dialogue day
Mood:  a-ok
A dialogue- where more was revealed about privilege indirectly than directly.

Today, I (and my "consultation" class group) held a dialogue at uni between students from different parts of Sydney. It was meant to be one based on divisions of class (projected spatially), however, the people who turned up were overwhelmingly middle class and generally not from the Western Suburbs. This pattern of attendance was very much a result of class barriers:

1.most people at Sydney Uni have class privilege.
2.those people who can spare time at uni (rather than having to go to work) are privileged in money.
3.those people who have the confidence to respond to such an invitation are privileged.
4.those people who are in my and other friends' social networks (from which we recruited most of the people) generally have educational privilege.

Most of the (more obviously working class people) from the Western Suburbs who I invited last week did NOT turn up. One Vietnamese-Australian guy from Cabramatta emailed me to say he had to work. His friend did not come either. All three of the homie guys I invited did not come. They were reluctant to come to Manning- they did not like the people there. Perhaps this was also because they were recruited randomly- they were not my friends hence felt no sense of obligation. The only Western-suburbs person who came was Danielle, who was quiet for most of the discussion.

So what happened today? I was quite frustrated by the poor quality of analysis and discussion that took place, and the general uniformity of the people who turned up. I guess generally dialogues attract articulate people. Also, the way that stereotypes were uncritically raised and laughed about, yet with no direct interrogation of the validity of those stereotypes. So... I need to work out what to do for next dialogue. I am thinking of doing a short film of interviews to show people as stimulus....

Anyway- driving and picking up my sister, I started thinking more about privilege. I would love to study privilege in a philosophical/ language/ economic way. What does it mean to 'have' privilege? What are some taxonomies of privilege that we can use? What about oppression? In what way is privilege 'good fortune' and in what way is it class, handed down the generations...?

Anyway- then Liz got me to come with her to Bikram Yoga, which was in a hot room (hatha). That is why I feel great whereas yesterday and the day before I was falling asleep all the time.

A.

So so much has passed since my last entry-

but I don't need to catalogue that- I'll just talk about the present moment.

My brother John is downstairs, on the computer- in a dark room, staring up at the bright screen. I come up behind him and ask him what he's doing- he tells me, "I'm loading iron ore into a furnace to make iron bars".

Among the many functions of a computer in absorbing the technical tasks of production, i never guessed that this stage of production would be one of them. (Though my bro is only in year 6 at school)

chickens

we got 3 chickens yesterday (Sunday)... and one of them layed an egg today. It was nice and small and brown.

Rosie - my brother Thomas's dog -went crazy running after them, and so we barracaded her out of the backyard.

I took some photos. Here they are:

The chickens stayed in the undergrowth looking for grubs.

And here some are:

And heres a kookaburra- not facing me-

the Pope
Mood:  hungry
Here are some good progressive analyses of the Pope's legacy:

From Antiwar.com

From New York Indymedia:

Pontificating about the Pontiff

On his role in Sandinista suppression

From Green Left Weekly: Pope John Paul II, a reactionary in shepherd's clothing

From Juan Cole's Weblog: Reclaiming the Pope's radicalism

And here are some shirts for the Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club.

On a totally other note, here is a very different thing- an interview with an author in New Mexico whose village took on the global heroin trade.

Sunday
Even though its a Sunday, I had a very busy day.

Firstly, my brother got me to go to the Adbusters meet up on behalf of him, in Hyde Park. That was good...

Then I went to glebe, to do some 'study' in a cafe with a friend... it's so hard to read Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" anywhere, but I got through a few pages.

I went to the SRC to check my email, then I went to a meeting at Newtown to plan a forum with Chico whitaker, a Brazilian catholic who helped initiate the World Social Forum

And then I went to St Patricks Church Hill.

After getting home, I rang Jen to talk about our FBi radio interview tomorrow which is pretty scary.

Now I'm on the internet. It's 11.36 and I scanned Melbourne Indymedia, reading again Paul's 'Shambolic review' of the Italian Effect conference.

