INSURANCE OUT OF REACH OF INCREASING NUMBERS?

by Jeremy Lee
All over Australia local communities are finding it impossible to keep local amenities going because insurance costs have soared following the collapse of HIH.. But its not just the poor and lowly. The legal profession is reeling. Thousands of barristers face life without indemnity insurance after July 1st, although it is illegal to practice without cover. Suncorp Metway has withdrawn from the professional indemnity market.

The Australian Financial Review (15/3/02) reported: " .... Sources suggest that Suncorp Metway's withdrawal will cause premiums to skyrocket, possibly even trebling in price....."

Another report in the same issue said: "Small businesses and community organizations are unable to afford public liability cover, the country's largest medical indemnity company appears on the brink of collapse and nobody seems to want to write builders' warranty ...."

The problems afflicting the insurance sector relate to its efforts to stop bleeding red ink, the growing culture of litigation, increasing court awards for personal injury and the September 11 terrorist attacks - not to mention HIH's demise ...." Andrew White, in The Australian (15/3/02), gave a few examples:
"In the Snowy Mountains town of Mansfield yesterday, business came to a standstill - tourism operators, cafes, even the local hospital were under threat. The June renewal deadline for public liability insurance is fast approaching and dozens of the town's businesses face closure due to the massive increases in premiums. They can't afford to operate without insurance and they can't afford the premiums either....."

Hundreds of communities Australia-wide have similar stories. What we want is a company to insure us against high premiums, depressions, headache and "things that go 'bump' in the night!"

CAMP OF THE SAINTS?

SHIFT ON MIDDLE EAST REALITIES

The nightly scenes on television in which Palestinian suicide bombers destroy themselves against the colossally-armed Israelis, while their homes and means of living are destroyed all around them cannot fail to impress themselves on millions of watchers round the world. The attempts by the Sharon Government to portray itself as the 'goody' against the Palestinian terrorists are proving no more effective than those of President Bush.

There is a shift from the fervent emotion that followed September 11th right round the world. The shift exists in Israel itself, and the first articles in the mainstream media are offering a more balanced picture. An article syndicated from France's Le Monde, carried in The Weekend Australian (16-17/3/02) was eloquent testimony to this shift. It dealt with the growing revulsion in Israel at the cruelty of Sharon's war against the Palestinians.

For example, it gave details of the declaration by 194 army reservists, giving notice that they were not prepared to serve in the Occupied Territories. They made their public declaration despite threats of disciplinary action. It carried news of the declaration by 15 Israeli lawyers demanding action against those who killed Palestinians without justification, or brutalised Palestinian civilians at check-points. One protester said that he had been called an "anti-semitic Jew" for speaking out; but was now finding even government ministers expressing their unease.

At a meeting in Tel Aviv to denounce Israeli war-crimes, Reserve General Dov Tamari was on the platform. On January 28th the Speaker of the Knesset, Avraham Borg, declared "The occupation corrupts: more precisely, it has corrupted us. Discrimination has become our standard and insensitivity a way of being."

Significantly, many Israelis now believe, rightly or wrongly, that the current war is a defence of the hundreds of Jewish settlements built in the Occupied Territories. Judge Michael Ben-Yair, former legal adviser to the Rabin government, has said: "Israel will be judged by history and perhaps before then by the Hague". He was referring to the International Court of Justice. Such a statement must send a chill down the spine of Ariel Sharon, who has already been indicted by a Belgian Court for the war crimes committed at Sabra and Shatila during the war against Lebanon.

BRUTAL, DESTRUCTIVE MODERNISM

WHAT WE SOW IS WHAT WE WILL REAP

by Betty Luks
The western-world leaders seem to think they can continue to impose their unrealistic ideology on the crumbling foundational structures around them; building their 'new world order', and incredibly, think they can do so with impunity. Their 'new world order' is a world of glaring injustice, widespread poverty, fragmentation and disintegration; with the world's poor consigned to a life of disease and suffering and despair, all in the interests of a narrow sector of privilege and power. It won't last.

What is the difference between what is happening in the world of today and what happened in the world of the Roman Empire? (Which, we should remember, collapsed from within.) William Barclay, Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow, wrote of those times.

"There is a sin which the Greeks called hubris. Hubris is that arrogance born of wealth and prosperity and success, which comes to feel that it has no need of God." He tells us descriptions of the wantonness, gluttony and wastefulness of the privileged few in the crumbling Roman society can be found in the work of Seutonius and Tacitus. Both were Romans citizens who were appalled by the things they were writing about. In the first century AD, the world was pouring its riches and treasures into the lap of Rome. The long peace, the safety of the seas, the freedom of trade (and the policies of the moneylenders), had made Rome the entrepot for the peculiar products and delicacies of every land from the British Channel to the Ganges. It would seem to those who did not know any difference, the whole world's reason for existence was to supply the real wealth and work for the sake of, for the indulgence and the comfort of, the ruling elite in Rome. They ruled and controlled through the social instruments, such as the financial, commercial and military institutions, etc. - just as happens today.

