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Issue No. 157 | 18 October 2002 |
End of Ignorance
Interview: The Wet One Bad Boss: Like A Bastard Unions: Demolition Derby Corporate: The Bush Doctrine Politics: American Jihad Health: Secret Country Review: Walking On Water Culture: TCF Poetry: The UQ Stonewall
No Night Shift for Sunset Workers Workmates Back Kamal�s Right to Pray Nurses Short-Changed On Parking Abbott Makes Grab for Broken Hill Brogden Flags Assault On Injured Workers Child Carers Get $18 Living Wage Victorian Workers Rally for Kingham Clown Nearly Shuts Darwin Hospital Teachers Eye Historic ATSIC Alliance Support Grows for US Waterfront Workers
The Soapbox Postcard Month In Review The Locker Room Bosswatch Wobbly
Memo to Junior Defence Signals Pandora's Box on Prayer?
Labor Council of NSW |
Editorial End of Ignorance
The full story behind last weekend's bombing is yet to emerge; the perpetrators, the motivation and the target. But more than one hundred Australians, scores of other foreigners and the Indonesian workers who served them lie charred beyond recognition. Any search for meaning from the tragedy at this stage risks being trite and disrespectful, but that hasn't stopped pundits of all political orientations giving it a go. From our perspective, the attacks on Bali should serve to remind us that, no matter how many millions of dollars we put into 'protecting' our borders, we can never pretend we are safe from the rest of the world. We can not expect to live as a wealthy outpost in the developing world, turning our back on the suffering of our neighbours, thinking about them only when we want to exploit their resources or lie on their beaches. We can not take up the cudgels as the number one cheer-leader for a war-mongering and oil-hungry US Administration and expect to be immune from any anti-American sentiment. And we can never pretend that by putting up the barricades, the problems of inequality, repression and injustice will never affect us. The message from the Bali tragedy is one that trade unions have long recognised. We are one world and our fortunes and futures are woven together. The difficult healing that comes from the Bali massacre must be focussed on looking at the world from other nation's perspectives; from the view of the asylum seeker fleeing oppression, the textile worker on 50 cents a day or the innocent Muslim vilified in suburban Sydney. The response to mindless terror is not to dismiss the murderers as heartless aliens whose fanaticism alone and of itself explains their inexcusable actions. If we really want to stop terror, we need to understand their motivations and consider how we figure in their misguided story. For our own safety, we need to engage with our region and our world. We need to look beyond our own backyard and care what happens to our fellow humans. We need to stop regarding others as 'them' and recognise they are 'us'. Peter Lewis Editor
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