Socialist Worker For Workers’ Power and International Socialism #13/02, 1 September 2002 Price: Gold coin WORKERS STRIKE BACK
These workers are picketing the head office of NZ Life Care, in Newmarket, Auckland. They work at the company’s Autumn Lodge, in Manukau and are demanding more control over their work. Their actions are part of a nationwide drive by the Service and Food Workers Union to improve wages and working conditions in the aged care industry.
More reports of workers fighting back in this and other industries, on page 2. NEWS & REPORTS TEACHERS WIN By DON FRANKS Officials of the PPTA threatened ment from teachers. militant teachers with discipli- Many were concerned that ❛Now and then The secondary teachers’ nary action. Ross Wilson presi- secondary teachers with non-uni- contract dispute has ended with dent of the Council of Trade Un- versity qualifications might not the workers are the Post Primary Teachers ions charged strikers with being be eligible for the pay rise. victorious, Association’s (PPTA) 14,500 undemocratic. Another issue is that the deal but only for a time. members voting to accept the Despite the demoralising op- may be used, by the government, deal offered by the arbitration position, teachers made progress. as a reason to break pay parity The real fruit of panel. The hastily devised govern- with primary teachers. their battles lies, Several times, during the long ment arbitration panel was it- “I personally don’t see why struggle, teachers’ wildcat strikes self a concession to teachers’ primary teachers shouldn’t re- not in the forced up the employer’s “final pressure. ceive a similar payment as sec- immediate result, offer.” The panel’s offer gave just ondary teachers”, a PPTA mem- but in the ever- Teachers also faced opposition enough to stop further action, ber told Socialist Worker. “Their from those they had expected to while intensifying divisions job is at least as important and expanding unity of be their allies. amongst educational workers. difficult.” the workers.❜ Labour’s minister of educa- “Better than anything they Spreading that spirit of unity tion Trevor Mallard, repeatedly offered before, but it doesn’t keep among education workers is es- tried to browbeat teachers into up with inflation, or address sential for greater success in the KARL MARX accepting an inadequate pay rise. workloads,” was a typical com- industrial battles yet to come. Rest-home workers fight for recognition
Caregivers, kitchen and other staff struck for two hours at Lower Hutt’s Shona McFarlane retirement village last week. The action was the latest development in the workers’ eight month dispute with their boss, Ryman Healthcare Ltd. This multimillion dollar corporation refuses to negotiate a collec- tive contract with the workers. Ryman collects huge profits while paying between $9 and $11 an hour for the heavy and stressful work of caring for aged people. Although current industrial laws claim to provide for “good faith bargaining”, the company refuses to attend mediation meetings. Actions during the dispute have been limited, largely because of the concern of the workers for the people they care for everyday. “These employers rely on caregivers putting the needs of residents before their own needs”, says Service and Food Workers Union or- ganiser Alister Duncan. Workers picket one of Ryman’s resthomes. Workers at the Ryman’s Malvina Major and Rita Angus retire- Photo from www.sfwu.org.nz ment villages are also preparing for industrial action. Railworkers defy Labour’s ‘crazy’ anti-strike law For the second time this year, Tranzmetro tions Act. Judge Goddard made this ruling problem they’d previously ignored, but the railway workers in Wellington have taken after Tranzrail sought an injunction against harsh penalties of Labour’s Employment strike action in support of a workmate. the workers in a late-night hearing. Relations Act stopped the workers from ex- They struck in March over the sacking of Although the union formally recom- tending the strike, and the driver could still a guard. In August they stopped again when mended that its members comply with the law, be punished. Tranzrail management threatened to disci- acting union secretary Brian Cronin publicly “National action would have been the way pline a driver accused of running a red light. announced that had he been a rank-and-file to go, then we could really have done some- That driver suffers from a health problem, member, he’d have taken part in the illegal thing,” said Brain. which the union had previously tried to raise stoppage. As we go to press the union awaits a me- with management. Not until after the strike did Brian told Socialist Worker: diation hearing which will determine whether Tranzrail give this problem serious attention. “Our people don’t care if its legal or not, if the driver’s case should be treated as a health Drivers remained out for a further 12 they feel the need to stop work. This shows or a disciplinary issue. hours, after an Employment Court ruled their the current law is absolutely crazy.” “Our members are very cynical about actions illegal under the Employment Rela- The wildcat forced Tranzrail to consider a mediation”, Brian concluded.
