Tuesday, August 31, 2004
I sent this letter to IOL in South Africa on 29 August 2004 and it was published the following day:
TOPIC: Aids
Mannie De Saxe wrote:
Letter Subject: AIDS and ostriches
Letter date: 2004-08-30 13:27:56
A dictionary definition of an ostrich is: 1) a large fast-running flightless African bird with powerful two-toed feet and dark feathers; 2) a person who refuses to recognise an unpleasant truth.The tragedy in the South Africa of 2004 is the number of human ostriches who think HIV/AIDS is just some invention of US scientists. Even assuming this to be true, the devastation caused by this disease has decimated many countries, and is in the process of decimating even more, because of the ostriches with which these countries are inhabited.Sadly the daily deaths in South Africa and around the world show the results of the devastation. To add to the terrible scourge is the scourge of rape in South Africa. This exacerbates the HIV/AIDS crisis because, without education in the community, there is a widespread belief amongst many men that having sex with a virgin will protect them from acquiring HIV/AIDS.A report from Johannesburg on 27 August 2004 stated: “It's not just the immediate horror of rape, there's also the fear of HIV/AIDS. South Africa has the largest HIV positive population in the world. More than five million people are infected. Many of them are children and teenagers. Rape brings with it the fear that the child may have been infected. Doctor Lorna Jacklin ia a paediatrician. She's one of the first people to examine children when they arrive at the Teddy Bear clinic in Johannesburg. From the time the child is raped, doctors have less than 72 hours to deliver AIDS medication. After that it can be too late. It's a terrible race. The longer the delay, the less chance they have of treating the infection. Dr Jacklin says it's frustrating and painful.So, back to ostriches. There are none so blind as those who will not see, because their heads are buried in the sand. This is one of the tragedies of South Africa today.
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TOPIC: Aids
Mannie De Saxe wrote:
Letter Subject: AIDS and ostriches
Letter date: 2004-08-30 13:27:56
A dictionary definition of an ostrich is: 1) a large fast-running flightless African bird with powerful two-toed feet and dark feathers; 2) a person who refuses to recognise an unpleasant truth.The tragedy in the South Africa of 2004 is the number of human ostriches who think HIV/AIDS is just some invention of US scientists. Even assuming this to be true, the devastation caused by this disease has decimated many countries, and is in the process of decimating even more, because of the ostriches with which these countries are inhabited.Sadly the daily deaths in South Africa and around the world show the results of the devastation. To add to the terrible scourge is the scourge of rape in South Africa. This exacerbates the HIV/AIDS crisis because, without education in the community, there is a widespread belief amongst many men that having sex with a virgin will protect them from acquiring HIV/AIDS.A report from Johannesburg on 27 August 2004 stated: “It's not just the immediate horror of rape, there's also the fear of HIV/AIDS. South Africa has the largest HIV positive population in the world. More than five million people are infected. Many of them are children and teenagers. Rape brings with it the fear that the child may have been infected. Doctor Lorna Jacklin ia a paediatrician. She's one of the first people to examine children when they arrive at the Teddy Bear clinic in Johannesburg. From the time the child is raped, doctors have less than 72 hours to deliver AIDS medication. After that it can be too late. It's a terrible race. The longer the delay, the less chance they have of treating the infection. Dr Jacklin says it's frustrating and painful.So, back to ostriches. There are none so blind as those who will not see, because their heads are buried in the sand. This is one of the tragedies of South Africa today.
I sent this letter to the IOL in South Africa on 29 August 2004 and it was published by them the next day:
TOPIC: Aids
Mannie De Saxe wrote:
Letter Subject: AIDS and ostriches
Letter date: 2004-08-30 13:27:56
A dictionary definition of an ostrich is: 1) a large fast-running flightless African bird with powerful two-toed feet and dark feathers; 2) a person who refuses to recognise an unpleasant truth.The tragedy in the South Africa of 2004 is the number of human ostriches who think HIV/AIDS is just some invention of US scientists. Even assuming this to be true, the devastation caused by this disease has decimated many countries, and is in the process of decimating even more, because of the ostriches with which these countries are inhabited.Sadly the daily deaths in South Africa and around the world show the results of the devastation. To add to the terrible scourge is the scourge of rape in South Africa. This exacerbates the HIV/AIDS crisis because, without education in the community, there is a widespread belief amongst many men that having sex with a virgin will protect them from acquiring HIV/AIDS.A report from Johannesburg on 27 August 2004 stated: “It's not just the immediate horror of rape, there's also the fear of HIV/AIDS. South Africa has the largest HIV positive population in the world. More than five million people are infected. Many of them are children and teenagers. Rape brings with it the fear that the child may have been infected. Doctor Lorna Jacklin ia a paediatrician. She's one of the first people to examine children when they arrive at the Teddy Bear clinic in Johannesburg. From the time the child is raped, doctors have less than 72 hours to deliver AIDS medication. After that it can be too late. It's a terrible race. The longer the delay, the less chance they have of treating the infection. Dr Jacklin says it's frustrating and painful.So, back to ostriches. There are none so blind as those who will not see, because their heads are buried in the sand. This is one of the tragedies of South Africa today.
