Exclusion and Embrace 2016: Disability, Justice and Spirituality - understanding sacred texts, and the experiences of people with disabilities and carers within the context of faith

Exclusion and Embrace 2016: Disability, Justice and Spirituality

From August 21, 2016 03:04 until August 23, 2016 05:04

•  At Jasper Hotel, 489 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Australia

The Australian Catholic University, The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, The Progressive Christian Network of Victoria Inc., would like to invite you to:

2016 Exclusion and Embrace Conference

Date: 21-23 August 2016

Venue: Jasper Hotel, 489 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Australia.

This Conference is a rare opportunity to bring together people interested in understandings of sacred texts, and the experiences of people with disabilities and carers within the context of faith. This  multi-faith Australasian Conference  has the support of a wide number of organisations including the Jewish Christian Muslim Association (JCMA) and the Faith Communities Council of Victoria (FCCV). The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania is providing the Conference Secretariat.

The Conference will draw on the wisdom of all faiths, and will deepen our understanding of the many aspects of disability and spirituality. We are interested in your experience, research, practice, and ideas and knowledge.

Among the themes explored will be ethics, care, inclusion in faith communities, friendship, discrimination, love, justice, liberation.

In Australia, and abroad, an increasing number of people are actively exploring the intersection of disability and spirituality. An excellent Conference program will present perspectives across the faith spectrum, with opportunities for dialogue and formation of new networks. It will have appeal to people who live with disability, families and carers, academics and practitioners (volunteers and staff).

Two esteemed speakers will be keynoters at our Conference: Prof Hans Reinders is Chair of Ethics at VU University, Holland, and editor of the journal Religion and Disability. Rev Bill Gaventa is Director of the Summer Institute of Theology and Disability and President-elect of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). We are also delighted that an Australian cast of presenters is increasingly coming on board: Prof David Tacey an interdisciplinary scholar who is widely published for his knowledge of Australian spirituality. Other presenters include Lorna Hallahan, Sheik Isse Musse, Melinda Jones and Diana Cousens (see website Speakers tab for details).

There will also be an exhibition of artworks that reflect people’s experience of disability and spirituality, as it relates to the conference theme.

View and download the brochure (note: when printing remember to tick print on both sides and flip on short edge)

The Conference is also seeking Abstracts within these three streams, as they relate to disability and spirituality.

(i)         Supports in faith communities/service providers

(ii)        Sa­cred texts/theological understandings of disability

(iii)       Theological Educa­tion/Research.

Please go to Call for Presentations for details of Abstract Details and Guidelines. Abstracts need to be submitted by 10 April, 2016. Presentations may include formal papers, posters, personal stories, poetry, or other approaches.

We invite presentations which address aspects and experiences as they relate to spirituality and disability. Themes include liberation, education, bioethics, reconciliation, sexuality, pastoral care, inclusion, love, theological interpretations. All presenters must be registered for the event by 15 July, 2016.

Other sponsors and endorsers include Spiritual Health Victoria, Spiritual Care Australia, Christian Blind Mission, Victorian Council of Churches, Progressive Christian Network Victoria, Australian Catholic University and the University of Divinity.

As part of the Conference, we are also launching and displaying an  Art Exhibition, depicting the conference themes. Andy Calder, Conference Convenor

Further Information:  Ann Byrne  The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania  Email: ann.byrne@victas.uca.org.au

Phone: (03) 9251 5404

Endorsed by: Faith Communities Council of Victoria, Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia, Victorian Council of Churches, Spiritual Care Australia, Spiritual Health Victoria and University of Divinity.

