unless driven out by an Iraqi
Government.
The so-called resistance is made
up of former Baathists who were
privileged recipients of crumbs of
power under the Saddam Hussein
regime and external terrorist organisations whose objective is to impose
a fundamentalist Muslim regime
and, thereby, to destroy the secular
society which had always previously existed in Iraq, even during
the Hussein period.
Travesty
It is a travesty for these groups
to be regarded as a genuine resistance or to believe that their
objective is anything more than to
create the circumstances that would
bring them once again to power.
Furthermore, the US occupation
would prefer the return of a Baathist
regime than to have to deal with a
genuinely progressive government
that would soon call for the expulsion of all US military forces.
Forces which have been responsible for the deaths of many more of
their own citizens than US troops
and which use the indiscriminate
weapon of suicide bombings can
make no claim to be a genuine
resistance.
Interim government
While the results are not yet
known it is possible that communists and their supporters may
become part of the interim government which will be formed following the election success.
The interim government has
the responsibility of drafting a new
Constitution for Iraq. This will then
be put to the Iraqi people in a referendum, hopefully before the end of
the year and then new elections held
for a new government. J
4
page
Childcare workers’ win
A mass rally just prior to the election
Nauru targeted
as nuke dump site
Science Minister Brendan Nelson
has admitted that the Federal
Government is still looking for
storage facilities for nuclear waste,
even after the recent announcement
that the US will accept spent
nuclear fuel from Lucas Heights
until 2016. The Minister said last
week that he was still researching
“appropriate” onshore sites and
examining an offshore facility. He
has not denied rumours that the
cash-strapped Pacific island nation
of Nauru will also be targeted to
become a dump for Australia’s
nuclear waste.
The Howard Government has
already bullied and bribed Nauru
into being used as a dumping ground
5
page
MUA battles Captain Cook
for imprisoned asylum seekers from
Australia.
“We’re currently examining
an offshore facility”, Nelson said.
“We’re also going to make sure
we look at an offshore facility in a
remote location because, if for some
unexpected reason, the offshore
location we choose is not suitable
for storage then it’s very important
we already have developed
concurrently a proposal for a secure
onshore site.”
Nelson is still incensed that a
campaign by the people of South
Australia overturned the Federal
Government decision to locate a
waste repository near Woomera. He
has accused the states and territories
6
of “crippling parochialism and
federalism” over the issue of the
location for the national dump.
He referred to the Boxing
Day tsunami when describing
potential problems for offshore
sites. This would seem to rule out
most of Australia’s major external
territories as they are low lying and
prone to seismic activity. Heard
and Macquarie Islands are World
Heritage listed.
Nauru also poses other difficulties as a possible nuclear dump
site. Its government is a signatory
to the Waigani Convention,
which prohibits the islands of the
Pacific being used as dumping
grounds. J
9
page
page
IMF’s
“democracy”
in Ukraine
The Emperor speaks
2
The Guardian
February 2
The Guardian
Issue 1213
February 2, 2005
Sound and fury signify nothing
Meetings at the Swiss tourist resort of Davos are gatherings of
the “great and powerful” and this years’ meeting is not the first
time that the needs of the more than one billion people living in
poverty have been discussed.
Despite the fine words from the industrialised countries, mass
poverty remains in most of the third world countries of South
America, Africa, the Middle East, India and Asia.
As with the tsunami tragedy, there is more talk of debt
“relief” but such talk in the past has led no where for the poverty-stricken millions. Unless the billions of dollars in loans and
the huge interest payments owed by the third world countries
are cancelled and not merely rescheduled, little will come of it.
Rescheduling means that the repayment of principal and interest
is merely delayed.
Fearful of the talk of debt relief and rejecting the campaign
by many for the cancellation of debt, Prime Minister Howard
leapt in to denounce debt relief. In its place he put forward a diversionary proposal for “free” trade, saying developed countries
should lower barriers to imports of products from the poorer
countries.
Sounds good, but the reality is different and Australia’s
trading practices do not bear out any serious contribution by
Australia. Australia’s major trading partners are the developed
countries of the US, Japan, the European Union, Canada and New
Zealand. Only China, as a developing country, is catching up in
trade terms with the developed industrial countries. Australia’s
imports from the under-developed countries and even our near
neighbours in the South Pacific region are negligible.
The reality is that capitalist traders look for the cheapest and
highest quality goods and these are provided by the countries
with the most developed technology, with the most skilled labour
force and which can present their products in attractive packaging. The strength of the economies of the developed countries
also allows them to cut prices if they have to compete with other
countries and to offer bribes in the course of trade deals. Is the
Australian government about to tell traders where they should
buy their imports? Of course not!
The only way to start alleviating the mass poverty in so many
countries is by the cancellation of debts and positive assistance
that helps poverty-stricken countries to develop their economies,
lift living standards, educate their populations, provide health
care, build infrastructure and exercise preference in trade
relations. Otherwise, the present dramatic inequalities between
countries, even if trade barriers were to be completely removed,
would remain.
Howard’s populist and hypocritical attacks on the European
Union will, in practice, only cement the advantages of the
industrialised countries over the rest of the world – and that is
what Howard’s policy is intended to do. They would also help
Australian agricultural exporters.
While in Davos, Howard also leapt to the defence of the
Bush administration when it came under criticism from some
European leaders who reject Bush’s policies of pre-emptive
strikes and war, in particular the US invasion of Iraq in disregard of the United Nations.
Howard claimed that he does not relegate the United Nations.
The fact is that Howard only sees a role for the United Nations
when it goes along with the demands of the US and Australian
governments. Otherwise they should be free to implement whatever invasions and interventions they decide.
Anyone who expected that the election of Beazley to the
leadership of the ALP would lead to some more progressive
policy statements will be confounded by his remarks on the Iraq
war which were limited to attacking the Howard government for
its tardiness in protecting Australian diplomats in Iraq and a
claim that Howard had “let the Americans down”. Obviously he
intends to present himself as an even more reliable lackey than
Howard.
His response to the return of Mamdouh Habib to Australia
from Guantanamo was limited to a proposal that the Australian
government should issue a statement. He made no call for an
investigation, no criticism of the government’s despicable role
in which it abandoned Mr Habib and another Australian citizen
David Hicks. And of course, not a word of criticism of the equally
despicable imprisonment and torture of prisoners by the US
Bush administration.
PRESS FUND
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their “strings”, which include forcing the subject country to accept
conformity with the political aspirations of Australia and its allies.
In contrast, there are no “hidden agendas” to our campaign for
donations to the Press Fund. We state unequivocally – and proudly
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to independence and development. Many thanks to all those who
contributed this week, as follows:
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This week’s total: $840. Progressive total: $1680.
2005
Allegations of
police harassment
on Palm Island
The death in custody of Palm Island
man Cameron Doomadgee is still
greatly affecting the small island
community.
Kevin Rose, a lawyer who
works for the Aboriginal Lagal
Aid Service in Townsville said that
at least ten Palm Island residents
are considering suing police for
allegedly acting unlawfully in the
wake of the riot that followed Mr
Doomadgee’s death.
Many claim police entered their
homes without warrants or acted
with unnecessary force.
The Koori Mail of January 12,
2005 ran a front-page article entitled
“Living in Fear” which described
the trauma experienced by the residents.
Gail Wotton, mother of a 16year old girl, described what happened: “My daughter is an innocent
Christian girl who was in one house
which police raided looking to arrest
people and she was placed on the
floor and had a weapon held at her
head. I am very angry that it could
have happened.”
The incident took place in late
November and Mrs Wotton’s daughter is still affected by the experience.
Mrs Wotton was not in the
house at the time but was told that
police even looked inside the fridge.
“How could any person hide in a
fridge?” she said.
Brad Foster, chief executive
of Carpentaria Land Council and a
Palm Island community leader, said
up until a few weeks ago the police
were still raiding houses in full riot
gear and frightening residents.
He gave an example of how it
happens.
“On December 31, my younger
brother was sitting at home here.
Three carloads of coppers rocked
up in full-body riot gear with
masks on, with two plainclothes
police. They smashed the front
and back doors and walked straight
into the house. There were six kids
asleep in the lounge room who
were disturbed by what happened.
The police said they were looking
for drugs but didn’t find anything.
This kind of behaviour hasn’t
stopped yet.”
In the first couple of days after
the riot in November about 50
homes were entered by the police
looking for people.
There are still 30 to 40 police on
the island.
Premier Peter Beatty supports
the police actions: “I have been supportive of the police action in restoring law and order on the island and I
remain supportive.”
Mr Beatty also said that people
were “free to take legal action in
the courts if they want to. This is a
democratic society and people have
legal rights.”
In a democratic society people
should not die in police custody and
children should not be placed face
down on the floor and threatened
with guns. J
Mamdouh Habib
Mamdouh Habib, the Australian
citizen who was kidnapped,
imprisoned for three years
in solitary confinement and
subjected horrendous physical
and psychological torture, has now
arrived home in Australia.
The United States Government
released Mr Habib after admitting it
lacked sufficient evidence to lay any
charges against him.
Mr Habib’s release reveals the
utter failure of the American project at Guantanamo Bay. The major
breaches of human rights and civil
liberties that have occurred at Camp
X-Ray have yielded little in the way
of terrorist prosecutions.
Although Mr Habib is now free
he sets foot into his home country as
Correction
The pulled quote on page 4 of last
week’s Guardian was attributed to
Colin Powell. It was a quote from
Wilson “Woody” Powell, who is the
executive director of Veterans for
Peace group in St Louis. We apologise
to Woody and for any confusion that
it may have caused readers.
a marked man. Both the Federal and
NSW Governments have declared
that Mr Habib remains a “person of
interest” and have forewarned him
that he will have his movements
restricted, his phones tapped and
be constantly tailed by the Federal
Police and ASIO.
Regarding Mr Habib’s illegal
kidnapping, detention and torture Prime Minister Howard has
declared, “We don’t have any apology to offer. We won’t be offering
compensation.”
NSW Greens MLA Lee
Rhiannon spoke out strongly against
the continued invasion of Mr
Habib’s civil liberties.
“Mr Habib should be allowed to
rebuild a life and family shattered
by his illegal detention. Instead,
Premier Carr will continue hounding
him and invading his civil liberties.
“Premier Carr clearly thinks
NSW will succeed where the US
has failed.”
Ms Rhiannon said that draconian and undemocratic laws that
stripped away human rights only
increased the likelihood of terrorist
acts.
Kisch in Australia
Exhibition
Sydney
14 February - 24 April
State Library, NSW
Picture Gallery, Mitchell Wing
Adelaide
Migration Museum
from July to December
This exhibition highlights the story of Czech journalist and
communist Egon Erwin Kisch (1885-1948) who was invited to
Australia in 1934 to address the Australian Congress of the
International Movement Against War and Fascism. Prime Minister
Joseph Lyons’ government, which was dealing with the effects of
the 1930s’ depression by cracking down on free speech, tried to
ban Kisch from landing. He leapt from the boat breaking his leg.
His story remains resonant today. The attempt to ban Kisch from
speaking in Australia had the unintended effect of galvanising
public opinion against the government and drawing large crowds to
meetings where he spoke.
Exhibited in conjunction with the Goethe-Institut
“If Premier Carr, Prime Minister
Howard and President Bush really
want to defeat terrorism they should
build up democratic rights and institutions, not trample on them.”
“Breaching international law
and human rights creates worldwide
resentment and anger that helps
groups like al-Qaida to recruit new
terrorists.”
And while human rights activists celebrate the return of Mr
Habib, it must be remembered that
another Australian, David Hicks,
still remains in the Guantanamo Bay
hell-hole.
Mr Hicks is to face a US military court on spuriously broad and
all-encompassing charges – conspiracy; attempted murder as an
unprivileged belligerent and aiding
the enemy.
No specific charges have been
laid – which indicates that the US
government has very little evidence against him. He has not been
charged with killing anyone, he has
not been charged with any acts of
terrorism, nor has he been charged
for causing any specific harm to the
invading forces. J
The Guardian
February 2
Australia
2005
3
Gunning for super profits
Peter Mac
The tsunami tragedy has eclipsed
one very disturbing Australian
legal case with potentially
terrible implications for the
natural environment and the
rights of expression of ordinary
Australians.
