Peace
Researcher 29 – June 2004
ABC is sad to announce that Dennis Small has
told us that he will not be able to do any more writing for Peace Researcher until further notice. I
hasten to add that there is nothing wrong with Dennis, nor has there been any
falling out. After a decade of unemployment, under-employment and
semi-employment, Dennis has got a fulltime job, which involved moving from
Christchurch. It all happened very fast (and also involved him resigning from
the committee of the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa – CAFCA – of
which he had been a valued member since 1991. He has also had to stop writing
for Foreign Control Watchdog, which
he has been doing since the beginning of the 1990s).
Dennis is a former co-editor of Peace Researcher and continued writing
for us for many years after he ceased hands-on involvement. He had the patience
and expertise to follow some subjects in great detail for many years. The most
recent example of that was PR 25, the
March 2002 Special Issue, which consisted entirely of Dennis’ article: “Ghosts
Of A Genocide; The CIA, Suharto And Terrorist Culture”, detailing the
involvement of Western Intelligence agencies in one of the worst crimes of the
20th Century, namely the mid 1960s genocide of “Communists” in
Indonesia.
Personally, I hope that we haven’t seen the
last of Dennis’ wonderful book reviews (which always threatened the actual book
for length), his polemics against the American Empire, and his erudite articles
on all manner of domestic and international topics. I always had to have my
dictionary, atlas and Encyclopaedia
Britannica CD ROM close at hand when editing his articles. As firstly
co-editor and then editor, I can report that Dennis never took directions about
what he should write but always contributed what he felt should be covered in PR. He had his own fan club of highly
appreciative readers.
ABC and all Peace
Researcher readers, wish him all the best in his new career, out there in
“the real world”.
Peace Researcher 29 – June
2004
ABC doesn’t make a habit of sending out begging
letters, things have to be fairly dire for that to happen. Rest assured that things
did become sufficiently dire with the CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account (the account,
independent of both the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa and ABC,
which provides my income) for the two groups to take the unique decision to
make a direct mail appeal, in February 2004, to the members of both, for
donations and new pledgers to the account. Things were so dire that the account
had fallen to half the amount that we had previously agreed would trigger
urgent action. Usually the Organiser Account is completely self-financing, but
this time CAFCA and ABC paid all the costs.
I’m delighted to report that your response has
been magnificent. More than $10,000 was received in donations and, in the case
of one supportive organisation, another $1,000 has been promised for later in
the year. The number of pledgers to the account have jumped from less than 30
to more than 40 and some established pledgers have increased the amount they
pay. All I can say is that I am humbled by your outpouring of generosity and
repeat that it is a remarkable achievement that donations and pledgers have
kept the Organiser Account going since 1991.
April 1st marked a milestone in my
career as the CAFCA/ABC Organiser. From that date the minimum wage went up to
$9 per hour gross, which means that I am now getting paid the same rate as I
was when made redundant as a Railways labourer back in 1991. At that time, I
said that I would take on the Organiser job if I got the same pay. It’s only
taken 13 years but all good things come to those who wait. And by the way,
there was no connection between the Organiser Account Special Appeal and the
increase in the minimum wage. The timing was purely coincidental. In fact, I
had especially rung the Department of Labour and been told that it had not been
notified of any increase in the minimum wage. Usually the Government announces
any increase in the previous year. This one was done at very short notice and
has been ascribed by the experts to Labour’s panicking because of its falling
behind National in the polls and belatedly remembering “hang on, we are called
the Labour Party, we’d better do something to ensure that workers will still
vote for us”. I’m afraid that’s a lost cause in my case, Helen, but thanks for
the pay rise anyway.
And, I’m afraid, what the people giveth with
one hand, the taxman taketh away with the other. I am self-employed and have
always paid my tax retrospectively in one annual lump sum. In May my accountant
gave me the cheery news that my income tax bill has doubled, at least for the
next year. Why? Because I have crossed a fatal threshold in the amount of tax
that I owe and now have to pay provisional tax (i.e. in advance, estimated on
my previous earnings). In the first year of provisional tax, that means that I
have to pay for the 2003/04 year, as usual, plus for 2004/05. Hence, double. It
should return to normal after that but, for the next year, I will be basically
working for Inland Revenue. If you’re superstitious, it’s worth knowing that
this is my 13th year in the job.
|
|
|
|
|