Friday, December 6, 2013

CPA statement on the death of Nelson Mandela


The Communist Party of Australia expresses its deepest regret at the passing of Comrade Nelson Mandela. This marks the end of the life of one of the greatest revolutionaries of the 20th century, who fought for freedom and against all forms of oppression in both South Africa and globally. His legacy will never die.
Our deepest condolences are extended to Ms Graca Machel, the entire Mandela family, the South African Communist Party, the ANC and the South African people.
We share the grief of the millions of workers, poor and oppressed, communists, democrats, socialists and others around the world who loved and admired him.
As the SACP says: “As part of the masses that make history, Comrade Mandela’s contribution in the struggle for freedom was located and steeled in the collective membership and leadership of our revolutionary national liberation movement as led by the ANC – for he was not an island. In Comrade Mandela we had a brave and courageous soldier, patriot and internationalist who, to borrow from Che Guevara, was a true revolutionary guided by great feelings of love for his people, an outstanding feature of all genuine people’s revolutionaries.”
With others we not only mourn Comrade Mandela’s death but also celebrate his life. We remember the inspiration of the Freedom Charter, the treason and Rivonia trials, the Free Mandela campaign and the outpouring of joy and hope when he was released from jail and elected as South Africa's first democrat president,
We also recognise and celebrate the anti-apartheid movement in Australia which drew together workers, trade unionists, communists, social democrats, people of faith and others into a mighty united force in support of the liberation struggle of the South African people. The determination and strength of this movement gives us an example for the movement that is required today to change the political landscape in Australia.
We celebrate the wisdom, integrity, dignity and humanity of the man known to all as Madiba, the man who was for a time a member of the South African Communist Party's central committee while heading Umkhonto We Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress, the man who showed such endurance and courage during years of incarceration, the man who led the country and ANC in the establishment of a new South Africa based on peace, reconciliation, democracy and built with the involvement of the mass of the people.
To honour the legacy of this inspiring leader and comrade, we rededicate ourselves to the world wide anti-imperialist struggle for real change, to the fight for peace not imperialist war, for an independent Australia not one subservient to an imperialist US, for sovereignty for the indigenous people, for workers and trade union rights, against all forms of inequality.

We also rededicate our Party to the struggle for socialism, as the only political and economic solution to the problems confronting humanity.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

The real pig iron story from Reminiscences of a Rebel by Stan Moran


I nickname R. G. Menzles... "Pig Iron Bob"
In the pre-war years the Menzies Government supported the export of pig iron to Japan. The Japanese militarists, together with Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy, were busily preparing for war and they badly needed our pig iron for their armaments programme.
Whether the wharfies should continue to load this pig iron was being hotly debated in every branch of the Federation. We held up the Dalfram and a stop work meeting was called to decide the issue. Barney Mullins, the right wing Secretary of the Sydney Branch moved that we load it. I moved an amendment that as we would be sure to get it back on our cities in the form of bombs we refuse to load it. A small majority carried Barney’s resolution  about 100. But the matter didn't rest there. The Communist Party waged a big campaign of education and oiganisation and we finally carried the day. We would not load pig iron for Japan. That we were correct was proved when Japanese planes bombed Darwin killing many innocent men, women and children. R. G. Menzies, then Attorney General and later Prime Minister, claimed that the wharlies were trying to dictate the foreign policy of the country, But we had one important supporter, Sir Isaac Isaacs, Governor General, who said the wharfies were right not to load pig iron; and of course we were.

In 1937Menzieswent to Germany to see Hitler but Hitler was too busy to see minor politicians, and all he saw was Himmler. When he returned he said "If you and I lived in Berlin we would say that Hitler had done a great job for the German people."
When Menzies came to speak in St. John's Hall about his visit to Germany signs went up allover Kings Cross saying "Hitler cannot speak here to-night so Menzies speaks for him," and "Hitler's pal Menzies speaks here to-night." When he saw the crowd of about 1000 people inside and outside the hall he raced down Darlinghurst Road with the crowd after him. He was rescued by the police and taken off to safety in a police car .
In the Domain I publicly called Menzies "Pig Iron Bob" and it stuck. He carried the name with him to his grave. Someone asked him how he got this nickname and he said "That bastard Moran!"