Just before Christmas, the giant
Tasmanian timber firm Gunns Ltd
served writs for damages on 20 critics of its industrial practices.
The company is claiming a total
of $6,360,483 in damages, which
it says resulted from campaigns
waged by the defendants over recent
years. The campaigns were aimed at
The company’s legal
attack against the
conservationists
has been criticised
as extremely
dangerous.
blocking and/or highlighting aspects
of Gunns’ activities, including their
policy of clear felling massive areas
of native forest to gain timber (only
a small percentage of which is
actually used) for woodchipping,
as well as the ruthless and systematic destruction of wildlife in these
areas.
The company alleges it suffered
because of unlawful “conspiracies”
by the defendants, and because of
their unlawful interference in its
legitimate business operations, in
particular from:
• disruption to logging operations at Lucaston, Hampshire,
Triabunna and the Styx Valley,
• vilification of the company
regarding its Burnie woodchip site,
• Tasmania’s Banksia environmental awards (the company was
excluded from the awards short
list!), and campaigns aimed at
Gunns’ Japanese and Belgian customers, and
• campaigns involving the
company’s shareholders, investors
and banks.
Pete’s Corner
The 20 defendants include
the Wilderness Society, Doctors
for Forests, the Huon Valley
Environment Centre, Peg Putt
(MHA), and Greens Senator Bob
Brown.
Gunns Ltd is Australia’s biggest native forest logging company
and the world’s biggest hardwoodchip company. It is determined to
maintain its logging practices, and
is willing to savagely prosecute
opponents.
Former state premier Robin
Gray is adviser to its executive
chairman, John Gay. In the 1970s
Gray planned construction of a
dam that would have permanently
flooded the exquisite Gordon and
Franklin Rivers. The plan was bitterly opposed by conservationists
and was finally blocked by federal
government intervention.
Some 15 years ago the company’s then chairman, Edward
Rouse, was jailed for 18 months
for attempting to bribe a Labor MP
to take action which would have
deprived Tasmanian Greens of the
balance of power in state parliament. David McQuentin, a former
Rouse company executive, is now
an assistant to John Gay.
Gunns’ policies and practices
have been supported by conservative state and federal governments,
including the present Tasmanian
Labor government.
The company’s legal attack
against the conservationists has
been criticised as extremely dangerous for those who speak out against
environmental vandalism.
Some have drawn comparisons
to the “McLibel” case in Britain,
where two poorly paid but courageous workers were sued by the
McDonalds restaurant chain for
publicly claiming that the company’s practices resulted in rainforest
destruction, consumer disease, and
third world starvation.
The case backfired against the
company. The judge’s ruling that
some of the defendants’ allegations had been proven resulted in
extremely bad publicity for the
company.
However, the Gunns case is
fundamentally different because the
company is not arguing the truth or
otherwise of the conservationists’
statements. Rather, it is alleging
that their actions and statements
resulted in financial hardship for the
company.
Moreover, the current case could
set a precedent in an even wider
context. The environmental implications of the Gunns case are serious
enough, in a period when the safety
of millions of people is jeopardised
by environmental changes.
However, a victory by Gunns
would, by implication, threaten the
right of any citizen to speak out or
take peaceful protest action because
of the financial harm it might cause
the company concerned.
It could set a legal precedent
for the banning of protest action by
unions, community groups and even
small shareholders, over any unpopular action or proposed action, by
the company concerned. It could, in
short, usher in the iron-fisted rule of
unbridled capital.
The defendants in this case have
vowed not to yield to the company’s
pressure. Senator Brown, who is due
to visit Japan next month to publicise the case, last week declared
angrily:
“I, for one, will never be cowed
by John Gay, Robin Gray, their
wealth or their power of destruction. They will not stop me from
campaigning to save Australia’s
heritage even if it means losing
every penny, every home comfort,
and every peaceful night’s sleep life
offers.” J
Ian Melrose – the Perth businessman
behind East Timor TV ads
Bob Briton
Last September, in the lead-up to the
AFL Grand Final, it was business as
usual on Australia’s commercial TV.
Glitzy ads promoting a seemingly
endless variety of goods and services
peppered the high-rating programs
with distracting regularity. Then a
remarkable thing happened. Thirty
second ads began appearing, to put
the case for a fairer deal for East
Timor in the sharing out of the oil
and gas reserves being exploited
under the seas near the coastline
of the struggling new republic.
A voice of conscience had been
raised amid the chorus of voices
for consumption. Later 60 second
ads reinforced the message.
The commercials were timed
to coincide with the resumption
of talks between officials of the
two countries on the issue. Those
meetings concluded in Darwin on
September 30 and were reportedly
held in a cordial and encouraging atmosphere. There was an
undertaking from the Australian
representatives to continue the
talks sometime after the Federal
Elections. The tone of the proceedings was a far cry from previous
exchanges between the governments in which Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer had taken a
bullying and dismissive stance to
East Timor’s complaints. Some
commentators credited the TV ads
for the more conciliatory attitude of
the Australian team.
The ads and their effects were
not heaven sent. They were paid
for by Perth-based businessman Ian
Melrose. The accountant became
wealthy by backing a chain of
optometrist stores. Friends say he
never set out to become wealthy and
that he remains a level-headed and
generous person. Like many other
Australians who have traveled to
East Timor, he was struck by how
little is being done to rebuild the
country after decades of genocidal
occupation by the Indonesian military and neglect by Portuguese colonial authorities before that. Clearly
his wife shares his sympathies for
the East Timorese people. She has
volunteered to work as a nurse in
the shaky health system being built
there with scant funds.
The TV ads cost Mr Melrose
around $900,000 out of a $2 million
campaign budget. He commissioned
a Newspoll survey of Australians
that revealed that 77 per cent of us
believe that the International Court
of Justice should determine the
issue of the disputed boundary. Only
ten per cent opposed the idea while
another 13 per cent were undecided.
Mr Downer’s claim to be representing Australia and its people in
discussions up to that point were
so much hot air. He spoke then and
continues to speak for big capital.
Mr Melrose paid for ads in
regional and capital city newspapers. He also had ads published in
the press in New Zealand, Papua
New Guinea, Singapore and Hong
Kong. “[I intend] making those
countries aware of Australia’s conduct and in that way putting pressure on the government to lift its
game. Australia is muscling in and
it’s totally inappropriate”, he told
AAP at the time.
His efforts clearly annoyed the
Australian Government. A spokesman for the Foreign Minister said
that Mr Melrose could better spend
his money on disadvantaged East
Timorese.
So, having put the truth before
the public, has the millionaire
businessman got the East Timor
issue out of his system? Not at all!
The injustice towards East Timor
continues and so does the advertising campaign. In the days prior to
Australia Day, the TV ads started up
again. The telecast of the Australian
Open tennis tournament was interrupted with images and a message
that informed viewers:
“While the Howard Government has already stolen $2 billion
of gas and oil royalties, East Timor
desperately needs to create a health
system that works…”
Andy Alcock, chairperson of the
Australia East Timor Association
in South Australia has likened Mr
Melrose to the wealthy 19th century
British industrialist and socialist
Robert Owen, who built model
factories and communities in the
UK. “It is not often that we see
wealthy people being so generous to
causes that will not lead to increased
profits”, Andy told the media last
year. J
4
The Guardian
Labour Struggles
February 2
2005
Childcare workers’
historic pay win
Low-paid workers in the child
care sector have had a tremendous
victory after a long and arduous
community campaign. On January
13, the AIRC (Australian Industrial
Relations Commission) announced
wage increases that will deliver a
minimum increase of $64.50 per
week for a qualified child care
worker and a minimum of $82.20
per week for a diploma certified
child care professional in Victoria
and the ACT.
Handing down the decision the
Commission noted that “the quality of care, and hence outcomes for
children, is positively related to the
First step
There are more than 80,000
people working in child care across
Australia – this decision will be
a first step in winning pay justice
for all workers in this important
industry. For the 18,000 child care
workers in Victoria and the ACT
this is long overdue said LHMU
Childcare Union National Secretary,
Jeff Lawrence.
He said the union has similar
pay claims in other states. “We will
be pursuing organising campaigns
with our union members in these
states.”
Most child care professionals
have been paid as low as $13-$15
an hour, and will now get paid around
$15- $18 an hour, under the proposals
put forward by the AIRC.
level of the qualifications of the
staff working with children”.
Commenting on the crisis in
attracting people to this important
industry the decision stated:
“We have found that limited career path options and low
pay have contributed to the current
recruitment and retention problems
... the shortage of qualified staff has
the potential to jeopardise the future
of quality child care in Australia.
Child care work is demanding,
stressful and intrinsically important
to the public interest.”
LHMU Childcare Union
members in Victoria and the
ACT have been waiting for more
than two years for this historic
announcement.
“This is a credit to the child care
union members who have organised
centre-by-centre, worker-by-worker,
parent-by-parent, to get widespread
community support for this pay
increase”, said Mr Lawrence.
“We know the community
recognises the professional standards, high skills and dedication our
members bring to their work – now
they will be rewarded appropriately
for their commitment.”
He warned that the Howard
government will have to help fund
the pay increase so as to ensure
parents don’t pay for it out of their
own pockets.
The union says parents should
not have to shoulder the burden
of paying these historic child care
wage increases and that child
care centres should not be priced
out of the reach of hard-working
Australian families.
The Howard Government can
ensure that childcare places are
accessible by putting in the funding
for these wage increases.
“However, any new funding
should be tightly regulated to ensure
that the spreading corporate sector
does not misuse these funds”, Mr
Lawrence said.
“The community does not
believe that funds for childcare
workers should end up in the ‘profits’ column of the child care corporates’ annual accounts, rather than
the accountants column reading
‘child care workers wages’ ”.
Long struggle
When Dianne Terrance first
got behind the campaign she didn’t
think it would take this long.
Ms Terrance, who works at the
Spence Children’s Cottage child
care centre in Canberra, said she
first became involved campaign
nearly three years ago because she
wanted the public to better understand the job of child care workers.
“I didn’t believe then it would
take us more than two years to get
a result. We had to convince a lot
of people to join the union and get
behind this campaign.
“Child care centres across
Canberra have been complaining for
Waterfall inquiry:
Govt “should be held accountable”
The final report from the inquiry
into the January 2003 Waterfall
rail disaster south of Sydney,
in which seven people were
killed, has identified the lack of
a proper culture of safety. In the
900-page report, commissioner
Peter McInerny, noted that rail
workers were constantly blamed
for shortcomings in safety in
the NSW railways and that the
Carr government should be held
accountable for the lack of safety
in the system.
The report warns that further
accidents are likely because of a
failure to implement safety reforms.
The “blame-the-workers” approach
is reflected in the regime put in
place in August 2003. Under new
regulations 31,000 random alcohol
tests have been carried out on rail
staff. Only 35 positive readings
were returned.
And out of 1200 random drug
tests only 22 positive reading were
returned. The cost of these drug
and alcohol tests to the taxpayers is
$400,000 a year.
The inquiry found a long list of
shortcomings related to the Office
of Transport Safety Investigations
being a division of state rail regulator, the Independent Transport
Safety and Reliability Regulator.
Under this arrangement the chief
investigator of Safety Investigations
is appointed by and can be removed
by the chairman of the advisory
board of the Reliability Regulator.
This, said Mr McInerny, “creates at
least the perception that the advisory board may influence the contents
of the reports of the chief investigator”. As a result “the advisory board
must be abolished”.
The inquiry also found: “The
culture of RailCorp continues to be
focused on on-time running, without
adequate and proper consideration
being given to safety matters”. It
pointed that this “culture is misconceived. Emphasis on safety increases the efficiency and punctuality of
a railway.”
The report also found that
although RailCorp pushed a “no
blame” line when safety incidents
occurred, in practice this was not
followed with workers immediately
being taken off duty for even minor
incidents and sent for psychological
testing.
There has been “a breakdown
in trust” between management and
staff. The report also noted that
train drivers were mostly blamed
for any disruption to services
and that drivers were pressured
to breach rules to meet on-time
running.