Green Left Weekly Activist Calendar - 15-10-07

Activist Calendar, October 7

Rally: Stand up for refugees Sunday, October 11, 2pm. No turnbacks; Close Manus & Nauru; No Border Force Act; End mandatory detention. State Library, 328 Swanston St, City. Organised by Refugee Action Collective. Film screening: No Free Steps to Heaven Friday, October 30, 7pm (meal from 6:30pm). 2014 documentary by Israeli journalist who visited Kurdish YPG and PKK fighters in Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan. The film interviews Kurdish women fighters. Resistance Centre, Level 5, 407 Swanston St, City(opposite RMIT). $10/$5. Presented by Socialist Alliance & Green Left Weekly. For more info 9639 8622. Socialist Alliance day school: Australia’s role in the region: Racism, colonialism & imperialism Saturday, November 7. Proposed agenda: 11am-12:30pm: Opening panel: Australia’s racist and colonial history. 1:30-3:30pm: Workshops: (a) Fighting for self-determination: the Tamil and West Papuan struggles; (b) Australian imperialism and the Pacific; (c) TPP and free trade agreements. 3.45-5pm: Closing panel: Campaigning against racism and imperialism. ETU office, 200 Arden St, North Melbourne.

This is the regular Melbourne activist calendar compiled by Green Left Weekly. Emailed to subscribers each Wednesday fortnight, it is a one-stop listing of the main left and progressive events in Melbourne and Geelong. Since it began in early 1991, Green Left Weekly has offered an indispensable alternative to the lies of the big-business media and has helped build the various movements for social change. To subscribe to Green Left Weekly, visit our secure online website for rates and payment or call our national hotline on 1800 634 206. You can also contact us at the Resistance Centre, 5th floor, 407 Swanston St, City; ph 9639 8622. In Geelong we are at the Activist Centre, Trades Hall, 127 Myers St (opening hours: Mon 2-4:30pm, Fri 10am-4:30pm); ph 5222 6900. New email address? Not already receiving this calendar regularly? Want to subscribe someone else? Let us know at Greenleft Melbourne.

