Archives: Letters to the Editor

I was shocked to read in yesterday’s Australian a fierce diatribe by Marcia Langton against a recent event at the Queensland University of Technology. Ms Langton took aim in particular at the presentation by Sarah Schwartz, using terms including “shocking”, “deluded” and “anti-Semitic”.

I thank the Jewish Council of Australia and Pearls & Irritations for giving readers some background to this sordid story. I urge readers to hit the keyboards, and to add the Australian’s letters page to their list.

If The Voice campaign taught me anything it’s that Indigenous people aren’t listened to. “Consultations” were/are brief FIFO visits with virtually no say in “solutions” imposed from afar. I’m reminded of “Another Country” narrated by David Gulpilil (SBSon-demand), graphically showing every white-man do-gooder intervention taking a community backwards. It should be compulsory viewing for every non-indigenous Australian. Perhaps annually – on Australia Day.

As for “sit-down money” …. Indigenous people are no more lazy than the rest of us. Referencing the Gulpilil film, I wonder did compulsory training programs lead to anything satisfying or meaningful for Indigenous people? If not, why do them if not compulsory? Ask what they want/need to learn.

Has Mr Beadman ever lived on welfare? I have. If I hadn’t owned my own home, my children and I would have become homeless. Rent might be cheaper in remote and regional areas but food and groceries cost more. I got a job 1 day per week, losing my benefit at the rate of 90c per dollar. I couldn’t have afforded that job, which “eventually” led to liveable hours, if I hadn’t had a small nest egg to draw on.

Listen! Judge not. And butt out more often.

How depressing that Greg Latemore has thrown in the towel just before the election. With Albanese doing nothing to lift his game and his chances, are we going to let Dutton, aka Trump 2.0 Lite, walk away with the prize?

Labor has been a huge disappointment on the big ticket items: climate change, gambling, tax reform, neutering the NACC. But it has done quite well on important but nevertheless second-tier issues. Googling “Albanese and Labor’s achievements” produces a quite impressive list. But the attributes that made Albanese Leader of the Opposition are not ones that have made a good Prime Minister. Much like Abbott, but without the lunacy and dishonesty.

And so we face Dutton. For the second time. As with The Voice, and exceedingly Trump-like, Dutton lies and causes division wherever he goes. It’s looking like Albanese and Australia are going down a second time. What is wrong with so many of us that we will fall for Dutton? Should we too, like Latemore, throw in the towel now? If yes, well, all over Red Rover. No worries!

But if we grit our teeth and plough on…. The question is: How do we overcome the gullibility that believes lies?

An excellent article Sue. Wokism is about the essential an best human values, but they construe it as weakness, a mistake to be despised. But you do not identify the fundamental cause of the problem, and so many good critics of the system fail to do so. That is simply capitalism. It is a system driven by self interest and greed, the quest for limitless wealth via processes that cannot do other than drive out compassion and concern for the other, accumulate wealth in the hands of the winners, thus empowering them to increase control of the political system, and run things in their interests and impoverish the rest. Such a system cannot do other than produce the Musks and Trumps and thus take us towards fascism (again). We cannot get out of this swamp unless we somehow eventually get rid of capitalism, but so powerful is capitalist ideology that even the best on the (pathetic remnant of the ) “left” rarely dares to say so.

The good news is that capitalism is well into the process of self-destruction. This could be the end of us. all. but it will open the way for good people to build something better.

It was going to join my local chapter of TA Trump Anonymous until I found PA Politics Anonymous they seem to be affiliated with AA Alcoholics Anonymous as they all have the same prayer.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change , the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference”

I heard there was a DA Democracy Anonymous but it was found to be an illusion.

Thank you Peter Henning for your superb article (The Hollow man seeks to Lower the Temperature 24 Jan).

