Issue No 116 | 19 October 2001 | |
NewsFace The Music And Shove It Up The Junta!By Phil Thornton
With the War on Terror now in full swing, the plight of refugees from the repressive Burmese regime is being largely ignored. According to figures released by the international aid group, Burmese Border Consortium (BBC), there are 127,914 refugees housed in camps on the Thai border - more than 96,000 of these are Karens. These figures do not include the tens of thousands of refugees who live outside the refugee camps in Thailand or the hundreds of thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who remain on the Burmese side of the border. Because the camps are on the Burmese side of the border there are no aid agencies or refugee programs that can officially help the people. Sanitation is poor and disease is rampant, especially in the long wet season that lasts from June to November. The camp becomes almost impossible to move around as thick heavy wedges of clay cling to feet. Malaria and dengue carrying mosquitoes are everywhere. Respiratory illnesses kill both young and old. Already weak immune systems are forced even lower by marginal diets. If by some miracle these people can somehow survive the disease, land mines and hunger they still have to avoid being caught in military search-and-kill missions. Internally Displaced People are a result of a deliberate government strategy to force people out of their homes. It is part of their Four Cuts offensive that aims to break the support, food supplies, recruitment and information provided to ethnic resistance groups by villagers. The military has declared war on its own citizens. Issuing orders to its soldiers to shoot on sight anyone found in Black Zones -including the old, young and sick. A benefit night to help Burmese refugees will be held at the Harbourside Brasserie on Thursday 15 November. Musicians who have donated their time and talent include: Jon Stevens; Jackie Orszaczky and Tina Harrod; Mike Nock; Reg Mombasa and Peter O' Doherty; Jonathan Zwartz and Hamish Stuart and Dr Winston O'Boogie Strings. Entry is $10 and a number of award-winning Australian and international photographers have also donated pictures that will be raffled on the night.
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Interview: The Green Machine Nick Bolkus outlines Labor's environmental stance and lays down the gauntlet to Bob Brown's Greens. Industrial: Regaining Control France�s 35 hour week stems from the program of the Left coalition government which went to the polls in June 1997 with the policy of �worksharing�. Unions: Home Of The Longest Day Australia has a dubious new prize to put in its cluttered national trophy cabinet. We are increasingly the most over-worked nation in the world. Campaign Diary: Week Two: Fightback Labor's doing everything to win a normal campaign - but this is no normal campaign. Economics: Who Will Notice When You Die? Johann Christoph Arnold asks whether the anti-globalisation movement is the answer to an epidemic of loneliness. History: American Terror Incredible revelations about the work of the US National Security Agency through the Cold War years help put the current War of Terror into perspective. International: Global Day of Action In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US last week, the ICFTU has announced that preparations for the Global Unions Day of Action on November 9 will go ahead. Satire: World Gripped by Fear as Howard Third Term Looms The global community has uniformly condemned the recent terrorist attacks, which horrifically helped revive the re-election prospects of John Howard. Review: Flashbacks Cultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.
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