Under a heading 'Aussie Pride' The Sunshine Coast Daily published this letter on 27 January: 'Everyone should be waving the Australian flag on Australia Day. Anyone waving a flag from another country has no right to be here and should be deported to that country. Australia is for Australians to enjoy.'
Even though we espouse a 'fair go' and tolerance as Australian values it is clear that the ideal is a long way from the real as far as some Australians are concerned. I hope the writer did not watch the Williams demolition of Sharapova in the Australian Open on Australia Day as he/she may have had apoplexy at the sight of American and Russian flags! No guesses for what the writer's definition of an Australian would be.
I was reminded of a fabulous Bill Cosby piece I used when teaching. It was called 'On Prejudice' and Cosby just sat on a chair smoking a cigar and changing colour from lighting effects while he used every stereotype in the book to berate every minority group in America. He went through all races, age groups, geographical areas and then some, and then women. He just wanted them all deported -'just put 'em off somewhere'. Finally there is only himself and another man left in the country and he declares that 'I don't much care for him either.' In the final scene the voice over asks: 'And who are you?' Crosby says: 'I'm a bigot and I'm proud!'
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
A Fair Go for Justice on Palm Island?
In the latest step towards justice for Palm Islanders and Australia generally, an Australia Day present has been delivered. The Street Review has been completed and: 'Attorney-General Kerry Shine said Sir Laurence had found enough evidence to charge the officer with manslaughter - and to possibly warrant a conviction.
"Sir Laurence has advised me that he believes sufficient admissible evidence exists to support the institution of criminal proceedings against Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley for manslaughter of Mulrunji," Mr Shine said.
"Furthermore, Sir Laurence believes there is a reasonable prospect of a conviction."'
In my first blog I stated 'Blind Freddy knows what happened in the police cell on Palm Island'. Blind Freddy is a colloquialism for the obvious (sometimes referred to as the 'bleedin obvious'.)
After a coronial review, a DPP review and now an independent review the wheels of justice are now turning in the right direction. Richard Flanagan reminds us in The Unknown Terrorist of the Henry V line: 'Wisdom cries out in the streets, yet no man regards it'.
"Sir Laurence has advised me that he believes sufficient admissible evidence exists to support the institution of criminal proceedings against Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley for manslaughter of Mulrunji," Mr Shine said.
"Furthermore, Sir Laurence believes there is a reasonable prospect of a conviction."'
In my first blog I stated 'Blind Freddy knows what happened in the police cell on Palm Island'. Blind Freddy is a colloquialism for the obvious (sometimes referred to as the 'bleedin obvious'.)
After a coronial review, a DPP review and now an independent review the wheels of justice are now turning in the right direction. Richard Flanagan reminds us in The Unknown Terrorist of the Henry V line: 'Wisdom cries out in the streets, yet no man regards it'.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
A Fair Go for David Hicks?
Our Prime Minister has demanded of the Americans that Hicks be charged by mid-February. This belated call comes, of course, because polls are showing that the majority of Australians now think the government has really stuffed up on this one. For five years Hicks has languished in Guantanamo Bay. Now the Yanks are saying that ‘evidence’ gained by torture will be admissible in court! What a fiasco. Even if Hicks is a deadshit who got caught out I think he deserves better than he’s got for the past five years. It will be an interesting test of the Bush-Howard friendship to see if this demand is met. It’s all to do with our election year so Bush might just come to the party. Will Howard be able to turn the Hicks thing into a Tampa or a 9/11 electoral winner? Who knows, but those spin merchants who scan every issue for the PM to make mileage out of will be considering all angles.
A Fair Go At Last
Thank you to the Prime Minister for giving us all a fair go by sacking Amanda Vanstone. No longer will we have to suffer her cold, calculated, heartless explanations for why her Immigration Department has implemented some cold, heartless, bureaucratic policy that has stuffed up the life of some poor bastard who just wants a chance to share the life that we, at the top of the human pyramid, were just lucky enough to be born into.
Wave the Flag on Australia Day - 26 January
How predictable (and timely) that John Howard should leap on the Aussie flag controversy that Big Day Out organizers started by trying to ban it. He can’t help but leap on anything that offers him the opportunity to portray himself as the defender of Aussie values and the champion of anything that is true blue. Yet there are a lot of deadshits out there who would use the Australian flag for purposes that are quite contrary to the values it is supposed to symbolize. Would Howard agree with the Cronulla rioters who cloaked themselves in the flag in order to give some legitimacy to their supremacist views? Would he agree with those deadshits who reportedly demanded people kiss it at last year’s BDO and assaulted those who refused. He says: ‘The proposition that the display of the Australian flag should ever be banned anywhere in Australia is offensive and it will be to millions of Auistralians’. Well, John, the flag is banned at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane so what are you going to do about it?
