Conversations from Syria … we r here planted as the trees of my ground

 

My friend Gail .. all I want u to know after this all ..
the west should understand something ..

If they think that beheading us and our children like this
torture and rape and behead our women like this

will make us leave this land and agree that they came
and occupy us they have to know that this crimes they
made make us more tough and angry

and my neck is cheap for mother Syria

we r here planted as the trees of my ground

so let them bring all they got .. and behead us all ..
they all will got from us is resistance

till the last guy standing

and as the great leader Guevara said :

I don’t care about when I fall
down since I know that there is comrades
will pick up my gun and keep shooting

and this massacres .. we will make sure
that the children who stay alive know
about it .. and the coming generation see
all this views .. so they will be more tough
fighting the west

the pics of those children … and my relatives
who suffered the same … give me extra power
to go and fight , and my life .. my neck is soooo
cheap for mother Syria

Name redacted

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Transcript: Speech by Gail Malone – March Against Monsanto, Sydney 12/10/11

Given the recent court case regarding the safety of RoundUp I thought it timely to republish.

We need to know if mining companies are destroying our aquifers; we need to know if they are poisoning our ground water with Coal seam gas chemicals.  We need to know that RoundUp destroys our soil and destroys human embryonic cells.  We need to know which foods are genetically modified.  We need to know of the precautionary principle and we really need to know about the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.  What we need to know will be kept from us if this agreement is signed.

We are heading into a perfect storm of the destruction of our environment, affecting our food and water sustainability as well as our sovereignty in one fell swoop.  The TPPA is a wet dream for the likes of Monsanto and other destructive industries.  One of the greatest threats to Australia becoming a rampant US corporate state is transparency.  If the people of this country actually understood what the TPPA means, that is if they have heard about the TPPA, they would be outraged by the lack of consultation with the people of this land and the degree to which they will be disenfranchised by it.

 

Why have so few Australians heard anything about the TPPA?  Because it’s a secret…so shhh it’s so secret that even in the US, Members of Congress, state governors, the press, and the public are not allowed to see drafts of the agreement.  There are over 600 business representatives serving as official U.S. trade advisers who have full access to draft texts playing an inside role in the process.  In Australia, only a few people involved in the negotiations know the details and they are not allowed to reveal them to Parliament, let alone the Australian public..  How does one negotiate anything without knowing the ‘details’, we all know that’s where the devil is.  Why is there such need for secrecy with this trade agreement?  Our sovereign rights will be imperilled by the TPPA and the people may get a bit uppity about that.

The TPPA is the stuff Monsanto dreams are made of.  If everyone knew the full implications, via studies of independent, peer reviewed science; if these studies were available for scrutiny not only Monsanto’s research, Australians would not allow such madness.  If you knew a Monsanto GM food caused infertility in both men and women, immune system failure, holes in the gastro intestinal tract, multiple system failure, would you want to eat it, would you feed it to your kids?  Monsanto told us PCBs, Agent Orange and DDT were all safe, not a good track record on transparency.  Monsanto and other companies of their ilk will lie for profit; they have a history of it, what psychologists would call a pattern of behaviour.  It is up to our government to demand transparency from multi national corporations and view their findings by comparing and contrasting them to other genuine scientific studies.  Government will only do that if a well informed citizenry in turn hold government to account, once the TPPA is signed that will be impossible.

The fundamental assumption is corporations can sue sovereign states, but sovereign states can’t sue corporations operating in their territory.  Tribunals set up to deal with disputes are a one-way street.  Tribunals are not bound by precedent and have no appeal mechanism. When an investor-state tribunal rules in favour of a foreign investor, the government must pay the corporation an amount decided by the tribunal and funded by taxpayers.  The obvious consequence of the threat of such challenges is States will change or weaken regulations to avoid fines, or avoid enacting legislation that might attract a fine.  So no plain labelling on cigarettes, but definitely plain labelling on GMO foods.  Monsanto doesn’t want you to know you’re eating their product, they know we don’t want their poison.

Monsanto’s best known product in Australia is RoundUp.  Researchers found one of RoundUp’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells.  The new findings intensify debate around “inerts” – the solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances manufacturers add to pesticides.  Glyphosate, RoundUp’s active ingredient, is the most widely used herbicide in the United States.  Until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate, rather than the mixture of ingredients found in RoundUp.  A few years back Monsanto agreed with the New York Attorney General’s office to discontinue the use of the terms “biodegradable” and “environmentally friendly” in adverts promoting glyphosate-based products, including RoundUp.  Biactive the ‘improved’ RoundUp is based on glyphosate, Monsanto boast that it is frog friendly and can be sprayed on and near waterways.  Monsanto does not disclose what the ‘improved’ surfactant is.  One specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than the herbicide itself.  “Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels” found on RoundUp-treated crops, lawns and gardens.  A research team suspects that RoundUp might cause pregnancy problems by interfering with hormone production, possibly leading to abnormal foetal development, low birth weights or miscarriages.  The term “inert ingredient” is misleading, U.S. Federal law classifies all pesticide ingredients that don’t harm pests as inert.  However, some inert ingredients have been found to potentially affect human health.  Many amplify the effects of active ingredients by helping them penetrate clothing, protective equipment and cell membranes, or by increasing their toxicity.  RoundUp is in the hands of untrained people across the country-side spraying for all they are worth to save us from weeds.  There are many safe methods for dealing with weeds that are cheap and some not labour intensive.  It has been found that many weeds have become resistant to RoundUp, Fleabane is one that is quite common in Australia.  So, we are in fact making super weeds, like we have made super cockroaches and super bacteria by ill informed and out of control use of insecticides and antibiotics?  Spraying RoundUp kills fungi that colonise plant roots and aid in the uptake of soil mineral nutrients.  If people had these facts to hand why would they spray their gardens and veggie patches with a chemical that will cause a failure to thrive?  If you have a weed infestation it is best to know how to deal with it, or if it needs to be dealt with at all.  Annual weeds can be kept cut low so they don’t go to seed, they then will dye off and replenish the soil without disturbing it making it vulnerable to further infestations and erosion.  Steam is also being used in several local councils for weed eradication.  You can solarise weeds by watering the area and covering it with thin clear plastic.  Leave it for as long as possible, say over winter to early spring would be ideal and wha-la dead weeds, cheap, painless, safe, just plant up, mulch, follow up spot weed, job done without a drop of poison ready for summer veggies!  Plants grown in solarised soil soon after treatment have often benefited from improved seed germination, better stand establishment and improved plant height.  Increased growth responses are thought to be due primarily to the increase in soil nutrient availability, as a result of the breakdown of soil organic material.  For large trees, camphor laurels and the like you can deal with them with a strangler fig, no removal of habitat or soil disturbance just patience to let nature take its course.  Understanding your weeds helps, do they need to be removed at all?  If the weeds and the crops or flowers you are growing aren’t competing for the same soil nutrients the weeds can be left as green mulch to help stop erosion and maintain moisture in the soil.  The weeds in your lawn can feed you, many are high in nutrients, very tasty and if you have not been using chemicals a dandelion is a delicious food as are many other weeds.  It makes no sense to use RoundUp except to increase Monsanto’s bottom line.  We are very cavalier about its use and it’s one environmental problem that we, as individuals, can control to a large extent.  All we have to do is not purchase the stuff but informed decisions can only be made in a transparent environment.