In addition Mr McInerny found:
• Emergency response and
communications are crippled by
delays, lack of coordination and
incompatible systems;
• RailCorp fails to allow passengers to escape from trains in an
emergency;
• A failure to keep computer
records of documents raising safety
issues;
• Staff reports of faulty trains
have been ignored and discouraged.
Recommendations from the
report include:
• Abandonment of the passenger containment policy in the event
of an accident;
• All new rail cars to have roof
access for emergency services;
• Managers to a certain level to
receive compulsory safety training;
• Management must move
away from the a “blame-the-workers” approach. J
a long while about the shortages of
qualified workers in this important
industry”, Dianne Terrance said.
“No wonder there were shortages when we expected good people
to work for about $15 an hour taking care of our children. This pay
win will allow us to attract back
to the industry qualified child care
workers who can set our kids onto
the right education path.
“At the time when our campaign
started I found it hard to believe we
could eventually win. It was difficult to get people enthusiastic and
keep their motivation up – many
were concerned that a push for a
wage increase might hurt the children and the parents.”
Most child care professionals
have been paid as low as $13-$15 an
hour, and will now get paid around
$15-$18 an hour, under the proposals put forward by the AIRC.
The Commission recognised
the qualifications of Diploma and
Certificate III as the key classifications in the ACT and Victorian
Awards.
The decision said among other
things:
These classifications should be
linked with equivalent trade rates
in the proper fixing of pay rates
– increases from $82.20 per week
for Diploma qualified and $64.50
for Cert III qualified professionals.
The conceptualisation of children’s services has changed from
“child minding” to one of early
childhood development, learning,
care and education. “The provision
of quality child care is directly related to better intellectual/cognitive
and social/behavioural outcomes in
children ...”
A new classification structure,
consistent in both ACT & Victorian
awards, is to be negotiated between
the parties under the direction of a
separate Commissioner who will
assist in the conciliation process.
The new structure may have
increases in the amount of yearly
increments, incremental progression
based on attainment of competencies and recognition of extra responsibilities of room leaders.
This process will happen in
a series of conferences starting
on January 25, 2005, with the
Commissioner to report back to the
Full Bench on March 17.
Final submissions are to be in
by March 24, and there is to be a
final hearing on March 31. J
50,000 finance sector
jobs headed offshore
National Australia Bank and
Westpac have recently engaged
the Indian firm Tata Consultancy
Services to perform IT project work
on their behalf. ANZ has boosted
the number of employees at its
Bangalore-based ANZ IT by 32 per
cent from 400 to 530 to develop and
maintain its “Peoplesoft” human
resources and enterprise resource
planning projects.
ANZ maintains that the growth
of its Bangalore operation will
not affect its local workforce.
A spokeswoman for the bank
told The Australian last month,
“ANZ continues to have about
2000 technology staff working in
Australia and New Zealand and we
have no plan to change that”.
However, global business
consultancy Deloitte Research
expects the job exporting trend
to grow rapidly and that by 2008,
15 per cent of the finance sector
workforce will be relocated to
cheaper labour markets. The
company estimates that 50,000 of
Australia’s present 344,000 finance
sector jobs will move offshore
within three years.
Finance Sector Union national
assistant secretary Cath Noye fears
the changes could have devastating
effects on the workforce similar to
those caused by the massive wave
of bank closures in the 1980s. “We
want to see this discussed openly,
because this is a very important
issue, not just for the financial
sector but for the country”, she told
the press recently. J
The Guardian
February 2
Australia
2005
5
Janice Hamilton
Maritime Union of Australia
(MUA) members in Sydney staged a
peaceful rally outside the offices of
Captain Cook Cruises in Circular
Quay on January 25. After the
multi-national cruise company
cancelled its lunchtime cruise,
demonstrators took their protest
over to Darling Harbour, marching
to the underground offices of Sydney
Manager Anthony Howard.
They took the action in solidarity with Captain Cook union delegate
David Swales, who was sacked for
taking annual leave over Christmas
and New Year to be with his partner
and her family in Poland.
David had put in a leave application months before his trip. A
few weeks before he and his girlfriend were to leave, management
announced he could not go – in fact
no employee was to take holidays
over Christmas and New Year.
By this stage David had already
booked and paid for a very expensive ticket to Europe, which he
was told by the airline he could not
change.
Having worked every Christmas
and New Year for the last four years,
he had gone to his Senior Manager
who had said that it would be OK.
The Senior Manager even offered
him his best wishes for the trip.
When David returned six weeks
later, he was sacked.
At the demonstration MUA
Sydney Branch Assistant Secretary
Warren Smith, in calling for management to come out of hiding and
negotiate with union officials, said
that it was more likely that he was
sacked for being a union delegate
rather than for taking holidays.
“Captain Cook cruises is very
good at bullying and intimidating its
workforce, especially women, but
when it comes to facing us they run
and hide.”
The MUA says that workers
are confronted on a daily basis with
such problems as:
• Disregard of safety concerns
• Reduction in working hours
for “not towing the company line”
• When they raise issues of
concern, workers are told “if you
don’t like it ... then leave!”
• Little or no workplace training
• Management often making
threatening calls to workers’ homes
• No career advancement
• 80 per cent of the workforce
are casual with no job security
• Below award wages and poor
working conditions
• Harassment for joining a
union
“We’ve had women in tears for
being called fat or for being told
they couldn’t have a day off to look
after young children”, said MUA
Assistant Branch Secretary Paul
Garret.
“Crew were refused counselling
after fishing a dead body out the
harbour, the boss has been attempting to force members into signing
individual contracts; young men
and women are regularly forced to
extend their shift after 1am, then
given no assistance to get home in
the middle of the night to places like
Cabramatta, and Meadowbank. The
boss refused to address safety issues
such as asbestos on board until the
union called in the relevant authorities (WorkCover).”
Captain Cook Cruises, according
to its website claims to be a small
family based and family-friendly
company. In fact, it is hardly small.
The company has assets in excess
of $80 million and earns up to $100
million annually. They operate daily
cruises in Sydney, the Great Barrier
Reef, the Murray River, the Fiji
Islands as well as running weekend
safaris in Sydney and Fiji.
Demonstrators voted unanimously to continue peaceful
assemblies on a weekly basis until
the company meets with workers
and union officials or until David
is reinstated by the company or the
Industrial Relations Commission.
David’s unfair dismissal claim
is listed for Conciliation hearing
on February 10 at the NSW IRC
at 2pm, Hearing Room 1, Level 8
Flight Centre Building, 815-825
George Street, Sydney.
In the mean time the MUA is
calling for supporters to contact
the Manager of Captain Cook
Cruises in Sydney, Anthony
Howard on (02) 9206 1122 or
0425 260 204 and demand David
Swales reinstatement. J
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• Reform or Revolution by Rosa Luxembourg
• Socialism and Man in Cuba by Ernesto Che Guevara
In an introduction to Manifesto by Adrienne Rich she
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in common with the writers of the three essays in this
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Photo: Janice Hamilton
MUA says
“Reinstate
David Swales!”
Captain Cook Cruises cancelled their lunchtime cruise as MUA members
rallied at Circular Quay.
A proposal for a wind farm at Kurnell, the heritage listed site
where Captain Cook first stepped onto the continent, has
been knocked by the Carr Government. That’s fine. It’s not
an appropriate place anyway. But the Government is instead
considering an application by mining company Rocla to mine
the peninsula’s last available sand dune. The Greens agreed
that that a wind farm should not be placed at Kurnell, but
pointed out that there has also been a long battle to save the
area from sand mining. Knocking back the wind farm, Carr
stated, “I know my Australian history, I know what Kurnell
means …” It must mean open slather for mining companies.
The Commonwealth Bank – that branch-closing, anti-worker
institution – was quick to jump on the populist bandwagon
and connect itself with Australian of the Year, Dr Fiona Wood.
The plastic surgeon who led the development of sprayon skin for treating burns victims, was called “The Face of
Hope” in adverts run by the bank in the daily papers last
week. Attributing to Dr Wood those ballyhooed corporate
traits of “enthusiasm, innovation and vision” the ads trumpeted, “The Commonwealth Bank is proud to support the
achievements of great Australians”. The contrast couldn’t
be sharper – a doctor who has devoted her life to healing and saving lives, and a financial giant that was once a
publicly owned service and is now a profit-bloated parasite.
Philanthropy is high on the Howard government’s propaganda
list. So it would interesting to know what Johnnie thinks of the
philanthropic innovation and vision of businessman Ian Melrose
who is running a $6 million advertising campaign to hound the
government over its theft of East Timor’s oil and gas. The first
ad – which says the Howard Government has stolen $2 billion
from the people of East Timor – ran last week during the televising of the Australian Open tennis and is part of a campaign
by a coalition that includes Oxfam and the Uniting Church
under an umbrella group called The Timor Sea Justice Campaign. The group warns that at every big event which Howard
uses “to promote himself” they will be there “to ambush him”.
Doomsday warning dept. A new study by British scientists has found that the planet’s global temperature may
climb by between 2°C and 11°C this century, compared to
previous predictions of 1.4°C to 4.5°C. Even smaller increases than that are expected to cause major disasters
including melting glaciers, sea-level rises, shut-down of the
Gulf stream and increases in extreme weather events. And
Australia won’t even sign the Kyoto Greenhouse Protocols.
CAPITALIST HOG OF THE WEEK: is Governor-General
Michael Jeffery who on Australia Day called on the country’s
youth to learn more about Australia’s democracy. He did
this with a straight face. Jeffery would want to hope they
don’t study it too closely. For one thing, he’d be out of a job.
6
The Guardian
Magazine
February 2
2005
IMF sponsored “democracy” in th
The following analysis of the outside forces at work in
the affairs of the Ukraine was made before last month’s
re-run of the presidential election in which Viktor
Yushchenko was elected as head of state. It shows the
types of pressures applied to the political life of the
people of that country to ensure the victory of this proUS, neo-liberal candidate.
Michel Chossudovsky
Opposition candidate Viktor
Yushchenko in the Ukrainian
presidential elections is firmly
backed by the Washington
Consensus.
He is not only supported by the
IMF and the international financial
community, he also has the endorsement of The National Endowment
for Democracy (NED), Freedom
House and George Soros’ Open
Society Institute, which played a
behind the scenes role last year in
helping “topple” Georgia’s president
Eduard Shevardnadze by putting
financial muscle and organisational
metal behind his opponents.” (New
Statesman, 29-11-2004).
The NED has four affiliate institutes: The International
Republican Institute (IRI), the
National Democratic Institute for
International Affairs (NDI), the
Center for International Private
Enterprise (CIPE), and the American
Center for International Labor
Solidarity (ACILS). These organisations are said to be “uniquely qualified to provide technical assistance
to aspiring democrats worldwide.”
(See IRI, www.iri.org/history.asp)
In the Ukraine, the NED and
its constituent organisations fund
Yushchenko’s party Nasha Ukraina
(Our Ukraine); it also finances
the Kiev Press Club. In turn,
Freedom House, together with the
Independent Republican Institute
(IRI), is involved in assessing the
“fairness of elections and their
results”. IRI has staff present in
“poll watching” in 9 oblasts (districts), and local staff in all 25
oblasts:
“There are professional outside
election monitors from bodies such
as the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, but
the Ukrainian poll, like its predecessors, also featured thousands
of local election monitors trained
and paid by western groups. ...
They also organised exit polls.
On Sunday night those polls gave
Mr Yushchenko an 11-point lead
and set the agenda for much of
what has followed.” (Ian Traynor
26-11-2004, the British Guardian,
www.globalresearch.ca/articles/
TRA411A.html )
Needless to say these various foundations are committed
to “Freedom of the Press”. Their
activities consist not only in organising exit polls and feeding disinformation into the Western news
chain; they are also involved in
the creation and funding of “proWestern”, “pro-reform” student
groups, capable of organising mass
displays of civil disobedience. (For
details, see Traynor, op cit) In the
Ukraine, the Pora Youth movement
(“Its Time”) funded by the Soros
Open Society Institute is part of
that process with more than 10,000
activists. Supported by the Freedom
of Choice Coalition of Ukrainian
NGOs , Pora is modeled on Serbia’s
Otpor and Georgia’s Kmara.
