The greatest threat to Australia’s security is the current government.

Rule by dividing and terrorising the Australian population with misinformation and racially charged political stunts.

Add to our desperation by making us poorer, less able to afford education and health-care.

Continue to blame the previous government for budget shortfalls without tackling the wealthy who exploit the nation.

Perpetuate the torture of children in government care - their physical and sexual abuse.

Alienate and disenfranchise young people, especially young men.

Fail to represent over fifty percent of the population – women.

Belittle and mock human rights.

Expunge ourselves of our international obligations – shipping our poor and desperate to compete with the poor and desperate in Cambodia.

Do we feel proud?

Do we feel safe?

We have never been more afraid in our lives.

How many of us are wise enough to know the real extremists are the men in suits who are throwing away our security for political point-scoring? They know exactly what they’re doing: Play the ‘Security Card’ as their predecessor played the ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction Card’.  All lies. All spin. All designed to make this nation fearful and force our children to grow up afraid and without hope. Such is the banner of Team Australia.

Let us hope those of us on Team Humanity can hold on long enough to bring about positive change.

Hold this government to account.

A true leader will unite people, not single out and persecute minorities. Destroying in a few short months a nation which was one of the most integrated and peaceful in the world.

Ask yourself why the government talks about human rights as though they only belong to white, male, Australians.

Ask yourself how a Christian country can bomb a country in abject poverty and disarray? Do we not hold Christians to account as we hold our Muslim brothers and sisters? Did Jesus tell Christians to slaughter the non-believers? It would seem, by our actions, that he did. And yet, I find it impossible to locate the scripture which insights me to hate my neighbour as Team Australia would have me do.

Lets look forward to the truth emerging from the spin and am comforted that Abbot and Murdock cannot control the internet, or what young people will discover in the months ahead.

They will vote for a government which will give them:

A safe and stable place to live

Clean air and water

Renewable energy

Hope of finding a stable job and not just a short term contract.

Affordable education

Affordable health

A fairer tax system where the wealthy pay their share and big business pays fairly for resources.

Gender equality.

A sense that Australia respects its international obligations and can be relied on to work toward a better world.

None of this is possible with the current government.

And a people without hope is a terrorised nation.

And so it is that the greatest terror threat we have on these shores today sits in Parliament House with a PM on his door and an armed guard designed to keep us, and the truth, out.

 

(I know that government should have a capital G, but I cannot bring myself to give it one. It would imply a respect I cannot feel. So for the grammar purists, I apologise)

Emma Watson: Gender equality is your issue too

Date: 20 Sep 2014

Speech by UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson at a special event for the HeForShe campaign, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 20 September 2014

Today we are launching a campaign called “HeForShe.”

I am reaching out to you because I need your help. We want to end gender inequality—and to do that we need everyone to be involved.

This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN: we want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for gender equality. And we don’t just want to talk about it, but make sure it is tangible.

I was appointed six months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.

For the record, feminism by definition is: “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.”

I started questioning gender-based assumptions when at eight I was confused at being called “bossy,” because I wanted to direct the plays we would put on for our parents—but the boys were not.

When at 14 I started being sexualized by certain elements of the press.

When at 15 my girlfriends started dropping out of their sports teams because they didn’t want to appear “muscly.”

When at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings.

I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.

Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men and, unattractive.

Why is the word such an uncomfortable one?

I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my country. I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men. But sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.

No country in the world can yet say they have achieved gender equality.

These rights I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn’t assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are. And we need more of those.  And if you still hate the word—it is not the word that is important but the idea and the ambition behind it. Because not all women have been afforded the same rights that I have. In fact, statistically, very few have been.

In 1997, Hilary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women’s rights. Sadly many of the things she wanted to change are still a reality today.

But what stood out for me the most was that only 30 per cent of her audience were male. How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?

Men—I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too.

Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother’s.

I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it would make them look less “macho”—in fact in the UK suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20-49; eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality either.  

We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes but I can see that that they are and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence.

If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.

Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong… It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals.