Until Wednesday, October 30 Photo exhibition: 37 years of people's struggles and resistance against brutal Iranian regime. Daily 10am-6pm. Meeting Room 1, Trades Hall, cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton South. For more info 0470 424 753. Wednesday, October 7- Friday, October 9 Latin American & Asia-Pacific Documentary Film Festival. For full details see Facebook. Thursday, October 8 Rally: Stop Ansell's union busting in Sri Lanka. For years, Australian company Ansell has been engaged in aggressive union busting in Sri Lanka. They have sacked around 300 workers fighting to have their union recognised in one of Sri Lanka's so called Free Trade Zones. Now it's Ansell AGM time. We'll be there to let their shareholders know of the disgraceful acts that are done in their name. Join us to tell Ansell to reinstate the sacked workers and recognise its workers' right to organise. 10am. Grand Hyatt, 123 Collins St, City. Friday, October 9 Commemoration: Peter Norman. In the 1968 Mexico Olympics, a young athlete from Melbourne put his his personal sporting glory aside to support his fellow competitors' stance on human rights. 12 noon. Human Rights Square, (aka City Square), corner Collins & Swanston Sts, City. Facebook Public meeting: A conversation with Ilyasah Shabazz. Malcom X’s daughter spreads his legacy in Australia. 50 years after Malcolm X's assassination, his legacy lives on through his daughter, Ilyasah Al Shabazz who is walking in her father's footsteps. Ilyasah Al Shabazz is a community organiser, social activist, motivational speaker and author. She promotes higher education, interfaith dialogue and helps build bridges between cultures for young leaders of the world. 6:30pm.Melbourne Town Hall, 90-120 Swanston St, City.  $25. Bookings. Organised by Islamic Council of Victoria. Saturday, October 10 Rally for diversity: Say NO to UPF in Bendigo. The United Patriots Front (UPF) have called another anti-mosque, anti-Muslim rally in Bendigo. This is a call to all people who support inclusiveness and diversity to rally against them and say 'not in our streets'. We'll be rallying 2 hours before the beginning of the UPF rally with the aim of disrupting it, so bring chants, songs, coloured balloons, placards, anything! The UPF include among their ranks open, proud, Hitler saluting Nazis who want to recruit Bendigonians to their vile racism and bigotry. The time is now to stand up for an inclusive, diverse Bendigo. 12 noon. Bendigo Town Hall, 189-193 Hargreaves St, Bendigo. Organised by Bendigo Action Coalition. Sunday, October 11 Rally: Stand up for refugees. No turnbacks; Close Manus & Nauru; No Border Force Act; End mandatory detention. 2pm. State Library, 328 Swanston St, City. Organised by Refugee Action Collective. Monday, October 12 Rally: Speak out for fossil fuel divestment at Melbourne University. For more than 2 years now, students, staff and alumni have been calling on University of Melbourne decision-makers to take serious action on climate change by getting rid of their investments in the top 200 coal, oil and gas companies. 2 years is too late; we need action that is in line with the urgency of climate change. We need a divestment commitment now. 12 noon. Underneath Raymond Priestley Building, University of Melbourne. Rally: Solidarity with indigenous Mapuche people in Chile. 12 noon. Chilean Consulate, 390 St Kilda Rd, City. Tuesday, October 13 Film screening: Black Hole. Special Q&A with Filmmaker João Dujon Pereira. Black Hole reveals unseen footage of coal, corruption and community resistance of one of Australia’s most controversial mining projects – Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Coal Mine in the Leard State Forest. Set against the backdrop of the mining industry’s ever-increasing thirst for fossil fuels, Black Hole is an intense and riveting exposé of the tensions between large corporations, the Australian government and the community. 6:30pm. Village Cinemas Karingal, 197 Karingal Drive, Frankston. Wednesday, October 14 Rally: Fluro Fightback 2015. As part of Anti-Poverty Week the National Union of Workers is going to get active and help to raise awareness of the growing number of people, including working people, that are living in poverty. Our Union campaign, "Jobs you can count on", is a campaign to unite all workers - whether permanent, casual, labour-hire or contract - all workers deserve security, dignity and respect at work. While there are growing reports of people in work living below the poverty line, the increase of workers in insecure working arrangements is also growing, and we believe that something has to be done about it! 8am. Southern Cross Station, cnr Bourke & Collins Sts, City. Organised by NUW. Thursday, October 15 Film screening: Black Hole. Special Q&A with Filmmaker João Dujon Pereira. Black Hole reveals unseen footage of coal, corruption and community resistance of one of Australia’s most controversial mining projects – Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Coal Mine in the Leard State Forest. Set against the backdrop of the mining industry’s ever-increasing thirst for fossil fuels, Black Hole is an intense and riveting exposé of the tensions between large corporations, the Australian government and the community. 6:45pm. $20. Cinema Nova, 380 Lygon St, Carlton. Friday, October 16 Film screening: Citizen Four. An explosive and timely documentary that examines the ever increasing erosion of privacy and the government’s growing and alarming powers to monitor and record our every move. Holed up in a Hong Kong hotel room with Edward Snowden, filmmaker Laura Poitras captures the sensational now public series of events as they unfold in real-time. 7:30pm. $17/$13. Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square, City. Bookings. Saturday, October 17 Public meeting: Russell Brand's 'Trew World Order'. Russel Brand tours a live version of his television series, The Trews. The show's name is a portmanteau of 'true' and 'news' and the premise, according to Brand, was to provide 'the true news so you don't have to invest any money in buying newspapers that charge you for the privilege of keeping your consciousness imprisoned in a tiny box of ignorance and lies'. 8pm. Rod Laver Arena, Batman Avenue, Richmond. Bookings. Sunday, October 18 Fundraiser: Run for refugees. Asylum Seeker Resource Centre's yearly Run 4 Refugees event is back on as part of the Melbourne Marathon. Bookings. Monday, October 19 Rally: Release the teachers in Iran! In Iran today, teachers wages put them below the poverty line. In 2015, nationwide rallies were held for better wages.In response, the Iranian Government threw the union leaders in prison. 10am. Parliament steps, Spring St, City. Organised by Victorian Trades Hall Council. Presentation: What will the new government leadership mean for the climate movement? 6:30pm. Followed by regular Climate Action Moreland meeting.Cheap meal available. BYO alcohol. Satay Anika (back room upstairs), 140 Lygon St, Brunswick.  Facebook Thursday, October 22 Film screening: Citizen Four. An explosive and timely documentary that examines the ever increasing erosion of privacy and the government’s growing and alarming powers to monitor and record our every move. Holed up in a Hong Kong hotel room with Edward Snowden, filmmaker Laura Poitras captures the sensational now public series of events as they unfold in real time. 9pm. $17/$13. Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square, City. Bookings. Saturday, October 24 Activist Arts Festival 2015. The Activist Arts Festival is a tribute to activists out there, past and present, who have given and continue to give so much of their time and their lives to fight for a better, more compassionate world. It is an initiative to bring together activist groups throughout Melbourne to present on their work in the human rights, animal rights and social justice fields. It is hoped the Festival will enable access to these groups by local communities in a non-protest environment. The event also exhibits different forms of activism through art: photography, music, spoken word, visual art, performances, workshops and film. 11am-6m. Trades Hall, 54 Victoria St, Carlton South. Sunday, October 25 Public meeting: Save the Ballerrt Mooroop Aboriginal site. The Ballerrt Mooroop site is in danger of being sold off to private developers. If this happens we would lose a site of significance for Aboriginal people. There is a campaign to save the Ballerrt Mooroop site for a Gathering Place and a First Nations Community Hub. There is also a Spirit Tree and Ceremonial Ground on the site.BBQ, speakers, music, kids activities. 12:30-4:30pm. Gather at the Ballerrt Mooroop site, 208A Hilton St, Glenroy (10 min walk from Glenroy Station). For more info 0413 377 978. Thursday, October 29 – Sunday, November 1 Theatre: Little Black Bastard. Originally performed at La Mama Courthouse in 2003. Since then, the book has been published and the performance has toured the world to critical acclaim. Noel Tovey, 81, returns to the building where he was taken from his parents at five years old and sentenced to Pentridge at 17. Don’t miss this celebration of an artistic career spanning seven decades, honouring this elder, mentor to indigenous performers and advocate for the LGBTI community. Times: Thu-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 4pm. $25/$15. La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond St, Carlton. Bookings. Friday, October 30 Film screening: No Free Steps to Heaven.  2014 documentary by Israeli journalist who visited Kurdish YPG and PKK fighters in Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan. The film interviews Kurdish women fighters. 7pm (meal from 6.30pm). Resistance Centre, Level 5, 407 Swanston St, City (opposite RMIT). $10/$5. Presented by Socialist Alliance & Green Left Weekly. For more info 9639 8622. Saturday, October 31 Moreland Socialists meeting. 1pm. Anatolian Cultural Centre, 195 Sydney Road, Coburg (100 metres south of Reynard St). For more info ph 0413 377 978. Saturday, November 7 Socialist Alliance day school: Australia’s role in the region: Racism, colonialism & imperialism. Proposed agenda: 11am-12:30pm: Opening panel: Australia’s racist and colonial history. 1:30-3:30pm: Workshops: (a) Fighting for self-determination: the Tamil and West Papuan struggles; (b) Australian imperialism and the Pacific; (c) TPP and free trade agreements. 3.45-5pm: Closing panel: Campaigning against racism and imperialism. ETU office, 200 Arden St, North Melbourne. Sunday, November 8 Fundraiser: Run for Palestine.  Initiative of the Australians for Palestine organisation that supports humanitarian efforts in Palestine. Join us in raising awareness and important funds to assist with these efforts. 10am. The Tan Running Track, Royal Botanic Gardens, Birdwood Avenue, South Yarra. Bookings.

