"Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has predicted a 'promising' future for Libya after making a flying visit to the country... He was surprised to find a calm Tripoli and had heard only 'occasional distant and sporadic gunfire'." (From out of Libya, Rudd a believer, John Lyons, The Australian, 10/12/11)
"Now that Qadhdhafi has been killed... the Libyan NATO militias can focus on their priorities: silencing critics, bloody internecine wars, and the gradual imposition of a Bin Ladenite order." (Asad Abu Khalil, angryarab.blogspot.com, 21/10/11)
"They've had free education, free health, they could study abroad. When they got married they got a certain amount of money. So they were rather the envy of many other citizens of African countries. Now, of course, since NATO's humanitarian intervention the infrastructure of their country has been bombed back to the Stone Age. They will not have the same quality of life. Women will probably not have the same degree of emancipation under any new transitional government. The national wealth is probably going to be siphoned off by Western corporations. Perhaps the standard of living in Libya might have been slightly higher than it is perhaps now in America and the UK with the recession." (Annie Machon, former MI5 agent, quoted in 'Nato has bombed Libya back to the Stone Age', rt.com, 19/10/11)
As the media cycle moves on events in NATO-'liberated' Libya have largely dropped from view, overtaken by the violence in Syria which has led to calls from within and without that country for a Libya-style foreign intervention. But when the likes of Hillary Clinton begin displaying an historically unprecedented concern for the suffering of the Syrian people, a closer look at the new, 'free' Libya would seem wise.
The following list of mainly Australian press items on post-Gaddafi Libya is far from exhaustive and I'll endeavour to update it as further items appear. Items are in reverse chronological order:
Revolutionary militias in western Libya unify: "Representatives of about 100 militias from western Libya said Monday they had formed a new federation to prevent infighting and allow them to press the country's new government for further reform. The move was a blow to the National Transitional Council, which helped lead the 8-month uprising against longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi... and has largely failed to decommission or bring under its control the hundreds of militias that fought in the war. Ibrahim al-Madani, a commander whose brigade joined the new federation, said the fighters would not give up their arms to what they considered a corrupt government." (Maggie Michael, Associated Press, 14/2/12)
Five killed in clashes in southeast Libya: "At least 5 people have been killed in clashes between rival tribes over control of territory in the far southwest of Libya, officials said on Monday, highlighting the challenge of policing the country's sparsely populated desert." (Ali Shuaib, af.reuters.com, 13/2/12)
Libya unable to control militia violence, looting: "Libya, the country that witnessed the Arab world's most sweeping revolution, is foundering. The government of the interim Prime Minister, Abdel Rahim el-Keeb, is virtually paralysed by rivalries that have forced it to divide power along lines of regions and personalities, by unreachable expectations that Muammar Gaddafi's fall would bring prosperity and by powerlessness so marked the national army is treated like another of the many warring militias. This week one militia assaulted another militia at a seaside base in Tripoli to rescue a woman who had been abducted. When the guns fell silent, briefly, the scene that unfolded felt as chaotic as Libya's revolution - a government whose authority extends no further than its offices, militias whose swagger comes from plentiful guns and residents whose patience fades with every volley of gunfire that cracks at night... A Human Rights Watch researcher estimated there are 250 militias in the coastal city of Misratah... In recent months, those militias have become the most loathed in the country." (Anthony Shadid, Sydney Morning Herald/ New York Times, 11/2/12)
Libyan revolutionaries accused of widespread torture: "Three months after the killing of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, concerns are mounting about the torture of prisoners held by Libyan militiamen who are operating beyond the control of the country's transitional government, as well as by officially recognised security bodies." (Ian Black, Sydney Morning Herald/Guardian, 28/1/12)
Gaddafi loyalists take back Bani Walid: "Fighters loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have seized back the town of Bani Walid and raised the late dictator's green flag, in a blow to Libya's struggling provisional government." (Chris Stephen, The Guardian, 23/1/12)
Libyan NTC offices stormed: "Angry protesters threw home-made grenades and stormed Libya's ruling National Transitional Council offices in the city of Benghazi yesterday, setting its front ablaze." (The Australian/AFP, 23/1/12)
Tripoli militias in gunfight: "Four people were killed here yesterday in a gunfight between militias who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi's regime." (The Australian/AFP, 5/1/12)
Tripoli under lockdown as friend turns to foe: "The Libyan capital has been placed under a security lockdown as the governing National Transitional Council seeks to impose control over local militias, demanding residents give up their weapons by the end of the month." (Christopher Stephen, Sydney Morning Herald/Bloomberg, 8/12/11)
Libya must bring militias into the fold: Local warlords challenge Tripoli for power: "The appointment of a new interim NTC cabinet this week is the right opportunity to jump-start the detente between the militias and the central authorities. The next step will be folding all of the militias into a new national army and police force. Giving them fancy unit names such as the Revolutionary Platoon of Jadu, the Misratah Martyrs Brigade, the Zintani Scourge of Saif, and the Zwaran Zombie Strike Force might help. Yet developments on the ground show that even clever rebranding is unlikely to be enough. Decisive leadership is required, and the NTC has yet to prove it can deliver this." (Opinion Piece, Jason Pack, The Australian, 23/11/11)
Libyan gratitude turns to suspicion : "The former Libyan prime minister Mahmoud Jibril travelled the world to gather foreign supporters to oust Muammar Gaddafi. Now, he views those allied nations with suspicion. As Libya moves through a post-Gaddafi phase and prepares for democratic elections, the US-educated former professor sees ally Qatar meddling in domestic politics by supporting a prominent Islamist. He also has a 'hunch' Gaddafi was 'killed based on a request by a certain foreign power' that wanted the dictator to be 'silent forever'." (Flavia Krause-Jackson & Caroline Alexander, Sydney Morning Herald/Bloomberg, 15/11/11)
Libya's rebels take revenge: "Sitting in their home on the outskirts of Tripoli, a Libyan family is afraid. Their fear is that a knock on the door could come from the rebel militias that toppled Muammar Gaddafi." (John Lyons, The Australian, 5/11/11)
