LL:DDV: Socialist Alliance Trade Union Meeting
SOCIALIST ALLIANCE TRADE UNION SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE 6 November 2002 Dear Comrade As you may or may not be aware, a great step has been taken toward socialist unity through the formation of the Socialist Alliance. Eight separate socialist organisations have put aside their differences in order to build Socialist Alliance. Already it has branches throughout Australia and a total membership of more than 2500. The Victorian Socialist Alliance has set up the Trade Union Solidarity Committee. This committee is open not only to Socialist Alliance members but to any trade unionists that wish to fight for democratic rank and file run unionism. It aims to provide a forum for unionists from all unions to come together and swap experiences and develop strategies and perspectives for taking the movement forward. We plan to hold regular monthly meetings that aim to both organise and educate. If you would like to be notified of our meetings please ring Simon Millar on 9386 5917 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and we will place you on our contact list. NEXT MEETING IS ON TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER AT 6.30PM AT THE VICTORIAN TRADES HALL OLD BALLROOM. THE SPEAKER IS TOM OLINCOLN ON BUILDING MILITANT RANK FILE UNIONISM TOM WILL TALK ABOUT HOW THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF AUSTRALIA ORGANISED IN THE 1930S THROUGH THE MILITANT MINORITY MOVEMENT. Everyone is welcome! Refreshments available. -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:leftlink;vicnet.net.au Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:majordomo;vicnet.net.au?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsub: mailto:majordomo;vicnet.net.au?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: A moment of silence before I start this poem
The following poem was published in The Guardian, newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, November 13th, 2002. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Guardian: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au Subscription rates on request. ** A MOMENT OF SILENCE BEFORE I START THIS POEM Before I start this poem, I'd like to ask you to join me In a moment of silence In honour of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last September 11th. I would also like to ask you To offer up a moment of silence For all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes, For the victims in both Afghanistan and the US And if I could just add one more thing... A full day of silence For the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of US-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation. Six months of silence for the million and-a-half Iraqi people, mostly children, who have died of malnourishment or starvation as a result of an 11-year US embargo against the country. Before I begin this poem, Two months of silence for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa, Where homeland security made them aliens in their own country. Nine months of silence for the dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Where death rained down and peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and skin And the survivors went on as if alive. A year of silence for the millions of dead in Vietnam - a people, not a war - for those who know a thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives' bones buried in it, their babies born of it. A year of silence for the dead in Cambodia and Laos, victims of a secret war sh Say nothing ... we don't want them to learn that they are dead. Two months of silence for the decades of dead in Colombia, Whose names, like the corpses they once represented, have piled up and slipped off our tongues. Before I begin this poem. An hour of silence for El Salvador ... An afternoon of silence for Nicaragua ... Two days of silence for the Guatemaltecos ... None of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years. 45 seconds of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas 25 years of silence for the hundred million Africans who found their graves far deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky. There will be no DNA testing or dental records to identify their remains. And for those who were strung and swung from the heights of sycamore trees in the south, the north, the east, and the west... 100 years of silence... For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from this half of right here, Whose land and lives were stolen, In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of Tears. Names now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the refrigerator of our consciousness ... So you want a moment of silence? And we are all left speechless Our tongues snatched from our mouths Our eyes stapled shut A moment of silence And the poets have all been laid to rest The drums disintegrating into dust. Before I begin this poem, You want a moment of silence You mourn now as if the world will never be the same And the rest of us hope to hell it won't be. Not like it always has been. Because this is not a 9/11 poem. This is a 9/10 poem, It is a 9/9 poem, A 9/8 poem, A 9/7 poem This is a 1492 poem. This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written. And if this is a 9/11 poem, then: This is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971. This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in South Africa, 1977. This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at Attica Prison, New York, 1971. This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992. This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground in ashes This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks The 110 stories that CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored. This is a poem for interrupting this program. And still you want a moment of silence for your dead? We could give you lifetimes of empty: The unmarked graves The lost languages The uprooted trees and histories The dead stares on the faces of nameless children Before I start this poem we could be silent forever Or just long enough to hunger, For the dust to bury us And you would still ask us For more of our silence. If you want a moment of silence Then stop the oil pumps Turn off the engines and the televisions Sink the cruise ships Crash the stock markets Unplug the marquee lights, Delete the instant messages, Derail the trains, the light rail transit. If you want a moment of silence, put a brick through the window of Taco Bell, And pay the workers for wages lost.
