7 September 1990. Thought for the Week:
"Since practically everything a modern community does depends
on the provision of finance, it is obvious that the power
to provide finance by the creation of credit (on terms) is
an absolutely central power, and that whatever the appearances,
those in ultimate control of the banking system are the real
government of a country and, on the international scale, of
the world. Of course, not all those in such control are 'bankers'
in the sense in which one knows one's bank manager. It is
in the realms of high international and national policy that
the real control lays. But that power of control, exercised
quietly behind the facade of 'inexorable economic laws' was
threatened by ever increasing production and the certain eventual
breakdown of the 'existing' financial system. A change of
such a nature as to retain power where it existed was necessary;
and although this change occurred in a crisis, it had been
planned very many years before
. In 1929
.."
B.W. Monahan, in Finance and Communism (1965) |
WAR CRIMES - AGAIN"The U.S. Government has begun to build a legal case against Saddam Hussein for use in a possible Nuremberg style war crimes trial of the Iraqi leader." - The Sun, Melbourne, September 3rd Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, has come into the picture also: she stated on British T.V. that Hussein could be tried for war crimes. Her words - "If anything happened to those hostages then sooner or later when any hostilities were over we could do what we did at Nuremberg and prosecute the requisite people for their totally uncivilised behaviour. This sort of talk will provoke disgust throughout the Arab world. What about Afghanistan? No talk of having a "Nuremberg" to try Mr. Gorbachev and his associates. What about Dresden, which many revisionists historians regard as the greatest war crime of the Second World War, committed by ourselves? Dresden was, packed with hundreds of thousands of German refugees, fleeing from advancing Russian armies. It was not a military target, but was devastated by the R.A.F. No talk of war crimes trials there! What about the three German ships, crammed with women and children, again escaping from advancing Russian armies, and torpedoed by a Russian submarine in the Baltic Sea, in the dying days of World War II. No talk of war crimes trials . War crimes trials are for the victors: we might not be the victors, next time. We are treading on very dangerous ground. The Israelis do not like to be reminded of the massacre in Palestine, perpetrated by themselves, at Deir Yassin on April 9th, 1948, when 254 Palestinian women, children and old men were killed and their bodies thrown down a well. The whole affair is documented in detail in "The Zionist Connection, 2", by Dr. Alfred Lilienthal, available from League bookshops ($30.00 posted). War crimes trial? No way. So much for war crimes. Apart from the sheer duplicity of this sort of talk from the West, there is the fact that their threats are directed against MUSLIMS, who have a different reaction to these sorts of threats: their attitude to death is different from that of Westerners. The sooner the West stops this type of dangerous talk, the better. We could mention one more matter of relevance. According to an article by Bruce Jones in the Sun-Herald (Sydney), September 2nd, the Gulf Force was Hawke's idea: he initiated talks with the U.S. with a view to Australian involvement in the region at least two weeks before despatching our warships. We may well ask, was Robert Hawke serving purely Australia's interests in rushing us into the Gulf? If not then whose? |
THE THERAPEUTIC GOODS ACT (1989)Probably most of our supporters are aware of the dangers of interference to homeopathic and naturopathic practices because of the proposed introduction of this Act of Parliament (Federal). This is just another "try". Over the decades past, there have been several attempts to have naturopathy and homeopathy "banned". We cannot be sure where the impetus is coming from, but we do have our suspicions. It is now conceded, even by medical authorities, that many patients being admitted to hospitals are suffering from wrong diagnosis by doctors: prescribed drug poisonings, etc. But Big Brother knows best, and is irked that some of us prefer to administer our own "natural" medication by way of vitamin supplements and herbal remedies. Yes, there could be the rare case of herbal over dosage, or a herbal incompatibility with some prevailing medical condition; and these are blown up in the print media. The Australian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine opposes the "new" regulations under the Therapeutic Goods Act as they presently stand because they represent a severe curtailing of the freedom of the community to information and self-help in health care matters. The Government bureaucracy, of course, is saying that lay people are not qualified to assess the matter for themselves. One can argue about this till the cows come home! One can just as well argue whether or not the bureaucrats, many of them medical graduates, are themselves qualified to assess these issues, as none, or very few of them, have had any training at all in homeopathy, naturopathy, or herbal/vitamin therapy. We advise all supporters who are interested and concerned in these areas of health support to obtain a copy of the excellent 8 page newspaper, viz. Act Natural, available from health food stores, and most naturopaths, etc. There is an article, therein, by Dr. Ian Brighthope President of the Australian College of Nutritional Medicine, which should be read by everyone. We urge supporters to follow the action advice of this newspaper, printed on the back page (page 8). |
PARTIES SUFFER BY-ELECTION THRASHING The following article from David Thompson,
N.S.W. League Director The result will be of great concern to Mr. Greiner, even though it was a by-election, in which swings are often dramatic. However, the N.S.W. Parliament already has half a dozen independents, who make a strong contribution to the political debate. Such results will certainly encourage others. N.S.W. now has the distinction of being the highest-taxed State in the Commonwealth. Figures last year indicate that State and Local Government takes an average $1,544 from every living person which is a steep increase of 17% over the previous year. Car registrations are roughly 20% higher than any other State. Voters in The Hills obviously took the opportunity to register strong disapproval. The growing support for independent candidates - encouraged by the strong support - is an encouraging political force. DESTROYING RURAL AUSTRALIA CREATIVE MARKETING THE OIL SCANDAL As primary producers, battered by low commodity prices (the value of the 'floating' dollar is artificially inflated) taxes and interest rates, continue to leave their properties, supermarkets are stocking more and more imported fibres and foodstuffs. Last week the Federal Government formally decided to permit up to 17,000 tonnes of subsidised Canadian pig meat, irrespective of the possibility of the pork carrying transmissible gastroenteritis. There is something drastically wrong with the financial policies of a country that begs its political enemies to buy produce on generous credit, while producers struggle to compete with imported produce, subsidised by our political 'friends' like the U.S. It is financial policy, not lack of resources or ability that is destroying rural Australia. |