Militias in revenge attacks: "Misratah militia fighters are carrying out revenge attacks on displaced residents of the nearby town of Tawargha, a stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi supporters during the Libyan war, a human rights group says. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had credible reports of Misratah militiamen shooting unarmed Tawarghans, and seizing and beating people, sometimes to death." (The Australian/AFP, 1/11/11)
Treasure of Benghazi theft may be one of biggest in history: "A priceless collection of nearly 8000 ancient gold, silver and bronze coins has been stolen from a bank vault in the Libyan city of Benghazi." (Nick Meo, Sydney Morning Herald/Telegraph, 1/1/11)
Conflicting loyalties rule as Libya struggles with life after Gaddafi: "Gaddafi supporters have lost their figurehead leader, and are probably too demoralised at the moment to start the insurgency that some hotheads among them have threatened. But in a land awash with guns there are large numbers of resentful young men, bitter about losing, who might well take up arms if they are not persuaded that they have a place in the new Libya. In places like Bani Walid, such efforts to win them over have not got too far." (Nick Meo, Sydney Morning Herald/Telegraph, 31/10/11)
Signs of massacre at hotel cast ugly shadow over anti-Gaddafi rebels: "In the parched garden of the Mahari Hotel [Sirte], volunteers scrubbed signs of a recent massacre. They collected dozens of bodies, apparently of people executed on the hotel grounds several days ago... The volunteers said the victims included at least two former Gaddafi government officials, local loyalist fighters and maybe civilians. The killers, they believed, were former rebel fighters, belonging to anti-Gaddafi units that had used the hotel as a base in recent weeks. It appeared to be one of the worst massacres of the 8-month conflict but days afterwards no one from Libya's new government had come to investigate." (Kareem Fahim & Adam Nossiter, Sydney Morning Herald/New York Times, 26/10/11)
In Benghazi, a nostalgia for Gaddafi as Libya's rebels fail to keep the peace: "The killing of a senior rebel commander who was spearheading the campaign to topple Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has exposed latent security fears in eastern Libya - particularly about the proliferation of militias and gangs who do not seem to answer to any authority." (Steven Sotloff, Time, 16/8/11)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Gallant Sir Bob
"[Media commentary] is relentless... It almost looks as if [it's] testing a woman to see at what stage she'll break." (Brown condemns relentless sexism against Gillard)
That was Greens leader Bob Brown speaking in defence of Prime Minister Julia Gillard on ABC Television's Lateline last night.
Two fascinating questions arise from his Lateline interview:
1) Why does he never once name the media outlet primarily responsible?
2) Why is he not defending fellow Greens senator Lee Rhiannon from the even more virulent, relentless campaign directed against her by Murdoch's Australian?
That was Greens leader Bob Brown speaking in defence of Prime Minister Julia Gillard on ABC Television's Lateline last night.
Two fascinating questions arise from his Lateline interview:
1) Why does he never once name the media outlet primarily responsible?
2) Why is he not defending fellow Greens senator Lee Rhiannon from the even more virulent, relentless campaign directed against her by Murdoch's Australian?
Monday, February 6, 2012
Here We Go Again!
The latest batch of Australian polliewaffles recruited for processing in Israel:
"A delegation of 6 federal Coalition MPs travelled to Israel this week. Their program includes meeting Israeli political figures, visits to a range of facilities and locations, and briefings from experts on military, social and economic aspects of modern Israel. It is the third visit for Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher*, who previously visited Israel in 1986 as part of a student delegation and then again in 1999 in an Australian trade mission. Fletcher said he was pleased to have the opportunity to deepen his knowledge of Israel. 'I will be fascinated to see how Israel has changed since I was last there', he said. 'There is much to learn from Israel, including its remarkable economic success in developing and commercialising technology - in fields as diverse as satellite and radio communications, irrigation, desalination and biotechnology. Naturally our group will also be interested to learn more about Israel's security challenges and the prospects for a lasting peace in the Middle East'. Other participants are Tasmanian senator David Bushby**; Paterson MP and shadow minister for regional development and tourism Bob Baldwin; South Australian senator David Fawcett; Brisbane MP and shadow parliamentary secretary for international development assistance and shadow parliamentary secretary for citizenship and settlement Teresa Gambaro***; and Cowan MP Luke Simpkins****. The visit has been hosted by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council." (MPs visit the Holy Land, The Australian Jewish News, 3/2/12)
Just the sort of intelligent, free-thinking, eyes-wide-open sceptics Israel needs to win over to its side:
*Fletcher: "'The Rudd Government's decision to expel an Israeli diplomat is a gross overreaction' Paul Fletcher MP, Federal Member for Bradfield said today. 'The state of Israel is the only genuine multiparty democracy in the Middle East. The ties of friendship and of shared values, between Australia and Israel, are longstanding. Even if we are disappointed with a friend - as we naturally would be if the allegations that Israeli security agencies forged Australian passports proved to be correct - there are more appropriate ways to express that disappointment. We should never forget that Israel must fight every day for its survival. Many countries in its region are hostile towards it. Some have openly stated their desire to see Israel destroyed'." (Expulsion of Israeli diplomat a gross overreaction, Press Release, paulfletcher.com.au, 25/5/10);
**Bushby was the bozo who meowed while Penny Wong was speaking in parliament in June last year;
***Gambaro was the boza who opined recently that migrants needed to be taught to use deodorant and to form a queue. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2006 she asserted that only "recognition throughout the Middle East of Israel's right to exist" can bring about a "lasting solution to the conflict." (Perspective, abc.net.au, 11/12/06);
**** Simpkins: "A WA Liberal MP has claimed Australians are unknowingly being converted to Islam by eating halal meat... Mr Simpkins said that Mohammed the prophet of Islam had talked of how the religion could be expanded around the world by getting people to eat halal meat. He reportedly said, 'The non-believers will become Muslims when, amongst other things, they eat the meat that we have slaughtered'. This is one of the key apects to converting non-believers to Islam', Mr Simpkins said. The petition tabled by Mr Simpkins had been organised by the Barnabas Fund, an organisation that supports Christians living in Muslim countries." (Halal meat converting Aussies: MP, Nick Butterly, The West Australian, 25/11/11)
[NB: For a full list of Australian rambammings, see my 30/3/09 post I've been to Israel too.]