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TOPIC: Aids
Mannie De Saxe wrote:
Letter Subject: AIDS and ostriches
Letter date: 2004-08-30 13:27:56
A dictionary definition of an ostrich is: 1) a large fast-running flightless African bird with powerful two-toed feet and dark feathers; 2) a person who refuses to recognise an unpleasant truth.The tragedy in the South Africa of 2004 is the number of human ostriches who think HIV/AIDS is just some invention of US scientists. Even assuming this to be true, the devastation caused by this disease has decimated many countries, and is in the process of decimating even more, because of the ostriches with which these countries are inhabited.Sadly the daily deaths in South Africa and around the world show the results of the devastation. To add to the terrible scourge is the scourge of rape in South Africa. This exacerbates the HIV/AIDS crisis because, without education in the community, there is a widespread belief amongst many men that having sex with a virgin will protect them from acquiring HIV/AIDS.A report from Johannesburg on 27 August 2004 stated: “It's not just the immediate horror of rape, there's also the fear of HIV/AIDS. South Africa has the largest HIV positive population in the world. More than five million people are infected. Many of them are children and teenagers. Rape brings with it the fear that the child may have been infected. Doctor Lorna Jacklin ia a paediatrician. She's one of the first people to examine children when they arrive at the Teddy Bear clinic in Johannesburg. From the time the child is raped, doctors have less than 72 hours to deliver AIDS medication. After that it can be too late. It's a terrible race. The longer the delay, the less chance they have of treating the infection. Dr Jacklin says it's frustrating and painful.So, back to ostriches. There are none so blind as those who will not see, because their heads are buried in the sand. This is one of the tragedies of South Africa today.
After having spent several days getting documents and newspapers together, I have now managed to put together a letter of protest at how the zionist press in Australia is dealing with those Jews who don't tow the "party" line and are therefore taboo in Jewish Australian circles.
This is the letter:
Mannie De Saxe
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03)9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
It's time for an analysis of the Sydney and Melbourne editions of the AJN
and what they each publish and what constituencies they represent.
Starting with the 23 July editions: in Outlook page 19 of the Sydney
edition 5 of the six letters printed were from Melbourne, one of which was
from the federal ALP member for Melbourne Ports/Israel. On the equivalent
page 15 of the Melbourne edition there were seven letters, 5 from Sydney,
one from the ACT and one from Melbourne and no letter from the ALP Member
for Melbourne Ports/Israel.
Now to the 6 August editions: in Outlook page 15 of the Sydney edition
there were 12 letters, 6 from Melbourne, one of which was from the federal
ALP member for Melbourne Ports/Israel, 5 from Sydney and one from
Queensland. In the Melbourne Outlook page 15, of the 8 letters, 2 were
from Sydney, 4 were from Melbourne and one each from New Zealand and the
USA.
The next part of the analysis shows that the two letters from the ALP
Member for Melbourne Ports/Israel in the Sydney edition are almost
identical, one printed two weeks after the other, and both attacking
Antony Loewenstein (and others), in which Michael Danby, who has obviously
done some considerable analysis of the 100,000 Jews in the Australian
population claims that Loewenstein is a non-entity who represents a
telephone-box group of Jewish Australians.
This is quite a dramatic claim for a member of the Federal Parliament to
make without any substantiation.
Then in the 6 August Sydney edition is a letter responding to a previous
letter of mine which was published in the Melbourne edition, but I didn't
see the Marsha Foxman letter of reply because it was not in the Melbourne
edition.
What perturbs me most in the above analysis is that people such as
members of parliament are given space in your columns for vicious and
outrageous attacks and then letter writers who refute these statements are
denied right of reply.
I interpret this as censorship equivalent to some of the worst I
experienced in my 50 years of living in South Africa, half of them under
the apartheid regime.
