Australian lefties invite Chávez to Australia

[camsmith]

Dear President Chávez,

We, the undersigned citizens of Australia, would like to extend a warm invitation for you to visit our country. We have watched developments in Venezuela with great interest. We have been impressed by the great effort that your government has taken to improve the living standards of the majority of Venezuelans. We have also noted with keen attention the moves that your government has begun to make to create a society based on popular participation in all spheres of society—from the workplace up to the national government.
Although we are on the opposite side of the globe we feel that our shared ideals of social justice and democracy bring us close together. Every country has its own traditions and culture and has to find its own solutions, but what Venezuela has been able to achieve in so little time will be a source of inspiration and ideas for many in Australia.

In this light we believe that a visit to our country by yourself would not only help to improve the awareness of the Australian people of developments in Venezuela, but also be an unparalleled opportunity to strengthen the ties of friendship and solidarity between our two peoples.

Signatories to invite Chavez to Australia:

Andrew Ferguson NSW Secretary, CFMEU Construction and General Division
Angela Briant - Secretary Independent Education Union (Tasmania)
Antony Loewenstein - Independent Journalist
Brendan Hewson - President, Community & Public Sector Union /CSA
Caroline Risely - Monash University Welfare Officer
Carolyn Smith - Childcare Union Assistant Secretary, WA Liqor Hospitality Miscellaneous workers Union
Casper Cumming - Swinborne Student Union President
Charlotte Boss-Walker -Peace Activist (Tas)
Chris Game - Secretary, NTEU NSW,
Clare Ozich - Industrial Officer, Unions WA
Craig Bulley - Worker's Radio
Craig Johnson - Cultural Studies, Macquarie University.
Darren Mathewson - director of Organising CPSU
Dave Robinson - Secretary, Unions WA
David O'Bearne - Secretary LHMU (Tas)
Deb Foskey - Greens Member of the Legislative Assembly (ACT)
******** Nichols - National Co-ordinator, Socialist Alliance
Doreen Shenman - Peace Activist (Tas)
Dr Alastair Grieg Senior Lecturer, Australian National University: Faculty of Arts
Dr Coral Wynter - biochemist, Brisbane
Dr Rhonda Forrest - Lecturer, Charles Sturt University
Federico Fuentes - National Co-ordinator, Resistance socialist youth organisation
Gavin Marshall - Senator (Victoria)
Gil Anderson - Secretary ACT Branch LHMU
Graham Pallot - organiser, CFMEU WA
Ian Bray - WA assistant branch secretary, Maritime Union of Australia WA
Ian Newman - Peace Activist (Tas)
Jack Mundey - Environmentalist
Jakalene X - Indigenous community activist
Jenni Bond - Peace Activist (Tas)
Jenny Forward - Organiser CPSU (Tasmania)
Jim McIlroy - journalist, Brisbane
Jim Mellor - Communications/Projects, CFMEU WA
Jim Reid - organiser, CFMEU WA
Joe McDonald - Assistant Secretary, CFMEU WA
Joel Asphar - AMWU WA Organiser
John Pilger - Independent Journalist
Jose Munoz - Organiser ACT Branch LHMU
Judith Pabian - President ACT Branch NTEU
Keith Peckham - Industrial development officer, UnionsWA
Kerry Nettle - Australian Greens Senator for NSW
Kerryn Williams - Editor, Green Left Weekly
Kevin Ennor - organiser, CFMEU WA
Keysar Trad - Islamic Friendship Association
Kiraz Janicke - National Co-ordinating Committee Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network
Lee Rhiannon - Member of the Legislative Council NSW (Greens)
Len Palmer - Lecturer, Charles Sturt University
Linda Briskman - Professor, Curtin Centre for Human Rights Education
Linda Seaborn - Delegate HACSU
Lisa MacDonald - National Co-ordinating Committee Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network
Mathew Chuk - General Secretary, National Union of Students 2007
Megan Clement - Newcastle University Students Association, Education Officer 2006
Meredith Burgmann - President of the Legislative Council of NSW
Mick Baker - MUA WA organiser
Mick Buchan - Organiser, CFMEU WA
Mick Campion - President, NTEU Murdoch Univeristy Branch
Naomi Arrowsmith - Australian Services Union, Assistant State Secretary (NSW)
Natasha Stott-Despoja - SA Australian Democrats Senator
Neil Mudford - Secretary ACT Branch NTEU
Paul Halfpenny - WA Organiser, NTEU
Paul Obohoov - Trade Union Voices Choir, ACTU
Phillip Adams - Journalist, Republican of the Year 2005
Raul Bassi - Transport Workers Union delegate, Sydney
Reverend Alex Gator
Robyn Francis -Permaculture Education, Erda Institute Inc
Saeb Ali - Peace For Lebanon (Wollongong)
Sam Watson - Indigenous Murri Activist
Scott Poynting - Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Education, UWS
Shelley Watson-Harris - Executive Officer, Unions WA
Simon Cocker - Secretary, Unions Tasmania
Steve Dargavel - Acting State Secretary, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Victoria.
Steve McCartney - State President, AMWU WA
Steven Arditto - Organiser CPSU (Tasmania)
Susan Price - UNSW National Tertiary Education Union, Branch President
Sylvia Hale - Member of the Legislative Council NSW (Greens)
Thirza White - Campaign Coordinator UnionsWA
Tim Anderson - Lecturer, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney
Tim Gooden - Geelong Trades Hall Secretary
Vinnie Molina Organiser, CFMEU WA
Warren Mundine - National President of the ALP in 2006
Warren Smith - Assistant Sydney Branch Secretary, Maritime Union of Australia
Wayne Berry - MLA (ALP) Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly
Wendy Jopson - Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney
Yvette Berry - Organiser ACT Branch LHMU
Peter Ross - Senior Lecturer, latin American Studies, UNSW