Friday, October 9 GEELONG Organising meeting: Where to next for the marriage equality campaign in Geelong? Geelong held its first marriage equality rally on September 19 drawing in longtime campaigners as well as a new crowd of people wanting to be part of the campaign. Come along to be part of the discussion about where to take the campaign to next in Geelong. 5:30pm. Trades Hall, 127 Myers St, Geelong. Friday, October 23 GEELONG Red Cinema: No Free Steps to Heaven. 2014 documentary by Israeli journalist who visited Kurdish YPG and PKK fighters in Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan. The film interviews Kurdish women fighters. 7pm (meal from 6.30pm). Entry by donation. Trades Hall, 127 Myers St, Geelong. Presented by Socialist Alliance. For more info 5222 6900. Saturday, October 31 BALLARAT Rally: Equal marriage now. Equal love Ballarat are working Hard to bring another rally to Ballarat. This time we are going big! October 31 is meant to be dark and spooky but not this year: We will make Halloween RAINBOW. We are having the rally then having an all ages event. 2pm. Bridge Mall, Ballarat. Organised by Equal Love Ballarat. Saturday, November 7 BALLARAT Theatre: I'll Be There! An inspiring music theatre show featuring songs and stories of solidarity that people really connect with. It was created, produced and performed by the Victorian Trade Union Choir in collaboration with award winning playwright Rebecca Lister and our musical director Michael Roper. The Victorian Trade Union Choir is a group of 30 committed trade union members who believe in the power of song. We sing at union meetings, rallies, protests, picket lines, conferences, celebrations, concerts and music festivals to support workers and connect to the broader community. 7:30pm. Ballarat Trades Hall, 24 Camp St, Ballarat. Bookings