The amount of water in the Great Artesian Basin could form a water cube of 40 kilometres, holding more than 100,000 times the water of Sydney Harbour.  The water is between thick layers of friable sandstone into an interlinked network of aquifers that stretch from Dubbo in NSW, through most of Queensland and parts of the Northern Territory and South Australia.  It ”flows” through pores in the rock at the glacial pace.

The coal seam gas industry as a whole could extract 300 billion litres per year over the next 25 years, most of it from the Great Artesian Basin, according to federal government estimates.  As farmers are grappling to do more with less and adapt to a more stringent licensing system, the water being sucked up from the basin as a by-product of coal seam gas extraction will see the total volume brought to the surface rise by 60 per cent.

The basin has existed for millions of years, but one of the biggest tests to its existence will come in the next decade.  Beneath the layers of water lie some of the world’s most extensive coal seams.  Just as the sandstone aquifers contain water, so the coal seams contain methane.

To get the methane to the surface tens of thousands of shafts will be threaded through the aquifer layers.  In most cases, water, sand and chemicals will then be forced down the shafts at high pressure, to fracture the coal seams and get to the gas.  Large amounts of underground water will also have to be pumped out. After a few years, the wells will have to be sealed so that no gas or water leaks out, ever.  This will have to be done without turning the fragile Great Artesian Basin into a continent-sized pin–cushion.

As mentioned, sand is used in the fracking process so this is another resource that will have to be extracted from somewhere reasonably close the fracking areas.  Just north of Sydney I know of a sand mine, very handy as it’s close to the freeway.  The sand is being produced by crushing the friable sandstone of a hanging swamp with endangered flora and fauna, rock engravings and a spectacular women’s site. A river has been removed, that’s illegal, the company didn’t have a water licence, that’s illegal.  Friable sandstone is like a sponge that holds water within aquifers, extractive industries put a hole in the bucket of our aquifers.  The impacts of this culture of extraction cannot be fully realised and the TPPA will tie our hands in determining how we want to maintain our environment.

I did a quick search of some of the known chemicals used and the very first chemical I searched Naphthalene, yep, sure enough produced by Monsanto….the second one; Triethanolamine Zirconate produced by Monsanto … but there are still no comprehensive list of all the chemicals used, it’s suspected there are about 36 chemicals altogether but they are secret like KFCs 11 herbs and spices, Coca Cola’s recipe and Monsanto’s secret surfactant in Biactive RoundUp.

The most important Australian court to date, due to its exceptionally detailed consideration of the precautionary principle, is Telstra Corporation Limited v Hornsby Shire Council.  The case was heard in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court in 2006.

The Principle was summarised by reference to the NSW Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991, which itself provides a good definition of the principle:

“If there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reasoning for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation.  In the application of the principle… decisions should be guided by: (i) careful evaluation to avoid, wherever practicable, serious or irreversible damage to the environment; and (ii) an assessment of risk-weighted consequence of various options”.

The most significant points of Justice Preston’s decision are the following findings: The principle and accompanying need to take precautionary measures is “triggered” when two prior conditions exist: a threat of serious or irreversible damage, and scientific uncertainty as to the extent of possible damage.

Once both are satisfied, “a proportionate precautionary measure may be taken to avert the anticipated threat of environmental damage, but it should be proportionate.”

The threat of serious or irreversible damage should invoke consideration of five factors: the scale of threat (local, regional etc.); the perceived value of the threatened environment; whether the possible impacts are manageable; the level of public concern, and whether there is a rational or scientific basis for the concern.

The consideration of the level of scientific uncertainty should involve factors which may include: what would constitute sufficient evidence; the level and kind of uncertainty; and the potential to reduce uncertainty.  The principle shifts the burden of proof.  This principle will be null and void if the TPPA is signed.

Frederick Douglas said “Those who profess to favour freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning.  They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle.  Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

Gail Malone has a Cert. IV in Conservation and Land Management. Gail specialises in weed management.

 

Hands Off Syria, Sydney, stands in solidarity with Julian Assange

Hands Off Syria, Sydney, stands in solidarity with Julian Assange, Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks, and supports the call of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) for the “Swedish and British authorities to end Julian Assange’s deprivation of liberty, respect his physical integrity and freedom of movement, and afford him the right to compensation.”

Hands Off Syria, Sydney, endorses the call by Julian’s UK Solidarity Campaign for the UK Government to:
1. Ensure Julian Assange is guaranteed full and timely access to all necessary medical and dental care;
2. Request and defend his right to receive information and impart information freely without interference by any public authority;
3. Defend Mr Assange at home and abroad and object to threats levelled against Mr Assange by high profile US citizens and others;
4. Strongly oppose and refuse, any application to have Mr Assange extradited to the United States where it is unlikely he would receive a fair trial;
5. Facilitate the exercise of his right to freedom of movement in an expedient manner;
6. Compensate him for his arbitrary detention – the Swedish Government should also compensate him for his arbitrary detention.

WikiLeaks has been the source of information which has exposed US and allies war crimes in Iraq; regime-change operations in Syria and Libya and mass surveillance around the globe.

