F E A T U R E S

Interview: Taking Stock
Labor Council secretary John Robertson reflects on 2002 and outlines the challenges for the year to come.

Bad Boss: Pushing the Envelope
Ongoing and resolute commitment to principles advanced by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott have seen Australia Post make history as the first recipient of the Tony Award, recognising Australia's worst employer.

Unions: The Year That Was
From Cole�s witch-hunt to funky union tunes, Peter Lewis reviews the biggest stories from the world of work in 2002.

Republic: Still Fighting
Three years since the constitutional referendum, and despite constant reports of its impending demise, the Australian Republican Movement is still around and active

International: Global Ties, Global Binds
Labourstart's Eric Lee files his annual wrap-up of the year from an international perspective.

Politics: Turning Green
Union support for the ALP is no longer a given, with trade unionists turning to the Greens, as Jim Marr reports.

Technology: Unions Online 2002
Social Change Online's Mark McGrath looks at what worked best for unions online in 2002.

Industrial: The Past Is Before Us
Neale Towart argues that 2003 will be a year where traditional industrial campaigns come back into fashion.

Economics: Market Insecurity
Sydney University�s Frank Stilwell looks back at 2002 from a political economist�s perspective.

Review: Shooting for Sanity
Michael Moore's new movie Bowling for Columbine looks at America's love affair with guns, writes Mark Hebblewhite

Poetry: The PM's Christmas Message
Workers Online has secretly obtained an advance copy of the text of the Address to the Nation that the Prime Minister plans to make. We reproduce the text below.

Culture: Zanger's Sounds of Summer
If 2001-02 was the summer of political and musical terror then this summer 2002-03 is where irreverent Aussie music runs rife.

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Tread Carefully - Very Carefully
Nick Housten argues that structural weaknesses could keep federal Labor in Opposition for many years to come.

The Locker Room
A Year Of Two Halves
It was one of those years. It started with a lot of sport and it ended with a lot of sport. Noel Hester and Peter Moss check the runes and dish out the gongs in this year�s Workers Online Sports Awards.

Bosswatch
Footloose Capital
It was a year where the corporate world finally came close to consuming itself with bloated salaries, off the wall options and a string of mega-collapses

Predictions
Into the Beyond
Every year we ask our readers to gaze into the crystal ball. While history shows the view is mirky, we�ve don it again.

E D I T O R I A L

Terror Australis
When the historians get down to chronicling 2002 their analysis will read simply: the Bali bombing brought the new era of terror home to Australians and heightened our feelings of insecurity and fear at our ill-defined place in the world.

N E W S

Abbott Gears For Grocon Stoush

Delo Brushes Taubmans Pay Off

Restaurateur Takes Knife to Wages Protection

Legal Double Whammy to End Year

We�re Dreaming of a Sweat-Free Christmas

Star Organiser Takes Off

Abbott's Xmas Message: Go To Jail

Nurses Perform Wage Surgery

Woolies Discount Spirit of Christmas

New Collapses Prove Entitlements Farce

Suncorp Ballot Draws Fire

Unions On Big Day Out

UN Migrant Worker Charter Welcomed

L E T T E R S

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Shooting for Sanity

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

What is it with Americans and guns? While's there's much I admire about the world's remaining "superpower", I've never been able to understand their national preoccupation with blowing each other to bits. When you consider that the 'right to bear arms' mantra costs the USA around 11,000 of its citizen's lives every year, the sheer bloody mindedness of this empty phrase is exposed in full. Thankfully, it's not just pesky foreigners who are daring to point out this inconsistency in the American dream, the natives are also a little restless. Meet Mike Moore.

Don't believe the hype, Mike Moore is a patriotic American. Here's a man whose been painted as a leftie, greeno, commo, femmo shit stirrer for the simple fact that he cares about the country he lives in, and the people around him. And it's this community spirit that has driven Moore on throughout the years. His first major documentary Roger And Me, was spawned by his concerns about the misery General Motor's downsizing had caused his hometown of Flint, Michigan. Moore chased down General Motor's Chairman Roger Smith in order to confront him regarding GM's actions, and in the process a legend was born. Mike Moore lay down for no one. Moore continued to cement his reputation with best selling books and a long-running TV show, 'The Awful Truth'. Along with a reputation for tackling hard issues such as corporate greed, Moore developed a knack of being able to make people laugh. While current affairs programs drove viewers away with deadly serious coverage of confronting issues, this overweight middle-aged white boy's blend of irreverent humour and biting satire won them back. Moore would take on the big boys using humour, and more often than not he would win. His work made people believe that they could make a difference.

Mike Moore's latest work, Bowling For Columbine may very well the biggest challenge of his career. Here Mike sets out to examine America's love affair with guns, and tries to discover the roots of gun related violence in his home country. But surprisingly, Moore has not chosen the easy route with this film. He doesn't totally subscribe to the theory that less guns immediately equals less violence. As he discovers, Canadians also own guns in record numbers, yet gun related violence is rare in their country. Nor does he go down the road that violent entertainment causes violent reactions: Japanese youth watch the same movies, yet they don't go to school and blow away their classmates. So what's the answer?

Well, Bowling For Columbine doesn't offer any definitive answers. Moore himself does not claim to have found any lasting solutions. What we get instead are searching insights into the national psyche, courtesy of a man for which nothing is sacred. Moore does however point to economic causes and the cycle of fear that has existed throughout his country's history and how the media and lobby groups such as the National Rifle Association have perpetuated this cycle. Memorably, Moore actually corners NRA supremo Charlton Heston in his own home and challenges the callousness of his organisation in the face of innocent children becoming statistics of gun related violence. This powerful encounter symbolises the entire problem: an establishment more concerned with easy answers and privilege than the truth. And this reality is what makes Mike Moore, and documentaries like Bowling For Columbine all the more important. Essential viewing for anyone with at least half-a-brain.

4.5 stars

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005