Australians for Kurdistan. Meets regularly to build solidarity with the Kurdish freedom struggle in Rojava (liberated zone in northern Syria), Turkey and elsewhere. For campaign and open letter to have the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) removed from the Australian list of terrorist organisations see Lift the ban on the PKK. Meets on the first Thursday of each month. For information ph Gulay 0413 936 706 or Aran 0410 197 814. Australian Unemployment Union. The Australian Unemployment Union is an organisation by the unemployed, for the unemployed. Our mission is to protect the common interests of the 750,000+ Australians who are currently unemployed. For more information visit AUE or Facebook. Australian West Papua Association (AWPA). Struggles against the Indonesian occupation of West Papua and against environmental destruction and resource theft. For info 9510 2193 or email AWPA. Climate Action Moreland. Meets regularly to develop action on climate change in the Moreland area. For information ph Andrea on 0424 508 535 or email CAM. Friends of the Earth's Anti-Nuclear & Clean Energy (ACE) collective. Meets every second Tuesday. FoE office, 312 Smith St, Collingwood. For meeting times & more info email Zin. Indigenous Social Justice Association. The Indigenous Social Justice Association was established in January 2005 campaigns to permanently stop Aboriginal deaths in custody. During 2013, ISJA will meet the first Thursday of every month. For more info visit ISJA. Quit Coal: No New Coal Power for Victoria. A Melbourne-based collective which campaigns against expansion of the coal industry in Victoria. We believe this is important because building new coal infrastructure locks in decades of dirty, old technology, when we should be moving towards clean, renewable energy. Quit Coal meets each Wednesday at 6pm, at FOE, 312 Smith St, Collingwood. For more info visit Quit Coal or email us. Refugee Action Collective. Established in 2000, RAC is a democratic, grassroots activist collective, representing a broad cross section of the community. It aims to mobilise opposition to Australia's inhuman refugee policies. For more info ph 0413 377 978 or visit RAC. Timor Sea Justice Campaign. For info visit TSJC, email Tom Clarke or ph 0422 545 763. Victorian Climate Action Calendar. Online updates are available at http://vcac.org.au/calendar/.