"A delegation of 6 federal Coalition MPs travelled to Israel this week. Their program includes meeting Israeli political figures, visits to a range of facilities and locations, and briefings from experts on military, social and economic aspects of modern Israel. It is the third visit for Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher*, who previously visited Israel in 1986 as part of a student delegation and then again in 1999 in an Australian trade mission. Fletcher said he was pleased to have the opportunity to deepen his knowledge of Israel. 'I will be fascinated to see how Israel has changed since I was last there', he said. 'There is much to learn from Israel, including its remarkable economic success in developing and commercialising technology - in fields as diverse as satellite and radio communications, irrigation, desalination and biotechnology. Naturally our group will also be interested to learn more about Israel's security challenges and the prospects for a lasting peace in the Middle East'. Other participants are Tasmanian senator David Bushby**; Paterson MP and shadow minister for regional development and tourism Bob Baldwin; South Australian senator David Fawcett; Brisbane MP and shadow parliamentary secretary for international development assistance and shadow parliamentary secretary for citizenship and settlement Teresa Gambaro***; and Cowan MP Luke Simpkins****. The visit has been hosted by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council." (MPs visit the Holy Land, The Australian Jewish News, 3/2/12)
Just the sort of intelligent, free-thinking, eyes-wide-open sceptics Israel needs to win over to its side:
*Fletcher: "'The Rudd Government's decision to expel an Israeli diplomat is a gross overreaction' Paul Fletcher MP, Federal Member for Bradfield said today. 'The state of Israel is the only genuine multiparty democracy in the Middle East. The ties of friendship and of shared values, between Australia and Israel, are longstanding. Even if we are disappointed with a friend - as we naturally would be if the allegations that Israeli security agencies forged Australian passports proved to be correct - there are more appropriate ways to express that disappointment. We should never forget that Israel must fight every day for its survival. Many countries in its region are hostile towards it. Some have openly stated their desire to see Israel destroyed'." (Expulsion of Israeli diplomat a gross overreaction, Press Release, paulfletcher.com.au, 25/5/10);
**Bushby was the bozo who meowed while Penny Wong was speaking in parliament in June last year;
***Gambaro was the boza who opined recently that migrants needed to be taught to use deodorant and to form a queue. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2006 she asserted that only "recognition throughout the Middle East of Israel's right to exist" can bring about a "lasting solution to the conflict." (Perspective, abc.net.au, 11/12/06);
**** Simpkins: "A WA Liberal MP has claimed Australians are unknowingly being converted to Islam by eating halal meat... Mr Simpkins said that Mohammed the prophet of Islam had talked of how the religion could be expanded around the world by getting people to eat halal meat. He reportedly said, 'The non-believers will become Muslims when, amongst other things, they eat the meat that we have slaughtered'. This is one of the key apects to converting non-believers to Islam', Mr Simpkins said. The petition tabled by Mr Simpkins had been organised by the Barnabas Fund, an organisation that supports Christians living in Muslim countries." (Halal meat converting Aussies: MP, Nick Butterly, The West Australian, 25/11/11)
[NB: For a full list of Australian rambammings, see my 30/3/09 post I've been to Israel too.]
On Ignorance
Golden words:
"There has never been a subject of such immense concern concerning which there has been such ignorance as that of Palestine, nor has there been a subject concerning which more information has been withheld." (Palestine: The Reality, JMN Jeffries, 1939, p 395)
"[P]ublic opinion never seems to allow for want of knowledge amidst statesmen and politicians in general. They are always thought to be so fully informed upon any given matter that, according as their actions disclose themselves later on, they are judged to have acted in respect of it either with entire honesty or entire dishonesty. This is far from being true: one of the first things a journalist learns from contact with major politics is that highly placed persons can be quite ignorant and can act in ignorance." (ibid, p 402)
"There has never been a subject of such immense concern concerning which there has been such ignorance as that of Palestine, nor has there been a subject concerning which more information has been withheld." (Palestine: The Reality, JMN Jeffries, 1939, p 395)
"[P]ublic opinion never seems to allow for want of knowledge amidst statesmen and politicians in general. They are always thought to be so fully informed upon any given matter that, according as their actions disclose themselves later on, they are judged to have acted in respect of it either with entire honesty or entire dishonesty. This is far from being true: one of the first things a journalist learns from contact with major politics is that highly placed persons can be quite ignorant and can act in ignorance." (ibid, p 402)
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Get Rhiannon! 3
The latest round of the Australian's witch hunt against those elements of the NSW Greens sufficiently informed and principled to support the BDS campaign against Israeli apartheid continues apace:
"A cameo appearance by a Greens state MP at a meeting of a far-left group has highlighted divisions within the NSW Greens. Eyebrows were raised within the party by the presence of upper house MP David Shoebridge at the annual Socialist Alliance conference in Sydney last weekend. The Green-Left [sic] website reports Mr Shoebridge was present to deliver 'greetings' from the NSW Greens." (MP's visit to far-left meeting roils Greens, Imre Salusinszky & James Massola, 2/2/12)
A cameo appearance... highlighted divisions... eyebrows raised... roils Greens.
