There are 8.9 million workers in Australia? Together with the unemployed, students, and pensioners (ex-workers) they make up the vast majority of society. In the past three years companies 'donated' $29 million to the major political parties, 23% going to the ALP. He who pays the piper, picks the tune.

Ex-NSW ALP heavy Rod Cavalier has described the ALP factions as "two competing executive placement agencies." In the past they might "secure employment as an attendant at the Sydney Cricket Ground, now you might be looking for an introduction to the Dresdner Bank."

"We should not be apologists for wealth creation." The rich "should speak out loudly for the values of entrepreneurship, risk-taking and profitability." Peter Reith

The Australian newspaper showed that between 1982 and 1996-97 the rich got rich and the poor got poorer. The top earnings bracket doubled in number to over 1 million while the bottom bracket also doubled to over 1.1 million. The number of workers in the middle income bracket dropped by 12%, with some moving up and some moving down.

Immigration Minister, Phil Ruddock, went on National TV at the time of the uprising of over 600 refugees from their detention centers in the desert at Woomera and Port Headland to brand the refugees a class of "criminals", and claim that they were "queue-jumpers" who were violating "state's rights".

Ruddock has also promised that the Australian Government will seek to remove certain provisions of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, itself a badly enforced international law which was only passed under the greatest reluctance by the UN. At first, it was put in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."

This is what revolutionary socialists would agree with - equality and freedom of movement. But this proved too difficult for global capitalism, hence the passage a few years later of the Refugee Convention, which strictly delimited the rights of refugees and placed upon them the onus of proof - a so-called "well-founded fear of persecution" needed to justify claims for asylum. Even this is too much for the capitalist class, who seek further legal measures to strip away from workers their right to free movement internationally.

Ruddock, a man who has already been told to remove his Amnesty International badge when he appears in public, is lying. Really, he isn't interested in a humane immigration policy, but is changing the law to match the government's assimilationist desires. Already he has introduced legislation before Parliament to strip away the Refugees right of appeal against deportation orders, and has promised longer periods of detention. In fact, it would be cheaper to accomodate refugees outside of detention.

Last Month, Iraq was invaded by Turkey and large numbers of Kurds were rendered homeless or under threat of exile. And yet around the world, as reported by Amnesty International in their 1999 annual report, there are moves afoot to limit the rights of refugees and to further tighten the category of "illegal" immigrants.

So Ruddock and the Howard Government have a hidden agenda. It's the agenda of the capitalist class, cloaked with the official language of "state's rights". We have not seen the end of their racist drivel - a national advertising campaign to be exported around the world, but significantly unlikely to be seen by anyone qualifying as a refugee, promises "crocodile attacks" and "sharks" to anyone the capitalists say are "illegal" immigrants arriving on our shores.

The real criminals were exposed by Four Corners earlier this year, when the so-called "free press" were for once, allowed access to the hidden conditions under which asylum-keepers are kept. They reported on secret deportation air-flights, and racial segregation between women and children. They spoke of drugs being forcibly administered to "trouble-makers" within the detention centers, and of beatings and harrassment from guards within the detention center.

The revolutionary opposition to this situation is from workers themselves organising on a mass scale. It won't come from the badly under-funded UN High Commission on Refugees, it won't come from the capitalist parties in opposition, in spite of their promises. All we will get from them is dithering and periods of reformism. It can only really end with an international revolution, which puts into place laws reflecting the equal rights of workers internationally.

In the meantime, what we need is not Ruddock's assimilationist approach to multiculturalism, (the "White Australia Policy" in disguise), but a humane immigration policy which eliminates the second-class status of refugees and gives them equality and dignity. It should recongise the rights of "stateless persons" to appeal deportation orders and ensure non-government organisations like the Refugee Council of Australia have the right to monitor the conditions under which the refugees are kept and provide them with proper legal representation.

That's what's really up for debate - not the criminalisation of the poor and homeless - but the purpose and intent of the immigration policy of the Howard Government, which as it stands can only foster resentment and fear amongst those unfortunate enough to be seeking asylum.

By Denise Dudley

The Community Campaign for Heroin Reform (CCHR) has been really busy this month. A few weeks ago some of us attended a meeting in Footscray which was organised by Footscray Matters, who are opposed to Safe Injecting Facilities (SIF's).