Recent articles from Green Left Weekly Naomi Klein: Capitalism is waging war on life on Earth Inside immigration detention on Manus Island — Part 5 ‘We must say no to bombing Syria’ Exploiting young workers hurts all workers Check out Green Left TV: See Greece: Prospects for the fight against austerity by Dr Michael Karadjis To subscribe to Green Left Weekly visit our secure online website for rates and payment or call our national hotline on 1800 634 206. Join us on Facebook. You can also contact us at the Resistance Centre, 5th floor, 407 Swanston St, City; ph 9639 8622. In Geelong: Activist Centre, Trades Hall, 127 Myers St (opening hours: Mon 2-4.30pm, Fri 10am-4.30pm); ph 5222 6900. Socialist Alliance: Broad, non-sectarian, activist Socialist Alliance is a proud supporter of the Green Left Weekly project and contributes a regular column. Socialist Alliance is a broad, non-sectarian socialist party, dedicated to bringing together all those who want to resist the capitalist assault on our planet and its people and fight for a socialist society that puts people's needs before business profits. Anyone who agrees with the general approach of our policies is welcome to join and organisations are invited to affiliate. For more information visit Socialist Alliance or join us on Facebook. See our recent statements: Turnbull vs Abbott: Same shit, different shovel The case for a universal age pension How to fight the growth of the far-right 'Reclaim Australia' movement Contact Socialist Alliance. Join with other socialists in the struggle. Melbourne: Visit us at the Resistance Centre, 5th floor, 407 Swanston St, City; ph 9639 8622. In Melbourne, Socialist Alliance meets on the first Tuesday of each month, 6:30pm, at the Resistance Centre. Geelong: Activist Centre, Trades Hall, 127 Myers St (opening hours: Mon 2-4:30pm, Fri 10am-4:30pm); ph 5222 6900. Moreland Socialists Moreland Socialists is open to anyone (even if you live outside the area) who wants to work constructively to support Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton and use her position to build up a stronger activist left presence in Moreland. In general, we meet monthly and alternate between Coburg and Fawkner. If you want to get involved in the group, email us at Socialist Alliance or phone Sue on 9639 8622 or 0413 377 978. For news and opinion visit Sue's Moreland Report or Facebook.

Resistance Bookshop Just out! The eruption of the brutal fundamentalist ‘Islamic State’ in the Middle East has placed the Kurdish people at the centre of the political stage.  The Rojava Revolution in northern Syria has attracted increasing interest and admiration around the world because of its unyielding resistance to the IS gangs, the heavy and unprecedented involvement of women in its defence forces and its attempt to build a people-centred society. Across the border in Turkey, the Democratic Freedom Party (HDP) and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) confront the racist, anti-Kurd war drive of the regime. This pamphlet concentrates on the Kurdish struggle in Rojava and Turkey. It aims to provide information and perspective on these tremendously important developments and, hopefully, furnish a basis for more active solidarity in Australia. By Dave Holmes, Tony Iltis & others.  44pp, $6. Available from Resistance Bookshop, Level 5, 407 Swanston St, City.

Pope Francis, Catholicism, The Vatican, The United Nations, Empire and Women & Children

I have been asked by a few people what are my thoughts on Pope Francis. I warm to what I see but I do reserve judgment. I don't believe that one man can turn around the culture of the insular Vatican or the wide Catholic diaspora. 

I believe there are inhibiting and evil cultures at work within the Vatican and within Catholicism at large. One of them is the culture of almost two thousand years of Roman style administration - the administration of Empire. The Catholic Church has been ruling a physical empire - not just a spiritual one. This flies in the face of Jesus who said his kingdom was not of this world. Central to the continuity through changing times and controversies has been the exercise of power across the world through an administration both Roman and Catholic.