Say it isn't so! Fair dinkum, comrade Shoebridge! If only you'd cameo-ed at, say, the annual conference of the state Liberal Party instead, said divisions would have been lowlighted, raised eyebrows remained as they were, and choppy waters returned instantly to calm.
But be still my leaping eyebrows, Salusinszky's really just introducing another promo for Sally Neighbour's Monthly essay on the NSW Greens, with a bit of reassurance by former Greens MLC Ian Cohen to the effect that the Greens are "not left wing or right wing," but "the whole bird," and a "party source" who followed him with: "The balance of power is shifting towards the national centre. There is a fight back... but the extremists are losing."
Then, yesterday, churnalist Christian Kerr was back for another stab at the Mother of All Comrades:
"When The Weekend Australian detailed Greens senator Lee Rhiannon's activities as a propagandist for the Soviet Union as a contributor to and editor of the Soviet-supported magazine Survey in the 1980s and early 90s, her reaction was to fudge."
This provided the opportunity for a rehash of his ASIO "revelations" of February 1, and a raising of the old eyebrow thus:
"Rhiannon seems to have moved seamlessly from the role of Soviet propagandist at Survey, 'a monthly digest of trends in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries', to loyal member of the Greens, [which] political rebirth raises questions of her credibility."
Kerr, who seems to have moved even more seamlessly from the role of Liberal Party staffer and propagandist (2008) to loyal employee of Rupert Murdoch (2008) without any credibility issues whatever, then gave the floor to Michael Danby, the Labor member for Melbourne Ports and "just one of several parliamentarians who have raised the issue." Danby, as a card-carrying Zionist and the ALP's go-to man for all things Israel, trifling matters Kerr correctly neglects to mention, also has no credibility issues.
In fact, as reported by Kerr, the great man's expressed solicitude for all victims of Soviet crimes (with the exception, of course, of those Palestinians who lost their lives and/or homes as a result of the Soviet's timely provision of arms* to the Zionist gangs engaged in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948) is an absolute credit to him.
And when Danby, as reported by Kerr, calls on Rhiannon to publicly express "regret" for "the harm caused by [her] years of advocacy and activism for the Soviet regime," it would surely be churlish for anyone to suggest he do the same for his many more years of advocacy and activism for the apartheid regime of Israel. Oh, yeah.
[*On [24 May, 1948], the Israeli army had received a large shipment of modern, brand new 0.45-calibre cannons from the Communist Eastern bloc. Israel now possessed artillery unmatched not only by the Arab troops inside Palestine, but by all the Arab armies put together. It should be noted that the Israeli Communist Party was instrumental in arranging this deal." (Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, 2006, p 144)]
"A cameo appearance by a Greens state MP at a meeting of a far-left group has highlighted divisions within the NSW Greens. Eyebrows were raised within the party by the presence of upper house MP David Shoebridge at the annual Socialist Alliance conference in Sydney last weekend. The Green-Left [sic] website reports Mr Shoebridge was present to deliver 'greetings' from the NSW Greens." (MP's visit to far-left meeting roils Greens, Imre Salusinszky & James Massola, 2/2/12)
A cameo appearance... highlighted divisions... eyebrows raised... roils Greens.
Say it isn't so! Fair dinkum, comrade Shoebridge! If only you'd cameo-ed at, say, the annual conference of the state Liberal Party instead, said divisions would have been lowlighted, raised eyebrows remained as they were, and choppy waters returned instantly to calm.
But be still my leaping eyebrows, Salusinszky's really just introducing another promo for Sally Neighbour's Monthly essay on the NSW Greens, with a bit of reassurance by former Greens MLC Ian Cohen to the effect that the Greens are "not left wing or right wing," but "the whole bird," and a "party source" who followed him with: "The balance of power is shifting towards the national centre. There is a fight back... but the extremists are losing."
Then, yesterday, churnalist Christian Kerr was back for another stab at the Mother of All Comrades:
"When The Weekend Australian detailed Greens senator Lee Rhiannon's activities as a propagandist for the Soviet Union as a contributor to and editor of the Soviet-supported magazine Survey in the 1980s and early 90s, her reaction was to fudge."
This provided the opportunity for a rehash of his ASIO "revelations" of February 1, and a raising of the old eyebrow thus:
"Rhiannon seems to have moved seamlessly from the role of Soviet propagandist at Survey, 'a monthly digest of trends in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries', to loyal member of the Greens, [which] political rebirth raises questions of her credibility."
Kerr, who seems to have moved even more seamlessly from the role of Liberal Party staffer and propagandist (2008) to loyal employee of Rupert Murdoch (2008) without any credibility issues whatever, then gave the floor to Michael Danby, the Labor member for Melbourne Ports and "just one of several parliamentarians who have raised the issue." Danby, as a card-carrying Zionist and the ALP's go-to man for all things Israel, trifling matters Kerr correctly neglects to mention, also has no credibility issues.
In fact, as reported by Kerr, the great man's expressed solicitude for all victims of Soviet crimes (with the exception, of course, of those Palestinians who lost their lives and/or homes as a result of the Soviet's timely provision of arms* to the Zionist gangs engaged in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948) is an absolute credit to him.
