Just a Thought

Anyone notice how all the Australian bogan SUV crowd, who used to drive black vehicles, seem now to be driving white SUVs?

My theory: having recently voted for Morrison, they're now virtue-signalling, a term of abuse, as you know, that they reserved for the liberal/left. Of course, research into sales of white SUVs would probably be useful at this point.

Albanese? Class Warrior?

Give me a break!

The  Murdoch press is replete with straw men and women. Anyone who dares not toe its line is painted in the most lurid of colours. Labor leader-in-waiting, Anthony Albanese, is no exception to the rule - except that, at this stage at least, the Murdoch press has hopes of grooming him as another Bob Hawke, or Tony Blair, if you will.

But first, the straw man:

Albo vows to end class war ran the banner headline on page one of Thursday's issue of The Australian. (For the uninitiated, Albo, a purported left-winger, looks set to succeed the hapless Bill Shorten as leader of the federal Australian Labor Party.)

All talk here of 'class war' is, of course, ludicrous. Whether it's Shorten or Albanese at the helm, the ALP wouldn't know what class war was if it hit it in the face. Still, such propaganda tropes are standard fare, deployed by the Murdoch press against any public figure it chooses to mount a crusade against..

The Australian's Peter van Onselen, now a professor of politics at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University, dishes out the following Murdochratic advice/ directive:

"He may well be, having shown a willingness over the years to crab-walk away from causes considered too radical for a mainstream politician... But to do so in more than an superficial way... Albanese will need to prove that he truly believes in the economic structures that support people's aspirations... " ('Tory fighter' should follow Hawke)

Although I'm not party to Albanese's past record of rhetorical flourishes, I seriously doubt he's ever resorted to expressions the Big End of Town, Us & Them, neoliberalism, privatisation, and other expressions of the social and political reality that oppress us all on a daily basis. For example, has he said anything about the $33bn stock market surge which followed Morrison's election win?

For the record, Friday's Australian trotted out a photograph of Albanese with UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, taken last year. Front page, of course. Here's the opening paragraph:

"Labor's leader in waiting Anthony Albanese will be forced to jettison the hard-left policies he has espoused for more than three decades... Mr Albanese has become close to far-left British Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn... " (From left field: Albanese, Corbyn and co, Andrew Burrell/ Andrew Clennell)

Further on in the same piece, there's a reference to his "decades-long history as a spear-thrower for Labor's hard left."

In the same issue, former Zionist lobbyist (and, quite incidentally, MP for Melbourne Ports) Michael Danby, has an opinion piece, headed Let's see if feisty Albo's made of Hawke's right stuff, in which we find yet more blather about Albo/Hawke, as well as this wonderful example of the psychological phenomenon known as projection: "... a ratbag such as Jeremy Corbyn."

I am familiar, however, with Albanese's utterly lame and gutless statements over the years on the subject of Palestine/Israel, the infallible test of principle and courage in today's world. For example:

2009: "I don't support the boycott of Israel, I support engagement... dialogue and discussion." (Q & A)

2011: Albanese accused the then Greens-dominated Marrickville Council of "simplistic sloganeering" when they bravely dared to adopt a pro-BDS policy, and lamely opined that "the inner west of Sydney is... a place where neighbours live in harmony regardless of religion or race."

2016: Albanese expressed "concern" about foreign policy funding, and said China, Israel and Taiwan were among the biggest spenders of sponsored travel and donations in Australia.

2018: Albanese warned about "Israel's actions... damaging the country's reputation."

Morrison: Business As Usual at the UN

For example:

"The United Nations general assembly has overwhelmingly backed a motion condemning Britain's occupation of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean. The 116-6 vote left the UK diplomatically isolated and was also a measure of severely diminished US clout on the world stage. Washington had campaigned vigorously at the UN and directly in talks with national capitals around the world in defence of the UK's continued control over the archipelago, where there is a US military base at Diego Garcia. The vote was in support of a motion setting a six-month deadline for Britain to withdraw from the Chagos island chain and for the islands to be reunified with neighbouring Mauritius. It endorsed an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in February, calling on the UK to relinquish its hold on the territory in order to complete the process of decolonisation." (UK suffers crushing defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands, Owen Bowcott/Julian Borger, theguardian.com, 23/5/19)

Right... so who comprised this charmless, colonial gang of six who voted against self-determination for the dispossessed and dispersed Chagossian islanders? Wouldn't you know it:

The US, Hungary, Israel, Australia, UK and the Maldives.

Not, mind you, that, with the Murdoch press trumpeting Morrison as The Messiah from The Shire, you'd expect to see this telling information in the Australian msm.

Witless in Wentworth

Former Australian Ambassador for Israel, and self-styled 'modern' Liberal, Dave Sharma is now the new Liberal Party MP for the seat of Wentworth. So who voted for him, and why? My picking through the post-election msm garbage - slim pickings, I know  - has so far revealed the following interesting emissions:

"'I voted for Kerryn last year but not now,' said Anna, 33, who did not want he last name used. She said she had cast a vote for Dr Phelps to signal her frustration to the Liberal Party, but over the week decided to vote for Mr Sharma, influenced in part by his campaign's daily phone messages to her emphasising trust and compassion." (Liberals confident Sharma to nab Wentworth, Nick O'Malley, The Sun-Herald, 19/5/19)

"Natalie Solenko, 83, who emerged from the booths with her 76-year-old husband Bruce Young, said she had voted Liberal, as she had since arriving in Australia from Russia via Paris in 1951: 'I have lived under a communist party, thank you very much.' She said she had told her greens-voting daughter that she should go and live in a tent." (ibid)

OK, is it updates as they arise, or enough already?