Also, I read an amazing article about West Papua by Paul Kingsnorth.
It's a great introduction to the West Papua issue.

bitsn pieces
I just read an article by John Gray from The Ecologist, In this article, John Gray asserts that the most problematic idea that secular humanism has inherited from Christianity is a faith- driven belief in progress, This was an inheritance impoverished of its context in a more balanced religious understanding of the complexities of the human condition.

(Gray doesn't have a nuanced view of utopian movements, putting them all in the same box as Leninist Communism without recognising the culture wars within them. He speaks of utopian ideologies from the point of view of a far off observer with little agency, eg 'communism promised...' but he doesn't acknowledge that only authoritarian communism promised anything. The self- organisation of oppressed people would lead to a very different 'utopia' to the state capitalism of bureaucrats. A promise or a contract by unaccountable politicians like that will never get a just result.)

Now here is a beautiful interview of a US- grandma and forest activist, Joan Norman. Its on infoshop, which has recently been attacked by the FBI.

Talking of FBI, FBi radio want to interview me about religion with a few other people, in the context of the pope dying... But I feel that I have such a contradictory and confusing picture in my mind about the institutional Church that I'm really worried about giving it ... so I'm not sure what to do...

Also, an Interview with Noam Chomsky is pretty intriguing, about the impact of the World Social Forum Process.

And here is People Power: an interview with David Solnit.

The Sydney Morning Herald was very interesting this morning, with articles about the basic wage as the government's next target, Right wing Christians in the Liberal Party, with branch-stacking etc, biodiesel, Peak Oil 1, Peak Oil 2, Nelson's Criticism of NUS spending $250 000 money on Labor's (non) re-election, A vision for a fun engaging classroom.

Also, I posted these on email recently:

Two items: 1. More on the Canadian Student Strikes: From the Dominion grassroots paper, From the , from an amazing group called ASSE-solidarity. (Association for Solidarity between Student Unions)

2. EU endorses Paul Wolfowitz, the leading Neoconservative behind Dubya, for World Bank Presidency- Now the World Bank can give up pretending to be socially responsible.

Article from Guerilla News Network, Article from Foreign Press Foundation, Wednesday, 30/03/2005 - 10:48 World Bank Wolfowitz: Shame over the European Union!

Blogs plus Tony Negri
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: M1 cd
I'm having such an excellent day! I have sooo much to do- hopefully I'll plough through it in time for deadlines, eg grant application due this arvo...

I just discovered some aquaintances interesting blogs:

Andy and Safari

Lee Rhiannon.

Judy Rebick from Canada- an amazing organizer for unionism and feminism.

ALSO, Tony Negri refutes some pathetic allegations against him in The Australianby history-reviser Keith Windschuttle, in anticipation of a conference at Sydney Uni.

ALSO, 1360 scientists from 95 countries have just signed a statement saying that the Earth's biological systems are at risk of imminent collapse. Here is a good article from The Independent that puts this in perspective.

new photo album
I just started up a new photo album, not so much for my personal use but rather to share resources/ pictures from SEAN, the Student Environment Activist Network.

cyas

Some Newspaper Articles

Geneva vs. Canberra: This is an interesting article about Australia's diplomatic
manouverings with regard to racial discrimination at the UN, and the
fact that our laws/constitution and bureaucracy are not oriented
towards preventing racism at all...

It is written with David Marr's characteristic intrigue with gulfs
between rhetoric and reality, and his preoccupation with the tragic
demise of official institutions- often blaming official figures and
constantly expecting them to be better human beings, [rather than
having a structural/ institutional analysis and a grassroots
programme]. This requires a certain lack of cynicism that seems
typical of a lot of small 'l' liberals in his generation.

James Hardie Claims: An overlooked Indigenous community:
Hardie on Run The Australian

Wasting Away: A gluttonous nation- Australians go shopping for the thrill of the purchase rather than the pleasure of using the goods.- Adele Horin SMH 18/3

(Surprise surprise... pity they have to frame it in such an individual responsibility way though- yet its good that the Australia Institute is getting so much print space.)