Sunday, January 14, 2007
AN AUSSIE NOVEL THAT CHALLENGES SOME OF OUR VALUES
The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan
I finally got around to reading this novel which was published in 2006. I really enjoyed it. It is a thriller with plenty of social and political comment. Set in post 9/11 Sydney it involves a Kings Cross pole dancer caught up in a whirlpool of murder, media hype and politically manipulated fear of terrorism. Readers will recognize the Australia that Flanagan portrays so clearly. The Australia where the ‘War on Terror’ has created all sorts of fears and uncovered the Australian racism that mostly lies dormant just below the surface of our fair go-tolerant-she’ll be right national persona. With disarming precision he taps into the Sydney psyche that we tend to ignore or at the least pretend is not really the Sydney we know and love: the obsession with real estate, the power of the radio shock jocks and the media, the disdain for the poor, the weak, the druggos, the Aborigines and the suspicion of all that is different from Muslims to Asians to those that only read either the Telegraph or the Sydney Morning Herald. Flanagan concentrates on the hard edge of Sydney and by extension Australia and there is little doubt that he attributes this hardening to the period since the election of the Howard government in 1996. When his hapless pole dancer walks past a street person getting beaten, the thugs ‘kept on for a few minutes more, kicking him as if he were to blame for everything in that dirty, dead decade they were all condemned to live through, a sack of shit that had once been a man, in a place that had once been a community, in a country that had once been a society’. Of course the government’s role in turning Sydneysiders and Australians inward, with all the xenophobia and paranoia that accompanies that, is aided by the media. Flanagan is caustic in his treatment of the media’s role in falling for the Governments agenda of fearmongering. His TV current affairs celebrity presenter is instantly recognizable and his contempt for Sydney shock jocks is palpable no less than through the name of his Sydney radio king, Joe Cosuk. Cosuk’s anagram is milked and its potentially abbreviated epithet adds to the readers’ distaste for this influential character.
Without doubt a major message in The Unknown Terrorist is that the terrorists have won. They won the moment those planes hit the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. They unleashed their most pervasive and formidable weapon: fear. The fear that has been generated and exploited, especially in the coalition of the willing has resulted in extraordinary legislative curtailments of democratic rights; a legitimizing of prejudice among many; a deadly fiasco in Iraq; and the nightmare of Guantanamo Bay. In so many ways the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater. We have sacrificed so much of what we say we are protecting and in the case of Iraq, trying to export. Flanagan has shown us this in clear relief. Politicians, police, journalists, bureaucrats – those who are supposed to be the ‘goodies’ have succumbed and have compromised their own values to create an Orwellian world where the forest has been overtaken by the trees.
For Kerry O'Brien's 7.30 Report interview with Richard flanagan check the link opposite.
Connections with my novel, Kadaitcha.
It was interesting reading a post 9/11 Australian novel on terrorism. The first coincidence was early, on page 21, when there is a bomb scare at Sydney’s Olympic stadium. It is the threat of an explosion at the stadium that becomes the driving force for the fear and hype and hunt for the perpetrators that Flanagan weaves together in his novel. Where Kadaitcha gives considerable weight to the motives behind its main character blowing up the stadium at the Olympics Opening Ceremony, Flanagan does not touch on motive at all. He doesn’t have to because 9/11 and the ‘War on Terror’ have made terrorism a cause in itself. Mention terrorism and the fear, suspicion and the stereotyping will provide an automatic response that makes details of the cause irrelevant. Like Flanagan I tried to make comment on aspects of contemporary Australia. We run parallel on a few issues and vary our respective emphasis. Although I target the media I don’t do quite the hatchet job of Flanagan. My radio shock jock, Stan Dawes is not quite as big a prick as Joe Cosuck (forget the pun!). Where Flanagan and I are in complete synchronization is in our attack on the Howard government. My attack was focused on his treatment of Aborigines and his winding back of the Wik decision from the moment he was elected in 1996. I sat through debates in Parliament on the Native Title Act Amendment (remember his 10 point plan!) and was stirred to try and put this latest blow in the context of a disturbingly long history of repression. Of course Flanagan writing much later, when Howard had been in power nearly a decade, had more shit to deal with, especially when 9/11/2001 provided Howard the catalyst to take Australia into waters that many thought we had sailed away from forever.
