John Pilger
The Guardian, Friday October 24 2008
Its banks secured in the warmth of the southern spring, Australia is not news. It ought to be. An epic scandal of racism, injustice and brutality is being covered up in the manner of apartheid South Africa. Many Australians conspire in this silence, wishing never to reflect upon the truth about their society's Untermenschen, the Aboriginal people.
The facts are not in dispute: thousands of black Australians never reach the age of 40; an entirely preventable disease, trachoma, blinds black children as epidemics of rheumatic fever ravage their communities; suicide among the despairing young is common. No other developed country has such a record. A pervasive white myth, that Aborigines leech off the state, serves to conceal the disgrace that money the federal government says it spends on indigenous affairs actually goes towards opposing native land rights. In 2006, some A$3bn was underspent "or the result of creative accounting", reported the Sydney Morning Herald. Like the children of apartheid, the Aboriginal children of Thamarrurr in the Northern Territory receive less than half the educational resources allotted to white children.
In 2005, the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination described the racism of the Australian state, a distinction afforded no other developed country. This was in the decade-long rule of the conservative coalition of John Howard, whose coterie of white supremacist academics and journalists assaulted the truth of recorded genocide in Australia, especially the horrific separations of Aboriginal children from their families. They deployed arguments not dissimilar to those David Irving used to promote Holocaust denial.
Smear by media as a precursor to the latest round of repression is long familiar to black Australians. In 2006, the flagship current affairs programme of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Lateline, broadcast lurid allegations of "sex slavery" among the Mutitjulu people in the Northern Territory. The programme's source, described as an "anonymous youth worker", was later exposed as a federal government official whose "evidence" was discredited by the Northern Territory chief minister and the police.
The ABC has never retracted its allegations, claiming it has been "exonerated by an internal inquiry". Shortly before last year's election, Howard declared a "national emergency" and sent the army to the Northern Territory to "protect the children" who, said his minister for indigenous affairs, were being abused in "unthinkable numbers".
Last February, with much sentimental fanfare, the new prime minister, Labor's Kevin Rudd, made a formal apology to the first Australians. Australia was said to be finally coming to terms with its rapacious past and present. Was it? "The Rudd government," noted a Sydney Morning Herald editorial, "has moved quickly to clear away this piece of political wreckage in a way that responds to some of its own supporters' emotional needs, yet it changes nothing. It is a shrewd manoeuvre."
In May, barely reported government statistics revealed that of the 7,433 Aboriginal children examined by doctors as part of the "national emergency", 39 had been referred to the authorities for suspected abuse. Of those, a maximum of just four possible cases of abuse were identified. Such were the "unthinkable numbers". They were little different from those of child abuse in white Australia. What was different was that no soldiers invaded the beachside suburbs, no white parents were swept aside, no white welfare was "quarantined". Marion Scrymgour, an Aboriginal minister in the Northern Territory, said: "To see decent, caring [Aboriginal] fathers, uncles, brothers and grandfathers, who are undoubtedly innocent of the horrific charges being bandied about, reduced to helplessness and tears, speaks to me of widespread social damage."
What the doctors found they already knew - children at risk from a spectrum of extreme poverty and the denial of resources in one of the world's richest countries. Having let a few crumbs fall, Rudd is picking up where Howard left off. His indigenous affairs minister, Jenny Macklin, has threatened to withdraw government support from remote communities that are "economically unviable". The Northern Territory is the only region where Aborigines have comprehensive land rights, granted almost by accident 30 years ago. Here lie some of the world's biggest uranium deposits. Canberra wants to mine and sell it.
Foreign governments, especially the US, want the Northern Territory as a toxic dump. The Adelaide to Darwin railway that runs adjacent to Olympic Dam, the world's largest uranium mine, was built with the help of Kellogg, Brown & Root - a subsidiary of American giant Halliburton, the alma mater of Dick Cheney, Howard's "mate". "The land grab of Aboriginal tribal land has nothing to do with child sexual abuse," says the Australian scientist Helen Caldicott, "but all to do with open slather uranium mining and converting the Northern Territory to a global nuclear dump."
