Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor: Open letter to immigration minister Scott Morrison

I am a 32-year-old mother of two from suburban Perth. I am writing in regard to the case of Latifa, a 31-year-old woman of the persecuted Rohingya people of Myanmar [Burma], who recently gave birth in immigration detention. Her newborn child is in NICU [neonatal intensive care unit] and her access is strictly limited due to the harsh and inhuman policies of your department. The child has never had any contact with its father also held by your department.聽

Letters to the editor: Feminist chants are a valuable tradition

Reclaim The Night has a proud international history as an annual protest of women and their supporters demanding an end to violence against women, and to the sexism and misogyny that underpin it. As shown by a 2012 globally focused study by US political scientists Mala Htun and S. Laurel Weldon, a key factor in reducing violence against women is strong feminist movements.

Letters: Blind workers in too hard basket

I disagree with a few points in the article . There are lots of parts of welfare to work which are not great but there is a particular part which helps people with disabilities be able to compete on the labour market or become self employed more easily.

Letters: Welcome economic migrants

It's 200 years too late to stop the boats. Almost everyone of non-Indigenous origin is an economic migrant or a refugee. Greeks left Egypt in the 1950-1970s because the government passed laws decreeing that only 15% of any company's wages could be paid to non-Egyptians. The laws were meant to help poorer Arabs get jobs, but they also resulting in one overpaid European company manager pocketing the 15% while refusing to employ any of his fellow Europeans.

Letters to the editor: Double standards on drinking culture

At the Australian Hotels Association award night on May 22, Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles said the NT's drinking culture was a "core social value". The ABC reported on May 23 that Giles said 鈥溾榟aving a coldie' in a pub should be 'enshrined' as part of Territory life." Alcohol indeed is a disturbingly central part of life for many Territorians. The NT has the second-highest alcohol consumption rate in the world, and the highest rate of alcohol-related deaths in Australia.

Letters to the editor: Tribute to Bernie Rosen

Anyone who reads 麻豆传媒 Weekly would probably know Bernie Rosen was an inexhaustible letter writer and so it seems fitting to compose one in his honour. Although it should be said that Bernie鈥檚 emphasis on letters later in his life was no doubt in part because his other favoured forms of political campaigning, such as door-to-door canvassing, newspaper distribution and public oration, were less and less physically possible for him. Letters were his way of engaging in the class struggle until the very end of his 88 years.

Letters to the editor: Syria reporting, overtime problems

Reporting on Syria It is with deep concern that we the undersigned continue to read articles in the 麻豆传媒 Weekly about the ongoing conflict in Syria that do not reflect the true situation. Most, if not all, of these articles are written by Tony Iltis who takes a position that is only marginally better than the outright lies being peddled by the corporate media: i.e. the 鈥淔ree Syrian Army鈥 are democratic rebels fighting for freedom.

Refugees tell Gillard Nauru is 'the worst condition of our lives'

The following 鈥淎ppeal of asylum seekers鈥 was released by refugees on Nauru on October 31. It was addressed to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Australian MPs, the Nauru government, human rights commissions and the 鈥渞est of the world鈥. The men said on November 1 that they would begin a group hunger strike "for unknown time". "This is a clear message that we are not happy here, we want to go back from this Hell to Australia and we request to the Australia government to start our processing." ***

Letters to editor

Nakbah acknowledged An important judgement was delivered on May 15 by Justice Christine Adamson. The judge stated that the anniversary of the Nakbah (the catastrophe) could not be postponed for another day and compared it with other days that must be commemorated on the exact day when they occur. Until recent times, the Zionist falsification about what occurred in April 1948, following the massacre of Deir Yassin, was accepted by the ruling class and all their organs of propaganda and government. Ultimately the truth has emerged.

Letters to editor

West Papua needs solidarity It was incredibly heart wrenching to watch and see the terribly oppressive situation the indigenous people are suffering in West Papua. I knew the plight of West Papuans was not good under Indonesian rule, but was shocked at the level of brutality.

Letters to the editor

Rewrite the Constitution What a brilliant 6-1 decision by the High Court on the federal funding of the chaplain program. The dysfunctionality of the federal constitution and the federal system couldn't have been made more obvious. The major parties now have to, again, find ways to circumvent the Constitution to make sensible government possible. Rudd passed up the opportunity in 2007 to replace the federal system with something far more effective with ALP governments in six states and in Canberra.

Letters to the editor

Freedom to protest Congratulations to the Sydney Al-Nakba Planning Committee for successfully defying police and winning its case in the Supreme Court to be allowed to protest on Al-Nakba Day. The Supreme Court decision on May 14 sets an important precedent for future protest groups in Sydney when they come up against police opposition. The police will not be in a hurry to take a protest group to court again.