"With what measure you measure, it will be measured to you."
In the Sermon on the Mount we are warned of the law. If our actions have involved the cruel, arrogant treatment of our fellowmen, we will come up against the law, the same measure will be measured to us - we will reap the fruits, the results of the treatment we have meted out. By our actions, our behaviour, whether that of a man or a nation, we are working out our own judgement. The judgement may not come in a way we expect, but come it will - unless...

G.K.Chesterton put it another way to help us understand
"The plight of the world is the hope of the world." That is, we can change the direction in which we are headed, change our behaviour and right the wrongs we have committed - if we want to have peace and harmony within ourselves and within and among the nation/s.

The push by the centralist Howard government to restrict our freedoms by the proposed anti-terrorism legislation can be better understood in the light of their earlier acts of hubris. They think they can avoid 'the same measure being meted out to them' by legislating for further oppressive powers to protect themselves. What makes these people think governments are not subject to the same moral laws as the rest of us - we mere mortals? The history of the British peoples can only be understood in terms of their constant striving to limit, divide and balance power and make accountable all those who wield it.
"He who would be greatest must be the servant of all."
Another absolute.

OIL 'WEALTH' AND LIVING STANDARDS

The Arab oil wealth of late has meant practically nothing in terms of achieving a better standard of living for the 'man in the street', according to the Asia Times (c)2002 Online. The Arab countries' combined gross domestic product (GDP) was US$440 billion in 1980. It was about $730 billion in 2001. The annual growth rate was about 2 percent - with an average inflation of about 3 percent. So real GDP growth was actually negative. The average real GDP growth globally was 3 percent in these two decades.
The Arab countries' population in 1980 was 140 million. It was 285 million in 2001. So per capita income has also declined. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, it fell from $25,000 in 1988 to $8,500 in 2001. Trade has not provided a solution.

The Arab Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) has existed since 1998, with 14 member countries. Total exports of the Arab world in 2000 - including oil - were $243 billion: this is less than the combined exports of Hong Kong and Singapore ($250 billion in 2000). Inter-Arab trade was only $33.5 billion in 2000, only 8.6 percent of the total. Excluding oil and minerals, inter-Arab trade is only 16 percent of the total.

NINE MEASURES OF WEALTH FOR ROME - ONE FOR THE REST

Writing of that period, William Barclay (Daily Study Bible: Revelation 18) had this to say:
"There is a saying in the Talmud that ten measures of wealth came down into the world, and that Rome received nine of them and all the rest of the world only one." What is the difference in effect to what is happening today?

It has been estimated that in this present day seven percent of the world's population possesses and enjoys 94 percent of the world's wealth. Do we really think the third world cannot see the wealth of the world flowing to the western world? The industrial/military/financial elite and their hangers-on, Australia's included, scour the earth for the untapped wealth and natural resources of other nations and use the slave labour of the third world nations to produce the goods. What they cannot control by questionable commercial means, they will attempt to control by military means, solemnly declaring their actions are directed towards 'a war on terrorism'.

THE REALITY BEHIND THE 'NEWS'

As you read the following media report from Argentina, ask yourself some searching questions. What is the true situation in Argentina? Are the people going through such a desperate situation because there is no food in the country? Is there a genuine shortage of the necessities of life - or is the real problem something else - such as a lack of purchasing power? A man-made symbol - MONEY?

Argentina - images of a shipwrecked nation by Marcela Valente (taken from internet)
BUENOS AIRES - The sinking of Argentina is leading impoverished women and men to take desperate measures, selling their hair or blood, jumping on an overturned cattle truck to butcher the animals on the spot, or taking money to hold a place in a queue outside a bank all night long. These cases, which occurred within the past week, have traits in common. They involve desperate, spontaneous, improvised and massive reactions that are caused by the basic need to obtain food. In December, the same necessity led crowds to plunder supermarkets. (The article is not saying there is no food.)

An owner of a wig factory in Rosario, in the northeastern province of Santa Fe, commented in a radio interview that the devaluation of the Argentine peso had made imports too expensive and his company could no longer purchase the materials needed to create artificial hairpieces. His solution was to announce the purchase of human hair. The public's reaction went far beyond what Beauty Centre's proprietors ever imagined. Entire families arrived, some had traveled 30 kilometers on bicycle with their children. Each person left with P10-15 (US$3-$5). Some 400 people showed up in two days. One man said he was selling his hair "in order to make the payment" on the car he bought recently. (A car? No shortage of production?)

The selling of hair and blood
Payment was P300 (about $100) per kilo of hair. But nobody could offer much more than 30 grams. Though it was not the intention, the company purchased in two days enough material to manufacture wigs throughout the next year. Most of the wigs are sold to people who lose hair as a result of chemotherapy. "We paid for hair that was of poor quality, that we knew we would throw out, but we did it because the people were desperate. The said they didn't have money to buy food, and they offered us the hair of each of their children. They were even willing to let us cut it just like that, but we hired a stylist," the owner said. (The people didn't have MONEY to buy food?)