2 SOCIALIST WORKER 1 September 2002 WHAT WE THINK Links in the global chain
The protests against the rich and powerful at the Earth Protesters Summit in South Africa (see outside the page 4) have been inspiring. Earth Summit. They are a powerful rebuttal to Photo from all those, such as Helen Clark, who www.southafrica claim that the poorest in Africa and indymedia.org elsewhere benifit from multina- tional corporations and “free” trade. The protesters proudly say they have been inspired by the great anti-capitalist protests in Seattle in 1999 and Genoa last year. Many media commentators claim that the main conflict at the Earth Summit is between the rich countries and the poor ones. The giant corporations, the busi- ness elite who head them and the politicians who serve them are mainly based in the richer countries. They will use any means to en- force their will across the globe, as shown by US president George tries, but between a multinational in New Zealand. Bush. elite versus the rest of us. The capitalist system always Changes to South Africa’s president, Thabo In the richest countries, like the seeks to divide working class peo- Mbeki, opened the Johannesburg United States and Britain, millions ple. Bosses, government and the Socialist Worker summit speaking of a world “char- of people face poverty and increas- press try to turn the workers of acterised by islands of wealth, sur- ing exploitation. other countries into our enemies. From the GE-free and anti-war rounded by a sea of poverty”. In New Zealand one in three Bigots try to turn people’s an- movements, to the teachers’ There are islands of wealth and children live in poverty. Workers ger at poverty and misery into the strikes and school students’ re- a sea of poverty in every country. face long working hours, increas- scapegoating of immigrants, peo- bellion, more people across In every country there is a rul- ing workloads, unsociable shifts ple with a different sexual orienta- Aotearoa are getting involved ing elite of businessmen, bankers and low pay. tion and other minority groups. in the fight for a better world. and governments which exploits Look at the picture of Ryman But if workers unite together we In many areas sales of So- and lives off the backs of the rest aged care workers on page 2. can create a powerful force not cialist Worker newspaper have of the population. Their are paid a pittance for doing only against the racists and bigots, been increasing, but our print That is why protesters in South vital work. but also against the bosses who run remains in the hundreds. Africa this week are just as bitter They have far more in common inflict long hours, low pay and mis- Our leaflets have reached against people like Mbeki who are with the black women in South Af- erable working conditions. tens of thousands. So we have de- part of this global elite. rica raging against poverty and in- And that in turn can be a vital cided to make these our main The main divide in the world is justice outside the Earth Summit link in the growing global mood of tool for reaching out to workers. not between rich and poor coun- than they do with any fat cat boss resistance and solidarity. To complement the change, Socialist Worker will become a 20-page monthly magazine, un- der the new name: Socialist NZ First continues racism campaign Worker Monthly Review. This will allow more in-depth The New Zealand First party is continuing to stir giving credibility to anti-immigrant scapegoating. articles needed to make sense of up racism against immigrants. Labour MP Ashraf Choudhary says: “A lot of peo- a rapidly changing world. Party leader Winston Peters used the opening of ple, particularly in Auckland and Tauranga are very Printing tens of thousands of Parliament to claim that half of the refugees entering concerned about the possibility of any physical at- free leaflets has put an drain on New Zealand have Aids. He slandered immigrants tacks on them.” our finances. as criminals and invaders. They are right to be worried. Experience around So Socialist Worker has Immigration minister Lianne Dalziel has debunked the world shows that when racist politicians start launched a new fundraising Peter’s claims with official statistics. mouthing off, physical attacks against ethnic minori- appeal. But NZ First isn’t interested in a rational discus- ties increase. Our target is to raise the sion of facts and figures. They spread prejudice, while What can socialists and other anti-racists do to $10,000 needed to finish paying posing as the defenders of “ordinary New Zealand- stop the rise of “race card” politics? off our printing press. Please ers”. Exposing the inaccuracy of NZ First’s propaganda send donations to Box 13-685 Peters hopes to tap into the disappointment felt is not enough. We must provide a left-wing alterna- Auckland. Make cheques out to by people who realise that three years of a Labour- tive for people who are disappointed with Labour. “In Print Publishing”. led government has not solved crises in areas like We should also look at the how socialists over- health, education and housing. seas have confronted racist political parties, such as Kia kaha And, with talk of a “crack down” on “illegal immi- Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in Australia, and the DAVID COLYER grants” and “people smugglers”, Labour leaders are fascist groups in Europe. Editor
1 September 2002 SOCIALIST WORKER 3 Earth Summit Why people protest in Johannesburg
NAOMI KLEIN, author of No able development is partnership Logo, talked to the British with business and self regulation Socialist Worker from the of multinational corporations. protests in Johannesburg That’s absurd—not just be- cause it has failed since Rio, but People are on the streets here because after the Enron scandal because the process since the Rio the idea that the corporations can Earth Summit has clearly failed. be trusted to regulate themselves We don’t need more promises is a joke. to tackle poverty and environ- The summit claims to be about mental destruction. helping the poor. But it is taking We need action—action to place in a compound to keep such regulate polluting multinational people out. There is a surveillance corporations—and we need re- plane and 10,000 police. distribution of wealth. Particular targets have been That can only be done by com- local activists in South Africa, like munity control and democracy, the Soweto Electricity Crisis and that is not on the agenda at Committee and the Landless the World Summit on Sustainable People’s Movement. Development. Last Saturday [August 24] we The summit is a greenwash of marched against the repression the same things we have heard that took place over the previous from G8 summits and the World days. Trade Organisation. We wanted to send a clear It’s about more globalisation message that they can’t co-opt in- and more privatisation. They are ternational activists and repress saying the only route to sustain- local activists. Women attack ‘satans who run industry’ Rulers’ ten Women in one of South Africa’s poorest We stand up as neighbours who cannot townships, Wentworth on the edge of bear to see the suffering next door any more. years of broken Durban, issued a statement about why they We stand up as human beings who demand are protesting at the Earth Summit. a decent life. promises They have called their grassroots organi- We say to the big polluters—Shell, Engen, sation the Wentworth Summit on Sickness Mondi, BP and Sasol—cease your dealing in Ten years ago world leaders gathered for and Death (WSSD), mirroring the official ti- our death. the first Earth Summit, in the Brazilian city tle of the world leaders’ gathering, the World Stop pumping cancer and asthma into the of Rio de Janeiro. They pledged action on Summit on Sustainable Development. air we breathe. poverty and the environment. Should it cost too much to clean your A key promise was that richer countries Our land stolen from us through the bar- smoke stacks, then close down and get lost. would step up aid to the poorest countries. rel of the Bible and the tolling of big guns. In the meantime we demand £100 Every one of the rich countries at Rio vowed Dumped in godforsaken pits on the out- [NZ$333] per person a month for all who suf- to at least double its aid budget, to 0.7% of skirts of Durban. Exploited for cheap labour fer from asthma, and all medical costs for economic output. Since then aid has been cut. in the foul factories of Shell, Sasol, BP and those with lung cancer and leukemia. It is down to a miserable 0.22% of economic Engen. We say to the ANC government coalition, output across the rich countries. Maimed, diseased and killed by pollution you claspers of hands, you smellers of money, Tackling the threat of climate change and that rains down no matter what ill wind is you cravers of applause, you hypocrites. You global warming was another key pledge at blowing. have done nothing for us. Rio. Leaders said they would cut emissions Forgotten, lied to and bluffed by politicians We will now do what is necessary, by all of carbon dioxide, the main gas responsible who claim they came to liberate us. means necessary, ourselves. for climate change. But between 1990 and And now, in this new century, when we or- We say to you NGOs and churches and 2000 global carbon dioxide emissions grew by ganise we are repressed, locked up, insulted, trade unions, do not tell us to be patient or a staggering 9.1% a year. beaten and shot. swallow our rage. That means we will see more of the ex- We now say enough! There can be no compromise with the treme weather that has been seen recently. We now stand up as parents with children satans of industry and the stooges in govern- These catastrophes have been accelerated wheezing for clean air. ment. You are part of the problem unless you by the policies of the giant corporations, gov- We stand up as wives whose husbands have understand this. ernments and institutions such as the IMF, cancer of the blood. We say to all other community movements World Bank and WTO. We stand up as a community disgusted at and groups across the land, let’s join hands. They argue that nothing should stand in the sight of what they have tried to turn us Let’s forget about colour and creed. the way of global capitalism. Yet it is this sys- into—gangsters and gossipers, drunks and Let’s fight together. Let us take our right tem that lies behind growing poverty and the dealers. to life in our hands. threat of environmental disaster.