In The Wikileaks Files Julian reveals that the planning for the destabilisation of Syria goes back to 2006, referencing a diplomatic cable by William Roebuck, US Ambassador to Syria then, where the discussion includes the creation of a situation where “the Syrian Government would be enticed to ‘overreact’ to false or manufactured threats posed by ‘radical jihadists'” (Brandon Turbeville, September 2015).

The US and CIA being left red-face have decided to set up a Grand Jury to prosecute Julian and WikiLeaks under the Espionage Act 1917 and condemn him to life imprisonment, torture, and possible death penalty.

Over six years ago, Julian sought refuge and asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy following harassment and threats to his freedom by the British government and abandonment by his birth country, Australia.

Julian’s health has been deteriorating as he has been confined to the limited compounds of the Ecuadorian Embassy, without access to natural light, daily exercise and medical attention.

Following pressures from Washington and Downing St, since March this year Julian has been totally isolated, deprived of visitors, telephone calls, internet access and other means of electronic communication leading to further deterioration of his physical and mental health.

Canberra instead of supporting one of his citizens and demanding his safety and repatriation has decided to kowtow to Washington. This attitude must change if the Turnbull government does not want Julian’s death redden their hands.

As an Australian citizen, Hands Off Syria, Sydney, also supports the demands for the Australian Government to work for Julian’s freedom and any wishes for repatriation with guaranteed protection from any US request for his extradition.

July 2018

Extracts from Stratfor Emails released prior to 4th March, 2011 relating to Australia, Julian Assange, his family and WikiLeaks

There’s a need to keep reminding Australians of the active role Australia has played in the plight of Julian Assange and that his family were not to be excused from their cruel schemes. Many quotes used by John Pilger on Sunday 17th June at the Sydney rally for Julian are from this release . 

Comments from the experts. As I said before, I still don’t think the Supreme Court has set a clear line on this issue. Note Holder’s statement too–suggests Fred’s info is true that they may try to prosecute Assange under other laws. Espionage Act Presents Challenges for WikiLeaks Indictment. Sweeping Anti-Spying Law ‘Makes Felons of Us All,’ Legal Expert Says http://www.wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1084229_espionage-act-presents-challenges-for-wikileaks-indictment-.html 

One other point is this. Ferreting out his confederates is also key. Find out what other disgruntled rogues inside the tent or outside. Pile on. Move him from country to country to face various charges for the next 25 years. But, seize everything he and his family own, to include every person linked to Wiki. http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1056763_re-discussion-assange-arrested-.html

CEO George Friedmen responds: “It is possible to revoke citizenship on the grounds of being a dickhead except in Australia, where all of Queensland and a good part of South Australia, along with all of Sydney Uni would lose their passports.” Email-ID1050427 http://wikileaks.org/Stratfor-on-the-Australian-Assange.html

In another email, a former Australian Senator from Queensland, William (Bill) O’Chee cheers Assange’s London arrest. O’Chee writes to Fred Burton, Stratfor’s Vice-President for Counterterrorism and Corporate Security, and a former Deputy Chief of the Department of State’s (DoS) counterterrorism division for the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS): “Hooray!… Sadly [Assange] didn’t have a car accident on the way there.” Email-ID 370352  http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/370352_re-julian-assange-arrest-.html

The AFP statement forced Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to backtrack on her earlier public comments that the Wikileaks publication of the embassy cables was “illegal.”

Gillard continued refusal to formerly recant her “illegal” statement, as well her later, higly prejudicial remarks that that the WikiLeaks disclosures were “an illegal act that breached the laws of the United States of America” have gravely endangered Assange, especially in light of the recent WikiLeaks disclosure, obtained in another confidential Stratfor email, that the US has had a secret indictment against WikiLeaks for more than 12 months. Stratfor Email-ID 375123 http://wikileaks.org/Stratfor-on-the-Australian-Assange.html

Following Julian Assange’s release from a London jail, where he had been remanded as a result of a Swedish prosecutor’s arrest warrant, Burton told SkyNews: “extradition [to the US is] more and more likely”. Stratfor Email-ID 373862 http://wikileaks.org/Stratfor-on-the-Australian-Assange.html

In a late 2010 email exchange with George Friedman, Stratfor CEO and founder, Farnham writes, “BTW, close family friend in Sweden who knows the girl that is pressing charges tells me that there is absolutely nothing behind it other than prosecutors that are looking to make a name for themselves. My friend speaks rather disparagingly about the girl who is claiming molestation. I also think the whole rape thing is incorrect for if I remember correctly rape was never the charge.” Email-ID1657727 http://wikileaks.org/Stratfor-Sydney-Based-Watch.html

Assange has not been indicted in the Swedish case, but recently released emails have revealed that the United States Government has had a secret inditement against the WikiLeaks founder for more than twelve months: “Not for Pub — We have a sealed indictment on Assange. Pls protect.” Email-ID 375123 http://wikileaks.org/Stratfor-Sydney-Based-Watch.html

According to Burton: “Assange is going to make a nice bride in prison. Screw the terrorist. He’ll be eating cat food forever.” Emal-ID 1056988  http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1056988_re-wikileaks-is-attacking-us-.html

On Dec 7, 2010, at 11:00 AM, Marko Papic wrote:

Potential diary? Comparing WikiLeak attack to Pearl Harbor… Will STRATFOR rebound and eventually launch a nuclear attack against WikiLeaks? Stay tuned… for $199 a year. Email-ID 1056988 http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1056988_re-wikileaks-is-attacking-us-.html

cooperate with the United States if it opens a prosecution. Mr. Assange said a senior Australian official told him, a**You play outside the rules, and you will be dealt with outside the rules. Email-iD 1630947 http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1630947_re-profile-of-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-.html

The US began moves to charge Assange under the Espionage Act, and the Australian government is dutifully looking for something to charge him with too. http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1675721_re-wikileaks-and-second-wave-of-financial-crisis-.html

At this point, with the legitimacy of state and economy at historic lows, the three major blows of WikiLeaks have decisively shifted the power relationship between information on the one hand, and state/economy on the other. From the other end, the nations are rebelling. “Peoples of Europe, rise up” the Greek Communist Party’s slogan hung from the Acropolis chimes with WikiLeaks material and categorical challenge to the very fabric of state power, as expressed in the notion of “inviolable diplomaticcommunication”. http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1675721_re-wikileaks-and-second-wave-of-financial-crisis-.html

just told SkyNews concerns for US extradition more and more likely Email-ID 373862 http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/373862_assange-.html