This power has as one of its foundations exclusion. This exclusion is seen most clearly in the church's attitude to women and children. Children are powerless still. Women do have power and agency in this day and age ... but, with only rare exceptions, this is a product of the 20th century.

I don't applaud Pope Frank for having some of the better dressed poor to breakfast. That is not a world first. I will know things are on their way when the Vatican is handed back to the Italian Government and the Lateran Treaty is null and void; when the Catholic Church becomes a stateless entity with no representation at the United Nations.

One other thing is needed from top to bottom and that is a policy of inclusion as opposed to the current policy of preferment. Excluded women and children have to be welcomed into the centrality of the Church. A clear sign that this is happening will be the abolition of required celibacy within the Church. I know there is a long queue of women, particularly in religious orders, awaiting ordination to the priesthood. However, a reformed church will take into itself people from the pews IRRESPECTIVE of age, gender, ethnicity, educational qualifications.

The Catholic Church has long called itself The Universal Church. This is a lie. It is not The Universal Church as long as there are people excluded from its ranks simply on the basis of who they are rather than what they have to contribute.

So dear Pope Frank, I do give you ten out of ten for style. But more than style is required. Substance is of the essence and that must be, as far as contemporary humans are able, enduring. You will have to upset whole tribes of Vatican huggers and preferred prelates ... but I do believe that if you do it well - and you are capable of doing it well - there will be loud applause from the pews and beyond. You might even find many who have moved from the Church finding their ways back to inclusion.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/20/does-pope-francis-have-a-woman-problem.html

Are you all for in rather than out? Inclusion, exclusion, neo-liberalism, racism and the Swedish riots

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Racism is a complex issue.  Sometimes it appears as a rational response, sometimes as irrational.  Few, if any, nations or people groupings are free of racism.  What is its wellspring?  And if it is possible to identify the wellspring, do we want to acknowledge it and face it.

Since White Settlement, Australia has had racism in its national lifeblood.  We need to think about what is racism because even some of our most respected people who appear open and even-handed can fail to recognise race discrimination when it appears in policies, attitudes, and relationships.

This is a prelude to saying that the current Swedish riots have caught my attention.  They have caught my attention not only because they appear to have a race/ethnicity element but also because the Swedish nation has moved away in recent times from a strong social inclusion model of governance to a form of neo-liberalism and small government.  This model of governance has advocates both in the Liberal-National Parties of Australia and the Australian Labor Party.  The third reason I have for my interest is that as I look back on a long life of political involvement and activism I find my self coming back to thoughts of inclusion and I'm alert to elements of public life and social policy and human interaction which demonstrate exclusion, difference, inequity rather than inclusion, acceptance, and equity.

Governments can subscribe to and enact all the human rights legislation they like - and, perhaps but not always likely, enforce such legislation.  However, in the end such governance has little weight if society - or a large section of it - is left to glory in its own prejudices and exclusions.

Prejudice and exclusion are attributed to many factors - religion, lack of education, ability to exert dominance, ideology explaining dominance or inferiority and so on.  For me, these factors may to some extent hold the key but not entirely.  My view is that humanity demarcs.  If skin colour, physiognomy, language, gender were not used as factors of human demarcation, we would find other ways to describe, ascribe, and separate. 

RACISM IN AUSTRALIA

How did large groupings of people occupy certain lands and eventually come to describe themselves as nations?  When White Settlement began in Australia, there were 600-700 distinct Aboriginal nations.  Within those nations there are/were distinct subdivisions down to clan and family levels.  These nations - while apparently, at least to white Australians, of one race or ethnicity - held certain lands as their own.  They did, however, war with other nations in disputes about land ownership and boundaries.  In addition, incest laws in Aboriginal nations are quite strong and, among some nations, quite complex.  Aboriginal 'right skin' laws make Anglo-Celtic taboos look fast and loose by comparison.

