Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Is that all there is?

I know that I give The West a lot of robust scrutiny, but I do regularly (at least a few times a year ;} ) read reasonable or even interesting stories in it. Over my coffee today, I read an interview with a writer. He had commenced his professional life as a scriptwriter - of some note, but not much merit in my opinion - although that's neither here nor there because you can't compare artists, it'd be like comparing apples to oranges. You can like one more than the other, but you cannot deny they're both the same thing.


Hat tip to this particular fellow, because whatever criticisms I could level at him, I was touched by something he said - and most of the journos I've known all my life danced to the same rhythm - this particular author described becoming absorbed by the story - not ensconced, absorbed, completely, so as to find himself a few months into the writing process surrounded up to his knees, in discarded scrap paper notes. Screwed up and pitched with some ferocity at the floor, no doubt. At least in my case, my screwed-up notes reach the far corners of my room, somewhere remotely in the direction of the waste paper basket.


A male friend lamented to (at) me this evening that I had not traversed far from my early days as a musician - the 16-hour days, punctuated solely by the trips to the vending machine, cigarettes, coffee and the colour of the sky outside the practise room windows. 'Is that all there is?' he pondered. I know that he won't ever be able to understand, when I say 'Thank Christ, yes!'


Writers are quite solitary creatures. The silent gaps in our conversations (that tend to make some feel slightly awkward) are just a bit longer than other peoples'. Say...a week, if we're lucky.


Now, bear with me here - you see, it's in those silent gaps that it is possible to think, to compile our mental data, to create a conscious stream of thought and to find words to wrap around those ideas. I've got to say that this can pose one heck of a challenge when you're surrounded by kids, and, let it be known that it doesn't really matter what age they are, because the joyous chatter of children never really changes volume over the decades. But writing would never be the same without them.


Over the years I've found the dead silence of the wee, small hours very liberating, while others watch on aghast. Doing morning exercises while others are winding down for the day with an afternoon coffee, can make you seem a little inaccessible. 


As a muso, I had a fabulous teacher who had a very adaptable term for classical musicians - they were called 'straights' - they played strictly the dots. Down the track I came across a similar term, but in a different genre, 'squareheads' - people who play within the lines. These days, I look back and I consider the mindsets that those terms embody and it occurs to me that straights and squareheads celebrate structure. Writers celebrate structures, too - they're just a little more bendy.


So to my friend from another world, to explain, you can know millions of other people, and feel a deep sense of warmth and belonging to a community or communities. You might converse on social media etc. etc., but for a writer, there is a certain recognition when you come across another writer, and they can be almost any kind of writer, but there is a connection that's like you have bumped into another creativity refugee, who happens to speak your obscure dialect. Peoples' differences make your world a far more interesting place - don't just respect that, embrace it.




Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Brandis' masterplan to repeal race hate prohibition and the Racial Discrimination Act [1975]

Within the current debate about the Commonwealth Attorney General repealing or amending sections of the Racial Discrimination Act, one aspect strikes me as a bit anomalous.


Can I really be the only person contemplating this elephant in Mr Brandis' room?


The public is well aware that in the post-911 political climate, & more so since the revelations of CIA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, the State and Federal governments have been ignoring our civil rights. In fact, they've colluded in surreptitious, late night parliamentary discussions, the unbalanced bipartisan justifications for eroding our civil rights - even constitutionally protected ones and also those agreed upon and upheld under international legal principles and treaties.


The Commonwealth Attorney General has done a complete 180 degree turn and now, wants to protect Australians' rights, specifically, the right to make and publish racist comment. As demonstrated in the findings of the 'Bolt Case', the govt is citing as its inspiration for encouraging greater racism in the media, this protection extends to comment that it is not only clearly misguided, but is also completely erroneously researched.


Among the worthy, myriad, mainstay Australian rudimentary rights to strive to protect, in my view, it is an unusual choice, on his part. But, next time I am contemplating & op-ed-ing about the 99% of our parliamentarians' heritage and appearances, I am sure Mr Brandis will feel very comforted knowing he legislated for those views to be legalized. Deep down, I am sure that those 99% of his peers will thank him that they can now be described in the press more, or even less, accurately.


I don't see the government lining up to protect my right to privacy, or my right to information. My right to express myself is pretty kaput in view of media ownership laws and my right to be free to associate, may well be under threat, as an independent journalist who manages sources equally and balances smaller independent sources against leviathan govt and corporate counterparts. So, why on Earth is my right to be racist so utterly vital to the Commonwealth Attorney General that the Racial Discrimination Act 'hate speech' protections need to be repealed? It's funny that he feels so strongly that I should have a right to object to his colour or his religion - uncharacteristically obliging of him. Must've been a slow day - "hmmn, this'll liven the house up..."


The Australian government, and colonial govt before it, openly enacted political policies that perpetrated racial persecution. I think they should be able to recall that fairly vividly as they only apologized for their past racist barbarism just in 2008Despite the implementation of the RDA[1975], the racist hangover is still visible in the inequitable political and social policies that relate to minorities, particularly Aboriginal nations.


Under such govt policies as those that fuelled the Stolen Generations and 'Forgotten Australians', Aboriginal children, dark skinned children, children of mixed heritage, the disabled and those who were from poor homes, were abducted, most were physically & emotionally abused, many were sexually assaulted; they were often tortured, and all, by non-indigenous government workers.