The Hyping of Hawke 3

By now, after reading my previous two posts questioning his virtual canonisation, it should be apparent that the late, former Australian prime minister, Bob Hawke, was, with his fatal decision to involve Australia in the brutal US-led Gulf War of 1991, very much the war hawk.

Of course, the impacts of war today are seldom confined to the immediate area of conflict, but consideration of their wider impact is of scant concern to those who, like Hawke, are hell-bent on waging them. One of those areas of impact is inevitably the home front.

The following three extracts, detailing the dark forces unleashed by St Bob here in Australia, come from academic Christine Asmar's invaluable essay The Arab-Australian Experience, in Australia's Gulf War (1992). Although the 'experience' she describes took place almost ten years before 9/11, it is chilling to note the sheer depth of Arabophobia and Islamophobia of the time, a phenomenon that Hawke cannot evade responsibility for unleashing, and one that continues to haunt us today with a vengeance:

"For Arabs born and brought up in Australia the experience of the Gulf War was shattering: 'I'd never thought of myself as anything but Australian', said Mary Rebehy, 'and suddenly I realised that some people had never accepted us as Australians at all'. Similarly, John Brennan of the Ethnic Affairs Commission told an audience at the University of Sydney of his shock at having to confront in Australia the 'reservoir of pathological loathing' towards both Arabs and Muslims. A writer to the Age expostulated: 'Australians be damned! They are an alien fifth column and should be interned'. Arab children were abused from passing cars as they walked to school and intimidated by fellow-students while at school, sometimes without teachers intervening. Muslim Arab women were spat at, abused, and had their headscarfs ripped off their heads... Islamic institutions such as the mosque and Islamic Centre at Lakemba in Sydney; the mosques at Preston and Coburg in Victoria; and a Muslim primary school in Perth were all subject to abusive calls, bomb threats and break-ins as were the premises of Arab organisations such as the Lebanese Women's Association and the Australian Arabic Welfare Council, both in Sydney. Many Muslim Australian women became afraid to leave home, even to go shopping." (p 65)

"A particular source of contention arose from the belief that ASIO (the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization) had carried out surveillance, and possibly even harassment of members of the Arab community. An article in the Bulletin in January 1991 claimed that ASIO had mounted 'an operation which has seen the surveillance of scores of Moslems living here, phone tapping, [and] a recommendation to intern certain people'. ASIO was reported to have claimed that 'NSW could be a target of Arab terrorist attacks or sabotage', and that six terrorist plots had been foiled in Australia during the Gulf War. Such reports encouraged the tendency to equate 'terrorist' with 'Arab'. Since no Australian of Arab origin has ever been charged with any crime involving political violence, the reports added to the Arabs' sense of being victimized. Responding to a claim that Muslims were behind attacks on Jewish institutions, the President of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board made it clear that 'there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that any Muslim community is behind these attacks'. A large number of individuals in the Arab community, mostly political activists, reported that they had been visited by security personnel and questioned, although there was no suggestion of any physical harassment taking place. Some, however, alleged other forms of harassment and surreptitious surveillance. Whether true or not, those who believed such actions were taking place felt intimidated." (p 73)

"The widespread stereotyping of Arabs left a legacy of vulnerability and alienation. The experience of an unprecedented level of hostility has traumatized many Arabs in Australia, leading some to question the the Australian model of multiculturalism. In the words of Hassan Moussa, a prominent member of the community: 'The war has had a terrible effect on the community's sense of identity. Even today a lot of people are reluctant to say they are of Arab origin. It is very possible that the community may have become isolated and marginalized as a result of this crisis'. Ramsey Jebeile of the Australian Arabic Welfare Council has noticed that, after the Gulf War, Arab schoolchildren and their parents were showing an increased alienation, and a willingness to attribute any unwelcome developments at school to racist discrimination. Even more disturbing is the potentially self-fulfilling sense of hopelessness among school leavers about discrimination ruining their job prospects." (p 79)

To be continued...

It's Time

Scott Morrison: "Australians can be absolutely assured I will burn for you every day." (Not time to risk Labor: Morrison, Joe Kelly, The Australian, 17/5/19)

Australians: Sorry, Scott, not necessary, just tomorrow, OK? But, hey, don't forget to crash first.

Arms Industry Funds Australian Militarism

"The head of the Australian war Memorial, Brendan Nelson, was personally receiving payments from the multinational arms manufacturer Thales while publicly defending the institution's controversial acceptance of donations from weapons companies. The AWM has strongly denied any suggestion that Thales' payments to Nelson for his work as a board member created a conflict of interest, saying Nelson donated any money he received and cleared the arrangement as required with the federal government. The AWM has drawn criticism for accepting funding from weapons manufacturers, including Thales, which is a sponsor and supporting partner of the institution. The Medical Association for Prevention of War told a Senate inquiry last year such sponsorship was 'contemptible' and pointed out the 'stark' irony of an institution commemorating the horrors of war accepting money from companies that profit from conflict." (From Brendan Nelson denies 'conflict of interest' after passing on fees from arms firm to war memorial, Christopher Knaus, theguardian.com/australia, 24/4/19)

There you have it folks, the arms industry, enabled by a former Liberal Party leader, directly involved in stoking one of Australia's fastest-growing and nastiest trends, militarism.

