Andy interviews John Blaxland (academic from ANU) about the Brereton Inquiry into SASR War Crimes In Afghanistan.

The various court cases affected by the release of the much redacted Brereton Inquiry are summarised below:

(1) Potential criminal charges in the Federal Court against the SASR soldiers that carried out the murders of unarmed civilians in Afghanistan as shown on national TV programs such as the ABC’s Four Corners;

(2) A defamation case taken out by a soldier accused of war crimes. “Mr Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, is suing The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald over reports he allegedly committed murder on deployments to Afghanistan and that he punched a woman in the face in Canberra.” – Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Ben Roberts-Smith is suing various media outlets and certain journalists for defamation for claiming that he is a war criminal. The media concerned have lodged a truth defence.

(3) The criminal trial of the soldier, David McBride, who released the information that led to the Brereton Inquiry after the ADF and successive governments tried to cover up the massacres of farmers, their wives and children in Afghanistan.

Photo: Ben Roberts Smith leading Canberra's Anzac Day march last year. Dion Georgopoulos

November 13, 2020

This week’s Paradigm Shift features a 1965 speech by James Baldwin at the Oxford University Union where he presages the current racial crisis in the US . He accurately predicts the election of a African American President (Obama) almost down to the year but cautions us on what it may deliver.

John Jiggens, Greg Chipp (Drug Law Reform), James Baldwin (Essayist), and Barack Obama speak about the American Dream.

Playlist

The Songs of Tom Smith – The Lord is King, He knows I’m a Queen

The Peace Pilgrims – Drone Lament

Sue Monk and Sergio Aldunate – Strike the Beast Hard (from Living in the Colonies)

Image - marlon brando - james baldwin - charlton heston-harry belafonte

Interview with Meredith Bergmann about 60s radicals, the subject of her forthcoming book.

Image: I am a man march in Memphis

Paradigm Shift November 6, 2020

"Lowering expectations of Democracy"

1. What are our expectations of democracy?

2. Qld's Democracy sausage by Dr John Jiggens

3. What now Labor governs?

Paradigm Shift 9 - 23 October 2020

23/10 - Meredith Burgmann – ‘cutting cane for the revolution in Cuba’

16/10 - Many Mountains to Climb

9/10 - Assange on ‘Desolation Row’ at the Old Bailey

Aunties Karen Goori and Jenny support refugees and call for support to save Deebing Creek from developers. Refugee Rally 30 Oct 2020 at Emma Miller Place.

An NTEU union member was brutally attacked by police on Sunday at a refugee protest. MIchael McNally, the State Secretary of the NTEU had this to say in his defence and in support of refugees under in humane conditions at Kangaroo Point. Yet another refugee has been forcibly removed to Villawood from Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation (BITA).

Michael McNally responds to SERCO's forced removal of another refugee to Villawood in Sydney.

Footage has circulated on social media of a National Tertiary Education Union member being assaulted by a police officer at the Kangaroo Point refugee rally on Sunday afternoon. The man, Jeff Rickertt, a 56-year-old university librarian, is seen holding a fence when a police officer violently attacks him. Rickertt was hospitalised overnight and released from the Mater on Monday afternoon.

NTEU Queensland Secretary, Michael McNally states:

“I was shocked and appalled to see Jeff attacked like that. The footage is really short and you can’t see what is happening before the incident, but there is no possible excuse for this excessive use of force.”

“Jeff just appears to be holding the fence when he is attacked from behind, while not apparently constituting a threat to anyone.”

“Jeff has been protesting for a long time against the festering sore that has been created by the indefinite detention of refugees in terrible conditions.”

“It’s totally inappropriate that they are locked up in an inner-city motel that’s not fit for purpose. I bet that the police don’t want to have to be there either, though that’s no excuse for violence. It’s a toxic situation created by inhumane border protection policy.”

Media Release:

Posted 27 October 2020 by Michael Evans (NTEU National Office)

Media Comment:

Michael McNally, Secretary, NTEU Queensland – 0423 538 721

Photo: Union Member assaulted by police at Kangaroo Point Hotel/Prison

Discussion with Meredith Burgmann about the New Left.

Q Can union Green Bans be used to stop climate change?

Q Why a book about transformation of conservatives to radical in the 1960s? Why not a book about radicals who align their politics with self-interest?

Q Why did you join the Labor Party?

Image - Qld Premier Frank Nicklin meets LBJ on 22 Oct 1966 at Brisbane airport.

Discussion of the New Left with Meredith Burgmann

Q CPA position on Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia?

Discussion of the New Left with Meredith Burgmann