by ·Comments Off on Press Release – WACA – Locking down #LockheedMartin

This morning in Melbourne a group of anti-war and pro Palestinian activists shut down two buildings of the global arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

The action is on going at the time of this release with the activists locking down Lockheed Martins access gates and dropping a banner off one of their buildings stating ‘Medicare Not Warfare. Scrap the F35 Deal’. Another banner is attached to their fence and can be seen from the Princess Highway, it reads ‘War Profiteers – Your Tax Dollars Making a Killing’

Kaz Cochrane, co-founder of Whistleblower, Activists & Citizens Alliance (WACA) stated:

“As Australia embarks on yet another violent military campaign in the Middle East we’re asked to accept the justification of moral imperative to rescue ‘desperate people’; the same people our political class dismissed through the cynical euphemism of ‘collateral damage’, when they were killed in the 100’s of thousands by our allied forces over the last 10,” she said, adding “given the Federal cabinet have committed us to this destructive and inept war campaign the Whistleblower, Activists & Citizens Alliance are determined to expose the real motivation to perpetual war – Perpetual Profit.”

So who is buying into Lockheed Martin; the world’s largest weapons manufacturer & beneficiary of war & ‘defense’ expenditure?

By far the largest recent investor in Australia is our Federal Government who have handed over $35 Billion of tax payer revenue to acquire a fleet of F35 aircraft from Lockheed widely reputed to be technological ‘lemons’ while attempting to convince the Australian community to sacrifice their ‘free at the point of service’ medical system which is a foundation stone of our community values and wellbeing.

WACA co-founder Sam Castro stated:

“We are paying a visit to this corporate titan of war to highlight the F35 ‘lemon’ aircraft is a complete waste of Australian tax payers money.”

“Further the Abbott Government’s destructive foreign policy propagates an insidious cycle of political donations; funding of influential political think tanks; resulting in profit making collusion with global financial institutions, which create an agenda of perpetual war sold to the political class in advanced economies, who are entirely dependent on the patronage of heavy weight corporate & banking entities”

Sam Castro added,

“We are also here today to highlight Lockheed Martin’s complicity in the death of the Palestinian people in repetitive military assaults by the Israeli Defense Force as Israel continues to enforce the illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Lockheed Martin demonstrates their capacity to generate and exploit ‘war markets’ by extending their 20 year operation in Israel to assist the IDF in their aggressive military campaigns, with their local CEO Mr Land, stating they want to be part of Israel’s ‘ecosystem’, which we believe can only be characterized as ‘genocidal’ ”

A peep hole view into the incalculable wealth generated for the arms industry and the global financiers who invest in the war market reveals in the build up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq Lockheed Martin’s defense contracts increased from $17 billion to $21.9 billion.

In the first month since Obama’s recent announcement of airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, Lockheed Martin’s share price increased
7% delivering stunning profits to Australian financial institutions invested in the war contractor, including AMP US$33.5M; Westpac US$20M; Commonwealth Bank US$9M; Macquarie Bank US$51M.

Sam Castro stated,

“WACA calls on the Australian Government to scrap the F35 deal and use that money to fund universal healthcare, tertiary education and Indigenous programs. WACA calls for complete economic divestment by our financial institutions from Lockheed Martin and other arms manufacturers. We ask the Australian community to stand up and speak out against the state of perpetual war that serves only to make private corporations like Lockheed Martin wealthy and destroys Australian’s to make clear our intolerance for industries reliant on the perpetuation of human suffering.”

 

by ·Comments Off on First Aid Pledge Welcome, but a Distraction

In the lead up to the State Election, the Napthine government has pledged some $21 million to teach Year 9 students first aid.

On paper this is impressive: students will be taught “to administer first aid to victims of heart attacks, strokes, burns and other medical emergencies” and Dr Napthine has suggested it will bolster students employability as employers will give preference to new workers with first aid qualifications. Yet the good Doctor’s enthusiasm belies a simple fact: without a properly equipped, staffed and paid ambulance service the efforts of the best first aiders will be thwarted. Without properly funded, equipped and staffed public hospitals our ability to provide full care to casualties is also compromised.

First aiders have a vital role to play in the workplace and the community, providing initial care for the ill or injured until medical help arrives. In the US, several states have now made it a mandatory requirement for high school students to become CPR-certified in order to obtain their high school certificates; various jurisdictions in the EU also require drivers to have basic first aid skills. As the EU Red Cross says, first aid is an act of humanity and so should be encouraged where possible.

However, it is impossible to ignore the emphasis placed upon waiting for ambulance support in the Emergency First Aid and Provide First Aid courses. When teaching first aid we emphasise the necessity of following the Chain of Survival, which urges prompt access to ambulance and advanced life support services (such as those provided by MICA Paramedics). We also make the point that while one can elect to leave out rescue breaths when performing CPR this brings with it a severe risk of brain damage in the casualty, especially in Melbourne where less than three-quarters of top priority calls are able to be met by ambulance crews within 15 minutes. Ambulance Victoria’s refusal to release detailed insights into ambulance response times on the grounds that it would “excite public controversy” is a clear indication that response times are falling behind.

This policy, if enacted, would be of benefit to Victoria and its people – of this there is no doubt. However considering the track-record of the Baillieu and Napthine governments, which have spent much of their time trying to beat back the rights, benefits and conditions of public sector nurses and paramedics, this policy must be seen for what it truly is: a distraction from the ongoing crisis in the public healthcare sector. If this is an achievable policy there should be no reason for the ALP, Greens and whomever else wishes to contest the election to make similar pledges as well. But we must not sell out our health and wellbeing for a gimmicky election promise.

 

Other articles of relevance:

Vanstone’s Sham Solution: “Let the sick die!”

Mandatory Training and Marginalisation