We are not even allowed to grieve children
A memorial to the 18,457 children killed in Gaza should hardly need metal detectors, a restricted entry process and armed guards to ensure the event is free of incident. The Shoalhaven City Council is far removed from a real war zone – and a zone of genocide – but its risk assessment suggested that a military-type installation is required for the Wall of Tears exhibition, due to open on November 4, and because of this, decided to cancel the entire event.
No specific threat to the event has been identified by the council, or the reasons for why it decided to cancel the event five days before opening. But we know exactly what’s happened here, because it’s happened so many times in the past: Zionists and pro-Israel agitators – who don’t want to be confronted with the truth that the regime they support has killed over Palestinian 18,000 children – would have pressured or blackmailed the council into cancelling the event, and introducing the pressure at the last possible moment to ensure maximum damage to the event and the institution holding the event.
And where is the evidence for this? It’s everywhere: just look at the Adelaide Writers Week, Bendigo Writers Festival, the No Other Land screening, Sydney Theatre Company, Jayson Gillham’s Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert, State Library Victoria’s Teen Writing Bootcamp, Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino’s Venice Biennale commission. These are the cultural events that have been cancelled or severely damaged after Zionist pressure: there are many other workshops, medical conferences, talks and speeches that have also suffered the same fate.
The CEO of the Shoalhaven City Council is former NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance, and he needs to provide answers about how the event came to be cancelled, instead of hiding behind a spurious risk assessment that called for security facilities that would be more at home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
According to the 2021 ABS Census, there are around 220 Jewish people in the region, out of the overall population of 108,000, or around 0.2 per cent. Why is it that the unreasonable rights of 0.2 per cent of a population – supercede the rights of the other 99.8 per cent, the right to memorialise the 18,457 children who have died in a conflict?
The council should now publish its risk assessment, outlining who authorised the cancellation and the reasons, and identify what alternatives – if any – were considered. It’s unacceptable that so many of these decisions are made in favour of those who want to maintain a clear conscience over the actions of the state that they support – Israel – which is clearly committing a genocide.
What on earth is “progressive antisemitism”?
The Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal’s latest adventure into new measures for tackling antisemitism: it restricts the right to protest even further, bans the wearing of masks, additional visa assessments for you know who, proposes conditions on arts funding and external oversight of complaints against the ABC and SBS.
This outrageous overreach – which seems to be a wish-list developed from Zionist pro-Israel dinner party conversations in Point Piper – is supposed to be a document for protecting a small community, but proposes far more power over everyone else.
One curious point from Segal’s report – ASECA Priorities – is its new claim of “progressive antisemitism” as the most severe form of antisemitism and, for the first time, clearly delineates her office according to a political divide. And it’s totally offensive. Those who condemn Israel over the genocide and occupation of Gaza and West Bank are “of the left” which, obviously, leaves Segal and her ilk on the right, if not further.
What evidence is provided for this offensive ranking? And what about the many Jewish people who identify as progressive – such as Antony Lowenstein, Sarah Schwartz from the Jewish Council of Australia, Jews Against the Occupation ’48? Are they considered to be a part of this “progressive antisemitism”? This is feels-opinions presented to a government that will now be expected to implement the reccommendations of the report fully.
Segal keeps saying criticism of Israel would still be allowed, but this is classic doublespeak, because introducing the IHRA definition of antisemitism – one of her recommendations –within the law would restrict these criticisms which is, essentially, what this agenda is.
If Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had the courage, he’d publicly rule this ASECA Priorities document out of order and dismiss it immediately. Segal has revealed her hand too often, her position is too political and far too powerful, and doing too much damage to “social cohesion”, that lofty ambition that Albanese held when he first appointed Segal, but has, so far, failed to achieve.
ICYMI, the past week from New Politics:
The Reserve Bank’s elixir: Make households poorer
Tuesday’s Reserve Bank decision will have a very familiar remedy behind it: more pain inflicted upon households, so the economy can recover. The inflation rate is currently at 4.3 per cent and, just like an automatum, the board is likely to raise the cash rate, and further squeeze mortgage holders who already paying dearly for this campaign against rising prices.
Higher rates will rein in spending, there’s no question about that. But how fairly will this be applied and how effective will it be in reducing inflation?
The Labor government does face some credibility issues here. Maintaining that the Reserve Bank does have its independence can deflect from the economic issues for a short period of time – remembering that it’s the government that has responsibility for economic management, not the Reserve Bank – but there’s so many other areas to look at. What is the government doing about housing shortages, the costs of essential services and excessive market controls over prices? Of course, relief to households is important, but so is changing the conditions that made that relief necessary in the first place.
If it comes to an interest rate rise tomorrow, the Coalition will blame Labor. Labor will defend its management and deflect blame over to the Reserve Bank, or the United States, or Ukraine. Or offer some other reason. But neither side of politics should escape the scrutiny of the policies they’ve introduced over many decades that have left households so exposed.
Computer says no: Old people can wait
After the Robodebt disasters inflicted by the Morrison government, the Australian community would have been entitled to think that the governments would approach automated decision-making with some humility, and implement this with a far greater level of human oversight and intervention. But it’s an expectation that’s proven to be misguided.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s findings on aged-care assessments have exposed yet more flaws in the provision of social services, where the verdict provided by an algorithm can prevail over human judgement, and it’s the people who are most vulnerable who are suffering the consequences.
The Ombudsman found inadequate administration, poor safeguards and funding bands that that human assessors couldn’t override. When this type of assessment process understates someone’s needs – and it’s usually understating, rather than overstating – the consequences reach into day-to-day life: must-needed assistance can’t be obtained, there’s more pressure placed on families, and more difficulties related to staying safely at home.
Ministers need to explain why the system was designed in this way and why, after the debacle of the Robodebt system – including a comprehensive Royal Commission that exposed that Morrison-era debacle – such an automated system without the human oversight still exists.
For sure, automation can assist public services, there’s no question about that: we’ve move way past the time where every government function is done by human hand. But not having the human oversight is a political decision, and it’s affecting many vulnerable and older members of the community, where, apparently, no one is left behind.
There’s that dam truth again…victimizing the Jews again.