[English] Re crikey.com.au
stephen at melbpc.org.au
stephen at melbpc.org.au
Thu Jul 31 01:16:23 EST 2008
Hi all,
Fwiw, Crikey have been around for ages .. they have a way with words
http://www.crikey.com.au
> From: "postman at crikey.com.au" <postman at crikey.com.au>
> Date: 30 Jul 2008 20:18:34 +1000
> Subject: Building sluggish, Wiki corruptible, Nelson beatable
Building sluggish, Wiki corruptible, Nelson beatable
Crikey - The daily email that peeks behind Australia's closed doors.
Can you read this edition of Crikey? If it was mangled by your email
program, see it online.
30 July 2008
Dear Squatters,
The news cycle grinds away. Today's big issue, tomorrow's forgotten cause.
Remember Zimbabwe? Life in Harare, apparently, goes on:
Dear Friends,
We have survived the worst week yet -- no water since 12th of this month &
still no water, power came on briefly on Sunday and then again yesterday
morning, after being off for seven days. Associated with power-out is the
lack of telephone. Now also total lack of food and money.
We are allowed to draw only 100 billion dollars per day from our bank
accounts. This is currently worth less than 20 UK pence or 40 US cents or
two South African Rand. It is a criminally cruel policy which is causing
extreme suffering and costing huge unnecessary transport costs to get to
the bank daily & then stand in the queue for hours.
This daily maximum withdrawal is not enough to buy even a single bread
roll which this week cost 140 billion dollars. On Saturday 1kg of potatoes
was 110 billion, 1kg of oranges 500 billion, so one cannot buy anything
for the daily drawn-sum and then by the next day everything has again
increased beyond one's purse.
Supermarkets are empty. Vegetables available only from street vendors. Our
telephone calls are 2.2 billion dollars per unit. We are desperate for
relief. On Friday 25th exchange rate was 850 billion dollars to the US.
Inflation was 150 quintillion percent (that is 150 plus 18 0's ). We try
to keep each other going but it is extremely difficult. It is
incomprehensible that the world will not come to our aid.
The bank employees are helping themselves to client's money and all
municipal and state services have collapsed. There is no justice to be
found anywhere.
My farming friends who had their larger farm expropriated now do not have
enough grazing for their dairy herd. They were told to reduce their herd,
but the shortage of milk is already so critical that most children never
see milk. We are told that we are lucky to have enough water to drink!
These farmers are daily threatened by a police chief who wants to move
into their remaining small farm. He has brought a contingent of police to
squat on the farm to make sure that they do not remove anything from the
farm. They are in terror for their lives and those of their workers but
trying to hang on. There is no recourse to justice or help from any
quarter. Common human decency has left us. These farmers supply me with
two litres of milk and six eggs and sometimes vegetables each week.
Without this food I would have nothing.
Last week we ran out of bread, having rationed ourselves to one thin slice
per day to make it go further. The bread which we brought back from
Johannesburg in April lasted us four months.
The sun still shines & birds are chirping in the garden & spring is
coming. The warmer weather helps our mood.
Love to all ...
--
Cheers Crikey
Stephen Loosley
Member, Victorian
Institute of Teaching
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