Places to go, things to do...

25 August, 2013 Federation Square. Julie Clarke (2013)

I've been living at my new place for one week today and this photo is a reminder to myself that I need to get the camera out & do some serious thinking and looking around me. What I like about this photograph is that during the protest at Federation Square on 25 August most people were standing and listening quietly to the speakers, however, this woman was walking with speed through the crowd.

MELBOURNE NOW: EGYPT & SYRIA PROTEST FEDERATION SQUARE 25 AUGUST 2013

I haven't really been feeling very well over the past week or so, but dragged myself into Federation Square, Melbourne on Sunday afternoon to hear the talk given by Peter Tyndall and John Nixon in association with the Mix Tape exhibition at the National Gallery of Vitoria.  When I went outside, I was caught up in the huge protest against the recent atrocities in Egypt and Syria. The speakers delivered some stirring thoughts, the crowd was filled with passion and emotion, the police were standing by. I spent about 40 minutes walking through the crowd to identify those who looked calm amidst the rally cries and concentrated primarily on depicting, young people together, older people and men grouped in one spot. Here are some of the images.

Cyclone Yasi/Queensland Floods/Protests in Cairo

Recent storms, flooding, as well as Cyclone Yasi in Australia have spurned some to think that these 'unusual' weather patterns are due to climate change. The primary reason may be due to the scale of the event  and its presentation, rather than the event itself. Almost instant televised news accounts that lead up to the pending catastrophe, such as ABC24's constant coverage of the Queensland Floods, Anna Bligh's almost hourly updates of the impending disaster and then following that, the prelude to and persistent reportage of the anticipated impact of Cyclone Yasi as the worst event that individuals in Queensland would  ever experience - in other words the unfolding event(s) as they occur, gives a remote audience a sense of being there - a presence in their absence; anticipation, anxiety and feelings of sympathy for those caught within the occurrence and its destructive aftermath. In fact, the high drama inflicted on the viewing public prior to Cyclone Yasi far outweighed the actual event!

Constant media saturation depicting loss and devastation as well as  interviews with people who have endured hardship because of the happening, lead us to believe that these events are worse than those previously experienced by individuals in our country. I would argue that it is due to the fact that we are drawn so easily into the drama via ubiquitous communications technologies that we experience local as well as world events as all encompassing, frightening, life threatening and catastrophic. Note the outpouring of sympathy and solidarity from people world-wide for protesters in Egypt. Would this have occurred without media intervention and  up-to-date reportage of the unfolding event? Indeed, the heightened sense of being there (participation via  virtual means), seeing things as they unfold, engenders a relationship between the viewer, others and world events, one unprecedented in world history, however this does not necessarily mean that the events themselves are essentially different from events from the past, or that people did not experience high levels of hardship and pain, it's just that these recent occurrences are experienced and perceived in divergent ways. The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center is probably the best example here, not only because of its impact on the social and economic life, the number of deaths that occurred but on the psychology of people throughout the world. Indeed, footage of the United Airlines Flight 175 as it impacted on the south tower of the World Trade Center may possibly be the most iconic image of the 21st century, transmitted repeatedly until it infiltrated the world psyche.

Before the Internet (blogs, twitter, Facebook, etc), mobile phones, i-phones, televisual link-up to other states and countries, there was only telephone, radio and newspapers and although the radio provided regular news it certainly could not convey the immediateness that our advanced communications technologies engender. However, the reader here may find it interesting in light of the recent extreme weather  in Australia that in 1934 in Melbourne 36 deaths were attributed to a flood that occurred in November of that year. The remainder of that summer, and also autumn 1935, was noteworthy for several other unusually heavy rain events in Victoria, a departure from the otherwise generally dry decade of the 1930s.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology 'floods are a fact of life in a Queensland Summer'. The benchmark was set by one in 1870 when, legend has it, men drank in the hotel while up to their chests in water.
After a cyclone in Queensland in 1916, 61 people died. In 1963 I experienced the flooding in Melbourne and in 1974 I remember what the BOM refers to as 'The Big Wet'. The year 1973 was one of the wettest known over much of Australia, and in keeping with the strong La Niña event that prevailed, the 1973/74 northern wet season started early. By the end of 1973 large areas of the country were saturated. Then came January 1974, which featured probably the biggest continent-wide drenching since European settlement, inundating vast areas of the country.
It seems to me that Australia is a country of extreme weather patterns and that at least once per decade, perhaps more often, we experience floods, fire, tornadoes, flash flooding, hail storms and drought. 
I'm not saying that we shouldn't reduce our carbon emissions, of course we should try to reduce the amount of pollution in the air and its obvious impact upon our environment, but what I am saying is that whether or not we do this or not, it's not going to change the fact that 'weather' is a fact of life and that the media plays a big part in the way we view events and their disastrous consequences. Around about this time two years ago (actually 7 February 2009) Victoria experienced 47 degree heat and the Black Saturday bush fires were responsible for 173 deaths, 400 injuries and the destruction of thousands of homes.
Images slow-burnt into our memories somehow fade in recent media accounts of the deluge that continues to cover our land and I'm sure that unfortunately even these memories will fade, only to be usurped by media images that seize us in more compelling ways.

