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‘Speaking truth to power is a non-violent political tactic, employed by dissidents against the received wisdom or propaganda of governments they regard as oppressive, authoritarian or an ideocracy. The phrase originated with a pamphlet, Speak Truth to Power: a Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence, published by the American Friends Service Committee in 1955. Speak Truth To Power is also the title of a global Human Rights initiative under the auspices of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights…--Read more
‘For eight years, Australia has been taking refugees as hostages. It’s time to ask: who has benefited?’
By Behrouz Boochani, Via The Guardian*
Behrouz Boochani whilst incarcerated on Manus Island Source: AAP
‘Kurdish-Iranian born journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani spent six years in Australian-run detention
on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. He now lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.’
Thank you Behrouz, the voice for the voiceless, for your continuing effort and struggles to highlight the inhumanity and the low morale compass of the neoliberal, populist politicians and their cronies. May all the people of goodwill, like yourself, come together and hold these lawless people accountable for their actions.
‘For eight years, Australia has been taking refugees as hostages. It’s time to ask: who has benefited?’
‘The offshore detention policy is a combination of hostage-taking, deception, secrecy,
corruption, populist propaganda and systematic torture.’
‘Eight years have passed since the Australian government mandated offshore detention for all asylum seekers who arrive by boat, which led to the banishing of more than 3,000 refugees to Nauru as well as Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
Since then, we have heard many tragic stories about the stranded refugees – stories of death, violence, child detention, family separation and countless violations of human rights.
We have heard the stories of the hundreds who have been traumatised and the 14 who were killed. We got to know about Reza Barati who was surrounded by a group of guards and beaten to death. We were told about Hamid Khazaei who developed a leg infection, ended up in a wheelchair and died while in custody. Faysal Ishak Ahmed also died in a Brisbane hospital.
When I think about the stories of these refugees, including myself, the first thought that springs to mind is the abduction of human beings on the sea. We were kidnapped and forcibly transferred to an island we had never heard of. We were robbed of our identity. We turned into a string of numbers through a carefully planned process of dehumanisation. We were led into an evil system which was designed to diminish our identity.
The offshore detention policy was a form of official hostage-taking. For years, the Australian government refused to accept us, while preventing us from being transferred elsewhere. Even when it succumbed to public pressure by signing a resettlement deal with the United States, the government prolongated the transfer process. After all these years, many refugees are still held in indefinite detention.
In addition to being a form of official hostage-taking, the policy provided a platform for the spread of populist ideas and false claims. Kevin Rudd, for example, announced this policy just before the 2013 federal election, while Scott Morrison went to the Christmas Island detention centre alongside a dozen reporters in 2019 and posed heroically against the backdrop of the sea.
They deceived the public into believing that the offshore detention policy was like a building that would collapse if one brick were to be removed from it. They warned against the invasion of boats on Australian shores, but no boats arrived. What boats anyway? They returned every single one to Indonesia.
This is a key point, because whenever the public has put pressure on the government since 2013, officials have highlighted the risks of opening up the borders. This turned out to be an outright lie. What the government has done is create unjustified fear while hiding behind the notion of national security.
The reality is they needed our bodies for retaining their political power. Along the way, they created a $12bn detention industry which has greatly benefited politicians as well as certain security and medical companies. The contracts signed with Paladin is the only instance leaked to the media, but I believe that is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Australian government has made every effort to preserve its detention industry. When thousands of refugees were transferred to the US, the government brought in a group of New Zealanders previously held in Australia. At the end of the day, human bodies are fuel to this money-making torture machine.
The offshore detention policy is a combination of hostage-taking, deception, secrecy, corruption, populist propaganda, and of course, systematic torture. It is sadistic, costly, and unnecessary. After all these years, Australians need to find the courage to look in the mirror and ask themselves, “What have we gained? What have we lost?” These are crucial questions.
It is time to challenge the foundations of this deceitful policy. In the last eight years, human values have been undermined, more than $12bn has been spent and the international reputation of Australia has suffered immensely. The key question to ask right now is: “Who has benefited from this policy?”
Written by Behrouz Boochani, adjunct senior fellow at University of Canterbury
Translated by Mohsen Kafi, a PhD candidate in literary translation studies at Victoria University of Wellington
*This article was originally published in The Guardian on Wednesday 21 July 2021
Lest We Forget
Not all politicians are heartless charlatans and foul-mouthed, mindless buffoons
‘Thank you New Zealand for your humanity welcoming Behrouz who had no friends but the mountains.’
This should serve as a powerful message to Australia and others like them:
"Injustice flourishes in soil where empathy has been uprooted.”
Photo: The Guardian
Behrouz Boochani is welcomed to freedom in New Zealand as he arrives at Auckland airport (14 November 2019).