BRIEF COMMENTThe, ethnic communities lobby doesn't like the emphasis that the Fabian Socialists (yes of all people!) are putting on the teaching of English, and of course, Asian languages. We have always held that the European ethnics don't like the Fabians' Asianisation of Australia any more than do the Anglo-Celts; yes, the 75% of us (how dare we be 75% of the Australian population!). The Federation of Ethnic Community Councils wants all foreign languages to be equally, officially, encouraged. They grudgingly accept that English is Australia's central language that everyone has the "right" to learn. Jolly decent of them. |
THE FINAL SOLUTIONThis letter sent to the Editor of The Australian, 10/8 "An article by Frank Devine in The Australian (9/8) headed 'Nazi Trials - democracies' final solution', justifies war crimes trials 45 years after the end of W.W.II on the basis that those responsible for the terrible crimes of the Nazis must be prosecuted to restore trust in institutions and systems the Nazis tried to destroy. One aspect central to justice in the West is the rule of law. Jewish critics of the war crimes trials such as Frank Knopfelmacher, Robert Manne, and Mr. Justice Einfeld, have pointed out that the prosecution of alleged war criminals based on selective discriminatory, retrospective legislation is incompatible with the rule of law."Mr. Devine bases his belief that there was a plan to exterminate Jews on a dramatised movie account of the Wannsee Conference held on January 20th, 1942. It is not clear whether he has read the actual minutes of the Conference as presented at the Nuremberg trials or whether he relies on the soundtrack of the movie. In any event the minutes of the Conference which are reproduced in "The Auchwitz Myth", a book written by a retired German judge W. Staeglich (and which I have sent to Mr. Devine) do not mention any extermination policy but a policy of resettling Jews in the East. Writers who cite the Wannsee Conference as evidence of an extermination policy say that references to a 'final solution' by evacuation to the East was 'code' for extermination. Mr. Devine also seems to be unaware of a widespread debate among professional historians as to whether there was a policy to exterminate Jews, and of the lack of any evidence that Hitler ordered or even knew of a policy to exterminate Jews. "It is interesting that groups as diverse as the Red Cross, the leaders of the German resistance to Hitler, Allied Intelligence, and German Intelligence (including the British agent, Admiral Canaris, who headed German Intelligence) and those in charge of the German war economy, such as Albert Speer, were not aware of a plan to exterminate Jews. It would be unusual for a former Editor of The Australian, such as Mr. Devine, to use the soundtrack of a 'dramatised film' or docudrama as the basis for his claim about unique Nazi evil requiring the unique use of retrospective legislation in relation to crimes allegedly committed 45 years ago on another continent against non-Australians. "(Crimes committed by the Japanese against Australians are ignored by the Hawke Government.)" (John Bennett, President, Australian Civil Liberties Union) |
V.C.E. IS A TOOL OF THE LEFT"My concern is to bring to the urgent attention of parents and all others interested in education, the hidden socio-political agenda of the architects of the V.C.E. "For the past 20 years the Left wing teacher unions in Australia have worked to shape the curriculum of our schools on the principle that control of what children are taught in school shapes the future values and beliefs of the next generation. In other words, socio-political indoctrination. "This principle, a development of the ideas of the Italian communist, Antonio Gramsci, has been likened to the Maoist concept of guerrilla war, and called 'the long march through the institutions'. "The Left is to use its influence in the unions to press for control of the curriculum to be removed from the universities (on grounds that it is too academic) and put into the hands of the teachers and the State Education Department (controlled by the Socialist Left in Victoria). ''The major curriculum 'reforms' in Victoria have been introduced by Mr. Bill Hannan, a former leader of the Victorian Secondary Teachers' Association, who is now overseeing the introduction of the new V.C.E. "Mr. Hannan, writing in the 'Australian Teacher', September, 1983, showed he was no stranger to Gramsci's ideals when he lauded the type of education which produces results, 'which Gramsci would have supported'. "The 'long march' has finally reached fruition in Victoria through the V.C.E." (V. Mansour, Fawkner, Vic.), The Sun (Melbourne), 30/8 |
V.C.E. IS AN ISSUE FOR ALL THE COMMUNITY"Hedley Beare has claimed (The Age, 28/8) that the Victorian Certificate of Education should be immune from criticism. This is an attitude held by many of the V.C.E. faithful, and it is plainly wrong. "It is precisely because education is so important that the V.C.E. should be rigorously challenged and questioned in public - that is the essence of democracy. "The V.C.E. is an issue for the community. If there is nothing to hide discussion can only increase confidence in an unknown certificate. "Education no more belongs to the educationalists than the economy belongs to the economists. "It is Mrs. Kirner and the Socialist Left who made education political, by capturing it for ideological purposes. "The interests of those who use education, parents and children, are not represented through the education professionals, despite what they like to think. "Our choice is stark; do we let sectional interests control the agenda, as Hedley Beare would have us do, or do we assure that mainstream community values are represented in the education debate?" (Don Hayward, State (Vic.) Opposition Spokesman on Education) |