4 SOCIALIST WORKER 1 September 2002 Ugly Sport TALKING UNION By VAUGHAN GUNSON Professional sport offers some A warning from the Herald excitement, drama and passion There have been some ugly otherwise denied to us in our incidents on and off the sports daily lives. By DON FRANKS field in recent weeks. We spend most of our day at The South African rugby un- work, in jobs are often boring and Driving trains, teaching kids and looking after old folks. Totally different ion fan who ran onto the field of repetitive, at the beck and call of jobs on the face of it, but they’ve got heaps in common. a test match in Durban, followed the boss. All of those jobs need to be done all day everyday to keep civi- within days by a spectator attack- Watching sport offers one kind lised society ticking over. ing a referee at an under-10 boys’ of escape. Not every occupation is so necessary. rugby game here. Reports of Unlike a movie or a sitcom, The debating chamber of Parliament can sit empty for months similar incidents followed. the action is totally unpredictable, without the activities of its occupants being missed. Undoubtedly there are many the emotions of players are real. A stoppage of just a few hours by drivers, teachers or caregivers examples of violence on the pitch It’s easier to identify with makes all the rest of us suddenly miss those workers very much. and on the sidelines that go un- Stacy Jones of the Auckland War- Train drivers, teachers and resthome workers share similar prob- reported every weekend. riors than a Hollywood star like lems. At the same time we have seen Tom Cruise. They’re all high stress occupations, and none of them is highly a high profile sports event, the However, over-identification paid. Workers from the three different callings frequently complain NRA League competition in Aus- with a sports team can lead to the that their employers show more interest in cost-cutting than workers’ tralia, dogged with controversy. kind of ugly parochialism shown grievances. The Canterbury Bulldogs by the South African fan. This was Because these workers share the same problems its no surprise rugby league team were caught an extreme example, but it could that they’ve taken the same steps to deal with them. breaching the salary cap, paying just as easily have been a New Workers from these three jobs have all struck in recent weeks. their players more, to get an ad- Zealand fan. Two of the three (teachers and caregivers) struck for higher pay, and vantage over other teams. In the age of pay-for-view TV, two of the three (teachers and drivers) took wildcat strike action. The pitch violence and the cor- sport makes big bucks for the me- The strikes got some results; more money for teachers and be- ruption that seems widespread in dia corporations. It also serves the lated consideration of the drivers previously ignored grievance. the business of sport will have led purpose of bringing workers, the Those results would have been achieved more quickly, with a many to question the importance middle classes and the bosses to- better settlement, if the workers had one more thing in common; a that is placed on sport. gether in support of a team. union leadership focused on working class solidarity. Yet weekend after weekend For instance, the Mad Solidarity is not enough in evidence today. many working class people will Butcher is a prominent sup- Teachers and caregivers have been battling for months with their participate, or more likely watch porter of the Warriors, he goes pay disputes, but battling alone. Solidarity strikes, or even public ral- sport on TV. to all their games and claims to lies of other workers would have given heart to the workers in strug- What is the attraction? identify with working class War- gle and weakened the resolve of the bosses. Those actions were not riors fans in South Auckland. He organised by union leaders. even donates sausages to strik- As the clouds of economic crisis gather, workers can only defend ing workers. themselves by the greatest unity in action, which includes not only But does that mean he pays more wildcats, but different unions supporting each other and jointly the people who work in his shops taking action in defiance of unjust laws, like the Employment Rela- any more than any other boss? Of tions Act. course not. He is out to make When I put that argument to a union official the other day he said profits in competition with other I should “get real” butchers and supermarkets. Reality, according to Council of Trade Unions (CTU) officials, is He might cheer on the side- contained in a paper just released called “Unions Innovation and lines with everyone else, but if Sustainable Development”. those same workers in the crowd This was recently praised by the editor of the New Zealand Her- were demanding a national ald as a “positive step ... in tune with the need to upgrade the award that gave food workers in economy” . a decent pay rise, he would line The CTU today, according to the Herald, “looks moderate and up with his capitalist buddies. modern”. Capitalists like the Mad The fact that the Herald likes the CTU’s paper should not be a Butcher encourage the artificial comfort to any worker, but a warning. The Herald is the anti-union competition between sporting voice of big business, which demands the CTU “wean unions from teams because it detracts from the egalitarian ethic that underpins their existence.” the much more real divisions that The CTU paper’s plea for unions to be recognised by employers exist in society between the and government as a “social partner” continues the same old, failed bosses and workers. strategy of the previous, discredited CTU leadership. Never-the-less, recent exam- If the CTU’s paper had any use to workers it would contain the ples of militant strike action by answer to questions like: teachers, railway workers and What use do millionaire resthome owners have for “partnership” nursing home workers shows that with their workers, while they can keep building their empire by pay- it is possible to give the red card ing their staff $9 an hour? to the bosses. This is the type of Partnership is needed in the union movement today—partnership team cooperation to celebrate. of all workers against the boss. Support and solidarity be- Rank-and-file wildcats are an instinctive step in that direction. tween workers is what we should Top level appeals for “partnership” are wildly out of step with the really feel proud about. It’s likely brutal reality of today’s industrial battlefield, where private and public to last longer than the temporary sector employers only ever hear the complaints of their workers when buzz of watching your favourite the usual din of the workplace have been suddenly and collectively team win over the weekend. silenced.
