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CATHOLICS IN ISRAEL AND GAZA: A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY POISED TO DISAPPEAR

The October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,440 people, were shocking
in their cruelty, eliciting an extreme response from Israel. Prime Minister
Netanyahu is determined to eliminate Hamas once and for all. After neutralising
the terrorists in Israel, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) has cut off access to
Gaza, not allowing anything in or out. The targeting of civilians, as well as
images and videos of the brutalisation of victims, including women, children,
and the elderly, has made it difficult for many people around the world to feel
sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Human rights groups have asked Israel to
allow humanitarian aid to pass through. However, Hamas taxes everything that
goes in, including aid. Israel is blocking aid to Gaza because it fears that it
will end up in the hands of Hamas. Jerusalem has stated that aid would be
allowed into Gaza if the more than 190 Israeli hostages were released. Human
rights organisations argue that not all Palestinians are affiliated with Hamas.
On the other hand, because Hamas members do not wear uniforms and often blend
into the larger civilian population, it is challenging for the IDF to
distinguish between terrorists and non-terrorists, as well as those who support
terrorism and those who do not. However, it's important to note that Palestine's
small Christian community is not associated with Hamas. Mr Anton Asfar,
Secretary General of Caritas Jerusalem, a Catholic aid organisation, explained
during a phone interview that the blockade affects not only Muslims in Gaza, but
also Catholics and other Christians. Vanishing minority Mr Asfar recounted the
relatively small size of the Christian population in the Middle East, saying,
"Christians in the Holy Land are few in number, about 200,000." He estimated
that in Jerusalem, where he is based, there are fewer than 10,000 Christians
from various denominations, including Latins, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox,
Syriacs, and Armenians. "And the number has been decreasing," he said with
sadness. In 1922, approximately 25 percent of Jerusalem's population was
Christian, but today, Christians account for only about 2 percent of the
population. In Israel, the Catholic Church operates schools, hospitals, and
other services that are open to people of all faiths. Caritas Jerusalem is an
organisation "Inspired by Gospel values and Catholic Social Teaching, [which]
responds to disasters, promotes integral human development, and advocates for
the causes of poverty and conflict." Mr Asfar was concerned because he wanted to
provide aid to staff members and to Catholics in Gaza. He stressed, however,
that the organisation assists all people regardless of race, religion, or
nationality. In Gaza, there are only about 1,000 Christians from the Greek
Orthodox and Roman Catholic faiths. The predominant language among Catholics in
both Israel and Gaza is Arabic. Mr Asfar stated, "The Christians are considered
Palestinians by the Israelis." However, in Israel, they can also speak Hebrew.
In Palestine, they speak Arabic. He said that in Palestine, the Christians share
the same culture and schools as the Palestinians. In fact, the majority of the
students at the Catholic schools in Gaza are Muslim. "The Christians in Gaza are
suffering now just as much as the Muslims," he lamented. "Christians are
displaced as much as Muslims. We have many staff working in Gaza. Many of them
have had their houses destroyed. Both Catholics and Muslims have sought refuge
in the convents and schools of the Catholic Church." Fr Gabriel Romanelli, the
pastor of Holy Family parish in Gaza under the jurisdiction of the Latin
Patriarchate of Jerusalem, reported that "200 parishioners were taking shelter
in the church, monastery, St Thomas Aquinas Centre, and Holy Family School,
along with several congregations of women religious: the Sisters of the
Incarnate Word, the Rosary Sisters, and the Sisters of Charity." An additional
120 families have also sought refuge in the Greek Orthodox complex.

