E D I T O R I A L

The Legacy of 11/9
From the orgy of righteous indignation that has enveloped the �Free World� this week a more chilling truth is emerging: if the suicide bombers were attacking Liberal-Democracy they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Still Flying
Flight Attendant�s Association international secretary Johanna Brem looks at life in the air since last September�s terrorist attacks.

International: President Gas
NSW Firefighter�s president Darryl Snow sent this missive to his members on the anniversary of a day when 343 of their colleagues died in the line of duty.

Politics: Australia: A Rogue State?
ARM director Greg Barnes argues that September 11 has summoned a new era of isolationism and international lawlessness.

History: Levelling September
Counterpunch�s Peter Linebaugh reminds us that September 11 is the anniversary of another seminal battle: the fight for the English commons

Unions: Welfare Max
Maximus Inc is big, American and controversial. Right now its knocking on the door of Australian welfare delivery and there is every chance the Howard Government will usher it inside, reports Jim Marr.

Bad Boss: Welcome to Telstra!
A Telstra call centre has joined the race for Bad Boss after sacking a pregant woman who had the audacity to need to use the toilet

Health: Fat Albert: The Grim Reaper
Workers Online�s cultural dietician Mark Morey chews the fat over this week�s conference on child obesity

Poetry: A Man From the East And A Man From The West
Resident Bard David Peetz has penned this ode to the sacked Hilton hotel workers

Review: The Sum Of All Fears
Tara de Boehmler checks in to see that America�s cultural cringe is alive, well and sponsored by Marlboro cigarettes

N E W S

�Robbed Generation� Seeks Stolen Wages

One Year On: Ansett Crash Still Hurts

Cole Exposed By Immigration Scam

Car Workers on Howard Hit List

Mystery Windfall for Hilton Workers

Shock: Abbott Backs Workers

Union Billboards Censored

Track Grab Ignores Lessons of Glenbrook

Casual Approach to Air Safety

Bosses Say No Living Wage For NSW Childcarers

Pastry Workers Tell Boss To Get Puffed

Injury Toll Mushrooms

Victorian Zookeepers Down Buckets

Pride and Safety for Workers Out!

Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

Legends
Gough's Plaza
Labor's living legend challenged NSW Labor to lift its game as he attended a renaming of 2KY House to Gough Whitlam Plaza.

The Locker Room
Support The System That Supports You
This system is a certainty, a moral, a good thing and a knocktaker; well, at least according to Phil Doyle

Bosswatch
RIP Chainsaw Al
One of the heroes of corporate downsizing has been cut down but his memory lives on with golden handshakes for leaders of failed businesses still thick on the ground.

Week in Review
Lest We Forget
You can�t help a sneaking suspicion, Jim Marr writes, that George Bush is conscripting the dead of September 11, 2001, to lead his push for another war in the Gulf�

Awards
The Importance of Being Ernie
It was the tenth annual �Ernie� Awards for sexist behaviour and Labor Council�s Alison Peters was amongst the noisy punters

Activists
Workers Out!
Gay and Lesbian trade unionists are organising an international conference to develop a global response to homophobia in the workplace, writes Ryan Heath

L E T T E R S

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Schoolyard Bully

****************

Long-term Workers Online readers would know we have been long-term Piers-Watchers - spending a full year analysing the fat man's work before being beaten into submission by his banal bigotry. But even we had never seen him stoop to the depths of turning the words of a 16-year-old school girl against the entire Muslim community. But there he was this week, as the world was trying to make sense of the horrendous events of 12 months ago - events that claimed thousands of innocent lives in the US and Afghanastan - doing what he's always done best: playing for the cheap political point.

The catalyst for the attack was a Letter to the Editor sent by 16-year-old Amira Sbbet from Miller, who described herself as a "Lebanese Muslim". It is not a particularly sophisticated letter, but it is one girl's reaction to the growing community backlash against her community. As Muslim social worker Paula Aboud told a recent NSW Fabians forum - "it's feral out there at the moment". There is a level of community abuse that has been orchestrated by the political and media elites. This girl tried to make sense of it all, defending the beliefs of her family from the current 'panics' of S11, the gang rape trials and the order to stone a Nigerian women for committing adultery. To this girl, the issues had melded into one narrative - that she and her family were not worthy of respect. In her instinctive, but clumsy defence, she opened herself up to attack from Piers.

Remember this is a 16-year-old girl writing a Letter to the Editor - not a community leader speaking on behalf of a constituency. But on the morning after the anniversary of September 11, it was she that Piers chose to pick on. Of course, we at Workers Online do not support this girls' views, but on a day we remember the dire costs of misunderstanding the Other, we could have expected a commentator in one of the nation's leading newspapers to display a little more sensitivity. Piers' shame is that he looks at a Muslim and sees a suicide bomber. At a time when the world is crying for peace, Piers' reflex is attack. On our reading Amira is no terrorist, just a schoolgirl who has been hurt by bigotry trying to stand up for a set of beliefs which she feels are under attack. Piers' subtext is the same sorry dog-whistle that has characterised much of the media commentary in recent times: Muslims are the problem, they have no place here, they are bad news. It is a mean, grubby and dangerous doctrine.

It's been a consistent theme from Piers who has been donning the fatigues in recent times, laying into Labor's erudite foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd. Rudd's drawn fire from Piers' for publicly arguing that the rule of international law - as opposed to Bush Law - should apply when considering whether to bomb the bejesus out of Baghdad. For this outrageous stance, Piers has dubbed Rudd 'Pixie' and thrown buckets of muck in his general direction - drawing Rudd into a reply this week.

Unlike Piers, Rudd did a bit of research on Piers recent work and came up with some interesting - though hardly surprising facts. Analysing 150 Piers articles written in the last 12 months (tough work - I know how it feels) they came up with the following score card: on 88 occasions he directly attacked Labor for its various crimes against humanity. On 31 occasions he endorsed Liberal policy. As for positive comments on Labor: zero, zilch, blotto. In 12 months, this so-called journalists could not find a single thing to agree on Labor about.

In these uncertain times, it is good to know there are some constants. One if Pier's one-eyed prosecution of the Howard Agenda by seeding the cracks through which he can drive his trademark wedge. For Piers peace, love and understanding are for wimps - and if a 16-year-old schoolgirl gets in the way of the war juggernaut, their is only one thing to do: run her over.

Show Us YOUR TOOL! The most inspiring interpretation of this week's tool get's a souvenir edition of Ship of Tools. Deface the Tool of the Week, click the button above to post your artwork, fill out the form and send your entry in and we'll post the winners next week in the Tool of the Week Gallery.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005