That’s so 1950’s his critics say, yet if you look at this weeks news, what’s happening in the Soviet Union…whoops I mean Russia, and the nuclear testing by North Korea, maybe the obituaries for the evils of communism were premature. Not to mention Cuba….
Australian liberal Senator Gary Humphries stirs things up Down Under:
Liberal Senator Gary Humphries has attempted to reignite a 50-year-old political fear of reds under the bed – warning the influence of communism in Australian was still present today.
He said the events of the week – with communist state North Korea testing a nuclear weapon – “have reminded us that in some parts of the world, the ideology which at first fascinated and then repelled 20th century mankind still holds sway”.
But it was not North Korea upon which Senator Humphries focused his attack, rather, the tiny communist island outpost of Cuba.
“There remain those that look at left-wing dictatorships through rose-coloured glasses, with Cuba in particular being held up as an example of a so-called workers’ paradise,” Senator Humphries said.
He accused the union movement of supporting and glorifying Cuba despite its appalling human rights record, which, according to Amnesty International, includes 72 people currently being detained as prisoners of conscience for criticising dictator Fidel Castro.
He also attacked Labor for “flirting with communist apologists”.
Senator Humphries noted the Western Australian branch of the Construction Forestry Energy and Mining Union sponsored a “propaganda” visit this year by a member of the Cuban Parliament, Gilda Chacon, the NSW branch of the CFMEU had encouraged members to purchase pro-Castro book Cuba: Beyond our Dream, and the Communist Party of Australia held its 2005 congress at the CFMEU’s Lidcombe offices.
“What we have here are major donors to the ALP attempting to shift public opinion in favour of a regime which has an appalling human rights record and has destroyed Cuba’s economy,” Senator Humphries said.
“The union evidently has no problem with a constitution that allows the jailing of people simply for criticising the Government,” Senator Humphries said.
ACT Labor Senator Kate Lundy, herself a former member of the CFMEU, said Senator Humphries’ attack was “really loopy stuff”.
“If this is the sort of stuff Gary Humphries has to trawl to try and make a point, then his political irrelevance speaks for itself … It is very 1950s.”
Read the article at the Canberra Times.
H/T: Larry Daley