1 September 2002 SOCIALIST WORKER 5 ‘WAR ON TERROR’, ONE YEAR ON THE GREAT CHARADE PLAYS ON
It is 10 months since 11 September, and still the great about an Iraqi connection with the anthrax attacks in charade plays on. Having appropriated our shocked America to a discredited link between the leader of response to that momentous day, the rulers of the the 11 September hijacks and Iraqi intelligence. When world have since ground our language into a paean the attack comes, these consorting journalists will share of cliches and lies about the “war on terrorism”— responsibility for the crime. when the most enduring menace, and source of terror, It was Tony Blair who served notice that is them. imperialism’s return journey to respectability was under The fanatics who attacked America came from Saudi way. Hark, the Christian gentleman-bomber’s vision of Arabia and Egypt. No bombs fell on these American a better world for “the starving, the wretched, the protectorates. Instead, more than 5,000 civilians have dispossessed, the ignorant, those living in want and been bombed to death in stricken Afghanistan, the squalor from the deserts of northern Africa to the slums latest a wedding party of 40 people, mostly women and of Gaza to the mountain ranges of Afghanistan.” Hark, children. Not a single al-Qaeda leader of importance his “abiding” concern for the “human rights of the has been caught. As the West suffering women of Afghanistan” as he colluded with Following this “stunning victory”, hundreds of Bush who, as the New York Times reported, “demanded prisoners were shipped to an American concentration prepares for an the elimination of truck convoys that provide much of camp in Cuba, where they have been held against all assault on Iraq, the food and other supplies to Afghanistan’s civilian the conventions of war and international law. No population”. Hark his compassion for the evidence of their alleged crimes has been produced, JOHN PILGER “dispossessed” in the “slums of Gaza”, where Israeli and the FBI confirms only one is a genuine suspect. In argues that “war gunships, manufactured with vital British parts, fire their the United States, more than 1,000 people of Muslim missiles into crowded civilian areas. background have “disappeared”; none has been on terror” is a As Frank Furedi reminds us in The New Ideology of charged. Under the draconian Patriot Act, the FBI’s smokescreen Imperialism, it is not long ago “that the moral claims of new powers include the authority to go into libraries created by the imperialism were seldom questioned in the West. and ask who is reading what. Imperialism and the global expansion of the western Meanwhile, the Blair government has made fools of ultimate terrorist powers were represented in unambiguously positive the British Army by insisting they pursue warring ... America itself. terms as a major contributor to human civilisation.” The tribesmen: exactly what squaddies in putties and pith quest went wrong when it was clear that fascism was helmets did over a century ago when Lord Curzon, imperialism, too, and the word vanished from academic Viceroy of India, described Afghanistan as one of the discourse. In the best Stalinist tradition, imperialism no “pieces on a chessboard upon which is being played longer existed. Today, the preferred euphemism is out a great game for the domination of the world”. “civilisation”; or if an adjective is required, “cultural”. There is no war on terrorism; it is the great game From Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, an ally speeded up. The difference is the rampant nature of of crypto-fascists, to impeccably liberal commentators, the superpower, ensuring infinite dangers for us all. the new imperialists share a concept whose true Having swept the Palestinians into the arms of the meaning relies on a xenophobic or racist comparison supreme terrorist Ariel Sharon, the Christian Right with those who are deemed uncivilised, culturally fundamentalists running the plutocracy in Washington, inferior and might challenge the “values” of the West. now replenish their arsenal in preparation for an attack Watch the “debates” on Newsnight. The question is how on the 22 million suffering people of Iraq. Should best “we” can deal with the problem of “them”. anyone need reminding, Iraq is a nation held hostage For much of the western media, especially those to an American-led embargo every bit as barbaric as commentators in thrall to and neutered by the supercult the dictatorship over which Iraqis have no control. of America, the most salient truths remain taboos. Contrary to propaganda orchestrated from Washington Professor Richard Falk, of Cornell university, put it and London, the coming attack has nothing to do with succinctly some years ago. Western foreign policy, he Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction”, if wrote, is propagated in the media “through a self these exist at all. The reason is that America wants a righteous, one-way moral/legal screen [with] positive more compliant thug to run the world’s second greatest images of western values and innocence portrayed as source of oil. threatened, validating a campaign of unrestricted The drum-beaters rarely mention this truth, and the violence”. people of Iraq. Everyone is Saddam Hussein, the demon Perhaps the most important taboo is the longevity of demons. Four years ago, the Pentagon warned of the United States as both a terrorist state and a haven President Clinton that an all-out attack on Iraq might for terrorists. That the US is the only state on record to kill “at least” 10,000 civilians: that, too, is unmentionable. have been condemned by the World Court for In a sustained propaganda campaign to justify this international terrorism (in Nicaragua) and has vetoed outrage, journalists on both sides of the Atlantic have a UN Security Council resolution calling on been used as channels, “conduits”, for a stream of governments to observe international law, is rumours and lies. These have ranged from false claims unmentionable.