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The US Alliance and Australia - 2nd Manning Clark House Talk July 5 2013

Session 2
The US Alliance and Australia
Australia signed up to ANZUS, a military alliance with the US, in 1951 under the anti-communist eye of Prime Minister Menzies.
The Australian military budget immediately increased by 150%, partially of course because this was the time of the Korean War and also because the Menzies Government wanted to impress the US with its loyalty.
This was in the midst of a housing crisis and a backlog of post war reconstruction but pleasing the US was more pressing than the needs of pesky Australians.
It set the pattern for successive Australian regimes right up to the present, a pattern which in blunt Australian talk is called ‘brown nosing’. 
The Alliance is the underpinning for the democratic and human rights abuses that I mentioned earlier when talking about the US bases on our soil.
There is an interesting question I don’t have time to go into now which is what is the impact of this subservience on Australian attitudes towards our independence and sovereignty.
There is a high level of support for the ANZUS alliance but it is based on the misconception that the US will come to our aid if ever Australia is invaded or seriously threatened in some other way.
In fact, of course, the actual wording of the ANZUS treaty does not compel the US to come to assistance of Australia should there be a danger on our borders nor does Australia have to do likewise for the US.
However, Australia has come to the US’s assistance in many conflicts from the Korean War to the Afghan War and Australian lives and Australian taxpayer’s money have been wasted on pursuing the foreign policy goals of the US.
We had no quarrel with the Koreans, with the Vietnamese, with the Iraqis or with the Afghans yet we sent young men and women to those places like obedient lambs to the slaughter and helped kill hundreds upon thousands of innocent people.
The most immediate effect of the alliance has been on our military spending.
In 2012 Stephen Smith cut the military budget by $7 billion which caused an angry response from the US. Mutters about ‘not pulling your weight’ were put about by various US commentators close to the US Government, the Pentagon and the US arms corporations.
In 2013 the military budget went up by just  over $1 billion. It is now $25 billion for this year which is around 10% of our disposable income.
Smith’s claim that Australia is the 2nd highest per capita spender on the military in the world which puts us behind the US but before big spenders like Britain and France,
The figure is indefensible when we consider that Australia’s strategic position makes it almost impossible to invade or hopelessly expensive to invade.
Considering that there is no country threatening or even looking like it could threaten to invade, why is the Australian military budget so high?  The budget is so high because we have to be ready to go off in a ‘coalition of the willing’ with the US at the drop of a hat.
The Alliance with the US skews our defence spending. We are corralled by the US to purchase equipment and engage in training that suits their needs. Interoperability is the term for turning the ADF into a de facto arm of the US military, with the equipment to match.
The weaponry we buy as a result of the Alliance is exorbitantly expensive and inappropriate for island defence. Based around long range delivery platforms, it does nothing for a balance of trade and makes us poorer, not more secure.
Apologists for the Alliance assert that we cannot have an independent non-aligned foreign policy as it would cost Australia too much to provide its own security.  We are deeply indebted to the US for giving us a shelter under their umbrella.
Complete nonsense!  The ledger is all on the side of the US, and Australia pays and pays for the dubious privilege of being aligned unquestioningly to the US.
The US gets an ally in International forums, a lever to apply at home, total support in the wars they start every 14 months, and 50 bases to play with on Australian soil.
The bases here give US troops experience in working the tropics and in dry savannah land as well as ports and airfields all for free!
The relationship expressed in the Alliance has to be changed. We should abandon the military interoperability and develop instead a relationship of mutual respect and reciprocity in fields such as trade, culture and education,
There has never been an adequate public discussion of Australia’s defence needs and how to respond to any threats that may arise.
Security threats that have been identified most clearly are smugglers and terrorists attacks. Submarines or F35’s do not assist much with those problems
The other threat is environmental be it fire, cyclone or flood.
In the Queensland floods the Australian Navy did not have a supply ship able to provide aid to those stranded in various parts of the state.  The skewing of priorities can be seen right down to this level of involvement and it can be all sheeted home to the US alliance. 
The Alliance affects our political system which is manipulated so that it can continue the massive direction of resources to the military and the use of our country as a staging post for more military adventures.
The major political parties vie with each other to see who can demonstrate the greatest loyalty to the US, too often to the detriment of the interests of our own citizens.
Questions about the role and cost of the bases, calls for a public enquiry into how best to make our nation secure, questions about the level of military spending are met with suggestions that ordinary people cannot deal with such complex topics or that the peace movement is anti-American.
The Alliance assists Australian big business to spread its own enterprises in the region, to become little imperialists at the expense of local people.  The behavior of Australian mining companies in the Philippines and Africa has been less than impressive. 
The Australian media is dominated by media owners and other pressures that discourage discussion of US involvement in Australia’s life. When stories on these topics are covered, the range of views published is severely limited.  The Australian people never get to hear all views so that they can make informed choices.
Political interference in Australian internal affairs is par for the course. The most scandalous occurrence took place during the ascendancy of Mark Latham as leader of the opposition when the US Ambassador publicly campaigned against the ALP. This is the arrogance that we have unfortunately come to expect from US representatives.

