Meet Cynthia McKinney, US Greens Presidential Candidate 2008

Unlike her Australian counterparts, Ms McKinney is:

1. well informed about Israel and the middle east
2. not afraid to speak truth to power
3. not on holiday while Palestine burns

I’ve just about had it with the Australian Greens.

Tasmania's Green Senators: Bob Brown and Christine Milne

It’s not that I don’t like their environmental policies. I do. It’s not that I don’t think they have better policies and do a better job in the Australian Parliament than the major parties. They do, although that’s not hard.

My problem, with the Greens in Australia is that they behave like poodles on foreign affairs – and on most matters relating to the creeping police state.

They provide no voice for the millions of Australians disgusted at the Zionist bias in Australian mainstream politics. They have, it seems to me, chosen to be ‘electable’ in terms defined by the mainstream media. That means they shut up when they’re told – and placate Zionists both within the party and outside. As a consequence, they are like quislings and useful idiots. It’s sad.

Cynthia McKinney

This week, the wonderful Cynthia McKinney, leader of the American Greens in the 2008 election, joined the good ship Dignity, rammed by Israeli navy-pirates as it tried to reach Gaza to deliver emergency medical supplies.

The Dignity, a relief boat rammed by the Israeli navy and prevented from entering Gaza

McKinney, a former Democratic Senator from Georgia, used her time in Congress to ask tough questions. Almost alone among the hundreds of congressional members, she openly queried the Government’s official line on 9-11. She stood up courageously for Palestinian interests. Toppled from Congress after a sustained campaign by the Israel Lobby, she returned to lead the American Greens in this year’s Presidential campaign. She didn’t win, but her integrity is undiminished.

To me, you’re an inspiration, Cynthia! The kind of Green I respect.

What about the leaders of the Australian Greens? What are they doing about the looming war in Palestine – which at minimum looks like it may result in many thousands of deaths in Gaza?

Judging by their websites, nothing. That’s right! I took a look at all the Green Senators websites just now. I didn’t see a single item about Gaza. Nor can I find a single media release from the Australian Greens about this latest crisis in Palestine.

Australian Greens: Silent on Israeli War Crimes in Gaza

Leader Bob Brown apparently gives higher priority to an appeal to the Pope to change his approach to homosexuality (talk about tilting at windmills!). His webpage lists Bob’s ‘issues’. They include Tibet, a worthy cause for sure. But where is Palestine? Not on the Greens map, it would appear. Has it been wiped off? Yesterday, the new Senator Scott Ludlum, a promising young politician, issued a press release relaying a Message to (Prime Minister) Rudd from 100 A-Bomb Survivors – Take Leadership to End Nuclear Age. A good idea, for sure. But does this largely symbolic gesture have greater immediate priority than Palestine under assault from F-16s? It seems the Australian Greens leadership think it does.

I’m disappointed, but not surprised.

BBC Reporter Jane Standley reports on Collapse of WTC-7 before it happens! Australian Greens snooze on...

Since 2001, I’ve written several emails to Greens politicians and prominent party members. I try not to ‘do’ ignorant rants. My emails were reasonably well argued and typically well referenced. I raised issues such as obvious flaws in the official version of the 9-11 mass murders (in which many Australians, among others, met their death). I made the case for demanding an inquiry into the 1978 Hilton Bombings to stave off pressure to cede yet more power to our unaccountable, misleadingly named ‘Intelligence’ Services. I raised serious questions about the Port Arthur massacre – another probable miscarriage of justice (no inquest or inquiry once again). I pointed out – as the Parliament was stampeded into passing yet more ‘anti-Terrorist’ laws following the London Bombings of July 7th 2005 – that the culprits for those bombings were unknown because the British Government refused to hold an inquiry (it still does). I wrote of the need for a strong voice in Parliament against an essentially bogus ‘War on Terror’. I discussed the blatant injustice of Israel’s polices and of Australia’s moronic, unquestioning support for Zionist policies.

To my knowledge, I received not a single reply.