And while we're at it on Anzac Day, another hyped component of Australian militarism, here's British war poet Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth, written during World War I, which consumed the poet himself:

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs -
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

White Shite

You know in your bones that if a celebrity scholar gets an entire (broadsheet) page to strut his stuff, a thumbs-up editorial, and a glowing introductory article in Murdoch's Australian, that something's seriously amiss. I'm talking here about The Australian's new poster boy, Eric Kaufmann.

Just to fill you in, here's part of the glowing intro by Bernard Lane:

"The political Left is unlikely to succeed in its attempt after the Christchurch Muslim massacre to reimpose politically correct taboos on immigration debates, says an international expert on the rise of right-wing populism. In the war of words after Christchurch, Left activists and Muslim firebrands [!!] have attacked conservative politicians and media outlets for supposedly arming the Australian-born accused killer with bullets of xenophobia and hate speech... 'The Left is trying to use Christchurch to delegitimate the conversation [!!] about Muslim integration and immigration - this is no more intelligent than the Right using jihadist attacks like Charlie Hebdo (in Paris in 2015) to demonise Muslims,' London-based political analyst Eric Kaufmann told The Weekend Australian.

"In his book White Shift: Populism, Immigration and the Future of White Majorities, he argues the success of the populist Right in the West is driven by rapid ethnic change and the white majority's fear for its identity, not by the economic misery of workers 'left behind'. He offers a surprising idea for taking the heat out of culture conflict in the West and easing polarisation in politics. Until recently, mainstream parties had followed the Left's 'anti-racist taboos' on criticising multiculturalism or immigration, thereby gifting votes to Donald Trump, Brexit and a host of parties such as One Nation, he said. With actual racism in decline [!!], the post-1960s Left had widened the definition of racism and demonised white majorities, unwittingly serving as 'a force multiplier' for the populist Right.

"Professor Kaufmann, from Birkbeck College, University of London, predicts immigration trends will see minorities outnumber whites in the US by 2050, with Australia going 'majority-minority' one or two decades later. He said it was not racist for whites, like any other ethnic group, to expect their interests to figure in the trade-offs of immigration policy. Parties such as One Nation actually made white terror attacks less likely because they served as a democratic safety valve for the angst of white majorities [!!], he said. He said there was a danger of more white terror if conservative white insecurity about immigration was forced back underground. But far-right attacks such as last month's massacre of Muslims in New Zealand were 'rare and not really on the rise'.' (Left losing migrant high ground, 6/4/19)

Not at all rare, however, are Western massacres of Muslims in the Middle East by white majority Western 'defence' forces, cheered on, or tacitly supported, by their white majority base at home, but these of course are nowhere mentioned in Kaufmann's calculus.

I'll have more to say about his thesis in my next post, but will leave you to ponder the following key extract from his book, as it appears in The Australian of April 6:

"Ethnic nationhood, which restricts citizenship to members of the majority, is clearly a non-starter. But things aren't so black and white. There is a third possibility - ethno-traditional nationhood, which values the ethnic majority as an important component of the nation alongside other groups. Ethno-traditional nationalists favour slower immigration to permit enough migrants to voluntarily assimilate into the ethnic majority, maintaining the white ethno-tradition. The point is not to assimilate all diversity but to strike a balance between vibrant minorities and an enduring white Christian tradition." (White Fright: It's not racist to be attached to one's own culture)

Jesus Christ!

To be continued...

Remi Kanazi Denied Visa after ADC Intervention

The following Australian government outrage hasn't, to my knowledge, been covered in the mainstream Australian press. Here is the text of a petition circulating on the matter. (It may be found at www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/overturn-visa-ban-let-palestinian-poet-into-australia):

"World renowned American, Palestinian writer, poet and organiser Remi Kanazi has had his visa revoked. He was planning a speaking and performance tour of Australia. The organisers of his tour claim that the denial of his visa is an attack on free speech and the right of Palestinians to enter this country. Kanazi has been denied a visa after a campaign by the Anti-Defamation Commission to the minister for immigration.

"Marxism Conference organiser Vashti Kenway says that 'The denial of Kanazi's visa is a clear violation of the right of free speech in this country. This is the second time Palestinian speakers at our Marxism Conference have have had a visa denied them and the third to have major issues.'

"In 2016 Palestinian American journalist Ali Abunimah had to battle to get a visa into Australia and in 2017 Bassem Tamimi from the Palestinian Occupied Territories, father of political prisoner Ahed Tamimi, was denied entry. Prominent Palestinian spokesperson Nasser Mashni from Australians for Palestine says: 'This decision is an act of selective, politically-motivated censorship. It is clear the government is deliberately silencing and preventing human rights defenders and Palestinian voices for justice from being heard in Australia.'

"The Anti-Defamation Commission claim Kanazi is anti-semitic for his support for Palestinian resistance and have garnered support for their campaign from a number of MPs.

