Dr Venturni has an impressive legal bio. He has started a new series of articles on Independent Australia looking at “the history and reasons for Australia’s current unfair and illegal refugee policy”. I invite you to click on the picture below and read Dr Venturini’s excellent article.
Dr Venturini on Independent Australia
Fraser in June 1977. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Last night I watched Immigration Nation on SBS One and filled in some gaps in my knowledge. For months I’ve been hearing it said on social media that Malcolm Fraser has become more humanitarian with age, he wasn’t like that when he was Prime Minister. Oh, yes he was! Whitlam allowed 1,000 and no more Indo-Chinese refugees in case, coming from a communist country, they wouldn’t vote Labor later on. Fraser was the Prime Minister that opened Australia’s heart and we accepted 70,000 refugees. I have no idea of their voting patterns and nor does it worry me.
I am no longer a member of the Liberal party because I can’t accept the party line on several issues but I have taken some flak for my ongoing support of Fraser. I don’t understand how or why people think he has changed when history tells me he hasn’t. He may have more freedom now to speak in ways he couldn’t before, or in ways that were not necessary before the current crop of Liberals, but I see Fraser acted humanely then as he does now.
The program put in perspective for me why Fraser is so disapproving of the current approach to the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees.
It makes me wonder how history gets so twisted. Every historian has a personal perspective, I suppose, and in some cases that will impact later perceptions of historical times and events. Most historians research diligently and write with the earnest intention of presenting the recounting of a time and events as closely as they possibly can to the reality. I believe Matthew Wright is one of those historians.
Of course, we don’t go around reading history books all the time. We read newspaper articles, we talk to friends, family and co-workers and our perspective becomes removed from the reality of the time. Given the state of the mainstream media at the moment, more opinion than actual reporting, the media doesn’t necessarily present an accurate picture to the reader. If we live in a country we weren’t born in, we have less knowledge of the history than we might otherwise have had. In that situation we have, I think, a tendency to think the “locals” have it right when in fact they may not.
Proud Mr O with the offspring
Uniforms are a wonderful thing! They mean the kids never have to compete with the latest fashions at school. I asked our four “What is something starting with “U” that you all find different or unique in Australia compared with Nigeria. The answer came back in unison: “UNIFORMS!”
I thought this was odd. I knew they wore uniforms in Nigeria, so what was different?
Miss O 2: “We didn’t have different uniforms, we wore the same thing all year.”
This makes sense, as they don’t have the seasonal changes we have here in Australia. We have summer and winter uniforms and I remember when I was at school there were very strict rules around when you changed from one uniform to another! Here in Melbourne, given our weather can be rather changeable, there is a couple of weeks of flexibility, but even then I have seen kids wearing summer uniform to school in the middle of winter so I’m not sure all the schools are as strict as “in the old days”.
Here the boys wear shorts in summer and long pants in winter.
Skort
Miss O 2 has a lovely gingham school dress which she refuses to wear (I think she’s worn it twice) because she MUCH prefers the culottes (or skort) which means she looks like she is wearing a skirt but can do all the tomboy things without anyone seeing her pants.
Miss O 1 is in Year 12 so she now wears “casual” (sadly for Mum and Dad’s wallets).
The photo above was taken in July 2011. None of them look anything like that any more! Mr O 1, the older of the two boys, is now taller than I and almost as tall as Dad. What a growth spurt in 20 months!
Those are the winter uniforms. In summer of course the jackets and jumpers hardly see the light of day, the girls have dresses (or culottes for the primary ones) and the boys wear shorts.
Then there are sports uniforms for sports days.
I read Clementine Ford’s article in The Age dated March 25, Is this photo grounds for death? I shared it around the usual social media traps. It is an issue that should be highlighted.
I also read Ruby Hamad’s article in The Age dated March 28, Why protests must be culturally appropriate and noticed Ruby copping a bit of flak from Australian women.
In summary, Amina, a 19 year-old Tunisian woman, adopted a western protest style to seek freedom for the women in Tunisia and she is now in a mental hospital. Clementine wrote of the case and Ruby has provided a culturally sensitive perspective which has generated some discussion.
I am one of what I believe is a fairly unique group of women: I am an atheist feminist married to a Muslim. I have visited a very strict Islamic country, Qatar. If you are reading this and don’t know my stance on religion and feminism, I suggest you read the following articles before you continue reading this one! 😆
It is clear from the above articles I am NOT into preserving the status quo!
