POLITICS, POETRY & SATIRE
Julia sharpened knitting needles
prepared for spill of blood,
around Australia we all waited
would there be another PM Rudd?
At last Bill Shorten swings
manouevring for another day
he’s waiting quietly in the wings
for when a chance comes into play.
All hail our leader, Kevvie’s back,
Out with Conroy, Howes and Swan,
But can he get the show on track?
much easier when the Right is gone.
Yet refugees still feel the pain
whichever candidate remains.
26 June 2013
I don’t want your chemtrails, 9/11 truth, wild theory fails
I can’t bear your bleating on of Haarp and reptile aliens.
I don’t want your nazi rants, your racism, your hate slants
I can’t stand your barking about Jewishness and eugenics,
I don’t like your Vets Today, your PressTV, your Daily Mail
Just shove it where the sun don’t shine, get an education,
I won’t embrace your Rothschild crap, your protocols, your sleazy trap,
I don’t want your Facebook spew, your conspiracies are dog do do.
Jinjirrie
June 2013
Dethrone cruel elites
Challenge their deceits
With the sole conspiracy
Uncompromising solidarity
Rejecting prejudice
Is easy with more practice
Refuse racist division
Real justice is the vision.
Jinjirrie
June 2013
From the Guardian:
Mohammed Assaf, who is thought to be the favourite to win the TV talent show, has enthralled viewers from Gaza, the West Bank and the entire Palestinian diaspora with his rendition of traditional songs – some lamenting the loss of his homeland – and his self-effacing charm. For many in Palestine, enduring a grinding existence under occupation, Assaf has come to symbolise hope and national aspiration.
Happiness to all Palestinians – may the news of this personal victory for Assaf raise awareness to the plight of his people in Palestine, and zionism be defeated all the sooner with the power of music.
More acclaim has been awarded to Mohammed Assaf. According to Ma’an Newsagency:
Mohammad Assaf, the first Palestinian to win the popular Arab Idol TV singing contest, will also become the UN’s first Palestinian ambassador.
A diplomatic source in Beirut, where MBC’s Arab Idol is filmed, told Ma’an the agreement was signed days ago to make Assaf the first-ever Palestinian refugee to become a UN ambassador. He will become the Palestine refugee agency UNRWA’s first-ever regional youth ambassador, the source said Saturday.
“A man with a golden voice is going to take the Palestinians’ voice to the universe. At long last, a fantastic story out of Gaza that will touch the hearts of the world,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the ambassadorship had not yet been announced.
“It is is a wonderful day for Palestine and for the UN.”
From Mohammed Assaf’s acceptance speech: “A revolution is not just the one carrying the rifle, it is the paintbrush of an artist, the scalpel of a surgeon, the axe of the farmer. Everyone struggles for their cause in the way they see fit. Today I represent Palestine and today I am fighting for a cause through my art and the message I send out.”
‘The rocket fire followed a suprise Israel Defense Forces drill that took place on Sunday.’
So what was this Israeli forces ‘drill’ if not a provocation? a teddy bear’s picnic? – spiteful Israel began reprisals against Gaza last night.
NB, NSA, please read my poetry.
I smell the fear on your vinyl briefcase
as across the table like Captain Cook
you pity the poor natives.
Your backdoor agenda and verbal pyrotechnology’s
a front for the urgency to move onto lunch,
the bottom line, where you will be free
of the irritation of our disagreement.
Snake on a ladder, you have all the answers
before the questions are put, and if I resist
and say ‘what about this?’ I’ll be hived off.
You want your lunch and I have a hunch
you’ll have your way no matter what I say,
top down, bottoms up.
I’m not here for a handout, just some of our taxes back.
You have your priorities sent down the line
(I’ll scratch your back if you stab mine),
keeping the upper hand for the mortgage’s sake,
your PS perks and old boy lurks building
a superstructure of barbies and kids on Sunday
with the Director and the man on the next rung,
top down, bottoms up,
drinking and laughing about idealists
who’d like to step over your head.
I wonder if you hear us at all,
while unseen in the community
quiet synergy turns the wheels eventually,
bottoms up.
Jinjirrie 1993
In Brisbane recently, anti-apartheid activists de-shelved boycotted Israeli goods in Woolworths. The action was part of the 2nd Brisbane BDS walking tour. Apartheid products and targets on the walking tour included Eskal products in Woolworths, Seacret Dead Sea Cosmetics in Myer, SodaStream in David Jones and G4s a security company with numerous government contracts.
Brand Israel, despite a massively-funded, co-ordinated campaign, is failing in Australia, and indeed globally. According to the BBC World Service’s latest global survey, Israel is the fourth least popular country, with a negative rating of 52%. In Australia, 69& of poll respondents gave apartheid Israel a negative rating.
Gillard, Abbott and other parliamentarians who have signed the flagship zionist lawfare document, the flawed London declaration, are out of step with the Australian public. The opposition coalition has indicated that it will cut any funding to any individual or organisation supporting BDS, a move which flouts Australian free political speech conventions and attacks academic freedom.
As MPs David Shoebridge and John Kaye say in New Matilda:
Efforts to combat genuine and threatening anti-semitism are undermined by labelling any criticism of the state of Israel and its government as anti-semitic. There are some international actors, with Iran as an outstanding example, who go beyond legitimate critiquing of Israel’s policies to what can only be considered outright anti-semitism. This is unacceptable and is rightly the subject of international condemnation.
However, the label of “anti-semitism” must not become the universal response to the growing number of critics of Israel’s human rights abuses. When people of goodwill express their opposition to Israeli soldiers routinely humiliating Palestinians at checkpoints, the construction of an apartheid-style segregation wall through the West Bank or the brutal use of Israeli military force against civilians in Gaza, their motivation is not to denigrate the Jewish people but to highlight injustices perpetrated on the Palestinian people.