'The conflation of support for Palestinian resistance with anti-semitism is a common trope. Similar accusations have been levelled at British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and American senator Ilhan Omar in recent months. This is slander and operates to silence Palestinian voices. Standing up for the human right of Palestinians to resist their occupation and the war waged against them is entirely justified,' Kenway claims.

"Kanazi is a globally renowned and respected commentator on Palestinian issues. His political commentary has been featured by news outlets throughout the world including the New York Times, Salon, Al Jazeera English and BBC Radio. He has appeared in the Palestine Festival of Literature. this is the first time that he has ever been denied a visa anywhere in the world."

You click on the 'Remi Kanazi' label below to read his poem, The Dos & Don'ts of Palestine. And while we're at it, here's another from his 2011 collection, Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance & Palestine:

Only as Equals

every time I think of 9/11
I see burning flesh
dripping off the bones
of Iraqi children in Fallujah
now Gaza
I tend to memorialize the forgotten
the collateral damage
eclipsing America's unpunished crimes

maybe it's because I'm a numbers guy?
because if I had a dollar
for every time
an Iraqi died since 2003
I'd be a millionaire

and don't get me wrong
sometimes I don't know
who to hate more
the governments in the West
or the politicians in the East
who sell their souls
quicker than the oil they export
straw men who use Palestine
as a tool to line their pockets
and don't give a nickel
to their people
quisling governments
who stitch mouths shut for a check
from Washington and AIPAC
how can they be
Israel's prototypical anti-Semite
if they're signing peace accords
to oppress their own people?

then Orientalists and hypocrites
talk about how democracy
can't be allowed in the Middle East
because of what happened in Gaza
a Hamas bogeyman
wrapped in democratic elections
Rahm Emmanuel wants to educate me
and my people
about democracy gone wrong
why doesn't he try
implementing one in Israel first?
instead of bowing down to terrorists
like his father and the IDF
lauding a third-rate, racist, European society
that's imploding faster
than its moral standing in the world
enlightened like 1950s Afrikaners
and slave traders
just because the house is beautiful
doesn't mean the bones you built it on
have fully decomposed

the Israeli left
is about alive as Ariel Sharon
I'm sick and tired
of asking for permission to resist
from antiquated leftists and progressives
who care more about keeping it Kosher
than moving things forward

I put down my pen and waving fist
to resist with college kids
and Palestinians
boycott and divest
because who cares about
preserving a living
when governments
are killing civilians?

we'll boycott Elbit Systems
Caterpillar and your apartheid companies
we're taking back the right of return
and the keys to our country
because we never asked you
to go back to Europe
or sit in open-air prisons
I'm not asking for your advice
I'm explaining the decision

you can stay here
with us
but only as equals
it's not that you're Israeli
it's that you're wrong
that's why I fight for my people!

It's the Donations, Stupid

"Donations are a bigger influence on Australian politics than polls and the major parties have a history of ignoring mainstream voter opinion, social researcher Rebecca Huntley says. Australia Fair, Dr Huntley's forthcoming piece in Quarterly Essay, argues that polls are often used as a short-term weapon by political rivals but do not truly influence policy and politics. 'If only research was as influential as donations,' she told The Sun-Herald... 'The biggest change we need to crack in Australia is donation reform; we have to change the money that's involved in politics," she said. 'When you change the money, you change who the politicians listen to. Even though it seems like not as pressing an issue as as health or jobs, it's fundamental'." (Donations 'more influential' than polls, Caitlin Fitzsimmons, 17/3/19)

Huntley's research merely confirms what we already know, namely that Australia's bipartisan support for Israel is the result of significant Zionist money. To cite but one example: "No domestic house in Melbourne has had more influence on public... life than Raheen, the 1870s Italianate mansion owned for more than 35 years by the family of billionaire packaging king Richard Pratt... Raheen is used by the Pratts to court and entertain both sides of politics, to conduct fundraisers and to highlight the cause of Israel, into which the Pratt Foundation pours millions of dollars... " (More than just a home, Pratt mansion welcomes all parties, John Ferguson/Rebecca Urban, The Australian, 11/2/17)

But will this particular aspect of Australia's foreign policy find its way into Huntley's essay? After all, the Quarterly Essay, like The Saturday Paper, is owned by Zionist publisher Morrie Schwartz. Only one way to find out...

PS: I've just read Huntley's essay. Most interesting on the subject of Australian society and what the citizenry think about various domestic issues - Australian democracy, the environment, climate change, asylum seekers etc, but nothing on foreign policy issues as such.

Australia Day BBQ Stopper

"One afternoon in 1964 I was drinking coffee in the University of New England cafeteria with a bunch of young men from well-to-do grazing properties. They were rowdy and effortlessly good-natured. In those days Australia still rode on the sheep's back; they took for granted that they were the natural aristocrats of the campus and of the nation. We were laughing a lot that day. The conversation had turned to old family eccentrics; we'd been vying to cap each other's wacky stories.

"Then, a wealthy landowner's son took a turn. Sunday afternoons had been the fun time for his family, he announced. Presumably after church, and a good heavy Sunday dinner, his grandfather would go hunting on horseback with dogs and a posse of mates. Whooping. All armed with whips and guns. The quarry was Aborigines. They would be chased through the bush, cornered, then shot. Or driven over a mighty precipice to their death.

