Oslo
It was said that the Oslo Accord(s) will ease the everyday situation of the Palestinians. However, the Palestinians are not fighting to see everyday life eased, but for the end of Zionist occupation, for the right of return and for the establishment of the independent State of Palestine.
Israel has no intention of allowing the establishment of a Palestinian State. Israelis have always said that there is no room for a State between Israel and Jordan.
Israeli PM Ehud Barak took a calculated risk by crossing the "red line", discussing the Status of Jerusalem. In fact, Barak is well aware that shared sovereignty of Arab East Jerusalem will be adamantly refused by the Palestinians — as well as by the whole of Islamic world.
As for Palestinians' right of return, Barak refused to recognise the principle of it, and allowed only some family reunification. Israel insists on the annexation of the settlements.
Barak came to the Camp David summit with a maximal stance (with all-out US support). He therefore had enough room to manoeuvre, to slightly modify his demands.
This is something that the Palestinians could not do. They came with only the international resolutions (242 and 181) in hand, resolutions that are being scoffed at by Israel.
Israel's proposals did not meet even 10% of the international resolutions. It still occupies the territories by virtue of its military power. Has the situation since 1993 changed?
Mt Druitt NSW
[Abridged.]
Thanks
Bravo! Your principled support of socialist struggle (here in South Africa and around the globe) is a beacon for all committed socialists.
Let me express my personal thanks for your solidarity and support in the case of my expulsion from the South African Communist Party. Those of us here in SA will not be intimidated by bureaucratic cretinism and political opportunism that is now in full cry amongst the ranks of the ANC and SACP leadership.
We will continue to hold the communist banner high, to work amongst those who suffer under capitalist exploitation and to make critical intellectual contributions in our common struggle for socialism.
Keep up all the excellent work. We are together in our struggles.
Johannesburg South Africa
Aid Timor
It is now one year since the East Timorese people defied General Wiranto's military repression and voted overwhelmingly for independence. The current 450-strong East Timorese political congress sets a new process in motion: the struggle over the shape of an independent East Timorese society.
One factor that will affect this process will be the availability of material resources to the East Timorese people. In this respect, the Australian government's response has been miserable.
In its last budget, the government committed $35-40 million a year for the next four years. This is not even $2 per week per person in East Timor; less if we add in the more than 200,000 East Timorese who died during the military occupation, which the Australian government materially assisted and diplomatically defended.
The Howard government's oft-repeated mention of the large amount of money spent on the Australian military participation in Interfet must be discounted completely. If Liberal and Labor governments had taken a principled stand on self-determination for East Timor and applied consistent political pressure on Jakarta since 1975, it is likely that the September 1999 crisis in East Timor would never have occurred. The situation would have been resolved long before.
The Australian government should increase several times over the amount of aid it is offering East Timor and give a guarantee that it will extend it beyond four years. This aid could be funded by a reparations levy on corporations who have made large profits out of doing business in Suharto's Indonesia.
But assistance should also be rendered in kind. While many East Timorese will help to rebuild their country through efforts in East Timor, others may wish to gain work experience in Australia and send dollars back to East Timor. Others may wish to study in Australia.
To facilitate this, East Timorese should be given the same entry rights into Australia as New Zealanders. No visas should be required.
Chairperson, Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor
Summer Hill NSW
[Abridged.]
Belonging
It was interesting to read the secrecy issue addressed by Dave Riley (GLW #416).
There is no argument about the fact that all current governments operate on the basis that information has to be kept from the people to survive. The issue becomes complicated when secrecy is discussed in relation to parenthood.
Even if one argues that the child's needs are of uppermost concern and a right, it becomes unstuck when applied to particular situations; an example would be where a women is raped and becomes pregnant.
Where does the duty of a parent lie when considering the safety of the child? All parents make unilateral decisions on behalf of their children on a daily basis. Where do the rights of a child lie in this scenario?
What is fascinating is the notion of belonging being attached to biological/DNA origins. The nuclear family has reinforced the view of DNA identity.
In many Asian communities the children do not even carry surnames from one generation to the other. The community, because of the way it is organised, knew where a member of the community came from and the position they occupied. The sense of alienation in the capitalist social organisation has falsely confused the sense of communal belonging with DNA origins.
The other problem in this issue is the men who donated sperm not wanting to know much else after their donation. Where do these men stand in relation to their biological children?
With the advent of IVF, the debate becomes much more complex and only now are more and more issues being identified. Recently, a group of young adults who were adopted from overseas and whose parents could not be traced were interviewed. The interesting common theme amongst all of them was a sense of belonging and being wanted. It was more a cultural and communal desire, as opposed to finding out about their biological parents.
While I agree the right of the child is important, this topic can only be decided by these youngsters alone, as it is very personal. A lot more debate has to be had before this issue is finalised, if at all, as it is very individual.
Melbourne
[Abridged.]
Woolcott
So Richard Woolcott, arch-apologist for the Suharto regime, gets a gong named after the national beer of Indonesia, Bintang Mahaputra Utama (Australian Financial Review, August 18). How very appropriate, it must have been given in recognition of his strenuous propaganda attempts to stupefy the Australian public's outrage over the genocide in East Timor and the continuing border violence!
Mr Woolcott's award has been given by a government still dominated by the shadowy forces of the Suharto mafia and the military. After the genocide of 300,000 East Timorese since 1975, the post-ballot blitzkrieg, the continuing incarceration and abuse of 120,000 East Timorese in West Timor and the killing of UN peacekeepers, we are now told by Indonesia that there is to be a blanket amnesty for all military officers without regard to the crimes against humanity they have committed.
And, in the face of this, Mr Woolcott is "very glad to accept the award".
Woolcott's acceptance of the Bintang is the mark of Cain upon his scheming and conniving character. From his plush office at the Australia-Indonesia Institute in Canberra he waged war against activists for human rights in East Timor, West Papua and Aceh. It was his initiative that brought senior Indonesian and Australian editors together for an annual secret colloquy the results of which, according to the Indonesian Observer, was a downplaying of the East Timor issue by the Australian media.
Whenever an East Timor war crimes tribunal takes place, justice surely demands that Woolcott and Wiranto be the first names called.
Byron Bay NSW
Job security
Reading Dick Nichols' article on job security (GLW #416) triggered a couple of thoughts.
Firstly, regarding the challenges of the global economy. I think that a "fair trade, not free trade" approach is a very good idea. That is, that the Australian government should be encouraged to prohibit imports that fail to measure up to fundamental social and environmental standards.
In this way, if the standards were applied consistently, we could do a better job of meeting our environmental responsibilities as there would presumably be a major drop in the amount of oil imported.
Secondly, I have recently been laid off from a labouring job because of a bad decision. I agree that we should be suspicious of "the honeyed phrases of employers" and should, if threatened with redundancy, try to "test if the boss is bluffing" about his or her reasons for doing so.
My only comment is that we should always remember that "the employer" is as much a person as we are, however unjust we might get treated. Better to walk away from a job where there is exploitation than to rage and surrender our own dignity as a person.
Goonellabah NSW
Howard and the virgin
Little Johnnie Howard would have found himself on rather shaky ground if he had had to cope with the cause of the Virgin Mary.
Calling herself a permanent virgin (a sort of first century Doris Day), she apparently had a son by a rather mysterious and irresponsible partner from God knows where, who thereafter showed little interest in his offspring, and later did nothing — though he could have — to save him from being killed by the Romans.
Could little Johnnie have disapproved of Mary's pregnancy, as she was neither married nor in a de facto relationship? Was the mysterious impregnation an early inexplicable version of IVF?
St Kilda Vic