A couple of years ago, a senior Greens Senator visited Cairns along with a small entourage. I was able to join the local Greens for dinner with the visitors. Finding myself next to a pleasant and obviously intelligent political assistant, I raised the issue of 9-11. Were people in Canberra completely unaware that 9-11 was a false flag operation, I asked? Don’t they use the Internet? Don’t they ask questions? Don’t they use their own brains?

Actually, I asked these questions in rather a more subtle and less offensive way than that. We had a lengthy, pleasant and interesting chat. The staffer expressed interest and asked me to send material. I did. Again, no reply.

Voltaire. Refused to Believe in Absurdities

It’s as though the Australian Greens let George Soros determine their agenda (I’m not saying this is the case, but it might as well be). Sure, they support many good causes. But on issues which might cause old George to raise an eyebrow, they won’t say boo to a goose. The Greens in Australia would rather disconnect from reality than make an utterance that might be lampooned in the Murdoch press.

Voltaire famously remarked: “people will continue to commit atrocities as long as they believe in absurdities”.

In Australia, The Greens seem utterly determined to believe in absurdities. If there’s evidence to the contrary, they prefer not to look. If they do look, they keep their mouths shut. They’d rather make sniveling quips about ‘conspiracy theories’ and get straight back to ABC-defined reality. Consequently they are pathetically ineffective in preventing atrocities.

I hope they wise up and fast. If not, at the next Federal election, I’d like to see challenges in every State by environmentally-conscious candidates for the Senate who aren’t afraid to think outside the (TV) box and ask the hard questions.

We need Greens in Australia like Cynthia McKinney. Senators who don’t just go along to get along.

Greens with guts!

Australian Greens Homepage, 31st Dec 2008. Palestine is not an Issue.

See also A New Script for Dr Brown

A few days ago, I was rude enough to write to the Australian Government over the holiday period. What’s more, my email was not about cricket.

Israel rains death from the air in Gaza (Photo from Friends of the Earth Palestine)

This kind of behaviour is not encouraged down under.

It makes work for public servants when they’d rather be on the beach, like their Ministers. It may be taken as an indication of seditious intent.

Even so, in the circumstances, I thought I’d take the risk…

Here’s my email:

From: Syd Walker [mailto:......@sydwalker.info]
Sent: Monday, 29 December 2008 9:27 AM
To: Smith, Stephen (MP)
Subject: Please act now to stop Israeli mass murder!

Dear Minister

I am writing to urge you to take IMMEDIATE action to demand that Israel stops the massacre in Gaza.

There must be an immediate ceasefire. Israel is reponsible for the mass murder and must stop, forthwith.

The statistics quoted by the Israeli Human Rights group B’Tselem are a month old, but give a general overview of the killing on both ‘sides’ in Palestine/Israel. I urge you to take a look.

Some 130 Israelis were killed by Palestinians between 29.9.2000-30.11.2008, the great majority being members of the armed forces. By contrast, in the same period close to 3,000 Palestinains were killed by Israelis. The ‘kill ratio’ of Palestinian:Israeli children in the hostilities is 158:1

When will the Australian Government have the decency and honesty to mention this?

I implore you to put the firmest imaginable pressure on the Israeli State to stop the carnage now.

Regards

Syd Walker
Address…

__________________________________

The first reply was not encouraging (but at least the Foriegn Affairs autoresponder has typos too!):

This Office is cuurently closed for the Christmas New Year break. The Office reopens on Monday 5 January 2009.

If your email relates to a Foreign Affairs portfolio matter and it is urgent, please telephone the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade Consular Operations Centre on (02) 6261 3305 or Toll-Free on 1300 555 135. Both are available 24 hours per day.

For general passport enquiries, you can telephone the Australian Passport Information Service on 13 12 32, again available 24 hours per day.