"Stunned silence fell around the table. The brutal declaration, so breezy and lighthearted, so shockingly new to my ears, threw us completely. I stared down into my coffee. Someone guffawed uneasily. I've often wondered why the young man blurted out those words. I remember he laughed as he spoke. Was it bravado to cover shame?

"The chilling thing was that, despite our shock, in the end the social niceties prevailed. We would ignore the faux pas. Besides, how many others among those young grandsons of squatters sitting around the table had similar secrets walled up behind their homestead facades?" (Who are we, really? Time to face the truth of the massacres of Aborigines, Frances Letters, Sydney Morning Herald, 7/7/17)

***

"Concerning Frances Letters' commentary, in the 1960s a family member born in the 1890s told me a similar story. I was about 14 at the time and I think the discussion touched on the Aboriginal referendum. He mentioned matter of factly that when he was a boy it was not uncommon for landowners to go on Aborigine shoots. I thought I had distorted my recollection, but after reading Frances's comments I now know it was true." (Letter to the SMH, 8/7/17)

Nothing is Sacred

"Meanwhile they cut down, burned up, defaced and mutilated billboards." The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abbey, 1975

***

I can't resist this, even if it is off-topic:

"Speaking after visiting the Bathurst 1000 motor race, Mr Morrison said The Everest [horse race] was one of the biggest events of the year and generated 'massive opportunities' for the city and the state. 'Why not put it on the biggest billboard Sydney has?' he said. Mr Morrison... said he would 'put the Bathurst 1000 on the Harbour Bridge if I thought it was going to get more people there. It's just common sense and I don't know why people are getting precious about it'." (Racing boss puts blame on state, Garry Maddox, Sydney Morning Herald, 8/10/18)

So says our newly-minted neoliberal prime minister Scott Morrison, weighing in on the controversy over projecting advertising for this, that or the other time-wasting activity onto Sydney's landmark structures such as the Opera House or the Harbour Bridge.

Whether iconic or world heritage-listed, man-made or natural wonder, it matters not. To the neoliberal mindset everything is just a potential billboard.

As the High Priestess of the neoliberal cult, Ayn Rand, put it in her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged:

"Uncoiling from among the curves of Wisconsin's hills, the highway was the only evidence of human labor, a precarious bridge stretched across a sea of brush, weeds and trees. The sea rolled softly, in sprays of yellow and orange, with a few red jets floating up on the hillsides, with pools of remnant green in the hollows, under a pure blue sky... 'What I'd like to see,' said Rearden, 'is a billboard'." (from Here are 10 things I learned about the world from Ayn Rand's insane 'Atlas Shrugged', Adam Lee, alternet.org, 24/8/18)

The Australian poet Denis Kevans (1939-2005) once wrote a memorable poem from the perspective of an Indigenous Australian. It begins thus:

"Ah, white man, I am searching for the sites sacred to you, where you walk, in silent worship, and you whisper poems too, where you tread, like me, in wonder, and your eyes are filled with tears, and you see the tracks you've travelled down your fifty thousand years."

Kevans' poem was titled Ah, White Man, Have You Any Sacred Sites?

The answer to your question, Denis, is no, the neoliberal white man has no sacred sites.

Making Australia Great Again with...

... senator Fraser Anning.

After perusing msm accounts of Mad Hatter's Australian Party senator Anning's reference to a "final solution to the immigration problem," you could be forgiven for thinking that his appropriation of the words "final solution" was the worst aspect of his speech.

You would, of course, be overlooking its primary focus: Australia's Muslims - the principal, if not the only, target of Anning's "final solution":

"Historically... the one immigrant group here and in other Western nations that has consistently shown itself to be the least able to assimilate and integrate is Muslims. The first terrorist act on Australian soil was in 1915, when two Muslim immigrants opened fire on a picnic train of innocent women and children in Broken Hill - and Muslim immigrants have been a problem ever since. To paraphrase the words of Sir Winston Churchill: The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power. The influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those that follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. 

"I believe that the reasons for ending all further Muslim immigration are both compelling and self-evident. The record of Muslims who have already come to this country in rates of crime, welfare dependency and terrorism is the worst of any migrants... A majority of Muslims in Australia of working age do not work and live on welfare. Muslims in NSW and Victoria are three times more likely than other groups to be convicted of crimes. We have black African Muslim gangs terrorising Melbourne. We have ISIS-sympathising Muslims trying to go overseas to fight for ISIS and, while all Muslims are not terrorists, certainly all terrorists these days are Muslims. So why would anyone want to bring more of them here?"

I'll return to Anning's "final solution" later. Let's first unpack just some of the nonsense above:

1) The first terrorist act on Australian soil? Maybe... but only if you overlook the colonial-settler genocide of Australia's indigenous population.

2) To paraphrase... Churchill? So the arch British colonialist, Churchill, is some renowned authority on Muslims? Really? Be that as it may, Anning isn't, in fact, paraphrasing Churchill, but rather selectively quoting him, lifting the said quote from some Islamophobic shite that's been circulating on the internet for a few years: here it is with the with the missing bits restored (and highlighted): "The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great force. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world." Funny how the quote Anning's latched onto and recycled here never contains those missing words. We can't have the reactionaries' favourite Big White Man saying anything positive about Muslims now, can we?

