Howard may be gone but the War is not yet won....
I write this only an hour or so after John Howard conceded defeat, Australia is rid of the Coalition Government and it would be so easy to relax, believing the war was won, simply because we have rid ourselves of one tyrant - remember the "me too" aspect of the campaign, that was only a little of how similar the major parties are - like police, politicians all have to "join the club" or toe the party-line at the very least, and there aren't many votes being kind to users of illicit drugs.
A Federal Labor Government puts Australia in a very dangerous sate of political monopoly - all state, territory and now federal governments are of one political party.
I've never supported the mis-named Liberal Party or their National partners, but I do believe that 'Power Corrupts, and Ultimate Power Corrupts Ultimately' - no-one is immune to the lure of power, every government needs to be kept in check.
I am no more a Labor supporter than Coalition; I voted Howard out, not Kevin in. I don't have the answer to a truly democratic society, I only know that we don't have it in Australia. I don't have the answer to end poverty, war, intolerance, violence.......I only know that the more laws created, the more people are pushed into a corner, bound by a punitive policy of social control - do as you're told. as we say is right, or you'll be locked up - the more likely they'll snap and lose control, resulting in an increase in violence and crime such as seen in the USA - Labor cannot be allowed to continue to lead Australia in America's wake, to continue waging War on the poor and marginalised.
Here in the NT we rejoiced when Clare Martin's Labor party finally toppled the CLP from their seat of power they'd held for 26 years, we thought we'd see an end to the Police State, an end to excessive laws, but 6 years on we aren't any better off. They abolished mandatory sentencing as they said they would....then introduced arguably the harshest drug laws in the country, with the introduction of the "Drug House Laws", our gaols are still bursting with more than 80% of inmates Indigenous - their solution to the over-crowding? Build another gaol.
Now they've let the Federal Government invade the Territory with feds and police from every state, to ride rough-shod through the Aboriginal communities like the days of old when whole tribes were slaughtered to make way for the cattle barons who wanted the land; not "To Protect and Serve" nut to "Coerce and Enforce". Women and children murdered while the men were out hunting - babies swung by the feet to have their heads split open on a rock to save a bullet.....read "Blood on the Wattle", Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians sine 1788 by Bruce Elder.....or to again take the children from their families, another Stolen Generation.
I'm sorry, I digressed - to a rather nasty place - my point I guess, is, we must not think the "good guys won", that a conservative Labor Government will be any different to a conservative Liberal Government, that we'll wake up tomorrow to freedom and justice, never be lulled into believing the future's secure, our children's freedom assured. Those in control of the fate of every Australian, have always promised much, only to fail hopelessly to deliver a fraction of what they said they'd do and have always betrayed the poorest and most needy of their constituents - bigotry and racism are rife in every state and territory, all Labor led.
From day one Kevin Rudd's Government must be held accountable by the people, forced to guard our human rights not deny us them. We must continue to write Letters to the Editor of the major newspapers; speak out on government policy, write to our local member, remind them that once voted in they can then be voted out. We must activate and agitate, not be silent only to be consumed and controlled.
Labor doesn't necessarily mean better. It simply means a different master, but a master all the same, expect to hear cliches like "It's got to get worse before it gets better," and "The previous government left the economy in a mess." or "We have 11 years of Liberal mismanagement to fix." and other lame excuses for continuing to oppress and discriminate.
Don't assume the Federal intervention will be repealed, Labor supports it. Don't expect an end to talk of quarantining welfare payments, don't expect the poor to be rich, the sicik to be well or the opressed to be freed. Be vigilant, be responsible, be active and be heard.
Now, more than ever, it's important that we all stick together, work together for a more tolerant society. A society where it is not a crime to smoke some pot, where heroin is available for the terminally ill, where speed is available by prescription or licence, made in sterile laborities and not a backyard shed, where it is not a crime to choose to relax or to party with a substance other than alcohol.
Tell Kevin Rudd and his merry band that we want an End to Prohibition of All Drugs. That legalisation and regulation of all substances currently illicit is the only way to win the War on Drugs; take control from the greedy black market consortiums, create more jobs by the production of marijuana,, medical and recreational, income from taxes, not violence and crime, institutions and jails.
We are a long way from free.
THE REVOLUTION HAS JUST BEGUN!