Re-connected

Last night my lovely son built me a new computer and this afternoon, whilst he's been visiting I've been checking out my new programs and other features. This is the first time in the past twenty years I've owned a new computer!

It's been a strange few days. The heat, yesterday's humidity and last night the storm cell that hit Melbourne created torrential rain and flooding that was fierce, but tempered of course with the notation that whatever we experienced it 'was not as bad as in Queensland'. I saw this image on the television this morning of flooding at Camberwell Junction. At my place at the height of the storm, water rose to about 18 cm and my poor Magpies, absolutely drenched, took refuge for a short while on my front balcony.

I've watched with interest the developments in Cairo and the courageous behavior of anti-government protesters who suffered greatly after pro-government supporters attacked them yesterday. I admire their fortitude and resilience in the face of such adversity and hope that they succeed in their endeavour to gain democracy, human rights and freedoms in their country. I haven't watched the news since this morning when I woke at 5.20 am to yet another downpour, and so don't know whether America has intervened or made any progress in their attempt to encourage the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign I suspect it's going to be extremely difficult to convince a dictator who's been in power for so long to relinquish his position.

Australian citizens to be evacuated from Egypt

The situation in Egypt must be dire because at this present moment our PM Julia Gillard is holding a press conference on ABC24 discussing the fact that the Federal Government has chartered a Qantas 747 to evacuate Australian citizens from Egypt. She said that she understands the desire of Egyptians for the freedom and democracy that we take for granted, however she didn't state that she stands in solidarity with the cause, but hopes that the military as well as protesters avoid violent encounters so that there is no death or injury. Obviously she hasn't seen the reports coming out of Egypt.

Egypt: End Use of Live Fire

Egypt: End Use of Live Fire at Peaceful Protests on Human Rights Watch.

Sign solidarity message to support Egyptian protesters

This email was sent by Avaaz. org for me to pass on. Please forward it to Facebook and other Internet users if you support the protesters in Egypt.

Dear friends,
Brave Egyptian protesters will determine in the coming hours whether tyranny or democracy prevails in Egypt and across the region. They’ve appealed for international solidarity – let’s send them a massive response, and hold our governments accountable to stand with them too.
Millions of brave Egyptians are right now facing a fateful choice. Thousands have been jailed, injured or killed in the last few days. But if they press on in peaceful protest, they could end decades of tyranny.
The protesters have appealed for international solidarity, but the dictatorship knows the power of unity at a time like this – they’ve desperately tried to cut Egyptians off from the world and each other by completely shutting down the Internet and mobile networks.
Satellite and radio networks can still break through the regime blackout -- let’s flood those airwaves with a massive cry of solidarity showing Egyptians that we stand with them, and that we’ll hold our governments accountable to stand with them too. The situation is at a tipping point -- every hour counts. Please go to this link (I placed it but it seems to be blocked at the present time)

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_egypt/?vl
Please forward this email:
People power is sweeping the Middle East. In days, peaceful protesters brought down Tunisia’s 30-year dictatorship. Now the protests are spreading to Egypt, Yemen, Jordan and beyond. This could be the Arab world's Berlin Wall moment. If tyranny falls in Egypt, a tidal wave of democracy could sweep the entire region.
Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has tried to crush the rallies. But with incredible bravery and determination, the protesters keep coming.
There are moments when history is written not by the powerful, but by people. This is one of them. The actions of ordinary Egyptians in the coming hours will have a massive effect on their country, the region, and our world. Let’s cheer them on with our own pledge to stand with them in their struggle.

Mubarak’s family has left the country, but last night he ordered the military into the streets. He’s ominously promised n0 tolerance for what he calls ‘chaos’. Either way, history will be made in the next few days. Let’s make this the moment that shows every dictator on our planet that they cannot stand long against the courage of people united.
With hope and admiration for the Egyptian people,
Ricken, Rewan, Ben, Graziela, Alice, Kien and the rest of the Avaaz team
Regular updates are being posted by Egyptian activists.

PEACE

The University of New England offers an online course called Peace Studies. Title of units include

PEAC100 Introduction to Peace Studies
PEAC102 Environmental Peace
PEAC303 Active Resistance: Contemporary Nonviolence
PEAC304 Environmental Security
PEAC328 Peacemaking

Today, on ABC , I watched the documentary 'How sweet the sound' about the life of folk singer Joan Beaz, She was a great advocate for peace. She used her music and her fame to promote Nonviolence.