What is the Australian Jewish News afraid of? Or is it the fact that
ownership of the paper dictates policy and direction and there is no
editorial independence, just as there is no editorial independence in the
Murdoch, Packer and Fairfax media.
Are we being muzzled, and if so, why? Homophobia and zionism rule
the roost and no unpleasant contradictory views are to be permitted. If
this isn't censorship, what is it?
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne, and Jews
Against Oppression and Occupation.
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This is the letter:
Mannie De Saxe
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03)9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
It's time for an analysis of the Sydney and Melbourne editions of the AJN
and what they each publish and what constituencies they represent.
Starting with the 23 July editions: in Outlook page 19 of the Sydney
edition 5 of the six letters printed were from Melbourne, one of which was
from the federal ALP member for Melbourne Ports/Israel. On the equivalent
page 15 of the Melbourne edition there were seven letters, 5 from Sydney,
one from the ACT and one from Melbourne and no letter from the ALP Member
for Melbourne Ports/Israel.
Now to the 6 August editions: in Outlook page 15 of the Sydney edition
there were 12 letters, 6 from Melbourne, one of which was from the federal
ALP member for Melbourne Ports/Israel, 5 from Sydney and one from
Queensland. In the Melbourne Outlook page 15, of the 8 letters, 2 were
from Sydney, 4 were from Melbourne and one each from New Zealand and the
USA.
The next part of the analysis shows that the two letters from the ALP
Member for Melbourne Ports/Israel in the Sydney edition are almost
identical, one printed two weeks after the other, and both attacking
Antony Loewenstein (and others), in which Michael Danby, who has obviously
done some considerable analysis of the 100,000 Jews in the Australian
population claims that Loewenstein is a non-entity who represents a
telephone-box group of Jewish Australians.
This is quite a dramatic claim for a member of the Federal Parliament to
make without any substantiation.
Then in the 6 August Sydney edition is a letter responding to a previous
letter of mine which was published in the Melbourne edition, but I didn't
see the Marsha Foxman letter of reply because it was not in the Melbourne
edition.
What perturbs me most in the above analysis is that people such as
members of parliament are given space in your columns for vicious and
outrageous attacks and then letter writers who refute these statements are
denied right of reply.
I interpret this as censorship equivalent to some of the worst I
experienced in my 50 years of living in South Africa, half of them under
the apartheid regime.
What is the Australian Jewish News afraid of? Or is it the fact that
ownership of the paper dictates policy and direction and there is no
editorial independence, just as there is no editorial independence in the
Murdoch, Packer and Fairfax media.
Are we being muzzled, and if so, why? Homophobia and zionism rule
the roost and no unpleasant contradictory views are to be permitted. If
this isn't censorship, what is it?
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne, and Jews
Against Oppression and Occupation.
Saturday, August 21, 2004
I sent this email last night - 19 August 2004 - to Sandy McCutcheon on ABC's Australia Talks Back, and today in his programme - The Week In Review - in which the week's four topics are available for a second time for comment, and he read out the letter! Progress at last!
Mannie De Saxe
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03) 9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
Should Internet Porn Be Restricted?
Dear Sandy and the ATB team,
Censorship in Australia has reached new levels since 1996, and is increasing daily, with most of the population not being aware of what is happening to them. Should internet porn be restricted? Of course not! try restricting it and, just as with all forms of censorship, people will find ways of circumventing it.
What is porn? Everone has a different definition, but my interpretation is the violence with which we are confronted and bombarded on a daily level by new bulletins, films, videos and video games, and these are what parents should be trying to stop their children from seeing. 16 and 17 year olds being called children? What a joke!
Sex is what it is all about and it is the fundamentalist religious right which is behind it all. Violence doesn't worry them - they instigate it anyway with homophobia, sexism, racism - its all there! ISPs should not be forced to block so-called hard core pornography - it is not their responsibility and it is just another attempt at censorship.
Regards,
Mannie De Saxe
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Mannie De Saxe
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03) 9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
Should Internet Porn Be Restricted?
Dear Sandy and the ATB team,
Censorship in Australia has reached new levels since 1996, and is increasing daily, with most of the population not being aware of what is happening to them. Should internet porn be restricted? Of course not! try restricting it and, just as with all forms of censorship, people will find ways of circumventing it.
What is porn? Everone has a different definition, but my interpretation is the violence with which we are confronted and bombarded on a daily level by new bulletins, films, videos and video games, and these are what parents should be trying to stop their children from seeing. 16 and 17 year olds being called children? What a joke!