The analytics of the US election are quite clear. More people voted for someone not named Trump, than someone named Trump. His victory was 1.5% – one of the smallest in US history. He won by 3 million votes. Harris lost 6 million Democrat voters that could not bring themselves to vote for her due to the Gaza war and her government’s complicity. Those 6 million voters, that voted for Biden last election, would have won her the election. With these clear election analytics, it’s stunning that Dutton is still pushing support for Israel and its genocide. Astonishing that Albanese – our hollow man- is still silent on Gaza, and Israel’s continued attacks on the West Bank, Lebanon , Yemen and Syria. I’ve never known such times when both major parties can’t read the crystal clear mood of the room and have, not just backed the wrong horse, but are in fact shopping for mules.

Dear Refaat

I am not sure if you saw the recent data recalibrated by the Lancet, one of the worlds most eminent medical journals. They calculated the death toll has been underestimated by 20%, and more likely to be 64,000, most of which are women, children and elders. That constitutes war crime.

The Lancet also concluded that the number is set to rise drastically as bodies are brought out of the rubble. Also not counted as we cannot predict how many will be effected are respiratory failure caused by asbestos and silica. The IDF use specially designed tank like machines to make sure all the left overs are uninhabitable, while creating even more respirable dusts. Children playing in the rubble are of course, more vulnerable. The IDF have also been found by the UN to use white phosphorus weapons, incurring ghastly wounds that do not heal and are open to infection. Again a war crime so far unsaid. Finally the destruction of mosques and temples – one a world heritage site, meaning Palestinians do not have a spiritual base in which to gather and prey. Children are attempting suicide. All not reported in Australia.

It is excellent to again see Lucy Hamilton’s investigative work, this time concerning the rise and rise of the Christian Right and, specifically, that of Moira Deeming in Victoria.

We should be alert and alarmed, given its enormous influence in American politics, from abortion and LGBTQI+ rights to the war on Gaza.

Moira Deeming, mentored by right-wing commentator Peta Credlin, is the latest example of the intersection between church and state. The ‘culture wars’ have been waged for decades, not by the ‘woke’ left but by activists seeking to bend the arc of a moral universe towards their Christian fundamentalist world view.

Christians may no longer be in the majority in Australia, but the Christian Right has – as Ms Hamilton documents – infiltrated our political system. With wide and deep pockets it will no doubt be working to affect the outcome of the next election

Climate tipping points are imminent. Climate extremes will overwhelm us with increasing frequency as politicians continue to shirk the challenge of addressing their underlying causes.

We live in a world of eternal growth, where standards of living are expected to rise unfailingly. But growth comes at the expense of the environment: old-growth forests depleted for agriculture, mammalian extinctions, fish stocks depleted, and ever-greater pollution – carbon accumulating in the atmosphere, plastics choking the seas.

Humanity may be our planet’s dominant species, but we are just one element of its ecosystem. We are changing the balance of that ecosystem through our self-interested activities; by taking from nature faster than nature can replenish itself we are undermining the world for future generations. We must protect our environment because we, and they, depend on it. We have to rein in the demands we place on that ecosystem, allow it to flourish again – or else we will, by default, prioritise our immediate standards of living ahead of leaving a healthy world for future generations.

Tipping points will change our environment irrevocably; climate extremes will become the norm. Life will no longer be about ‘standards of living’; it will be a battle to survive.

Trump’s election has made the role of the ruling class even more obvious but there is the danger that we may see that as a Trump abberation rather than a feature of western democracy.

Both Democracts and Republicans are beholden to plutocrats; Hilary Clinton’s throwaway line referring to Trump supporters as ‘deplorables’ reveals that attitude.

Throughout the West politicians routinely invoke the social contract but one of the arguments for that contract is that the parties to the social contract ‘must be situated reasonably, that is fairly or symmetrically with no one having superior bargaining advantages over the rest.

This critical foundation is missing in the social and economic arrangements that dominate existing political systems.

That unemployed people are burdened with “mutual obligation” ‘work’ is an abomination. To suggest that volunteering be part of that coercive package is an oxymoron that adds insult to injury.

A small number of people are either incapable or simply don’t want to work. The truth is, the vast majority of unemployed people do want a job. These people are forced to jump through so many time-consuming Centrelink hoops. Adding “mutual obligation” eats into job search time and energy of the majority merely to satisfy a lust for vengeance towards the few.

