Apartheid as a regime is never the victim by definition.
In binding them by law, in making non-participation in that regime of apartheid the act of a true outlaw, the unwilling and the unaware within the oppressor group are victims. But of the regime, not the oppressed.
Choose who you lash out at carefully lest you find yourself acting for the regime rather than against it.
Queensland is frequently portrayed as being in the grips of a worsening crime, epidemic despite data suggesting otherwise. But a trip down memory lane reveals the media has been reporting a similar sentiment for nearly 200 years.
NSW Police is considering authorising the use of “extraordinary” powers to search and identify protesters ahead of a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney planned for Sunday....
To repeat a post from a couple of days ago, from the organisers:
Palestine Action Group statement on last night's protest:
On 9 October 2023, Palestine Action Group organised a successful rally in support of Palestine, calling for the end of the occupation and for Australia to cut ties to Israel. Thousands on thousands of diverse attendees marched to the Opera House and demonstrated our opposition to Australia’s support to the State of Israel, a genocidal apartheid regime which has waged war on Palestinians for over 75 years.
Today, we have woken up to the Premier of NSW, the Prime-Minister, the Foreign Affairs Minister and Independent MP, Allegra Spender condemning our protests and questioning why it went ahead. Let us affirm, we have the right to demonstrate. At a conjuncture where anti-protest laws widen to target anyone who opposes the colonial and capitalist structures of this state from First Nations movements to the Climate Justice movement, the states attack on Pro-Palestinian protestors is no different. Australia as a colonial and imperialist entity will always support Israel and the state is frightened by people in their masses showing that we oppose imperialism and colonialism. At a time where the people of Palestine resist over 75 years of war and massacres and Israel declares intent to commit genocide against the people of Gaza, we will demonstrate, we will continue to demonstrate and we will show this state that we oppose apartheid, we oppose settler-colonialism and we oppose genocide.
Despite a very successful and peaceful rally, the media has reported on a tiny fringe (we estimate less than 20 people) of vile antisemitic attendees who showed up to the opera house for an event unrelated to the demonstration we organised. Media reports and videos circulating show young boys, mostly in their teens chanting “fuck the Jews”. From our observations this occurred for less than one minute and was not an ongoing chant. They were quickly condemned for their chants and asked to leave. Long-standing Palestinian organisers and activists, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim elders attending the protest were disgusted and deplored by the action. This is not what our movement stands for. We oppose Zionism, an ideology distinct from Judaism. We oppose Israel, a racist state which has waged genocide on Palestinians. We are an anti-racist and anti-colonial movement and we refuse to fight racism with racism.
PAG has a long-standing history of working with Jewish activists and organisers who oppose Zionism, from Tzedek to Jews against the occupation, we share anti racist and anti colonial values with our anti-Zionist Jewish siblings. We thank them for their ongoing solidarity, including the contingent who attended this very rally. We’ve checked in with as many of those Jewish people in the contingent as we know to ensure they are feeling safe and okay.
For over a decade we have organised peaceful Palestinian rallies and we have mobilised the Australian community and we will continue to mobilise. If you are an antisemite, you are not welcome at our rallies and are not a part of our movement. As we did today, we will ask you to leave and we will continue to do this. We thank the 99.9% who have continued to show up for Palestine, who have continued to help keep our rallies peaceful and promote anti-racist and anti-colonial values.
We will be back on the streets at 1pm, Sunday 15 October 2023, at Town Hall to continue to protest both attacks on Palestinian resistance and Israel’s declaration of genocide on Palestinians. We will not bow to pressure from parliamentarians to end our mobilisations. We will demonstrate until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea!
Scientists and environment groups are bitterly disappointed by the Federal Court’s decision to dismiss two landmark climate cases against Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and two coal mining companies and are calling for urgent reforms to Australia’s environment laws.
The multiple "Peter Dutton buys house" stories that effectively left everyone one search short of his precise home address amused me. Particularly given the degree of paranoia the man operates under.
Palestine Action Group statement on last night's protest:
On 9 October 2023, Palestine Action Group organised a successful rally in support of Palestine, calling for the end of the occupation and for Australia to cut ties to Israel. Thousands on thousands of diverse attendees marched to the Opera House and demonstrated our opposition to Australia’s support to the State of Israel, a genocidal apartheid regime which has waged war on Palestinians for over 75 years.