Argentina's economic recession began nearly four years ago and continues to deepen. Poverty has increased dramatically, and now affects 44 percent of the population of 37 million, according to official figures. Unemployment stands at 24 percent of the workforce, according to private studies. The currency devaluation that began in January led to a price rise for the basic monthly family food basket, while salaries dropped for those who still have jobs. Purchasing power has been reduced for everyone, but the hardest hit are those who receive the meagre government subsidy for unemployed heads of household.

Many of the unemployed are offering to hold a place in the long lines for customers who are waiting to purchase dollars, sold at regulated rates and in limited amounts by banks and exchange houses. The price for this service ranges from P15-100, depending on the place in the queue and the fluctuations in the currency market. Thirteen percent of the people standing in the long lines - some extending 600 metres - admitted to the IBOPE polling firm that they were holding a place for someone else. One man who was among the first in the queue outside the state-owned Banco Nacion said he had been there all night and had already received partial payment from the client for whom he was saving a place in line. ..."Once I get paid, I am going to donate blood. They offered P15," he said. The woman paying him to hold a place in the line for her until the bank opened had told him she had to accompany a hospitalised family member.

The communications media highlight such episodes as a new manifestation of the social crisis that three months ago meant supermarket looting and violent street demonstrations, with a death toll of 30. That wave of social unrest precipitated the resignation of president Fernando de la Rua on December 20th. A Buenos Aires radio station on Tuesday telephoned economist Marcelo Lascano, adviser to multilateral financial organizations, to ask him about the lack of confidence in the peso. Lascano responded with another question: "And what do you think about people brutally killing animals to eat them?" (One wonders what this well-fed sanctimonious Pharisee would have done if he was one of the starving?)

While the ambulance personnel and the police worked to clear the accident, the people gathered asked permission to put the animals out of their misery and to butcher them for their meat. The cattle, which had been on their way to a meat-packing plant, were handed over after some arguments and shoving. Some 400 men and women went to work, with three to five people cutting up each animal. "There are 30 in my family and none of the men work," said a desperate-sounding woman, whose clothes were bloodied by the butchery.

One young man aimed his criticism at Argentina's political leaders, who he said have failed to provide the solutions demanded by the crisis. "They live well and eat well, they don't have any problems. Meanwhile, we are dying of hunger, but we help each other and are going to share all of this," he said, pointing to the butchered cattle. (The hunger has not been brought about because of natural drought-causing famine. The situation is man-made. There is no mention the country cannot produce enough food!)

Residents of Dean Funes, a town in the central province of Cordoba, gathered on Wednesday outside a supermarket and retail center to ask for food, while several guards stood outside the building. The shops closed their doors and handed out bags of food to appease the crowd. (Are we to understand the store would have, could have, provided the food if the people had the purchasing power?)

Marta Martinez, a middle-class retiree, 75, said she has never experienced a crisis like the one afflicting Argentina today. She said she was not talking about her personal situation, but about the distressing cases she sees around her and the numerous families who do not have the basic necessities to survive.

The preference for money in terms of personal advancement
No wonder we were told the love of money, i.e., the preference for money in terms of personal advancement, is the root of all kinds of evil! The ruling elite in Argentina have made choices, and implemented policies, in terms of their own personal advancement. Their choices and policies have brought destitution and starvation to their own people.

ADELAIDE CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS' CLUB

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

THE LAUNCHING OF AUSTRALIAN-WOMEN-ON-LINE

by Betty Luks
Broadly, the idea is this
The League will provide a website service for all interested individuals and groups to list the name of their group, the issue or subject with which they are interested/concerned, and a contact number or address. The different groups/issues will be listed alphabetically - just like a telephone directory. It is then up to likeminded women to make direct contact with the individual/group with a view to the sharing of ideas, strategies, knowledge and support. Notice Board: There will also be a Notice Board where issues, ideas, strategies etc, will be discussed. Information and/or further reading, will be suggested for particular issues or subjects. The League will provide as much service and educational back-up as possible. It will be up to each person/group to make their own contact with the individuals/groups listed and thus set up, or expand, their own network.The League's concept of Australian-Women-On-Line (AWOL) is based on the principles of service and education - NOT CONTROL.

WE ASK JUST ONE THING
We ask just one thing of the women and that is that they join in with others of like mind to present and promote a Conditions Letter to their local, state and federal political representatives aimed at changing the direction of this nation and helping to restore relationships within families, communities and the nation. The concept will be outlined further in coming editions of On Target. For those who think the service could be of use to them, register your interest by writing to Australian Women On Line, PO Box 27, Happy Valley, SA, 5159, or faxing (08) 8322 8665.