And when Danby, as reported by Kerr, calls on Rhiannon to publicly express "regret" for "the harm caused by [her] years of advocacy and activism for the Soviet regime," it would surely be churlish for anyone to suggest he do the same for his many more years of advocacy and activism for the apartheid regime of Israel. Oh, yeah.
[*On [24 May, 1948], the Israeli army had received a large shipment of modern, brand new 0.45-calibre cannons from the Communist Eastern bloc. Israel now possessed artillery unmatched not only by the Arab troops inside Palestine, but by all the Arab armies put together. It should be noted that the Israeli Communist Party was instrumental in arranging this deal." (Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, 2006, p 144)]
Friday, February 3, 2012
Get Rhiannon! 2
Hot on the heels of Christian Kerr's smearing of Greens senator Lee Rhiannon as a natural born Stalinist, and BDS as her anti-Semitic devil-child, came a February 1 hatchet job on the NSW branch of the Greens by the Australian's chief political correspondent Matthew Franklin: Greens 'riven by branch warfare'.
Kerr's Back in the USSR theme was revived, with Franklin quoting supposed "revelations" that the NSW Greens are "run by a 'cadre' of Leninist-style ideologues whose activities are making it appear to be populated by 'lunatics'."
Franklin's "revelations" were conveniently drawn from an article in the latest issue of The Monthly magazine by Sally Neighbour, curiously described merely as a "journalist."
Is the reader supposed to have forgotten that Sally Neighbour, far from being a genuinely independent journalist, is actually a News Limited employee?
So, since we're dealing here with a case of churnalistic incest, with Franklin simply paraphrasing Neighbour, why not bypass the monkey and proceed straight to the organ grinder herself?
But first, a general observation: Does anyone really believe that the Australian would be so obsessed with Lee Rhiannon but for her support for the Palestinians?
Does anyone remember its repeated lashings of Labor's Julia Irwin?
For any Australian politician to speak out forthrightly and honestly in defence of the Palestinian people is to cross the Australian's reddest line - its near automatic, knee-jerk editorial support for apartheid Israel. It is not, therefore, the Greens per se that get the Australian going, rather it's the prospect that, in seriously embracing the BDS campaign, the Greens may one day arrive at a clear and principled, anti-Zionist position on the Middle East conflict.
Let us proceed then to Neighbour's Monthly feature article Divided we fall.
After a sketch of party history, she sets out her thesis:
"To... achieve... the success he aspires to, Brown needs to run a formidably tight and disciplined political ship, steered by a dedicated, professional party organisation, with the absolute support of its members and branches. Which brings us to their real dilemma. For like all political parties, the Greens are bedevilled by factional rifts, personal animosities and turf wars, which have intensified as the party has grown and have recently erupted in an acrimonious contest for the heart, soul and future of the party."
You can see where all this is coming from. Rather than a rigorous, disinterested and objective assessment of party travails and prospects, we're essentially getting the Bob Brown version.
Brown seems to me to be afraid of the Murdoch press (See my 5/4/11 post Murdoch Spooks Bob Brown on Palestine), and happy to talk to its churnalists in an effort to appease and reassure the beast, even if to the detriment of any of his colleagues courageous enough to cross the rag's red line on criticism of Israel. As for Sally Neighbour and the Australian, the prospect of the BDS campaign gaining traction in Australia's rising third political force is a major concern. The language says it all:
"Nine days after the Christmas drinks in Canberra, a far more toxic atmosphere prevails as the NSW Greens assemble for their bi-monthly meeting of the State delegates Council (SDC)... It's been a tortuous year for the party in New South Wales, with festering tensions brought to a head by an ugly bunfight over BDS... The fracas has culminated in a motion condemning 3 state Greens MPs who failed to support the policy, MLCs Cate Faehrmann, Jan Barham and Jeremy Buckingham. The motion states: 'MPs who do not support the position and policy of the SDC, thus being in violation of the NSW Greens Constitution, will be asked to resign their seat in parliament'. Tempers erupt as the motion is moved, its backers arguing the renegade MPs should be punished for splitting the party, opponents condemning it as an outrageous bid to deny the MPs a conscience vote."
Given that Neighbour wasn't actually there (the Greens couldn't possibly be that stupid), the question arises: who can have been her source for the dynamics of this meeting? Then there's the absence from the above account of the motion's context. That the "renegade" trio chose, in effect, to climb into bed with the likes of MLCs David Clarke (Liberal right), Fred Nile (Christan Democrats) and Eric Roozendaaal (Labor right) when they voted for Clarke's motion viciously smearing BDS at the behest of the Israel lobby (two of whose representatives were present in the visitors gallery) and undermined the informed and principled positions taken at the time by fellow Greens MLCs John Kaye and David Shoebridge, was the context for the SDC motion, but Neighbour deliberately leaves it out at this point. Only much further along in the piece, does she make reference to it, but then only in passing:
"[W]hen Liberal MLC David Clarke moved a motion opposing BDS and the Max Brenner protests, Faehrmann and Barham spoke in qualified support of it."
That Faehrmann's "qualified support" of Clarke's disgusting motion was born of complete ignorance of the issue, part regurgitation of the Australian's editorial line that the protests were 'counterproductive' and part Israel lobby line that a certain chant heard at them is anti-Semitic, is, of course, of no interest to Neighbour and is misconstrued in her article as some kind of free-thinking and courageous "speaking out."
By way of introducing Lee Rhiannon into the 'discussion', Neighbour trots out the sinister "Leninist cadre" line already featured by Franklin.