All the News That Fits
This week's stories: Proof That Bosses Are Worse Than Useless...New Refugee Centre Has Same Old Brutality...I Don't Care What You Want, You're Getting Freedom of Choice... Like many people in Argentina, the employees at the Grissinopoli bread factory were caught up in the country's economic collapse, after the government completely followed International Monetary Fund policy. They saw their weekly salary steadily decline from 150 pesos to 100 and then to 40. Finally, with the firm headed for bankruptcy, the workers demanded compensation. The plant manager offered 10 pesos to each of the 14 employees, and asked them to leave the factory. He closed the shutters, and we stayed inside, said Norma Pintos, 49, who has worked at the factory for 11 years. We just wanted to keep coming to work. What began as a last-ditch effort to save their jobs, or at the very least to get some back wages, turned into an effort to gain control of the factory. The workers began taking turns guarding the factory 24 hours a day, surviving by asking for spare change at the public university and selling food on the street. Four months later, the city government handed the factory handed it over to the workers. In little more than a year, workers have seized control of dozens of foundering factories across Argentina. In some cases the factories have not just survived, but are doing better than under their previous ownerships. In February, the owners of the Ghelco factory locked the doors and soon afterwards filed for bankruptcy. The workers, who were owed the equivalent of thousands of dollars in back wages and benefits, were left to fend for themselves as they awaited the outcome of a long and uncertain legal process. At the urging of Luis Caro, a lawyer who has represented some 40 occupied factories, the workers formed a co-operative and mounted a permanent protest in front of the factory, preventing attempts to remove any equipment or inventory. After three months the bankruptcy judge allowed them temporarily to rent the factory. In September, the Buenos Aires legislature expropriated Ghelco and gave it to the co-operative. Now 43 of Ghelco's former employees, all of whom worked on the factory floor, run the company. Workers at another factory are earning more than twice as much as they did as employees and are set to take on 20 new members. They are expanding the plant and have plans to export their products. The fellows still think this is all a dream, said the co-operative's president, Roberto Salcedo, 49. Nowadays if you lose your job you know that you aren't going to find work again, and much less at our age. The workers say that one reason they can run the factory better than their managers and bosses is because of the money freed by getting rid of the owners' hefty take and the higher salaries paid to managerial staff. As in most of the occupied factories, the Union and Force Co-operative has an egalitarian pay scale. Decisions are made by direct vote in regular assemblies and each worker earns the same, based on the previous week's profits. Caro estimates that workers have taken over 100 factories and other businesses nationwide. While most takeovers have been at factories, they have also included a supermarket, a medical clinic, a mine and a shipyard. With local support for the factory-occupying workers strong, authorities have had little success removing them by force. In March, about 200 people from neighbourhood assemblies and human rights groups converged on the worker-controlled Brukman textile factory, forcing the retreat of 70 riot police who were acting on a judge's order to reclaim the property. The idea that a capitalist is needed to organise production is being demystified, said Christian Castillo, a sociology professor at the University of Buenos Aires. (Sydney Morning Herald, November 9). Detainees at the new Baxter refugee detention centre had their heads kicked by guards during an altercation. In an email, Anne Simpson, from the Bellingen Rural Australians Refugees group, said an asylum seeker told her about 30 guards in full riot gear beat a detainee during the incident. Another refugee advocate was told detainees had to lie on the ground and were kicked in the head by guards. (news.com.au, November 5). The Community and Public Sector Union has called on WR Minister Tony Abbott to come clean on reports he has proposed that the entire Commonwealth public sector workforce to be put on Australian Workplace Agreements - the unpopular system of individual contracts favoured by the government. AWAs involve individuals bargaining directly with managers without union involvement. Unions say that this gives all the power to management and leads to lower wages and worse conditions. The minister's spokesperson refused to comment. CPSU national secretary Adrian O'Connell said the reforms, if true, would damage the integrity of the public service. If Tony Abbott
