Guess Which Jokes are Racist?

Here’s a great film clip right on the topic of what is racist humour, and what is just offensive. And the Adam and Eve joke is great! Happy Sunday Funday!

more about "Guess Which Jokes are Racist?", posted with vodpod

The virtues of dying in Indonesian waters

Bob Debus and Chris Evans, in a joint media release this week, extolled the virtues of cooperation with Indonesia in the ‘fight’ against people-smuggling:

Wednesday, 26 May 2009 “Australia is grateful to Indonesia for its bilateral cooperation which demonstrates the strength of the Lombok Treaty and the broader cooperation of the Bali Process.’

“Senator Evans said the Australian Government would continue to work with regional partners to deal with issues involving irregular migration and people smugglers.

“’The Government has renewed efforts to work closely with regional countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to prevent and deter people from attempting to enter Australia unlawfully,’ Senator Evans said.

Two days later Xinhua newsagency reported some of the results of this policy: 7 more bodies of Afghan refugees found off Indonesia’s port city

“Indonesian Navy on Friday found the bodies of the Afghan refugees who were onboard a boat that had recently sunk in the Riau waters off the port city of Bagansiapiapi, in Riau province, a Navy commander said.

“This afternoon (Friday) we found five more bodies. We have discovered another two in the morning,” the Detik.com quoted Bagansiapiapi Navy post commander Lieutenant Al Muhfid as saying.

Meanwhile, Mike Head and Linda Levin at the World Socialist Web Site provide a very interesting take that is unfortunately not backed up with sufficient sources: Australia: Evidence points to Labor cover-up over refugee boat deaths

“The Rudd Labor government continues to block the release of information about the circumstances that led to the tragedy. The blast also injured 31 of the 47 Afghan refugees and two Indonesian crew who were crowded into the tiny vessel.

“Conflicting reports about what happened on the day strongly suggest that a major cover-up is underway.

“It is now known that nine Australian Defence Force personnel—not “three or four”, as the navy originally claimed—were on board the “SIEV 36” (Suspected Illegal Entry Vehicle Number 36). They appear in photographs, published by the government in late April, taken 11 minutes before the explosion.”

Immigration Department TV Channel

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) ImmiTV Channel!

more about “ImmiTV’s Channel“, posted with vodpod

Australia to Indonesia: Keep those huddled masses out of here!

I recently commented on the news that Authorities in Indonesia have stopped nearly 900 suspected asylum seekers from travelling to Australia since September last year, Indonesia stops nearly 900 asylum seekers: AFP , in ‘Australia’s newest detention centre’

It is a phenomenon that is spreading across the global ‘north’ – that is, rich and powerful nations. Instead of building more detention centres and instituting other policies that draw criticism from their humanitarian-minded citizens, governments are using third-party nations to do their work for them. They are engaging ‘developing nations’, the ‘second world’, to keep out the desperate from the third world.

European countries have policies that essentially deny access by making it as difficult as possible to enter their territory. Countries on the periphery of Europe have the harshest policies, protecting their wealthy neighbours to the north and west, often for money – as does Indonesia for Australia.

The UNHCR states that

“The European Union requires asylum seekers to make their claims in the first European country they enter, meaning that most have to make claims in countries like Greece, Ukraine, Poland, and Slovenia, which denied asylum at rates far greater than other European countries”.

Controlling our borders: making migration work for Britain, the basis for the 2006 UK Immigration Asylum and Nationality act, sees the business of ‘making migration work’ as  attracting economically useful migrants (see ‘The rights of strangers’ in Human Trafficking by Maggie Lee).

Australian Immigration policy is to:

“Contribute to Australia’s future through managed migration. Administer our migration programs to ensure long-term social and economic benefits to Australia, while responding to changing economic circumstances. DIAC Strategic Plan 2009–12

I guess we need to keep the poor and desperate out somehow.

Expensive, inefficient, stupid and unfair system: that’s what the Coalition wants

The West Australian reports that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Migration chair Michael Danby said the Rudd government had already taken steps to improve the detention system, like removing debts accrued by detainees in detention.

“The committee acknowledges that this is one of many welcome changes to government policy…however…we can and must do better,” Mr Danby said. Detainees should be allowed to work: report

Mr Danby seems to be speaking a little prematurely, however.