The Freedom of Choice
Coalition acts as an Umbrella
organisation. It is directly supported
by the US and British embassies
in Kiev as well as by Germany,
through the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
(a foundation linked to the ruling
Social Democrats). Among its main
“partners” (funding agencies) it lists
USAID, the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA),
Freedom House, The World Bank
and the Charles Stewart Mott
Foundation.
(Complete list at http://
coalition.org.ua/en/index.php?opt
ion=content&task=view&id=29&I
temid=51 )
In turn, Freedom of Choice
Coalition directly funds and collects donations for Pora (See http:
//pora.org.ua/en/content/view/
83/95/ )
The National
Endowment for
Democracy
Among
the
numerous
Western foundations, the National
Endowment for Democracy (NED),
although not officially part of the
CIA, performs an important intelligence function in shaping party
politics in the former Soviet Union,
Eastern Europe and around the
World.
NED was created in 1983
when the CIA was being accused
of covertly bribing politicians and
setting up phoney civil society front
organisations. According to Allen
Weinstein, who was responsible
for establishing the NED during
the Reagan Administration: “A
lot of what we do today was done
covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”
(Washington Post, 21-9-1991).
In the former Soviet Union
including the Ukraine, the NED
constitutes, so to speak, the CIA’s
“civilian arm”. CIA-NED interventions are characterised by a
consistent pattern. In Venezuela,
the NED was also behind the failed
CIA coup against President Hugo
Chavez and in Haiti it funded the
opposition parties and NGOs in
the US sponsored coup d’Etat and
deportation of President Aristide
NED was financing the G-17, an
opposition group of economists
responsible for formulating (in
liaison with the IMF) the DOS
coalition’s “free market” reform
platform in the 2000 presidential
election, which led to the downfall
of Slobodan Milosevic.
The Center for International
Private Enterprise (CIPE) has a very
similar mandate in the Ukraine,
where it directly funds research
on “free market reforms” in several key “independent think tanks”
and policy research institutes. The
Kiev based International Center for
Policy Studies (ICPS) is supported
by CIPE. It has a similar function
to that of the G-17 in Serbia and
Montenegro: a group of local economists hired by ICPS was put in
charge of drafting, with the support
of the World Bank, a comprehensive
blueprint of post-election macroeconomic reform.
Who is Viktor
Yushchenko, IMF
Sponsored Candidate?
In 1993, Viktor Yushchenko was
appointed head of the newly-formed
National Bank of Ukraine. Hailed as
a “daring reformer”, he was among
the main architects of the IMF’s
deadly economic medicine which
served to impoverish the Ukraine
and destroy its economy.
Following his appointment, the
Ukraine reached a historical agreement with the IMF. Mr Yushchenko
played a key role in negotiating the
1994 agreement as well as creating
a new Ukrainian national currency,
which resulted in a dramatic plunge
in real wages.
The 1994 IMF package was
finalised behind closed doors at the
Madrid 50-year anniversary Summit
of the Bretton Woods institutions. It
required the Ukrainian authorities
to abandon State controls over the
exchange rate leading to an impressive collapse of the currency.
Yushchenko as Head of the
Central Bank was responsible for
deregulating the national currency
under the October 1994 “shock
treatment”:
• the price of bread increased
overnight by 300 per cent,
• electricity prices by 600 per
cent,
• public transportation by 900
Combined with the abrupt hikes
in fuel and energy prices, the lifting
of subsidies and the freeze on credit
contributed to destroying industry (both public and private) and
undermining Ukraine’s breadbasket
economy.
In November 1994, World
Bank negotiators were sent in to
examine the overhaul of Ukraine’s
agriculture. With trade liberalisation
(which was part of the economic
package), US grain surpluses and
“food aid” were dumped on the
domestic market, contributing to
destabilising one of the World’s
largest and most productive wheat
economies, (e.g. comparable to that
of the American Mid West).
By 1998, the deregulation of
the grain market had resulted in a
decline in the production of grain by
45 percent in relation to its 1986-90
level. The collapse in livestock production, poultry and dairy products
was even more dramatic.
erishment, be so popular? Why has
the public image and political reputation of an IMF protégé, namely Mr
Yushchenko, remained unscathed?
What the neoliberal agenda does
is to build a consensus in “the free
market reforms”. “Short term pain
gain for long term gain” says the
World Bank. “Bitter economic medicine” is the only solution, much in
the same way as the Spanish inquisition was the consensus underlying
the feudal social order.
In an utterly twisted logic, poverty is presented as a precondition
for building a prosperous society.
This consensus presents a World of
landless farmers, shuttered factories,
jobless workers and gutted social
programs as a means to achieving
economic and social progress.
To sustain the consensus and
convince public opinion requires
“turning the world upside down”,
creating divisions within society,
distorting the truth and ensuring,
The break up of the country … modeled on
the experience of former Yugoslavia is, no doubt,
one among several transition “scenarios” envisaged
by the Bush administration.
in February 2004. (For details, see
Michel Chossudovsky, 29 Feb 2004,
www.globalresearch.ca/articles/
CHO402D.html )
In the former Yugoslavia, the
CIA channelled support to the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
(since 1995), a paramilitary group
involved in terrorist attacks on
the Yugoslav police and military.
Meanwhile, the NED, through the
Center for International Private
Enterprise (CIPE), was backing the
DOS opposition coalition in Serbia
and Montenegro. More specifically,
per cent.
• the standard of living tumbled
According to the Ukrainian
State Statistics Committee, quoted
by the IMF, real wages in 1998
had fallen by more than 75 percent in relation to their 1991 level.
(www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/
2003/cr03174.pdf )
Ironically, the IMF sponsored
program was intended to alleviate
inflationary pressures: it consisted
in imposing “dollarised” prices on
an impoverished population with
earnings below US$10 a month.
(See www.imf.org/external/
pubs/ft/scr/2003/cr03174.pdf )
The cumulative decline in GDP
resulting from the IMF-sponsored
reforms was in excess of 60 per cent
(from 1992 to 1995).
Propaganda in
support of the
“Free Market”
Under these circumstances,
why would Yushchenko, who was
closely associated with the process
of economic destruction and impov-
through a massive propaganda campaign, that no other viable political
alternative to the “free market” is
allowed to emerge.
Why is Yushchenko so popular?
For same reason as George W Bush,
running on his record of war crimes,
is popular.
And because his opponent, outgoing Prime Minister Yanukovich,
does not represent a genuine
political alternative for the Ukraine,
which forcefully challenges the
international financial institutions
and the interests of Western corpo-
The Guardian
February 2
Magazine
2005
7
he Ukraine
has gained a lot of credibility outside of Ukraine, and I think he also
deserves support inside of Ukraine”.
(quoted in the Financial Times,
27-4-2001)
“He added that the IMF respects
Ukraine’s right to choose its leaders, but maintained that the direction of reforms must be preserved.
He questioned the wisdom of the
VR [parliament] spending time on
manoeuvring for a vote of no-confidence in the government while
reforms need to be implemented.”
Replicating Yugoslavia
– the partition of
the Ukraine?
rate capital, which are destroying
and impoverishing an entire nation.
The 2004 election in the Ukraine
was built on a massive propaganda
and public relations campaign,
supported by the US, with money
payoffs by Washington for political
parties and organisations committed
to Western strategic and economic
interests. In turn, US intelligence,
working hand in glove with various
foundations including the NED, has
consistently supported this process
of civil society manipulation. The
objective is not democracy, but rather the fracturing and colonisation of
the former Soviet Union.
The IMF and
“Good Governance”
In the Ukraine, the IMF not only
intervened in the implementation of
the macroeconomic agenda, it also
intruded directly in the arena of
domestic party politics. As in Russia
in 1993, the Ukrainian parliament
was seen as an obstacle to the
implementation of the “free market
reforms”. In 1999, under due pressure from Washington and the IMF,
Yushchenko was appointed Prime
Minister:
“Yushchenko’s candidacy had
been proposed by 10 parliamentary
groups and factions, and Kuchma
agreed with their choice ...
“The weightiest argument
may be the International Monetary
Fund’s desire to see Yushchenko as
Ukraine’s prime minister, because
the provision of the former Soviet
republic with extended finance
facilities depends on that.
“Several parliament members
believe the IMF is ready to extend
a loan worth US$300 million to
the Ukraine in January in case
Yushchenko becomes prime minister.” (ITAR-TASS news agency,
Moscow, 17-12-1999)
Following his appointment,
Yushchenko immediately set in
motion a major IMF-sponsored
bankruptcy program directed against
Ukrainian industry, which essentially consisted in closing down part
of the country’s manufacturing base.
He also attempted to undermine the
bilateral trade in oil and natural gas
between Russia and the Ukraine
on behalf of the IMF, which had
demanded that this trade be conducted in US dollars rather than in
terms of commodity barter.
They have sacked
“our own”
Prime Minister!
Yushchenko was accused by
his opponents of having put the
interests of the IMF ahead of those
of the country. In 2001, Yushchenko
was sacked as prime minister following a no-confidence vote in the
parliament:
“Viktor Yushchenko has fulfilled obligations to the IMF better
and more accurately than his duties
to citizens of his own country, Olena
Markosyan, a Kharkiv-based analyst, has opined in Ukrainian centrist daily Den” (BBC Monitoring,
16-11-2004)
“This [Yushchenko] government
openly states that it executes all IMF
recommendations. Though the government declares the social direction
of its policy, actually it is carrying
out an anti-social, anti-national
policy”, said Communist Party
leader Heorhiy Kruchkov (quoted in
Financial Times, 17-5-2001).
The international financial community took immediate action. The
Ukraine was back on the creditors’
blacklist.
“The West, which openly put
its stake on Yushchenko recently,
is not likely to sit on its hands.
There is no lack of instruments to
bring pressure on Kiev. Most probably the question of resuming IMF,
World Bank and EBRD credits to
Ukraine will be put on hold because
they were expressly linked with
Yushchenko’s stay in power... Talks
with the Paris Club on restructuring
Ukraine’s US$1.2 billion debt may
run into difficulty... Not surprisingly, (Ukrainian President) Leonid
Kuchma yesterday hastened to
distance himself from what is happening and spoke critically about
the Rada [Parliament] decision.
(Vremya Novostei, 1-5-2001, original in Russian)
IMF Managing Director Horst
Kohler was adamant. “Yushchenko
A few months after his dismissal in 2001, Yushchenko was
in Washington for talks with senior
members of the Bush administration. He was back in Washington in
early 2003 under the auspices of the
International Republican Institute.
During this visit, he met with
Vice President Dick Cheney and
Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage.
The Neocons had carefully set
the stage for the October-November
2004 presidential elections.
Yugoslavia was a dress
rehearsal for the fracturing of the
remnant republics of the former
Soviet Union. As recent developments suggest, the break up of the
country, namely the partition of the
Ukraine, modeled on the experience of former Yugoslavia is, no
doubt, one among several transition
“scenarios” envisaged by the Bush
administration.
Creating divisions between
Ukrainians, Russians, Tatars in
Crimea and other ethnic groups,
ing Ukrainian elections. Defence
Minister Marchuk announced following these meetings that Kiev
would continue to participate in “the
coalition of the willing” and would
maintain its troops in Iraq.
Marchuk was sacked in
September, barely a month before
the first round of the presidential
elections.
Attempting a
coup d’état?
In a televised address on
November 25, Marchuk, sent a message to the military, police and security forces to disobey the authority
of the civil authorities, namely the
government of Leonid Kuchma.
“Ukraine’s former defence
minister and head of the National
Security and Defence Council
has declared that he’s convinced
that opposition leader Viktor
Yushchenko is entitled to be recognised as the president of Ukraine.”
Former Defence Minister
Yevhen Marchuk called on President
Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych to exercise good
sense. Marchuk underscored that
there should be no bloodshed in
Ukraine.
Marchuk appealed to state
security officers not to fulfill illegal
orders and to remember their official honour and dignity.