Attorney General Eric Holder has said the Justice Department was considering filing espionage charges in the case. Email-ID 375123 http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/375123_fw-ct-assange-manning-link-not-key-to-wikileaks-case-.html

Chris Farnham wrote:

Is it possible to revoke some one’s citizenship on the grounds of them being a total dickhead? I don’t care about the other leaks but the ones he has made that potentially damage Australian interests upset me. If I thought I could switch this dickhead off without getting done 

I don’t think I’d have too much of a problem. BTW, close family friend in Sweden who knows the girl that is pressing charges tells me that there is absolutely nothing behind it other than prosecutors that are looking to make a name for themselves. My friend speaks rather disparagingly about the girl who is claiming molestation. I also think the whole rape thing is incorrect for if I remember correctly rape was never the charge. Email-ID 1050427 http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1050427_re-assange-is-off-the-hook-.html

Let’s say the following scenario happens. Assange is arrested and extradicted to Sweden to face rape charges. Wikileaks releases the password to the insurance files. Would he not then be directly endangering U.S. and other country intelligence professionals? Would it not then be possible to prosecute him for espionage? Email-ID 1050427 http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1050427_re-assange-is-off-the-hook-.html

Basic fact is that any move to arrest the guy (assuming they get an indictment for him) would require that a friendly government do it and then extradite him. Nick Miller told me the Australians have already offered to do this, as Assange is an Australian citizen, and Australia is the Canada of the southern hemisphere when it comes to its relations with the US.

Also, Karen had a very good point about the sex charges. Weren’t those dropped months ago after the initial allegations? What do ya know, after the US explici[t]ly warned him time and again to stop publishing the cables, it pops back up all of a sudden… Email-ID 1031974 http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1031974_re-info-wiki-founder-.html 

Not sure that’s happening re Oz; federal police have opened up an investigation to see whether or not any Australian criminal laws were broken. – where did Nick get the insight about an agreed extradition – there is nothing about this on OS and of course it would mean Assange would have to come home first. Something he is very unlikely to do. Gov Gen hasn’t ruled out canceling his passport incidentally. His mother has recently been interviewed by the ABC and she is scared that he will be “hunted down and jailed”… will make it difficult to pursue the scenario painted below. Australians are likely to back him. You wouldn’t believe how much press/public sentiment david hicks created in Guantanamo Bay. It really forced the Howard govt to change tactics…esp when polling results overall were so poor.** http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1031974_re-info-wiki-founder-.html 

Likely: someone is spoofing wikileaks and acting like the internet equivalent of an abusively drunk fratboy to get the wikileaks server ip blocked from as many networks as possible None of those scenarios is uninteresting, but I think my theor fits best. Thoughts? Email-ID 1056988 http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1056988_re-wikileaks-is-attacking-us-.html

In his native Australia, ministers have signaled their willingness to cooperate with the United States if it opens a prosecution. Mr. Assange said a senior Australian official told him, a**You play outside the rules, and you will be dealt with outside the rules.a** http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1630947_re-profile-of-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-.html

Bayless Parsley wrote:

How would it work if the US wanted to catch such a high profile target like this? Despite what one Republican senator may have said the other day (can’t remember who, or if it was even a senator), he’s not a “terrorist,” and so rendition….. wouldn’t really be an option. But legally, you’d have to have the host government’s cooperation. Is there any way aside from that scenario that could lead to his arrest on charges of breaking US laws?

On 12/1/10 12:12 PM, Fred Burton wrote:

From a very good contact @ the FBI — How come you guys haven’t picked this left-wing lunatic WikiLeaks founder up on some sort of trumped up charge? 1st Amendment overprotects journalists. Email-ID 1021974 http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1031974_re-info-wiki-founder-.html

“[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control… This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase” – CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez. http://wikileaks.org/the-gifiles.html

Marko Papic wrote:

Nate makes a good point. The arrest is not necessarily the end of Julian Assange. He could become a martyr in jail, particularly a Swedish jail, which I imagine has better amenities than my house.

On 12/7/10 7:38 AM, Fred Burton wrote:

Will take weeks for extradition, unless he waves the process. DOJ (Holder) won’t seek prosecution on their own, but look for the GOP (Congress) to press for criminal prosecution. Be easy to indict. I would pursue Conspiracy and Political Terrorism charges and declassify the death of a source someone which I could link to Wiki. http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1056763_re-discussion-assange-arrested-.html

(though personally, getting a rapist off the street is getting a rapist off the street. Also, his mom owns a puppet theater…) http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1056763_re-discussion-assange-arrested-.html 

In an interview with an Australian newspaper, Mr Assange’s mother defended her son and lambasted hawks in the US who have called for his death.

Ms Assange, who runs a puppet theatre in Noosa, a Queensland beach resort, defended her son’s decision to publish thousands of classified US documents on the website. “He sees what he’s doing as doing a good thing in the world – fighting baddies, if you like,” she told Queensland’s Courier-Mail.

Ms Assange – who does not even own a computer – described her son as a hero of the internet. But she added that she feared he had “gotten too smart for himself”, saying: “I’m concerned it’s gotten too big and the forces that he’s challenging are too big.” She did not want him “hunted down and jailed”. http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1056763_re-discussion-assange-arrested-.html

We probably asked the ASIS to monitor Wiki coms and email, after the soldier from Potomac was nabbed. So, its reasonable to assume we probably already know who has done it. The delay could be figuring out how to declassify and use the Aussie intel on Wiki. Wiki holding on to other docs is to protect their sources. The owner is a peacenik. He needs his head dunked in a full toilet bowl at Gitmo. http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/364817_fw-ct-fw-guidance-on-the-leaks-.html

Let’s say the following scenario happens. Assange is arrested and extradicted to Sweden to face rape charges. Wikileaks releases the password to the insurance files. Would he not then be directly endangering U.S. and other country intelligence professionals? Would it not then be possible to prosecute him for espionage? http://www.wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1657261_re-assange-is-off-the-hook-.html 

I came up with some more thoughts/points while discussing this with Sean: 

