Illawarra Mercury
I am outraged by the Illawarra Mercury's refusal to cover the campaign against homophobia at the University of Wollongong. Bouts of rampant homophobia, including death threats, have plagued the University of Wollongong over the past few weeks. On August 26, 16 students reclaimed a queer safe space on university grounds and remained locked in for 47 hours. On the 47th hour, riot police viciously invaded the safe space to arrest three queer students and charge them with trespass.
This was and is a local issue for the Illawarra region. The story was picked up by national news including The Australian and the ABC, however the Illawarra Mercury, our local paper, did not see safety of queers in their local community as newsworthy enough to be covered.
Even now after numerous letters to the editor of the Illawarra Mercury they have failed to cover the story or include our letters. In my opinion this is indicative of the wider spread homophobia in the Illawarra region.
Shame on you Illawarra Mercury. Shame.
Annaliese Constable
Media officer
Student Representative Council
Wollongong University
Venezuela
Roberto Jorquera's incisive analysis of the revolution unfolding in Venezuela (GLW #596) stands in stark contrast to the news we see daily about the lacklustre self-serving platitudes of Australian political life in the lead up to our October 9 election.
We have come to expect self-interest to be the driving force of mainstream political parties interested only in competing to see who can offer the greatest tax cuts to their constituents, or buy the voters with subsidies for private housing, health insurance or private education.
Contrast this with Jorquera's expose of the fresh insightful vision being enunciated in Venezuela — a vision to resource and practice our commitment to human rights, where over 1000 "Bolivarian Houses" or community spaces are being managed by small participative civil associations to support community life and social progress.
Not since the Whitlam government's 1970s flirtation with regional councils for social development has any party in Australia sought to make a commitment to develop regional organisations to foster community development. Nor have we lobbied hard enough to provide any real resources to build effective community networks that can encourage community involvement, support social progress and foster engagement in public processes and community interests rather than individual self-interest.
Too often it is said there is no choice in Australian politics, but this is wrong. There is a clear choice outside the two-party-smoke-and-mirrors system. But the left must work together to better articulate our vision if we are to sever our ties with the madness of blind individualism; to end the lies of spin doctors we too often take for granted; and to fire the conscience of so many who know there's a lot missing from the choices we are presented to make.
Ernesto Presente
Sydney [Abridged]
Squandered opportunity
The other day at work, while we enjoyed a quick cuppa together at morning tea, the question came up of "Who do you think will win the election?" It turned out that only one worker actually supported Howard but the majority of us (including me) thought that he would win. Why? Because there is no sense of a groundswell of change out there; it's a "colour by numbers" election contest of spin and counter-spin and cynicism is growing.
Last year there was a huge mass movement against the war in Iraq and the ALP moved to shut it down as quickly as possible. Labor didn't want a radical movement upsetting the electoral applecart. Had the ALP fostered that movement Australian politics by now would be shaken to the foundations. A historical opportunity has been squandered. If Latham wins it'll be by luck, not by virtue.
Barry Healy
Darlington, WA
Bob Brown and Karl Marx
Bob Brown reportedly hasn't read the works of Karl Marx but "felt sure the German thinker was not an environmentalist" (Hobart Mercury, September 9).
Bob should not be so hasty to cast judgement. Marx wrote extensively about the interrelationship between humanity and nature, notably in The German Ideology and Capital.
From the latter work, a decade before the word "ecology" was first coined, he wrote "capitalist production ... disturbs the metabolic interaction between Man (sic) and the earth, i.e., it prevents the return to the soil of its constituent elements consumed by Man ... hence it hinders the operation of the eternal natural condition for the lasting fertility of the soil".
This and other writings demonstrate that Marx and his co-thinker Frederick Engels, did not ignore environmental concerns.
Socialists since Marx have deepened the analysis of the link between capitalism and environmental destruction.
Today it is crystal clear that to save the environment we need to replace the capitalist system.
Alex Bainbridge
Hobart
Liberals worse
As we now approach October 9
I now type this letter in rhyme.
As I place my thoughts in verse
There is something you should know
Whatever we think of Latham and Co.
Howard's team is worse.
Labor locked up the refugees
For two months, maybe three
Vanstone sent back a friend of mine
To face each bomb, bullet and mine.
Hawke broke his promised treaty thing
Reconciliation he sought to bring
Howard's 10 point sent land rights sick
First attacking land councils then ATSIC.
Labor invented a debt called HECS
Hanging it around our students' necks.
Libs then made their condition dire Making their debts far higher.
Once trade unions were adored
(If they signed Hawke's accord)
Till Abbott tried to make them irrelevant
As they struggle to protect each servant.
Labor supported the Sheik of Kuwait
When Iraqi tanks refused to wait.
Libs repeated Bush's stories of WMD
Though none did the Butler or Blix see.
Labor will declare a World Heritage Zone
Cut other trees down
but leave a remnant alone
For woodchips and paper is the Libs position
No 'foreign affairs power' for our constitution.
Murphy 1 and Murphy 2 in the seat of Lowe
Voting 1 for the lady — giving the Greens a go
However rotten is Labor
However I might curse
Whatever the stink of Labor
The Liberals' stench is worse.
Luke Weyland
Strathfield, NSW
Attack ads
While John Howard was recently basking in the glory of the home coming Olympians who competed fairly against other athletes, he might have had un-sporty thoughts. While Australians like a fair competition that is won at one's own merit without tripping others, John Howard prefers a mean and tricky way of competing by running attack ads against his opponent. Instead of winning in a fair competition and on his own merit, his way of competing appears to be un-sportsman-like, un-Olympian, and un-Australian.
Thomas Klikauer From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, September 29, 2004.
Coogee, NSW
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