He stressed that election fraud in
the November 21 presidential runoff election, which the government
says was won by Prime Minister
Yanukovych, was on a mass scale.
He said that there is only one way
out of the tense political stand-off
that has engulfed Ukraine since
Monday: negotiations between
Ukrainian government which is
firmly aligned with Washington,
with the ultimate objective of displacing the Russian military from
the Black Sea.
In this regard, the Ukraine
has already signed several military agreements with NATO and
Washington under the government
of Leonid Kuchma.
The Ukraine is a member
of GUUAM, a military alliance
between five former Soviet republics ( Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,
Azerbaijan and Moldova). This
military alliance was initially
designed in 1997 by the Ukrainian
National Security Services (NSBU)
in close liaison with Washington. Its
objective was to undermine the alliance between Russia and Belarus,
signed between Moscow and Minsk
in 1996.
The Ukraine also signed agreements with Poland and the Baltic
states, pertaining to the control of
transport corridors and pipeline
routes.
GUUAM lies strategically at
the hub of the Caspian oil and gas
wealth, “with Moldavia and the
Ukraine offering [pipeline] export
routes to the West.” The objective
of GUUAM was to exclude Russia
from the Black Sea, protect the
Anglo-American pipeline routes out
of Central Asia and the Caspian Sea
and essentially cut Russia off not
only from the Caspian Sea oil basin
but also from the Black sea.
Coinciding with the ceremony
of NATO’s 50th anniversary at the
outset of the war on Yugoslavia
in 1999, the heads of State from
all five GUUAM countries were
present including President Leonid
Kuchma of the Ukraine. They had
“Yushchenko has fulfilled obligations to the IMF
better and more accurately than his duties to
citizens of his own country”
between Russian Orthodox,
Ukrainian
Orthodox
and
Ukrainian Catholics, etc. is part of
Washington’s hidden agenda.
Military realignments
in support of the
Free Market
Militarisation supports the Free
Market and vice versa. The CIA
oversees the NED. The donor community, including the Washington
based Bretton Woods institutions,
collaborate with the European
Union, NATO and the US State
Department.
War and Globalisation go in
hand in hand. While Yushchenko is
considered a protégé of the international financial community, his colleague and political crony, former
Defence Minister Yevyen Marchuk
is an unbending supporter of US
and NATO military presence in the
region.
It was largely the initiative
of Yevyen Marchuk as Defence
Minister to send Ukrainian troops to
Iraq, a decision which was opposed
by the majority of the Ukrainian
population.
In August, Marchuk met
with Defence Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld at the Crimean seaside
resort of Yalta.
On the agenda of the August
talks: Ukraine’s participation in the
Iraqi war theatre and the upcom-
equals.
Marchuk also appealed to
Russian Ambassador to Ukraine
Viktor Chernomyrdin to pass along
to Russian President Vladimir Putin
only objective information. He
reminded officers of the Russian
Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol that
they are on the territory of a foreign
government, and that they should
remain mindful of that, calling on
the Russian Federation’s defence
minister to obey the law.” (See
Kiev Post, 26-11-2004 and Kanal
5 transcripts, BBC Monitoring
26-11-2004)
This statement by Marchuk,
which calls upon the Armed forces
and the Police to go against the government, essentially sets the stage
for a US-NATO sponsored coup
d’état.
Power struggle: oil
and pipeline corridors
Behind the presidential elections, there is a power struggle
between pro-US-NATO and proRussian factions within the leading political establishment and the
military.
What is at stake is not only the
maintenance of the IMF sponsored
macroeconomic agenda, strategic
US-NATO military interests in the
region are also at stake.
The objective of the Bush
Administration is to install a
been invited to NATO’s three-day
celebration in Washington to sign
the GUUAM agreement under
NATO and US auspices.
Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Uzbekistan, immediately announced
that they would be leaving the
Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) security union, which
defines the framework of military
cooperation between the former
Soviet republics, as well their links
to Moscow:
“The formation of GUUAM
(under NATO’s umbrella and
financed by Western military aid)
was intent upon further fracturing
the CIS. The Cold War, although
officially over, had not yet reached
its climax: the members of this new
pro-NATO political grouping were
not only supportive of the 1999
bombing of Yugoslavia, they had
also agreed to ‘low level military
cooperation’ with NATO while
insisting that ‘the group is not a
military alliance directed against
any third party, namely Moscow.’
Dominated by Anglo-American
oil interests, the formation of
GUUAM ultimately purports on
excluding Russia from the oil and
gas deposits in the Caspian area as
well as isolating Moscow politically.” (Michel Chossudovsky, War
and Globalization, the Truth behind
September 11, Global Research,
Montreal, 2002, Chapter V)
www.globalresearch.ca J
8
The Guardian
International
February 2
2005
Peace deal in Sudan
Ron Bunvon
The recent peace agreement
between the Sudanese government
and the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement/Army (SPLM/A),
headed by rebel leader John
Garang, has effectively ended a
21-year-old civil war that claimed
more than 1.5 million lives, most
of them in the southern part of
the country.
Signed on January 9 in Nairobi,
Kenya, the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement concerns the north-south
conflict. However, the settlement
does not directly address the crisis
afflicting the western region of the
country, particularly in Darfur.
The north-south agreement
involves a power-sharing arrangement where the revenue from the
nation’s oil production will be split
50-50 between the Islamic-oriented government and the SPLM/A,
which represents the predominately
non-Islamic south. Under the new
plan, Garang is to assume the vice
presidency on February 20.
Sudan, which occupies territory
roughly equivalent to one-quarter of
the continental USA, is located in
north-eastern Africa, between Egypt
and Ethiopia. It has a population
of 39 million. Although most of its
people face conditions of extreme
poverty, Sudan’s natural resources
include an estimated two billion
barrels of oil. It also has considerable reserves of natural gas, gold,
copper, iron and other minerals.
The SPLM/A says one of its
highest priorities is the voluntary
repatriation of refugees whose numbers, according to UN estimates,
approach four million. Meeting their
humanitarian needs is essential to
avert a general crisis of enormous
proportions, observers say.
Other provisions of the agreement involve the formation of an
army comprising both government
and rebel soldiers, and the holding of a referendum in the south
to determine whether the region’s
people want independence.
The agreement stipulates that
Islamic Sharia law will still apply in
the northern part of Sudan. Islamic
law was imposed by the Khartoum
government on the entire nation in
1983, including on the predominantly non-Islamic south. Laws prevailing in the nation’s capital should be
neutral, according to the SPLM/A.
During the signing ceremony,
Garang said, “In our view the
attempt by various Khartoum-based
regimes to build a monolithic ArabIslamic state to the exclusion of
other parameters of the Sudanese
diversity constitutes the fundamental problem of the Sudan and
defines the Sudanese conflict. …
This provoked resistance by the
excluded.”
The goal of the SPLM/A is the
“all-inclusive Sudanese state” with
a high priority placed on the “equality of opportunity for all Sudanese
citizens”, he said.
The Khartoum Centre for
Human Rights and Environmental
Development and the Amel Centre
for Treatment and Rehabilitation
for Victims of Torture greeted the
agreement, saying that it opens
up prospects for greater freedom,
peace, and respect for diversity.
Noting that the north-south
conflict has included massive
displacement of populations, the
deprivation of civil rights, abductions and torture, the two groups
said they welcomed the agreement
and “all the parties who participated
in the negotiations and discussions,
and we call for widening the cooperation and implementation of
these protocols on a national basis
in all parts of Sudan.”
In the wake of the January 9
ceremony, and despite the continuing conflict in Darfur, US Secretary
of State Colin Powell signalled
a willingness to relax sanctions
against Sudan. One consequence
of such a relaxation will be to give
US companies greater access to the
country’s oil fields.
People’s Weekly World J
CP of China to reinforce role
in public enterprises
The Communist Party of China
(CPC) has decided to reinforce
its role as the leader of large
state-owned companies and stateowned enterprises (SOEs). The
Organisation Department of the
Party says that party committee
members should hold major posts
in large scale companies, such as
members of boards of directors or
general managers to ensure the
Party’s involvement in the major
decisions taken by state-owned
companies and enterprises.
The objective of this decision is
to facilitate the continuing reform
and development of state-owned
enterprises while cracking down on
corruption and “ensuring the lead-
ing role of SOEs in the national
economy”, says a statement issued
by the Organisation Department of
the Party.
The statement says a new mechanism should be set up in SOEs to
choose talented people and managerial personnel who match with the
modern corporate system and that
the SOEs should combine the party’s policy on cadres with the management’s rights to employ people
according to law. The SOEs should
set up effective supervision systems,
including education, punishment
and anti-corruption measurest.
Party committees working in
SOEs should redouble their efforts
to work out measures to encourage
Iraqi unions’ plea
The internationally recognised Iraqi
Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU)
has issued a plea for world-wide
solidarity to secure the release of
kidnapped union leader Talib
Khadim. The President of the
Iraqi Mechanics, Metalworkers
and Printworkers Union was seized
by insurgents at the Carton Board
Manufacturing Company in the
Al Zafarania District of Baghdad
on January 27 while on union
business.
The six gunmen involved beat
the unionist repeatedly with the
butts of their guns before tying his
legs and hands and taking him to
an unknown location. The incident
took place in front of terrified workers from the company. Mr Khadim
lives in the Al Zafarania District and
is well respected as a community
activist and champion of workers’
rights.
The IFTU believes that the
kidnapping is closely linked in its
methods and intentions to the recent
brutal assassination of Hadi Saleh,
the IFTU International Secretary,
whose murder was condemned by
unions world-wide.
In spite of the dangers, Iraqi
workers have made great strides
towards building effective unions.
The IFTU was formed in April 2003
and has since built 12 national trade
unions. The IFTU is Iraq’s union
representative to the International
Labor Organization (ILO) and was
a participant at the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU) 18th World Congress held
last December in Japan. It has the
support of the British Trade Union
Congress and other European
unions.
The IFTU is asking readers to
send copies of any letters to the
editor or other media items they
might get published to their international contact in the UK, Abdullah
Muhsin at abdullahmuhsin@
iraqitradeunions.org
A support group has been set
up in Perth. The WA Iraq Support
Group can be contacted by phoning
Jan Jermalinski on 08 9464 4423
during business hours. J
the involvement of employees in
company management and protect
their legal rights, it says.
Party-wide education
On another front, the CPC has
launched an 18-month education
drive to “maintain the advanced
nature of the Party”.
It is the largest education course
in the Party since China adopted
its “opening-up” policy more than
20 years ago. It will involve all of
the Party’s more than 68 million
members.
Chinese President and CPC
General Secretary Hu Jintao told the
Party on the occasion of the launch
of the campaign that strengthening
the CPC’s advanced nature is of
vital importance for the Party’s survival, development and expansion.
A document issued by the CPC
Central Committee noted that in the
new century, profound changes have
taken place in the environment the
Party lives in, the tasks the Party
shoulders and the makeup of party
members. The campaign is being
conducted in order to adapt the
Party itself to these changes.
The education campaign will be
an important measure to elevate the
Party’s governance capability, consolidate its ruling status and complete its governing missions while
maintaining the nation’s permanent
stability. The campaign will help
to overcome outstanding problems
related to its ideology, its organisation and work style within the Party.
Another feature of the campaign is that the Party will set up an
open-ended long-term mechanism
to invite comments from non-party
personages so as to guarantee the
effectiveness of the campaign. The
mechanism will remain even after
the education campaign concludes.
The campaign is not only to
resolve problems of the party members, but also to address the complaints of common people. J
US marines in Sudan – the US wants access to Sudan’s oil
Cuban child
inaugurates 5th
World Social Forum
Abel Sardiña
PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL: Last
night (January 26), a six-year-old
Cuban girl held the attention of
several thousand participants at
the 5th World Social Forum (WSF),
when she officially opened the
debates along with three adults.
The inaugural event was
held after a mass march in which
200,000 people took part according
to military police estimates, a record
for this type of event.
The brief address opening the
2000-plus programmed events and
to work “for justice, dignity as a
universal human value” was read
out by three adults in Portuguese,
English and French, and by the
Cuban child in Spanish.
