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Issue No. 181 | 06 June 2003 |
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National Leadership
History: Nest of Traitors Interview: A Nation of Hope Unions: National Focus Safety: The Shocking Truth Tribute: A Comrade Departed History: Working Bees Education: The Big Picture International: Static Labour Economics: Budget And Fudge It Technology: Google and Campaigning Review: Secretary With A Difference Poetry: The Minimale Satire: Howard Calls for Senate to be Replaced by Clap-O-Meter
Politics The Soapbox Media The Locker Room
 Blowing Holes in GittensNegative CampaigningResponse to GouldAged Policy Looks HairyTom's TurnGod Save Billy DeaneSolidarity ForeverMore Bad Language
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Letters to the Editor Tom's Turn
Dear Sir,
"You have not to pass sentence for or against a single man, but you have to take a resolution on a question of the public safety, and to decide a question of national foresight. Maximilien Robespierre
http://www.britannia.com/history/magna2.html Congratulations on your well written editorial "The Game's Up" Workers Online issue 179, 23rd May 2003. An article which was a call to arms , and basically calling for review and possibly regulation to prevent the blatant theft of resources private and public, by the corporate robber barons. This while an issue that is still relevant - is one , that is no longer positively malleable without a reactionary and possibly physical conversion through the confrontation of these parasites and predators , these bloodsucking leeches who appear to be not rewarded on merit, but on claptrap coiled as credible patois. Who are these people and how do they worm themselves into such financially rewarding positions; through their vicious and voracious use of the vernacular? A well coiffured silver lecher once conned us with honeyed words into an accord that did not work with a socialist government, so how it could work with a free market government.
Conspiracy theorists will claim ; this is the New World Order , and that a new Illuminati has evolved , that the Masons have been revived , or the Jesuits have gained control of mankind through a Club of Rome , and the G 8 are really Rosicrucians seeking the meaning of life , now while there may be some veracity as to a think tank role by these entities or their ilk , at times generating some useful thought , which may or may not be cherry picked by Corporate Mavericks , the key to this recurring generational phenomena is plain old everyday greed , universally referred to as healthy competition but in reality is no different than that - of a Christians to the Lions scenario fortunately this too shall pass. These depraved industrial, economic and social aberrations being transplanted in the workplace with the morally bereft doing as always, what they believe to be the bidding of their hypocritical masters, those who may have the clean hands but the corrupt minds, those who transgress against their own as cannibals, and then deny any knowledge of the acts of bastardry and or worse carried out in their name and/or under their patronage. This is a perfect example of the need to learn from history, in an effort not to repeat our mistakes, sadly we are , in many circumstances , being lead by inarticulate, impotent , and insular incompetents who may or may not have read the text books, or who , without question or thought , are playing out the roles allocated to them in childhood - their success in these roles dependent not on ability or merit but on the acceptance of the assumptions of their knowledge , or willingness to obey those already ensconced in power , positions maintained by ensuring that those capable of thought or ability are excluded from the inner circle , a recipe for eventual disaster. In simple language, it is a political correct attempt at the excision of the healthy and the cultivation of the deformed. These are those that refuse to acknowledge that the Emperor is wearing no clothes , these are those that are incapable of independent thought , these are those that thrive on the politics of division , these are those that are unable to see the commonality of humanity through their personal prejudice be it of; Gender, Race, Religion or Intellect , in fact these are the people that seek out the differences rather than the similarities , then urbanely but with continual futility , except on the most oppressed of society , attempt to project their perversions on those that they would attack. They then, as in the case of P. Kennedy, play with puerile adolescent semantics in an attempt to justify their perverse though processes...having said that, I must admit, it was less than five years ago that I was drawn into such a web of deceit while employed with Sydney City Council in their Libraries, where I experienced an abuse of person, denial of process and am now with a firm conviction in my mind that I have been wrong for 50 years of my life in opposing Capital Punishment. The ALP and many in Trade Unions are experts at tactics such as this, with the faceless puppeteers still controlling the parliamentary party or the front bench of Trade Unions. Sadly, the Union movement and the ALP is now deficient of the Heroes that myths are made of, these soldiers of fortune, as is not only their nature but their necessity, are following leaders who will lead to war against injustice, any injustice even be it perpetrated by fifth (or filth) columnists within the Union Movement rather than grovel at the altar of Corporate Acquiescence. The ruins of some of these once powerful Unions are now populated with political and corporate sycophants, as is much of contemporary society, which throughout the ages has taken the Kings shilling and turned to feast on their own .A perfect example at extinguishing dissent, would be the massacre of the McDonalds at Glencoe. These are fearful individuals who gain power through a mealy mouthed obsequious pandering to the lowest common denominator , these being described through the eons as the 'Plebs' , 'Serfs' , 'Servants' , and I use these descriptive terms not to denigrate but only as common language.