It is our view that the ANZUS alliance should be converted into a non-military relationship with the US in the interests of Australia’s economy, security and sustainable development.

Manning Clark House address no 1 July 5 2013

Session 1          The military facilities
In the 1980’s I lived in Alice Springs and worked with Aboriginal people in various roles.
Alice Springs had town camps for the different groups of Aboriginal people and these were my area of concern. They were totally inadequate. Sometimes as many as 50 adults and children were dependent on a single tap.
In contrast the staff of Pine Gap was housed in a different part of town with all the mod cons of middle class suburbia including sprinklers for their front lawns.
The disparity of treatment between our indigenous people and the staff of Pine Gap was part of what drove me to question the role of the bases and finally to join the Anti-Bases Campaign. 
US military facilities in Australia
The Anti-Bases Campaign defines a base as any land or facility that is set aside for the use of the US military at any time it deems necessary. There are approximately 50 US military facilities in Australia today of varying sizes and functions. They range from the large Pine Gap facility near Alice Springs to much smaller facilities.
A large percentage of Australian bases have been and are part of what is called 4CI, command, control, communication, computer and intelligence.  To these have been added training, battlefield, and logistics bases and now a troop base.
US bases were established in Australia in the 1960s to meet the needs of the US military. They were described as “joint facilities” but this was a fiction to cover what was in reality US control of their running and of the intelligence they gathered on military, economic, political and diplomatic matters of friends and foe alike.
As the technology of war grew Australia’s position grew in importance. Satellites controlled from Australia had their eyes on areas of considerable economic and political significance for the US – from the Middle East oil fields to far the far north of China.
The US military facilities in our country damage our citizens. They deny Aboriginal land rights, they undermine our democratic rights as militarism grows, they deny us the social services we need as military spending escalates, they put our lives at risk by making our country a target.
Intensification
US involvement in Australia was intensified by US President Obama’s visit to Australia in 2011. 
At that time he announced that the focus of the US military would be redirected to Asia and the Indo-Pacific regions. It was clear to all commentators that China was central to this realignment.
This US strategy includes the stationing of US troops in Darwin.  But the experience of US bases around the world and the interests of our people combine to make us insist that there are profound security, social, economic and environmental reasons for Australia to resist the stationing of foreign troops on our soil.
The bases and the stationing of foreign troops in Darwin have been sold to the Australian people as a form of security.
Security comes from having food, employment, housing and education. Reliance on ever increasing numbers of increasingly sophisticated weapons robs our people and the people of nearby states of all those things that engender security. 
Tertiary education was raided when money was needed for the Gonski reforms while at the same time the military was awarded a funding increase in the latest budget. 
Full knowledge and concurrence
Minister Stephen Smith recently described the Australian Government’s relationship with US military facilities on our soil as “Full knowledge and concurrence”.  This is simply unbelievable.
Negative impacts
This secrecy and lies are an example of how the existence of the US bases and our support for the US military undermines our right in a democratic society to know what is being done in our name.
Aboriginal rights are undermined. The use and abuse of the traditional lands of indigenous people is based on the military’s view of Aboriginal lands only for their potential to provide training ranges and military bases,
While $25 billion is spent annually on the military, funding for indigenous health, education, job creation and other services is woefully inadequate.