Antonio Graceffo

October 19, 2023

UK POLITICIANS REBUFF WIDER ELECTORATE

This summer, I embarked on a curious project. I wrote, individually, to the 650
MPs in the UK Parliament, asking them to consider the implications of the
amendments to the International Health Regulations and Pandemic Treaty currently
being negotiated behind the scenes. In Britain, I had been disquieted by the
lack of parliamentary scrutiny of the government’s Covid response and, with
similar measures being put into international law, the lack of interest from
Britain’s elected leaders was striking. The one MP trying to start a
parliamentary debate had been ignored and ridiculed. Why the secrecy? Had the
MPs even read the documents? The sudden decline in parliamentary scrutiny is a
far cry from the careful policymaking I’d witnessed as a journalist in the early
2000s. Typically, changes of any consequence would be considered by politicians
and civil servants before any legislative process was embarked on, the groups
most likely to be affected consulted. Then, if the new policy still seemed a
good idea, proposals would be put into a green paper and/or a white paper.
Subsequently, a bill might wend its way through Parliament, with three readings
in the Commons and further examination in the Lords before ultimately receiving
Royal Assent. How very British, this painstaking, plodding scrutiny! But times
have changed, and as the uproar about the Energy Bill demonstrates, it seems as
if laws are being passed before MPs realise their implications. So I did not
expect much in the way of substantive replies. My project was elegiac in nature:
I wanted to highlight, both for myself and anyone interested, the way in which
the parliamentary democracy for which Britain is famous seems to be slipping
away. Mis-representation But the replies revealed something I didn’t expect: a
significant proportion of Britain’s MPs appear to believe they are forbidden
from communicating with the citizenry. ‘There is a Parliamentary protocol that
Members of Parliament can only respond to communications from their own
constituents,’ claimed Justin Madders, the Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and
Neston. The office of Maria Caulfield, the Conservative MP for Lewes, wrote:
‘Due to strict Parliamentary protocol, Maria is only allowed to respond to those
who live in her constituency’.  This was odd. I had long been familiar with the
convention that MPs only take up specific problems on behalf of their
constituents, the part of their work known as casework. It stems from the
evolution of Britain’s representative democracy, whereby people in a certain
area delegate the authority for decision-making to an elected representative.
But as members of the national Parliament making policy and law, MPs have a dual
role. The claim that they were forbidden from communicating with those outside a
geographical border was bizarre. I double-checked the details of the convention
with Parliament and found that my understanding was correct: there is, of
course, no bar on MPs communicating with the wider electorate. ‘Firstly, you may
like to note that there is no statutory job description for Members of
Parliament and how MPs carry out their duties and the cases that they wish to
undertake is a matter for them to determine individually,” wrote the House of
Commons enquiry service. ‘The Parliamentary convention which guards against
Members of Parliament taking on the constituency work of a fellow MP is a
convention and not a rule or standing order of the House and is applied
flexibly. Therefore, if an MP is unable or unwilling to act, constituents may
approach other Members of Parliament as appropriate.’ As more replies came in,
it became clear that the misunderstanding was not confined to a couple of MPs.
In a couple of cases, I sought to clarify the status of my communication as one
from a citizen sharing concerns about national policy rather than a constituent
seeking help. But Caroline Dinenage’s office doubled down on the mistake,
insisting: ‘The role of an MP is to represent their constituents, and as such,
it is strict Parliamentary protocol that an MP cannot enter correspondence with
constituents of another MP’s constituency.’ Dinenage has form in
misunderstanding democratic principles: as the chair of the Culture Media and
Sport Committee, she recently wrote to Rumble requesting that comedian and
social media star Russell Brand be de-monetised.

Alex Klaushofer

October 23, 2023

WILL THERE EVER BE AN EAST ASIAN AMISH COMMUNITY?