The general guess is that Insurance contains the remaining 15k Afghan docs, but it could either be something more damaging or total bluff. o In any case the US govt wouldn’t want to risk public dissemination. Which means they can’t really arrest him, kill him or send him to a relaxation spa in Cuba or Poland.

o  Therefore Assange’s life/liberty is somewhat important for US national security.

o  Pushing this reasoning forward, killing Assange would be detrimental for the US.

o  I don’t know who would benefit from further leaks and political shitstorms in the US, but that person/government may have it in them to cap Assange.

o  The US needs to make sure nobody gets to him.

o All in all, not a particularly brilliant self-preservation move from Assange. http://www.wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1176673_re-s3-mesa-ct-mil-wikileaks-posts-huge-encrypted-file-to-web.html

On 12/5/10 10:23 PM, Marko Papic wrote:

What a douche. And I just want to be clear here… I have no problem with the leaks. I think they’re great. And I think it may be good on some level to have stuff like this come out once in a while. What I can’t stand is A) his ego trip and B) his clear anti-Americanism. Take the time to read the intro to Cablegate when you get the chance. This guy hates America more than OBL. What I love, however, is how nobody in the U.S. is mad about the cables. Hell, I have a better opinion of State Department diplomats now than I did before the cables. They actually said a few smart things here and there. I actually gave them a tip of my hat.

I want to see him try to take on the Russians. He’d be going bald in an Iceland hospital within days. http://www.wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1657261_re-assange-is-off-the-hook-.html

A hero? Avaaz is right. It’s not illegal but it does make you accessory to being an asshole. Real people are being tortured by governments that Avaaz and Assange probably like more than the US, all the while the two of them denounce US ‘torture’ at Guantanamo. They are like the crazy IPS/CISPES/SDS people who were so full of hate that they could not see that they are doing so much more bad than they at doing good. I’m in favor of using whatever trumped up charge is available to get this guy and his servers off the streets. And I’d feed that shit head soldier to the first pack of wild dogs I could find. Or perhaps just do to him whatever the Iranians are doing to our sources there. http://www.wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/389793_.html

Doctrine of Diplomatic Protection – Greg Barns #ReconnectJulian

Fom 2012

The Martyrs of the Syriac Genocide Park, Damascus

This park in the Old City commemorates the Syriac Genocide by the Muslim Ottoman (Turkish) army, together with other Muslim peoples. These included Kurds, Chechens and Circassians, between 1914 and 1920 during and after WWI.

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Eyewitness accounts and quotes

Statement of German Missionaries on Urmia.

There was absolutely no human power to protect these unhappy people from the savage onslaught of the invading hostile forces. It was an awful situation. At midnight the triple exodus began; a concourse of 25,000 men, women and children Assyrians and Armenians, leaving cattle in stables, all their household goods and all the supply of food for the winter, hurried, panic-stricken, on a long and painful journey to the Russian border, enduring the intense privations of a foot journey in the snow and mud, without any kind of preparation. … It was a dreadful sight … many of the old people and children died along the way. ^[1]

The latest news is that four thousand Assyrians and one hundred Armenians have died of disease alone, at the mission, within the last five months. All villages in the surrounding district with two or three exceptions have been plundered and burnt; twenty thousand Christians have been slaughtered in Armenia and its environs.  In Haftewan, a village of Salmas, 750 corpses without heads have been recovered from the wells and cisterns alone. Why? Because the commanding officer had put a price on every Christian head … In Dlman crowds of Christians were thrown into prison and driven to accept Islam. ^[2]

The Armenian Genocide: Looking Back, Moving Forward 

The Armenian Genocide is no longer a silent issue in Turkey. The Kurdish awakening over the last 30 years has led to major changes in the political landscape of that country. Kurdish leaders today, as well as millions of others, acknowledge the participation of Kurds in the genocide of Armenians and seek to make amends. (This film is largely based on materials from Diyarbakir between 2012-13).

 

 

[1]  Yohannan, Abraham. The Death of a Nation: Or, The Ever Persecuted Nestorians or Assyrian Christians. London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1916, pp. 119–120. ISBN 0-524-06235-8.

[2]  Yohannan. The Death of a Nation, pp. 126–127

Transcript of Christine Assange – (Newcastle Forum) – Julian Assange; Fighter for Freedom or High Tech Terrorist? Form 2012 #Unity4J

Harry Williams:  OK…Christine, umm I wanna take you back, way back.  Ahhh Julian as a child, was he a sort of risk taking, independent, possibly uncontrollable child

Christine Assange:   He wasn’t uncontrollable at all, he was a lovely little boy … he’s very curious, very bright umm and the question he asked most was why and so we would spend time discussing the various theories around the answer.  He enjoyed thinking about all the different reasons why, not just wanting to have whatever I said.  In many ways he was a normal little boy, he used to go off with his friends adventuring, we always lived in the country and he had a dog and he’d built rafts on the river and he very much loved to read.  I would read to him every night … we would read adventure stories, the classics, the Greek legends, fairy tales, Robin Hood … the Incredible Journey. I suppose the theme in all the stories was about good triumphing over evil after a terrible struggle, I think all children enjoy that.

Harry Williams:  Thank you…Sounds just like me, when I was a kid…Now, as you can see tonight we’ve got a fair volume of people in attendance and in fact possibly more than I’d hoped we’d get.  So, beside Newcastle and you can see there’s a lot of people interested in what you have got to say, ah how are you sort of finding public support in general across Australia?  It is comforting to you?

Christine Assange:  When people know the facts of the case then they’re almost 100% supportive.  The problem is that the mainstream media isn’t giving people the facts … the support comes from some unusual places … does anyone here, has anyone heard of the, you know that Julian and WikiLeaks have won many awards but has anyone heard of the Sam Adams Award?  Put your hand up if you’ve heard of it … yes, the mainstream media really wouldn’t like you to know about this one.  In 2010 Julian was awarded … the Sam Adams Award for Intelligence for integrity in Intelligence and that was awarded by a panel of retired senior US Military and Intelligence Personnel (laughter and applause!).  It was given to him because of his very accurate portrayal of what it’s like, what it’s really like in war … the Afghan War Logs and there isn’t anybody who knows what war is like better than a soldier, or what the Intelligence community it up to better than a CIA Officer.  But the support is growing umm as you can see here, there’s many people here this evening there’s many people here tonight from Newcastle, I’ve had a wonderful response from Newcastle, thanks so much, give yourselves a big clap (applause).  The reason I have had to come here and go round the Country on panels is because the mainstream media won’t report the facts of the case.  I haven’t seen the leaflets, do they have any links to them, that people can…the leaflets, do you have any links on those?  Ok, alright, I encourage you to have a look at that, particularly what your own Government knows, now … you might like to ask that question actually … I’ll back to you (laughter).