If there’s real work to be done, make it a proper job and pay a living wage. The Mickey Mouse jobs or slave labour of “mutual obligation” are an insult to the unemployed and injurious to their mental health, making them less rather than more ready for work.

By all means encourage the unemployed to undertake courses, volunteer, or even work for a bit of extra money. But all such endeavours should be voluntary and of each one’s choosing.

We should hang our heads in shame. It is we who are employed or otherwise wealthy who have the obligation to unconditionally help those, usually temporarily, doing it tough.

The article in today’s P&I, “Beware misguided attempts to protest the horrific Israeli genocide by David Lockwood, is a quite appalling article that essentially holds Jews in Australia who support Israel as bearing some responsibility for the war in Gaza. It also trivialises the antisemitism that is occurring almost daily in Australia. It even manages to trivialise the labelling of the fire-bombing of the Adass Synagogue as an act of terrorism.

Conflating the antisemitism in Australia with the war in Gaza isn’t simply political comment, it gaslights the lived experience of Jews in Australia and discounts the seriousness of what is occurring in Australia.

I don’t think Pearls and Irritations should have published this article.

David Lockwood, in his article on the anti-semitic attacks against synagogues, says, “we can assume that both these incidents of vandalism (sorry, ‘terrorism’) were misguided attempts to protest against the Israeli genocide against Palestine.”

That assumption may be correct, but it is also possible that the extreme right or nazis were responsible, hoping to encourage disharmony in the community.

All the anti- semitic attacks must be condemned and certainly don’t help the Palestinian cause. Not completely out of the question is that some may have been done by zionists or their supporters, hoping that Palestinian supporters will be blamed.

I hope the perpetrators are caught so that we can know who is responsible.

Alison Broinowski’s prediction is a statement of the inevitable rather than a possible future scenario. Everything we have seen coming from the Netanyahu government / the IDF since 07/10/2024 is primary evidence for her forecast.

Netanyahu’s entire future depends upon his retaining the political leadership of Israel and by that, avoiding the Damoclean sword of almost certain guilty verdicts in regard to his personal corruption – let alone his status as a designated war criminal by the ICJ.

Almost as a side note to the news coverage of the first release of Israeli hostages was a mention that Israel demands ‘no expressions of joy’ on the part of Palestinians for their released prisoners of the reviled Israeli system of ‘justice’.

This of itself raises the legal issue that Israel acts as the occupying force in Palestinian areas – which by international order demands far more humane conduct of its seigneurship than has been afforded.

Also of note: mention that the four unreleased Israeli female soldiers captured by HAMAS were observers who had reported unusual HAMAS activity prior to October 7, that did not trigger any action by their superiors.

Thus allowing the serendipitous (for Netanyahu) October 7 attack.

I’ve always respected Jack Waterford’s writing but this … “the war on Gaza … was consciously started by Hamas, which … has long been provoking Israel, …” brought me up short.

Hamas consciously started this genocide? (It’s not a war.) Please show me the proof.
Long provoking Israel? How convenient to ignore almost a century of provocation by Israel itself and its predecessor terrorist groups.

Compared to the combined Israel-US might, anything Hamas could inflict is an irritation in comparison. The Palestinian death toll has always far exceeded Israel’s. There were, and are, thousands upon thousands of Palestinian hostages, including children, held by Israel for “years” without trial. Since 7 Oct. 2023 we have witnessed that Hamas, or Palestine, simply does not, never has had, the ability to counter their century long persecution.

To me, the more likely scenario is that Netanyahu, like Trump with his eyes on legal proceedings against him, was biding his time to “blow the joint up”. On 7 October it could just as easily have been one rocket that killed nobody that triggered the genocide that we’re watching now on our screens in real time.

Whatever …. this did NOT start in 2023.

No wonder China looks at us with contempt.

“… the PRC has a dark history of human rights abuses.”

Before criticising China, and not justifying Chinese abuses, maybe we should get our own house in order. Australian abuses include our treatment of our Indigenous brothers and sisters, the way we treat refugees and asylum seekers, our jailing of people with mental health issues rather than providing medical care, and, most recently, clamping down on those protesting Israeli genocide. Just for starters. I concede that our journalists aren’t muzzled by the government. The Murdoch press has its own ‘useful’ methods in that regard.

