A letter to my local member: Dear Malcolm, I’ve been reading a most moving speech you made at the tribute to the siege victims this afternoon. And yet I feel that everyone was also filled with love. There were something of determination on that train; a determined love; a recognition that its love for each other, its love for our country which binds us together and makes us the most successful, harmonious society in the world,” you said. It is a very fine sentiment, but I can’t help thinking the reality is that a covert, sometimes overt, Islamophobic tone in government is at the root of this horror. Your Immigration Minister spoke before attaining government about ‘chasing the anti-Muslim’ votes. The result is that Muslims face constant vilification and discrimination. It is the same propaganda that drives rednecks to attack Muslimas in the street in front of their children, rip off their hijabs or throw them from trains as it is that drives mentally unbalanced psuedo-Muslims like Man Haron Monis over the edge. I know many Muslim women who are afraid to leave the house to buy food. The 800-strong police raids on 15 innocent Muslim families based on ONE mistranslated ‘phone call to retrieve a plastic toy, could not be a better example of this ‘pogrom.’ How can you talk of love when your government deliberately incites fear and hatred? By far the worst is Mr. Morrison who has made a career of milking the redneck vote and demonises asylum seekers and refugees (who are conflated with Muslims in the uneducated mind) at every opportunity. He has said that they bring disease ‘everything from tuberculosis and hepatitis C to chlamidya and syphilis,’ and that he had seen asylum seekers bringing in ‘wads of cash …and large displays of jewellery,’and he continues to ignore the suffering of those he has detained because he knows ‘his people’ applaud the cruelty. He even complained about the cost of holding funerals in Sydney for asylum seekers who died in a shipwreck off Christmas Island. An eight year old, whose parents had both died in the shipwreck, was one of 21 people flown from the Christmas Island Detention Centre to attend the funeral ceremonies. Scott Morrison said these were ‘government-funded junkets’ and that the relatives would be ‘taking sightseeing trips and those sorts of things’. .. and so on. I took a look at his Facebook account today, here’s a random sample: ”Jenny Jones: Scott keep up the good work - keep them out and get rid of the rubbish that are still here. My heart bleeds for the 2 that lost their lives and I also feel so much pain for those going through emotional trauma after being held Hostage - their lives will never be the same - I have a friend that was held hostage and her family member shot, her life is in turmoil and she will never be the same and how she struggles to survive cause there is no proper compensation for her and she cant work. Damm these ragheads (sorry dont know what else to call them). Julia Irving: You are doing your best to fix the problems caused by 6 years of bleeding hearts politics. Frank Carew: Will Sarah Hanson-Young have her flag at half mast for the unscreened refugee that was shot ?” Perhaps I am being a little over-sensitive right now because one of the victims, Tori, was a gay man who lived with his partner of 14 years, Timothy, just down the road from me at Moore Park Gardens. The Sydney gay scene is really very small at times, and we feel these things deeply. We’ve heard a lot about ‘bad Muslims which seems quite hypocritical in the light of a man who pledged in his maiden speech to the House of Representatives in 2008 ‘from my faith I derive the values of loving kindness, justice and righteousness’ but behaves in an antithetical manner. Anyway, I hope you will think about what I’ve said because if you sincerely want to see “ ..love for our country which binds us together and makes us the most successful, harmonious society in the world,” perhaps it could start with your government. If we have become so sick of the hatred and demonising and ugliness and horror that has permeated Australian society ever since Tampa, fed by idiots like Hanson and Bernardi and all the far-right media commentators, that we say lets call it a day and start building bridges, that at least would be a real positive to come from this tragedy. Very best to you, Lucy and your family for the holiday season.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 08:47:21 +0000
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