‘Behrouz Boochani: Refugee who wrote book- ‘No Friends But the Mountains’- using WhatsApp and became the voice of the victims of Australia’s punitive detention system granted a visa to stay in New Zealand and work towards full citizenship after seven-year horrific ordeal, suffering pain, anguish and inhumanity by Australia’s offshore processing regime…’- Continue to read
And this is why every country needs a Jacinda Ardern to discover What it Means to be Human and Great
Jacinda Ardern:
Politics And Economics As If People Mattered To Focus On Empathy, Kindness and Well-Being
Jacinda Ardern campaigns in Christchurch.- Photo: Kai Schwörer/Getty Images Via The Guardian
Prime minister Ardern, has inspired love, kindness, empathy, trust and the common good…-Continue to read
And finally, when it comes to migrants and asylum seekers, there are two more global politicians that I wish to recognise.
They, too, have projected kindness, understanding and compassion towards those in despair and fear.
They are prime minister Justin Trudeau and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Canada and Germany respectively.
Photo: CTV News
Ardern,Trudeau and Merkel, they have become the voices of the voiceless. May God bless them all
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‘Fairest of the months!
Ripe summer's queen
The hey-day of the year
With robes that gleam with sunny sheen
Sweet August doth appear.’- R. Combe Miller
Photo:TheGoodnessandtheGreenman
‘Blessed be the Harvest,
Blessed be the Corn Mother,
Blessed be the Grain God,
For together they nourish both body and soul.
Many blessings I have been given,
I count them now by this bread.
Guardian of the East, I pray for your indulgence.
Hear me now as I request your aid in the cycle of life.
As your winds blow through fields of ripened grain,
Carry loosened seeds upon your back
That they may fall amidst the soil
That is our Mother Earth.’- Lammas Ritual
‘It is now high summer and the union of Sun and Earth, of God and Goddess, has produced the First Harvest. Lammas is the celebration of this first, Grain Harvest, a time for gathering in and giving thanks for abundance. We work with the cycle that Mabon or the Autumn Equinox is the Second Harvest of Fruit, and Samhain is the third and Final Harvest of Nuts and Berries.
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This is only the beginning, the world is choking: Time to Wake up and take the right steps, otherwise soon, you have to pay for oxygen for the breath of life! Think that through!
‘Enjoy It While It Lasts: Dropping Oxygen Will Eventually Suffocate Most Life on Earth.’
Photo: Daily Mirror, Friday 13 September 2019
‘Brazil’s Amazon rainforest – the world’s largest rainforest responsible for 20 percent of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere – is burning at an unprecedented rate right now. Often referred to as “the lungs of the planet,” the Amazon is home to more than three million species of animals and plants, and one million indigenous people. It is also a vital carbon storage that slows the pace of global warming…’- Continue to read
Amazon on Fire!
‘The Amazon is burning at a rate not seen since we started keeping track.
The smoke is reaching cities 2,000 miles away.’-INSIDER
'Amazon rainforest now emitting more CO2 than it absorbs'
‘Cutting emissions more urgent than ever, say scientists, with forest producing more than a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.’
‘The Amazon rainforest is now emitting more carbon dioxide than it is able to absorb, scientists have confirmed for the first time.
The emissions amount to a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, according to a study. The giant forest had previously been a carbon sink, absorbing the emissions driving the climate crisis, but is now causing its acceleration, researchers said.
Most of the emissions are caused by fires, many deliberately set to clear land for beef and soy production. But even without fires, hotter temperatures and droughts mean the south-eastern Amazon has become a source of CO2, rather than a sink.
‘Burning for Burgers: Amazon Rainforest Set Ablaze for Cheap Meat’
Photo:RainforestRescue
“The first very bad news is that forest burning produces around three times more CO2 than the forest absorbs. The second bad news is that the places where deforestation is 30% or more show carbon emissions 10 times higher than where deforestation is lower than 20%.”-Luciana Gatti, at the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil
'Growing trees and plants have taken up about a quarter of all fossil fuel emissions since 1960, with the Amazon playing a major role as the largest tropical forest. Losing the Amazon’s power to capture CO2 is a stark warning that slashing emissions from fossil fuels is more urgent than ever, scientists said.
The research used small planes to measure CO2 levels up to 4,500m above the forest over the last decade, showing how the whole Amazon is changing. Previous studies indicating the Amazon was becoming a source of CO2 were based on satellite data, which can be hampered by cloud cover, or ground measurements of trees, which can cover only a tiny part of the vast region…’- Continue to read
‘Scientists Warn Climate Change Is Suffocating the World's Oceans.’
‘Low oxygen caused the death of these corals and others in Bocas del Toro, Panama.