6 SOCIALIST WORKER 1 September 2002 “In the war against terrorism,” said Bush from his bunker following 11 September, “we’re going to hunt down these evil-doers wherever they are, no matter how long it takes.” Strictly speaking, it should not take long, as more terrorists are given training and sanctuary in the United States than anywhere on earth. They include mass murderers, torturers, former and future tyrants and assorted international criminals. This is virtually unknown to the American public, thanks to the freest media on earth. There is no terrorist sanctuary to compare with Florida, currently governed by the President’s brother, Jeb Bush. In his book Rogue State, former senior State Department official Bill Blum describes a typical Florida trial of three anti-Castro terrorists, who hijacked a plane to Miami at knifepoint. “Even though the kidnapped pilot was brought back from Cuba to testify against the men,” he wrote, “the defence simply told the jurors the man was lying, and the jury deliberated for less than an hour before acquitting the defendants.” General Jose Guillermo Garcia has lived comfortably in Florida since the 1990s. He was head of El Salvador’s military during the 1980s when death was stirring again. The other day, in an open letter to squads with ties to the army murdered thousands of their compatriots and the world, almost 100 of people. General Prosper Avril, the Haitian dictator, America’s most distinguished names in art, literature liked to display the bloodied victims of his torture on and education wrote this: television. When he was overthrown, he was flown to “Let it not be said that people in the United States Florida by the US Government. Thiounn Prasith, Pol did nothing when their government declared a war Pot’s henchman and apologist at the United Nations, without limit and instituted stark new measures of lives in New York. General Mansour Moharari, who repression. We believe that questioning, criticism and ran the Shah of Iran’s notorious prisons, is wanted in dissent must be valued and protected. Such rights are Iran, but untroubled in the United States. always contested and must be fought for. We, too, Al-Qaeda’s training camps in Afghanistan were watched with shock the horrific events of September kindergartens compared with the world’s leading 11. But the mourning had barely begun when our university of terrorism at Fort Benning in Georgia. leaders launched a spirit of revenge. The government Known until recently as the School of the Americas, it now openly prepares to wage war on Iraq—a country trained tyrants and some 60,000 Latin American special that has no connection with September 11. forces, paramilitaries and intelligence agents in the “We say this to the world. Too many times in history black arts of terrorism. people have waited until it was too late to resist. We In 1993, the UN Truth Commission on El Salvador draw on the inspiration of those who fought slavery named the army officers who had committed the worst and all those other great causes of freedom that began atrocities of the civil war; two-thirds of them had been with dissent. We call on all like-minded people around trained at Fort Benning. In Chile, the school’s graduates the world to join us.” ran Pinochet’s secret police and three principal It is time we joined them. concentration camps. In 1996, the US government was forced to release copies of the school’s training manuals, 22 July, 2002 which recommended blackmail, torture, execution and
1 September 2002 SOCIALIST WORKER 7 A working class Hero?
DAVID COLYER looks at the demise of the Hero festival and the fight against homophobia
Since 1991, Auckland’s Hero festival has events that have been very costly and that rade with its corporate-sponsored floats. been Aotearoa’s most popular event have excluded working class gay and lesbian According to the Executive’s letter: celebrating sexual diversity and people... “Hero Incorporated has aspired to take challenging homophobia. Now the “We have a lesbian group in South Auck- pride to the people. spectacular Ponsonby Road parade land, and the women there tell stories of dis- “We’ve been passionate about ideas like seems doomed. crimination and feelings of exclusion when driving a bus full of drag queens from Cape Over the years, Hero organisers have bat- they go to gay and lesbian events.” Reinga to Bluff, parading down the main tled against right-wing city council leaders Even though she is very critical of the way street of every provincial New Zealand town such as former mayor Les Mills, councillor Hero was run, Sarah says its end is a bad thing. as we go. David Hay and current mayor John Banks; “Just having one really public event—no “We had hoped to represent and acknowl- all widely regarded as anti-homosexual. matter how commercialised—is important, edge the diversity in our community while still But it was not Banks’ opposition that de- because it raises visibility.” managing to work to achieve common goals. feated Hero. Rather, the Hero Incorporated “One of the primary issues for gay and les- Sarah Helm shares something of this Society voted to wind itself up because no one bian people is that we are invisible. People “pride to the people” perspective, but she is was willing to stand for its executive. think that homophobia and discrimination sceptical of cross-class unity: The Society was set up late last year as “a can continue because they don’t even know “We need to form working class gay and democratic, participatory organisation”, after that gay and lesbian people are around them.” lesbian organisations, and have pride marches the financial bankruptcy of the earlier Hero in our own communities... The more grass- Charitable Trust. PRIDE TO THE PEOPLE roots it is, the more we can educate our wider The financial troubles of the Hero Trust Before its demise, Hero Inc showed signs community. played a part in Hero Inc’s demise. However, of becoming more inclusive. “We need to ask the question: why does this year’s events: the Big Gay Out, Hero In March this year they held a daytime homophobia exist? That’s predominantly Party and Hero Pride March, were financially Hero Pride March, in place of the usual pa- about power, hierarchy and class. successful. “I’m organising beneficiaries through the What else went wrong? union Unite. “Everyone I talk to understands their own DIVIDED COMMUNITIES oppression, but they see other groups ... as In an open letter to supporters, Hero In- being a threat to them. corporated’s Executive offered these expla- “The oppression of gay people, women, nations: ethnic minorities, tangata whenua and the “Our crisis is, we believe, the symptom of working class, are all interconnected. an oppressed community. Perhaps the com- “If you can draw the comparisons between munities are too divided to share one um- these oppressions, people change their mind- brella organisation? Or maybe life has just sets readily. got too comfortable and apathy has set in? ... “We need to change the mind-set of the “We are sad because we know that, while working class to build revolutionary change the concept of gay pride might have become in New Zealand.” passé in Ponsonby, there are many places in New Zealand where being gay is still not safe. Hate crimes and homophobia are too com- mon in too many places.” Where does homophobia come from? It seems that while a small number of gays have found a haven in Ponsonby café society, Socialists argue that gay oppression exists because it serves the interests of capitalism’s the majority aren’t included. ruling class. In her 1995 book Over the Rainbow: Modern homophobia—which defines lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transsexuals and others Money, Class and Homophobia, British so- as “deviant” or “unnatural”—developed in the late-19th centaury, following the rise of industrial cialist Nicola Field argues that wealthy gays capitalism in Britain. experience oppression differently to working The industrial revolution forced millions into the overcrowded slums of the factory towns. class gays, and this leads to divisions. The extended family structures of the villages were destroyed, as men, women and children “That working class and poor gays are less worked and died in appalling conditions. likely to be out, less able to find safety off the Many capitalists feared that they would run out of able-bodied workers. The cheapest way streets and more likely to be criminalised or to ensure an ongoing supply was to promote the nuclear family. sacked because of there sexuality, are a con- New “family values” were enforced with a combination of re-worked religious traditions and stant thorn in the sides of gay reform organi- new moral codes and laws. The employment of children and women was restricted. A wom- sations. The facts upset their fundamental be- an’s place was now in the home, caring for her working husband and raising the next genera- lief that all lesbians and gay men have the same tion of workers and wives. interests in getting rid of gay oppression. Gay sexuality was seen as a particular threat, because it undermined the idea that the “The effect of this artificial, imposed unity nuclear family of a father, mother and children was the only way to live. In Britain all sexual is to lay the foundations of serious disunity.” acts between men were explicitly outlawed in 1885. This law applied to New Zealand too. Does this explain the demise of Hero? Homophobia, like sexism and racism, also helps capitalists by turning working class people Sarah Helm, a lesbian trade union activ- against one another. This undermines the unity that is vital when workers take on their bosses. ist, thinks so. The connections between homophobia and capitalism mean that a success fight against “Hero is dominated by the middle and one must tackle the other. upper class gay community, in particular the Those who want to get rid of homophobia once and for all, must become anti-capitalists and male community. champions of workers’ rights. Likewise, anti-capitalists and trade unionists must commit them- “They have gone out of their way to have selves to fighting homophobia.