Today, we have woken up to the Premier of NSW, the Prime-Minister, the Foreign Affairs Minister and Independent MP, Allegra Spender condemning our protests and questioning why it went ahead. Let us affirm, we have the right to demonstrate. At a conjuncture where anti-protest laws widen to target anyone who opposes the colonial and capitalist structures of this state from First Nations movements to the Climate Justice movement, the states attack on Pro-Palestinian protestors is no different. Australia as a colonial and imperialist entity will always support Israel and the state is frightened by people in their masses showing that we oppose imperialism and colonialism. At a time where the people of Palestine resist over 75 years of war and massacres and Israel declares intent to commit genocide against the people of Gaza, we will demonstrate, we will continue to demonstrate and we will show this state that we oppose apartheid, we oppose settler-colonialism and we oppose genocide.
Despite a very successful and peaceful rally, the media has reported on a tiny fringe (we estimate less than 20 people) of vile antisemitic attendees who showed up to the opera house for an event unrelated to the demonstration we organised. Media reports and videos circulating show young boys, mostly in their teens chanting “fuck the Jews”. From our observations this occurred for less than one minute and was not an ongoing chant. They were quickly condemned for their chants and asked to leave. Long-standing Palestinian organisers and activists, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim elders attending the protest were disgusted and deplored by the action. This is not what our movement stands for. We oppose Zionism, an ideology distinct from Judaism. We oppose Israel, a racist state which has waged genocide on Palestinians. We are an anti-racist and anti-colonial movement and we refuse to fight racism with racism.
PAG has a long-standing history of working with Jewish activists and organisers who oppose Zionism, from Tzedek to Jews against the occupation, we share anti racist and anti colonial values with our anti-Zionist Jewish siblings. We thank them for their ongoing solidarity, including the contingent who attended this very rally. We’ve checked in with as many of those Jewish people in the contingent as we know to ensure they are feeling safe and okay.
For over a decade we have organised peaceful Palestinian rallies and we have mobilised the Australian community and we will continue to mobilise. If you are an antisemite, you are not welcome at our rallies and are not a part of our movement. As we did today, we will ask you to leave and we will continue to do this. We thank the 99.9% who have continued to show up for Palestine, who have continued to help keep our rallies peaceful and promote anti-racist and anti-colonial values.
We will be back on the streets at 1pm, Sunday 15 October 2023, at Town Hall to continue to protest both attacks on Palestinian resistance and Israel’s declaration of genocide on Palestinians. We will not bow to pressure from parliamentarians to end our mobilisations. We will demonstrate until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea!
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Israel has a right to defend itself, and judging its security decisions from a distance is "very difficult", as Israel's government vows to cut off food and water to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
I would argue that it's quite easy to judge, at any distance, the collective punishment of civilians through the withholding of the essentials of life.
We've a referendum this weekend largely on whether we're ready to confront uncomfortable and complex consequences of a history of colonial violence. What's more difficult is reconciling these sorts of statements from a government that says it is.
In their response to the report, released on Monday, the police said they were “in the very early stages of exploring an alternative to the current Pacer program”.
“This issue will only be addressed with the responsibility for the appropriate management of those with mental health issues being returned to NSW health services,” the response said.
…should be pounced upon. It’s rare to see any police force offer a suggestion of actively excluding them from mental health responses. Minns doesn’t seem to have half the ambition required to actually take up the idea.
Police attending mental health crises are an escalating factor. They shouldn’t be there at all, with a trained and equipped new response in their place whose only responsibility is health care.
A Coroner's Court document said body worn and CCTV footage "indicates" Ms Tafaifa died "following a prolonged period of physical restraint", including "the application of handcuffs and the use of a spit hood".
Former premier’s behaviour, if true, is ‘certainly improper’ and ‘ethically questionable’ and shows power of oil and gas interests, Carmen Lawrence says
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sang praise for the first project under his government's $2 billion social housing accelerator fund. Not everyone is convinced social housing is the answer to Australia's housing crisis.
Maybe it didn’t have to if we had a government ready for the fight phrases like “History Wars” and “Great Australian Silence” should have made bleedingly obvious was coming, but that’s not the government we have.
As it stands the emboldened and networked hard and far right off the back of a no vote may be a more urgent reason to vote yes than the institution at the heart of the matter. They will likely now pose a threat to the rights of far more Australians, well more than 50%.
Former WA premier Mark McGowan has taken on a senior role at the former federal treasurer Joe Hockey's consultancy firm, among four new jobs, including appointments to mining companies Mineral Resources and BHP.
