Sri Lankans on Nauru win asylum case - but don't have a home

Despite the worst efforts of certain of the right-wing commentariat (Andrew Bolt and Kerry Chikarovski come to mind) 72 of the 83 Tamils, who were intercepted in international waters in February, have been assessed as being refugees.

Ill-informed comments along the lines of supporting Government action for "doing the right thing because they had come here illegally", and "not giving people priority over people in refugee camps overseas" flowed from denizens of Howard's zone of political correctness.

I find it hard to believe that I live in a country that spawned this specious brew of fear, intolerance and spin-doctoring, let alone see it become a mainstream political device of the incumbent to wedge political adversaries and divide a credulous electorate.

'Fear and gain', 'fear and gain', comes the mantra, and, in pursuit of power we have been sold down the river by ruthless politicians. Our standing in international fora on human rights issues has plummeted.

Although these people are genuine refugees Australia has dumped them on Nauru and refused them sanctuary. To their enduring shame, the media (with some notable exceptions such as the Fairfax Press) has been largely compliant with this low-rent populism.

After 22 years, UN votes on indigenous peoples declaration

The Survival (one of the largest and oldest organisations working for tribal peoples' rights) website reports that "Twenty-two years of intensive debate and negotiations climax this week in New York, as the UN General Assembly votes on whether to approve the declaration on indigenous peoples’ rights.

Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and the Russian Federation (all of whom have large indigenous populations) have been vigorously opposing the declaration’s approval. Their actions have provoked outrage amongst tribal peoples worldwide.

The opposing countries are well known for their poor treatment of indigenous peoples. Australia, New Zealand and the United States have in the past been subject to ‘early warning and urgent action procedures’ by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)."

No surprise that the Howard Govt is again up in lights within the UN for the wrong reasons.

APEC protests - a taste of life in a Howard 'soft' police state

I was saddened on Saturday by the spectacle of 3,000 odd APEC protesters behind a steel wall of riot police, barricades, prison buses and water canon, which moved threateningly from street to street, snipers and surveillance helicopters (presumably also with snipers on board).

No risk of an Elm St event here, except if you happened to get on the wrong side of coppers whipped up into a paranoid fury of expectation by our increasingly low-rent political leadership. It is a wonder none of those well-trained snipers got carried away.

I've seen footage of a bystander wanting to cross a city street manhandled to the road by police thugs looking to take out all that pent up testosterone on somebody, all witnessed by his young son. If this is how we are fighting to protect our way of life, we have already lost.

When politicians encourage police to use excessive powers, you can rest assured they will. It is the nature of the beast, as evidenced by police actions in jurisdiction after jurisdiction ruled by political elites representing narrow sectional interests. The Apartheid regime comes to mind, as does Alabama in the 60s.

As usual, commercial TV outlets were out in force, a veritable cheer squad of hacks, foaming at the mouth at the prospect of riot footage for the evening news and 'current affairs' shock jocks. There was discernible disappointment from those 'on the ground' when the only real nastiness seem to come from some disaffected sociopath and the police themselves.

Not a good look Australia. The political and police leadership responsible for this nightmare should be held accountable.

George to John: "What a nice little stopover ('OPEC, APEC or whatever the hell its called') on my way back from freeing Iraq"

Freedom & democracy - Texan style!!

"These Eye-rackees never had it so good..!"

Good ole boys - sorry, make that 'battlers' - together at APEC - sorry, make that 'OPEC'!

"Beef & oil John, beef & oil..."

Captain America - oh Lord, what have I done?

Well known Texan rhetorician admires his handiwork

'Australia's very own Devil's Island'

Arnold Zable, writing in The Age, likens the situation of asylum seekers on Nauru to the infamous Devil's Island prison colony:

"Australia remains a signatory to the 1951 UN refugee conventions, which enshrined the search for asylum as a basic human right. These conventions emerged after World War II. The conventions are based on the hard-won understanding that the right to seek refuge is one of the foundations of a civilised society.

This was understood by seafaring peoples who developed codes for the treatment of strangers who washed up on their shores. First, the stranger is greeted and fed, and given a roof over their head, and only then is he asked questions.

These societies understood that with one shift in the wind, the situation could be reversed.

Offshore processing is a cynical backdoor method of tearing up international treaties to which we are signatories. It is alarming that it has taken a hunger strike to bring these issues back into the public domain. For asylum seekers, already traumatised and vulnerable, Nauru is Australia's very own Devil's Island. The centre should be closed down and remembered as a place where human rights were grossly denied, and the bonds of civility cut asunder."

The abuses perpetrated in our name need to be brought into the open light so that they will not be repeated.