Demographers and demography enthusiasts have always had a deep fascination with
communities such as the Amish for one simple reason — they are the prime example
of an exclusive and conservative religious sect or community with a high
fertility rate unthinkable in most modern societies. These high-fertility
communities offer the exception to the rule in a world that is otherwise
familiar with contraception, abortion, liberal sexual attitudes and low
fertility rates, and that is particularly true for the Amish, who live in
Western countries such as the US and Canada. Despite the ongoing demographic
crisis as fertility rates plunge around the world, these communities continue to
maintain much higher fertility rates and long-abandoned social and sexual mores,
offering a bulwark of hope for natalists who despair at the triumph of
anti-natalism worldwide. And one might be surprised at how many there are and
how diverse these communities can be. However, if one looks further at the list
of these religious sects and communities, one will notice that none of them are
East Asian, and most of them are European in origin. Laestadians, Hutterites,
Quiverfull Calvinists and Mennonites are all Europeans, while Haredi Jews mostly
live in the Americas and Europe outside of Israel. Some communities, such as
Latin Mass Catholics, may have more ethnic diversity as the Catholic Church is a
global religious force, but the vast majority of its adherents live in just two
countries — the United States and France. There simply aren’t any high fertility
religious sects predominantly of East Asian origin, despite the plethora of
sects, new religious movements and even cults originating from the region in the
past centuries. As anyone who keeps up with current affairs will know, East
Asian countries have fallen off the demographic cliff a long time ago. East
Asians have consistently had the lowest birth rates of any region in the world
in recent decades, and any hope of it ever recovering to levels close to
replacement level is all but non-existent. Currently, only Mongolia and North
Korea have fertility levels near the replacement level of 2.1, but both
countries have small populations and do not affect the main demographic picture
of the region. Therefore, if East Asia had a fervently religious community such
as the Amish or the Haredim, it would be of huge demographic value and benefit.
For example, the ultra-Orthodox provide vital new blood for otherwise depleting
Jewish populations in the UK and the US, as well as Israel. Had this community
not existed, the Jewish population would already be in decline in the UK and
many parts of America. If East Asia had a community similar to this, it would
mean that the current extinction-level birth rates would have a long-term cure,
or at least this faithful core/remnant would offer long-term relief to the
ongoing population collapse. But let’s face the truth: such a community does not
exist in East Asia or its diaspora communities — why is that so? Exploitative
cults As we mentioned above, East Asia is no stranger to religious fervour and
sects. South Korea, for example, is home to a plethora of new religious
movements, with many cult leaders enjoying a dedicated following, from the
Unification Church (Moonies) to Shincheonji. China has a long history of
underground churches, apocalyptic cults and exclusive religious societies, from
the Christian house church movement of today, the Taiping sect of the 1800s,
which launched China’s bloodiest civil war, to Buddhist-Taoist mishmash
eccentricities such as the Falun Gong. These movements have generated immense
fortune and fame for their founders, and shaken the societies to their core.
Yet, despite their radicalism, none of them produced any positive demographic
yields, unlike other underground, apocalyptic or radical new religious movements
such as Mormons, Laestadians or, indeed, the radical Anabaptist origins of the
Amish. That is because, unlike these movements of European or white European
origin, these modern-day sect leaders, especially the South Korean cults, are
mostly focused on personal gain instead of actual religious principles. None of
them were martyred for their beliefs, and many used the prestige to sexually
abuse their flock, take financial advantage of their followers, or attempt to
gain political power. Korean cults are particularly egregious in the amount of
greed, sexual perversion and abuse of their followers. Therefore, despite the
fact that most of its followers are closed off from the rest of society and do
not conform to societal norms, just like the Haredi and the Amish, they do not
follow the family-friendly, conservative creed that the latter adhere to.
Instead, these cult followers adhere to the exploitative and often nonsensical
doctrines of their eccentric founders, which sometimes require them to stay
celibate, dedicate everything to only the religious movement, and sometimes
offer themselves sexually to the cult leader.

William Huang

October 19, 2023

AFRICA AND THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY

The Catholic Church’s synod on synodality has been going on in the Vatican for
more than a week now. Perhaps it would have made much more news had Hamas not
breached Israel’s borders and committed its unspeakable atrocities there,
grabbing the whole world’s attention in the process. One of the emphases of the
synod is on listening, especially to voices that have traditionally not received
much attention in the Church. The synodal process began at the grassroots level
around the world nearly two years ago, and every interested Catholic had the
chance to contribute. What is happening in Rome now is the culmination of much
wider consultations. An important consequence of this is that Catholics outside
the West – particularly those in Africa – are very strongly represented in this
process. Their concerns, though not as flashy as their Western counterparts’
divisions about pastoral care for the LGBT community and the role of women, now
have a place at the table. What effect this will have on the outcome of the
synod remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that it will be significant, and
that it will grow increasingly more important in the future since, as many
pundits – secular and religious alike – have pointed out, the centre of gravity
of the Catholic Church, and of Christianity in general, is gradually but
definitely shifting south and east, towards Africa. Ancient heritage
Christianity has been present in Africa since its very beginning. As I pointed
out in July, in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul, who would later bring the faith
to Europe, was still persecuting Christians when Philip baptised the first
African Christian. In the early days of the faith, there were thriving Christian
communities across the continent’s north shore, then part of the Roman world.
Why these communities did not send missionaries past the southern boundaries of
the Roman empire, while attempting to evangelise northwards, is a mystery few
have tried to explain. The infrastructure was certainly there. Rome had
commercial contact with both the west and east coasts of Africa, as far south as
the island of Rhapta, off present-day Tanzania. Centuries after Rome collapsed,
at least in the West, Islamic forces made small work of the barriers to the
south, so much so that, by the 9th century, nearly every Somali on the horn of
Africa had converted to Islam. Over the following centuries, Arab and Swahili
Muslims spread their faith down the eastern coast of the continent and across
the Sahara into the northern reaches of tropical Africa, weaving Islam into the
social fabric and history of some of Africa’s most illustrious medieval
polities.

