The news about the death of the unnamed prisoner - Z"L (with respect - sensitive content)

I stalled writing about this subject for a few months. I was reluctant about it for a number of reasons – such as, not wanting to add to the media’s re-traumatization of the bereaved family. Plus, MSM news can sometimes have the effect of encouraging readers to “look over there,” circumventing adequate examination of domestic issues. However, public interest in discussing the occurrence of deaths in custody and in ventilating domestic shortfalls, strengthens the need to look at the issues involved, albeit from a slightly different perspective from the MSM.

 

An Australian citizen, born and raised in Melbourne, but who had dual citizenship, was remanded in custody while living overseas and authorities suppressed his identity. About six months later, but before he went to trial, he was found deceased in his isolation cell. Though he potentially faced a lengthy sentence, a representative of his legal team said that he had seemed rational the day before his death. He had also planned to submit a plea bargain to the court.


The accusations against him – even after death – are still suppressed – and have been terribly skewed by heavy, pervasive speculation.  Alleged intelligence experts, who freely admit no knowledge of the matter whatsoever, are still being interviewed as if they do, by a mainstream pop-media hungry for a big story. We have seen in Australia in the last decade, that a lot of intelligence and surveillance by ‘experts’ relies on loose interpretations and speculation that don’t hold up before a court of law – but the news is not a court, and comment on a dead man, or sentenced prisoners, cannot be defamatory under current Australian law.

 

The man was not repatriated back to Australia until he was dead. An inquest returned a finding of self-harm - the coroner found he had killed himself whilst held in that country’s highest security cell, which had 24/7 CCTV monitoring, with 3 cameras.
The court heard that at the time of his death:

• guards were not watching the monitors, and,
• not in the monitoring room, and additionally, 
• the deceased was found in a place within the cell that was out of the range of the CCTV cameras, and 
• he was seen 57 times over 6 months by a staff counsellor, who said the prisoner was depressed

{In contrast to the camera evidence presented at the inquest, in Australia, highest security supermax cells have CCTV cameras that monitor the activities around the toilet, and even the contents of the toilet bowl. It was alleged that the CCTV camera configuration in the state-of-the-art cell, left that area unmonitored - which, along with the apparent hanging point in that vulnerable area of the cell, seems unusually un-state-of-the-art in view of all the hype about how stringent the conditions of the remandee's detention were}.

Australia’s former and present foreign ministers categorically deny all knowledge of the conditions of the man’s detention, leading up to him being found dead in his prison cell.

 

The reader could be forgiven in speculating that this death might have happened at Guantanamo Bay, or perhaps he was held in a third-world banana republic, or interrogated at a UN-condemned secret prison, or maybe he was a drug trafficker apprehended in a country with terminal drugs laws, but, you’d be wrong.

 

Read the rest in the pages, on the right...page includes findings and FOI docs from the Australian Embassy (via Antony Loewenstein).

Making Oz news fairer

It's been 22 years since the culmination of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody into 339 recommendations, few of which, have received any greater attention than how to stifle reform and pay lip service to them. The mainstream populist media play a big role in normalizing  problems that warrant urgent reform, by publishing the views of authorities more prominently than those of individuals involved in rights violations and human rights-related issues.

The Royal Commission improved public awareness of human rights, prisoner abuse and Aboriginal disadvantage beyond merely those tragic cases that were examined, it created a societal expectation on the government that it must lift standards, and a knowledge that sub-standard conditions caused death and suffering, and it established a shared belief that such human rights violations were unacceptable to the voting public. 

The widespread, insidious racism that is passed off with the innocuous term, 'systemic racism', which erodes the basic human rights and quality of life of Indigenous people, is not attributable to one particular government - don't be conned by political spin. Successive governments (of both major parties) have perpetrated, via a racist malaise, human rights abuses against the vulnerable. Disadvantaged sections of society are under-represented in positions of power - most particularly in Parliament and it is this disparity that causes them to be the convenient, collateral damage of the policies and the pop-media-reactive laws from every government that passes through our Parliament.