3) Muslims in NSW and Victoria are 3 times more likely than other groups to be convicted of crimes? As today's Sydney Morning Herald revealed in its own fact check of Anning's speech: "The Herald repeatedly asked Senator Anning's office for the source of this claim, and did not receive a response. Both the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and Victoria's Crime Statistics Agency told Fairfax Media they did not possess or publish reliable data on the religious affiliation of criminals."

4) Black African Muslim gangs? Inconveniently for Anning, the religious background of Melbourne's South Sudanese community just happens to be Christian.

But back to Anning's "final solution," which, BTW, is, in his own words, "a plebiscite to allow the Australian people to decide whether they want wholesale non-English speaking immigrants from the Third World and, in particular, whether they want any Muslims or whether they want to return to the predominantly European immigration policy of the pre-Whitlam consensus." IOW, a ban on Muslim immigrants and/or a return to the White Australia Policy.

Interestingly, local Zionist spokesmen don't seem all that exercised over Anning's appropriation of the words "final solution" - if these curiously muted quotes from The Final Solution - in the Australian parliament (15/8/18, jwire.com.au) are anything to go by:

"Regardless of his intentions, Senator Anning's choice of words would have been unsettling for Jewish Australians... " Anton Block, President, Executive Council of Australian Jewry

"What a poor and inappropriate choice of words by Senator Anning to make a point about immigration... " Dvir Abramovich, Chairman, Anti-Defamation Commission

Could this softly, softly approach perhaps have something to do with Anning's use of his parliamentary platform last month to move - unsuccessfully as it happens - that Australia recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move our embassy there? (See my 23/6/18 post Time for a New Australian Party)

Of course, none of the msm media outlets, which are dubbing Anning's diatribe 'the final solution speech,' have shown any interest in his services to the country that admits as citizens only bona fide Jews.

A Far Too Charitable Assessment

"The Foreign Minister's July 2 decision on the [direct] aid sparked an angry response from Palestinian Authority senior adviser Nabil Shaath, who described Australia as 'worthy of being spat on' and 'servants of the US'." (Aid cut despite pledge on terror, Andrew Burrell, The Australian, 25/7/18)

Who Funds Parliamentary Junkets to Israel?

From the introduction to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's (ASPI) latest report Who funds federal parliamentarians' overseas travel? An analysis of non-Australian government funded parliamentary travel between 2010 and 2018:

"During the nearly 8-year period covered by this report, Israel, China and the USA were the top 3 destinations for parliamentarians sponsored by non-Australian Government entities. The top non-Australian Government sponsor for parliamentarians travelling to Israel was the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC)... According to the disclosures made in the federal parliamentary Registers of Interest... federal parliamentarians received 102 sponsored trips to Israel, 63 to China, and 49 to the USA where the costs were paid for by non-Australian Government sponsors. The report counted two 'types' of trips - flights and accommodation; and accommodation only. The vast majority of all trips were flights and accommodation."

In brief, Israel is the number 1 travel junket for clueless, unprincipled Australian politicians, and it's overwhelmingly on the Israel lobby's (tax-exempt?) dime. Maybe the next ASPI report could focus on what the lobby gets in return for their money. Wouldn't that be interesting?

Candy Royalle 1981-2018 RIP

Memories

I am my grandfather's memories
of sunshine streaming through olive trees,
Of women sitting around and clucking like hens
as they crush garlic with spices to make
that night's meal
whilst men tend gardens
plough the fields
of their baladi
their homeland.

I am my grandfather's memories
remembering that he was raised as a Christian
in a land of Muslims
with Jewish friends.
He played in the dirt
with his future enemies
shared meals
and didn't yet know
that history was in the making
somewhere in Europe.

I am my grandfather's memories
and the things he doesn't even know yet
Like: he was one of millions of pawns
negotiated in a deal
that would alleviate the guilt of the world
for crimes committed
that they had no hand in
there was no hatred -
yet.

I am my grandfather's nightmares
where stories came
horrors that caressed the ears
of him
his parents
others in their community.
It whispered that death
was wiping out whole villages
mass graves were being filled
blood was being shed
so much
that rivers ran upon the earth
turning it crimson.
Violence was making the ard arid
land once fertile -
wasted.

I am my grandfather's nightmares
where he wished to be deaf
to the stories of the nakba.
Where to stay was to die
where to leave was to die -
death comes in many forms
and when your feet can no longer
touch the dirt
you took your first steps upon
that's a form of death too.

I am my grandfather's memories
of the stories coming closer
of terror being sowed
whilst the peasants plowed the land.
He thought of the danger
his aging parents were in
he thought of his own life ahead of him
he'd seen his people torn from the earth
no more roots
they wandered out
dazed
confused
crying for their losses
mourning the dead
asking allah what they did
to deserve this.
He'd seen whole villages
razed to the ground
and he knew
that a knock on the door
was imminent
that the violence ravaging his land
would not stop
in fact it intensified daily
and so knowing that under occupation
was no place to live
he left one day
saying goodbye to his parents
he swore he would send for them
once he had found somewhere safe.

