Scapegoat

Now we cage them on far away islands. Legislated victory for manufactured atonement. Punished for living, Forbidden to die, they pay the price, We live the lie.

 

Scapegoat by William Holman Hunt

About Hope

(To those who would crush dreams)
I don't believe there is such a thing as 'False Hope'
There is a state of being hopeful
and there is a hopeless state.
To hold on to hope can mean the difference between striving to live and giving up on the most basic natural instinct of all living things.
Hope is by definition, not dependent on empirical certainty
It is staking one's future on the chance that the possibility of a future may exist, despite the odds!
For a human hope can be the irrational thread which permits us to go on living when the odds say we must perish.
This is not 'false' but the truest calling!
"Life's longing for itself" is the hope that life is possible.
To be without hope crushes the spirit and destroys that sacred seed planted in all living things.
The WILL TO LIVE! With out the will to live we are indeed in a Hopeless state! 

If the leaders of a Government responsible for the care of refugees see fit to snatch hope from those people's hearts; then have the audacity to accuse those who offer comfort or care for Asylum Seekers on Nauru of being responsible for their despair by offering 'false hope' then they are fools and have no business in the lives of others. 

This is Australia! God Help us!

The means to an End

On the whole asylum seeker, refugee, prison camp humanity, compassion, situation...

This will be brief, just wanting to lay it down somewhere.

Having read Saul Alinsky's book 'Rules for Radicals' I was struck by two significant ideas:

1.

There is a statement at the beginning of the book before the contents devoted to Lucifer (the Devil)

 "Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins—or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer" 

2.

Though the book discusses the topic of 'means and ends' the author does not attempt to moderate the reader's choices in method of achieving their goal.  (A scary thought if you consider what this could result in)

 

Some people say he must have been a satanist or evil or something. I took the statement as a warning that the methods he is suggesting must be tempered by a person who knows the nature of evil and their own capacity to commit it. He gives freedom to choose and leaves the responsibility for the course of action with the reader. (here it is and, you've been warned)

As I read this book I continually asked myself, what would I be prepared to do, what would I not do? What are the consequences? What would I gain?


The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr supplied an answer.

Recently a friend gave me an old copy of 'The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.' It was sitting on my shelf for a couple of months when my wife decided to read it. When she was done, she wanted to read some pages which had resonated with her, out loud so I could get a sense of just how profound a thinker Dr King was.

One line from that reading put into perfect unison a lot of the things I'd been feeling and thinking when confronted with the rationalizations put forward by politicians and armchair experts regarding Australia's bizarre and cruel treatment of asylum seekers. For me it cut to the core of the moral discussion about 'what must be done'.

Here it is:

"Constructive ends can never give absolute moral justification to destructive means, because in the final analysis the end is preexistent in the means" 

(Martin Luther King Jr. 'The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr' Edited by Clayborne Carson. p.20)


"... the end is preexistent in the means"

Watching TV

Just spent the morning learning how to advocate in a rational way for people whose lives are at the mercy of a system run by despotic psychopaths.

I have to be realistic and admit... I can't fucking do it!

Over the past 3 days facebook and just about every media source on the planet has featured images of a little boy lying  dead, face down on a beach. Aylan Kurdi. It seems this image has shook the world. so it should. Compassion is beginning to flow due to wide exposure to the tragic image of this little boy (Thank God). Remember him, his mother and brother when you hear about asylum seekers and refugees, think of his father who only wanted to save his family and remember! There are 1,000s more who our country has turned it's back on. Can we now talk about a humanitarian response to the tragedy of war and displacement?

As I was writing this post an email popped into my inbox. This article by Natasha Blucher says it all.

If you've posted an image of this boy out of sympathy or, donated money or signed a petition, please don't let it stop at that! Hit the streets when you are called to stand up for human rights. Go and meet your local MP or at least write them a letter. Australia is engaged in some pretty evil shit right now and it's being done to children just like Aylan. We meet them every day but their faces can't be shown in the media. If you could only see how they suffer you might think twice about supporting the Australian Government's Border Force (farce) policies.