LL:ART: All the News That Fits
This week's stories: Proof That Bosses Are Worse Than Useless...New Refugee Centre Has Same Old Brutality...I Don't Care What You Want, You're Getting Freedom of Choice... Like many people in Argentina, the employees at the Grissinopoli bread factory were caught up in the country's economic collapse, after the government completely followed International Monetary Fund policy. They saw their weekly salary steadily decline from 150 pesos to 100 and then to 40. Finally, with the firm headed for bankruptcy, the workers demanded compensation. The plant manager offered 10 pesos to each of the 14 employees, and asked them to leave the factory. He closed the shutters, and we stayed inside, said Norma Pintos, 49, who has worked at the factory for 11 years. We just wanted to keep coming to work. What began as a last-ditch effort to save their jobs, or at the very least to get some back wages, turned into an effort to gain control of the factory. The workers began taking turns guarding the factory 24 hours a day, surviving by asking for spare change at the public university and selling food on the street. Four months later, the city government handed the factory handed it over to the workers. In little more than a year, workers have seized control of dozens of foundering factories across Argentina. In some cases the factories have not just survived, but are doing better than under their previous ownerships. In February, the owners of the Ghelco factory locked the doors and soon afterwards filed for bankruptcy. The workers, who were owed the equivalent of thousands of dollars in back wages and benefits, were left to fend for themselves as they awaited the outcome of a long and uncertain legal process. At the urging of Luis Caro, a lawyer who has represented some 40 occupied factories, the workers formed a co-operative and mounted a permanent protest in front of the factory, preventing attempts to remove any equipment or inventory. After three months the bankruptcy judge allowed them temporarily to rent the factory. In September, the Buenos Aires legislature expropriated Ghelco and gave it to the co-operative. Now 43 of Ghelco's former employees, all of whom worked on the factory floor, run the company. Workers at another factory are earning more than twice as much as they did as employees and are set to take on 20 new members. They are expanding the plant and have plans to export their products. The fellows still think this is all a dream, said the co-operative's president, Roberto Salcedo, 49. Nowadays if you lose your job you know that you aren't going to find work again, and much less at our age. The workers say that one reason they can run the factory better than their managers and bosses is because of the money freed by getting rid of the owners' hefty take and the higher salaries paid to managerial staff. As in most of the occupied factories, the Union and Force Co-operative has an egalitarian pay scale. Decisions are made by direct vote in regular assemblies and each worker earns the same, based on the previous week's profits. Caro estimates that workers have taken over 100 factories and other businesses nationwide. While most takeovers have been at factories, they have also included a supermarket, a medical clinic, a mine and a shipyard. With local support for the factory-occupying workers strong, authorities have had little success removing them by force. In March, about 200 people from neighbourhood assemblies and human rights groups converged on the worker-controlled Brukman textile factory, forcing the retreat of 70 riot police who were acting on a judge's order to reclaim the property. The idea that a capitalist is needed to organise production is being demystified, said Christian Castillo, a sociology professor at the University of Buenos Aires. (Sydney Morning Herald, November 9). Detainees at the new Baxter refugee detention centre had their heads kicked by guards during an altercation. In an email, Anne Simpson, from the Bellingen Rural Australians Refugees group, said an asylum seeker told her about 30 guards in full riot gear beat a detainee during the incident. Another refugee advocate was told detainees had to lie on the ground and were kicked in the head by guards. (news.com.au, November 5). The Community and Public Sector Union has called on WR Minister Tony Abbott to come clean on reports he has proposed that the entire Commonwealth public sector workforce to be put on Australian Workplace Agreements - the unpopular system of individual contracts favoured by the government. AWAs involve individuals bargaining directly with managers without union involvement. Unions say that this gives all the power to management and leads to lower wages and worse conditions. The minister's spokesperson refused to comment. CPSU national secretary Adrian O'Connell said the reforms, if true, would damage the integrity of the public service. If Tony Abbott