8 SOCIALIST WORKER 1 September 2002 UN: council of war, not peace
Some people who are horrified by the prospect of an CHARLIE Palestinians and creating the state of Israel. Then the attack on Iraq are looking to the United Nations (UN) UN assisted imperialist forces murder the nationalist to stop the slaughter. KIMBER Patrice Lumumba, the elected leader of the Congo. It is tempting to look to anything that might rein explains why the When the Cold War ended there were high hopes back Bush’s murderous plans. But it is very dangerous that the UN could play a peacekeeping role in the New to say that war on Iraq is wrong “unless endorsed by United Nations World Order. the UN”. won’t stop Bush Yet the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq was sanctioned The US can normally pressure, cajole and bully other by the UN. Even the UN’s “peacekeeping” operations countries into supporting the decisions it wants from have ended in disaster, as the 1992 intervention in So- the UN. malia shows. It used debt write-off, threats and promises to get At the centre of the UN stand the most powerful, backing for the 1991 Gulf War. It was able to bring its most violent, most heavily armed states. They do not allies into line over bombing in Bosnia and Kosovo. In become any nicer just because they are together in a neither case did China or Russia use their veto powers. room rather than separate. There are 15 members of the Security Council, the The “Big Five” permanent members of the UN Se- key UN body. Five of them are permanent (Russia, curity Council have been allowed to get away with bru- China, France, Britain and the US) and there are ten tality on a breathtaking scale. others which serve for a temporary period. The US government has the bloodiest hands. It car- Russia needs the backing of the US to get invest- ried out the carpet bombing of Vietnam and Cambo- ment from multinationals and financial help from bank- dia, helped remove the elected regime in Chile, backed ers. And Russia wants the US to help it secure full mem- terror groups in Nicaragua, Mozambique and Angola, bership of the World Trade Organisation. invaded Grenada and Panama, bombed Libya and Iraq Without Russian opposition, France will not want and supported murderous governments in Guatemala, to use its veto. China has a consistent policy of absten- Honduras, Haiti and many other countries. tion. France has been allowed to conduct colonial wars As leading strategic analyst Dan Plesch pointed out in Algeria, and Vietnam, and to blow up the Greenpeace in Britain’s Guardian last week, “Some of the non-per- boat Rainbow Warrior. manent members of the Security Council will be keen The USSR / Russia was permitted to invade Hun- to help the US.” gary, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan and Chechnya, Bulgaria wants to join NATO. Colombia depends which included razing the city of Grozny in a war that on the US government for arms, money and politi- has seen around 50,000 people killed. cal support in its civil war. Norway has a conserva- China’s rulers ordered the massacre of protesters tive government and wants to be sure that the US who filled Tiananmen Square in 1989. The regime also will stand by it in any clashes with its neighbour routinely jails dissidents, uses torture and bans all op- Russia. Mexico and Ireland have strong economic position. ties with the US-based multinationals. These big powers work through the UN when it suits This leaves Syria, Cameroon, Guinea and Singapore. them, and outside when it does not. The US will therefore be able to find a majority of posi- As John Bolton, presently the US undersecretary tive votes with a few abstentions. of state for arms control and international security, says: Indeed, the US may be able to get a majority of the “There is no United Nations. There is an interna- 15 Security Council members just by dragging the weak tional community that occasionally can be led by the temporary members into line. only real power in the world and that is the United The problems with the UN do not lie just with the This Iraqi child is States.” composition of the Security Council at any one time. deformed due to When big powers act outside the UN, the UN is pow- The UN was set up by the great powers in the wake depleted uranium erless to stop them. The Israeli government brushes of the Second World War as an instrument of their will. weapons used by UN aside UN resolutions because it rests on US power. It was used to sanction the carve-up after the war where forces in the 1991 Gulf We cannot rely on the UN to stop war. the victors marked out their control of the countries War. Treatment is But we can make sure everyone who is against the they had “liberated”. hampered by UN- war, including those who look to the UN, join the anti- The UN first partitioned Palestine, dispossessing the imposed sanctions. war protests.