Harry Williams:  You can ask yourself questions, make me redundant, I don’t care.  Yeah, um, until I get into that question um … How do you, I mean, do you have any fear about him, especially considering he is taking on the World’s only superpower, do you have any fear within yourself, any deep seated fears on what, any possible outcome may be?

Christine Assange:  I would be very naive if I didn’t.  Um back in 2010 there was a one hundred and twenty man task force up against Julian and that was two years ago.  You can imagine how big it is now … the cable coming from the Australian Embassy in Washington stated that the investigation into Julian and WikiLeaks was unprecedented in scale and nature, it was bigger than Osama bin Laden and they are using all the resources.  The Stratfor emails that you may have seen in the media the Global Intelligence Company, they have been working day and night, there are four thousand emails, as I think one of the speakers said, about Julian, that they intend to water board him … to make him a bride in prison and we all know what that means, that’s a horrible thing for a Mother to have to think of, um … they’re going to bankrupt the bastard, ruin his life.  Well, they have already made him bankrupt and they’re ruining his life.  Another Intelligence data company HB Gary that Anonymous broke into, hacked into, multimillion dollar Company employed by the Bank of America had a power point demonstration that looked like a Military strategy um satellite photos and the rest of it and um and we see what’s happening in Sweden, as a result of them going to set him up, they did set him up, they set him up on sexual allegations in Sweden, and that’s a holding case awaiting a US extradition.  What people may not realise is how a um US extradition comes about and in this case in comes about via what’s called a Secret Grand Jury and Kellie made reference to Virginia with a little smirk on her face.  The reason she was making that little smirk on her face is that Alexandra, in Virginia, is where they hold the Grand Jury, and there’s a reason for that, that’s the highest concentration of Military Contractor families and that’s where the jury pool will be taken, in the jury looking at the evidence against Julian.  But just to ensure they get their conviction they are going to have four Prosecutors and no Defence materials allowed or a judge.  So on the basis of the lack of due process in determining that indictment, no Country in the World should honour it and this Country should not honour it and this Country should require that Sweden and the UK not honour it because it is not due process.

Harry Williams:  Thank you ummm….one of the other questions is on a bit of a personal note, when was the last time you spoke to Julian or arh made other contact and if you do, how frequently do you contact him?

Christine Assange:  I spoke with him a couple of days ago, um I don’t have as much contact as he or I would like unfortunately our ‘phones are monitored so, we can’t actually be frank with each other.  So that’s put a dampener on our relationship but there’s love there, and I’m fighting for him and he knows that.  I’m looking forward to seeing him and I hope he will come home soon but I need him to come home to a Government that is going to protect him, not a Government that is demonising him and changing extradition bill amendments four days before and expected Supreme Court decision.  I don’t know if you are aware of this but um on the 29th of February, under the cover of the leadership spill and the new Carr appointment an extradition amendment …amendment to the extradition act and criminal mutual and legal assistance act was past.  For the first time now in Australia’s history, we, Aussies, can be extradited for minor offences, also the protections of, of having a political nature to your case have been very much slackened off, as is the protection of the death penalty, as is the protection of dual criminality.  At the same time Americans are ramping up Copyright Legislations around the World in everybody’s Country, Eric Holder, the Attorney General has stated that he would do anything to get Julian and he is looking at every loophole there’s a possibility that with the United States saying that they are going to try and Copyright Public Works, that he could go for something as small as a Copyright infringement from Australia now and then be held under the NDAA amendments signed as the Professor was talking about and never see a trial.

Harry Williams:  So, I take it that from your question or from that answer, I take it that you know that they are ease dropping on every bit of conversation you have with Julian?

Christine Assange:  This is not supposition, I’ve had ‘phones that have burnt out. I don’t want to get into all this CIA stuff really, but it’s no great news to anybody.  Given, the information that has come out of WikiLeaks, about the Global Intelligence Agencies, the shadow CIAs they’re called, Stratfor the Global Intelligence Files that were all monitored.  My ‘phone holds a charge for about two hours, you know, obviously they know what to know what I’m talking about, funny messages on the ‘phone.  But that’s not really the issue here, the issue is Julian and what they are going to do to him.  They torture their own Bradley Manning is being tortured.  The UN Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez, has stated he is being tortured.  60 Members of the European Parliament have written in protest to President Obama.  So they torture their own, what are they going to do to my Son.

Harry Williams:  Christine, thank you.  You did mention a word in your response there about being demonised and I mean everybody here would know that the easiest way that you deconstruct your opponent is to demonise them.  It happened to Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction, Ghadhafi that infamous Murdoch Press ad with him strutting around with women’s clothes on and all this other rubbish that went on and yet with Julian I’ve heard the words eccentric being tossed about. I heard the word…that crazy Aussie, that white haired Aussie…you know, this is all the time being bandied around the press as though he’s some sort of mentally unstable person.

Christine Assange:  As Kellie said, not one person was hurt by the information that WikiLeaks released the American cables etc., not one US Politician has stated that those cables were not valid, so what have they got left?  They have to smear Julian, what else can they do?  So they’re going into overdrive.  There’s great big comments about his hair, he’s got this weird, this white haired weirdo.  Well, if you’ve got Celtic genes your hair goes grey earlier.  If you go through a Family Court case like Julian does, you go through it…you go through it even earlier, if you’ve been to Family Court, you’ll know that.  Even if what you were doing, you were in the right and trying to protect your child.  Eccentric…well, what do we call eccentric in Britain, eccentrics are loved and appreciated.  Is it eccentric to want the truth, is that eccentric?  Have we become so jaded in our society that wanting truth and justice is eccentric?  Maybe people that call him eccentric need to look at their value system.  Julian is not normal, normal people don’t go and put themselves in the line of fire for other people.  He’s an extraordinary human being and I don’t say that because I’m his Mother, I have admiration for him as a citizen and extraordinary human beings don’t have dinner exactly at six o’clock. (applause)

Harry Williams:  In past conversations I’ve had with you in private you’ve indicated to me that Julian has been framed.  That’s pretty strong terminology, on what basis do you say that?

