And just now I have received the most disturbing piece of spam diatribe
- full of hate and, apart from anything else, claiming that the current
Premier of NSW is of Lebanese background. He's from Italian background.
ANZAC spirit indeed. Hideous.
J
On Tuesday, December 13, 2005, at 10:54 AM, Jill Jones wrote:
> Hi Alison,
>
> I also feel depressed, and am also taking it pretty personally.
> Brighton-le-
> Sands is almost visible over the hills from me.
>
> There are divisions in the Lebanese community here about 'the
> problem', of
> course. We know a family of Lebanese/Syrians living across the street
> and I
> can tell you the women in that family see things quite differently
> from the
> young men of the family. We have Lebanese christian friends who have
> other
> perspectives again.
>
> I think it's broader than racism, as usually discussed. Sure, John H
> doesn't
> get it, but would we expect him to? The non-existent federal Labor
> opposition
> doesn't get it either and NSW Labour never has. All they are
> interested in is
> power, not people.
>
> I see a convergence of a number of forces here, surprise surprise.
> Attacks on
> education, workers rights and conditions, freedom of speech are part
> of this.
> Sometimes I think the rhetoric of the left and the right is beginning
> to sound
> the same.
>
> But where do you go? One of my colleagues has dual citizenship (or
> passport or
> whatever) but she doesn't want to go to her other country which she
> claims is
> worse. A rather large country the other side of the Pacific. Maybe
> she's
> right, maybe not. I've not been to the US so I wouldn't know.
>
> I'm going across the ditch to the South Island for a holiday next
> week. If I
> don't come back, send word to Invercargill or Dunedin.
>
> Best,
> Jill
>
>
>> Hi Jill
>>
>> I read through the Herald Sun letters page yesterday (a good test of
>> the
>> popular pulse) and saw that calls are happening for riots on
>> Williamstown
>> Beach, which is actually _my_ beach. So I'm taking it all rather
>> personally.
>>
>> The situation here in Melbourne is rather different, I think;
>> certainly
>> there's not the same perception of gangs as in Sydney. But walking
>> through
>> Newport yesterday, where there is a fairly large Arabic community, I
>> sensed
>> a real unease and disquiet. Frankly, I feel very depressed about
>> Australia
>> at present.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> A
>
>
_______________________________________________________
Jill Jones
Latest books:
Broken/Open. Available from Salt Publishing
http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/smp/1844710416.htm
Where the Sea Burns. Wagtail Series. Picaro Press
PO Box 853, Warners Bay, NSW, 2282. [log in to unmask]
Struggle and radiance: ten commentaries (Wild Honey Press)
http://www.wildhoneypress.com
web site: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones
blog1: Ruby Street http://rubystreet.blogspot.com/
blog2: Latitudes http://itudes.blogspot.com/
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