Racism
In your recent article "Racism: who's stirring it up?" (GLW #653), which demonstrated effectively the role of the mass media in encouraging racist attitudes, it was suggested that racism was the "ideological basis" for the war on terror and for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The actual "ideological basis" for the actions of the US during the Bush administration can be found in the Project For a New American Century organisation. Oil pipelines, oil reserves and establishing pro-American governments were the motivations for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The war on terror has been constructed to replace the role of the Soviet Union; to force the domestic population to submit to increased militarisation while providing a suitable pretext for every sort of foreign policy adventure. Racism has absolutely nothing to do with their plans for the world.
Consider the US's friendly relations with Saudi Arabia. How is this possible if we accept that the US is operating on an ideology based on racism? How do we explain the change in the US's attitude to Saddam? He was every bit an Arab 20 years ago as he was in 2003. Governments do not make major foreign policy decisions based on another state's race. They have higher ideals of profit and military power to satisfy. Individuals in governments may definitely be racists, and governments may often incite racism as a means of ruling their domestic population, but to claim that racist attitudes are the cause of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is to gloss over the far more sinister motives of the war-mongers.
Matt Rafty
Padbury, WA
Neoliberalism in India
I am in India on holiday, and can see the effects of deregulation and "economic rationalism" (neo-liberalism) at first hand. A great leap in the growth of services to a small social stratum — business persons, IT professionals, corrupt bureaucrats, politicians, contractors and gangsters, while the poor and unemployed are deprived of basic health care, education, employment and safe working conditions.
Banks chase the prosperous classes with credit offers — often holding road-side loan camps — while farmers and artisans do the rounds of banks for loans. Small farmers routinely commit suicide because of debts to usurers, failure of crops and lack of support prices — thanks to dumping by US and Western subsidised producers. Education, health care and even drinking water are a corporate free for all, with fees and medical expenses beyond the reach of 80% of the population.
The rampant spread of personal vehicles — thanks to aggressive credit — has gridlocked most urban roads and unchecked real estate has brought cities to the brink of disaster — every monsoon paralyses cities for days and results in hundreds of deaths, sewers in the cities routinely burst and overflow, air pollution is a visible haze in the busy roads of cities.
In the city of Hyderabad, where I am, it can take up to 20 minutes to cross a road at the rare pedestrian crossing. A bottle of mineral water — you cannot trust the municipal water — can cost half a day's pay to most unorganised workers.
This is where the corporate sector can take Australia if allowed to.
Narendra Mohan Kommalapati
Hyderabad, India
RU486
Tony Abbott is certainly not better qualified to judge the medical merits of the abortion drug RU486 than the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Abbott does not better know what is good for most individual pregnant women than those pregnant women themselves.
The argument for continuing to permit Tony Abbott to refuse access to RU486 boils down to the claim that making RU486 widely available would probably raise the abortion rate and that Mr Abbott should prevent this occurring.
However, where is the evidence from overseas that legalising RU486 increases abortions? Even if it did, why is it morally right to further expand the world's population by denying many women their preferred abortion method?
Early term abortions using RU486 are not inherently wrong. The foetuses killed have never been conscious or had desires for the future or an interest in ongoing life.
Parliament should remove Abbott's veto power over RU486.
Brent Howard
Rydalmere, NSW
Casey curfews
In June last year, Casey city council (covering the south-eastern Melbourne suburbs of Cranbourne, Pakenham and Endeavour Hills) proposed some really draconian and repressive legislation to combat youth unrest in the City of Casey, including a proposed a night curfew against all youth residing in the City of Casey. The proposal was knocked on the head when people like the well-known youth activist Les Twentyman condemned the proposal and stated that the council should be providing more youth workers instead.
For the next five months, it looked like the proposal was "dead in the water", until the proposal was resurrected about in mid-January.
In my opinion, curfews of any kind must not be tolerated, because not only do they make matters worse, but it also invites the over-zealous elements in the police force to intimidate and brutalise any person who may be wandering the streets during the early hours of the morning.
An injury to one is an injury to all. I call upon all youth in Australia to email the City of Casey (http://www.caseycc@casey.vic.gov.au) and tell them that you will not tolerate a curfew of any kind and that there are other ways to solve the problem.
Remember that they are proposing youth curfews in the City of Casey today and if the proposal becomes law, it will be a green light for the council in your area to consider similar disgusting legislative proposals in your area against youth.
No curfews!
John Wickham
Cranbourne, Vic
ID card
Terrorism and identity theft will not be stopped by the introduction of the most secure identity card. There is one simple reason for this — the more secure a piece of identification seems to be the more incentive there is for those wanting to duplicate or forge it. A case in point is photo licences.
People in the US have had to carry identification (including their social security number) and can be arrested if they fail to have it on them if stopped by the police.
British PM Tony Blair and his right-wing cronies seem to think "smart cards" are the way to go but, again, take a look at the lengths the major movie studios have gone (digitally) to stop copying of their DVD's. Most people with a computer can copy them stripping off all copy protection.
Smart cards are similar technology and anything digital can easily be copied or modified.
A couple of last thoughts: The right wing of the Labor Party are still smarting over being voted down by the ACTU over PM Bob Hawke's Australia Card and his "deal" with then-ACTU president Simon Crean, so they'll go along with it. Personally, I'd rather live in an Australia where I take the risk of being attacked by terrorists than continually have my personal rights eroded by Johnny Howard.
Barron Clarke
Bonython, ACT
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, February 1, 2006.
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