Besides being married to a Muslim, I have several Muslim co-workers as well. The Muslims I know cover a wide spectrum of strictness. One co-worker’s wife wears traditional Islamic dress, while others are much more relaxed and drink alcohol and smoke.
Dear Julie,
You and I have a lot in common, I notice. I am only thirteen months older than you and we both grew up on farms: mine was sheep and cattle. We are both female, something I will look at again later. We are both degree qualified and we both work.
As you know, I used to be a member of the Liberal Party. Recently I was sent a reminder by text message to renew my membership. I replied no, including a link to my published article explaining why I would not be renewing my Liberal Party membership. I have to say a few more things have popped out of the woodwork about our young Tony since I wrote that. Very sad.
Yesterday a really strange thing happened. I got a phone call on my mobile and a male voice announced he was calling to let me listen to a recorded message from you, Julie. Your voice (I assume it was your voice) then assured me you needed my membership to fight the terrible Labor government.
Apart from the fact I am yet to be totally convinced the Labor government have been worse than a coalition government would have been, you didn’t really tell me why I should vote for your party, let alone renew my membership.
It seems since the idyllic days of our respective childhoods, we may have moved apart. I am so sad about this, Julie, because we should be closer. I just didn’t feel terribly flattered or needed listening to you criticise the current government. If you want to attract me, you have to tell me what you are proposing, to improve life for my family and me, for Australia and for the causes which I am passionate about. Of course, as an accountant, I’d like to know how much your policies are going to cost. For example, will you be reducing the fees for partner visas? Will you be supporting a humanitarian approach to the treatment of asylum seekers and prevent Scott Morrison from inciting moral panic in the community? Actually, just teaching Scott enough manners to respond to dinner invitations would be nice.
Really though, a RECORDED MESSAGE? How uncouth! If you want to beg me to renew my membership, at least have the decency to make a damn phone call. It doesn’t have to actually be from you, after all we know how busy you are preparing costed policies to release before the election. I just feel the personal touch might be nice.
I’m also very puzzled about the gender aspects here. If I had been a male ex-member, would my recorded message have been from Tony? Was a female reaching out to me in a recorded way supposed to make me feel special? If that is the case, I seriously suggest you look for a new public relations team because frankly, unless everyone got your voice and no-one got Tony’s voice, I find the whole damn thing rather sexist. You might be aware I am not that keen on sexism. Please tell Tony I rarely iron anything.
Two news reports jumped out at me today.
The first was the report of the gang-rape of a Swiss tourist in India by allegedly eight men. Juxapositioned against this was the report the UN has passed a landmark accord to “combat violence against women”.
Mervat Tallawy, the head of Eygpt’s National Women’s Council, said the accord was needed to counter “a global wave of conservatism, of repression against women.” I looked back over articles I have written on this site over recent months and it certainly seems to me Mervat is correct. From a state in America placing equal pay at risk and a senior politian in the USA believing women’s bodies can “shut down” pregnancy from “legitimate rape” to our own Max Tomlinson‘s verbal nonsense and Tony Abbott thinking women all iron all day, there seems to be a global wave as Mervat states.
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood had objected to the UN document, saying it could lead to the “complete degradation of society”, however reports don’t tmake it clear which version of the document the Brotherhood objected to. I am of the impression it was an earlier version. Just before everyone jumps up and down about the Muslim Brotherhood objecting, SO DID THE VATICAN!!! Which reminds me of What is it with religion and women?
Not so very long ago, there was the gang-rape on the bus in India which drew world wide attention to the plight of women in India. Not just from the risk of rape: for those who may not have read it then, I strongly suggest you read The Subjugation Capital. That article is written by an Indian woman and is extremely powerful. Around the same time I read an article by a tourist saying India, in her option, was quite safe for tourists. It seems not so much, perhaps.
WHAT THE FUCK gives eight men the thought this is a normal or acceptable thing to do? Can anyone explain this to me?
***Previous episodes of A Common Enemy can be found on the top menu, or start at A Common Enemy. A little sci-fi in progress. ***
The alarm pierced his dreaming. He stretched out to silence the damn thing. Where the fuck is the bloody phone? He opened his eyes to find the glowing, blaring, technological nightmare he could never escape from. The noise silenced, he lay back against his pillow at stared at the ceiling.
Another day trying to stop people killing each other.
