Greens' protest
91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly's editorial (#559) correctly argued that "it wasn't hard for the Greens to show up the ALP" and that "the Greens could have gone a bit further by actively helping to build the demonstrations".
Further the editorial suggests ways the Greens could have improved the form of their parliamentary protest: by walking out of parliament and turning their backs on Bush. This is true, but misses the point.
The Greens should certainly be congratulated for disrupting Bush's parliamentary address. But surely, changing the method of disruption would have added only marginally to their impact.
More important than the form was the content of the Greens' protest. They ignored the main issue (the continuing war on Iraq) in favour of drawing attention to the plight of Australian citizens held by the US illegally in Guantanamo Bay.
Perhaps this is because they don't want to make a clear call for an end to the occupation of Iraq and the withdrawal of troops.
Alex Bainbridge
Hobart
Free speech?
On October 23, George W. Bush came to Australia. Unfortunately, few Australians were privileged enough to see the American president. He was surrounded by over 600 police. The Australian people were prevented from entering our parliament and war memorial. Our places, which we are permitted to enter on any day, except the day George Bush came to Australia. Are we the 53rd state of the USA?
We found ourselves in Canberra on this day, involved in a peaceful protest on the front lawns of parliament. After rallying at parliament house the protest organisers negotiated with the police, who allowed us to march past the US embassy to the Lodge, where Bush and Howard were indulging in a barbecue.
At the US embassy the protesters came too close for the police, who formed close lines in a "kung fu" stance. In this menacing line, they forcibly, some using their fists, and one pushing a women on her breasts, pushed the protesters back. Despite this police violence, we continued on peacefully to the Lodge, where many people sat on the nature strip eating their sandwiches.
Without warning the police began forcing everyone back, herding us together. One man collapsed in the crush, and another was punched in the nose by a policeman. According to the media, we peaceful protesters (who would have moved if just asked to) were depicted as an angry mob that caused the violence that was inflicted upon us by the police. Our peaceful protest was disrupted, and our rights as Australian people were violated.
The local Aboriginal people, who were participating in the protest and had brought ceremonial fire for a smoking ceremony, were not allowed to retain their fire. Must we continue with this public disregard for Aboriginal rites?
In parliament, senators Bob Brown and Kerry Nettle argued against Bush. Although the president's reply was "I love free speech", our representatives' microphones had been switched off, and the president neither listened nor replied to what these respected Australians had to say.
If the politicians we vote for to represent us cannot be heard, then what choice do we have but to protest?
Den Evans, Keetah Jacques and Justine Small
Mornington Vic
[Abridged.]
Cringing Crean
George Bush got a taste of the welcome he deserves [on October 23]. How dare Simon Crean call for deference after 80% of us said no to the immoral Iraq attack. Such cringing requires more than moral turpitude.
What are we frightened of, losing the relaxed and comfortable life under America's jackboot? I'm glad my preferences went to the Greens and the Democrats. If throwing children overboard was a crime against humanity, it was only the politics of silence that permitted it.
Not happy, John. No posse here! Take down the barricades and listen to the people.
Yvonne Francis
Nuclear Disarmament Party
Queanbeyan NSW
Hanan Ashrawi
So Sydney's Lord Mayor, Lucy Turnbull, has decided that Sydney will boycott the awarding of the Sydney Peace Prize to Hanan Ashrawi (Sydney Morning Herald, October 22).
Hanan Ashrawi is a courageous and genuine struggler for peace, and for human rights for the Palestinians. To do this, she has to battle on many fronts — against Israeli oppression, some radicalised Palestinian factions and worldwide ignorance and discrimination.
She is in constant fear for her life yet she is always tactful, patient, perceptive and diplomatic. Compared to her life, the life of a Sydney Lord Mayor is one of divine bliss.
This decision is much more than a disgraceful kick in the guts from one woman to another. It demonstrates with awful clarity the hypocrisy and cowardice of the Australian establishment. And we wonder why we have so few friends in Asia.
Rory McGuire
Waverley NSW
US torture
President Bush has denied that Camp X-Ray prisoners in Cuba, including two Australians, are being tortured. However, the UN Convention Against Torture defines torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted".