Typically, such nonsense is always attributed to unnamed individuals who speak "off the record," presumably because they're in mortal fear of a 2 pm knock on the door by the KGB. The existence of a cowed and quivering Greens opposition is suggested by "another" (oh really?) who is alleged to have said:
"They are stuck in an old rut which is all about running the show, controlling the structure, maintaining a code of silence. This old guard, this control clique, has done a lot of damage to the Green brand in NSW'. They're jokingly referred to as 'the Eastern Bloc - because they live in the eastern suburbs, and they're all communists'."
OK, now that the reader has been softened up, it's time for Neighbour to finger the supposed Leninist cadre's Svengali:
"The lightning rod for much of this critique (!) is Lee Rhiannon... Rhiannon's membership of the Socialist Party of Australia in the 1970s and 1980s... has been well reported... Rhiannon is routinely held up in media commentary about the 'watermelons' (red on the inside) dragging the Greens leftwards..."
Well reported? But only in the Australian.
Routinely held up in media commentary about the 'watermelons'? But only in the Australian.
Did I not mention incest?
Further along, on the subject of BDS and Marrickville Council, Neighbour has former Greens MLC Ian Cohen screaming that "[Marrickville] made us look like lunatics, dealing with an international issue on local and state government level." But don't expect Neighbour to ask Cohen the obvious: Did he also consider the MLCs who used the Legislative Council as a platform to condemn BDS lunatics? Similarly, while Neighbour quotes Max Phillips, a staffer of Jeremy Buckingham, complaining that BDS is not a "core issue" for the Greens, she doesn't bother asking him whether he thinks condemning BDS in state parliament should be seen as "core" business for that body.
Neighbour concludes:
"Right at the heart of this contest [between the NSW Greens' 'old' and 'new' guards] is a profound disjunct over what should be the ultimate aim of the Greens. For Brown and his supporters, it is self-evident: attaining power by being elected, where possible into government, in order to implement their policies. But for others the primal purpose is staying faithful to the grassroots origins and philosophy, without which the Greens would have no support and no future - even if it's at the cost of attaining power."
Or, to put it another way, between those who put power before principle and those who put principle before power. And the most reliable litmus test for sorting out the two is, of course, Palestine.
Brown's mob, it seems, have made their bed, and it speaks volumes for them that they're prepared to share it with the likes of Rupert Murdoch and his stable of court reporters at the Australian, and politicians such as David Clarke, Fred Nile and Eric Roozendaal.
Kerr's Back in the USSR theme was revived, with Franklin quoting supposed "revelations" that the NSW Greens are "run by a 'cadre' of Leninist-style ideologues whose activities are making it appear to be populated by 'lunatics'."
Franklin's "revelations" were conveniently drawn from an article in the latest issue of The Monthly magazine by Sally Neighbour, curiously described merely as a "journalist."
Is the reader supposed to have forgotten that Sally Neighbour, far from being a genuinely independent journalist, is actually a News Limited employee?
So, since we're dealing here with a case of churnalistic incest, with Franklin simply paraphrasing Neighbour, why not bypass the monkey and proceed straight to the organ grinder herself?
But first, a general observation: Does anyone really believe that the Australian would be so obsessed with Lee Rhiannon but for her support for the Palestinians?
Does anyone remember its repeated lashings of Labor's Julia Irwin?
For any Australian politician to speak out forthrightly and honestly in defence of the Palestinian people is to cross the Australian's reddest line - its near automatic, knee-jerk editorial support for apartheid Israel. It is not, therefore, the Greens per se that get the Australian going, rather it's the prospect that, in seriously embracing the BDS campaign, the Greens may one day arrive at a clear and principled, anti-Zionist position on the Middle East conflict.
Let us proceed then to Neighbour's Monthly feature article Divided we fall.
After a sketch of party history, she sets out her thesis:
"To... achieve... the success he aspires to, Brown needs to run a formidably tight and disciplined political ship, steered by a dedicated, professional party organisation, with the absolute support of its members and branches. Which brings us to their real dilemma. For like all political parties, the Greens are bedevilled by factional rifts, personal animosities and turf wars, which have intensified as the party has grown and have recently erupted in an acrimonious contest for the heart, soul and future of the party."
You can see where all this is coming from. Rather than a rigorous, disinterested and objective assessment of party travails and prospects, we're essentially getting the Bob Brown version.
Brown seems to me to be afraid of the Murdoch press (See my 5/4/11 post Murdoch Spooks Bob Brown on Palestine), and happy to talk to its churnalists in an effort to appease and reassure the beast, even if to the detriment of any of his colleagues courageous enough to cross the rag's red line on criticism of Israel. As for Sally Neighbour and the Australian, the prospect of the BDS campaign gaining traction in Australia's rising third political force is a major concern. The language says it all:
"Nine days after the Christmas drinks in Canberra, a far more toxic atmosphere prevails as the NSW Greens assemble for their bi-monthly meeting of the State delegates Council (SDC)... It's been a tortuous year for the party in New South Wales, with festering tensions brought to a head by an ugly bunfight over BDS... The fracas has culminated in a motion condemning 3 state Greens MPs who failed to support the policy, MLCs Cate Faehrmann, Jan Barham and Jeremy Buckingham. The motion states: 'MPs who do not support the position and policy of the SDC, thus being in violation of the NSW Greens Constitution, will be asked to resign their seat in parliament'. Tempers erupt as the motion is moved, its backers arguing the renegade MPs should be punished for splitting the party, opponents condemning it as an outrageous bid to deny the MPs a conscience vote."