Andrew Bartlett reports on the change of course of the Coalition that may imperil the passing of the bill. Charging people for locking them up

Andrew notes that the recommendation was supported by Liberal MPs at the time, but that a report in the Brisbane Times shows a u-turn:

“The Opposition immigration spokeswoman, Sharman Stone, took a submission to shadow cabinet recommending the Coalition support the bill. She was rolled.

“It was argued that the Opposition could not blame Labor’s “softening” of policy for the latest surge in boat arrivals, and then support such a bill. Furthermore, the Coalition believed philosophically that taxpayers should not bear the full cost of illegal arrivals. The party room ratified the decision on budget day and only a few moderates, including Petro Georgiou and Judi Moylan, complained.” Abbott foray will highlight tussle within Coalition

Andrew Bartlett comments:

“It seems that a system which:

•    hinders the effective settlement of many migrants;

•    does not deter a single asylum seeker;

•    is expensive and inefficient to administer;

•    treats people in administrative detention who have not been convicted of anything worse than criminals in jails by charging them the cost of their imprisonment might be being retained, and

•    was unanimously recommended to be abolished “as a priority” by all members of a parliamentary Inquiry that examined the issue thoroughly;

may now end up being retained – presumably because it suits the Opposition to paint it as an example of the government allegedly being ‘soft’.”

The Red House Commercial: Cough up those furballs of hate!

Remember when I posted the Red House Furniture ad on a Sunday Funday? Black White Yellow and Red: Furniture against racism!

This is the follow up video that the producers made to try to answer some of the outcry against the ad that labelled it ‘racist’.

In one of the comments someone mentioned ‘compulsory colourblindness’.

I think pussy-footing around and not mentioning ‘race’ at all for fear of offending builds great furballs of hate and turns people catty. (sorry about that! )

However, calling someone a ‘black c…’ like Paul Gallen, captain of the Sharks National Rugby League team did in a game last Saturday is racist, I think, because it is ‘hate-ist’.

more about “Sociological Images » The Red House C…“, posted with vodpod

Wish YOU were black? Try an online auction

Sundays are Fundays – and why not add a little commercialism? Thanks to reader Allana Lake for alerting me to this offer that is too good to miss – for a laugh!

Did you feel a bit left out at President Obama’s inauguration? Would you like to be called “brotha” or “sista” by someone unrelated to you?

‘Become an Honorary Black Person’ on Ebay!

The imperfect blog says:

“The winner of this auction will receive a signed certificate in a strong mahogany frame proclaiming him or her an honorary Black person”.

The winner will also receive “Gibson’s Secret Guide to Being Black”, a book full of handy hints like these:

“Even though it is grammatically incorrect the term “Black” should be capitalized at all times. However, leave the term “white” lowercase just to get a little piece of revenge against THE MAN”.

Safe haven not a solution for Tamils

The United Nations estimates that up to 300 thousand people have been displaced by the fighting. Most of those people are Tamils, an ethnic group that has complained for decades about being discriminated against in Sri Lanka. The Australian government is reportedly worried about a potential influx of Tamil asylum-seekers and has sent officials to Columbo to work with the Sri Lankan Government, particularly over the threat of people-smuggling Australia prepares for influx of Tamil asylum seekers

The Tamil community in Australia is pleading for authorities to show compassion and to allow Tamils to start a better life in Australia.
Opposition call for Tamil havens in Australia The World Today 21 May 2009

Ms Stone, Shadow Minister for Immigration has today suggested bringing an unknown number of Tamils to Australia in the same way as the Howard Government brought 4000 Kosovars in 1999.

Pamela Curr, refugee advocate of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, says that

“It took people out of their home country for 11 months and then sent them back to nothing.

“Ms Stone may not know the history of this political exercise but people in Albury remember well the day that the Australian army walked out of the camp and ACM guards walked in and locked the place down. In one day it changed from a happy friendly place into a detention centre with privately contracted guards.

“Six years later, 500 people who refused to go home were in desert detention centres and in the community in great distress. Ms Stone is now suggesting that this horrible experiment be repeated in an attempt to differentiate coalition policy from the government.”