1 September 2002 SOCIALIST WORKER 9 A glimpse of a socialist future
“Another world is possible” is the ringing declaration of JOHN family. People will love and live with each other on the anti-capitalist movement. the basis of free choice. For us this other world can only be socialism, a MOLYNEUX The transition to socialism will also bring about a society based on production for need not profit. looks forward to profound liberation of humanity. We can glimpse this But what will this socialism look like? but its detailed consequences can’t be foreseen. It is, of course, tempting to answer with a series of another possible For thousands of years most people have been negatives. It won’t be a society where 358 billionaires world passive objects of society and history. have more wealth than half the world’s population or Their lives have been dominated by long hours of a world where children starve while trillions are toil—at best monotonous, at worst degrading and spent on arms. It won’t be a Stalinist dictatorship. health damaging. But to go beyond these necessary negatives to a This labour has created all the glories of “civilisa- positive account we must begin with one basic tion” but has left the mass of people too ground principle. The foundation and starting point of down to cope with more than personal survival. socialism is workers’ power, the seizure of political Socialism will reverse this. and economic power by the working class. Working hours will be cut, leaving much more So Russia in 1917 started on the road to socialism time for other activities. where the workers took power. Russia in the 1920s Even more importantly, work itself will be was moving away from socialism—the workers were transformed into life enhancing, creative labour. losing power. Russia in 1930 was the complete People will become collective, conscious makers opposite of socialism—the workers had lost power and designers of their environment—they will be completely. active citizens directly involved in shaping their Workers’ power means working class people (all society. those who are selling their labour power) joining In the process people will change themselves together to control and run the state and the utterly. economy. It is because people will change that many The state machine is made up of the armed forces, questions about how things will be under socialism police, judiciary and parliament, with top-down cannot be answered in advance. structures and ties to big business. It cannot be taken The whole point of socialism is to make us all free over by working people. controllers of our collective lives. It must be broken up and replaced by a new state Faced with such a vision, a standard reaction is to apparatus built from below. declare it unrealistic and utopian. This will consist essentially of delegates from But the simplest change, for example a world workplaces and other collectives of working people Argentinians vote at a where children don’t starve, is dependent on solving forming workers’ councils at local and national levels. ‘popular assemble’, a the fundamental problem—breaking the rule of These delegates will be accountable to, recallable new form of grassroots capital and placing people in control of their own by, and paid the same wages as the people who elect democracy, that has labour. them. grown out of this year’s And solving the basic problem through workers’ Government ministries and the new workers’ revolt against free market power is precisely what will free humanity to reach militia (in place of the army and police) will be policies. new heights. responsible to the national workers’ council. This will also have charge of overall economic management. The working class will run production through systematic extension of public ownership and workers’ control of enterprises. Every workplace will be run by an elected workers’ committee. Scientific and technical experts will continue to be necessary, but they will be responsible to the workers’ committee instead of the board of shareholders. This foundation of workers’ power will be consolidated and spread internationally (real socialism must be international). This will break the power of profit and capital, and open the way to a truly classless society of equality and freedom. Workers’ power will bring a huge increase in productivity, but productivity serving useful pur- poses—affordable homes, not luxury hotels, food, schools and hospitals for the world’s poor, not Star Wars and global warming. It will mean an immediate end to all inherited privilege and a drastic reduction in income inequal- ity. And the beginning of a move towards the ultimate equality: “From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.” It will mean an assault on racism, sexism and homophobia and all other forms of discrimination. At the same time it will mean tearing up the roots of all those divisions. It will liberate people emotionally and sexually by loosening the legal and economic bonds of the
10 SOCIALIST WORKER 1 September 2002 CONTACT THE SOCIALISTS IN Socialist Worker YOUR AREA WHERE WE STAND ★ NORTHLAND Phone: Vaughan (09) 433 8897 Email: [email protected] SOCIALISM We are internationalists because Capitalism is a system of exploitation socialism depends on spreading working ★ AUCKLAND which generates inequality, crisis and war. class revolutions around the world. Although workers create society’s wealth, Meets 7.30pm every Tuesday at the it is controlled by the ruling class for its LIBERATION FROM Trade Union Centre, 147 Great North Rd, own selfish ends. OPPRESSION Grey Lynn. Transport available. Socialism can only be built when the We fight for democratic rights. We working class takes control of social oppose the oppression of women, Maori, Phone: Len 634 3984 wealth and democratically plans its Pacific Islanders, lesbians and gays. Email: [email protected] production and distribution to meet All forms of oppression are used to human needs, not private profits. This will divide the working class. eliminate all class divisions in society. ★ TAURANGA We support the right of all oppressed Stalinist countries such as China and groups to organise for their own defence. Phone: Tony 544 1859 Cuba, just like the former Soviet Union Their liberation is essential to socialist and the Eastern bloc, have nothing to do Email: [email protected] revolution and impossible without it. with socialism. They are state capitalist. We support the struggles of workers TINO RANGATIRATANGA ★ ROTORUA against every dictatorial stalinist ruling We support the struggle for Maori self class. Phone: Bernie 345 9853 determination. Email: [email protected] The government’s approach to Treaty REVOLUTION NOT REFORMISM claims has benefited a Maori elite while The present system cannot be ★ doing little for working class Maori. NEW PLYMOUTH reformed to end exploitation and oppres- Tino rangatiratanga cannot be sion, contrary to what Alliance, Labour Email: [email protected] achieved within capitalism. It will only and union leaders claim. It must be become a reality with the establishment overthrown by the working class. of a workers’ state. ★ WELLINGTON Capitalism’s parliament, army, police and judiciary protect the ruling class. REVOLUTIONARY PARTY Meets 7.30pm every Monday at Room 2, These institutions cannot be taken over Crossways (back entrance), Elizabeth St, To achieve socialism the most militant and used by the working class. sections of the working class have