He slid his long legs over the edge of the bed and forced himself to his feet. He stumbled to the shower cubicle and turned on the tap. This was always a guessing game: would there be water or not? Today he was lucky, the water sprayed across his broad shoulders and trickled down his taut frame.
He dried himself off, brushed his teeth and dragged on his dark green uniform. The four stars over his chest glittered briefly as he passed the window, the last of the moonlight catching the metal surface. In the weapons locker he drew on his flak jacket, boots and helmet and strapped on his three guns. One day we’ll develop lightweight weapons, he groaned to himself.
Jeremiah. Nice to meet you. He smiled at himself in the mirror. A routine he had developed when he realised his morning smile to himself might be the only smile he would receive all day.
Jeremiah walked out of his apartment, listening for the auto-lock click as he turned left to the lift. He pushed the lift button and waited, hoping for a solitary trip to the car park. After killing three rogues yesterday, he wasn’t in the mood for company.
Death. Every damn day there was more death. Too many humans in two small a space. No jobs. No reliable water or electricity. Medical care for only those who qualified genetically or could afford to buy a genetic bio-chip. Jeremiah touched the small mark on his neck where his had been inserted. These days the bio-chips were inserted at birth, but they’d only been introduced ten years ago, when he was twenty.
I think I might have been lying for 50 years. I’ve always considered myself a “feminist”: as in a firm believer in and fighter for gender equality. After the last 48 or so hours, I’ve changed my mind. Either that or my IQ must have recently dropped about 60 points or so.
Subsequent to a round robin of articles relating to feminist ideologies (you can get all the links from The battle of feminist ideologies), I had a discussion with an academic who was busy throwing names of experts around. The chosen writers of feminist bibles, I gathered.
Now, I’ve had a busy 50 years. I did IT and business degrees, not the humanities. I accept I am at an academic disadvantage here. Even so, for some weird and wonderful reason I tend to see the question of gender equality in VERY SIMPLE TERMS (not exclusive list):
I am fucked if I know what the hell cyborg women have to do with stopping gang rapes in India or freeing the women of Saudi Arabia or stopping idiots having demeaning and rape-inciting decals painted in their bloody utes.
Interesting day, there seems to be an all out war of feminist ideologies. Interesting, because I do actually have a DtJ number and I’ve had a small debate with Helen Razer, author of Destroying the point, over physiology in the past. That resulted in my writing So what if male and female brains are different?
I’ve been pondering whether to disagree with Helen or not all morning. Jane Gilmore beat me to it in The point of destroying.
I’ve read Helen’s article twice. While I agree with some of her points I don’t agree with others and I do believe again Helen tries to convince us all men and women are all the same. I am convinced part of the problem we have is we refuse to accept we are in fact different. We refuse to utilise the strengths of each gender to the betterment of the human race while ensuring equality of rights. There seems to be this general push for everyone to believe equality means sameness. It doesn’t. I’ve addressed that question before too.
Yes, Helen is partially right when she says “Women are not nicer. Women are not a civilising influence. Women are just as capable of avarice and stupidity as anyone.” However, there are very few female serial killers, which is contradictory. Helen did prove her own point though – she didn’t write a “nice” article! I did find it interesting the number of men retweeting links to Helen’s article. Disproportionately high, I thought. I didn’t do a full mathematical analysis, I’ll leave that to someone like Chrys who is a whiz at such analysis!
A small point about female poverty, before I forget. I learnt this morning (emphasis added):
Prior to British rule, African women could own property and had legal rights. In 1927, British law declared them legal minors, dependent on their spouses.
http://womensenews.org/story/our-history/130307/time-honor-heroism-south-african-women
I think the above is worth noting in light of Jane’s words:
Changing the inequities of male dominance over public life does not change history, but it is a means of changing the world we live in now.
Scott Morrison proudly, it seems, made his major contribution to heightening the levels of moral panic in the community in relation to asylum seekers. While I have read many articles today, which I will share below, I am taking the words from his press release on his web site, http://www.scottmorrison.com.au/info/pressrelease.aspx?id=1083
A requirement to consult and notify police in advance of the release of boat arrivals on bridging visas or into community detention in their jurisdiction
Why this requirement, Scott? Why are you not suggesting we do the same with all Australian criminals released from prisons? After all, I do not want a convicted rapist living next to me given I have two daughters and last year we had at least two women raped and killed within a 20 mile radius of my home. They have paid their debt to society for their crime, you say? Let me tell you something, Scott: asylum seekers have NO debt to society to pay.
Freedom
Random Observations of Life 