What is unique about Australia is not its sun-baked, derivative society, clinging to the sea, but its first people, the oldest on earth, whose skill and courage in surviving invasion, of which the current onslaught is merely the latest, deserve humanity's support.
www.johnpilger.com
Friday, October 24, 2008
Soliders ask fundamental question: To kill or not to kill
Reviewed by CLAIRE SCHAEFFER-DUFFY
Published:
October 21, 2008
Director Catherine Ryan in Hinesville, Ga., the day after the court martial of conscientious objector, Kevin Benderman. (Photo by Gary Weimberg)Director Catherine Ryan in Hinesville, Ga., the day after the court martial of conscientious objector, Kevin Benderman. (Photo by Gary Weimberg)A review
“Soldiers of Conscience,” the latest documentary by husband and wife filmmakers Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan, looks at how individual combatants grapple with war’s fundamental question — to kill or not to kill. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, the film profiles eight American soldiers, four who become conscientious objectors and four who believe in the duty to kill when necessary. All wrestle with the morality of killing, not as an abstraction but as soldiers experience it. Interspersed with the soldier’s narratives are images of casualties from the Iraq war not seen on our nightly news and some intriguing background on conscientious objection.
The film’s focus makes “Soldiers of Conscience” accessible to pacifists and warriors alike. The soldiers’ candid and deeply personal reflections remind us that in war human beings make choices they must live with the rest of their lives.
Early in the film, we learn a little-known stat from a U.S. Army study conducted during World War II: Less than 25 percent of US soldiers fired on their enemies, even when under attack. To overcome this inhibition toward the taking of human life, the military developed a technique known as “reflexive fire training.” Disturbing footage of combat training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, provides a glimpse of what this conditioning entails. Fresh-faced recruits gun down tin silhouettes of humans and shout “Kill! Kill! Kill without mercy!” While such “training” has dramatically increased soldiers’ firing rates in combat (upwards to 90 percent in Vietnam), it has not freed them from the burden of conscience, as evidenced in the revealing reflections of the eight men featured in the film.
Watch the trailer
Two of the conscientious objectors, Joshua Casteel, an Evangelical Christian, and Aidan Delgado, a Buddhist, are given honorable discharges for their refusal to kill. But the military imprisons Camilo Mejia, the first Iraq combat veteran to publicly refuse to return to war, and Kevin Benderman, a 10-year Army sergeant from Tennessee. All four eloquently describe their transformation from willing enlistee to refusenik. Delgado encounters Iraqi prisoners of war, who look just like the men in his own unit “but with brown skin,” and the fighting spirit “bleeds” out of him. The war’s devastating affects on civilians, leads Benderman to ask, “Why are we even doing this anymore?”
The awful but necessary choice of war can be a moral imperative when the weak need protecting and human rights are violated, argues Major Peter Kilner, a West Point ethics professor and former 82nd Airborne Infantry Commander. For drill sergeant Jaime Isom, pulling the trigger in battle has little to do with God or country; it’s about “defending the man to the left and right of you.” Isom admits to killing a 10-year Iraqi boy who held a grenade that would have killed his men. “I got no regrets,” he says, “but looking back at it, that’s when the demons come back. That’s when it haunts us.”
The candor of these soldiers evokes questions that haunt us. What are we asking of those ordered to kill on our behalf?
The film’s thoughtful interest in the soldier’s perspective is resonating with people who differ on the morality of war. The documentary, which airs on PBS stations this week, has been circulating among churches, peace groups, and VA Hospitals where clinicians are showing excerpts to soldiers struggling with combat trauma. In November, the film will screen at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. In January, it will be shown at a major conference for chaplains in the armed forces.