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So, early in the 21st Century, across the globe human beings know about each other - who we are, where we are, the languages we speak, the economic circumstances under which we live.  We are mobile; have advanced technology; most of us have some form of education and literacy.  Just as people of old moved to other nations, lands, countries when there were adverse situations of famine, floods, and war, so people of to-day still move.  Most nations of the developed world walk a fine line about who is acceptable and not acceptable within their bounds.  Those with wealth or access are more acceptable no matter what their race or ethnicity.  They find a way to come in.  Those with no financial advantage are more likely to be the victims of exclusionist policies.

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The most dreadful story of exclusion and hysteria in relation to Australia of which I am aware is that of the "Dunera Boys".  It shows the paranoia of human exclusion when refugees from Nazi Europe were imprisoned and transported to Australia like the convicts of the eighteenth century - in case they betrayed the British cause to the Nazis they ran away from!!!  Australia to-day recognises this wonderful story of human determination and community and acknowledges the way we have benefitted from the 900 "boys" who remained in Australia and we are still benefitting to-day through many of their distinguished descendants.  

Australians - at least it seems like a majority of them but I hope it is a minority - decry the boat people and complain of people jumping some distant yet non-existent queue.  People came this way after the Vietnam war but any outcry or exclusion was not as strong as it is to-day.  Australia has now become an exclusion zone.  Refugees cannot apply for refugee status by landing on Australian soil. 

RACISM IN SWEDEN

Some of us in Australia have admired the social policies implemented in the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark.  Some of us have even thought at times that Australia was becoming somewhat like these nations that we admired.  What we idealists didn't readily acknowledge was that, just as Australia has its racist underbelly, so do these nations.  In these nations there were found ready bedfellows for Nazi ideology and its racist claptrap in the 1930s and 1940s.

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More recently, Norway has been rocked and sadden by its lone wolf racist attacks. Questions are raised about racism in Denmark.

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The Swedish writer, Stieg Larrson, was an outspoken advocate against racism.  References to current day Nazis and racism in Sweden found their way into his "Girl" trilogy. In 1999, Larrson was appointed Chief Editor of Expo, a Swedish magazine that exposes racism and the activities of the extreme right. 

Below is a discussion of racist violence in Denmark

AFTERWORD FOR AUSTRALIA

Australia is a modern nation but it needs to be aware of too readily adopting, in the name of modernity and current trends, the governance exhibited by other nations.  The governance and economics of neo-liberalism may find favour in terms of dollar values but is it worth the cost of rupturing the social fabric of a nation?  

Is casting all our doings, our business in the bureaucratic models of government and major corporations wise?  Where is there time for people, their wishes, their abilities, their sound ambitions in these models which don't spare time for thorough down-on-the-ground consultations or have the ability for close and empathetic listening?  We have had our taste of racial violence on one sunny January day of surf and sand at Cronulla.

Picture below from here

We need to think hard and long on what exclusion and inclusion means in terms of our nation.  We can turn away boat people all we like but are we really thinking about our humanity and theirs?  Are we really thinking of the consequences of our actions?  Every action has consequences.  I am naive enough to believe that good actions bring good consequences and bad actions bring bad consequences.  And who are we to think that we, as part of the human race, are any better than other members of the human race. Sure there are societies that are more equitable, tolerant, peace loving with highly developed economies and sophisticated and equitable rules of law than others.  But our systems while admirable are far from perfect.  White collar criminals who wreck the lives of others walk free.  We have seen senior bureaucrats and the Prime Minister of our nation being less than open and truthful  before a Royal Commission and get away with it.  Corruption may not be all pervasive in Australia - yet - but it operates in some very high and mighty places with great subtlety and has done since White Settlement in 1788!  

So what we need is humanity - to empathise, understand, communicate - and we need humility - to recognise our individual shortcomings and our national shortcomings.  Out of these reflections should come a spirit of inclusion so that governments, institutions and individuals will have an openness of the size and sort that is not displayed at this time.  I'm all for in - rather than out.  Are you?