The child chosen, Ivette
González, is the daughter of René
González, one of the five Cubans
serving harsh prison terms in the
United States for combating terrorism.
The US authorities have repeatedly denied visas to Ivette and her
mother so that they can visit him.
In the opening address the World
Social Forum participants, who had
arrived in Porto Alegre from more
than 100 countries, were introduced
as the members of “another and possible world”, which is standing up to
“a world in which neoliberalism is
furthering wars and inequalities”.
The little Cuban girl and her
three companions called on those
present for one minute’s silence for
the victims of all tragedies, especially those of the tsunamis that devastated several Asian countries.
Likewise, she urged everyone to
light thousands of candles for dignity, to illuminate that other possible
world for which the forum movement is fighting.
During the previous three-kilometre march, banners, placards
bearing slogans and chants rejecting
war and the US president, George
W Bush, neo-liberalism, debt, and
the militarization of the Free Trade
of the Americas Area (FTAA) were
predominant.
Expressions of solidarity with
Cuba, Venezuela, Palestine, and Iraq
were also highlighted, as were calls
for equality, peace, the right to an
education, respect for the environment in all its forms and countless
other demands.
Moore than 2,000 conferences,
events, debates and other activities are scheduled over four days,
grouped around 11 major central
themes previously proposed by the
participants.
Granma International
www.granma.cu J
NEW AUSTRALIAN EDITION!
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of
Nikolai Ostrovsky’s birth the Communist Party
of Australia is pleased to present a new CD
Rom Edition of the classic Soviet novel
How the Steel Was Tempered
Prepared from the 1952 English Edition by
Progress Publishers, this edition includes the
12 original illustrations by A.Reznichenko.
The novel has been formatted as a PDF in both
screen-readable A5 and printable A4 pages.
$10 plus $2 p&p
Available from SPA books
See Bookshop ad page 5 for ordering details
The Guardian
February 2
International
2005
9
The Emperor speaks
Born-again Christian, George W
Bush delivered two speeches on the
day of his second inauguration last
month. They were full of banalities,
platitudes, hypocrisy and liberally
sprinkled with religious references
– “we are guided by a larger power
than ourselves who creates us equal
in His image” and, “America’s vital
interests and our deepest beliefs
… bear the image of the Maker of
Heaven and earth”.
His speeches were delivered
in the usual moronic and insincere
Bush one-line grabs.
But it was the atmosphere of
this US$50 million spectacular that
was most vulgar. It was a display
of corporate wealth with their representatives lining up to reap the
huge contracts that will flow from
Bush’s program for wars around the
world. He has just asked Congress
for another US$50 billion for the
Iraq war.
Bush, with his triumphal grin
was a nauseating spectacle. He was
flanked by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice,
Wolfowitz and other warmongering
minions in crime.
Bush threatened the “enemies
of liberty” … “America remains
engaged in the world by history and
by choice”.
It was left to Condoleezza Rice,
who has succeeded Colin Powell
as Secretary of State, to name the
immediate “enemies” – Iran, North
Korea, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Cuba
and Belarus.
Needless to say nations such
as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan,
Morocco and Egypt, none of whose
governments can be considered
“democratic” nor their people to be
“free”, did not warrant a mention
– their autocratic governments are
already toadies of the United States
and that is the real criteria for acceptance by the Bush administration.
The horrific consequences of
Bush’s evangelical mindset that
believes that he is the messenger of
God are frightening to contemplate.
“He is in the White House because
God put him there for a time
such as this”, declared US army
Lieutenant-General Boykin. And
this President, who definitely did
not win his first election in 2000,
still has many questions hanging
over his head surrounding his second term election.
Bush hijacked the words “freedom”, “liberty” and “democracy”
as America’s private property. He
used the words “freedom” and
“liberty” over 25 times in one of
his short speeches. In her speech,
Condoleezza Rice echoed Bush
with such remarks as, “Our duty …
is to spread freedom and prosperity
around the globe”.
Global Cop
The US administration intends
to impose its will on the rest of the
world using these clichés to justify
its wars and occupations. What this
means in practice can be seen in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
“America, in this young century,
proclaims liberty throughout all
the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof”, and, “It is the policy
of the United States to seek and
support the growth of democratic
movements and institutions in every
nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our
world.” US aggression and occupation of both Afghanistan and Iraq
and will be used incessantly in the
future, said Bush.
No country that hosts US bases
– and more than 100 nations do
– can be considered either free,
independent or democratic.
Furthermore, there is no evidence that the so-called democratic
countries are capable of bringing
peace to the world. In reality, “democratic” America has foisted more
wars, more invasions, more assassinations, more subversion, and more
interference on other countries than
any other nation in recent times.
And these interventions are taking
place in a number of countries right
now and are to be intensified in
Bush’s second term.
Bush ignored the terrible trauma
and chaos brought to Iraq by the US
invasion and his lies about weapons
of mass destruction. Even his “war
on terrorism” hardly rated a mention
in his speeches.
Bush also outlined his domestic
policy which is all about pushing
through the privatisation of every-
US to block
Canadian medicines
Darrell Rankin
In a total betrayal, the Martin
Liberals may shut down Canada’s
C$1 billion internet pharmacy
business within a few weeks.
US corporate drug companies
are opposed to the import of
inexpensive drugs. According
to industry spokespersons, US
President George Bush gave
Prime Minister Paul Martin an
“ultimatum” to stop the flow of
cheap pharmaceuticals.
Last year close to two million US patients purchased drugs
from internet mail-order pharmacies in Canada, due to a combination of Canadian price controls, a
lower Canadian dollar and a highly
monopolised US drug industry.
Typically, drugs in Canada cost 30
to 40 per cent less than at US drug
stores.
The strongest push for this
change is coming from US corporate
drug giants, which spent US$235.7
million in the United States on
lobbying between 1997 and 1999
alone, and gave US$33.4 million to
US political parties and candidates
between 1997 and 2000.
Federal health minister Ujjal
Dosanjh, a former NDP premier
of British Columbia, is drawing up
regulations that will end the jobs
of 4000 people in Canada, about
half of whom live in Manitoba,
and boost US corporate drug profits
by billions of dollars over several
years. Millions of US citizens will
be forced to pay monopoly pricing
to the corporate drug giants, if they
can afford it at all.
Arguments in support of the
crackdown are convoluted on both
sides of the border. The regulations
may ban Canadian doctors from
co-signing prescriptions written by
American physicians, to prevent
the “unethical” practice of issuing
prescriptions for patients not personally examined. But a majority
of US states (29) honour prescriptions written by Canadian doctors
with no need for a co-signing US
physician.
Citing a need to guarantee
Threatening the world – Bush delivers his speech
thing possible including the all too
limited US welfare provisions. “We
will widen the ownership of homes
and businesses, retirement savings
and health insurance”.
Bush says that “the public interest depends on private character”,
thereby shifting responsibility for
the welfare of society’s citizens
from the State to individuals – self
provision or in practice “dog-eatdog”. He continues, “the edifice
of character is built in families”, a
reference to his right-wing Christian
fundamentalist agenda on single
mothers, birth control, abortion and
other women’s rights.
At the end of Bush’s inauguration speech, which was concluded
by his familiar “God bless America”
(Bush never calls on God to bless
anyone else), his minions struck up
the chant “U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!”,
responding to the rabid nationalism
inherent in every Bush word.
Make no mistake, Mark Latham
was right. Bush is the most dangerous man to have ever occupied the
position of US President. J
the amount of drugs available to
Canadians, Dosanjh may ban the
export of a list of widely used prescription drugs. Surely there are less
drastic measures that will ensure
drug supplies.
In the US, politicians have
expressed concerns about the “safety” of drugs imported from Canada,
many of which are first exported
from the US to Canada; they are
the same drugs manufactured by the
same companies in the same plants
as drugs intended for US citizens.
This prompted one US congressman to demand, “Show us the dead
Canadians”.
But a shortage of facts or
valid reasons has never stopped
pro-corporate governments from
acting when profits are at stake.
The Martin Liberals are bowing
to the bigger profit-mongers who
control Washington and abandoning workers and businesses in their
own country, an outright betrayal of
Canada.
People’s Voice, Canada’s
communist newspaper J
Global briefs
GERMANY: An unemployed 25-year-old woman has been
threatened with cuts to her unemployment benefit for turning
down a job as a sex-worker. The brothel owner had requested
an interview with the woman after seeing her resumé on the
government’s jobseeker database and under Germany’s new
“mutual obligation” laws you are penalised for refusing to attend.
BOLIVIA: Strikes and roadblocks tied up two major cities last
month as residents protested against a government decision to
cut fuel subsidies – a move that would raise gas prices by up
to 23 percent. Hundreds of thousands of residents joined the
protests in the country’s economic capital, Santa Cruz, where
workers halted public and private transport. In El Alto, demonstrators were also demanding cancellation of the contract
with a French firm operating their water system, accusing the
company of over-charging and failing to provide service to poor
neighbourhoods since it started to operate in Bolivia in 1997. In
La Paz, members of the country’s largest labour federation, the
Bolivian Workers Central, held several peaceful marches. The
federation is demanding the resignation of President Carlos
Mesa. Mesa became president in October 2003 after Gonzalo
Sánchez de Lozada resigned in the wake of mass street protests.
GUINEA: Teachers in Guinea began an indefinite strike in
January to demand a 40 percent pay raise, the United Nations’
IRIN news agency said. Bamba Camara, secretary-general
of the Guinean Teachers’ Federation, said the strike was also
called for full implementation of a 2000 protocol with the government, which set a formula for raising teachers’ pay. The
average Guinean teacher earns about US$70 a month, but
Camara said this is no longer enough to live on, in view of
steep increases last year in the price of food and transportation. “Teachers’ salaries are laughable, yet they face tough
living conditions. Transportation alone eats over half of their
salaries, while there are other obligations like rent, electricity
and water bills, and you know the price of a bag of rice nowadays is anything between $US17 and $US22 per bag”, he said.
Soaring food prices, rising electricity costs and unpaid state
salaries have resulted in strikes and demonstrations by railway
workers, students, mineworkers and others in recent months.
MOLDOVA: A recent poll has found the Communist Party of Moldova (CPRM) is the top political organisation in the former Soviet
republic. In a poll by the Moldovan Institute of Public Policy, nearly 40 per cent of respondents in the country said they would vote
for the CPRM – which leads the current government – in the next
parliamentary election, set down for March 6. The opposition, the
Our Moldova alliance, is second with 9.5 percent, followed by the
Christian-Democratic People’s Party with 7.5 per cent. Others are
below 5 percent. In the parliamentary election held in February
2001, Moldova became the first former Soviet republic to re-elect
a communist administration. The PCRM won 49.9 per cent of
the vote and 71 seats in parliament. Following the election,
parliament picked PCRM leader Vladimir Voronin as president.
10
The Guardian
February 2
Letters to the Editor
The Guardian
74 Buckingham Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
email: [email protected]
Unpardonable policies
When Howard and his cronies
came to power there was no end
of promises of good things to come
– everybody was supposed to be
“relaxed and comfortable”. I won’t
go into all the things that make me
feel angry, uncomfortable and out of
the pocket thanks to all the HowardCostello policies. One of them is
really hurting everybody and it’s
the public health system.
A friend of mine needs a minor
operation on his foot and has to
wait for six months to have it done.
Meanwhile, it severely restricts
his ability to walk and causes a lot
of pain. An older woman I know
was told that her hip replacement
operation date was 18 months away.
Imagine how she feels hobbling
around and in pain.
Bulk billing has almost disappeared and emergency rooms in
public hospitals are flooded with
patients who would have otherwise
gone to see their medical practitioner but can’t afford to do so now.
Culture
Life
by
&
Rob Gowland
Death camps, slaves
and profits
The bourgeois media and the leaders
of many capitalist countries spent
the end of last week recalling the
liberation of the Nazi death camp
at Oświęcim. Although located in
the Polish province of Galicia, the
site will forever be known by its
German name of Auschwitz.
Estimates of the total number of
people who perished at Auschwitz
vary from 1,000,000 to 2,500,000.