Given that Neighbour wasn't actually there (the Greens couldn't possibly be that stupid), the question arises: who can have been her source for the dynamics of this meeting? Then there's the absence from the above account of the motion's context. That the "renegade" trio chose, in effect, to climb into bed with the likes of MLCs David Clarke (Liberal right), Fred Nile (Christan Democrats) and Eric Roozendaaal (Labor right) when they voted for Clarke's motion viciously smearing BDS at the behest of the Israel lobby (two of whose representatives were present in the visitors gallery) and undermined the informed and principled positions taken at the time by fellow Greens MLCs John Kaye and David Shoebridge, was the context for the SDC motion, but Neighbour deliberately leaves it out at this point. Only much further along in the piece, does she make reference to it, but then only in passing:
"[W]hen Liberal MLC David Clarke moved a motion opposing BDS and the Max Brenner protests, Faehrmann and Barham spoke in qualified support of it."
That Faehrmann's "qualified support" of Clarke's disgusting motion was born of complete ignorance of the issue, part regurgitation of the Australian's editorial line that the protests were 'counterproductive' and part Israel lobby line that a certain chant heard at them is anti-Semitic, is, of course, of no interest to Neighbour and is misconstrued in her article as some kind of free-thinking and courageous "speaking out."
By way of introducing Lee Rhiannon into the 'discussion', Neighbour trots out the sinister "Leninist cadre" line already featured by Franklin.
Typically, such nonsense is always attributed to unnamed individuals who speak "off the record," presumably because they're in mortal fear of a 2 pm knock on the door by the KGB. The existence of a cowed and quivering Greens opposition is suggested by "another" (oh really?) who is alleged to have said:
"They are stuck in an old rut which is all about running the show, controlling the structure, maintaining a code of silence. This old guard, this control clique, has done a lot of damage to the Green brand in NSW'. They're jokingly referred to as 'the Eastern Bloc - because they live in the eastern suburbs, and they're all communists'."
OK, now that the reader has been softened up, it's time for Neighbour to finger the supposed Leninist cadre's Svengali:
"The lightning rod for much of this critique (!) is Lee Rhiannon... Rhiannon's membership of the Socialist Party of Australia in the 1970s and 1980s... has been well reported... Rhiannon is routinely held up in media commentary about the 'watermelons' (red on the inside) dragging the Greens leftwards..."
Well reported? But only in the Australian.
Routinely held up in media commentary about the 'watermelons'? But only in the Australian.
Did I not mention incest?
Further along, on the subject of BDS and Marrickville Council, Neighbour has former Greens MLC Ian Cohen screaming that "[Marrickville] made us look like lunatics, dealing with an international issue on local and state government level." But don't expect Neighbour to ask Cohen the obvious: Did he also consider the MLCs who used the Legislative Council as a platform to condemn BDS lunatics? Similarly, while Neighbour quotes Max Phillips, a staffer of Jeremy Buckingham, complaining that BDS is not a "core issue" for the Greens, she doesn't bother asking him whether he thinks condemning BDS in state parliament should be seen as "core" business for that body.
Neighbour concludes:
"Right at the heart of this contest [between the NSW Greens' 'old' and 'new' guards] is a profound disjunct over what should be the ultimate aim of the Greens. For Brown and his supporters, it is self-evident: attaining power by being elected, where possible into government, in order to implement their policies. But for others the primal purpose is staying faithful to the grassroots origins and philosophy, without which the Greens would have no support and no future - even if it's at the cost of attaining power."
Or, to put it another way, between those who put power before principle and those who put principle before power. And the most reliable litmus test for sorting out the two is, of course, Palestine.
Brown's mob, it seems, have made their bed, and it speaks volumes for them that they're prepared to share it with the likes of Rupert Murdoch and his stable of court reporters at the Australian, and politicians such as David Clarke, Fred Nile and Eric Roozendaal.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Get Rhiannon! 1
It's not only the malevolent, defiant, dangerous, delusional, irrational and obdurate Iranian mullahs (See my previous post) Murdoch's Australian is gunning for. Oh no. The Australian has targets galore. Targets like federal Greens senator Lee Rhiannon, for example, the Green it most loves to hate. After a short absence from its pages, Rhiannon is back, the target of a puff piece by churnalist Christian Kerr: Secret past of Greens senator (28/1/12)
Hmmm, secret past! A supposed liaison, actually, but not quite the kind you'd expect to find in No Idea. Kerr, yawn, claimed to be in receipt of a 1970 "letter" by a former ASIO chief, yawn, to Britain's MI5, revealing not only that the young (18) Rhiannon was on her way to England on a Soviet cruise ship, yawn, but had received an on-board visit from a man "ASIO officers from that time confirm many in the security agency believed... to be the KGB rezident, the most senior Soviet spy in the country," YAWN.
But what a fizzer that turned out to be: "There is no evidence that Rhiannon... ever worked as a Soviet agent. But her activities earned her an ASIO file that runs to 5 volumes and more than 800 pages for the nine-year period 1969-1978."
So what was the point of all this? Well, here we go:
"The influence of former communists and members of hard-Left groups on the Greens has become a pressing issue in recent years, particularly with Rhiannon and a faction in the party declaring their support for the radical anti-Israeli Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions movement, which equates Israel with apartheid-era South Africa. It calls for an end to business with Israeli-owned and linked firms, a call critics claim reeks of anti-Semitism."
Got that? Green's the Old Red, Rhiannon supposedly caught a rather nasty strain of anti-Semitic Stalinism from a Soviet agent in 1970, and now, some 40 years later, the terrible Stalinist affliction has surfaced as support for a BDS campaign poised to snuff out the Middle East's - nay the world's - only Light unto the Nations!