(In bold, interesting...)

 

[camsmith]

Left's new saint no angel
GREG BARNS
January 22, 2007 12:00am

HUGO Chavez is the new pin-up boy of the hard Left. The Venezuelan President, elected to office in 1998, is lauded because he stands up to the Bush administration and is keen on turning his oil-rich country into a socialist "paradise". He is an unashamed admirer of Cuba's ailing demagogue, Fidel Castro.

A group of Australian politicians and unionists recently sent a letter to President Chavez urging him to visit Australia. The list of signatories includes the Green senator from New South Wales, Kerry Nettle, and her New South Wales state parliamentary colleagues, and a range of trade unionists and academics.

The letter is a dreadful forelock-tugging exercise. "We, the undersigned citizens of Australia," it pompously begins, "would like to extend a warm invitation for you to visit our country. We have watched developments in Venezuela with great interest. We have been impressed by the great effort that your government has taken to improve the living standards of the majority of Venezuelans ..." And on it goes, nauseating stuff and dead wrong to boot.

Hugo Chavez is no great advocate of freedom and democracy, nor is he the economic saviour of Venezuela that some starry-eyed leftists like to believe.

In the lead-up to December's election, which was won handsomely and, most say, fairly by President Chavez, Amnesty International published a letter to candidates. Its assessment of the human rights situation in Chavez's Venezuela makes chilling reading.

Amnesty asserts that "It is common knowledge that the majority of human rights violations committed by the security forces, including ill-treatment and torture, followed by death and extrajudicial executions, are not investigated with due diligence, much less punished and the victims compensated. Figures published by the Ministerio Publico (Public Prosecutor's Office) show that between (the years) 2000 and 2005, of the 6034 officials allegedly involved in cases of human rights violations, only 531 (8.8 per cent) were charged and only 87 (1.44 per cent) convicted."

Amnesty is not alone in its bleak assessment of the state of human rights in Chavez's Venezuela. The widely respected independent watchdog Human Rights Watch, in its World Report released on January 11, observed that "After repeatedly winning elections and referendums, and surviving a coup d'etat in 2002, President Chavez and his supporters have sought to consolidate power by undermining the independence of the judiciary and the press, institutions that are essential for promoting the protection of human rights".

Human Rights Watch chronicles a sorry tale of Chavez's bullying of the media and the courts and the appalling conditions in Venezuela's prisons. In March 2005 President Chavez and his allies passed amendments to the Criminal Code that "extended the scope of Venezuela's desacato (disrespect) laws, and increased penalties for desacato, criminal defamation and libel", according to HRW.