Claire Schaeffer-Duffy lives in Worcester, Mass. and writes frequently for National Catholic Reporter. US
Published:
October 21, 2008
Director Catherine Ryan in Hinesville, Ga., the day after the court martial of conscientious objector, Kevin Benderman. (Photo by Gary Weimberg)Director Catherine Ryan in Hinesville, Ga., the day after the court martial of conscientious objector, Kevin Benderman. (Photo by Gary Weimberg)A review
“Soldiers of Conscience,” the latest documentary by husband and wife filmmakers Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan, looks at how individual combatants grapple with war’s fundamental question — to kill or not to kill. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, the film profiles eight American soldiers, four who become conscientious objectors and four who believe in the duty to kill when necessary. All wrestle with the morality of killing, not as an abstraction but as soldiers experience it. Interspersed with the soldier’s narratives are images of casualties from the Iraq war not seen on our nightly news and some intriguing background on conscientious objection.
The film’s focus makes “Soldiers of Conscience” accessible to pacifists and warriors alike. The soldiers’ candid and deeply personal reflections remind us that in war human beings make choices they must live with the rest of their lives.
Early in the film, we learn a little-known stat from a U.S. Army study conducted during World War II: Less than 25 percent of US soldiers fired on their enemies, even when under attack. To overcome this inhibition toward the taking of human life, the military developed a technique known as “reflexive fire training.” Disturbing footage of combat training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, provides a glimpse of what this conditioning entails. Fresh-faced recruits gun down tin silhouettes of humans and shout “Kill! Kill! Kill without mercy!” While such “training” has dramatically increased soldiers’ firing rates in combat (upwards to 90 percent in Vietnam), it has not freed them from the burden of conscience, as evidenced in the revealing reflections of the eight men featured in the film.
Watch the trailer
Two of the conscientious objectors, Joshua Casteel, an Evangelical Christian, and Aidan Delgado, a Buddhist, are given honorable discharges for their refusal to kill. But the military imprisons Camilo Mejia, the first Iraq combat veteran to publicly refuse to return to war, and Kevin Benderman, a 10-year Army sergeant from Tennessee. All four eloquently describe their transformation from willing enlistee to refusenik. Delgado encounters Iraqi prisoners of war, who look just like the men in his own unit “but with brown skin,” and the fighting spirit “bleeds” out of him. The war’s devastating affects on civilians, leads Benderman to ask, “Why are we even doing this anymore?”
The awful but necessary choice of war can be a moral imperative when the weak need protecting and human rights are violated, argues Major Peter Kilner, a West Point ethics professor and former 82nd Airborne Infantry Commander. For drill sergeant Jaime Isom, pulling the trigger in battle has little to do with God or country; it’s about “defending the man to the left and right of you.” Isom admits to killing a 10-year Iraqi boy who held a grenade that would have killed his men. “I got no regrets,” he says, “but looking back at it, that’s when the demons come back. That’s when it haunts us.”
The candor of these soldiers evokes questions that haunt us. What are we asking of those ordered to kill on our behalf?
The film’s thoughtful interest in the soldier’s perspective is resonating with people who differ on the morality of war. The documentary, which airs on PBS stations this week, has been circulating among churches, peace groups, and VA Hospitals where clinicians are showing excerpts to soldiers struggling with combat trauma. In November, the film will screen at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. In January, it will be shown at a major conference for chaplains in the armed forces.
Claire Schaeffer-Duffy lives in Worcester, Mass. and writes frequently for National Catholic Reporter. US
Saturday, October 18, 2008
World Day of Fasting for Peace and Independence of Nourishment - Water for Peace
Call for a Solidarity Fasting on 18 October 2008
Message from Pastoral Land Commission, CPT, member organisation of Pax Christi International in Brazil
We are calling upon you to join us on a worldwide day of fasting for peace and independence from nourishment in defence of free access to water and healthy food as a human right and in support of local, family farmers.
At the end of 2007 the Franciscan bishop Dom Luiz Cappio protested with fasting and praying for 24 days against the water diversion project of the Rio Sao Francesco. This was his means of supporting the preservation of the natural resources of this semi arid region and a proper revitalisation of the Rio Sao Francesco.
