Freedom Socialist Bulletin • Number 35 • Winter/Spring 2006Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women expressed their outrage over the bullying tactics of the Police Officers involved in attacking a 10-year-old girl with pepper spray, handcuffing her and interrogating her for hours without the knowledge of her family, or any legal representation and advice. The level of terror experienced by this young girl is unacceptable and is a breach of the Children's Rights Laws that we as Australians are signatory too. Up to 150 Indigenous women attended a two-day Indigenous Women's Law Conference in Townsville. Participants gave our full support to the Aboriginal Legal Service's call for a full investigation into the misconduct of the Police Officers involved in this incident and questioned how this could happen to any child in Australia in a public school. The Police in question admit to spraying the girl, but have defended their actions, saying she was behaving in a violent and threatening manner. We as women, mothers, grandmothers and Aunties question how could a 10-year-old girl pose a threat to four armed Police Officers! This is an outrageous situation and will not be tolerated in our country. Conference delegates gave their full support to the young girl, her family and the Aboriginal Legal Service in Western Australia, to ensure this horrific attack does not occur again to any child and support the call for a full investigation into this situation. Florence Onus Townsville, Queensland Without so much as a whimper of protest, the men who dole out the Federal budget in Australia once again delivered record spending and an unprecedented surplus, riding high on the back of a decade of rapacious resource exploitation streamlined by their predecessors. Women, as usual, suffer whatever a misogynist Constitution behooves. Childcare is sidelined in favour of taxation relief to cushion the slashed salaries and skyrocketing fuel prices. The right to representation in revenue distribution, established at Common Law in medieval times, is denied women in an orgy of male tub-thumping. The alternative to this slush-bucket approach to the economy, the equity option empowering women without denying men, is fiscal management derived from government comprising women's and men's legislatures presided over by an executive of elders accompanied by courts of women's and men's jurisdiction. Philip Mckeon Redfern, New South Wales Editor's comment: We agree with Philip that there was nothing in the budget for women. However, we think the solution is a socialist feminist society. I really enjoy the Freedom Socialist Bulletin and enclose my subscription renewal. I'd also like to promote two radio programs. They are Alternative Radio on 2SER, 107.3 FM broadcast on Sunday at 11 am and Monday at 2 pm and Democracy Now on Radio Skid Row on 88.9 FM which is broadcast weekdays 9 - 10 am. Both Alternative Radio and Democracy Now are great, like the FS Bulletin. Stephen Langford, Paddington, New South Wales From the sight of pirate flags flying from American tanks in the streets of Baghdad to the groans of a man coming out of the operating theatre of a hospital that has run out of anaesthetics, this documentary contrasts the arrogance of the invading forces with the agony of the Iraqi people. This compelling documentary records the consequences of war crimes committed by the invading forces, such as the use of cluster bombs against innocent children and the bombing of a pump station to destroy Baghdad's water supply. The film also captures the spirit and defiance of the Iraqi people, as they confront U.S.-led occupying forces. While in Iraq as a human shield, I shot this film on the streets of Baghdad. The courage of the Iraqi people and the roots of resistance against the occupation are vividly portrayed. Through the video camera, Iraqi people have the opportunity to say what they think about the invasion and occupation of their homeland. The political agenda of the occupation forces is starkly illustrated when I am confronted by U.S. Marines at the Ministry of Oil building and when an Iraqi doctor is ordered by the Marines to leave the grounds of his hospital. “This is my country, not your country!” the doctor protests. In an era where “passive helpless victim” films are all too common, massaging the paternalist mentality that is fostered in imperialist countries, the documentary shows the courage of the Iraqi people who are willing to risk their lives to free their homeland from foreign occupation. They are an inspiration to all of us. If you would like to make your commentary on the film, which could be included on the jacket of future copies, just send your ideas — the more inspiring the better! Waratah Rosemarie Gillespie Melbourne, Victoria Copies are available by sending $25 each plus packaging and postage to Waratah Films, PO Box 60, Port Kembla, NSW 2505. For more information email: rosemarie_gillespie@ekit.com or call 61-422 802 018. May Day in the Philippines Huk Bong Mapagbalaya! Oring Manggagawa! (The Working Class is the Liberation Army!) This was the deafening sound ringing through the streets of Manila on 1 May 2006. It was a scorching 44 degrees Celsius, but workers in their hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demonstrate against severe repression in the Philippines. Earlier this year, on February 25, President Gloria Arroyo declared a State of Emergency in the Philippines, giving her extended powers to disperse demonstrators, make arrests without warrant and issue curfews. Eventually, pressure from the United States forced Arroyo to lift the State of Emergency on 4 March. However, she still continues to exercise the same powers. Trade Union leader and congressman, Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, was arrested during the State of Emergency and is currently still in custody. He has been arrested on charges issued in 1985 for rebellion against the Marcos dictatorship. His health is in decline, and workers in the Philippines have launched a campaign for his immediate release. The Arroyo regime is particularly repressive. Since her presidency began in 2001, at least 800 documented cases of trade union and activist assassinations have occurred. When I was in the Philippines in May this year, I met with at least four trade unionists who are in hiding, having detected surveillance and received death threats. These activists remain separated from their families and move around in groups of no less than three for safety. The killings of trade unionists are on the rise, with almost 200 labour activists killed just this year. In Australia, we are organising both for the release of Crispin Beltran, and against the killings of labour activists. There is an International Day of Action planned for 16 November, the second anniversary of the massacre at Hacienda Luisita. This was where the military opened fire on striking sugar plantation workers, killing seven including a child, and injuring many more. For more information, contact Australia Asia Worker Links on +61 3 9663 7277 or go to our website, www.aawl.org.au Jiselle Hanna Coordinator, Australia Asia Worker Links, Melbourne, Australia The Freedom Socialist Bulletin welcomes your letters and campaign reports. Send contributions to PO Box 266, West Brunswick Vic 3055 AUSTRALIA. Email: fsprwaus@ozemail.com.au Contributions may be edited for length. |
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