Similar fault can be found in spades in the US. One additional point will suffice: the gerrymandering that is endemic in US elections. How laughable is ‘democracy’!

As for this…

“… harassment of US and Australian naval and air assets and the objectionable behaviour of some PRC Coast Guard vessels in the South China Sea …”

Since the sole aim of US and lackey Australian incursions in the South China Sea is to harass and provoke China, we deserve what we get. We have no right to complain.

We should remember people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

We celebrate the release of hostages, be they Israeli or Palestinian. But watch the MSM to see if they give the same granular coverage to both. So far I have seen 33 released Israeli hostages and their pictures and one Palestinian. We know the length of captivity for the Israelis, but what are the most and least lengths for the Palestinians?

And Israeli troops are reportedly still murdering people in the northeast part of Palestine. That must stop.

We are seeing the dying days of the USAmerican empire. But don’t blame Trump… or those who voted for him. They are the natural end-point of neoliberalism which could have and should have been seen and warded off decades ago. But everyone went along with Gordon Gecko: “Greed is good.” Au contraire, greed is death. We are staring it in the face.

Countries like Australia should cut the apron strings while we’ve got a chance. But given the state of the politicians of our two major parties, our chances of going down with the US ship are high. Proof? The idiocy of AUKUS joins nature’s retribution for lack of action on climate change at the apex of a mountain of reasons.

Dark days ahead, folks.

This article is really offensive. It’s gaslighting Australian Jews.

The writer offer little understanding of the diversity and debate within the Jewish community, seemingly reducing those who oppose what is going on to a few thousand people, and then making claims about what we are supposed to believe or be.  The phraseology used is awful.

The writer asserts that there is  “[No] identity between Jews (and those of Jewish origin) and the Israeli state. By attacking the former, goes the argument, you are attacking the latter. But there is no such identity”.

What right does the writer have to make any claims about Jewish identity with the Israeli state in part, or whole?  He’s gaslighting.

He could say that identity with ethno-nationalist  Zionism is wrong ( and I agree)  but to deny any identity is plain wrong. The denial  displays deep ignorance of the course of modern Jewish life from at least the mid-19th century onwards, and the history of the state as a point of refuge in the past when other states – including this country- restricted Jewish flight from persecution. Israel is the great cultural and religious centre of Jewish life, politics aside.  This fact has to be accepted, along with the fact that in establishing a state, Israel’s founders also did great wrong to the Palestinian people, the appalling consequences of which we live with today and struggle against.   Progressive Jews struggle to help change the situation, connected as the vast majority of Jews are, to the contested situation inside Israel , and the Occupied Territories. The idea of an Israel -free life is pretty much a minority fantasy, even for this post-Zionist. Jews are a global community and Israelis Jews, like it or not, are 50% of that.

And what is “Jewish origins” referred to by the writer? Are we going for racial classification here?

And then this.

“In the absence of anyone claiming responsibility, we can assume that both these incidents of vandalism (sorry, ‘terrorism’) were misguided attempts to protest against the Israeli genocide against Palestine.”

Given what is apparently emerging via arrests, I suggest this comment is way out of line and improper.

At least Rashid Khalidi the great Palestinian intellectual had better insight:

“there are now two peoples in Palestine, irrespective of how they came into being, and the conflict between them cannot be resolved as long as the national existence of each is denied by the other. Their mutual acceptance can only be based on complete equality of rights, including national rights, notwithstanding the crucial historical differences between the two. There is no other possible sustainable solution, barring the unthinkable notion of one people’s extermination or expulsion by the other.”

