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  Issue No 72 Official Organ of LaborNet 06 October 2000  

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.  Tool of the Week


Tool Shed

Zelig at the Games


He tries hard but never quite gets it except when it comes to being a tool. John Howard is quickly reaching champion status, joining legends like Piers in the Olympic Pantheon of Tools.

John Howard's wedge politics hit a brick wall at the Olympics. And for that we can thank a young, likeable, Aboriginal woman from Central Queensland who just happens to run fast.

Like the pathetic Woody Allen character in Zelig who pops up everywhere next to famous people in history John Howard managed to squeeze himself into nearly every frame of Aussie glory during the Games. Well, until the closing ceremony...

By the end of the Olympics Howard's self styled image as a pollie in tune with the battlers was looking a bit thin. While the whole country rejoiced in Cathy Freeman's glorious run - for reasons everyone will admit are more than to do with athletics - Howard couldn't get past the caricature he has become when confronted with anything that involves indigenous Australians.

When asked by journalists about the significance of Cathy's performance in the context of reconciliation Howard trotted out his old chestnuts mothballed from the apartheid era about politics and sport not mixing. A graceless, mean-spirited and out-of-touch response.

Nearly every Olympic Games of the last 30 years bar Barcelona and Sydney has been marred by terrorism or boycotts. Sydney wasn't devoid of politics but for once it was of a positive, progressive, celebratory kind. Politics and sport mixed and it was wonderful.

From the beautiful, captivating indigenous sequence in the opening ceremony to Cathy Freeman's inspirational run in the 400 metres to the forthright and proud statements of support for reconciliation by Savage Garden, Midnight Oil and Yothu Yindi at the closing ceremony, Aboriginal politics was on the agenda.

Cathy Freeman's run was only the tenth fastest of all time. As an Olympic athletic achievement it didn't stand out as something special. But as the correspondent of Britain's Guardian noted it was in the same league as Jesse Owens feats at the 1936 Olympics in significance.

There were other ingredients to the Olympic success story that wouldn't exist if Howard had completely had his way over the years. As one leading American corporate leader observed the difference between Sydney and Atlanta (or the toilet in Roy and HG-speak) was that the Sydney games were delivered by a strong public sector and quality public infrastructure that was lacking in Atlanta.

And as Bob Carr has conceded these were the unionised games. They would never have happened without disruption and conflict if the Workplace Relations Act had been the IR framework.

Something really big has just happened in Sydney. And despite his try hard attempts to the contrary Howard is too small a person to be relevant at such a historically significant occasion. Except as a tool - then he reaches Olympian proportions.


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*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 72 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Taking It To The Union Busters
ACTU Assistant Secretary Richard Marles talks to Workers Online about turning back the anti-union sentiment growing in the business community, responsible unionism and the sense of fun to be found at the ACTU.
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*  International: The White Knights
The International Labour Organisation has become the great hope for those fighting to give globalisation a human face. Australian Bob Kyloh is one of those working with trade unions within the ILO to make it happen.
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*  Politics: Industrial Democracy for Australia
Glenn Patmore argues we need new forms of employee representation in the workplace to broaden employee participation.
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*  Unions: Behind The Scenes
In a small office at Homebush Bay, as the world focused on all that was positive about our games, Unions 2000 and SOCOG officials worked tirelessly to ensure that no worker was ripped off. Chris Christoudoulou reports.
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*  Satire: Parade of Icons �Could Have Included Even More Ex-Aussies� Say Critics
The selection of Greg Norman, Paul Hogan and Elle Macpherson to represent Australia in the �Parade of Icons� during the Closing Ceremony of the Sydney Games last night has prompted a storm of complaints from other famous former Australians.
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*  Review: Elliott Smiths Figure 8
Smith is basically the secret love child of the fab four and it�s so blatantly obvious. That�s not a bad thing because one thing Lennon and McCartney were reknown for was there ability to pen catchy tunes.
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News
»  Interstate Rail Workers Rebel Against AWAs
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»  Australia Post Exposes Staff to Bomb Danger
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»  Alliance Builds Against Commonwealth Bank
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»  Carr Lauds Union Movement For Golden Olympics
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»  Big Brother Unwelcome In Child Care Centres
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»  Council Workers Win Community Language Allowance
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»  Fiji Facing Dictatorship
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»  Home Care Win Recognises Community Contribution
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»  Pressures Mount on Truckies
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»  Industrial Action Looms At IBM Global
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»  In Your Face Provocateurs
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»  Putting A Stop To Workplace Intimidation
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»  Australian History To Be Buried Alive
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Columns
»  Away For The Games
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  Brits Look To Cuba For Health Solutions
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»  Looking For Donnelly
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»  Union Official Nominates For Telstra Board
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»  End the Olympics?
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