politics
Sesame Street is deployed
I’ve never been able to stomach the sentimental side of the Muppets. That, and the inevitable connection with the madness that is the Iraq war, and its release coinciding with the 3000th US military death there, makes me feel pretty down on the Sesame Street production When Parents Are Deployed, despite understanding that it is designed to help families deal with the anxiety of separation and deployment.
There is a constant unspoken shadow – ‘so what if Elmo’s dad doesn’t come back?’. The makers acknowledge that a parent being injured or killed is undoubtedly the biggest fear of military children, but say it was unaddressed ‘because grief brought with it issues entirelydifferent from absence and would change the show’s focus.’ They add they are ‘open to doing another special where this issue is addressed, provided funding could be secured’.
I think we should instead teach people not to participate in war.
I oppose the death penalty
As I have said before. And even when it is a tyrant. It’s barbaric.
Quote of the week
“It seems the Cole inquiry has to separate the wheat from the chaff because AWB couldn’t see the wood for the trucking fees.”
–Peter Wall of Ascot, Queensland in the Sydney Morning Herald’s letters on Thursday.
Wishlist for government
As an antidote to the newspapers today, I’ve been drawing up a government wishlist. These are not in any particular order. I would like a government that:
- recognizes that the generous and unwavering support of public education is the best investment it can make in the future of our society, and likewise recognizes the value of tertiary education and those that become experts in their fields
- recognizes that the privatization of public utilities and facilities is like selling the family silver
- doesn’t think and act as if the economy is the be-all and end-all
- supports reconciliation, empowerment and the health of our indigenous people wholeheartedly
- supports multiculturalism wholeheartedly
- supports gender equality and gay rights wholeheartedly
- supports universal medicare and dental care wholeheartedly
- provides welfare that doesn’t require jumping through too many hoops
- generously treats all immigrants and asylum seekers with the compassion, humanity and dignity we would like if we were in their shoes
- doesn’t lie, duck, weave, or evade ministerial responsibility
- actively discourages jingoism, xenophobia and racism
- actively discourages fear as a tactic
- recognizes the seriousness of global warming and begins immediate planning and financial backing for the implementation of renewable energies without being swayed by the coal/oil lobby
- appreciates the humanities, the arts and the sciences as integral to the spirit, wellbeing and richness of our society and generously supports them
- supports unionism, and recognizes the skill base of negotiation skills that resides there
- is a republic
- that lobbies for global commons, justice, human rights and civil liberties, and against preventative detention, torture and the death penalty
- that won’t engage in warmongering
- that doesn’t have the media in its pocket
That will do for now, though I’m sure there is more. If you feel the same and would like to use one of the stitch-in-time buttons, please do.
Grab the code for the badge here and paste the code into your sidebar –
<a href=”http://spiritsdancing.typepad.com/spirits_dancing/2006/03/government_wish.html”>
<img src=”http://www.spiritsdancing.com/blog/stitchbutton.jpg” alt=”stitch-in-time” /></a>
Or you can download the badge image you want, upload it into your template
sidebar on your blog or into a post, and link the image back to this post.
A stitch in time
Update: My Flickr page where I have this photo stored is now showing ads for a flavoured lip plumper and long lasting, naturally flavored lip glosses! :-P
I oppose the death penalty
Today Singapore executed Nguyen Tuong Van, a young Australian man. I oppose the death penalty. I always have: my abhorrence to the hanging of Ronald Ryan, the last man hanged in Australia in 1967, when I was 13, is a very distinct and early political memory. In thinking about of Van Nguyen, it’s all too painful to remind oneself that the death penalty is considered acceptable and necessary in many countries, including the US, which is just coming up to the milestone of 1000 people executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Wear a yellow ribbon over the next few days to show your support for Van Nguyen and opposition to the death penalty.
(image: CUADP, and Amnesty International)
Updated links 2015
JM Coetzee: On moral barbarians
My heart gave a little lift this evening when I read that the Nobel winning novelist JM Coetzee had spoken out implying that John Howard’s proposed new anti-terrorist laws were similar to the human rights abuses under apartheid in his native South Africa.
“I used to think that the people who created (South Africa’s) laws that effectively suspended the rule of law were moral barbarians. Now I know they were just pioneers ahead of their time,” he told the Australian Book Review function.”
Detailing how South African police were able to do whatever they wanted, Coetzee ended with: “All of this
and much more during apartheid in South Africa, was done in the name of the fight against terror.”
(Via Articulate)
Laws for a secret state without any safeguards by Malcolm Fraser is also worth reading on the topic.
GetUp is a newish Australian online activist site, along the lines of MoveOn in the US. Their blog sure could use an RSS feed, though.
Updated links 2015
The Scott Parkin Case
Last week an American non-violent activist, Scott Parkin, was arrested and removed from Australia, after having his visa revoked. The Federal Attorney-General, Ruddock, said that the Minister for Immigration, Vanstone, revoked Parkin’s
visa based on an ASIO Security assessment. “I understand the decision was based upon a security assessment, and security assessments are notsomething about which I can comment in any detail.” SourceWatch has a detailed account.
According to a radio piece on the ABC’s The Deep End on Thursday 15th (which you can listen to) Parkin uses street theatre and puppetry. For instance, his groupdoes an act called Hallibacon, which features a large inflatable pig, and protesters wearing snouts and pig masks being fed cash from a trough of public money by Cheney.
Such protests have for a long time been regarded as freedom of speech here. In the absence of other reasons, we have to be worried that is being curtailed. On the other hand, there is speculation that our government was doing someone else’s bidding. Crikey outlines the scenario. On the ABC’s The National Interest on Sept 18th, Terry Lane claims that Kellogg Brown Root, subsidiary of Halliburton, donated $50,000 to both major political parties here, suggesting both a question mark over the opposition’s acquiescence, and an alternative avenue for foreign corporations to exercise power. The Law Report, broadcast Tuesday 19th, will talk to Parkin’s lawyer about the case.
Update: Scott Parkin’s own account of his experience
Updated 2015 – most links outdated.
