There is no longer much
doubt that the election of President George W. Bush was indeed a Very
Bad Thing. At a crucial moment in our history, with the planet's future
in the balance, the US has served up a President who wants to restart
the nuclear arms race, ressurect the nuclear power industry and lock
America into a fossil-fuel-driven future that will affect the lives
of everyone on earth.
It's not George's personal
fault of course - he has simply been chosen to represent a massively
corrupt economic system dominated by transnational corporations and
military strategists. And represent them he is, staffing his Energy
Department and various high level task forces with nuclear and oil
industry heavyweights.
These distant goings on
may seem largely irrelevant Down Under, but like it or not we're in
it up to our eyeballs. There are fears that a renewed commitment to
building nuclear power stations could cause a substantial hike in
the world price of uranium, of which Australia hosts an uncomfortably
large amount. The US also wants to upgrade the Pine Gap spy base in
the NT to bolster its hallucinations of a workable Ballistic Missile
Defence (BMD) system. And the US withdrawal from any pretence of commitment
to dealing with climate change will affect everyone if sanity does
not prevail.
There are, of course, many
tens of thousands of dedicated people in the US working to bring their
Government to its senses, but this work takes time, and it's not the
sort of thing you see on the evening news. Around the world, the tide
is turning against the dysfunctional vision of a corporatised, polluted
future, and the global anti-nuclear movement has a key role to play
in preserving the earth for the generations to come. Against a backdrop
of undeniable trouble, there's a smell of optimism in the air.
On that note, we need to
make a rather gleeful announcement - Robin Chapple, our intrepid,
overworked, long-suffering co-ordinator of four years was elected
to the Legislative Council (Upper House) of Parliament for the Greens
(WA) at the last state election.
On behalf of everyone who
has benefited from Robin's calm presence behind the scenes over the
last few years, we wish you a smooth transition to the corridors of
power - may they echo with celebration when uranium mining is finally
outlawed in WA.
Scott Ludlam
