We've returned from a great short holiday in Sydney. I will tell you about it soon. I am always slow to restart blogging after a holiday. There always seems so much to do when returning after even just a week away, never mind sorting through photos.
Two matters of great concern occurred while we were away and the most obvious happened in the Middle East. What Hamas did is unbelievable, that is a direct and personal attack on people of Israel. It was brutal and how I hope those who were abducted by the Hamas animals are safe. It is just so wrong to target people for being no more than what they are and where they live. If they live on contested land, that is because their government approved the occupation. It isn't their fault.
I will die with bad feelings towards the Kremlin (Russia), and now Hamas (Palestine).
But we have to remember that it is not the Palestinian people who did this but its extreme government which I am sure never told the citizens of its war plans before being 'elected'.
Naturally Israel will respond with great anger, and that is hardly surprising. However Israel also must remember the innocent people as it responds. I hope not to add the Knesset to my bad feeling governments. The world is watching you Israel and you will be judged by your humanity. An eye for an eye has a bad ending.
It is all really so sad and I am sure to become even more so.
The second.
The no vote for our indigenous voice to parliament was also sad, but not unexpected. I think it has been proved that Prime Minister Albanese made a political mistake with this referendum. It has been so divisive and the best line was 'If in doubt, say no'. The opposition party and many commentators told outright lies, yet our ABC gave so much air time to absurd 'no' arguments. The ABC's own highly respected gave some truth to this. The evil Murdoch media empire did exactly what one would expect.
I wonder when you are old, how will you answer your children and grandchildren when they ask how you voted? "Grandma, did you vote yes in the referendum for something that could improve the life of Aborigines by giving them a say in laws that affected them?" I hope you are proud of how you will be judged by your descendants.
I can proudly say that my parents were among the 95% of Victorians who voted yes in the 1967 referendum.
Voters were asked whether to give the Federal Government the power to make special laws for Indigenous Australians in states,[1] and whether Indigenous Australians should be included in official population counts for constitutional purposes.
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There is far too much sadness and badness in the world. I mourn and I rage both of which achieve nothing. I hope that your brief holiday in Sydney had none of those things.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're home safe and look forward to reading about your trip. And I understand your sorrow. Here in my US home state, meanwhile, we are voting on an issue I hope will *not* pass. My husband and I use absentee mail-in ballots to avoid lines and mailed them this afternoon. ~fingers crossed~ Be well!
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see you back here.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe what has been going on in your absence. I keep thinking that surely there cannot be any more grief and despair to come, but still it keeps on coming. So much hatred everywhere.
Stalker
ReplyDeleteLast week I googled for info about the region even though I had a little knowledge of the region History tells us that Abraham was important to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Thousands of years ago all lived in the now contested areas . Of course there was colonisation and division of all of the Middle East by the Europeans. We leave the mess behind as always.
The whole Israel and Hamas war is just so sad, and angry, and vicious; it's the people that suffer while the leaders survive.
ReplyDeleteIt's also sad the way we treat the people who were here, living and thriving, before we came in and took over; they need representation in all forms of government,
Glad to have you back.
ReplyDeleteA sad time, indeed, and I fear it will get much worse . The news of hundreds killed in Gaza after a hospital was bombed chills my soul.
Nice to hear from you again Andrew. I was starting to think that you had kicked the bucket. Half the residents of The Gaza Strip Open Prison are children. I have great sympathy with the Palestinian cause but what Hamas did ten days ago was as wicked as flying a plane full of people into New York's World Trade Center.
ReplyDeleteI too suspected that the referendum would be defeated, but I was heartbroken anyhow. No wonder indigenous populations have maintained a week of silent mourning.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering where you have been. Thanks for the email response. The war is going to be rather nasty from this point forward. So many innocent lives are lost forever. The referendum result made me angry. Then this is what democracy is all about - majority violence. Especially when the population is ignorant or into toxic individualism.
ReplyDeleteYou're back! I'ma so 'appee!
ReplyDeleteThe "new" war which is really just a continuation of a long-standing skirmish is regrettable and I wish they could just live in peace. Don't they each have their own land? Why are they fighting? It's all so senseless.
Welcome back Andrew. Lovely to see a post from you.
ReplyDeleteDreadful the war that has been going on and off for years, ever sinced I can remember and it seems to get more brutal each time. Very sad.
The Vote, a mess, and mostly in the cities people voted Yes, and outer and country areas people voted No...intersting within itself.
And just like that - you’re back!
ReplyDeleteDon’t go away again Andrew….strange things happen when you do.
When Mr Green looked at what was coming in and predicted the result after what seemed like 2secs after closing time I did wonder if our PM would lose his head. Remains to be seen doesn’t it
Welcome back, Andrew. I thought of you when I heard the results of the vote. Wish it could have gone the other way.
ReplyDeleteAnd I really like what you had to say about the war in the Middle East. Fine commentary.
Welcome back.
ReplyDeleteThe situation in Israel is only going to get worse as those who back Hamas join in the fray. Meanwhile, innocents on both sides suffer.
I am glad that you said what you said about the war in Israel and Palestine. What Hamas has done is not, in any way, justifiable. The killing of children is a stain on them and should be so forever. But...the bombing of a hospital is wrong, no matter whether it is Russia doing it (remember how shocked everyone was with the bombing of a maternity hospital in the Ukraine?) or Israel. Yet if you say that, the outcry of antisemitism is taken up.
ReplyDeleteThe no vote on Aborigianal voting rights? What a horrible, horrible thing. It is exactly those sorts of decisions, year after year after year that has led us to where we are in the mideast. Palestine is demanding a say in the government. They have been denied it for years which allowed anger to build, and out of anger comes radical decisions.
I hope you share the pics of Sidney with us at some point. The wars are appalling. The hospital attack beyond comprehension. The shrinking of Palestine homeland over the years baffling as are the generational refugee camps. Nothing is simple. I have always recognised that Israelians are traumatized from all that happened in Germany/Poland. They also need to heal from the terror of feeling so vulnerable. I haven't posted about all of this myself as it surges so close to my bone as I knew an Auschwitz survivor intimately.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Www - well put.
ReplyDeleteEven some indigenous Australians opposed that referendum, from what I read, which I didn't really understand. I guess they thought "The Voice" would simply be window dressing.
ReplyDeleteI know indigenous people who voted "no" and for these particular people, it was just a case of them being sucked in by the "no" propaganda. They displayed a poor understanding of the whole thing and parroted the garbage spewed out by the conservatives.
DeleteThere were also the protest voters who were saying it was too little and too late. I understand their sentiment but they shut the door on the opportunity to change all of that.
In the lead up to the referendum I bought a "yes" t-shirt with the hope of opening conversation. Dispatch and delivery t ook way longer than it should have and I didnt get to wear the shirt a whole lot so I was disappointed about that. I'm starting to realise though, that it will be evidence of my intentions in those days when my grandchildren ask about it. I feel like I'll need it
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