I left the training session feeling powerless. Came home and listened to Roger Waters and remember we've been through all this before. Apparently after the Tienanmen Square massacre Australia accepted about 40,000 asylum seekers. 

Attitudes in this country have changed a lot since then. What will we do this time?

(Warning: The following film-clip contains images of war and deceased people)

The Guys who built the dark satanic mills that manufacture hell on earth.

Away to the sea

Seeking escape from the humdrum and grind of life, rather than taking time to pray or meditate my tendency is to absorb myself in fantasy. The romance of Bahamas and freedom loving pirate adventures is what's enthralled me over the past year.
While playing Assassins Creed Black Flag I fell in love with the sea shanties.
In Australia there's been a hell of a lot of condemnation of people who take to the open sea in the hope of finding freedom and safety abroad. They are judged as reckless and even as a threat to our national security. All kinds of cruelty has been justified in the name of saving them from themselves.
As I listen to this song I am reminded that it is the brave who take to the sea that have a chance of beating the constant threat to life and limb they would face if they stayed!

I felt a trembling

"...They built a prison and it tempered in the sun

It rose up off a plateau like a last tooth in a gum..."

  (The Drones - Locust)

This week grief, depression, hopelessness, rage, sadness crept through every crack and crevice of the barely adequate spiritual blockades I’d erected around my torn soul and aching heart. I touched the deepest craving for oblivion and silence and threw myself out with the bathwater and sludge of 10,000 opinions of the greedy selfish mob, I cast myself naked to the great Whatever…! I asked for death and embraced it’s blank empty promise… As I peddled to work I felt the weight of malice and my rage consumed me. Tears dripped from my cheeks and flowed back across my face while my legs persisted against my will to continue on my way to work, tears in my ears and bloodshot eyes I sang hurt songs for Wisdom at the top of my voice and my dry throat hurt… I met with the Christian son of man and God they call Jesus ‘Christ’…

Memento Mori… MEMENTO MORI!.... memento mori. Not some day! NOW!

Grace… peace...  

My despair burned into my skin left the mark of a Celtic Cross on my back. Give up grief. fight FIGHT!

 Yesterday I met a fella who cheered me up... The answer? Spread the love!

Why did I feel so low?

Today the life of a small child is in our hands, she is not the only one but she is real and we have heard her story.. Her tiny hopeful body is in our Prison her mind and soul already tortured and enslaved, she is damaged and condemned to be broken for our sake.

It’s just down the road, not far from here where others like her are kept behind razor wire in preparation to be sent back to an unbearable and intolerable fate on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! Nauru… HELL!

It’s not new children have been sent there for a couple of years now at the pleasure of the Australian Government. What makes this child different is that they can no longer say this child will come to no harm! (We have the Moss Review on Nauru) We know she will. This is no time to sit back and read about it in the news. NOW is the time to make the news, break the silence TURN THE TABLES!

(Updated 24/04/15) 

Vigil for Martin

A retrospective post from Saturday 17th Jan

It’s just gone 1am. We thought there’d be torrential rain all night but the weather has been incredibly pleasant. 10 minutes ago the sky opened and delivered us a beautiful 5 minute shower, now it is gone and we are cool and sitting comfortably in the shade of the Department of Immigration building in Darwin. I am at an all-night vigil in support of the 100s of people held in Immigration Detention Centers in Australia, Nauru and Manus Island. In particular we are here because a man who has languished in indefinite detention and has been on hunger strike for weeks is now in a critical condition and we'd like him and others to know that there are Australian's willing to fight for their rights and we hope this gives them hope enough to end their strike.

Why choose to sit out all night outside a closed Government office while drunks argue in the streets around us, cars spin their tyres on the slippery roads and some clown just let off the loudest fire cracker I think I’ve ever heard? Well what else can we do? We continue to communicate with our MP's and the government by the usual means. Letters and petitions have been sent by the truck load and still people's lives are left in peril on Nauru and Manus Island! Children continue to be imprisoned, refugees continue to be returned to harm or locked up indefinitely. As asylum seekers they have very few rights under Australian Law and in this country at this time there is very little regard for the international treaties designed to protect the worlds most vulnerable people. Australians must step up and take action because the people whose lives are affected have no power, they  have no choice but to comply with the demands of their jailers or suffer arbitrary retribution for non compliance. They are in this situation because of Australian laws which completely disregard our international obligations. The fairness of Australian law is completely dependent on the whims of morally bankrupt politicians. Holding them to account is the responsibility of the Australian People, if our laws are unjust then it's up to us to do something about it, sticking up for asylum seekers is our responsibility. 

