GLW's coverage of South Africa
Mazibuko Jara, the South African Communist Party's media spokesperson, states (Write On #504) that he is "rather surprised that Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly seems to have taken a stance not to engage the SACP in a comradely and still critical way" and that it "appears as if GLW would like to write off the SACP in left struggles in South Africa".
Jara specifically objects to an article written by me on the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) strike in which I wrote that the SACP's image was tarnished by its chairperson Charles Nqakula, who is also national police minister in the African National Congress government.
He then states: "GLW has an obligation to review its coverage not only of the SACP but of the ANC and the South African government as well instead of just feeding its readers with a one-sided, and often off-the-mark, analysis of a complex transition that the democratic and progressive ANC government and alliance are grappling with."
The only obligation GLW has is to honestly report what is taking place in South Africa from a socialist perspective. This seems to be what Jara objects to. The vast majority of GLW's articles about South Africa are written by South African activists from the new movements fighting privatisation, water and electricity cut-offs and evictions, which all flow directly from the capitalist economic policies of the ANC government.
It is a fact that the SACP participates in that conservative capitalist government: it is SACP ministers who are implementing the government's privatisation policies (Jeff Radebe) and the "restructuring" of the public service (Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi) and local government (Sydney Mufamadi); it is a SACP minister who is in charge of macroeconomic policy (Alec Erwin); and Comrade Nqakula is the SACP minister responsible for the hundreds of arrests and acts of violence police inflicted on striking SAMWU members.
That means that GLW — and more importantly working-class activists and socialists in South Africa — must inevitably criticise the SACP's direct involvement in the implementation of those policies. It is also not surprising — though saddening — that the SACP's refusal to control its ministers has led many South African activists to "write off the SACP in left struggles".
To suggest that GLW is not "open and engaging" because our writers do not defend the SACP's actions or those of the "progressive ANC government" is unfair. We don't agree with them. That is why we offered Jara and the SACP the opportunity to defend its policies and practice in the pages of Norm Dixon Dave Robinson (Write On #503) surely cannot be serious when he insists we are still best served by working within the treacherous Labor Party, a party which has long shown, proved (and even maintains) it represents the interests of big business and capitalists and has no intentions of establishing or supporting socialism.
It is, and must be seen as, another "Liberal capitalist party" despite its cunning rhetoric at times.
Sincere intelligent socialists with any integrity have long deserted this party of opportunists and ambitionists who show no principles or integrity.
Even Kim Beazley senior is purportedly to have remarked, "When I was in the Labor Party it contained the cream of the working class. Today, it contains the dregs of the middle class", or words to that effect.
S Peary The company chosen by the Southern Cross Consortium (the successful bidders) to part own and operate Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport is Hochtief Airport GmbH, a division of the large German construction transnational Hochtief AS.
I have looked into the history of Hochtief AS and am very concerned about what I have been able to find out. During the Nazi era, this company was associated at the highest levels with the leadership of the Third Reich. Not only did this company take part in the construction of Hitler's camps but they were themselves large employers of slave labour both in Germany and occupied Europe.
A look into some of the modern history of this company, particularly that of the Hochtief Group and particularly its Hochtief Airports GmbH division's recent forays into bidding on airport privatisations is also very worrying (visit ).
It would also seem that the Hochtief Group is linked to the construction of a major military industrial complex built in Iraq during the 1980s (funded by the West no doubt), as well as being involved in the bidding consortia to build a nuclear reactor in Iran.
You would think that this company's involvement with Sydney Airport should be ringing a lot of alarm bells — but for some reason there has been no reaction at all in Canberra.
All this information is freely available on the internet and from recognised public sources.
Vance Painter On the afternoon of August 13, after a long wait, Australasian Correctional Management guards took us out to see a dentist. There were four detainees, separated into two groups, each escorted by three ACM guards.
We want to strongly complain about being handcuffed the whole time while we went to see the dentist. What's more, we were handcuffed very tightly. As a result, my hands were injured.
We asked the names of the guards involved, but they refused to give them. They said it was within their powers and was ACM's policy to handcuff us. We asked the guards' supervisor for their names, and she also refused to tell us. She said the guards were right and that being handcuffed was a requirement for visiting the dentist.
Was this the real reason? Is it a legal reason? We said that it was a small thing that our bodies suffered from harm. But what was important was that our dignity and feelings were seriously insulted and harmed. The guards said it was "bad luck" that we had been handcuffed.
We are strongly complaining about ACM's illegal action. We are formally stating again: we are not criminals, we just want to have basic human rights and dignity.
Shimai Wang From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, August 21, 2002.
Auburn NSW
Labor Party debate
Caloundra Qld
New Sydney airport operator
Marsfield NSW
[Abridged.]
ACM brutality
Villawood detention centre NSW
[Abridged and translated from the original Chinese.]
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