Notably, this occurs, seemingly, all without word of complaint(in the public eye) from disadvantaged parties, their voices are rarely heard in MSM news, because outlets are not interested in equitably representing the concerns of minorities when the interests of the powerful pay better - this co-exists with an industry that is in flux, amid changing markets and widespread redundancies.

How can the MSM undo decades of complacency over racist government spin that was run as copy by under-staffed newsrooms?

In no place is the lack of balanced media scrutiny more apparent than in the discourse about prisons and prisoners - and we can see political leaders from both Federal and State government breaking the laws of the land to attempt to prejudice courts, where a court-related story has become a political football.

In large "exclusives" about Aboriginal issues, individual Aboriginal citizens who are involved in the issue, and Aboriginal stakeholders, are often not interviewed at all.

We are a country that almost without exception has non-Aboriginal Aboriginal affairs ministers presiding over Aboriginal people and controlling their interactions with society and with the political process like they're wearing AO Neville's hat; disability ministers who have no disability; and, ministers in justice-related portfolios who have never experienced injustice or disadvantage and have little concept of equality or fairness.

This problem is exacerbated by the unique nature of Australia's media, wholeheartedly lacking in diversity, largely tabloid-driven and overly focused on infotainment. The end result of this is that the perverse or trivial stories that are published, regularly feature more prominently than important news, and subsequently, also serve as a handy tool for dumbing down readerships and keeping them compliant to the whims of the powerful. 

A great story that seeks to fulfil the Fourth Estate and demonstrates strong ethics, will often be undermined by a sub-editor, either inadvertently or ignorantly, adding a racist title or photos to accompany the copy; or a contrary, inflammatory beat-up will be placed right next to it.

Contemporary MSM journos can suffer from cubicle syndrome and can be isolated from unofficial sources. Older police rounds reporters will outline their experiences of having to work hard on their beat, building a strong rapport with all sources. The best, are still identifiable by their thorough and timeless copy, having unearthed fresh leads by handling all sources equally rather than sitting back getting gifted with heavily spun leaks from police sources that result in inflammatory and baseless fictions.

In the last year alone, the incarceration rate for WA's Indigenous male prisoners has hiked up to almost 45% from 42% and this is unusual in any justice system in the world.
Effective journalism has the power to create desperately needed social reform by re-directing that political pressure - the power of the media can be used for good purpose but harnessing that power via strong ethics, decency, compassion and fairness in a mining-driven economy that produces a third of the nation's GDP, is...how likely? 

There can be substantial barriers to good local journos prompting that growth in our society, and following in the tradition of the Fourth Estate (traditional media values are much stronger in other countries). There is also the danger that in some unhealthy workplaces, the earnest efforts of good journos can be stifled and their reputations marred by a dysfunctional editorial culture. ###

For non-journos, here is a simple explanation of the term "the Fourth Estate," which gets bandied around a lot - especially at the moment with the discussion about media regulation - the link talks about ethics and motives in newswriting.

WA - still stifling independent voices

## Hi all, usually I wouldn't post a story holus bolus as an individual post on this blog, but I did ask the writer's permission. So, below, please find the story about the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation's dilemma. The reason that this particular story is significant is because Dumbartung is so unique - the group is characterized by how fiercely independent-minded they are. They state the truth more fearlessly than anyone and open their doors to everyone. These are my personal views and they may seem like an endorsement, and so, I guess in a way, this is my disclosure statement... as one of many who have walked through those doors.

The group bravely took over the premises of a once Catholic Church-run "orphanage," haunted by terrible atrocities committed against children who were abducted by the Western Australian government, and Dumbartung spoke authoritative healing over that place.  Their words have reformative power and now, it would appear that the denial of funding will be yet another effort of the State to silence such strong, independent voices. They touch the lives of all those they meet, irrespective of colour or heritage, and embody the true meaning of social inclusion and community cohesion, in Perth - a city indelibly tainted by a long history of racist government abuse and the active suppression of the true history of the genocide of Aboriginal people. Standing up to be heard and to heal, in that environment, must take considerable courage.

Dumbartung's work shows everyone how things could be and should be, and is extremely vital to the whole of the community's future and well being.

