"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
Edmund Burke
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15 November 1985. Thought for the Week:
"The core of the pre- (World War 2) system of finance was
that costs of production continuously exceeded the flow of
incomes to meet them - a system that automatically kept money
in short supply and consequently power in the hands of those
able to supply it. Before the Great Depression it was not
understood outside a very limited number of students that
the great bulk of 'money' is in fact financial credit; and
that this latter is absolutely nothing but the creation of
the banking system, most of it existing, indeed, only as figures
in books. Nowadays, however, the 'creation' of 'credit' is
a commonplace of discussion, and the policy of 'the Government'
in regards thereto the main preoccupation of political discussions.
The problem of the conspirators was, therefore, how to provide
the ever increasing volume of credit required to keep production
up - since public opinion would no longer stand for a severe
depression brought about by shortage of finance - but at the
same time prevent the people becoming 'rich' and thereby able
to escape that economic control which is the basis of centralised
government. The answer is the Welfare State, augmented by
Aid to Underdeveloped Countries, Armament Programmes, Space
Research, Exports and Inflation."
B.W.Monahan, in The Last Chance: A Conspectus (1960) |
CANDID COMMENT OF TEARGAS - SOUTH AFRICAN STYLE from Chas. Pinwill This latest revelation, after the weekend's disclosure that a similar system was installed at the Western Deep Levels mine, is expected to fuel further controversy on the issues, which was first raised by the former Liberal Prime Minister, Mr. Malcolm Fraser. A spokesman for the Anglo American Corporation said last night that the tear smoke system at its Western Deep Levels mine had been removed last week. It is rather laughable that the foremost do gooder liberal in South Africa, Mr. Harry Oppenheimer, head of the Anglo-American Corporation, has just been exposed, by Malcolm Fraser of all people, as having allowed to be installed a teargas system in its Western Deep Levels mine to deal with unrest among its black workers. When Mr. Fraser first raised the issue, he pointed his accusation at the South African Government. Instead, it appears that Mr. Harry Oppenheimer, the most powerful figure in the anti-Apartheid forces within South Africa, is the culprit. It has often been observed that the most vicious and bitter people against other races are the liberals whose own interests have been affected or threatened. The attraction of the liberal to his 'causes' is motivated by a powerful attraction towards condescension. Whereas to the conservative, inequality is a law and a fact of nature, and is included in his decision-making data, naturally, and automatically, and without either malice or moralising, the liberal cannot cope with this approach. The liberal, believing only in some concept of his own making, wherein he insists that all men are equal, reacts with guilt when confronted with the fact of inferiors. The reaction of guilt is inescapable, since having elevated his concept of equality into Truth (to which his pride is committed), when confronted with the fact of inequality, he cannot see it as a fact but only as his guilty assumption of superiority. He believes in his own wicked assumption of superiority, and this is the evidence upon which he believes others, particularly conservatives, are guilty. Can a liberal discover and admit a 'guilty' urge within himself in order to protect his preferred concept of reality (equality), without at the same time developing and nurturing such urges into subjective realities; i.e. into the actual state of his feelings? The trick, if you are a liberal, is to both sublimate your guilt - and continue to enjoy it. One develops an exaggerated affability towards inferiors, a patronising condescension which becomes so intense as to bring belief that the obvious inferior is not really an inferior, but certainly an equal, if not actually a superior depends upon how 'condescendingly superior' one desires to be. This enjoyment is best had by berating others, and at their expense, by pointing out, accusingly, their illiberality. Mind you, if the objects of the liberals' condescension threaten his own property, the reaction is one of shocked indignation, and they are accordingly bludgeoned with every weapon at hand. Including, it would seem, teargas. |
THE POLITICAL RESURRECTION OF AL GRASSBYJeremy Lee comments The report said: "The League of Rights and more money, support and success in 1984 than they have had in the past twenty five years, Mr. Al Grassby said on Sunday. Mr. Grassby said technique of the League of Rights was 'interesting" and ought to be known. He was speaking at a fund-raising meeting for Jewish Welfare Appeal, organised and attended by the Theodor Herzl Club. The League of Rights sends in organisers who initially promote a "save our heritage" line. This gets the local mayor or shire president 'on side' and away you go. Once you are inside the organisation, you know what the problem is. I hope that a report being prepared by Mr. Ken Gott will be publicly released soon, even though some people believe it is "too hot" because it will probably expose them," Mr. Grassby said. "If we take them on as they should be, the spotlight of publicity will melt them and expose them." Mr. Grassby said when the League of Rights ran for Parliament, it rarely polled more than 1 percent of the vote. "But they affect many people in public life and the community." He said the Jewish community had played a key role in opposing "evil organisations" such as the League ...." Mr. Grassby certainly has a colourful imagination. He should know, for instance, that the League has never stood candidates for Parliament. It is a political service movement to electors. How, then, League candidates "rarely polled more than 1 percent of the vote" is a mystery which only Mr. Grassby can unravel. The League has waited impatiently for the long promised but yet to be delivered report from Mr. Ken Gott. Six months on a lucrative salary with Clyde Holding's Department of Aboriginal Affairs - itself in some disarray - for Mr. Gott seems to have been singularly unproductive. Mr. Gott has laboured mightily, but has not as yet even brought forth a mouse. We can only hope that, when it finally appears, if it ever does, it will be a little more careful of its facts than is Mr. Grassby. The League is not even concerned with "Success" in the context, which Mr. Grassby infers. It is concerned with Truth, and takes to heart Kipling's words: "If you can meet with triumph or disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same...." The pursuit of Truth is its own reward. |