Email Excerpts
Hey people...

I'm currently POSTING useful stuff from my emails.

Schnews- the most interesting social change newsletter I know of...

This week's SchNEWS: Friday 18th March 2005, Issue 489

An article about the connection between tree removal and rainfall reduction:Drought linked to fewer trees

From Open Democracy: What the hell is "civil society"?, Globalising freedom, The trouble for Muslims, and non-Muslims, Dyab Abou Jahjah distinguishes Arab resistance from Muslim victimhood, in his argument on US terror.

Hands off our code!

There are 30,000 European patents on computer code. So far, most are not in force. But if the EU gives in, says Becky Hogge, our common intellectual assets will be privatised. If you don't understand what is happening, read this. Wake up, this is important (1,800 words)

Hey my brother james sent me this:

To the citizens of the United States of America,

In the light of your failure to elect a suitable President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.... -----------------------------

DODGE ALERT!!! VSU/ASOL transcript of John Laws/ Brendan Nelson interview

Transcript of John Laws Programme Radio 2UE Interview VSU

From Anna Rose...

Hi all student (and non student) environment activists

This is a very important message. Please read and talk about the issue in your environment collectives and with your friends.

You have probably seen in the media today that the Howard government tabled Voluntary student Unionism (VSU) legislation to the House of Representatives today. We at the National Union of Students found out about this last night and hence had a crazy insane night of making leaflets and posters followed by an intense day publicing a snap action we are holding tomorrow where students from lots of different campuses in NSW are marching to John Howard's office in Sydney. So far the issue has received a lot of national and even international media attention. We need to keep it on the public agenda and fight as hard as we can to save our student organisations...

Global Trade Watch E-Newsletter #29 - March 17, 2005

Wolfowitz to Head World Bank: Critics Amazed. -50 years is enough

THE WEEKLY SPIN, March 16, 2005 -sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy

THIS WEEK'S NEWS: == SPIN OF THE DAY ==

1. Investing in "Ethical" Uranium 2. Gloom in the Ranks of PR 3. Not So "Firewall," After All 4. Where the Buffalo Shills Roam 5. Video News Responses 6. State of the Fourth Estate 7. Ten Minutes from Normal Relations 8. Fake News on the BBC 9. The New York Times Catches on to VNRs 10. Pro-Cedar, Anti-Syria 11. Still in the Movie Business 12. McPositioning 13. Counting Votes First, Dead Later 14. The Reverse British Invasion

Got this from Greenbiz and thought it might be useful for campus action. Cameron

Campus Climate Action Toolkit Source: Clean Air - Cool Planet

Looking for ways to make your college campus more climate-friendly? This online package offers software, information and instructions, links, and case studies to help colleges and universities slash emissions while saving much-needed cash.

Dear friends and colleagues

I am writing to let you know that the final report of the Youth and Sustainable Consumption project I have spoken to you about or that you were involved in has now been publicly released.

For more background information, go here: . The final report can be downloaded in various formats from the here. Hi Folks, (warning + how to leave below)

(i just received one of these from a friend)

You are highly likely to receive an invitation such as the following shortly, because the service gets people to enter their YAHOO, HOTMAIL, MSN OR GMAIL password and then sends (personalised) messages to _everyone_ in their address book:

"XXXX has invited you to join XXXX's mobile friends' network.

Simply click the link below to confirm your relationship with XXXX.

http://www.sms.ac/.....etc... "

Social software - including SMS groups - has great potential, but THIS ONE IS NASTY. One person wrote: "First, SMS.ac had all of my friends spam the hell out of me with their scam-like service (most of whom apologized immediately afterwards). Now they're sending cease and desist letters to friends who apologized publicly, calling this defamatory".

How to leave SMS.ac: (If you have registered)

Option 1: (best) Sign in (http://www.sms.ac/login.asp) click on "myAccount". Choose "Edit" in the Mobile Phone Information box, then you will be able to edit or remove your mobile number.

Option 2: http://www.sms.ac/MobilecommandHelp/h2_cancel.htm (Click on "" - follow instructions.)