She was jailed because she encouraged young American's, drafted into the Army for the Vietnam war, to reject their governments call to arms. She has since lent her music to numerous human rights causes.

The current protests in Egypt are violent. We live in a very violent world. As another great musican said can't we 'Just give peace a chance?' The link below is Lennon singing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSCLtT42sGU

The Stoning of Soraya M

In our country and many western countries we have laws against cruelty to humans and animals. If you saw someone beating an animal to death you would not only be distressed and horrified but you would most certainly alert the authorities to act against the perpetrator. In some countries, namely Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabi, Nigeria, Sudan, Iraq and Egypt, Islamic Sharia Law permits authorities to cane, flog or stone women to death for either being in the company of a man who is not a family member, having sex outside marriage or committing adultery! Sharia (or God's law) is set forth in the Qu'ran. The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication—flog each of them with hundred stripes: Let no compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe in God and the last day.[Qur'an 24:2] “Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).'[Qur'an 17:32] It seems to me that the punishment is an evil imposed on women by those who have interpreted the Qu'ran for their own ends. Sharia Law is a violation of human rights and mandates complete control of women by men. In affect, it validates the notion that Islamic women are second-class citizens! Many Muslim women living in America and Australia are campaigning to stop Sharia Law from being condoned as an alternative or complimentary law in western countries and film-makers, many from Iran, have attempted to alert those in the west to the atrocities inflicted on Islamic women. One such film is The Stoning of Soraya M (Cyrus Nowrasteh (2008), which tells the true story of a woman whose husband desires to marry a fourteen year old girl, so conspires with other male authorities in an Iranian village to undermine his wife's fidelity so she will be condemned to death by stoning. It is a powerful drama that depicts the female characters ~ Soraya (Moshan Marno) and her Aunt Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo) as strong, defiant women who are punished for daring to speak their mind and going against Sharia Law. The male characters in the film are revealed for what they are ~ manipulative, powerful, but ultimately cowardly in the way that they enact a law that benefits them, whilst keeping women totally subservient to their desires and needs. I couldn't help but draw a parallel between the scene towards the end of the film in which Soraya is buried up to her waist and stoned to death, with a powerful one in The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, 2004) when Christ is flogged. In both scenes, human bodies ~ bloody and damaged become less and less human through disfiguration and take on the look of animals freshly slaughtered. Under Sharia Law a person stoned to death cannot be buried. So, in the film Zahra and other women take Soraya's body and lay her on the edge of a river. We then recall the beginning of the film in which Zahra has returned to the river the day after Soraya's death only to find that ferral dogs have eaten the woman's remains. Zahra washes a few remaining bones in the river and returns them to the earth. If Sharia Law is adopted in Australia and other western countries will we tolerate such behavior in our streets? The annihilation of women's rights, the humiliation, the pain and suffering! I support the fact that different cultures deal with morality in different ways, but surely this kind of cruel punishment cannot be condoned ~ it must surely be perceived as inhuman?!

David Henry Clarke (12.10.1920 - 03.03.1990)

David Henry Clarke (12.10.1920 - 3.3.1990) Bombardier, 2/11 Field Regiment, Australian Imperial Force, WW2. Served in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and New Guinea. Official photograph taken by the Australian Government.

It's been twenty years since my father died. I didn't know him well. In fact, I know little about him, except that his two younger sisters drowned when he was fifteen and he was a Bombardier in WW2. My memories of him are limited (and I won't go into them here) because I knew him for only a few years when I was a child and for two years preceding his death. I think of him always on Anzac Day. I bring out two photographs, one of him above and the other of his father - Charles Winter Clarke, a farrier in the 4th Lighthorse Regiment of the AIF from 1917 to 1919 who served in Gallipoli. I light a small candle in memory of their sacrifice and their honor as well as OUR pain and sacrifice. War doesn't only change the lives of those who serve, it affects families in many ways generation after generation.

I often sit underneath the Plane tree in a particular secluded courtyard at the University of Melbourne when I want to think or when I just want to drink in it its soft cover. Its long sturdy branches shoot out towards the buildings, twist and contort like an arthritic’s hands and form a vast umbrella across a radius a hundred foot from its trunk. Brought to our shores from the Ambassador of Brazil, this Plane tree has been growing since my great-great-grandmother arrived in Australia. I sit under its canopy of leaves that have internal veins that run into five spikes - a continuous Mandelbrot pattern repeated over and over again in the light green foliage that hangs in the gentle breeze. The tree a moving chandelier of radiant light that speaks of spring or at other times the falling leaves of Autumn. The trunk covered with a splendid, speckled cloak - the green and brown of military garb - a soldier camouflaged, standing tall, holds its bark, a strange disease-like skin that clings.