Christine Assange:  On the case facts, I hope they’re on your pamphlet there.  I’ve actually taken a bit of trouble to do what the Journalists should be doing, which is researching the case facts, now I’ve gone onto web sites where other people have done a lot of work justice4assange.com, being one of them and umm.  Also, as I was going to say earlier and then decided to go back to my question, are you aware that your Government is very well aware that Julian was being framed?  This is my last resort being here, at first of all wrote to the Australian Government, I wrote to Kevin Rudd with case facts and I got a standard form letter.  I sent that letter to every MP and every Senator and asked them to read it and that’s freely available on Brisbane WikiLeaks Defence; Christine Assange eight page letter, you can have a look for yourself and I asked them to look at this letter and put aside their Party politics and act upon their conscience and I actually got a bite from Andrew Manning MP in Queensland who was mortified at the facts that he was reading and what he’d researched further and suggested that the Australian Parliament really needed to be apprised all these facts.  I was very hopeful, so we put together three lawyers, and ex DFAT, Department of Foreign Affairs Diplomat Tony Kevin, who had also been an ex Ambassador and they went to Parliament, they put submissions to Parliament.  One of them was Greg Barnes head of Lawyers…Australian Lawyers Alliance and the Australian Parliament was told in no uncertain terms based on the case facts and the chronology, the time-line that Julian was being framed.  He was a political prisoner and the case in Sweden was merely a holding case awaiting a US extradition and there was a lot of excitement in Parliament apparently about it and a lot of hope that something would be done and they told me that they would have regular cross bench interest…special interest group would meet.  That was the end of it, I never heard a thing again.  People who’d been speaking up in the Labor Party, one Sharon Grierson here in your local electorate who was speaking up, they were all gagged…and then began a series of Bills against WikiLeaks, one being the WikiLeaks Amendment.  I’d like to tell you some of the facts about the Swedish extradition, so you can understand why I said he’s being framed.  First of all the timing, Julian has never had a claim of sexual abuse about him and he is forty years old.  Suddenly, he gets two right in the middle of Cablegate.  That’s a little bit more coincidence than you would like.  He…neither of the women actually accused him of rape, in fact woman SW and these are all facts, these are undisputed facts.  Woman SW, was in fact so upset that the Police alleged rape that she did not sign the statement and ran out of the room from the interview.  Her statement was later altered without her consent and without her signing it to get the European Arrest Warrant to make it look even worse.  Woman AA submitted a condom 12 days later to the Police after she alleged that Julian deliberately tore the condom but when the condom was forensically examined there was no DNA evidence of either Julian or woman AA.  Woman AA and the police officer that interrogated woman SW and both the Lawyers that represented them were all members of the same Political Party.  They were all standing together for elections at the same time, four weeks after the sex allegations were made and one of the strong platforms of that Party is widening the definition of rape within consensual sex.  Another fact, the business partner of one of the Lawyers representing the women Thomas Bodstrom, when he was Justice Minister he signed off on CIA rendition torture flights on Egyptian refugees, later Sweden had to make compensation because they were innocent.  The other fact I point you to is that Julian…the rape allegation was dropped within 24 hours by the Chief Prosecutor Eva Finne and it was only raised again when woman AA who was running for election went to the lawyer running for election and found a Prosecutor Marianne Ny who a Swedish judge Brita Sonheim Berg, described as a radical feminist and the three of them put their heads together with the condom and raised the rape allegation again and you may not be aware that you can be in gaoled for rape in Sweden for non violent, consensual sex.  The definition of rape is not like ours at all and the last point, there are many points but this is the last one I’ll leave you with in regard to that case, you can see many more on my Wlcentral.org/node/2486.  The European Arrest Warrant was taken out for questioning and that is a misuse of the warrant, the warrants are only supposed to be taken out for a prosecution or to bring back someone who has absconded.  So, it was taken out for questioning, Julian stayed five weeks in Sweden to try and secure an interview to clear his name and they refused every time.  So, he was given permission to leave Sweden on the 15th of November, once he left Sweden, then they organised an interview and when he couldn’t come back with one day they issued the warrant started the process to issue the warrant.  Through his lawyers in the UK he, they wrote to Sweden saying the normal protocol if someone is overseas and they’re only wanted for questioning not for prosecution is something called Mutual Legal Assistance, to which the Swedish, the Swedish and the British are both signed up.  Marianne Ny the Chief Prosecutor refused point blank to use that protocol and lied to the media and the people of Sweden and said they were not signatories to it.  The European Arrest Warrant was then backed up by a Red Notice by Interpol.  The only time that Red Notice has ever been used in recent times for sexual allegations was for a repeat pedophile offender, so it was an abuse of the Red Notice as well.  Julian has been under House Arrest for 15 months in Britain and he has offered himself for questioning to Scotland Yard and offered himself for questioning at the Swedish Embassy and the Swedish Prosecutor Marianne Ny has refused all offers, while still pursuing an European Arrest Warrant for questioning.

Harry Williams:  Thank you very much…you have sort of answered the next question.  I was going to ask you about what approaches you have made to the Australian Government, I think you have satisfactorily answered that.  Now for the following question and I mean this is probably one of the biggest questions of the night, what steps can people take to help Julian, what can they do to help you, help the organisation and to try and help get him back safety?