Services that our community has a right to expect – public health, public housing and much more – are painfully underfunded while exorbitantly expensive white elephants like the F-35 strike planes stay on the shopping list.
The US military has an appalling record of running roughshod over indigenous rights. We have only to look at the fate of their own Native Americans as well as Okinawans, Marshall Islanders, Hawaiians, the Chamoru of Guam, and many others.
We must recognise too that policies resulting from Australia’s force posture review – which was done virtually in conjunction with Obama’s force posture review – mean increasing militarisation in Australia’s north and north-west. There may have been some token consultation with Aboriginal people the changes to our “force posture” I am not aware of compensation for these lands and arrangements for cultural continuation on those lands.
As militarism flourishes, the democratic rights of our community are also under threat. We only have to look, for example, at the raft of recent ASIO and associated legislation and the new laws to protect “communications facilities” – another polite term for the bases.
It is beyond question that money invested in civilian projects creates far more jobs than the same funding spent on the military.
The US military’s list of chemicals toxic to humans and to land and marine life is a long one – depleted uranium, red and white phosphorous, cadmium and lead, to name just a few.
The National Cancer Institute stated: “The military is a major source of toxic occupational and environmental exposures that can increase cancer risk…”
For over a decade the US has refused to accept responsibility for asbestos and diesel fuel contamination at the North West Cape base.
Resistance
The bases have been resisted right from their start of their introduction into Australia in the 60’s and it continues to the present.
The Australian Government knows this and uses secrecy, disinformation and language to protect the bases. They are never “bases” -- joint facilities has a better ring to it. The US marines are not based in Australia, they are rotating through Darwin, similar to the use of ‘collateral damage’ instead of killing.
There was resistance in the 60’s and 70’s but it grew in the 80’s when Foreign Minister Hayden admitted that the bases made Australia a target in a nuclear exchange.
In 1983 a large women’s camp was established outside Pine Gap, and this was followed some years later with formation of the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition (anti-bases for short).
Anti-Bases has organised protests at US facilities, against war games, in solidarity with indigenous people across the Pacific, against exorbitant military spending and on other issues and continues to organize and agitate for the removal of US bases from our soil. 
Anti-bases has a commitment to always seeking permission from indigenous elders for our protests and Aboriginal cultural and religious rules are respected. We charge rent for the use of the land – a small symbolic sum each day from each protester with the money given to a local Aboriginal organization. We have always tried to have indigenous speakers at our actions and we have funded visits by indigenous representatives from Kanaky (New Caledonia) -- who was later shot and killed by the French – from Bougainville, Hawaii, North American Indian, the Philippines and Guam
The anti-bases campaign has recently been at the forefront of promoting and encouraging a new configuration of forces to oppose the base in Darwin and the pivot to Asia and the Indo-Pacific by the Obama regime.
We have contributed to the establishment of the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) which has branches in most Australian capitals including Darwin.
It is possible that you have not heard of either Anti-Bases or IPAN but that is because we have a budget of around $500 while the other mob have $billions.
We believe that the closure of these bases would be a positive step towards world peace and disarmament and well as to the economic and social development of Australia and the human and democratic rights of all Australians.

I have left information on the table and I would urge you all to take some and read it, and to become active in the fight for peace with justice.