PIC: Selina and Robert Eggington and Nyoongah Elder John Pell inside Dumbartung’s Kyana Gallery.

Fears for future of Dumbartung

(By Kirstie Parker, 13-2-13, first appeared in The Koori Mail)


WHO will stand up for Nyoongah culture? That is the question being asked by Nyoongah man Robert Eggington, who for more than 20 years has led the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation and its renowned Kyana Gallery in Perth.

Mr Eggington says Dumbartung, which operates out of the old Catholic orphanage (Clontarf) in the suburb of Waterford, is potentially just months – if not weeks – from closure as its current funding peters out with little word of more.

For the past year, the grassroots organisation has survived on a one-off community grant from Lotterywest and funds from a tender under Redress WA to record the stories of adults seeking ex-gratia payments for abuse and/or neglect suffered while they were in state care.

Part of the Lotterywest grant was put towards development of a business plan to help Dumbartung use its resources in an income-generating, sustainable way.

The business planning consultants are due to report at the end of this week, but Mr Eggington is apprehensive about what may lay ahead.

“If Dumbartung isn’t funded through the responsibilities of government heritage and cultural maintenance, we would have to go overseas to get access to the money needed to keep this asset going,” he told the Koori Mail.

“Within that lies an absolutely shameful hypocrisy of the fact that the state and federal governments do not see the preciousness of the Kyana Gallery, an asset they should feel privileged to fund.”

Dumbartung began as an advocacy and cultural body, hosting the famous Kyana Aboriginal Cultural Festivals of the early 1990s.

Over time, its scope has morphed to encompass campaigning for human rights, protection of Aboriginal intellectual property (including a fight against the fabrication of stories in American author Marlo Morgan’s controversial book Mutant Message Down Under), repatriation of cultural material, educational and cross-cultural programs reaching thousands of schoolchildren and adults, and prison art activities.

Some of its most important work centres on healing the grief and loss experienced by Aboriginal women, through a program conducted by Robert’s wife Selina, and other activities conducted with Nyoongah youth around substance abuse, identity, and suicide prevention.

The Kyana Gallery is a cultural, totally non-commercial enterprise that is home to thousands of Nyoongah and other items donated and acquired over time, including rare artefacts (some of which have been repatriated from domestic and overseas collecting institutions), artworks including some by the late Revel Cooper and other famed artists from Carrolup in the state’s south-west, ‘bookahs’ (Nyoongah kangaroo cloaks), historical photos and records, and much more. None of these items are for sale.

Mr Eggington said that some items in the gallery’s non-public keeping room were thousands of years old; so ancient that the ceremonies they were used for no longer existed.

However, the conditions within the gallery are far from ideal. Its floor is uneven, the roof leaks when it rains and there’s no temperature or climate control, which means some of the gallery’s contents are continually at risk.

A few years back, the Gallery was recognised by the National Library of Australia (NLA), the National Archives and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as nationally significant.

Museum consultants Dr Brian Shepherd and Paul Bridges have assessed the significance of Dumbartung and its collections.

“It is clear that it is one of considerable local, state, national and international significance when understood within its institutional context,” the pair said in their 2011 report.

Their recommendations referred to ‘the need to harness the collection within recognised professional museum practice to ensure that its worth can be more widely understood and passed to future generations’.

Dumbartung and the Kyana Gallery also have the support of a cross-section of the community, from Nyoongah people to respected child health expert and 2003 Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley and activist journalist John Pilger.

Over time, they have hosted and won the admiration of the Dalai Lama, folk singer Bob Dylan, the late Johnny Cash, who visited with his late wife June Carter and actor Kris Kristofferson, and British punk band Prodigy.

But all of this will matter little unless Dumbartung gets thrown a lifeline, and quick.

Behind the scenes, some suggest that Nyoongah culture is too hot a topic for the WA Liberal Government, which is currently negotiating with the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) over a rumoured $1 billion native title settlement.

There’ve been vocal, highly-charged protests against the would-be deal, with much of the dissent coming from a Noongar Tent Embassy established on Heirisson Island (Matagarup) in the Swan River on the city centre outskirts.