Kari McKern’s contribution (https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/a-garden-of-civilisations/) is the latest in a long line of excellent contributions to P&I advocating for a sensible and promising way forward for the world society, a society of civilisations cooperating and developing for mutual benefit.  However, we are not starting from scratch, and if I may make an analogy with mathematics, it is one thing to find a general solution to a differential equation describing the time dependence of a variable; a specific solution depends on the initial condition.  What practically all of the laudable proposed solutions for the evolution of the world society ignore is the initial condition, which in this case is defined by our shared history.  The West likes to portray this history as an admirable evolution of humanity from its barbarous origins through the sequence of Athenian society, the glory of the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment, on to the current state where Western culture and society provide  a shining “light on the hill” to guide humanity forward.

A slightly different view might see history as the disruption of the largely separate evolution of multiple civilisations by the serendipitous confluence of various factors that allowed a small fraction of the world’s population – the West – to rise to world domination through the brutal rape, pillage, and subjugation of the rest of the world, culminating in a culture that intends to maintain its hegemonial position at all cost and that is characterised mainly by its fascination with warfare and the development of ever more powerful weapons.

Clearly these two, admittedly extreme, initial conditions are going to result in significantly different solutions to the equation describing the evolution of humanity from here onwards, so that rather than worrying about the exact values of the parameters in the equation we should first sort out a common understanding of the initial condition.

The sight of the Palestinian people returning to see what is left of their shattered homes is heartbreaking. The priorities now must be to make sure the people are fed, clothed, accommodated and their kids go to school. This must start now, even it only goes on for 6 weeks. But it’s important to be optimistic. Talks are ongoing in Oslo on a 2 state solution. How long they will take no one knows. The first trucks with food and medical aid are already rolling into Gaza. The ceasefire is a start, and a good start. There is much to be done

In the 60s Alan Seymour’s iconic play, The One Day of the Year, depicted the unease many Australians felt about the way in which Anzac Day was marked, with remembrance and camaraderie being overshadowed by widespread drunken over-indulgence. Since then we have matured significantly with Anzac Day now accorded the respect and solemnity the occasion deserves.

However as our One Day of the Year, January 26th, approaches, once again, feelings of disquiet, unease, even shame, persist amongst a significant section of the Australian community. This contentious issue continues to metastasize, a cancer eating away at social cohesion. And now Peter Dutton digs up the old edict that councils must hold their citizenship ceremonies on that day. Insult upon insult, wound upon wound. His refusal to stand in front of an Aboriginal flag is further evidence of his total lack of cultural respect or any semblance of emotional intelligence.

The politics of division only undermines social cohesion.

Its time to change the date so we can all celebrate together and give thanks for this great country.

“The US is very happy putting other people’s children in the firing line to defend its empire.
AUKUS is not about an independent defence policy for the Australian people, it is about locking Australia into US war plans with China.”

There is widespread criticism of government short-termism, largely because the two major parties only ever fix their eyes on winning the next election. But criticism is all it is. When is wailing going to turn into action? This is particularly necessary re AUKUS and all it entails because “long term” could well be only a small number of electoral cycles away. Some of us might actually have to live with the consequences of being the primary military target sacrificed for US ambitions.

To learn about long term thinking “and action”, look at the Free Palestine movement. “Every week” for nearly 18 months people have marched. There’s been no quick fix but slowly people at large are waking up to government and MSM spin. Change is happening. Votes are changing. If we want change re AUKUS, we have to be prepared to put in a similarly long, slow, hard slog. We need to stop talking and “act” – now.

Thanks for your article, Neil. It brought back memories of growing up in Housing Commission in Moe, I’m now a proud owner/co-builder of what some people call a ‘substandard shed’ in my rural area of the Top End NT.

You’re right, we’re a dying breed. We’re proud, strong and committed to using re-used, recycled and repaired materials from landfill and second-hand building suppliers and – we’re finding it harder and harder to find what we need to repair and maintain our beloved homes.

We don’t want to use new materials, especially when they’re made from pollutive, synthetic materials.

It’s always a pleasure to meet other owner-builders with spare bits of tin and steel and re-usable wood and who are happy to rummage in ‘rubbish’ heaps for hidden treasure to add to our homes. My home isn’t small – big enough to feel relaxed and at home in. It’s open, full of natural light with louvred windows able to be closed against wind and rain. Birds and other small creatures love to visit to check out what’s happening. The only air conditioning comes through windows and open doors.