But don't just take Kerr's word for it. A follow-up letter from our old friend*, Monash University academic Philip Mendes, concludes: "Rhiannon's support for the Soviet regime during this period poses questions about the motivation behind her support for the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions campaign." (A pointed past, 30/1/12)
Need more be said?
Well yes. Bollocks!
I know, and you know, Kerr's smearing of Rhiannon is baseless, but let's survey the relevant history to see just how bloody baseless, shall we?
Rhiannon was born in 1952 to two leading lights of the Communist Party of Australia. Only two years before, Israel was born, a birth more than just welcomed by the Soviet Union. In fact, so supportive were the Soviets that they helped arm the Zionist forces through a Czech arms deal, giving Zionist forces their first dose of what they and their current American backers refer to as QME - qualitative military edge.
Rhiannon's parents, like the rest of the comrades who toed the pro-Russian party line, would have been equally supportive of the brat. In fact, so warm did the CPA feel about Israel that it wasn't until 1968 (!) that the first article on the plight of the Palestinians appeared in the party organ, Tribune. However, it wasn't really until the 1971 party split, that elements of the party's membership began seeing what they had hitherto been blind to, though never as clearly as their Trotskyist rivals.
Rhiannon though wasn't among them. She'd naturally followed mum and dad into the new Socialist Party of Australia (SPA), which continued to toe the lame Russian line of support for 'the just national rights of both the Jews and Palestinian Arab people living in Israel'. And after the Israeli seizure of the remaining 22% of Palestine in 1967, neither the Soviet Union nor the SPA contested Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, sticking only to a call for the Israelis to vacate the occupied Palestinian territories in line with United Nations resolution 242.
Hardly a source of inspiration for an embrace of the BDS campaign over 40 years late, I would've thought. Which effectively demolishes Kerr's Murdoch party line that support for BDS is in Rhiannon's alleged Stalinist DNA.
But don't take my word for it. Check out Craig Johnston's The Communist Party of Australia & the Palestinian Revolution, 1967-1976, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, November, 1979 (jstor.com)
Stay tuned for Get Rhiannon! 2.
[* See his comment on my 21/9/09 post Israeli Apartheid: The Jury's In.]
Hmmm, secret past! A supposed liaison, actually, but not quite the kind you'd expect to find in No Idea. Kerr, yawn, claimed to be in receipt of a 1970 "letter" by a former ASIO chief, yawn, to Britain's MI5, revealing not only that the young (18) Rhiannon was on her way to England on a Soviet cruise ship, yawn, but had received an on-board visit from a man "ASIO officers from that time confirm many in the security agency believed... to be the KGB rezident, the most senior Soviet spy in the country," YAWN.
But what a fizzer that turned out to be: "There is no evidence that Rhiannon... ever worked as a Soviet agent. But her activities earned her an ASIO file that runs to 5 volumes and more than 800 pages for the nine-year period 1969-1978."
So what was the point of all this? Well, here we go:
"The influence of former communists and members of hard-Left groups on the Greens has become a pressing issue in recent years, particularly with Rhiannon and a faction in the party declaring their support for the radical anti-Israeli Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions movement, which equates Israel with apartheid-era South Africa. It calls for an end to business with Israeli-owned and linked firms, a call critics claim reeks of anti-Semitism."
Got that? Green's the Old Red, Rhiannon supposedly caught a rather nasty strain of anti-Semitic Stalinism from a Soviet agent in 1970, and now, some 40 years later, the terrible Stalinist affliction has surfaced as support for a BDS campaign poised to snuff out the Middle East's - nay the world's - only Light unto the Nations!
But don't just take Kerr's word for it. A follow-up letter from our old friend*, Monash University academic Philip Mendes, concludes: "Rhiannon's support for the Soviet regime during this period poses questions about the motivation behind her support for the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions campaign." (A pointed past, 30/1/12)
Need more be said?
Well yes. Bollocks!
I know, and you know, Kerr's smearing of Rhiannon is baseless, but let's survey the relevant history to see just how bloody baseless, shall we?
Rhiannon was born in 1952 to two leading lights of the Communist Party of Australia. Only two years before, Israel was born, a birth more than just welcomed by the Soviet Union. In fact, so supportive were the Soviets that they helped arm the Zionist forces through a Czech arms deal, giving Zionist forces their first dose of what they and their current American backers refer to as QME - qualitative military edge.
Rhiannon's parents, like the rest of the comrades who toed the pro-Russian party line, would have been equally supportive of the brat. In fact, so warm did the CPA feel about Israel that it wasn't until 1968 (!) that the first article on the plight of the Palestinians appeared in the party organ, Tribune. However, it wasn't really until the 1971 party split, that elements of the party's membership began seeing what they had hitherto been blind to, though never as clearly as their Trotskyist rivals.
Rhiannon though wasn't among them. She'd naturally followed mum and dad into the new Socialist Party of Australia (SPA), which continued to toe the lame Russian line of support for 'the just national rights of both the Jews and Palestinian Arab people living in Israel'. And after the Israeli seizure of the remaining 22% of Palestine in 1967, neither the Soviet Union nor the SPA contested Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, sticking only to a call for the Israelis to vacate the occupied Palestinian territories in line with United Nations resolution 242.
Hardly a source of inspiration for an embrace of the BDS campaign over 40 years late, I would've thought. Which effectively demolishes Kerr's Murdoch party line that support for BDS is in Rhiannon's alleged Stalinist DNA.
But don't take my word for it. Check out Craig Johnston's The Communist Party of Australia & the Palestinian Revolution, 1967-1976, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, November, 1979 (jstor.com)
Stay tuned for Get Rhiannon! 2.
[* See his comment on my 21/9/09 post Israeli Apartheid: The Jury's In.]
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