If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are—we can all be freer and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom. 

I want men to take up this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too—reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.

You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing up on stage at the UN. It’s a good question and trust me I have been asking myself the same thing. I don’t know if I am qualified to be here. All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better.

And having seen what I’ve seen—and given the chance—I feel it is my duty to say something. English statesman Edmund Burke said: “All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men and women to do nothing.”

In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt I’ve told myself firmly—if not me, who, if not now, when. If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you I hope those words might be helpful.

Because the reality is that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly a hundred before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children. And at current rates it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls will be able to receive a secondary education.

If you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminists I spoke of earlier.

And for this I applaud you.

We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen to speak up, To be the he for she. And to ask yourself if not me, who, if not now when.

Thank you.

- See more at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too#sthash.BbjY8M7g.dpuf

In Tehran Happiness is a Crime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYnLRf-SNxY

This link will take you to a clip so full of joy that you want to dance. That is until you realise that every single person involved in making the film and sharing it with the world has been arrested for ‘offending public decency’.

"After a vulgar clip which hurt public chastity was released in cyberspace, police decided to identify those involved in making that clip… Following a series of intelligence and police operations and after coordinating with the judiciary, all the suspects were identified and arrested.” Tehran police chief Hossein Sajedinia

And clearly decency is lacking. Not in these beautiful and spirited and joyous young people, but in an authoritarian regime which sees fit to persecute women and any man who wishes to treat a woman as equal. Which pools its resources to hunt down citizens such as these instead of taking care of the poor and needy so desperate for government support. It uses a twisted form of Islam to benefit self-serving religious leaders and politicians. None of whom have any respect for the people in their care.

Once you know each one of these beautiful young  people are now in prison for simply showing happiness, this film clip becomes heartbreaking to witness.

What has happened to them since?

What can happen to a people when joy is forbidden?

And yet this film clip shows there is hope. Because no matter how punitive and evil a regime becomes there will always be those who defy it.

And they are the world’s salvation.


A child born today will never afford a doctor

No University for them

Their schooling will be basic

Poorer schools, fewer teachers, bigger classes

More slipping between the ever widening gaps

They will see their parents destitute

They will look for work but find none

Belittled and blamed

A future begging for charity

No handouts. No jobs. No super. No retirement.

They will see the coral die for coal

Their cities and rivers choke

Their wilderness carved up like a freshly slaughtered pig

Sold to greedy developers

And miners sharing sly pillows with politicians.

 

And around them will stand the ghosts of Christmases Past

Decency, Kindness, Generosity, Empathy.

While the spectres of the Future

Greed, Hatred, Selfishness, Prejudice

Howl loathing around their heads.

 

What Happens to ordinary people when Government loses its Integrity?
 

It is May 2014 Australia and the current government has just brought down a budget so severe on the poor, the unemployed, the elderly, the sick, the young and the helpless-  there is no precedent.

It has broken faith in the people who voted for it.

It has destroyed hope for the future in those who did not.

There is clear evidence that its motivation is not born out of our current deficit, but out of an intention to restructure Australian society so that all safety nets for the disadvantaged are deleted with the intent to remove them entirely.

Health, education, the unemployed and the elderly are the sacrificial lambs for corporate and political greed.

Few believe there is anything but self interest in these decisions.

We were once a nation of egalitarian principals. We led the world in championing human rights and providing assistance for those who were not as lucky as the majority. We had universal health care, outstanding educational facilities and opportunities which were accessible to all. We protected and preserved environments for future generations.

Is this the government we get when women are ostracised from power? When their voices are so few in Parliament that the bully boys refuse to hear their objections. Or are they so intimidated that they don’t object? Instead, they let bad social policy become the edict of the future.

Women are the carers who will carry the greatest burdens of this budget.

They look after the elderly until they are old themselves. They will provide shelter for their children who are jobless and destitute. They will have less to live on because of their time out of the workforce. They will visit the doctor more. Have greater health costs. Greater responsibilities for the sick and those with disabilities.

