London bombings
How ironic that an interview with Ruben Linares, vice-president of the Venezuelan United Transport Federation, while he was touring Britain was just published at today: here Venezuelan and British transport workers are sharing their views, in Britain, on how to fight their own bosses at home and how to fight imperialism — the same day that terrorists target innocent workers and riders of the British transport system.
As others have pointed out, today the terrorists are objectively aiding imperialism, making it easier for them to fool some people into continuing to support their genocidal wars. Legitimate resistance — including military resistance — to imperialist occupation has nothing in common with today's acts in London. And the justified outrage at the cold-blooded murder by Bush and Blair of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans — including the 17 Afghan civilians killed with one bomb just last week — will be drowned out in the hysteria whipped up by the media serving the warmakers.
But Iraqi workers, like the ones who just concluded the tour of the US under the auspices of US Labor Against War, are making the same links of solidarity as their brothers and sisters from Britain and Venezuela are making with each other. And with our help in due time they will push these terrorists back into the gutter from which they came, so that the anti-imperialist movement can organise and fight on to victory without their interference.
Andrew Pollack
London
Bhopal
I have just read your enlightening report on the Bhopal tragedy (I say tragedy, but the word isn't sufficient as a tragedy implies some sort of Shakespearean fated event, and this clearly was preventable).
I am currently studying sociology, in particular world sociology, and have been shocked and sickened by some of the things that I have read — in particular, the inhumane lengths transnational corporations (TNCs) will go to in pursuit of money.
In this comfortable, safe Western world we live in it is so very easy to disregard the suffering of others, but it is also so selfish. If the governors and chairpersons of the TNCs had to live even one week as so many people occupying Third World countries do, I doubt they would ever be able to look at themselves in the mirror again.
I am going to always do as much as I can for my fellow man/woman, and encourage others to do the same. Thanks again for your well-written and interesting article, which still highlights incredibly relevant issues even though it is 10 years old!
Lucy Hallett
via email from England
Venezuela
I am a trade unionist here in Oakland, California. I've been following your reporting on Venezuela and myself and many of my fellow union members — especially my fellow Latino brothers and sisters — are very interested in what is happening there. Recently my local passed the following letter:
"An Open Letter to John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO
"Carpenters Local 713 believes that the foreign interests of Corporate America and those of ordinary working class people are not the same. Big business has always attempted to undermine the living standards of working people through its foreign policies. We believe our movement can be strengthened globally by fighting for higher pay and better conditions for all workers around the world.
"In 2002 the Bush administration was implicated in the coup attempt against Venezuela's democratically elected government. Venezuela is one of the world's biggest producers of oil and its current government refuses to follow the dictates of the big US oil companies. The same oil companies that have robbed American workers for so long.
"Local 713 opposes any moves by the Bush administration to overthrow or undermine the democratically elected government in Venezuela. The US trade union movement should build direct links and solidarity with working class people and the genuine workers' unions in Venezuela and internationally for our common economic benefit."
I also have translated this letter into Spanish, and I am trying to get it to my fellow unionists in Venezuela so that they can see that they are getting support from here. Would you have any email addresses or union websites in Venezuela to which I can send this letter?
John Reimann
Oakland, California [Abridged]
[Editor's note: Solidarity messages to the Venezuelan trade union movement can be sent to <unt_internacional@hotmail.com>.]
Family-friendly John Howard
The current government likes to image itself as "family friendly". Two recent articles suggest otherwise. A few weeks ago, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on students who suffered from scurvy. I have personally met university students who had very poor diets. I suspect the result of the poor income support they receive while studying. Less than the (hardly generous) dole. Recently, the SMH article "Sex work for survival" reported on students surviving by prostitution. Scurvy and prostitution hardly seem "family friendly" to me.
The Howard government's policies suck money out of the working class. The GST was a massive transfer of money from the working class to the business owning class. The coming changes to industrial relations legislation will tip the balance (already favouring the bosses) toward the business-owning classes. The result for working people will be more stress, more insecurity, less spare time and less money. Again these hardly seem to be family-friendly outcomes. Hardly people-friendly outcomes! The big lie did not die with Goebbels on May Day 1945.
Leigh Howlett
Ashfield, NSW
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, July 13, 2005.
Visit the