Pax Christi International awards Dom Cappio and all those who fought with him the Pax Christi International Peace Award 2008. The awarding of the prize is going to take place together with the fifth Water Pilgrimage (Romaria das Aguas) in Sobradinho, Bahia on 18 October 2008. Numerous organisations and thousands of people are expected to come to the event "Water for Peace".
During the World Nourishing Week the social movements of the Rio Sao Francesco region and of the northeast, the Via Campesina Brasilia and Pax Christi International are going to carry out a worldwide day of fasting for peace and independence from nourishment. These activities are part of the campaign of Via Campesina against genetically manipulated plants and continue the movement of solidarity fasting that developed from the solidarity with Dom Cappio. Hundreds of people worldwide fasted for one or more days during the hunger strike of the bishop. Their action was a demonstration for a world of justice. This movement combines political aims and spirituality and is to be seen in the tradition of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the non-violence of many others which was founded by Jesus Christ himself.
We want to use this gesture to draw attention to the severe and growing conflicts about water. This issue affects one third of the world population, as does the growing control that some transnational companies are exhibiting over land, production of, and access to, food.
The abundance and extravagance of the rich coincide with a growing endangerment of the population by pesticides and genetically manipulated foods. At the same time the number of those who do not have regular access to enough quality food is constantly rising.
The world day for peace and independence of nourishment supports the immediate necessity for an agricultural reform to give more families the opportunity to produce their own food. This reform has to make the production and consumption of healthy and ecologically produced food possible. Every people and every region have to have the right to produce and to consume their own food without being suppressed by global players like Syngenta, Monsanto, Bunge, ADM, Cargill, Dupont, Bayer and BASF. These companies are striving to control the water resources, the agricultural land, the biological and agricultural diversities, biotechnology and the global business with food. Their main asset is the development of genetically manipulated seeds which is made possible because the governments neglect their caretaking principles.
This gesture strengthens the necessity of recognising the access to water as a human right and as a universal right of creation. It explicitly opposes the diversion project of the water of the dying Rio Sao Francesco, which supports the production of fruit meant for export, of bio-fuel, of shrimps and steel by 70%.
The infrastructural mega-projects of the growth speeding programme have to be reconsidered in favour of another development programme that does not only take the need of the whole population into consideration, but looks especially at the needs of the poor, and which at the same time includes the challenge of the ecological crisis. Hundreds of fundamental organisations in the semi arid regions are already working accordingly on methods of water capacities and water usage. One example out of many is the Atlas Nordeste of the ANA (Agencia Nacional de Aguas) proposal to decentralise water supplies. These are much less expensive and much more expansive in their social and local responsibilities than the apparent "solution" of the diversion of the Rio Sao Francesco waters. The life and production model is supported by the simple people who live and know about the real needs of the population of the region and their independent organisations.
Until today the following organisations, that will participate on the Global Day of Peace and Independence of Nourishment" have signed the Manifest "Water for Peace" (as of 13-10-2008) Pax Christi International, Misereor (Germany), Via Campesina Brasil (MST, MPA, MAB, MMC, FEAB, CPT, PJR), CPP, PACS, CESE, CARITAS, Forum Permanente em Defesa do Rio Sao Francisco, SERPAJ-Brasil e America Latina, International Free Water Academy.
Please tell CPT if your organisation wants to sign this manifest and who wants to participate in the fasting. E-mail cptba@cptba.org.br - or tel. (0055)71.8714-5724; 71.9208-6548 -- Ruben; 31.9997-2440 -- Erica) or Via Campesina / Nordeste (e-mail viacampesinape@gmail.com or tel 81-3222-7569 81-9164-9758 -- Paula) this is important to enable us to publish the participants!
Brussels, 17 October 2008
2008-0760-en-am-HS
Message from Pastoral Land Commission, CPT, member organisation of Pax Christi International in Brazil
We are calling upon you to join us on a worldwide day of fasting for peace and independence from nourishment in defence of free access to water and healthy food as a human right and in support of local, family farmers.