I finally got around to reading this novel which was published in 2006. I really enjoyed it. It is a thriller with plenty of social and political comment. Set in post 9/11 Sydney it involves a Kings Cross pole dancer caught up in a whirlpool of murder, media hype and politically manipulated fear of terrorism. Readers will recognize the Australia that Flanagan portrays so clearly. The Australia where the ‘War on Terror’ has created all sorts of fears and uncovered the Australian racism that mostly lies dormant just below the surface of our fair go-tolerant-she’ll be right national persona. With disarming precision he taps into the Sydney psyche that we tend to ignore or at the least pretend is not really the Sydney we know and love: the obsession with real estate, the power of the radio shock jocks and the media, the disdain for the poor, the weak, the druggos, the Aborigines and the suspicion of all that is different from Muslims to Asians to those that only read either the Telegraph or the Sydney Morning Herald. Flanagan concentrates on the hard edge of Sydney and by extension Australia and there is little doubt that he attributes this hardening to the period since the election of the Howard government in 1996. When his hapless pole dancer walks past a street person getting beaten, the thugs ‘kept on for a few minutes more, kicking him as if he were to blame for everything in that dirty, dead decade they were all condemned to live through, a sack of shit that had once been a man, in a place that had once been a community, in a country that had once been a society’. Of course the government’s role in turning Sydneysiders and Australians inward, with all the xenophobia and paranoia that accompanies that, is aided by the media. Flanagan is caustic in his treatment of the media’s role in falling for the Governments agenda of fearmongering. His TV current affairs celebrity presenter is instantly recognizable and his contempt for Sydney shock jocks is palpable no less than through the name of his Sydney radio king, Joe Cosuk. Cosuk’s anagram is milked and its potentially abbreviated epithet adds to the readers’ distaste for this influential character.
Without doubt a major message in The Unknown Terrorist is that the terrorists have won. They won the moment those planes hit the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. They unleashed their most pervasive and formidable weapon: fear. The fear that has been generated and exploited, especially in the coalition of the willing has resulted in extraordinary legislative curtailments of democratic rights; a legitimizing of prejudice among many; a deadly fiasco in Iraq; and the nightmare of Guantanamo Bay. In so many ways the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater. We have sacrificed so much of what we say we are protecting and in the case of Iraq, trying to export. Flanagan has shown us this in clear relief. Politicians, police, journalists, bureaucrats – those who are supposed to be the ‘goodies’ have succumbed and have compromised their own values to create an Orwellian world where the forest has been overtaken by the trees.
For Kerry O'Brien's 7.30 Report interview with Richard flanagan check the link opposite.
Connections with my novel, Kadaitcha.
It was interesting reading a post 9/11 Australian novel on terrorism. The first coincidence was early, on page 21, when there is a bomb scare at Sydney’s Olympic stadium. It is the threat of an explosion at the stadium that becomes the driving force for the fear and hype and hunt for the perpetrators that Flanagan weaves together in his novel. Where Kadaitcha gives considerable weight to the motives behind its main character blowing up the stadium at the Olympics Opening Ceremony, Flanagan does not touch on motive at all. He doesn’t have to because 9/11 and the ‘War on Terror’ have made terrorism a cause in itself. Mention terrorism and the fear, suspicion and the stereotyping will provide an automatic response that makes details of the cause irrelevant. Like Flanagan I tried to make comment on aspects of contemporary Australia. We run parallel on a few issues and vary our respective emphasis. Although I target the media I don’t do quite the hatchet job of Flanagan. My radio shock jock, Stan Dawes is not quite as big a prick as Joe Cosuck (forget the pun!). Where Flanagan and I are in complete synchronization is in our attack on the Howard government. My attack was focused on his treatment of Aborigines and his winding back of the Wik decision from the moment he was elected in 1996. I sat through debates in Parliament on the Native Title Act Amendment (remember his 10 point plan!) and was stirred to try and put this latest blow in the context of a disturbingly long history of repression. Of course Flanagan writing much later, when Howard had been in power nearly a decade, had more shit to deal with, especially when 9/11/2001 provided Howard the catalyst to take Australia into waters that many thought we had sailed away from forever.