Christine Assange: Well, you’ve all taken the first step by coming here tonight, thank you very much, I really do appreciate it.  On behalf of Julian, I’d like to thank you.  So, that’s the first step is to become informed because this is what as Kellie said on another panel, this is an information war.  The only way we can fight the smear and the lies that have been put out about Julian and WikiLeaks is with facts.  So you need to arm yourself with facts, there’ll be links there to the facts.  Once you’ve got the facts, start to spread the truth.  You can do that among your friends and co-workers and family.  But you can also do thinks like ring up talk back radio when you hear this misinformation being put out you can correct it and whether you work around the water tank or the water cooler just start to drop some of these eye opening facts into the conversation.  The one that I gave you before about them all running for the same Political Party that’s the one that really stuns most people to start with.  Now, arh..what else can you do?  You can write letters to the local editor, you can post comments when you see articles, you can buy WikiLeaks T-shirts and hoodies and wear them with pride.  The more people that stand up loud and proud for WikiLeaks the more other people will stand up.  Julian has often been quoted as saying ‘Courage is contagious’ and that’s true, it’s much easier to be courageous when there is more of us.  The more people that stand up, the more people that stand up.  Now we must not leave our Politicians out of this although they would very much like to be left out of it.  Your Politician wants your vote more than anything else in the World, I think we can see now, aside from a few Politicians that they are there mainly to feather their own nests, there are what we called career Politicians they are not people there that have taken up the call of their Country, so that Politician really want your vote.  So organise and interview with your Politician and don’t take no for an answer.  Take a letter armed with the facts and it’s more than just Julian, we’re talking about free speech and democracy here as well and also by the way Independents for Australia in the US, we are not the 51st State of the US, we are Australia and we’re a Sovereign free Nation (rousing applause).  We come from a Colony of the US, we’re not about to become a Colony of the US and we’re fast on the way to being there and people here that are migrants will know exactly what I’m talking about.  You’ve come from other Countries to escape this sort of fascism that’s fast making inroads here through America by this Government (rousing applause).  So I would say to you boldly confront your politician after all we pay their wages and it’s time they remembered that and tell them that actually my plasma tellie is not the most important thing at the next election, I’d actually like to leave my children freedom.  The next election is going to be about Julian Assange and it’s going to be about press freedom and it’s going to be about democracy and it’s going to be about Australian independence and if it’s not for you, then you’re out.  I won’t be voting for you and if there is not anyone else to vote for you might think about standing yourself.  We can do with a few more Independents and break this…this choking party politics that we’ve got where they only hold hands for pay rises and to suppress free press (applause).  Now, tomorrow we got the…well you people are giving today so we may not worry about that but tell everybody about the ‘Beat the Blockade’ campaign that’s on tomorrow donate $5.00 to WikiLeaks.  The other thing you can do is to umm because they’ve got enormous expenses defending themselves against this onslaught from four Governments.  By the way they are actually currently working with one hundred media partners throughout the World to bring the truth to you, they haven’t been broken yet, but they do need funds to keep going and to defend Julian and the other Journalists these attacks.  What else, oh yes, at the risk of being labelled ‘a terrorist’ or ‘a belligerent’ you might like to start your own little WikiLeaks Support Group, that can be just one person and flyers aren’t that hard to make, follow me on AssangeC, I’m on Twitter, that was my big foray into the internet.  I can’t use a computer but I can tweet in bed on my pink Barbie Doll ‘phone.  Interestingly the $70 Barbie Doll ‘phone aren’t as easy frozen by security because they’re too low tech enough…isn’t that funny? (laughter)  So I hang onto mine for grim death.  Follow me on AssangeC because within that stream I’ll be tweeting a lot of stuff and also hash tags on Assange and WikiLeaks on Twitter because you’ll find out what’s going on and you can respond to it.  There’s a great series at the moment by a bloke called SomersetBean and he’s taking my facts and he’s making posters out of them and he’s putting them up and you can download them and print them and put them up all over town, posters and flyers you can letterbox.  Oh, here’s a thing for Newcastle, what about a Benefit Concert, you guys are great with music, I think a Newcastle Benefit Concert would rock and show the rest of Australia, you know, what you guys can do, because, you know, I think there is something quite special about Newcastle, it’s not just some poll political smear to grease you up.  There is something special about this place, it’s um, I picked it up as soon as I arrived here there’s something really gutsy and Australian here and you’re really proud of that so you can show the rest of Australia how it’s done maybe.  I think that’s about it, I haven’t forgotten anything have I.  I’m sure you’ll come up with other stuff.

 

Transcribed by Gail Malone 2012

Norman Lindsay and the ‘Asianisation’ of the German Soldier in Australia during the First World War

During the First World War, cartoonists throughout the English-speaking world responded to Allied allegations of German atrocities by depicting the German soldier as a monstrous ogre and labelling him a ‘Hun’ (Gullace, 2010 Gullace, N. F. (2010) Barbaric anti-modernism: representations of the ‘Hun’ in Britain, North America, Australia, and beyond, in P. James (Ed.), Picture This: World War I Posters and Visual Culture. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press., pp. 61–62). The ‘Hun’ became a prominent symbol of the enemy’s capacity for rapacious violence and was widely depicted in both government and non-government propaganda. While the simian German soldier was unique to the First World War, the racial tropes projected on to him were not. Indeed, he was an amalgam of pre-existing imagery that had been created during the 19th century as British imperialists applied scientific notions of race to colonised people throughout the globe (Robertson, 2010 Robertson, E. (2010) The Hybrid Heroes and Monstrous Hybrids of Norman and Lionel Lindsay: Art, Propaganda and Race in the British Empire and Australia from 1880–1918, MA Thesis, Australian National University.). The Australian transformation of the German from racially similar Aryan to monstrous ‘Other’ is an excellent example of how this process occurred, and clearly demonstrates that race played a central role in the Allied construction of the ‘Hun’. Through an examination of the war art of Australian artist Norman Lindsay (1879–1969), this article will establish the importance of race to the creation of the ‘Hun’ in three ways. First, Lindsay’s ‘Hun’ was closely modelled on anti-Asian and anti-African British imperial atrocity propaganda that long preceded the Great War. Thus, popular tropes from ‘atrocious’ rebellions such as the Indian Mutiny were recycled for use in 1914. Second, racial stereotyping reflected the particular culture that produced it—in this case, Lindsay’s work was the product of a uniquely Australian brand of racism that pilloried the Chinese and Japanese. Third, Lindsay’s racial stereotyping, although uniquely Australian, nonetheless drew upon deeply held British beliefs about the nature of imperialism, being that white civilisation waged a war against black barbarism: by ‘Asianising’ the German, Lindsay therefore removed his status as a white man, and enfolded him in a pre-existing and powerful imperial narrative about the ‘Just War’ against coloured savagery.

 

Source: Norman Lindsay and the ‘Asianisation’ of the German Soldier in Australia during the First World War