The meeting was a complete disgrace. Anyone for SIF's who tried to speak were booed off stage and abused. Open Family were actually accused of wanting people to take heroin! The key speakers were Normie Rowe and our favourite-Peter Faris. After the disappointment of this meeting, we have decided to organise a formal debate where we will have a chance to speak. Peter Faris has been invited. We plan to hold it in early August. We'll have more information soon.

CCHR is also holding a Politics in the Pub night at the Comrades Bar in Swanston St, Carlton on the 26th of July at 7.30pm. We are asking any group or individuals interested to come along. We hope to form an Alliance group to push for safe injecting facilities. The night will consist of a general discussion on the topic and then the formalisation of the Alliance.

Our petitions are currently being counted and we hope to have a handover in the near future. Our film night last month was a huge success. It was great to see some old and new faces. Thank you to the Westgarth Theatre and all those who attended. A special thank you to the Bouyancy Foundation for their recent donation to the campaign.

Our next monthly rally is on the 7th of July at 5.30pm at Melbourne Town Hall. Come and show your support. For any info you can phone Jim on 9489 4757 or Denise on 9489 8103 (Monday to Friday after 4.30pm only).

Over the month of June the Socialist Party has experienced a welcome increase in Fighing Fund donations at its stalls and paper sales and from individual supporters. In Melbourne $588.25 was collected through branch activities over the month (not including members' subs) and Perth and Sydney have both seen huge paper sale and/or Fighting Fund increases. In Melbourne $300 of the money was raised over three days on three stalls in late June.

The trip of two National Committee members to the CWI World School in Belgium has necessitated much extra fund raising. So far a marvellous $2,265 so far with a social, raffle and auction still to come. Special thanks to the public servant supporter who raised money in his workplace, building workers Nigel, Mick and Jimmy for their donations, Sampath for $100, the Trumble family for $40, Lorraine for $50, $10 from Lucy May, Terry Cantwell for $20, and Yvette for $100.

We get no money from rich backers, and no wonder. We rely on you, our readers, for support. Please send donations (cheques payable to Militant) to SP, PO Box 1015, Collingwood 3066 or put straight into our account (Commonwealth, cheque account, 3166-10060861)

Mugabe's ZANU-PF has clung to power on the basis of 'radical' rhetoric and widespread use of intimidation and terror tactics. Despite massive intimidation orchestrated by the ruling ZANU-PF, many people refused to be cowed and turned out en masse, particularly in the urban areas, to try and turf Mugabe's government out of office.

ZANU-PF, in power since independence, failed to satisfy the aspirations awakened by its "Marxist" rhetoric during the liberation struggle, are seen as little better than any other post-independence government: making the country safe for capitalism and attracting inward investment from multinational corporations. The working class, poor peasantry and landless have suffered years of desperate poverty and many are materially worse off than under white rule.

Mugabe has used Bonapartist methods to combine repression and returning to his old 'radical' demagogy to try to smash the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The occupations of white-owned farms, brutal attacks on opposition activists and condemnations of Britain as the former colonial power were all aimed at undercutting the MDC. Initially formed by ZCTU as part of its campaign against anti-working class measures, MDC rapidly moved to the right when it won support from sections of the business elite and farm-owners. To placate Western political and business opinion, it promised to continue with a neo-liberal agenda even before it was elected.

This is what happened in Zambia after Chiluba, also a trade union leader, was elected president in 1991. This then allowed Mugabe to adopt a radical pose and play on popular fears about the MDC being a stooge of imperialism. The Socialist Party has consistently opposed Mugabe maintenance of capitalism and landlordism in Zimbabwe. But equally we reject the hypocritical attitude of Cook, Hain and Blair who condemn Mugabe's despotism and use of violence as though they have only just realised the character of his regime.

Mugabe has always ruthlessly suppressed his opponents, including the mass-murder of thousands of ZAPU supporters in Matebeleland in 1983, and has used prime farming land to reward his political cronies and army officers. Yet not a word of criticism was heard from Western capitalist politicians. As long as he defended international big business interests, Mugabe was given a free hand. The West's sudden change is because of Mugabe's incitement of land occupations and threats to redistribute white farming land without compensation.

This could have repercussions beyond Zimbabwe's borders, possibly igniting a process beyond imperialism's control and destabilising the whole region. This concern, recently exacerbated by Mugabe's comments, since retracted, about seizing British-owned assets, explains the switch of Western imperialism's support to the MDC. Mugabe said in advance he would not recognise an MDC victory and would govern through presidential decree. If he continues to try and ignore the MDC it will provoke widespread unrest on the streets and in the workplaces. Mugabe's answer could then be to fall back on the army and police, or rekindle the ethnic conflict between Shona and Ndebele, so desperate is he to maintain power.