Friday, January 12, 2007
MATESHIP
Today President George Bush decided to send another 21500 troops into the Iraqi quagmire. Because he is his mate, Australian PM John Howard blindly supports him. The alternative Howard said 'would be to start making arrangements for a withdrawal'. Well ...'Hello...' that is exactly what the majority of people in the US and Australia believe should happen.
Mateship is a funny thing because it can be both postive - sticking by your mates to achieve a successful outcome, especially when the situation is bleak. Or it can be quite negative - sticking by your mates when the situation is hopeless and continuing is folly. The time can come when mateship is questioning, challenging and offers wise counsel and wise options. Blind following is not mateship.
It looks like the Bush and Howard are not going to 'cut and run'. Rather they will stay on the basis of Iraq taking charge. If the Iraqi leadership fails then they will leave. Then it will be a case of 'cut and blame'. But the real danger is that Bush will turn on Syria and Iran and include them in the blame game. Defeat in Iraq will be everybody's fault but Bush's.
I can't help but think if John Howard had been PM in 1915 would he have acknowledged Australia's defeat at the hands of the Turks at Gallipoli and withdrew or would we have stayed on to accumulate more than the 9000 Aussies killed? The fact is that 'cut and run' was acceptable then because common sense ultimately prevailed, albeit at a heavy and belated price.
Make no mistake George, this has turned into another Vietnam and today's decision will affirm the folly of your 2003 decision to wage this war. The saddest bit is that your pigheadedness in the face of widespread professional, military and community opinion has cost tens of thousands of lives and will continue to do so. History will judge you harshly.
Mateship is a funny thing because it can be both postive - sticking by your mates to achieve a successful outcome, especially when the situation is bleak. Or it can be quite negative - sticking by your mates when the situation is hopeless and continuing is folly. The time can come when mateship is questioning, challenging and offers wise counsel and wise options. Blind following is not mateship.
It looks like the Bush and Howard are not going to 'cut and run'. Rather they will stay on the basis of Iraq taking charge. If the Iraqi leadership fails then they will leave. Then it will be a case of 'cut and blame'. But the real danger is that Bush will turn on Syria and Iran and include them in the blame game. Defeat in Iraq will be everybody's fault but Bush's.
I can't help but think if John Howard had been PM in 1915 would he have acknowledged Australia's defeat at the hands of the Turks at Gallipoli and withdrew or would we have stayed on to accumulate more than the 9000 Aussies killed? The fact is that 'cut and run' was acceptable then because common sense ultimately prevailed, albeit at a heavy and belated price.
Make no mistake George, this has turned into another Vietnam and today's decision will affirm the folly of your 2003 decision to wage this war. The saddest bit is that your pigheadedness in the face of widespread professional, military and community opinion has cost tens of thousands of lives and will continue to do so. History will judge you harshly.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Compassion and Courage and Quick Thinking
Of course we like to think that Aussies are compassionate and courageous and quick thinking when that is required.
When I read recently about the New Yorker who left his two daughters to jump onto a subway track to save a man who had fallen there I was filled with admiration for his compassion, courage and selfless quick response. This was not a response governed by any cultural, ethnic, or geographic background - this was a human response.
Coincidentally I watched an interview today of an Aussie who responded to a car accident that happened in front of him a few days ago and performed similar compassionate, brave and quick thinking actions that saved the life of a small boy. So two good news stories from opposite sides of the world that show what ordinary people can do when they find themselves in circumstances that require big choices. In some ways this is what the captain of the Tampa was confronted with when he opted to save a number of refugees who were in dire circumstances.
Today I set up another blog (am I getting blogdicted??). This one is peterbulkeley.blogspot.com and the link is opposite. If you are interested you can check out some of my other stuff.
When I read recently about the New Yorker who left his two daughters to jump onto a subway track to save a man who had fallen there I was filled with admiration for his compassion, courage and selfless quick response. This was not a response governed by any cultural, ethnic, or geographic background - this was a human response.
Coincidentally I watched an interview today of an Aussie who responded to a car accident that happened in front of him a few days ago and performed similar compassionate, brave and quick thinking actions that saved the life of a small boy. So two good news stories from opposite sides of the world that show what ordinary people can do when they find themselves in circumstances that require big choices. In some ways this is what the captain of the Tampa was confronted with when he opted to save a number of refugees who were in dire circumstances.
Today I set up another blog (am I getting blogdicted??). This one is peterbulkeley.blogspot.com and the link is opposite. If you are interested you can check out some of my other stuff.
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