War child: “Left home at the age of seven/one year later I’m carryin’ an Ak-47.”

Emmanuel Jal, an ex-child soldier turned rap artist is in Australia at present. He is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, whose parents were killed, ended up in a refugee camp and we taken as a boy soldier at the age of eight. His story is similar to many other Sudanese Australians.

He has begun to come to terms with his years as a child soldier  through his  music

“Left home at the age of seven/one year later I’m carryin’ an Ak-47.”,

a film and now his biography,

You can listen to an interview with Emmanuel on ABC Radio National

You can see a trailer of his movie, War Child, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0402tJk3g5U

Emmanuel has founded a charity, GUA Africa, that works with individuals, families and communities to help them overcome the effects of war and poverty

The researcher, the liar and the whingeing kid: the boat people debate

SBS ‘Insight’ on Tuesday evening discussed the situation of refugees fleeing to Indonesia through the eyes and stories of recent boat arrivals as well as Australian citizens and permanent residents in Australia whose family members are stuck in Indonesia and other places.

Some important points from the program:

On whether refugees hear about Australia’s policies from people already here and therefore decide to try to get here:

From Roslyn Richardson, researcher, Charles Sturt University:

Well my research specifically looked at the messages that people send back home and what I found, was not that they were necessarily saying ‘come here because our …. Come here because the policy has softened’ or something like that.  The messages they are sending home are often mixed, on one hand they will send home the message that ‘I was in detention and that was a pretty horrible experience.’  But they also send home messages like – I had one family who… one woman who her husband had been executed and she said to me ‘I like that my son can play on the street and I don’t have to worry about him being taken away by the authorities and killed.’  You know, it’s these types of messages that people are sending back, they are not necessarily sending back ‘Come here.’  And also they can loose contact with their family members back home.

I looked at was the messages that refugees might hear about Australia before they come here. I looked at how they interpret this information and I ALSO looked at what messages they’re now sending back overseas. And what I found was basically exactly what those refugees have just said, is that quite often in fact there was only two refugees in my study of 27 who actually chose to come to Australia. More often than not, this is not just my study but it is reflected in international literature, the UK home office did a study in 2002 and said exactly the same thing, that it is smugglers that choose destinations. They dictate a destination or they lead people to believe that this destination is favourable.

On the Coalition vs Labor party policies:

CHRIS EVANS: The thing to point out is there is no policy debate currently between the opposition and Labor Party on these matters. They’ve endorsed the abolition of the Pacific solution, they failed to commit to returning to TPVs and they have endorsed and signed off on our changes of detention values. Unless they’re prepared to argue they want to go back to the solution, unless they’re prepared to argue to go back to TPVs and unless they’re prepared to argue to go back to locking up kids there’s no policy differential at the moment. All they want to say it’s your fault and it’s because you’re soft, but there’s no public policy alternative offered to what I think are humane changes. We’re a tolerant democracy, we can treat people properly as well as sending the message we don’t welcome people smugglers or people arriving unlawfully.

Members of the opposition hardly made any sense- Sharman Stone sopunding muich like an offended school child.

Kevin Andrews, former Immigration Minister, was caught out yet once more:

Kevin Andrews:I know and Senator Evans well knows that there is regular intelligence about what is happening in our region, particularly what’s happening in Indonesia, where we have a quite sizeable AFP presence, and there is intelligence that comes back to the Australian government about these things, but we had officials from the immigration department saying last year that this was leading to increased activity on the part of people smugglers. We had Steve Cook from the international migration organisation based in Indonesia, a totally non-government organisation, saying this was leading to increased activity of smugglers.

Jenny Brockie, compare: We actually contacted the international organisation for migration, they responded formally in writing saying they flatly denied it, Steve Cook said that, they said he never made the comments and that they were inaccurate and distorted. That’s the response we had.

KEVIN ANDREWS:  Well, I can only report the comments reported in the media widespread in Australia.

JENNY BROCKIE: We went to the source, not to the media. The source is saying they didn’t say it.

KEVIN ANDREWS: The reality is that a number of sources have said that this has led to an increase in the numbers coming, now, look at the facts, 736 people have come in the last 10. 5 months compared to 25 in the previous yea, they are the facts.

Seems like the old Coalition members can’t shake the lying habit.