What proportion were Jewish also
varies from half to two thirds, but
whatever it was it is surely horrific.
But while various European
government leaders and newspaper editorial writers all over
the world were busy denouncing
anti-Semitism and expressing
their abhorrence of the Holocaust,
certain basic facts were either
glossed over, distorted or just plain
ignored.
Mostly glossed over was the
fact that Auschwitz was liberated,
on a wintry January 27, 1945, by
the advancing Red Army, which
at colossal cost in men and materiel had ripped the guts out of the
Wermacht.
The Red Army men found only
7650 survivors still in the camp.
The Nazis had removed the other
remaining prisoners ten days earlier
to Dachau, Mauthausen and other
camps in Germany.
Ignored is the fact that Nazi
extermination was not limited to the
Jews. They began by murdering the
Communists, Socialists and trade
union activists.
They went on to kill Gypsies
and the mentally ill. Then the Jews
Meanwhile the government
continues to pour money into private hospitals. According to a report
by the Productivity Commission,
annual government spending on
private hospitals has grown on average by 23.7 per cent during the past
ten years. In comparison, the annual
average growth in spending on public hospitals was only 3.7 per cent.
There is a shortage of doctors
in the bush and overseas doctors
are being imported to fill up vacancies. It’s shameful that Australia,
a rich country compared to many
others cannot train enough medical
practitioners to meet the needs of its
citizens.
The health of Aboriginal people
(or the absence of it) is unpardonable. Australia has the worst record
in the world as far as life expectancy
and health of an indigenous population goes. Are these problems being
addressed? Not that I noticed.
The government is trying to
turn everything into private hands,
even the things that as a government it should provide free to all
the citizens. I’d like to encourage
everybody to make sure that these
policies are fought against at every
opportunity and at every level.
We all pay taxes and have a
right to have a say on how they are
spent. Howard is never short of a
quid when it comes to some military
adventures. It’s time to redirect the
money to people’s needs, not some
of his friends’ profits.
Sue Sanders
Sydney, NSW
and then the “Bolshevik submen” of
Eastern Europe.
In fact, taking account of the
activities of the Nazis’ special
punitive units employing mobile
gas chamber vans, flame throwers for burning alive populations
of entire villages, and other such
refined barbarisms, millions of
Slavs – Russians, Poles, Ukrainians,
Byelorussians – were also systematically exterminated by Hitler’s
brown plague.
It is not downplaying the appalling genocide against the Jews to
ask why the simultaneous genocide
against so many Slavs and others is
passed over?
The Nazis regarded their “nonAryan” victims as sub-human, and
therefore as undeserving of any
pity or humanitarian concern. The
bestiality that German military and
police were encouraged to practice
could be given free rein with such
“creatures”.
Ignored most assiduously, too,
is the fact that the death camps were
not only about killing people, about
the “final solution”. They were
about profit and big business.
Auschwitz was in fact a complex of three neighbouring camps.
Auschwitz I was the smallest and
built first (opened in April 1940).
It was used mainly for political
prisoners.
Auschwitz II is the well known
death camp near the village of
Birkenau, opened in October 1941.
Auschwitz III, near the village of
Dwory, was from May 1942 a slave
labour camp.
Auschwitz III supplied slave
workers for the large chemical
and synthetic-rubber works of IG
Farben conveniently located nearby.
IG Farben also made lots of money
supplying the German government with the poison gas used in
the extermination chambers of
Auschwitz II and other camps.
Prisoners arriving at Auschwitz
were separated into those who were
fit for work and those who were not.
The old, the ill and children were
put in the latter category.
These were sent off to be
Australia needs a new
national Day
In the wake of the rousing
celebrations of the 150th
anniversary since the stand at
the Eureka Stockade on 3rd
December 1854, and now yet
another commemoration of our
convict streak and dispossession
of the indigenous inhabitants
from their land, it is good time
to question whether our so called
Australia Day of 26th January has
run its course.
Who in Australia still believes
in what Australia Day stands for
or would want to believe in what it
stands for?
If the people of this nation are
ever to have a symbol or portent
of unity, resolve, liberty and egalitarianism, then it has to be those
events on the Ballarat goldfields of
November 1854, which culminated
in the brief and only popular uprising in this nation’s history in the
early hours of 3rd December 1854
(Is Prime Minister Howard the new
Governor Hotham of this age?).
As a consequence of the Eureka
Stockade the people of Victoria
gained: the right to vote; parliamentary democracy; the birth of
trade unions and the development
of the organised urban working
class; and the belief by the citizenry across all classes, that a fair,
decent and prosperous society for
all would not be gained without
struggle or by leaving it to the so
called respectable landed gentry/
starved, hanged, shot or gassed
to death, their clothes, hair, gold
teeth and other meagre possessions
appropriated to swell the coffers of
the Reich.
The others, the “lucky” ones,
were sent to the forced labour
camp. Here, as with all the unfortunates (especially those from the
East) forced to do slave labour in
Germany or the occupied territories,
they were officially “worked to
death” (in accordance with a protocol of September 18, 1942, between
Himmler and Minister of Justice
Thierack).
The Nuremberg indictments
rightly described this exploitation
as being based on “the concept of
extermination”.
An order issued by Germany’s
Plenipotentiary
General
for
Manpower, Sauckel, said that all
foreign workers assigned to forced
labour “must be fed, sheltered and
treated in such a way as to exploit
them to the highest possible extent
squatters, colonial mercantile capitalists and other representatives of
imperial interests.
As Australia moves inexorably
towards a republic and attempts to
forge a more inclusive and compelling national identity, a more deeply
felt national day (flag and song also)
is one of those symbols which will
help draw us there.
Richard Titelius
Perth, WA
2005
The year 2004 went out with a
vengeance, you might say. The
tsunami with its tremendous loss
of life, and the lives that will be
lost as a result of it. Poor people
do not have the physical stamina
to deal with illness, or the support
of a health and welfare system, to
help them.
The magnificent humanity of
the Australian people will be diminished by the politics of dirty tricks,
and the media beating up terrorism.
On the home front the loss of
life in the SA bushfires – no political gain there, as bushfires are part
of life in Australia. The mentality is,
you must accept bushfires. Or move
to New Zealand – you have earthquakes there.
Unselfish, devoted bushfire
brigades, devoted to saving life and
livelihood, face tougher and harder
times each summer as they risk and
some lose their lives.
A contributor in part to bushfires
is the speed of land-degrading clearances, lack of undergrowth clearing
and adequate fire breaks.
Bushfire brigades have to be
given more resources and equipment, controlling bushfires is a year
round operation.
Bushfire brigades are voluntary
and not appreciated enough. Water
is a scarce liquid on this Australian
continent, any day you pass a building site, 1st class drinking water
mixes concrete, hoses down dust.
We are told save water, install this
and that shower head, tap, kettle,
etc, etc.
The answer is recycle water.
Germany is well resourced with
water. The Germans built the great
Ruhr industrial giant with recycled
water, they’ve seen beyond the natural supply of water (that was long
before Nazism), at the beginning of
Germany’s industrial revolution.
Australia needs a national water
conservation and recycling scheme,
not owned and controlled by private
corporations.
We are heading for an environmental holocaust with the rapid
dumping of waste and toxic waste.
We will have to import food, in
large quantities if the loss of farm
land is not halted.
The CPA must shake it up.
The Guardian is top on political analysis, foreign affairs none
to match it. The CPA has to lead
the way, on the critical state of the
Australian continent’s health.
Anne Duffy-Lindsay
Sydney, NSW
at the lowest conceivable degrees of
expenditure”.
Quintessential capitalism, really.
They would introduce such a system
everywhere if only the workers
wouldn’t object.
All the big German corporations clamoured for access to slave
labour – whether the slave labour
of the camps or the shipments of
slave workers provided direct from
occupied countries to German
employers.
Making the link between exploitation and genocide quite clear was
a special order issued on June 12,
1944: “Army Group Centre has
the intention to apprehend 40,00050,000 youths at the ages of ten to
fourteen who are in the army territory and to transport them to the
Reich.
“It is intended to allot these
juveniles primarily to the German
trades as apprentices to be used as
skilled workers after two years’
training…. This Action is aimed
not only at preventing a direct
reinforcement of the enemy’s military strength but also at a reduction
of his biological potentialities as
viewed from the perspective of the
future.”
“A reduction of [the enemy’s]
biological potentialities” – as neat
a description of genocide as you
could find.
Auschwitz was not the only
German death camp. And if the
Soviet Army had not beaten the crap
out of the Nazi war machine, the
Hitlerites had plans for even bigger
death camps across the USSR.
The blueprints were already
drawn up for camps that would
dwarf Auschwitz, both in numbers
exterminated and – above all – in
the number of slave labourers who
would be put to work there.
The Soviet people and their
Army put paid to these nightmarish
schemes, at an unimaginable cost.
When they liberated Auschwitz,
they liberated us all. J
Water
The Guardian
February 2
Worth Watching
2005
Rob Gowland
previews
ABC
&
SBS
Public Television
E
Sun February 6 ~
~ Sat February 12
pisode two in the splendid
series The Private Life
Of A Masterpiece (ABC 2.00pm
Sundays) looks at the creation of
Goya’s masterpiece The Third of
May 1808.
In May 1808, the people of
Madrid rose up against Napolean’s
occupation. French troops brutally
suppressed the uprising and hundreds of people were rounded up
and shot in the middle of the night.
In 1814, when Napoleon was
defeated, Goya was commissioned
to depict “the most notable and
heroic actions of our glorious insurrection against the tyrant of Europe”
for the exiled Spanish King’s return.
Instead of glorifying the King,
the army or the state, Goya painted
the Madrid rebellion and its brutal
aftermath, focusing on a group of
frightened, anonymous men being
shot at point-blank range by a firing
squad.
The Third of May 1808 was the
first painting to put the victims of
war centre stage. Manet noticed its
radical qualities in 1865 but only in
the 20th century was Goya’s work
seen as a prophecy of military brutality and human suffering.
he ABC has shown a
propensity lately for buying
in ducumentaries from US cable
TV. These have a dreadful sameness
about them: usually following
some scientist(s) on a field trip,
interspersed with talking heads and
a portentous commentary that tries
to make up in overstatement for the
lack of drama in the visuals.
I therefore approached the new
three-part series, Nile (ABC 7.30pm
T
Sundays), with some trepidation. I
worried for nothing. Nile is superb.
Made by the BBC, it is one of
the most beautifully filmed series I
have seen. The Nile is the longest
river in the world, and the series
shows us its history, its role at different periods in the lands through
which it passes, with a quality of
filmmaking that leaves for dead
the usual home-movie look of
most travel or archeological TV
documentaries.
The first episode, Crocodiles
And Kings, deals mainly with the
society that developed alongside
the river in ancient Thebes. Cable
TV, I thought, had done the Ancient
Egyptian theme to death, for relatively little real benefit to viewers,
but this series showed how wrong
that idea is.
Simply and yet lucidly the
episode makes clear why Egyptian
society developed alongside the
river, their relationship with the
wildlife beside and in the river, why
their religion developed in the way
that it did, and the objective reasons
for these developments, all dependant on the river. How the annual
flooding of the Nile, for example,
both tested and confirmed the power
of the Pharoah.
The next episode deals with the
long and difficult search in the 19th
century for the headwaters of the
river. I am looking forward to it.
t last, a new series of
Foyle’s War (ABC
8.30pm Sundays). As viewers of
the two previous series will know,
this is first rate televsion drama
– beautifully crafted, extremely
well written, excellently acted and
directed.
It is because it is so well written
that only four episodes are made in
each series. It maintains the quality
but sadly limits the quantity.
Made for British commercial TV
network ITV1, the series is written
by Anthony Horowitz and directed
by Gavin Millar. The series’ setting
– the early years of WW2 in Britain
– has allowed Horowitz in earlier episodes to make some pertinent
observations about the presence of
pro-fascist elements in England and
also about the military mindset.
The first episode of the new
A
The Private Life Of A Masterpiece (ABC 2.00pm Sundays) – Goya’s masterpiece The Third of May 1808.
series, The French Drop, sees
Foyle come up against rivalry
between different sections of
British Intelligence. In particular
he encounters the “dirty tricks”
of SOE, the notorious Special
Operations Executive.