At the end of 2007 the Franciscan bishop Dom Luiz Cappio protested with fasting and praying for 24 days against the water diversion project of the Rio Sao Francesco. This was his means of supporting the preservation of the natural resources of this semi arid region and a proper revitalisation of the Rio Sao Francesco.
Pax Christi International awards Dom Cappio and all those who fought with him the Pax Christi International Peace Award 2008. The awarding of the prize is going to take place together with the fifth Water Pilgrimage (Romaria das Aguas) in Sobradinho, Bahia on 18 October 2008. Numerous organisations and thousands of people are expected to come to the event "Water for Peace".
During the World Nourishing Week the social movements of the Rio Sao Francesco region and of the northeast, the Via Campesina Brasilia and Pax Christi International are going to carry out a worldwide day of fasting for peace and independence from nourishment. These activities are part of the campaign of Via Campesina against genetically manipulated plants and continue the movement of solidarity fasting that developed from the solidarity with Dom Cappio. Hundreds of people worldwide fasted for one or more days during the hunger strike of the bishop. Their action was a demonstration for a world of justice. This movement combines political aims and spirituality and is to be seen in the tradition of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the non-violence of many others which was founded by Jesus Christ himself.
We want to use this gesture to draw attention to the severe and growing conflicts about water. This issue affects one third of the world population, as does the growing control that some transnational companies are exhibiting over land, production of, and access to, food.
The abundance and extravagance of the rich coincide with a growing endangerment of the population by pesticides and genetically manipulated foods. At the same time the number of those who do not have regular access to enough quality food is constantly rising.
The world day for peace and independence of nourishment supports the immediate necessity for an agricultural reform to give more families the opportunity to produce their own food. This reform has to make the production and consumption of healthy and ecologically produced food possible. Every people and every region have to have the right to produce and to consume their own food without being suppressed by global players like Syngenta, Monsanto, Bunge, ADM, Cargill, Dupont, Bayer and BASF. These companies are striving to control the water resources, the agricultural land, the biological and agricultural diversities, biotechnology and the global business with food. Their main asset is the development of genetically manipulated seeds which is made possible because the governments neglect their caretaking principles.
This gesture strengthens the necessity of recognising the access to water as a human right and as a universal right of creation. It explicitly opposes the diversion project of the water of the dying Rio Sao Francesco, which supports the production of fruit meant for export, of bio-fuel, of shrimps and steel by 70%.
The infrastructural mega-projects of the growth speeding programme have to be reconsidered in favour of another development programme that does not only take the need of the whole population into consideration, but looks especially at the needs of the poor, and which at the same time includes the challenge of the ecological crisis. Hundreds of fundamental organisations in the semi arid regions are already working accordingly on methods of water capacities and water usage. One example out of many is the Atlas Nordeste of the ANA (Agencia Nacional de Aguas) proposal to decentralise water supplies. These are much less expensive and much more expansive in their social and local responsibilities than the apparent "solution" of the diversion of the Rio Sao Francesco waters. The life and production model is supported by the simple people who live and know about the real needs of the population of the region and their independent organisations.
Until today the following organisations, that will participate on the Global Day of Peace and Independence of Nourishment" have signed the Manifest "Water for Peace" (as of 13-10-2008) Pax Christi International, Misereor (Germany), Via Campesina Brasil (MST, MPA, MAB, MMC, FEAB, CPT, PJR), CPP, PACS, CESE, CARITAS, Forum Permanente em Defesa do Rio Sao Francisco, SERPAJ-Brasil e America Latina, International Free Water Academy.
Please tell CPT if your organisation wants to sign this manifest and who wants to participate in the fasting. E-mail cptba@cptba.org.br - or tel. (0055)71.8714-5724; 71.9208-6548 -- Ruben; 31.9997-2440 -- Erica) or Via Campesina / Nordeste (e-mail viacampesinape@gmail.com or tel 81-3222-7569 81-9164-9758 -- Paula) this is important to enable us to publish the participants!
Brussels, 17 October 2008
2008-0760-en-am-HS
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