The dead crabs pictured also succumbed to the loss of dissolved oxygen.'| Arcadio Castillo/ Via Seeker
‘German scientists have determined what many have feared: Climate change has reduced the amount of dissolved oxygen in the world's oceans, a situation that can have dire consequences for marine organisms.
Researchers from the GEOMAR Helmholtze Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany found that between 1960 and 2010, the oxygen content in the world's oceans declined by 2 percent. The study also notes that because oxygen is not spread out evenly among the world's oceans, the overall 2 percent decline means that some areas have seen a much steeper decline in oxygen than others.
The Pacific Ocean, the world's largest, lost the most overall volume of oxygen, although the most precipitous decline occurred in the Arctic Ocean where climate change is ravaging the environment. The findings were published in the February edition of the journal Nature…’- Continue to read
The Wisdom of Mother Nature belongs to all Life.
Let be guided and inspired by Her and Save the Web of Life
'Be like the sun for grace and mercy.
Be like the night to cover others’ faults.
Be like running water for generosity.
Be like death for rage and anger.
Be like the Earth for modesty.
Appear as you are.
Be as you appear.'- Rumi
Photo: Petal Republic
If something is abundantly so clear, it is extremely obvious and self-evident
Discover what you love, what you value
Then,for sure, you will look after it.
Be in love with life and the living and the world will be a better place.- Kamran Mofid
Congratulations Humans, You have finally done it: You have set the world on fire
Congratulations Humans, You have finally done it: You have set the oceans on fire
Congratulations Humans, You have finally done it: From inside out You are now fully Plasticised!
Do we love the world enough to look after it, to save it?
‘Nature and Me’: Realigning and Reconnecting with Mother Nature’s Wisdom- A Five Part Guide
......
What if the Amazon Rainforest Disappeared?
Photo: YouTube
Save the Lungs of Earth-Amazon Rainforest
Watch the video: So What if Amazon Rainforest Disappeared?
Amazon rainforest ‘will collapse if Bolsonaro remains president’
‘The collapse of the Amazon rainforest is inevitable if Jair Bolsonaro remains president of Brazil, academics and environmental activists have warned amid a fresh government assault on protections for the forest.
Despite evidence that fire, drought and land clearance are pushing the Amazon towards a point of no return, they say the far-right leader is more interested in placating the powerful agribusiness lobby and tapping global markets that reward destructive behaviour.
The onslaught on forest safeguards has picked up pace. On Wednesday the lower house was due to vote on legislation that would reward land grabbers by legalising ownership of property that had been illegally invaded and cleared before 2014.
...Since Bolsonaro took power in 2019, deforestation and fire in the Amazon have risen to their highest levels in more than a decade. The past three months have continued that trend, though slightly behind last year’s peaks. Given the tinder-dry conditions in many parts of the Amazon, there are fears that the usual peak of the fire season in July and August could be worse than usual.
Scientists suspect the rainforest may be slipping into a series of vicious cycles. At a local level, land clearance and burning led to extended droughts and higher temperatures, which in turn weakens the resilience of the ecosystem and leads to more fire…’-Continue to read
And this is the man who is destroying the world, a very good friend of America and the western world!!
Trump sings the praises of the ultra-right wing politician engaged
in Ecocide who is also a COVID-19 denier
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro presents U.S. President Donald Trump with a Brazil national team jersey at the White House in
Washington, DC, on March 19, 2019. Photo: Pool / Getty Images / CNN)
‘Jair Bolsonaro: a danger to Brazil, and the world.’- Editorial, The Guardian, 5 April 2021
‘The prospect of the rightwing extremist Jair Bolsonaro becoming Brazil’s president was always frightening. This was a man with a history of denigrating women, gay people and minorities, who praised authoritarianism and torture. The nightmare has proved even worse in reality. Not only has he used a dictatorship-era national security law to pursue critics, and overseen a surge in deforestation of the Amazon to a 12-year high, he has allowed coronavirus to rampage unchecked, attacking movement restrictions, masks and vaccines. More than 60,000 Brazilians died in March alone. “Bolsonaro has managed to turn Brazil into a gigantic hellhole,” Colombia’s former president, Ernesto Samper, tweeted recently. The spread of the more contagious P1 variant is imperilling other countries…’- Continue to read
See also: 11 Things That Will Happen to Our Planet If the Amazon Rainforest Burns Down Completely
- Do we love the world enough to look after it, to save it?
- Congratulations Humans, You have finally done it: From inside out You are now fully Plasticised!
- Congratulations Humans, You have finally done it: You have set the oceans on fire
- Congratulations Humans, You have finally done it: You have set the world on fire
- It’s Now or Never: Do You Want to Know what Normal was before Wishing it Back?