It’s another intelligent, thoughtful, and quietly gripping, program.
here’s more good writing,
although of a different
calibre to Foyle’s War, in Trevor’s
World Of Sport (ABC 10.00pm
Tuesdays). A rueful comedy series
about a dysfunctional sport agent,
it is written and directed by Andy
Hamilton (Drop The Dead Donkey
and Bedtime).
Neil Pearson stars as Trevor
Heslop, sports agent to the stars.
Trevor’s life is in a mess.
He’s separated from his wife,
his most lucrative client is going
crazy and he’s having a recurring
nightmare about accepting a prestigious award while sitting naked on
the toilet.
Fundamentally an honest sports
agent, Trevor is desperately struggling to keep his honour in the
money-infested waters of commercialised sport.
Paul Reynolds, who usually plays obnoxious, pushy types,
plays his obnoxious, pushy partner
T
Sydney
New Theatre
FALLING PETALS
by Ben Ellis
Directed by Brendon McDonall
With Peter Barry, Kellie Higgins & Emma Wood
10 February – 12 March
Thurs – Sat @ 8pm, Sun @ 5.30pm
Tickets: $25 / $20 concession. Bookings: 02 9519 8958
New Theatre 542 King Street, Newtown
Subscribe to
Something strange is happening in the country town of
Hollow: a mysterious plague is killing the young people.
One by one they fall like petals.
Three vulnerable school-leavers are caught in this diseased
backwater. Success in their final exams may be the only
passport out of a country town with no future. But with the
deadly outbreak reaching epidemic proportions it becomes
a desperate race against time, their youthful optimism
threatened as the township is quarantined and the
community spirals into anarchy.
Falling Petals is both black satire and moving allegory,
a humorous yet cautionary tale for our times. Powerful,
caustic and deeply contemporary, this award-winning
play challenges the cynicism of a society where youth is
devalued, and strips bare the romanticised myths of the
Australian outback.
The Guardian
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11
The Guardian
74 Buckingham St, Surry Hills, 2010
Ph: 02 9699 8844 Fax: 02 9699 9833
Email:[email protected]
Editor: Anna Pha
Published by
Guardian Publications
Australia Ltd
74 Buckingham St, Surry Hills, 2010
Printed by Spotpress
105-107 Victoria Rd
Marrickville 2204
Responsibility for electoral comment
is taken by T Pearson,
74 Buckingham St, Surry Hills, 2010
Sammy Dobbs, and is quite good
(he’s had lots of practice).
Trevor’s World Of Sport features several famous sports stars
appearing as themselves, a gimmick
that does nothing for me and only
occasionally ads verisimilitude to
the series.
A Hat Trick production, the
series’ cast includes many familiar
faces from series like Bedtime and
movies like Love Actually.
he new series of Little
Britain (ABC 9.00pm
Wednesdays) is described by the
ABC as a “character-based sketch
show”. They also say that the first
series was “hailed as one of the
most innovative comedies of 2003”.
I found the first episode of the
new series dead annoying, and not
innovative at all. It turns out that
“character-based” sketch comedy
means sketches that have dispensed
with the basic element of comedy:
the gag.
Instead, the writers and performers (Matt Lucas and David
Walliams) have convinced themselves that all that is needed to be
funny is to act the fool. And being
outrageous is apparently the height
of hilarious wit.
In the first episode of Series
Two, their character teen delinquent
Vicky Pollard is caught shoplifting.
She tells the security guard, “Oh my
God, this is, well, harassment. God
you’re so racist. It’s like being back
at Borstal. Anyway, don’t listen to
her, ’cos everyone knows she’s done
it with an Alsatian.”
T
Laugh? I nearly pissed myself!
Well, actually, no I didn’t. In
fact, I found it so tedious that I
turned off the preview tape less than
half-way through.
hile Johnny Howard
splurges money on
the military, very little money is
being provided for stopping the
devastation being caused by the
steady advance across the Top End
of the toxic Cane Toad.
Cane Toads are poisonous.
Predators who eat them die – quickly. They do not learn to avoid the
toads.
Originally from South America,
the toads were introduced into
Queensland in 1935 in a disastrously ill-considered attempt to biologically control the sugar cane beetle.
The toads ignored the beetles and
instead settled in to wreak havoc on
our environment.
They are wiping out native
frogs, kookaburras, quoll, snakes
and goannas. Richard Morecroft’s
new nature documentary Goannas
And The Rubbish Frogs (ABC
6.00pm Saturdays) reveals that in
parts of Kakadu there are an alarming 20,000 cane toads per square
kilometre – making Aboriginal
communities concerned that goannas could well be wiped out.
At the present rate of funding,
an effective genetic control is at
least a decade away. Meanwhile,
wet season floodwaters are carrying the cane toads ever deeper
into previously pristine wilderness
areas. J
W
Sydney
Politics in the Pub
Every Friday night 6pm – 7.45pm
Gaelic Club, 64 Devonshire St, Surry Hills
Dinner afterwards in the Royal Exhibition Hotel across the road
4 Feb
Catching the train and missing the bus. Where is the Carr?
Professor Peter Newman, Director, Institute for Sustainability
and Technology Policy, Murdoch University, WA;
Nick Lewocki NSW Secretary Road, Transport, Bus Union
11 Feb
Politics of the tsunami
Panel: James Ensor, Director of Public Policy, Oxfam Community
Aid Abroad; Ian Cohen MLC, NSW Greens; Professor Andrew Short,
Director Marine Studies Centre, School of Geosciences Sydney Uni;
James Arvanitakis Research Initiative on International Activism
18 Feb
Busting the unions – what’s coming next?
John Buchanan, Deputy Director ACIRRT; Sally McManus Exec
Branch Sec ASU; Jim Staples, retired Arbitration Judge
Inq: Pat Toms 02 9358 4834 [email protected]; Janet Fischer 02 9398 8891;
PO Box 325 Rozelle NSW 2039; Win Childs Fax 02 9660 6554
www.politicsinthepub.org
12
The Guardian
February 2
2005
Book review by Bob Briton
Faces of the Smelter –
a collection of photographs commemorating
Port Pirie’s industrial heritage and its people
Photography by Suzanne Laslett and others
There is probably no need to remind
Guardian readers that in recent
years public discussion about the
world of work has been monopolised
by the bosses’ point of view. The
tabloid and broadsheet newspapers,
the TV and radio news bulletins and
news commentary programs have
been busy influencing our view of
what work looks like and how it
shapes the lives of Australians in
the new millennium.
You could be forgiven for thinking we are all small business people
or entrepreneurs of some description or high-tech headworkers. The
gaps in this perfect world are filled
by the hospitality industry. Students
and others requiring flexible hours
do shorts stints of waitering and
bartending before moving onward
and upward.
The heavy and dirty work is
now being done elsewhere, it seems.
Even when the media carries depictions of people clearly still carrying on these demanding and often
unpleasant tasks, the dominant
image of the “post-industrial” workplace prevails. We have never had it
so good, we are told. Grimy, hazardous work has been conquered along
with poverty!
Of course, the considerable
numbers of Australians who still
work in this presumably banished
sector of the workforce know different. And every now and then, the
reality of these workers’ lives gets
proper recognition.
Last September a collection of
photographs of Port Pirie’s lead and
zinc smelter, present and past workers and their families was brought
together in a book together as part
of celebrations marking the 100th
Smelter’s Picnic. The images in the
book were selected from an exhibition commemorating the same event
and which was shown at the Port
Pirie Regional Gallery in October
2003 and then at the New Land
Gallery in Port Adelaide.
The original idea for the exhibition came from Lucia Pilcher, director of the Port Pirie gallery and Kate
Jenkins, who was then arts officer
with Country Arts SA. Adelaidebased project artist, photographer
Suzanne Laslett was chosen to
head a team of eight keen amateur
photographers from various backgrounds who lived in Port Pirie at
the time.
Suzanne’s own photos have ended up in private and corporate collections in Australia, UK, Germany,
Japan, France, New Zealand and
the USA. She has worked both as a
journalist and photographer on city,
suburban and regional newspapers
in New South Wales, Northern
Territory and South Australia
– including in Port Pirie.
Travelling back to Port Pirie
was … “like revisiting an old friend.
Industrial landscapes have always
fascinated me and the hard edge of
the Smelter looking across river to
the backdrop of the Flinders Ranges
is a powerful image … . But once
inside, the immensity of the Smelter
‘persona’ was overwhelming”,
Suzanne notes in the introduction to
Faces of the Smelter.
In all, the group comprising a
retired smelter worker, a teacher on
maternity leave, a graphic designer,
a year 11 student, a Catholic priest,
a local reporter, a member of staff
at an insurance office and a police
officer produced 960 photographs of
the people and the plant. Of those,
87 were enlarged and framed for the
exhibition along with 100 smaller
images. The photographs in the
commemorative book were drawn
from the exhibited selection.
The shots of the Smelter – then
owned by Pasminco, now by Zinifex
– are startling. Its structures dwarf
the people and, as evidenced by the
Marilyn Hayman by Suzanne Laslett
respirators and headgear, threaten
them as well. The black and white
images convey the griminess of the
plant that dominates the town and
draws almost universal criticism for
its effects of the health of the local
people.
While the plant is the subject of
very mixed emotions, the workers
in the photos are heroic – daring to
pull chestnuts from the industrial
fire so that the rest of us can shop at
the hardware mega-mart and other
outlets in the midst of abundance.
There are also shots of them busy
at their own, much smaller-scale
projects: showing off their wood-
Glen Bernhardt by Suzanne Laslett
Faces of the Smelter
Photographers: Suzanne Laslett,
Mick Dillon, Kellie Higginbottom,
Laura Nelson, Karen Rohde,
Louise Hausler, Father Joe,
Joe Pana, James Vinson
RRP $15 (p&p extra).
Available from Meg’s Bookshop in
Port Pirie, the Port Pirie Regional
Art Gallery or by contacting
Suzanne Laslett: 08 8240 1610,
[email protected]
Danny Champion by Suzanne Laslett
Communist Party of Australia
Central Committee:
General Secretary: Peter Symon
President: Hannah Middleton
74 Buckingham St, Surry Hills, 2010
Ph: 02 9699 8844 Fax: 02 9699 9833
Sydney District Committee:
Rob Gowland
74 Buckingham St, Surry Hills, 2010
Ph: 02 9699 8844 Fax: 02 9699 9833
sculpting skills or their tattooed
body art, retired workers with their
Irish flute and camera, volunteering
to drive a community bus.
There are glimpses of generations of family life, the pets and
excursions. But towering behind
all of this is the Smelter. The stylish, high quality presentation of the
book does not gloss over the starkness of the Zinifex facility. If only
bulk copies could be bought and left
scattered on the coffee tables of the
head offices of the corporations that
continue to promote that other distorted, sanitised image of the world
of work. J
Website: www.cpa.org.au
Email: [email protected]
Newcastle Branch:
303 Hunter St
Ph: ah 02 4926 1752
Wollongong Branch: Leanne Lindsay
PO Box 276 Corrimal 2518
North Illawara Branch: Janice Hamilton
16/26-30 Hutton Ave
Bulli NSW 2516
Ph: 02 4283 6130
The Guardian
Riverina:
Geoff Lawler
PO Box 1016 Wagga 2650
Ph: 02 6921 4316 Fax: 02 6921 6873
Melbourne Branch:
Andrew Irving
PO Box 3 Room 0 Trades Hall
Lygon St Carlton Sth 3053
Ph: 03 9639 1550 Fax: 03 9639 4199
Website: www.cpa.org.au/guardian/guardian.html
Email: [email protected]
West Australian Branch: Vic Williams
5B Jemerson St Willagee Perth 6156
Phone: 08 9337 1074
Brisbane Branch: David Matters
PO Box 2148 Salisbury East 4107
Ph: 07 3398 9623
South Australian State Committee:
Marie Lean Rm 5, Lvl 1, 149 Flinders St,
Adelaide 5000 Ph: 08 8232 8200