To call for independence for East Timor, yet to oppose the intervention is in the real world plainly contradictory. If forces in Australia and around the world could have prevented the intervention it would have been at the expense of the continued genocide in East Timor. Why do the motives of the Australian Government have to be characterized as imperialistic? Just as governments make concessions domestically to assuage the 'masses' they do so also on the international front if pressured.

Your view on this matter is too simplistic.

Shane 
Melbourne, Australia 

P.S. I found the site while surfing the net. It's excellent and despite my above letter I loved most of the content. 
 

More photos on website 
The website in the current issue runs the text for a photo box, without the photo. How is this possible?

The web page needs more photos. Photos are part of the politics of the paper. And a photo box would appear to be an obvious place to take the plunge.

Among the advantages of web publishing over print is that you can include more material, not less. (Of course that can also be a disadvantage, space limitations of paper impose a certain discipline.)

I suggest the page be changed to include the photo for the balance of the week and for the archives.

J.R. 
Cape Girardeau, Missouri 
 
 
Clarification on tire strike 
The article in Militant no. 33 on the yearlong strike by United Steelworkers Local 850 against Continental General Tire in Charlotte, North Carolina, left a couple points less than clear. Continental General Tire has three, not two other plants in the United States. The workers at the plants in Ohio and Kentucky are organized into the Steelworkers union. Workers in the third plant, in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, are fighting to organize into the union. They have a very active organizing committee in Illinois which raised money for Local 850's strike fund, and workers from the plant came into Charlotte to show their solidarity several times through the course of the fight there. Local 850 members also traveled to Mt. Vernon, where the organizing committee held a special meeting for them early in the strike. Photos from that meeting are displayed in Local 850's union hall.

The article also leaves the impression that the new contract approved by the workers in Charlotte for the first time includes cost-of-living raises. Actually previous contracts have had a COLA, and the new agreement retains it at the level of 60 percent of the rate of inflation. However, by the end of the new agreement, the COLA increases to 100 percent of the rate of inflation, a notable improvement over the old contract.

Floyd Fowler 
Atlanta, Georgia 

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of general interest to our readers. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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