THE FRUITS OF DETENTE - TEN YEARS ONFrom David Thompson The speaker was, of course, the Soviet Dictator, Leonid Brezhev. It requires only a brief survey of the balance of international power to confirm his prediction. The whole of Africa has disintegrated into bloody anarchy with the sole exception of South Africa, where the Communist equipped and inspired A.N.C. is gearing up for a major terrorist campaign. North Korean, Chinese and Cuban troops have been deployed throughout the continent. The eastern seaboard from Aden in the north to Mozambique in the south is bristling with Soviet shipping, both merchant and military. The Seychelles has also fallen. |
PACIFIC A SOVIET LAKEThe abandonment of Camh Ran Bay towards the close of the Vietnam war made a gift to the Soviets of one of the best natural harbours, best equipped and strategically situated modern bases in the world. They have not been slow to use it, particularly since it is only a few miles across the straights from the U.S. base in the Philippines, which is looking increasingly shaky under the influence of Communist guerrilla forces. Further to the south, the Soviet intentions are so obvious that even Malcolm Fraser can see what is afoot. In the 'Australian' (31/10/85) Fraser is quoted as attributing the breakup of ANZUS to the Soviets, through their infiltration of New Zealand's Labor Party. Fraser points out that a Soviet Ambassador has been expelled from New Zealand for passing on funds to the New Zealand Socialist Unity Party, one of the Dominion's Communist parties. "The Soviets had demonstrated their close attention to New Zealand affairs by Radio Moscow's comments on the night of the last election that the victory by the Labor Party would lead to the break-up of ANZUS," said the Australian. Mr. Fraser also pointed to gains made by the Soviets in fishing agreements with New Zealand and other small pacific states, like Kiribati. This becomes a strategic nightmare, because such trading agreements give the Soviets access not only for commercial shipping and aircraft, but military as well. |
ANOTHER ANGLE ON THAT BILL OF RIGHTSThis letter was published in The Advertiser, (Adelaide) October 24th. "Have the politicians who are so enthusiastic about a Bill of Rights read Animal Farm? It was only when the animals had a Bill of Rights that they discovered that they had no rights except those in the document and even these could be changed without notice. "If we admit that all rights come from the State, they can be taken away by the State. It should be recognised that basic rights are innate and inalienable. In other words, they come from a higher source than the Government of the day."The correspondent was a "A.M.McMurtrie" of McLaren Vale (S.A.) |
PEOPLE HAD THEIR SAY ON WHITLAMThis letter over the name of "P.H.Lane", who is Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Sydney (Sydney Morning Herald, November 5th);"For 10 years now we have been conned. Sir John Kerr has been hooked on November 11th, 1975, while Mr. Whitlam has been unhooked from October 16th. "On October 16th the Whitlam administration got no change from the Senate. Its access to supply was cut off 'until the Government agrees to submit itself to the judgment of the people' - a vital mechanism in parliamentary democracy. "This constitutional principle - that a Government refused Supply should either sign or go to the electorate - had been endorsed by Mr. Whitlam himself and by his top lawyer, Senator Murphy. They kept good company. Harrison Moore, still a leading constitutionalist, also supported the Senate's check upon the ministry' through its control of money bills. "The Victorian lesson of 1947-1952 is instructive on the purpose and justification of a refusal of Supply by an Upper House. There, the non-Labor Legislative Councillors in 1947 and the Labor Councillors in 1952, each feeling the people's grievance, stopped the Government's money. Both Governments followed the constitutional principle and went to the electorate. The people seized the midterm opportunity to say which political party they wanted to run the State - and sacked the existing Government. "Had Mr. Whitlam observed the constitutional principle, there would have been no November 11th. "But he got it in the end. On December 13th the tally board read: six of his former ministers, 29 members in all were fired. Tasmania didn't give him a single follower. Western Australia gave him one out of ten, Queensland one out of 18. Several of his Senators lost their guernseys. "The people had a ball. And that's what 1975 was all about - the people having their say. But this was possibly only because the Senate, sensing the people's exasperation, stopped the Government's Supply on October 16th, 1975." |
NEGRITOESA Coffs Harbour actionist (N.S.W.) writes in part:'….when I was a lad on my father's farm, Aboriginal tribes lived close to us in the bush and some of the young men worked for my father on the farm. I can remember the elder of the tribe telling my father that many moons back, little people lived in the forest in the mountains but said that they did not remember what happened to them. This always intrigued me and over the years I have done much research on these people and have managed to pick up books overseas written by learned writers over 75 years ago, and also by anthropologists. "I received a lot of help from a library and bookshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on these people as there are still 500 pure blood living in caves in the mountains and are hard to contact. So with all the information I have gathered in different parts of the world I hope to put all the information into a book as these (Negritoes) covered most areas of the Pacific Island in the north to the Philippines as well as Australia....I would like to know why history has forgotten them." |