to be Mt Victoria. To pave the way to socialism the organised into a mass revolutionary working class needs a new kind of socialist party. Phone: Gordon 972 2296 state—a democratic workers state based We are in the early stages of building Email: [email protected] on workers councils and workers militia. such a party through involvement in the day-to-day struggles of workers and the ★ CHRISTCHURCH INTERNATIONALISM oppressed. Workers in every country are exploited The Socialist Workers Organisation Phone: Don 385 5268 by capitalism, so the struggle for social- must grow in size and influence to provide Email: [email protected] ism is global. leadership in the struggle for working class We campaign for solidarity with self-emancipation. ★ TIMARU workers in other countries. We fight We need to revitalise the unions with a racism and imperialism. We oppose all rank-and-file movement. Phone: Vaughan 686 6498 immigration controls. We support all If you like our ideas and want to fight genuine national liberation struggles. for socialism, then join us. ★ NATIONAL OFFICE Socialist Worker members elsewhere in Aotearoa and our sister organisations overseas can be contacted through If you like reading , send in this form: Socialist Worker’s national office. Socialist Worker ❐ I want to attend a socialist meeting Phone: (09) 634 3984 Fax: (09) 634 3936 ❐ I want to join Socialist Worker Write: PO Box 13-685 Auckland ❐ I want to subscribe to the new Socialist Worker Monthly Review Email: [email protected] (enclose $30 for a year)
Socialist Worker NAME……………………………………………… PHONE………………… is on the internet ADDRESS……………………………………………………………………… http://au.geocities.com/swo_nz/ EMAIL…………………………………………………………………………… Post to Socialist Worker, PO Boc 13-685 Auckland 1 September 2002 SOCIALIST WORKER 11 Kaimahi Whakahuihui LABOUR ‘MUST CONDEMN’ US WAR MOVES By GRANT BROOKES tice to a protest call by local Mid- dle Eastern families. “New Zealand must condemn Green MPs Keith Locke and and distance itself from any Rod Donald joined their march impending attack.” from the mosque to rally in Ca- With this brave call, Progres- thedral Square. Local Labour MP sive Coalition MP Matt Robson Tim Barnett turned up after the broke ranks with his Labour coa- rally was over. lition partners and took the anti- September 28 will be a day of war debate inside the government. mass protest in Auckland and In an angry statement in the other centres in solidarity with Dominion Post on August 27, the huge protest in London. Robson compared US president Check “What’s On” on this George Bush and his advisors to page and get involved in the a gang of bank robbers out to movement. commit a crime. Together, we can force Labour In their plotting, he said, “the Peace demonstration in Christchurch to pull the SAS out of Afghani- gross immorality of the impend- stan and take a stand against war ing loss of life and added misery crimes against Afghan civilians. It will take the pressure of in Iraq. among the Iraqi people is swept And while she has publicly mass protests to counter business aside”. ruled out military support for war influence and force a loud con- Helen Clark has not con- on Iraq, there are New Zealand demnation from Clark’s lips. demned the plot. Instead she is troops already stationed at the In April, hundreds around What’s on proud to be “very, very, very good Florida army base where the war New Zealand protested against friends” with the criminals. plans are being drawn up. war on Iraq while it was still a dis- —AUCKLAND— She sent New Zealand SAS Clark’s government is dead set tant prospect. Now the anti-war • Palestine / Israel Rally for Peace troops to support their invasion on a free trade deal with George movement is gearing up again. Saturday, 7 September, 2pm Aotea Sq. of Afghanistan, and turned a Contact David Wakim 520 0201. Bush to boost the profits of New On August 24, 60 Christchurch • Solidarity March for Peace blind eye to their mounting war Zealand corporates. residents responded at short no- Sunday, 8 September, 1:30pm QE2 Sq. A day of unity, peace and prayer to commemorate last year’s attacks on the World Trade Centre. Contact: Arif Insane logic of war Rasheed 620 5906, Kevin McBride 377 65541 or David Wakim 520 0201. US war rhetoric was stepped up Bush Administration policy. will break out between Israel • Stop the War on Iraq at the end of August. The White House gang will and the Palestinians. International Day of Action, Saturday US vice-president Dick try it. They are insane—driven Egyptian president Hosni September 28, march from QE2 Sq, Cheney and defence secretary mad by the ruthless, single- Mubarak is closer to reality when 12 noon. Contact Global Peace & Donald Rumsfeld promised minded defence of US corporate he says that an invasion could Justice Auckland, 84 Paice Ave, “pre-emptive action” against power. plunge the entire Middle East Sandringham. www.gpja.pl.net Iraq “soon”. They will act alone Cheney is so out of touch with into chaos. —WELLINGTON— if necessary. reality he predicted that when Tens or even hundreds of • Candle-lit Vigil for Peace White House spokesperson US forces roll into Iraq, “the thousands will be killed and mil- Every Thursday, 5pm to 6pm at the Ari Fleischer confirmed that streets in Basra and Baghdad are lions more will suffer if we do not Cenotaph. Cheney’s tough talk reflected sure to erupt in joy” and peace stop this war. • Behind the News Radio Access Radio, 12:30pm every Saturday. ‘Behind the News’, left-wing radio programme. • No NZ Support for the ‘War on Global opposition can stop war Terrorism’ Wednesday, 11 September, 1pm to Mounting international criticism of US war moves show a majority against him. The mainstream Guard- 2pm, Parliament steps. Presentation is leaving George Bush increasingly isolated. ian newspaper says: “Blair faces defeat on Iraq”. of the first signatures of the national Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak says not a Support for war in America is falling, down by petition. Contact Peace Movement single Arab government supports the war. 21% since last November. Only 53% now back Aotearoa (04) 382 8129. Germany’s chancellor has strongly attacked Bush. • Reflections on 11 September: George Bush. Only Britain and Australia are pub- In Britain, the Stop the War Coalition and the Visions of a Peaceful World licly supporting him. Muslim Association have called a national demon- Wednesday, 11 September, 6pm to The same world leaders now speaking out have stration in London for 28 September. 7pm, St Andrew’s on the Terrace, 30 backed all of America’s recent wars. They are not And American anti-war group ANSWER are The Terrace. Various speakers. Contact Peace Movement Aotearoa defenders of peace. mobilising for protests on October 26. (04) 382 8129. But the deep divisions among world rulers are Here in New Zealand, we must deepen the divi- fueling debate among ordinary people everywhere sions among world rulers by forcing our government —CHRISTCHURCH— and helping to build mass anti-war movements. to loudly condemn US action against Iraq. • Lyttelton Peace Parade Britain’s Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, has Increasing the international isolation of the war- Wednesday, 11 September, 12 noon, pledged troops for the US invasion. mongers in Washington, London and Canberra can London Street, Lyttelton. But after a wave of anti-war protests, polls now help build a global movement that stops this war. Contact 328 7722.