Kosovars' rights
At a May 6 Melbourne meeting of the newly formed Coalition to Stop the Bombing, we were outraged to find ourselves alone in arguing for the need to support Kosovar self-determination. Representatives from Committee for International Cooperation and Disarmament asserted that any demand over Kosova should be excluded because the issue is complicated, Kosova is politically part of Serbia and reports of atrocities are probably exaggerated by western media.
The US/NATO attack on Serbia has nothing to do with concern for the Kosovars; it is part of the US's determination to assert itself as "world police" and defend the interests of US big business, including by blocking Kosovar independence. But a refusal to recognise and condemn the Milosevic regime's atrocities in Kosova blocks rather than builds a genuine anti-war movement and undermines our ability to convince people to oppose the bombing.
Members of the International Socialist Organisation and Militant also refused to support the Kosovars. Yet the right of oppressed nations to self-determination is a pre-condition for struggle towards further emancipation, and is a basic principle which must be supported by socialists.
The ISO representative followed the Stalinists in denying this right, by arguing that support for self-determination is "problematic" and creates the "concern" of having to support particular organisations whose activities and program you may disagree with. Attaching support for peoples' right of self-determination to your own opinion of their leadership is arrogant and anti-democratic.
We support a genuine movement against the murderous activities in the Balkans of both the US/NATO alliance and the Milosevic regime. We cannot therefore support a campaign that denies the legitimate rights of the Kosovar people.
Martin Iltis
Democratic Socialist Party
Melbourne
[Abridged.]
GST
Senator Harradine has decided wisely on the tax package.
The only defence of the GST plan was that it might — only might — have very slightly increased national income. However as even the economics writer for Fairfax, Ross Gittins, has recently admitted, more GNP alone does virtually nothing to promote well-being in the first world anyway.
By contrast, the distribution of income is critical. In Unhealthy Societies Richard Wilkinson provides damning evidence that inequality is a major cause of premature death, ill health and unhappiness in nations like Australia. The poorest are the worst affected but the nation overall suffers as well.
The GST package would have increased inequality, worsened health and further degraded the environment. The Democrats must not cave in to the Coalition bullying.
Rydalmere NSW
Old cars
According to a radio broadcast this year, a Queensland Conservation Council spokesperson was quoted as saying old vehicles should be banned, because of toxic exhaust emissions. As the owner of a 48-year-old car, I have to say that statement is a lot of nonsense and shows how little they know about this particular subject, so I will enlighten them.
The only place the exhaust emissions come from is the engine and like most things mechanical it wears, whether it be in a late model or early model vehicle. Therefore, engines have to be reconditioned or replaced, whether they be late or early models.
The engine is only one part of a vehicle. Does the Queensland Conservation Council mean that the whole vehicle should be destroyed because of a faulty part that can be repaired or replaced? Thankfully they are not members of the medical profession.
As a one-time voluntary worker in the QCC office for over 20 years, I have to say I have known better managers.
Chermside Qld
[Abridged.]
Ruthless rulers
Any vestiges of doubt regarding the intellectual and ethical/moral bankruptcy of the Australian Institute of "Management" have been swept away with their advertisement of the performance — May 30 at Melbourne Park — of several of the most ruthless and anti-social "masters" of the modern world.
Under banner headlines of "World masters of business ...1999 Australian Tour", the man who oversaw the collapse of the corrupt system in the former USSR and the re-introduction of an even more corrupt system — under which the same class of wealthy elites prosper while millions of their fellow citizens have been thrown on the scrapheap — is to lecture the ignorant and gullible (who are paying $145 per head for the privilege) on the same platform as his former sworn enemy, US military supremo General Schwarzkopf. Schwarzkopf's "dynamic leadership" has contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands or more of innocent, non-combat Iraqi citizens, including women and children.
Such "world masters of business" will be complemented by Al (Chainsaw) Dunlap, one of the more ruthless members of the US managerial class whose nick-name derives from his "leadership" skills in "cost cutting and restoring shareholder value".
For "leading" the sacking of tens of thousands of workers at Kimberly Clark in the USA, he walked away with a management fee of US$1 million. The same individual restructured the Packer empire, with similar outcome.
Still, the AIM initiative at least brings out into the open the symbiotic relationship between big business, oppression, politics and profits!
Traralgon Vic
[Abridged.]
German Greens
I hope your coverage of the German Greens voting for the NATO bombing of Serbia takes into account that the German Greens are completely split on this issue — the fairly narrow vote doesn't adequately reflect the strong feelings in anti-war German Greens, some of whom are predicting their party's demise over this.
Also that the vast majority of the three dozen parties making up the European Federation of Green Parties are opposed to the bombing.
Most British Greens have been tearing their hair out over Die Gruenen [German Greens] — and we're extremely frustrated that, with the European elections coming up, the UK public just aren't hearing our voice (we're the only major party opposing the bombing), but are hearing about Die Gruenen and Les Verts [French Greens]. While the only coverage in UK of "Greens" is of French/German Greens pro-war, the UK public aren't even being told they can vote against the war on June 10.
Difficult times. Best wishes for a more peaceful future.
defence spokesperson
England and Wales Green Party
KLA
I want to provide some antidotes to the apologetic tone GLW has for the Kosova Liberation Army.
The May 7 New York Times reported that the KLA/UCK would only support a peace deal imposed by NATO. Senior KLA official Jakup Krasuiqi is reported saying, "we expect that NATO will continue to be firm in its own stance and that they will accept nothing less than a NATO-led force to enter Kosovo". Krasuiqi attacked the pacifist Kosovar leader Ibrahim Rugova for seeking a political settlement with Belgrade and asking NATO to stop its bombing.
The April 5 Scotsman reported that the Pentagon would assist the KLA through the Military Professional Resources Inc., described as "the greatest corporate assemblage of military expertise in the world".
MPRI teams were involved in the reconstruction of the Croatian Army when that army was driving out more than 300,000 Serbians from Krajina in 1995. MPRI units are reported to be assessing KLA field units.
Robert Fisk, in the May 15 London Independent, reported that the KLA had appointed the Croatian Agim Ceku as its military commander, one of the planners of ethnic cleansing in Krajina. Fisk said "NATO liaises with the KLA, holds security and intelligence meetings with its commanders, maintains radio contact with KLA men in Kosovo".
The Times of India (May 4) and the San Francisco Chronicle (May 5) reported on evidence, from EUROPOL, DEA, Geopolitical Drug Watch, the UN, Jane's Intelligence Review, of links between the KLA and narcotics and arms traffickers in Albania. This is not simply a matter of "fundraising" by a liberation army!
Evandale SA
[Abridged.]
Bombing
As the practical reality of the war in Kosovo unfolds, we should all pause to think about the inevitability of the results — dislocation of people, misery, suffering and death, the destruction of infrastructure and productive resources.
The Kosovo Albanians were already being driven out and slaughtered by the Serbs before the NATO bombing began. This so-called "ethnic cleansing" intensified when the bombing began, as the Serbs continued with their barbaric acts of cruelty. The Serbs too will suffer when they find their economy bombed back into the stone age, their environment laid to contaminated waste.
It is not even remotely possible that the bombing will cause Milosevic and those holding similar views to be ousted from government.
Clearly the resort to military action is not a reasonable solution to any conflict. Some would say that it was never intended to solve the problem of the humanitarian disaster. So why should we invest so much in destructive futility?
I admire the stand taken by David Keenan, who is refusing to pay the 10% of his tax which is wasted on military expenditure. It would be great to see this taken on worldwide. If we don't wake up soon, the 21st century could be bloodier than this one has been.
Camp Hill Qld