Necrophilia
In regards to the recent review of the film Kissed, I am very concerned that the staff at 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ does not have the guts to tell the truth about wrongs in the art world as it does about other social problems. Being liberal does not mean that one should indiscriminately accept and praise everything thrown to us in the guise of art.
Freedom of speech includes the right to identify that which is detrimental to society, and the right to educate the public in how to distinguish between positive and negative values, and most importantly, between healthy and sick state of being.
Let us admit that not all kinky behaviour is quaint, arty and acceptable. Why pussyfoot around the fact that necrophilia is a very serious mental illness? And that it is a form of rape of the deceased, an act not only terribly ill in its deviation of the life-producing acts of love and sex, but also abusive of the feelings of the dead person's family and friends.
Glorification of necrophilia is not progressive. Living beings are supposed to be attracted to that which promotes life; it is necessary to feel shock and horror at sight of death and decay, or we would not have adequate drive to protect life from destruction. Deviation from these normal reactions is not healthy, and should be treated as a problem to be corrected, not something to be amused by and ultimately approved of.
Instead of praising art which escalates social ills, let's create art which heals them.
Sydney
[Abridged.]
Tibet
After reading Allen Myers' review of Seven Years in Tibet I realised this person obviously doesn't actually know any Tibetans and asked them how they feel about "Tibetan Buddhism", the state of Tibet (before and after Chinese occupation) and the Dalai Lama.
I'm not necessarily defending the integrity of an American film, however, did Allen actually think about the logistics and virtually impossible task of filming in Chinese occupied Tibet or indeed the Himalayas? Does he realise that it's just as important to inspire people's consciousness, as the Dalai Lama does world wide as it is to spread understanding about genuine political and environmental oppression?
Is Allen intending to attack the virtue of any other prominent peace-making figures? Is he going to say that the Aborigines were unhappy because they supposedly had no material wealth before British occupation? When will people realise that materialism is not the solution to happiness.
The only genuine aspect of the review that is obvious is Allen's undirected and generalised expression of anger; a product of Western society and an emotion that is absolutely useless.
Stop believing every tiny bit of propaganda (on either end of the scale!) that comes your way and start using your heart and your head to deduce what is right and wrong. It's good to be revolutionary in your thoughts and actions, but that is not enough on its own. One must also have some form of consciousness, an altruistic motive for being active. If one is to believe in truth then one must seek truth.
Newtown
[Abridged.]
Macquarie University elections
Lachlan Malloch's article regarding the Macquarie University Students' Council elections (GLW, November 19) shows a very convenient distortion of the facts in regards to how the Non-Aligned Left has operated.
The NAL has always been supportive of the Broadleft and has always maintained that participation is an important step towards an active, accountable and left wing student representative body. The fact that Lachlan chose not to consult anyone from the NAL shows just how worried he is about getting the facts.
Left Alliance has done excellent work at Macquarie this year. My views on Left Alliance have varied from time to time, as is normal in student politics. However, as anyone who has spoken to me regarding these issues know I have had nothing but good words to say about the hard work that LA have put in.
The work of Resistance is another matter: they have had no input into the Broadleft, have done little on the activist campaigns at Macquarie and have no idea as to what went on. How does Lachlan Malloch know what happened in the Broadleft when he, or any other Resistance member for that matter, had nothing to do with the Broadleft for most of the year.
NAL did support the boycott of the elections, the fact that we did campaign for the first 15 minutes on Monday was due to the fact that we had been unable to attend previous Broadlefts as we were busy printing material and painting banners. As soon as we found out that the Broadleft had reached this position we supported it, even though we had not attended.
NAL have never stooped to petty political point scoring. While I will continue to support the work of LA I am disappointed that it has chosen to use NAL as a scapegoat for the narrow loss of the elections. It is obvious that LA have done this as stated before Lachlan Malloch never even bothered to consult anyone outside LA or Resistance.
May I suggest in the future that stories purporting to support progressive left wing issues focus on the real agenda, that of beating the right wing regressives. Infighting only serves to divide us.
Macquarie University NAL participant
[Abridged.]
Macquarie University elections 2
Chris Heppel's response to my article is overly defensive and at times contradictory.
My comment about NAL breaking the Broad Left boycott of the elections was merely one sentence in a substantial article. Chris has blown this out of proportion. The rest of the article was devoted to exactly what he says it should have been: exposing the opportunist games of Liberal and Labor Party student politicians.
I acknowledge my error in not seeking out NAL's explanation for why they initially did not observe the boycott. Thanks to Chris for providing this.
But questions remain. Heppel says that NAL were unaware of the Broad Left's decision because they were too busy preparing their own campaign material. This makes his claim that NAL are strongly committed to the Broad Left somewhat hollow.
In addition, Heppel's accusation that Resistance has abstained from the Broad Left and political activism in general at Macquarie this year is inaccurate and unfair. We have done what we can this year with limited resources. This has included spending many lunch times handing out material on general student meetings and progressive politics more generally.
Resistance's involvement at other campuses where we have more members (such as Sydney University), and in all cross-campus left activity, has been unquestionable, as has our commitment to building strong, broad left alliances.
Mona Vale NSW
[Abridged.]