Mathew Otieno

October 19, 2023

ISRAEL: ‘DO NOT DESTROY YOUR SOUL’

A 74-year-old Canadian woman named Vivian Silver exemplifies the futility of
calling for peace in Gaza. A prominent peace activist living in a kibbutz near
the Gaza frontier, she had been a board member of B’Tselem, a Israeli
organization lobbying for Palestinian rights. On October 7, Hamas terrorists
kidnapped her. She has not been heard from since. Ms Silver worked for and with
Palestinians. Her good intentions did her no good. Along with the 1300 Israelis,
old and young, who were slaughtered in the attack, she became a casualty of a
vicious war. Supporters of both sides are passionate and blinkered. They
overlook competing arguments. They ridicule objections. There is only black and
white, good and evil.   But the issues behind this war are devilishly complex.
It is folly to give uncritical support to either side. Here are some suggestions
on how to read the media in a time of moral anguish. In war truth is the first
casualty. This is a cliché, but it cannot be emphasized too often. The terrible
facts are terrible enough without embellishing them with ghoulish allegations.
The widely circulated claim that Israeli babies had been beheaded may be true,
but it remains unproven. In the era of social media, mobile phone cameras, and
24/7 reporting, outright lies are not the problem. More important is bias:
reading only analysis which confirm our preconceived ideas or supercharges our
anger. Believe it or not, both sides have plausible narratives. Try to read
widely to understand which is more factual. Don’t demonise. The savagery of the
Hamas terrorists was demonic. But demonizing opponents will justify horrific
crimes in revenge. “We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly,” said
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant. And President Isaac Herzog told a press
conference that all civilians were combatants in the war. “It is an entire
nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about
civilians not being aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true. They could
have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over
Gaza in a coup d’etat.” Perhaps these words were uttered under pressure, but
they are appalling. About 42 percent of Gazans are under 14 years old. They
weren’t even alive when Hamas took over. And Hamas runs a vicious, thuggish
dictatorship which tortures and kills its own people. How could Gazans throw off
its yoke?   As American defence analyst Ryan Evans tweeted: “I support Israel's
right to exist and to defend itself and its people, but my support does not
extend to constructs that can justify war crimes.” Only just wars deserve to be
supported. Israel’s agony is excruciating. It lost 1,300 citizens on October 7.
In proportion to their population, that would be 45,000 Americans or 3,600
Australians. But in a civilized world, one injustice cannot excuse another. The
requirements for a just war, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
are that the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of
nations must be lasting, grave, and certain; all other means of putting an end
to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; there must be
serious prospects of success; the use of arms must not produce evils and
disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of
destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition. The first of these
conditions is clearly satisfied. The attack by Hamas is an existential threat to
Israel. It holds hostages and continues to shell Tel Aviv. But how about the
other conditions? Are there any other avenues? Is it possible to negotiate
through Qatar? Turkey? China? The Vatican? Will Israel’s impending invasion be
successful? That depends upon what “success” looks like. Israeli Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed that Hamas will be destroyed. Ehud Barak, a former
commander of Israel Defence Forces, a former defence minister, and a former
prime minister, is sceptical. “What does it even mean?” he says. “That no one
can still breathe and believe in Hamas’s ideology? That’s not a believable war
aim. Israel’s objective now has to be clearer. It has to be that Hamas will be
denied its Daesh-like [ISIS-like] military capabilities.” Will it produce even
more serious evils than 1,300 Israeli dead? Quite possibly. The latest death
count is 2,750 killed by Israeli air strikes. When the invasion begins, the
number of Palestinian deaths could be astronomical. The questions raised by
these four conditions have to be answered.  