Stephen Smith MP
Member for Perth

But today there’s an update! (emphases added)

Dear Mr Walker

Gaza Destruction (Photo from Friends of the Earth Palestine)

Note who is ‘stongly condemned’ and who isn’t. Apparently the Australian Government has the same bigoted view of the ‘kill-ratio‘ and warped view of recent history as the Israeli Government itself.

In my follow-up email, I may be even meaner and include photos. I think I’ll ask about Australia’s ‘aid’ program too. Did we spend big on Gaza’s University, just blown to smithereens by Israel? Is it like a fund to give the Israelis target practice?

Ah. And the  ‘Road Map for Peace’. I must ask about that too. Is the Government joking?

Perhaps the job of writing this latest letter was outsourced to Tel Aviv?

I wonder also if the same letter is sent out to Zionists writing to complain that Australia isn’t supporting Israel enough Could there be another version, even more biased towards the occupier and aggressor?

I could run a test. What might a real Zionist say?

Here’s a few insights.

People often complain the Israeli-Arab conflict is too complicated to understand.

It’s true one can get lost in argument and counter-argument, especially when relatively new to the subject matter. The conflict over Palestine has been going on for over 100 years. That’s a lot of arguments! But most of them are really distractions. The key issues are not too hard to grasp.

A Terrorized Gazan Child

Unfortunately, you rarely find them presented with clarity in the mainstream media.

Diane Mason runs a blog with the witty title Lawrence of Cyberia. She also maintains Palestinian Biographies, which is well worth a visit too.

Her latest article – The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Too Complicated For Our Beautiful Minds – is a ‘must see’. Published yesterday, it’s an introduction to the topic of Israel/Palestine in crystal clear English with just enough statistics to get the main point across.

Do check out the full text. Here’s how it starts:

“There are so many words written about the “root causes” of the Arab-Israeli conflict, you might think the underlying issue is difficult to understand. But you’d be wrong. For all the mythology that interested parties want to wrap this conflict in, it’s really not difficult at all to understand the confrontation that has been going on in Palestine for more than a century now.

“All you have to do is try to imagine that what happened to Palestine happened instead here in the U.S. Then ask yourself, “What would Americans do in this position?”. And at that point, you find it miraculously stops being difficult to understand.

“The problem with this approach is that American Exceptionalism has left us barely able to imagine being in other people’s shoes. So we explain the world to ourselves through ridiculous platitudes like we’re good and they’re evil, that actually explain nothing and leave us as confused as when we started. We just don’t do empathy very well.

“But let’s try anyway. Let’s try imagining that what has been going on in Palestine for the last 100 years is going on instead here in the U.S., right now.”

And here’s how it ends (emphases added):

“…the conflict in Palestine is actually rooted in the fact that Palestinians are exactly like us.

“Palestinians do not accept that equal citizenship in their own homeland should be denied them because of their ethnic/religious background, any more than Americans would accept ethnic justifications for denying them equal citizenship in the United States. Palestinians do not accept that a population that is 96.7% Muslim and Christian should be ethnically cleansed to make way for a sectarian Jewish state, any more than we would accept that the 97.5% of Americans who happen to be not-Jewish should be ethnically cleansed to make way for a Jewish state here.

“In short, Palestinians reject and resist Zionism because they do not accept being treated in ways that we, likewise, would never accept for ourselves.

Gazans Murdered by Israeli Bombs

“This is not difficult to understand. And yet we wrap the Arab-Israeli conflict in complex, ontological constructs about “The Arab Mind”, about “Islamofascists” who “hate us for our freedoms”, and about mindless, irrational anti-Semites who hate Israel just because it’s Jewish and not because the overwhelmingly non-Jewish population there has to be destroyed in order to make it, and keep it, Jewish. Complicated existential explanations to hide the simple fact that the Palestinians are doing exactly what we would be doing if we found ourselves in their situation.

“I understand that if you’re a Zionist you have a vested interest in not understanding all this, and in persuading others that it’s really very complicated. But for the rest of us, really, how difficult is this to grasp?”

____________________________

NOTE:  The photos on this web page are from Friends of the Earth Palestine.