LL:ART: UN resolution a step towards war
The following articles were published in The Guardian, newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, November 13th, 2002. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Guardian: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au Subscription rates on request. ** UN resolution a step towards war The question of peace or war hangs in the balance following the resolution unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council last Friday, November 8. American and British leaders have deliberately drafted a resolution which they expect will prove impossible to implement and provide them with the excuse for launching an aggressive, illegitimate war against Iraq to be followed by war against a number of other countries. These two aggressive, warmongering governments were forced to take the matter to the UN Security Council by the opposition coming from many governments and from the mass demonstrations against war that have erupted around the world. However, the UN resolution can be seen as no more than a temporary respite. The extreme danger of war remains. The US and British march to war has nothing to do with the alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction by Iraq. Even if any exist and, so far, no evidence has been produced to prove it, they could not possibly threaten the US or Britain. The real reasons for war are to be found in the severe economic crisis that is overtaking the US economy, the steady decline of the real position of the US in world affairs, the worldwide opposition to its war policies, its objective of controlling the oil resources of Iraq and, thereby, the major oil resources of the Middle East, its drive for world domination and the imposition of a new colonialism over all countries. These are the compelling reasons why the US and Britain want a war. They believe that the deep crisis of capitalism can be resolved by war as they have attempted to do in the past. The UN resolution does not provide for a preemptive strike by the US and Britain, and reaffirms the commitment of all member states to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, Kuwait and the neighbouring states. While imposing staggeringly harsh conditions on Iraq, such have never been imposed on any sovereign country before, and laying down a specific timetable, the resolution provides for further meetings of the UN Security Council to consider the situation in order to secure international peace and security. (emphasis added) The resolution makes no mention of preemptive strike or of regime change-phrases often repeated by US President Bush. However, the resolution retains the wording demanded by the US and Britain that Iraq face series consequences if it continues in violation of its obligations. A comment in The New York Times gives away the real designs of the Bush administration. It says: Despite the administration's professed confidence in the inspectors, there is a deep-seated unstated fear that President Saddam Hussein will only seem to cooperate and the inspectors will find little or nothing incriminating. That would leave the administration with insufficient evidence to persuade the Security Council, its potential allies - or even Americans - that a war is necessary. (emphasis added) THAT A WAR IS NECESSARY! Despite the assertions of the US Ambassador to the UN that the resolution does not contain any hidden triggers and no automaticity with respect to the use of force, the continued warmongering statements by President Bush and the even more bellicose statements by Tony Blair raise doubts that the Ambassador's assurances can be believed. Following the Security Council vote the French Ambassador to the UN said the resolution strengthens the role and authority of the Security Council. The Security Council's objective was for a two-stage approach to ensure that it maintains control of the process at each stage. France welcomes the fact that all ambiguity and all elements of automaticity have disappeared from the resolution. France's objective is to work tirelessly for the stability of the region. War can be only a last recourse, the French Ambassador said. The Russian UN Ambassador said that as a result of intensive negotiations the resolution does not contain any provisions about automatic use of force. It is important that the sponsors of the resolution (US and Britain) officially confirmed that that was their understanding. It is of fundamental importance that there is clear confirmation in the resolution that all members of the UN respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and of all states in the region. The Chinese Ambassador said that China stands firmly for a peaceful solution to the question of Iraq through political and diplomatic means and within the