No doubt those on the hard Left in Tasmania who have fulminated against Gunns for litigating against activists and protesters will be busy drafting emails of outrage to send to the Venezuelan Government.

And what of the oft-cited claim that President Chavez is reducing the gap between rich and poor in Venezuela? Here the evidence is mixed. There is no doubt that income inequality has been reduced during the Chavez years. The Gini coefficient for Venezuela, a commonly used measure of income equality -- zero is perfect income equality and 10 is perfect income inequality -- has reduced from over seven to five in the past decade.

But the reason for the reduction in income equality has primarily been record oil prices. Around 80-90 per cent of Venezuela's export earnings come from oil; the country is the world's fifth-largest oil producer.

But while the poor have been beneficiaries of President Chavez's oil-stained handouts, the reality is that the number of people who are classified "poor" has risen during the Chavez years, although President Chavez doesn't want you to know that. As the Financial Times reported on May 10 last year, "Venezuela's National Statistics Institute said 53 per cent of the population lived in poverty at the end of 2004, 9.2 points higher than in early 1999, at the start of the Chavez Government. Irked by the numbers, the president ordered a change in INE's `methodology'. Shortly after, it announced that, in mid-2005, only 39.5 per cent of people lived in poverty -- a 14.5-point `improvement' in a few months."

When it comes to human rights, respect for liberal democracy and economic growth, Hugo Chavez is a dud. He is as odious as US President George W. Bush, or even this country's Prime Minister, John Howard, but for different reasons.

If you believe in genuine liberal ideals, you should abhor Chavez on the Left and Howard and Bush on the Right in equal measure. To fail to do so is to be a hypocrite.

 

[camsmith]

Isn't this another example of the left not staying true to their ideals? Aren't they about free, peaceful democracy?

The Greens shout down democratically elected Bush when he comes to Australia, yet go out of their way to invite this piece of rubbish who is going about destroying democracy. Since when have the left favoured tyranny and extremism over freedom and democracy?

 

[- PC -]

Re: Australian RRighties invite Cheney to Australia

Here is a list

John Winston Howard Arse licker and Prime Minister

 

[- PC -]

Isn't this another example of the left not staying true to their ideals? Aren't they about free, peaceful democracy?

The Greens shout down democratically elected Bush when he comes to Australia, yet go out of their way to invite this piece of rubbish who is going about destroying democracy. Since when have the left favoured tyranny and extremism over freedom and democracy?

Not into Chavez so take it as read. The Libs can shout at Chavez as well. Thats democracy Cam

 

[CharlieG]

You missed Gavin Marshall. ALP Senator for Victoria.

I have no love for Chavez and will probably attend any rallies in opposition to his visit should he a) come here and b) there are actually rallies organised.

Why should we be any more opposed to Chavez' visit than Cheney's, though?

 

[- PC -]

[In the lead-up to December's election, which was won handsomely and, most say, fairly by President Chavez,

If you believe in genuine liberal ideals, you should abhor Chavez on the Left and Howard and Bush on the Right in equal measure. To fail to do so is to be a hypocrite.

So he wins ''handsomely and fairly'' yet you now dont support the will of the people but do GWBs?

To fail to do so is to be a hypocrite

 

[AndSmithMustScore]

I'll be waiting in the grassy knoll.

 

[jimmy.h]

Isn't this another example of the left not staying true to their ideals? Aren't they about free, peaceful democracy?

The Greens shout down democratically elected Bush when he comes to Australia, yet go out of their way to invite this piece of rubbish who is going about destroying democracy. Since when have the left favoured tyranny and extremism over freedom and democracy?

But the right condoning atrocities in Latin America is acceptable?

 

[Captain Sensible]

Why are they listed alphabetically by their first name?

 

[camsmith]

So he wins ''handsomely and fairly'' yet you now dont support the will of the people but do GWBs?

To fail to do so is to be a hypocrite

The opposition boycotted (stupidly) so it wasn't it doubt. Its what he has said and done after the election that worries me.

Also - "President Chavez and his supporters have sought to consolidate power by undermining the independence of the judiciary and the press, institutions that are essential for promoting the protection of human rights"

Not something i support.

