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Issue No. 128 | 15 March 2002 |
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Why I'm Marching
Interview: The Wedge Buster History: Fighting for Peace Unions: Rattling the Gates International: Facing Retribution Technology: How Korean Workers Used The Web Industrial: Working Futures Review: Rumble, Young Man, Rumble Satire: GG Survival Doomed: Fox-Lew In Charge Of Rescue Bid Poetry: PSST
The Soapbox The Locker Room Week in Review
 Carr and the Fire FightersOn InequalityHarmony Day
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Week in Review Tomorrow, The World
Fingering The Trigger Former Texan oilman George Bush is a dominator on a global scale. He can, and does, dominate for his country and, as the man says, the rest of youse can join up or take a jump. Dissatisfied with ripping up years of international work on climate control, trade policy and missile tests, Bush's Pentagon unleashes another potentially devastating policy u-turn. The Pentagon argues the US should plan to nuke seven countries, namely Russia, China, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria, and consider first-strike attacks against states that do not possess nuclear weapons. Bush reinforces the US' right to attack countries manufacturing "weapons of mass destruction" leaving commentators perplexed about how he might sell the policy domestically, given that the US is far and away the world's biggest producer of such armaments. Under new security measures, designed to protect democracy, more than 1000 people have now been detained without trial in the US. Some have spent more than a month, incommunicado, in solitary confinement. Meanwhile, arms sales to dictatorships in and around the Middle East escalate despite lessons that might be drawn out of earlier deals with, for argument's sake, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. Still, they could argue it's not as overtly pro-terrorist as the money and hardware traditionally poured into places like Nicargua, El Salvador, Chile, Cuba and the like. Dog Man Takes Flight Chris "the Dog Man" Corrigan isn't quite in the Bush class but he is well on the way to dominating Australian transport. A masterly business strategy, involving sitting back while Ansett crashed, delivers half of Virgin Blue and most Ansett assets to his Patrick Corporation. Virgin Blue fits nicely into the portfolio of the former merchant banker and share broker who, with massive Government support, already controls large swathes of the nation's port and rail freight operations. ACTU chief Greg Combet urges unionists to put dogs, balaclavas and the waterfront stoush behind them and deal with Corrigan's new ventures on their merits. Mercenaries Frozen Out Meanwhile, efforts of industrial mercenaries to dominate the Australian waterfront, under the flag of the afore-mentioned Corrigan, peter out in the federal court. The revelation that one of two litigants, Christopher Murray, had been an undischarged bankrupt for two years up to January, sees their case frozen. The would-be wharfies, foiled in their 1998 efforts to take jobs from MUA members, had turned their attentions to Patricks, the National Farmers Federation and a range of other one-time allies in a bid to turn a quid from the debacle. Parties to the case argued that the plaintiffs were already unable to meet legal costs awarded against them during proceedings. Hell in the Holy Lands Israel ups the ante in its battle with Palestinians, pouring troops and tanks into refugee camps on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Twenty two Palestinians are killed, hundreds wounded and hundreds more blindfolded and led away for interrogation. Israeli military analysts say the aim is to win a "public" victory prior to negotiations. Palestinian sources pledge more death, by suicide bomber, in the Jewish state. Israel lifts Palestinian leader Yasser Arrafat's house arrest but thoughts of a goodwill gesture are dismissed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office which insists "he can go from cage to cage, from the cage in Ramallah to the cage in Gaza. That's it." The UN demands Israel's withdrawal and that Palestinians cease their attacks on Israeli citizens. Foxtel Spin on Pay Pay TV operator Foxtel fires its first shot in its battle to convince regulators that its Optus takeover will not be bad for competition. The company, comprising Telstra, News Ltd and PBL shareholders, explains its programming plan and the proposal for Telstra to bundle telephony, internet and tv services. Under the proposed deal, struck last week, Optus will carry Foxtel content and Foxtel will shoulder Optus' $600 million US programming liability. Viewers and major sporting bodies are said to be very afraid. Beware the Bill Factor Meanwhile, across the road and around a couple of corners, vexed South Sydney officials consider the prospect of returning to the big-time in a match controlled by Bill Harrigan. Few referees have ever dominated the ebb and flow of footy, not to mention numbers on the scoreboard, like Harrigan - pilloried by Souths president, George Piggins, in his recently released autobiography. Office tipsters, rusty after a summer of cricket and racing, would be well advised to bear the Harrigan factor in mind. Mugabe Bowls Opposition Freedom-fighter turned bully boy, Robert Mugabe, gets another six years in charge of crumbling Zimbabwe, courtesy of a hotly-contested election result. Officials award victory to the 78-year-old encumbent despite widespread claims of intimidation and vote-rigging. Opponent Morgan Tsvangirai wins large majorities in urban areas where voters queue for days to cast their ballots but Mugabe cleans up in the countryside where intimidation is said to be at its worst. The ICFTU fears for trade unionists, central to the opposition campaign. Australians, by and large, wonder what it will mean for Zimbabwean cricket, gurgling along at a very low ebb.
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