 

‘Our story, our way’

 

“This all comes down to one very, very important human right and that is Aboriginal people’s human right to start throughout those collections to archive, maintain and interpret our story, our way, in relation to the significance of what is the oldest living culture on the most ancient land mass on the face of the Earth,” Mr Eggington said.

“And what has become a worldwide interest not in going into tourist shops and buying pretty

dot-dot painting or watching a dance group in an auditorium but learning about the real history and culture through bastions of culture like Kyana.

“The story tellers are Aboriginal people because for far too long our story has been told by non-Aboriginal professionals like anthropologists, social workers and more.”

A comment on the future of Dumbartung and the Kyana Gallery was sought from WA’s Minister for Culture and the Arts, John Day, but none was received by the time of printing.

The Labor Opposition’s spokesman for Culture and the Arts, and Heritage John Hyde told the Koori Mail that WA Labor recognised ‘the importance of Nyoongah culture and values efforts by Nyoongah Elders and stakeholders to preserve and celebrate our indigenous culture’.

He said he was disappointed the Government had not done more to research and promote the Carrolup and other Nyoongah artists, or lobby the Commonwealth effectively for a national Indigenous museum to be based in WA. However, Mr Hyde did not comment specifically on Dumbartung or the Kyana Gallery.

Mr Eggington said that numerous government ministers and politicians had visited the Kyana Gallery during the past few years, including Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett, Federal Liberal MP Joe Hockey, State Aboriginal Affairs Minister Peter Collier, and Deputy Premier Dr Kim Hames.

“They have seen the value of the gallery and have all said upon their departure ‘we will ensure that Dumbartung will continue’,” he said.

“They all leave promising the earth but you never get a grain of sand back.”###

Water snakes

It's Chinese New Year - the year of the snake begins today, and each year on the 12-year cycle of the Chinese horoscope has different attributes. Making things just a little more complicated, each 12-year cycle has an element attached to it that varies those attributes slightly, and 2013 is in the element of water. 

Let's hope that the year of the water snake will also bring good fortune for those who stand vigilantly by the Rainbow Serpent, trying to protect her waters and surrounding land. So sacred is the regard of this spiritual entity, Elders from some Indigenous nations won't use its Aboriginal name when speaking in a public place.

In some other cultures and faiths snakes are considered, contrastingly, to be a bad omen, or
to symbolize death. In others it embodies the concept of renewal and change. Snake medicine is meant to capture an enduring single-mindedness and determination.



I don't mean to offend certain readers whose totems are snakes or who are born in a snake year, but I'm more keen on shovels and snakeskin accessories than I am of snakes - to a city gal they are wriggly, creepy, bitey things that can make you sick or croaky, to say the least. So I'm not filled with anticipatory enthusiasm at the prospect of a whole snakey year.
But, so long as it brings an end to the shocking Drag-on year, I look to it with half-hearted wild and carefree abandon.

In my defence, I'm clearly not the only one with a snake bias - common colloquial language has us calling untrustworthy people snakes, or people we think are duplicitous, snakey, and in the Harry Potter movies all the evil people  are Parsel-tongued. Who sold Eve that apple? Yup, the snake did it. People born in the year of the snake are supposedly blessed with business acumen. No surprises there. Snakes on a Plane-meant to have viewers grabbing their seats, and then there's this guy - Snake, of course. Tarantino names the lead in Kill Bill after a snake and another snake takes a couple of the other characters to meet the big scriptwriter in the sky(a bit too gruesome for a hyperlink). In fact, a ridiculous number of movies have a snake as the bad guy - or vice versa. Are we conditioned to dislike snakes - or are they just, really, unlikable?




The attributes commonly linked with a person born in a year of the water snake are intelligence, ambition and power, and they're a bit crafty - they'll find a way to achieve a difficult goal, and usually know instinctively how to get what they're aiming for. How this translates into how the year of the snake will treat us all - we'll have to wait and see, but it doesn't get a good wrap here.

I think I'll simply resolve, this year, to blog more often about the topics that bring people here. Given the narrowness of the layout of this template, I should probably also write shorter posts so readers' scrolling fingers don't get worn out.