These are the people that choose serfdom, for what ever reason, some through fear, some through laziness, and some accepting it as their birthright, and in times of change and turmoil this provides a safe haven, a feeling of belonging not to a proud nation but a protective pack bullied by a usually belligerent dog, and there are many of those within all shades of politics.
Make no mistake , the contemporary 'serf ' is as well looked after as the ' serf ' of the middle ages , although there was a less commitment required from the medieval 'serf'.
Serfs worked the land and produced the goods that the lord and his manor needed. This exchange was not without hardship for the serfs. They were heavily taxed and were required to relinquish much of what they harvested. The peasants did not even "belong to" themselves, according to medieval law. These lords, in close association with the church, assumed the roles of judges in carrying out the laws of the manor. Serfs lived in crowded living areas (1-2 room). Serfs had many obligations to lord in exchange for protection. They turned over all crops to the lord, and paid for using the lord's stuff by giving some crops from their own strips of land. Serfs worked about three days a week for the lord, and they practiced crop rotation they were always available for military service for the whimsical conflicts of their master... A serf could not leave the manor with out the master's permission. They could be told who to marry, but they did have some rights - their kids couldn't be taken away. Serfs had simple diets and traveling minstrels and entertainers came to the manor. Serfs rarely left the manors, knew almost nothing of the outside world, and usually didn't rebel.
Has anything except the changed faces of the Master and ability of the Department of Community Services to remove children from the home changed? I think not?
In the Middle Ages the Lords of the Manor were the high wage earners and those in the increasingly powerful Church, two complimentary powers in an alliance which only began to wane in the second half of the 20th century when during the 1950's and 60's a dismantling of the established structure began with the transference of the mythology from spiritual to secular and materialistic. This is how the new Corporate Church has set in motion a radical change of thought through all echelon of society for it is only through myths and epics are linked in the human psyche, and that they are cultural manifestations of the universal need to explain social, cosmological, and spiritual realities. This assumed authority through the theft of property was stamped on society by way of large Castles, Manor Houses, Churches, Cathedrals and Courts edifices that would and were intended to overwhelm, this intimidation not being limited to Western Society but can be ascertained by the legacy of edifices from Egypt to Ecuador, from Greece to Galway or from Thailand to Turkey. If one even gives a cursory but critical glance to the corporate edifices and the accompanying symbols emblazoned on these new Cathedrals , in front of which the employee is compelled to kow-tow or be excommunicated , then laughter at the similarities to 1930s Jeeves and Worcester English farce would be the rational response. The new Lords of the Manor, Bishops, Popes and other sundry snake oil vendors are the corporate dealers in Human Flesh, they are as morally bankrupt as slave traders, taking advantage of those weaker than themselves, they continue to ignore the pain of this humanity to accommodate the illusory and temporary personal pecuniary profit.
You, as the Editor of a well read publication, have in your hands the power to revitalise, renew or in extreme cases reinvent the myths of the Labor Movement, there are almost 20 million individual stories in this great land and all are intertwined, it is your responsibility to disseminate these tales and link them with an attractive socialist history from the past, links people to whom all workers not only can, but would want to identify. Even the most passive worker who may not want to fight for their rights, and will even deny supporting industrial action for their own benefit, does not identify with the sycophantic Union or Organiser. They while publicly denying association with Union radicals, in their secret Walter Mitty world of dreams admire these sometime lunatic Crusaders of the labor movement. We also need more politicians in the style Billy Hughes, Eddie Ward, Jack Lang, John Gorton, or Jim Killen.
There is also room for activists who may not always play by the rules, if only to ensure the symmetry socialist politics.
The Labor Council should take a leaf from the " Corporate Bastards Book of Dirty Tricks" , and form a committee of volunteer labor activists to investigate these outrageous behaviours from corporate and political mavericks, inviting them to properly convened and authorised public hearings offering the accused and the accuser in public forum to lay their allegations and defence submissions would be solicited from the community. These could be published in a yearly report as committee findings as to alleged offences.
As for my personal thoughts as to the views of those that have condemned me, I concur with Giordano Bruno:
"Perchance your fear in passing judgment on me is greater than mine in receiving it."
They like Canute, cannot hold back the tides, Que Sera Sera ...........
Tom Collins P.O.Box 304 Emu Plains
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