In view of this wicked history of blatant racial oppression and persecution, Australia would seem to have a fairly strong mandate to prioritize fundamental racial equality in law, over and above, any concerns regarding the free speech of 'shock jocks' and their pop media print and web equivalents.




It is also important to note that Australia does not have a constitutional right of free speech. For the colonial government ruling over Australia - England's penal colony, free speech simply was not in the best interests of the State. So today, Australia has merely an implied right of free speech that has  been interpreted into law from legal precedent. Australia's own govt declared Indigenous people 'flora and fauna' to avoid legal obligations under British colonial law, but once that issue was sent to referendum in 1967, the Australian public rebuked the government's racism and Aboriginal people were acknowledged as equals under the law. Despite this, inequality is still legislated and drafted into govt policy where it relates to Aboriginal people. This can be no more clearly seen than in the NT, where over 95% of ATSI prisoners are hearing impaired.


Since the proposed repeal of 18c and then, the amendment of RDA[1975] s.18c, d & e, many prominent people have spoken out against changes to the Act. And, this week I received a very unusual and verbose response from the Cth Attorney General specifically addressing the Jewish community - terrible as it is, race hate speech in Australia is certainly not limited to anti-Semitism and Brandis' excessive and almost apologetic explanations for the proposals are a bit rich, considering Australia's bleak history of govt race crimes and genocide against Aboriginals, and its discrimination and victimization of Muslims enacted through the 'justice' system and post-911 legislation. As Gawenda states, "This is not a Jewish issue..." It almost seems every word from the minister is divisive, wrongfooted and set to undermine community cohesion.


Pop-media darling, Warren Mundine,  has also weighed in on the debate, as did Langton - thankfully. But it is at times like these, that the real limitations on free expression really come to the fore. There are few avenues for most minority and multicultural voices to express their views in Australia's mainstream media monopolies. That racial bias is a hangover from the govt's use of the news media to disseminate racist propaganda during the eras of the Stolen Generations and Forgotten Australians.


Today I read this submission to the AG regarding the proposed amendments.
##NB - If you send me your submissions I will be happy to publish them here.


Laws that strike at the heart of multiculturalism, and promote racial hatred instead of criminalizing it,  will reduce our unique and unparalleled quality of life, and impinge on essential Australian democratic values. As a nation, and at such a tumultuous period in history, we simply cannot afford to indulge such public demonstrations of racism and ignorance.


##Update - this today from Rachel Ball

Saturday, April 05, 2014

Local stuff

So the 'extraordinary case of Matt Smith' throws a new light on today's revelations on the cover of The Weekend West regarding lost forensic evidence. It is amazing how the WA Police Service never ceases to find ways of avoiding effective internal scrutiny.


In other news from WA's mainstream monopoly...Corrective Services are considering opening a vets wing in WA jails, not because there are a lot of ex-military personnel who are criminally inclined, but rather because of the need for peer support to more directly address psychological trauma & a lack of opportunity that contributes to offending behaviour.


Over the last few decades there have been several former SAS troops convicted of high profile crimes in WA (one wrongfully - Ray Mickelberg), and others accused of heinous crimes (for which they were not convicted), but it stands to reason with the military's return from overseas service that there will be an increasing demand for appropriate services to support psychologically injured personnel. It's a bit sad that C.S (as was the case with the hearing & ear health assessments) will ultimately become responsible for catching those who are slipping through the gap in support services in the community.


Corrective Services has long been viewed by politicians as not sexy enough to warrant appropriate funding for effective programs, and the implementation of the scheme - if it comes to fruition - may constitute a significant breakthrough in governmental funding approaches to corrections. With ex-military officers currently acting as CS Minister, DG of CS and Opposition Leader, there aren't too many pollies opposing the proposal and probably not that many who would be game to, just quietly. (just kidding fellas...)


The effects of post-trauma, physical and sexual abuse and bastardization of young cadets that has been documented in Aussie military history, has hit the news in a big way over the last couple years and has subsequently been under investigation. While the public can expect little official disclosure of inherent problems beyond the obscene public antics of the very creepily named 'Jedi Knights', and the shameful 'Skype Scandal', it's presumable that via these inquiries ADFA will seek to strategize out any anti-social behaviours and mismanagement.


More tragic still, was the re-victimization of one former 'sex scandal' victim, by a former army officer turned AFP recruit. It is laudable that the officer was eventually caught out by the AFP, charged and criminally convicted. The nature of bastardization is summed up well by that officer when he said that he, himself, thought it was a stupid idea to forward the victim's evidence (which effected her further army victimization). Even though officers might think it is a bad idea, as the sick culture stands at present, they are compelled to participate in offences by their own misguided codes that twist and devalue military loyalty.


Last month Australian Jack Reacher, Ben Wadham, highlighted the possible impact of underlying social and cultural problems in the military, by examining the military experience of the Hoddle Street murderer, Julian Knight.





## Just by the way, Soldier On (link in Blogroll in the sidebar) have begun yoga classes at the Canberra HQ at 12:30 on Fridays, and the organizers said they plan to roll out classes nationwide this year, to control and prevent PTSD symptoms.