The current prime minister claims himself the Minister of Women. Did he consult any of the women in the community to see the effects this budget will have on their daily lives?

A man who has made no statement of concern or support for women when over 200 school girls are kidnapped cannot think much of the importance of women in the world.

A man who cannot find more than a handful of capable women to participate in his cabinet clearly isn’t looking.

How can a government which has sidelined from political decision-making those with a true understanding of society make any responsible decision?

This government DOES NOT represent the people of this nation. It can’t if it fails to represent more than half the population.

Rich white men will only ever represent other rich white men.

All others, particularly women, are fuel for exploitation.

 



Tell me you didn’t know.

Pretend it’s not happening.

Block your ears to their pleading

Cover your eyes so you cannot see them

Put up fences to keep your distance

Close your mind to stop thoughts

Oranienburg

Auschwitz

Dachau

Manus Island

Nauru

Christmas Island – a gift from you

Tell yourself you’re not responsible

Tell yourself it’s all their fault

Try not to see the children’s faces

Try not to think about the children

Try not to hear them

You will write your own history of this time

And they will write theirs

A few days ago a young woman bared her soul to an audience of young people, all of whom were struggling with the burdens of being different in a world which does not tolerate difference.

She bared her soul before an audience of teachers and youth workers who spend their days trying to make a positive difference in the lives of young people who often feel so alienated that they resort to hiding or taking their own lives.

It is a brave thing to risk your career and the love of family and friends by being honest. But Ellen Page is not only brave. She is passionate and articulate and strong.

The world would be a wonderful place if it was the one she imagines possible.

No fear.

No hatred.

No violence.

            But kindness.

            And limitless potential.

            And above all, LOVE.

While she was speaking primarily to an American audience, her words ring like alarm bells, here, in this lucky country. In Australia today young people (and older people too) are marginalised because of difference. Some are pilloried by churches who claim to love them, some are bullied in schools which purport to be safe places, some are rejected by families who cannot accept their child was born to be an individual outside the average. And ALL are victimised by a government which, while it is happy to take their taxes like every other citizen, will refuse them the same rights as other citizens, such as the right to marry.

It's Mardigras season here in Sydney.

Time to dust off the sequins and add some colour to our ordinary lives. And isn't that what we all crave? A life which is colourful and rich?

It's about time we told young people: those who are lesbian, gay, bi, transgender and intersex, that we are grateful for the colour they add to our lives. Grateful for the joy they bring. Grateful that they remind us of what community means, grateful that they have enough faith in us to change and become more open and honest and decent.

For decency is not about sex. It's about how we treat each other and whether we have respect for the rights of all, even the most disadvantaged.

So for all the young people who are struggling with who they are and how they are treated, I want you to know I stand with Ellen Page - you are not alone. Have hope that your life will be happy and that you will find people who love you just as you are. For you are worthy of love -  just as you are.

And for the adults who forget what love can do and how good it makes us all feel, take a moment to look at this speech.

You can watch her speech for yourself on this link

http://youtu.be/ORlnnpm5rC8

 If I don’t open my mouth and speak up then I will appear complicit.

And I am NOT complicit.

I believe in human rights, that refugees have a right to shelter and protection, not persecution and detention.

I believe women are equal and should have equal representation in government, media, sports, work and opportunity. I know this is not the reality. But it needs to change.

I believe we have an obligation to this planet to care for it. It has nurtured us for millennia. But if we don’t stop our insatiable exploitation of its resources it will die. And we with it.

I believe the purpose of the economy is to serve its people, not enslave the people to the economy.

I believe governments are answerable to their people.

I believe History teaches us lessons which many ignore.

Things need to change.

I need to speak out.

One candle in the darkness looking for others.

I know you’re there. Perhaps together we can build a better world.

This is the first of many candles, match- strikes, flares and calls out into the wilderness. Born of a feeling of frustration and hopelessness with our current government and a society which seems blind and apathetic in the face of the suffering of others.

Please feel free to join me.

An ocean of flickering lights will bring hope to many, including ourselves.

We CAN change the world!