We gathered on Friday afternoon at 4pm At 5 someone turned their car radio up and we listened to the terrible news of a stand-off on Manus Island. Similar news had been filing through social media. Hungry asylum seekers behind bars, meals withheld for the night while security forces in full riot gear stand on the other side of a high wire fence waiting for the signal to move in! The radio report warned of something big about to happen. The men on Manus have been on hunger strike for days, some have sewn their lips together, images have been leaked of their faces, bloodshot eyes they look beaten, grim and without hope. There are constant reports of taunting and abuse from outside the camp and from the guards employed to watch over them.

The new Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's voice (forgive me if I drop the Honorable) is broadcast, sternly demanding that Advocates stop supporting the hunger strikers! This is the first time I've heard him speak, I've needed to take a break from media and am quickly reminded why I couldn't bear to listen to or watch the news! Sounds like the new Minister for Immigration is just as big a turd as the last one!

Dutton went further and suggested that refugee advocates must have put the idea into people's heads that they could get what they want by using hunger strikes and self harm as a tactic! Is this guy kidding? None of the asylum seeker advocates I have met would ever encourage anyone to commit any kind of self harm! We spend most our time trying to comfort and persuade people to hold on to whatever hope they have, self harm is sure sign that they have lost hope! We all felt worried after hearing the news about Manus, the situation was obviously deteriorating. After the news, the radio was turned off and we resumed our places on the footpath. 

As the night rolled on people came and went, most spending more than a couple of hours at the vigil. By midnight those who were not staying the night had left and a core group of 7 of us remained.

I enjoyed being outdoors for the night, it was a rare opportunity to sit and reflect on the situation and affirm my commitment to seeking justice. We talked a little, but mostly sat quietly until someone would walk past and ask us what we were doing. Oddly throughout the night we weren't approached by police or security guards.

I was dreading a confrontation with the violent drunks staggering out of the pubs at 5am which fortunately didn't happen. Very few people approached us. Kind of unexpectedly most of the people who did come by to see what we were doing were drunk but quite friendly. They were all men, that's not to say there weren't plenty of drunk women on the street but for some reason they just didn't approach us. Of course there were the inevitable arguments about security threats and who is or isn't a refugee etc...but mostly people were not threatening. A couple of guys sympathized with the cause, some asked reasonable questions but mostly I heard the same old stuff.

Through the night generous supporters have dropped by for a chat, some even bring coffee. As we sit this vigil there are similar events taking place around Australia. This is just one of the many things that must be done to keep the pressure on our Government for justice and fairness, although these have fallen off the national agenda while people continue to challenge the cruel policies of our government we are determined to have them returned!

Dawn 17th January 2015. Photo courtesy DASSAN

Walking in silent contempt-ation (part 2)

On the 21st September 2014 Here's what a few people from Darwin decided to do to mark International Day of Peace

We walked from Darwin to Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre, (40km).
8 walked and we were joined by several others at the vigil

Walkers and friends outside the Wickham / Bladin Point Immigration Detention Centre

Trevor (The Rubbish Warrior) Jenkins walked the whole way with holes in his shoes

 It was a long walk

Me absolutely exhausted!

Some of us who walked and Ben. Eldest walker Liz... age 72!

We all made it to our destination. Not much to say having walked such a long way except. It was good.
Read more HERE on FarceBook.

Took 11 hours.

Walking in silent contempt-ation

 I'm Walking to Wickham Point!

After visiting people in Immigration Detention Centres here in Darwin over the past couple of years, and trying to advocate for people where I could, I have found that the situation for asylum seekers is now even worse than when we started!