I am my grandfather's memories
as he stepped out that door
one last time
held his hand up
to shield his eyes
breathed in slow through his nostrils
and forced himself to remember
every smell.
He opened his eyes wide
allowed them to sting
and looked upon his village
one last time
he forced himself to remember
every sight
then closed his eyes
and committed to memory
all those memories before 1948
so that he would leave in love
and not hate.
Opening his eyes
I am his memory
of walking away
of the crunch of dirt beneath his feet
listening to the earth's conversation with him
how the wind wished him well
through the trees
and he talked back with his heart
knowing he wouldn't return
he swore to his homeland
it would reside forever inside.

I am my grandfather's memories
as he immigrated to Lebanon
to try to start again.
How he worked long hours
as a refugee in a foreign land
trying to gather the money required
to save his parents
from the death which was beckoning.

I am my grandfather's memories
as he managed to bring his parents over
then start his own family
getting married
having children
tragically losing a wife
getting married again
having more children
and trying to provide for them.

I am my father's memories
of being born into a displaced family
where the homeland is referred to constantly
where he had a sense
that he belonged elsewhere
where the injustice was keenly felt
but where the world seemed not to care
nor understand
the plight of his people.

I am my father's memories
of a family striving to survive
always on the outside
and he as a child growing
in another war-torn country
but knowing that he would leave
before the army could get to him.

I am my father's memories
of being kidnapped twice
and twice being set free
for he did not subscribe
to any form of religious extremism.

I am my father's memories
of constant warfare
being shot by rubber bullets
choking on tear gas
listening to missiles
soar overhead
hoping against all hope
that their bullet-riddled apartment block
would not be hit next.

I am my father's memories
of being 18 and knowing if he did not leave
he would have to bear a weapon
and the death that comes with it -
either behind it
or in front.
So he left that land
knowing that he could never return -
he became a deserter of a war
he did not agree with.
As that plane
ascended towards the heavens
I am his memories of hope
for a better future
but sadness that he may never
see those whom he loves
again.

I am my father's memories
of picking grapes in France
trying to save enough money
to get further away.

I am my father's memory
of boarding a plane for Australia
where he knew my mother to be
and tearing up his passport
arriving as a refugee.

I am my own memory
of being 8 or 9 years old
and listening
to the voice of my grandfather
on a tape he's sent us
from a land I can barely imagine
but whose music I hear
whose food I eat
whose history I am already learning.

I am my own memory
of being 10 or 11 years old
and seeing my Dad
cry for the first time
because we would no longer be
receiving those tapes.
My father who knew his father was dying
and couldn't return
didn't get to say goodbye to his Baba
on his deathbed.
That's when I became
my grandfather's memories
you see he could no longer remember
now that he had been buried.

I am my own memory
of being a teenager
and struggling to exist
between two cultures:
one which sought me to hang on to a past
and one which forced me into the future
one which sought to fill me with love
and one which forced me to belong to this land.

I am my own memory
of trying to understand
why my father was always so angry
until I was old enough to see
that where once my father
had been a warrior
he was now nothing more than a worrier
and I mistook that fear
at losing his family
his land
everything that I took for granted
for anger.

I am my family's blood
where these memories
these histories
course through my veins.
Where my own feet
have not yet touched the soil
of where my great grandfather
my grandfather and
my father's footsteps roamed.

I am the memories of the displaced
the lost
the hidden
the lies
the propaganda
the hatred.

I am the memories
of blue skies
dry heat
homous
tabouli
tabla.

I am the memories
of that lost land
and this land gained.

Time for a New Australian Party

Clearly, Australia needs a new political party. One unburdened by any pettifogging concern for the national interest. One that makes no bones about getting its inspiration and marching orders from afar. My suggestion is that it be called the Whatever Israel Wants Israel Gets Party (WIWIGP).

And this could be it in embryo:

"Senator Fraser Anning (QLD) [Katter's Australian Party] last night filed a Notice of Motion... to the effect that Australia will recognise Jerusalem as the capital of of Israel and move our embassy to the western side of Jerusalem... the motion was defeated in the senate today by 50-4... Dr David Adler, AJA [Australia Jewish Association] President said, 'It is an explicit core policy of AJA that Jerusalem is the eternal undivided capital of Israel and the Jewish nation... AJA has worked closely with Senator Anning's office and support his motion. 'We want to recognise him as a friend of the Jewish people... It is an opportunity to put Australian senators to the test on this important matter of principle... ' [...] Dr David Adler told J-Wire: 'Obviously we are disappointed that the vote... was lost It appears that both major parties instructed their senators to vote no. We know that there are quite a few LNP senators that given a free vote would have voted yes'." (A motion to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital & to move the Australian embassy there, jwire.com.au, 19/6/18)

Senators Anning, Bernardi, Burston and Leyonhjelm are obvious founding father material, and WIWIGP is sure to grow like topsy as Liberal and Labor politicians, who orate endlessly about 'shared values' and 'unbreakable bonds', declare their true allegiance at last.

In fact, WIWIGP could end up as the largest party in Australia's federal parliament!

Finally, some honesty in Australian federal politics.

Where's Israel?

I just love the annual Lowy Institute Poll and its 'Feelings Thermometer', don't you?