Michael Cook

October 17, 2023

HOW WALT DISNEY CONQUERED THE WORLD

On October 16 1923, brothers Walt and Roy set up a modest cartoon studio. Their
goal was to produce short animated films. They created a new character: a mouse,
with large ears. Named “Mickey”, he soon became one of the world’s most
recognisable images. Walt Disney was an innovator in terms of space, colour and
movement. He had an uncanny ability to provide pleasure for millions of viewers
struggling through the Great Depression. A century later, Disney is one of the
world’s largest entertainment conglomerates. Disney has influenced countless
other animation studios and artists. It has received Academy Awards for Best
Animated Feature for the likes of The Incredibles, Up and Frozen. Walt himself
holds the record for most nominations (59) and Oscar wins (22 competitive
awards, plus four honorary awards) for a single individual. Just how did Disney
manage to do it? Steamboat Willie and technological wonders Based in Los
Angeles, Disney set about innovating. He created The Alice Comedies, a series of
short films featuring a live-action child actress in a cartoon world. Then came
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a precursor to Mickey Mouse. Steamboat Willie, released
in 1928, was the world’s first fully synchronised sound cartoon. His pioneering
use of sound quickly became an industry norm.   A simple story featuring Mickey
as a steamboat captain trying to navigate the boat while dealing with various
comical situations, Steamboat Willie was universally praised. After a short
theatrical run in New York, the film was exhibited nationwide and set Disney on
its way. The clip of Mickey holding the ship’s wheel and whistling became the
company’s logo in 2007, reminding audiences of Steamboat’s enduring importance.
New characters emerged post-Steamboat, such as Donald Duck and Mickey’s love
interest, Minnie, which still endure today. Flowers and Trees, made in 1932, was
the first animated short film to win an Academy Award – it was also Disney’s
(and the industry’s) first full-colour three-strip Technicolor film. By the end
of the 1930s, Disney had pivoted to feature-length animated films, releasing
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. The golden age and feature films What
followed Snow White is often referred to as Disney’s “golden age”, with the
release of Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942). Those early films
still dazzle today – think of the Sorcerers’ Apprentice scene in Fantasia (1940)
or the Pink Elephants hallucinogenic number in Dumbo. And is there any scene, in
any film, more heart-wrenching than the death of Bambi’s mother?  But the golden
age never really stopped. The hits just kept on coming - Peter Pan (1953), Lady
and the Tramp (1955) and Mary Poppins (1964) remain enduring classics. In the
1990s, a new generation fell in love with Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin
(1992) and The Lion King (1994) – and these films were then remade as
live-action versions in the 2010s. Even a minor Disney film like Zootopia (2016)
could make a billion dollars at the box-office. Disneyland and diversification
In 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California. He wanted to
build an inclusive theme park where all the family could have fun. It set the
standard for theme park design and showed the way forward for the company:
diversification. After Disneyland came Disney World in Florida in 1971, then
versions of Disneyland in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai. A famous
diagram, sketched by Walt himself in 1957, foreshadowed the direction Disney
would ultimately take: a huge business empire of synergies, merchandising and
cross-promotion. Buyouts and a cultural behemoth In 2006 Disney bought Pixar, in
2009 it bought Marvel and in 2012 it bought LucasFilm. These acquisitions
solidified Disney’s position as the brand leader in the entertainment
industry. Pixar was known for films like Toy Story (1995) and Finding Nemo
(2003) and the purchase would lead to multiple collaborations between the two.
Most recently, in 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox for a staggering US$71
billion. The deal gave them instant access to Fox’s vast back catalogues. The
deal made some industry insiders uneasy: Disney had become a cultural behemoth,
strangling competition, homogenising content and swallowing up entire
franchises. Not all plain sailing Disney films proudly prioritise family values,
stress teamwork and empathy and promote gender equality. Yet until relatively
recently, its heroes and heroines were very visibly white, and the studio was
criticised for invoking messages of privilege, racial hierarchy and standards of
beauty. Its 1946 film Song of the South has long been criticised for its racist
portrayal of African Americans and its romanticisation of the plantation era.
Since 1986, Disney have tried to keep it out of circulation, although clips can
be found online. Many old films streaming on Disney+ now feature a disclaimer
telling viewers some scenes will include “negative depictions” and “mistreatment
of people or cultures”. LGBTQ+ representation has become more visible since
LeFou became Disney’s first openly gay character in its 2017 live-action Beauty
and the Beast. But the backlash was troubling, and Disney also ran into trouble
with conservative critics with its same-sex kiss in Lightyear (2022), and would
later be mocked as “woke Disney” by conservative politicians and media
personalities. CEO Bob Iger – who stepped down in 2021 but was then brought back
in 2022 on a huge salary – has not fared well during the recent SAG-AFTRA
disputes, with comments deemed out of touch and tone-deaf by many. Still,
despite these tricky issues, Disney’s corporate stranglehold shows no sign of
abating. Its reach is gigantic. From cartoons to comics to CGI, Disney controls
much of our popular culture. “If you can dream it, you can do it,” Walt once
said. As Disney turns 100, with a market capitalisation today of more than
US$150 billion, that’s some dream come true.  Ben McCann, Associate Professor of
French Studies, University of Adelaide This article has been republished from
The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.  
 

