>from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >subject: Australian Politicians -US controlled >From: Communist Party of Australia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >MIME-Version: 1.0 >To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: GUARDIAN ROUNDUP -- SEE INDEX > >GUARDIAN ROUNDUP -- SEE INDEX BELOW > >The following articles were published in "The Guardian", newspaper >of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, >March 15, 2000. 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. >****************************** > >INDEX: > >A Government of Liars (Editorial) > >Sometimes the statements of government leaders can be passed >off as propaganda or merely expressions of opinion but these hardly >cover many of the statements of the Howard Government. > >Readers will recall the assertions of some years ago about Howard >being "honest John". This could be passed off as propaganda but >his statements that "no worker will be worse off" and that the >"GST would never, ever be introduced" hardly fall into that >category. > >His statements of concern about reconciliation with the >Aboriginal people made at the time of his Government's re- >election in 1998 have not been borne out by subsequent events. >ATSIC's funding has been cut back substantially and some aspects >of its authority have been taken out of its control and >administration entirely with control given to Howard Government >Ministers -- Herron and Wooldridge. > >Now we have the statement of Communications Minister Richard >Alston that the sacking of thousands of technicians by Telstra, >"need not" result in any loss of services to the bush (what about >the cities and towns?). This is nothing more than a dishonest >cover-up of what Telstra management is doing. > >The claim that the Government, as the majority shareholder of >Telstra, cannot do anything about these sackings is another lie. >Of course the Government's representatives on the Board of >Telstra could instruct the Board to do what it is told. > >The fact is that the Howard Government is hell-bent on the total >privatisation of Telstra, but in circumstances where it knows >that it cannot get privatisation legislation passed in the Senate >it is quite prepared to see Telstra dismembered by way of >contracting out and other means so as to give its private >enterprise opponents maximum opportunity to pick up the pieces. > >Telstra's CEO, Ziggy Switkowski and others on the Telstra board, >who also make it clear that they want to privatise Telstra >completely, are out to sabotage this prize piece of public >property if they cannot clear the way to have it privatised. > >It's a disgusting scenario. These people are no less than >traitors to Australia's national interests which can only be >defined as the interests of the majority of the people, the >majority being opposed to the privatisation of Telstra. > >The big corporations, mostly foreign, which are out to grab the >whole of Telstra do not care a fig for the interests of the >Australian people. Their interest is about profits for >shareholders. > >They make it clear that this is their priority responsibility, >not the needs of the Australian people. Community interests used >to be enshrined in the charters of publicly owned services such >as Telstra, Australia Post, and the Commonwealth Bank. But that >has all but vanished as a result of corporatisation and >privatisation by both Coalition and ALP Governments. > >On the front page of this issue of <MI>The Guardian is a call by >the Central Committee of the Communist Party for a big campaign >to defeat and force the repeal of the GST. The GST is a key >element in the overall economic rationalist policies of the big >corporations and the servile politicians who willingly do their >bidding. > >The GST could be defeated. There is widespread opposition and >disquiet about the consequences of its introduction. And here is >yet another total lie of the Howard Government: the claim that it >is a "fairer" tax. > >It will not be long before we all feel the GST picking our >pockets, stealing our hard-come-by -- and in many instances >meagre -- disposable income. It is already happening with >substantial price rises taking place in supermarkets and shops. >They are putting up prices now to recoup the millions of dollars >of compliance costs they already have had to spend, even before >the GST actually hits on July 1. > >As the Party statement says, together it is possible to throw out >the GST. It all depends on whether YOU are prepared to do >something about it now and in the immediate future. Later will be >too late! > >******************************** > >Culture & Life: >In the land of the ``free'' > >Is the US a police state? Its government and media like to parade >the USA as a bastion of freedom, but as of this year it now has >two million people in jail. According to the November >Coalition, an alliance of US civil rights campaigners, justice >policy workers and drug law reformers, the US now has a higher >proportion of its citizens in jail than any other country in >history. > >by Rob Gowland > >Remember the propaganda the US used to put out about the Soviet >Union and the other socialist countries? The picture was >relentlessly painted of a society where the population lived in >constant fear of arrest, where masses of people were imprisoned, >where the police were all powerful? > >Today, the USA comprises five percent of the global population >yet it is responsible for 25 percent of the world's prisoners. >Its militarised police force can shoot an unarmed man 41 times >because he reached for his wallet -- and get off scott free. > >In New York city, one in three black youths is either in custody >or on parole. Kevin Pranis, of the Prison Moratorium Project, >says: "New York state is diverting millions of dollars from >colleges and universities to pay for prisons we can't afford." > >George W Bush, governor of Texas, and favoured candidate of the >Republican right to be the next US President, is a staunch >supporter of both the death penalty and stiffer sentencing for >drug offences, although neither course actually reduces the >amount of crime or its seriousness. > >"Incarceration should be the last resort of a civilised society, >not the first", says Michael Gelacak, a former vice-chairman of >the US sentencing commission. "We have it backwards and it's time >we realised that.'' > >I suspect Bush would neither know nor care what Gelacak meant. >Since Bush took over in Texas, the prison population has jumped >from 41,000 to 150,000. Most of this huge increase is the result >of jailing people for possession of drugs, which they consume to >escape the ghastly reality of life in the land of the free. > >Calling on state and federal governments in the US to "stop >breaking up families and destroying our communities", Nora >Callahan of the November Coalition says succinctly: "Prison is >not the solution to every social problem." > >A self evident fact, one would think, but perhaps only in a >civilised society. > >Incidentally, when grandmother Karla Faye Tucker, then on death >row, was asked by "Talk magazine "What would you say to >Governor Bush?" she replied with the simple request "Please >don't kill me." > >"Don't kill me" > >Bush went on the popular Larry King talk show and publicly mocked >her (``Please! Don't kill me.'') She was recently executed by >lethal injection. Should he be elected President, Bush will no >doubt harangue and bully the rest of the world about "human >rights", a subject on which he is clearly ignorant. > >The initial period of public shock in the USA after the March 1 >shooting in Michigan of 6-year-old Kayla Rolland by a class-mate >saw several media commentaries on the way US children are >familiarised with guns and killing people by the video/computer >games they play. And now by the prevalence of paint-ball, which >children are encouraged to play, just like adults do. > >Paint-ball, which has the appearance of a training program for >gun-nut militias, involves adults running around (usually in the >bush but sometimes in an indoor "urban environment") dressed in >military-style camouflage gear waging war against another team, >using guns that fire balls full of paint that burst on >impact. >It has become popular in the US (and here, although less so) as a >method of executive relaxation and bonding! It is surely a >symptom of the decadence of decaying capitalism that >realistically practising how to ambush and kill people can be >considered a good way for people to "unwind" and also an >excellent way to build "team spirit". > >Under these conditions, is it any wonder that a six-year-old boy >would react to a playground argument by getting a gun from home >and shooting the other child dead? US authorities don't seem to >know whether to be more shocked by the fact that he did it or >that only in the US could he "get a gun from home" -- and know >how to use it." JC > > > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