In many US states, prisons and mental institutions routinely use behaviour modification methods which clearly violate the convention. For example, paralysing drugs like anectine, which produce all the sensations of drowning and near death experience, are used. Anyone who has experienced anectine is terrified of a repeat treatment.
Drugs like Largactil and Seranace, so-called "liquid coshes", are used instead of straightjackets. Remotely controlled stun belts zap a prisoner with 50,000 volts to the kidneys, causing involuntary defecation and urination. Prisoners are shackled in the foetal position for many hours, often with hoods over their heads to induce sensory deprivation.
None of these methods cause external, visible damage, but they can be as traumatising as the medieval rack.
It is significant that the US campaigned against the Optional Protocol to the Convention which would permit inspections of prisons by external observers because of concerns it had regarding Camp X-Ray.
Australia ratified the Convention and therefore has an obligation to refer allegations of torture against David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib to the Convention Committee for investigation. The Howard government's intransigence on this shames Australia and sends an appalling message to all 111 torturing states.
Gareth Smith
Byron Bay NSW
[Abridged.]
Witch-hunt
The US and Australia are using the terrorism issue to disguise their witch-hunt for individuals and groups who are opposed to their foreign policy. Increasingly, people are being targeted because they have spoken out against the prevailing Western ideology driving the invasion of countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.
McCarthyism has been reborn, except the "communist" tag has been replaced with "Muslim extremist". Allegations about individuals are being bandied about in the press and by our politicians as if they have some inherent credibility. The current feeding frenzy is being driven by an irrational desire to be seen to be doing something about alleged terrorist threats.
This drive to unearth terrorists in our midst is only fuelling public dismay and diverting attention from an analysis of the real issues.
The US, Britain and Australia have committed an enormous blunder by invading Afghanistan and Iraq. Their military superiority ensured that they would win the short-lived attack, but their motives and lack of understanding of the populations of each country has ensured that they would "lose the peace". This is a poor description; created chaos is more apt. Even more disturbing is the fact that their actions have given rise to a guerrilla resistance in Iraq that has a fair amount of justice on its side.
In Australia, we are continually being bombarded with propaganda about the increasing terrorist threats both internally and from abroad. Instead of reacting in a punitive and reactionary way, we need to start examining why Muslim populations around the world increasingly perceive us as a threat. If our actions are partly to blame for this, then a belligerent approach like that of Bush, Blair and Howard will only further exacerbate the problem.
Adam Bonner
Meroo Meadow NSW
How to stop future wars
Send our "leaders" into front-line fighting positions — real, not pretend (a la Bush) — on the aircraft, on the ships, on the ground, for example, in the streets of Baghdad.
War would be obsolete tomorrow!
Anne Horan
Blackheath NSW
Lesfest
We would like to thank Sarah Stephen and 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly for the most balanced and accurate report of the Lesfest debacle thus far (GLW #558).
The story has been picked up and repeated all around the world and has changed every time in the telling. Your portrayal was factual and precise.
Kate Clarke and Karen Gurney
Australian WOMAN Network
'International competitiveness'
In its latest report on Australia, the International Monetary Fund maintains that reductions in income tax may promote "international competitiveness". Given the problems the implementation of IMF advice has caused in many nations (see Globalization and its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz and The Globalisation of Poverty by Michael Chussodovsky), we might wonder how useful IMF recommendations are. And we should certainly reject the idea that international competitiveness should be a fundamental goal.
Dollar-a-day wages might make employees very "internationally competitive" — but it would not help them.
It is undesirable to lure a few more workers to Australia, or discourage a few from leaving, via a lower tax policy at the expense of making Australian society worse overall by reducing the aggregate amount of tax available to finance productivity-enhancing infrastructure and education, and assistance to the sick and jobless.
Moreover, for Australia to gain, or retain, workers at a cost to other countries is ethically dubious from a global perspective when Australia is already a comparatively well-off nation.
Economic policy should equitably advance people's wellbeing — not necessarily increase "international competitiveness".
Brent Howard
Rydalmere NSW
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, November 5, 2003.
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