Our cheapest housing is car dependent. These ideas sound nice but without enormous infrastructure investment, projects that will take a decade or more, the reality is that they disproportionately benefit wealthy areas that are well served by public transport to the detriment of poorer areas.
The UN working group visited Australia for the first time in December last year. Their task was to evaluate the human rights situation of people of African descent living in Australia.
Daily Discussion Thread: Thu 09 Nov 2023
Welcome to the Melbourne Community Daily Discussion Thread.
Indefinite immigration detention ruled unlawful in landmark Australian high court decision (www.theguardian.com)
Decision overturns 20-year-old precedent and could trigger immediate release of 92 people, with detention of 340 others also in doubt
Victoria’s yearly document ‘dump day’ reveals a mix of good, bad and ugly (www.theguardian.com)
Among the 241 annual reports released all at once are 45 children’s deaths, triple-zero success and a fish ‘misadventure’ at the zoo
Child casualties in Gaza “a growing stain on our collective conscience” (www.unicef.org)
UNICEF is calling for an immediate ceasefire and for sustained and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance
[Guardian] Victim-blaming is a crime to so many progressives. Except when it comes to Jews
There was no pause for pity as false narratives justifying murder took hold before the blood had dried
Queensland media blaming 'crime waves' on youth since mid-1900s, history suggests (www.abc.net.au)
Queensland is frequently portrayed as being in the grips of a worsening crime, epidemic despite data suggesting otherwise. But a trip down memory lane reveals the media has been reporting a similar sentiment for nearly 200 years.
NSW Police considering using ‘extraordinary’ powers at planned Sydney pro-Palestinian rally this weekend (www.abc.net.au)
NSW Police is considering authorising the use of “extraordinary” powers to search and identify protesters ahead of a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney planned for Sunday....
Living Wonders judgment shows Australia's environment laws are failing us in the climate crisis (livingwonders.org.au)
Scientists and environment groups are bitterly disappointed by the Federal Court’s decision to dismiss two landmark climate cases against Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and two coal mining companies and are calling for urgent reforms to Australia’s environment laws.
A hidden timestamp on a 'menacing' Neo-Nazi video aimed at Lidia Thorpe indicates who the likely architects are (www.abc.net.au)
Premier condemns 'horrific' comments at pro-Palestinian Sydney Opera House rally (www.abc.net.au)
Israel's order to cut food and water from Gaza difficult to judge from afar, says Foreign Minister Penny Wong (www.abc.net.au)
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Israel has a right to defend itself, and judging its security decisions from a distance is "very difficult", as Israel's government vows to cut off food and water to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
‘If they don’t comply, they die’: family of fatal NSW police shootings call for independent inquiry (www.theguardian.com)
Exclusive: Premier says an inquiry into use of force against vulnerable people isn’t necessary, despite four fatalities in as many monthss
Inquest begins for Selesa Tafaifa who said 'I can’t breathe' before dying with a spit hood over her head in Queensland prison (www.abc.net.au)
A Coroner's Court document said body worn and CCTV footage "indicates" Ms Tafaifa died "following a prolonged period of physical restraint", including "the application of handcuffs and the use of a spit hood".
Mark McGowan phone call allegation puts fossil fuel influence in WA under spotlight (www.theguardian.com)
Former premier’s behaviour, if true, is ‘certainly improper’ and ‘ethically questionable’ and shows power of oil and gas interests, Carmen Lawrence says
Conversations with Indigenous activists on The Voice - Tom Tanuki speaking with Celeste Liddle, Keiran Stewart-Assheton, and Tarneen Onus Browne
Thought this might be of interest here....
Jeannie was forced to relocate twice in four years. This is her message for the government (www.sbs.com.au)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sang praise for the first project under his government's $2 billion social housing accelerator fund. Not everyone is convinced social housing is the answer to Australia's housing crisis.
The Voice debate is yet another ugly chapter in Australia's history (www.abc.net.au)
Ex-premier Mark McGowan joins Abbott-era treasurer Joe Hockey's consultancy firm, among four new private sector roles (www.abc.net.au)
Former WA premier Mark McGowan has taken on a senior role at the former federal treasurer Joe Hockey's consultancy firm, among four new jobs, including appointments to mining companies Mineral Resources and BHP.
Should Australian cities adopt car-free days? - ABC listen (www.abc.net.au)
'No safe space in society': new UN report reveals the extent of systemic racism faced by people of African descent in Australia (theconversation.com)
The UN working group visited Australia for the first time in December last year. Their task was to evaluate the human rights situation of people of African descent living in Australia.