However, in the short term there could be imperialist intervention to finance land reform, or broker an interim power-sharing deal. Since there are few fundamental differences between Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, this could suit all the main players. The MDC has already said it would not ask Mugabe to quit office before 2002. Whatever the final outcome, the underlying problems facing the masses will remain unresolved and they will be left politically unarmed.

Any new administration will inherit a crisis-ridden economy, worsened by the political crisis. Attempts to resolve this on a capitalist basis can only be at the workers' and peasants' expense. Real change will only come when there is a powerful socialist opposition committed to fundamental change. Only the working class can provide this. The trade unions must break from the influence of pro-capitalist elements within MDC and build a genuine working-class party. Armed with a socialist programme of democratic nationalisation of land and all the assets of the capitalist class, combined with appeals for solidarity action from the working classes throughout Africa and worldwide, this could end the super-exploitation of the African people for good.

The Israeli Defense Force was defeated by a Islamic volunteer guerrilla force of about 5,000 men - Hizbollah. The main reason for this was that the IDF was an occupation army relying on a brutal, surrogate, mercenary militia, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), notorious for extortion and other crime.

In recent years Hizbollah's support has soared as many Lebanese saw them as the only people resisting the hated occupation forces. The IDF occupation also became increasingly unpopular in Israel. Many working-class Israelis saw it as a bloody quagmire for conscripts and making Israel's northern towns and villages vulnerable to Hizbollah attack.

The unpopularity of the occupation led Ehud Barak, now Prime Minister of Israel's coalition government, to promise during last year's election campaign to withdraw from Lebanon within 12 months. In the end, a two-week staged IDF withdrawal became a 48-hour disorderly scramble back across the border.

Undoubtedly, the perception of the majority of the Arab masses of the Middle East is that this was a major military defeat for the IDF. In the short term, Ehud Barak's support will increase and his government will be stabilised. However, in the coming months the instability in Israeli society will resurface.

Israeli working-class Jews feel increasingly betrayed by the capitalist, Zionist state. The attacks on living standards goes hand in hand with a massive polarisation in wealth and growing corruption scandals which have involved President Ezer Weizmann (who has now resigned) and Prime Minister Barak.

The generals have had their reputation tarnished. Many ex-generals are now politicians who are implicated in corruption. The withdrawal has not solved any of the contradictions in the Lebanon either. It is still a country with a patchwork of different religious and ethnic groupings whose population still suffers from the social and economic effects of the civil war. 80,000 Lebanese had jobs in the security zone and in Israel. Their addition to the unemployment figures will further destabilise the Lebanese economy.

Despite Hizbollah's victory, the reactionary policies it proposes (ie, a dictatorial, cleric-dominated state) won't solve the social and economic problems of the masses in South Lebanon. Western Imperialism, Israeli capitalism, and the rotten semi-feudal Arab regimes are responsible for the decades of conflict and violence in the Middle East. Only the overthrow of capitalism and feudalism can lay the foundation for the eradication of the cycle of bloodshed, violence and poverty that has been visited on the working class and peasant masses of the region.

Three Socialist Party comrades were elected on to the national executive committee of UNISON (the main public sector union), including Ralph Parkinson (from Merseyside), the first black Marxist member of the NEC. A fourth comrade also won a very good vote. These marvellous results indicate the key role the SP will continue to play in Britain's largest union.

The situation in Sri Lanka remains extremely tense with no progress in relation to either the war or a settlement. The suicide bomb attacks in Colombo have been followed by the burning of Tamil shops and homes and by mass round-ups and interrogations of Tamil people. The paper of the United Socialist Party (CWI section) 'Red Star' - has had its editorial and leading article totally removed by censor!

Last week, two comrades in Bangalore - including full-timer, Jagadish - were arrested and held for 7 hours along with 150 protesters. For a week, police and demonstrators had been surrounding a conference centre where 1,000 foreign investors were gathering to attend a 25-day "Bazaar" at which 15 state-owned projects were being sold off at knock-down prices. The demonstrators were organised under the banner of the Anti-Imperialist Forum (AIF), in which our organisation played a key role.