"Please rate your feelings towards some countries, with 100 meaning a very warm, favourable feeling, zero meaning a very cold, unfavourable feeling... "

"This year for the first time," says the Poll, in its gloss, Feelings towards other countries, "we have included in the same 'thermometer' question the three nations Australians have felt most warmly towards in the past: New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Each is very warmly regarded, and the separation between them is almost insignificant."

I just don't understand! Why isn't Israel included here?

After all, PM Harbourside Mansion (salary now almost $538,500) is on record as saying that we and Israel share the values of "ingenuity, resilience and hard work," and that "we have an unbreakable bond that is only getting stronger."

UNBREAKABLE, mate!

Spartans in Afghanistan

The 'exploits' of an Australian death squad, operating until 2013 in Afghanistan are currently the subject of a major Sydney Morning Herald investigation. Central to the story is an officer known only as 'Leonidas', "who cannot be named for legal reasons." If 'Leonidas' isn't proof that Hollywood is far more than a US Weapon of Mass Distraction (as if that were not bad enough) but a form of spiritual pollution which plays havoc with the minds of the cretins who flock to its juvenile productions, I don't know what is:

"At the time (2009), he was part of an SASR [Special Air Service Regiment] patrol that was increasingly dividing the regiment. A warrior culture was being embraced by some special forces troops but loathed by others. It involved tattoos and a devotion to the Hollywood movie 300, which glorifies the fighting prowess of the ancient Spartans, and whose climactic moment involves an enemy soldier being kicked off a ridge. Several former SASR officers say this rock-star ethos emboldened certain soldiers to test the elasticity of the rules of engagement - rules that govern when a soldier can take a life. 'The regiment over time prided itself on being an organisation that broke the rules but not the law,' explains one former officer... 'What happened, though, was during the Afghan campaign, there was a group of individuals who believed they were immune from the law'... [In] the patrol Leonidas belonged to... sources say, junior members were pushed to kill rather than detain." (SAS's day of shame: war crime allegations: bound detainee kicked off cliff and executed, Nick McKenzie & Chris Masters, 9/6/18)

As a SMH reviewer wrote of 300 back in 2007: "Welcome to the new double-speak. Sparta as a metaphor for America, courtesy of Warner Bros, in which the politics of eugenics is reborn amid one of the most sickeningly violent and mindless films of the new millennium. Adolf Hitler would have been pleased: he may have lost the war, but his ideas live on in mystical, military propaganda like this, aimed at spotty boys in need of heroes. God help us. Of course, latent fascism isn't new in American military movies. It's just that it's rarely as politically naive as it is in 300. That's me being charitable. It's just possible the filmmakers intended it to be as inflammatory as it is. These are strange times and 300 fits the mood of a part of the West that would like to see the Middle Eastern barbarians bathed in their own blood. This is their kind of movie, complete with references to 'barbarians' and 'Asian hordes'. Perhaps the Klan has become a new demographic for Hollywood." (In the name of freedom, Paul Byrnes, 6/4/07)

The 'genius' behind this filth, director Zack Snyder, was quoted at the time as saying, "My feeling is if a movie's not sexy and fucking violent and fucking cool, then why go sit in the theatre? I look at the screen and half the time I'm like, 'I'm going to fall asleep. Somebody's going to have to kill somebody. Or fuck somebody.' A movie should kick you in the face." (Sympathy for the Spartans, Stephen Applebaum, The Australian, 21/3/07)

And guess what? Snyder's 'movie' did just that - to an innocent, handcuffed, Afghan shepherd, Ali Jan:

"[A] junior soldier described a scene he'd witnessed which was haunting him. It involved an irate and frustrated Leonidas grabbing one of the PUCs [Persons Under Confinement] and walking him to the edge of a cliff... Leonidas gave himself a short run-up then kicked the detainee. As he plunged, his face smashed into rocks. Then the injured man was executed, the junior soldier told his superiors. A second witness... has corroborated that story. He says he saw Leonidas kicking 'the hell' out of an Afghan detainee. The witness says this incident mirrored the climactic 'kick' scene from the Spartan movie, 300."

I really don't think I can take too much more of this Western Civilisation shit.

Sydney Morning Herald Fails Again & Again

Off topic, but not really given the Sydney Morning Herald's USrael-friendly treatment of the Middle East...

Well said, Julian Burnside QC:

"What does it say about the state of our democracy when it falls upon everyday people to stop a billionaire building the largest coal mine in the southern hemisphere? And what does it say about our politicians that they will let Adani's mine proceed when the vast majority of Australians don't want it, and scientists are urging us to keep coal in the ground to avoid more dangerous climate change? This month, nine people... were collectively fined more than $70,000 for their efforts in January to keep Adani's coal in the ground." (Everyday heroes step up as leaders fail, Sydney Morning Herald, 26/3/18)

And what does it say about the state of Fairfax's SMH that the $70,000 fine imposed on those 9 anti-Adani protesters was, to my knowledge, nowhere reported in the SMH prior to Burnside's opinion piece?

And what does it say about the SMH that its Sunday equivalent of 25/3/18, the Sun-Herald, nowhere reported that just the day before thousands of people from every corner of NSW (the Nature Conservation Council has estimated 10,000) marched through the streets of Sydney in protest at the pillaging of the state by mining corporations?