Life’s fulfilling and rewarding in my owner(never-quite)/built ‘shed’. Creative. Alive. Never dull.

Dear Pearls and Irritation,

The common use of “war”, about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, whitewashes the profound sanctity of sovereignty.

An invasion, the only term that can be used about Ukraine, trashes the sanctity.

The sanctity expresses the territoriality of all people.

All of humankind has a vested interest in no invasion succeeding.

Because of the sanctity, for the safety and security of all, geopolitical reasons, of an invader, are irrelevant.

The starting point for resolution, there is no other, is the return of all territory, to Ukraine, before the taking of Crimean land, 10 years ago.

Yours sincerely,

Graeme Tychsen

Chris Hedges records the selective and avoidant behaviour of humanity related to the consequences of the petrolium age and the march South of the pyrocene from Siberia and Canada to Los Angeles. Sadly this selective perception and behaviour extends well beyond climate into our relations and political reactions at this time.

Consider global reactions to the climate driven fires in Los Angeles with 100,00 displaced, at least 25 dead at this time and victims sifting through donations of food and water. Australians for its part offered firefighters and materiel support almost immedately through our federal government.

By contrast in Gaza 1.9 million people are permanently homeless, over 65,000 have been killed (according to The Lancet), 90 percent of the population face acute malnutrition. Against this act of Israeli/American genocide (as opposed to climate), Australia’s government sat on its hands for months then mumbled something about the need for a ceasefire at the UN, whilst a “deal” between Israel and Hamas was finally patched together and past and future American presidents vied for the credit.

How can we fix the climate if have such overt and ghastly double standards related to our neighbours ?

Re Chris Gunness’s article UNRWA’s expulsion from Jerusalem will seal Israel’s illegal annexation: Whilst I sadly agree with the substance of this article, I cannot agree with this statement which seems to be based on this hyperlinked article: ‘the senior UN leadership has adopted the position that the responsibility to deliver aid is Israel’s as the occupying power’.

This statement might be seen to be loosely aligned to the title of the UN article but not to its contents – intriguing.

Margaret Beavis is a recently retired GP and Melbourne University educator on nuclear energy and ill health. She would like a really true ‘mature debate’ on nuclear.

Here are her four main health arguments against the Coalition’s nuclear hope. One, there is clear evidence that children living within 5 km of a nuclear plant doubled their rate of developing leukemia. Two, workers
near a nuclear plant also risk dying from cancer. Three, in Australia, radiology is actually limited to avoid causing cancer. Four, the reality of continuing fossil fuels when they are the main cause of the climate crisis, is “unconscionable”.

So by demanding a mature debate, Peter Dutton and co simply reveal their ignorance and shameful lack of honesty.

The Australian government should call this out boldly and very loudly.

“With every [Israeli war crimes] case, Israel will learn that the decades-long US vetoes and blind Western protection and support will no longer suffice.”

And the US and all countries that went and still go along with the US position will be forced to accept that they are responsible for the start and continuation of this genocide.

That every bit of Jewish/Israeli violence leading to and since the establishment of Israel was provoked by Palestinian ‘terrorism’ , as presented in all our news media, will be shown to be the lie that it has always been. We will be forced to look at history as it was, not as the fiction that has been presented and most chose to believe for the best part of a century.

We will see just how much our journalists presented as fact what governments have told them. And would that journalists learn from that going into the future. They would regain lost integrity and credibility by questioning what governments and political think tanks tell them … such as the benefits of aligning Australia with the US, giving away our sovereignty, and the China ‘threat’.

We are lost without fearless honesty in journalism.

Thank you to Scott Burchill for a prescient analysis.

While the deaths of 50,000 Gazans as well as the maltreatment of many of those captured by the Israeli army can’t rouse him to action, I note that Anthony Albanese (and Peter Dutton btw) have come out all guns blazing over the reported death of one Australian in Russia.

Yet we couldn’t even find a translator of Hebrew for the voice recordings crucial to the Binskin inquiry into Australian Zomi Frankcom’s death at the hands of the Israeli army.