Ben McCann

October 16, 2023

AUSTRALIA’S REFERENDUM FAILS AND, SADLY, THAT’S A GOOD THING

The victors get to write the history – that’s not always true. Saturday’s
winning side in Australia’s referendum on an indigenous voice to Parliament is
being misrepresented in the world media. At the beginning of the campaign in
March and April polling was running at about 60 percent for Yes and 40 percent
for No. The final result was almost the opposite – 39.7 percent for Yes and 60.3
percent for No. The No vote won in every single state. The only jurisdiction
with a majority Yes vote was the Australian Capital Territory, where Canberra is
located. However, “Crushing Indigenous Hopes, Australia Rejects ‘Voice’
Referendum,” was the headline in the New York Times. “Why Did Australia Fail Its
First Nations Citizens?” asked the Washington Post. “Australia rejects
Indigenous referendum in setback for reconciliation” was Reuters’
interpretation. And Al-Jazeera said that “Indigenous Australians call for ‘week
of silence’ after referendum failure”. Two local experts, academics from La
Trobe University, declared that “It may entrench views of Australia as a
settler-colonial state unwilling to grapple with its past.” But these
interpretations misrepresent the referendum, the campaign, and the Australian
people. The referendum proposed “to alter the Constitution to recognise the
First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Voice”. There would be nigh-universal approval amongst Australians for
recognizing indigenous people as the first nations. They have lived here for
possibly 60,000 years and have a unique connection to the land. There is
universal agreement that the situation of indigenous people, especially in
remote areas, is appalling. Some are effectively living in a Fourth World
country, not even a Third World country. Billions upon billions of dollars have
been poured into government programs and the gaps in key areas like life
expectancy, incarceration, suicide, and children in care persist. “The Voice”,
despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s soothing reassurances that it was
modest, gracious and legally sound was simply … dumb. It proposed to hand a
blank cheque to persons unknown. But this was a referendum on a significant
change to the constitution, not a referendum on the PM’s good intentions. The
sticking point was the Voice. There was no detail about how the Voice would
work, who would be part of it, how they would be chosen, and what powers it
would have. Voters were told to trust the government. The campaign was intense
but not, as the BBC claimed, “fraught and often acrid”. The Yes campaign, which
was supported by state and federal governments, many of Australia’s big
corporations, churches, trade unions, sporting codes, universities, and everyone
who wanted to be seen to be doing the virtuous thing, appeared to be a done deal
when Albanese announced it in March. It became “fraught” when the No campaign,
to everyone’s surprise, surged ahead. As for the “horrific racism” alleged by
some journalists, this is hard to square with the fact that the leading figures
in the No campaign were Aboriginal leaders Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who
comes from one of the most disadvantaged Aboriginal centres in the country, and
Nyunggai Warren Mundine, a businessman and political strategist. Senator Price’s
brilliant campaigning has turned her into a major political figure. Apart from a
few minor incidents by lunatics on both sides of the debate, the thunder was all
rhetorical.  

Michael Cook

October 16, 2023

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