I am frustrated, and fed up with constantly grovelling with pathetic bureaucrats and gaolers on behalf of people whose voices have been silenced!
I am tired of seeing people loose their sanity and dignity as they fall into despair, after months and even years of incarceration by this country; it's leaders indifferent to the suffering they have caused and the hearts they have poisoned!

JUSTICE!
What about justice?! 
Will the guardian of detained children (Scott Morrison) be brought to justice? I doubt it.

I have asked myself, what more can I do? What action will be effective in stopping this madness? Maybe none...?

Unable to articulate my outrage, and the sense of loss and disgrace that has been welling in me I have decided to take action through prayer and meditation.

I do this in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi when he said:
"Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action."

I will walk in silent prayer for 40km (More like 37km actually).  From Darwin to Wickham point on Sunday 21st September - International Day of Peace.
• In solidarity with all those who have suffered while in the care of the Australian Immigration Department. (Those I have visited but could offer no practical support!)
• In defiance of the policy makers whose choices have brought misery to the innocent (and the brutality of the tools they engage to do enforce their control!)
• To Bear Witness and to remember

If you want to walk too, it's a long road and there's plenty of room. Bring messages of hope, cards letters etc... See you on the road or at the Vigil outside Bladin Point at 4:30pm!






1st Leg: Darwin to Palmerston



2nd Leg: Palmerston - Wickham Point






Walking

What is?

Listening to Jed McKenna again, again, and here's the pressing statement that seems to pop up continuously in my life like a slap in the face to remind me I waste my days in Maya.

The darling and beautiful Maya... Who would ever want to look the other way? (with thanks)

 Here's the words from the beginning of tape 3 (Spiritual Enlightenment the damnedest thing)

“Truth exists my mind was shrieking, it doesn’t matter what it is or where it is. Somewhere somehow there is truth. I don’t care if it’s in Christianity or Judaism or Islam or the most despised cult in the deepest bowels of depravity. It exists and I will not spend another minute of my life flailing blindly around in the filth or miasma of the universe for any other reason than to find it.

The universe isn’t vague and ignorant, I am vague and ignorant.

Something is true and it doesn’t matter what it is. I am not going to be false any more. I have not even the slightest trace of the slightest reservation about the fact that I would rather suffer and die figuring out what is true than continue this life as a slave to lies and ignorance” 

Whew! Oh Yeh! What got this ball rolling again? Surrounded by lies, myth, deluded rationalization if only I could shut my eyes and enjoy the luxury of being white and living in a wealthy comfortable country. Damn!

What got me listening to that damned fool... so called Jed McKenna (a myth himself) Oh yeh that's right! I had to go and watch Apocalypse Now, again, again! 

Frustrated by dealings with politicians, hypocritical religios, business magnates, sellout, money grubbers and wasters of life and limb I felt compelled to watch that film again!

And 

Captain Willard said:

 "...It's a way we had over here of living with ourselves. We cut 'em in half with a machine gun and give 'em a Band-Aid. It was a lie. And the more I saw them, the more I hated lies."

And Walter E. Kurtz said:

"We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene."

"...And if I were to be killed, Willard, I would want someone to go to my home and tell my son everything. Everything I did, everything you saw, because there's nothing that I detest more than the stench of lies. And if you understand me, Willard, you will do this for me." 

And I got a glimpse, through a crack in the curtains, of truth; and Maya whispered in my ear... "Don't look there dear there's nothing for you in that, come back to me, be comfortable and in peace, don't trouble yourself with the lines that flicker across the screen, enjoy the show and relax."....


 But still the babies are crying and imprisoned in gulags on sinking islands in the pacific

Painting of " Ghulam Sakhi Hazara " Hazara artist .

Still the ancient burial grounds and remnant sanctuaries of green are bulldozed while politicians announce "Oh the cleverness of ME!"

The destruction of land preserved for conservation back in the 70s. Who knows what fate the graves

Hard fought for but easily lost (Land set aside for conservation and recognized site of a burial ground)

And still the oil companies fracture and poison the sacred ground under our feet

http://www.ecnt.org/campaigns/dont-frack-territory

Oh Maya darling... Morpheus if you were to offer me the blue pill now how tempted I would be!