 

[- PC -]

The opposition boycotted (stupidly) so it wasn't it doubt. Its what he has said and done after the election that worries me.

Also - "President Chavez and his supporters have sought to consolidate power by undermining the independence of the judiciary and the press, institutions that are essential for promoting the protection of human rights"

Not something i support.

So you dont support Bush then?

 

[camsmith]

You missed Gavin Marshall. ALP Senator for Victoria.

I have no love for Chavez and will probably attend any rallies in opposition to his visit should he a) come here and b) there are actually rallies organised.

Why should we be any more opposed to Chavez' visit than Cheney's, though?

I probably missed a few... I was surprised Natasha Stott-Despoja was on the list.

You must be a true lefty then, good.

On Cheney (forgot about his visit..Are you going to protest that ?) read my post above.

 

[camsmith]

Why are they listed alphabetically by their first name?

Dunno, ask the commies that... i only got it off their website.

 

[camsmith]

So you dont support Bush then?

When has Bush gone about silencing the press?

 

[Freo Big Fella]

The opposition boycotted (stupidly) so it wasn't it doubt. Its what he has said and done after the election that worries me.

Also - "President Chavez and his supporters have sought to consolidate power by undermining the independence of the judiciary and the press, institutions that are essential for promoting the protection of human rights"

Not something i support.

You supported Reagans funding of people who did the exact same thing in Latin America.

Considering your ideologically blinded support of the Iraq war, I'd take it that you supported Bush's plan to bomb the Al-Jazeera headquarters in Qatar.

You support military-biased kangaroo courts for trying Guantanamo detainees.

I'm no fan of Chavez, but such hypocrisy robs you of any right to criticise his supporters.

 

[- PC -]

When has Bush gone about silencing the press?

Lets not take this into a GWB thread but I will post these 2 links and snippets and say no more

President Chavez and his supporters have sought to consolidate power by undermining the independence of the judiciary

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution

The press

I seem to recall discussion on here and in the US about GWB calling in the publishers of NY Times and the Washington Post found it

President Bush has been summoning newspaper editors lately in an effort to prevent publication of stories he considers damaging to national security.



The admission by two columnists that they accepted payments from indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff may be the tip of a large and rather dirty iceberg.

 

[evo]

Pretty good article by Greg Barnes.

Send him over to the mainland to write.

 

[Captain Sensible]

Dunno, ask the commies that... i only got it off their website.

But I dont know any commies.


I'll ask the next international socialist who waves their newsletter at me instead.

 

[Richo83]

Oh god. This is a good idea, invite all the future dictators of the world in for some fresh ideas.

Sometimes I think sections of the left want to stay out of power. He's a nutcase you fools!

The phone-tapping incident is one example of Bush trying to quash freedom of speech and press. Chavez is an idiot but so is Bush. Invite one, invite the other. The solution is to just invite neither.

 

[Corpuscles]

Dear Pres Chavez

I note with interest a recent invitation from free citizens of Australia to invite and urge you to visit Australia.

I recommend that you please delay any such visit until after the upcoming Australian Federal election to occur heree in the next 12 months.

After that time it will be clearly apparent that the majority of Australian citizens do not support aggressive false warfare as a disguise and ruse for controling Oil reserves, and very apparent to you that we also have no intention of either stealing Venezuala's Oil or excercising undue influence over any other soverign country. Also you will then note that important political discussions via diplomacy will focus on the positive aspects of how our countries might work to achieve significant and long lasting effects on the global environment, in a IR environment that is worthy of the 21st century!

Further any visit prior to this time would merely add some fuel to the still glowing but rapidly fading ember of the current conservative Australian political emcumbants lead by the most famous rodent in history "Johnny Dubya Howard". I am sure you would not like to give such devious political creatures any opportunity to further divert attention away from their failed responsibilites.

Sadly you will likely therefore miss out on the opportunity of meeting that parties chief cheerleader "Camsmith"... sad he looks such a treat in his mini skirt and pom poms!... but they will squip and shirk the issue ... once their power structure is dismantled.

Oh... make sure you scrub up and clean up your act before you intend to set foot on the greatest country on the planet.

Regards
Corp

 

[AndSmithMustScore]