Sex is what it is all about and it is the fundamentalist religious right which is behind it all. Violence doesn't worry them - they instigate it anyway with homophobia, sexism, racism - its all there! ISPs should not be forced to block so-called hard core pornography - it is not their responsibility and it is just another attempt at censorship.
Regards,
Mannie De Saxe
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
I wrote the letter below today, 16 August 2004, in response to a letter by this National Party candidate for the federal election for the seat of Calare, which was published in the Sydney Star Observer on 22 July 2004.
It was also written as an angry response to what his government and its loyal opposition, the Alternative Liberal Party (ALP) did with the issue by gagging debate on the proposed Marriage Amendment Bill passed by the Senate on Friday 13 August 2004, to ensure that marriage remained a contract between a male and a female, and disallowed any possibility of same-sex marriage.
----------------------------------
To Robert Griffith:
From Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity Melbourne,
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03)9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
Your letter which appeared in the Sydney Star Observer on 22 July 2004
ended with the following paragraph: "If the homosexual community wants to
be respected in the public forum, you need to rein in the small but
militant minority within your ranks who tarnish your cause every day by
their attitude and behaviour. They trigger much of the aggression you
experience from the wider community." I am not quite sure what you are
getting at here - but the homophobia expressed in this paragraph and the
homophobia pouring out of the government and the ALP is what causes the
aggression, aided and abetted by the christian fundamentalists who preach
one thing and practise another! Activism is not what causes aggression,
but hate is. All gay, lesbian and transgender people want is equal human
rights under the law which heterosexuals take for granted. We all have
heterosexual relations and friends who have these rights and they are
somewhat astonished that in the year 2004 we still have to struggle to
obtain these equalities. The marriage issue is a case in point. The sheer
hypocrisy of the government and ALP over this issue is plain to understand
when one looks at the statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
figures of at least one in three marriages in Australia which end(s) in
divorce. Added to this hypocrisy is those christian fundamentalists in all
these parties who are later shown to have behaved immorally and
unethically towards partners and children. Are you then stating that these
people are fit to bring up their children? Children need a loving and safe
environment to grow up in, not some ghastly home where the man attacks the
wife and the children are confronted by domestic violence and sexual abuse
and other ghastly happenings. Tonight's (16 August 2004) 4 Corners
programme on ABC was a case in point. Don't try preaching to the gay,
lesbian and transgender communities as to how they should behave until you
manage to get you own houses in order. Mannie De Saxe
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It was also written as an angry response to what his government and its loyal opposition, the Alternative Liberal Party (ALP) did with the issue by gagging debate on the proposed Marriage Amendment Bill passed by the Senate on Friday 13 August 2004, to ensure that marriage remained a contract between a male and a female, and disallowed any possibility of same-sex marriage.
----------------------------------
To Robert Griffith:
From Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity Melbourne,
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03)9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
Your letter which appeared in the Sydney Star Observer on 22 July 2004
ended with the following paragraph: "If the homosexual community wants to
be respected in the public forum, you need to rein in the small but
militant minority within your ranks who tarnish your cause every day by
their attitude and behaviour. They trigger much of the aggression you
experience from the wider community." I am not quite sure what you are
getting at here - but the homophobia expressed in this paragraph and the
homophobia pouring out of the government and the ALP is what causes the
aggression, aided and abetted by the christian fundamentalists who preach
one thing and practise another! Activism is not what causes aggression,
but hate is. All gay, lesbian and transgender people want is equal human
rights under the law which heterosexuals take for granted. We all have
heterosexual relations and friends who have these rights and they are
somewhat astonished that in the year 2004 we still have to struggle to
obtain these equalities. The marriage issue is a case in point. The sheer
hypocrisy of the government and ALP over this issue is plain to understand
when one looks at the statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
figures of at least one in three marriages in Australia which end(s) in
divorce. Added to this hypocrisy is those christian fundamentalists in all
these parties who are later shown to have behaved immorally and
unethically towards partners and children. Are you then stating that these
people are fit to bring up their children? Children need a loving and safe
environment to grow up in, not some ghastly home where the man attacks the
wife and the children are confronted by domestic violence and sexual abuse
and other ghastly happenings. Tonight's (16 August 2004) 4 Corners
programme on ABC was a case in point. Don't try preaching to the gay,
lesbian and transgender communities as to how they should behave until you
manage to get you own houses in order. Mannie De Saxe
Saturday, August 14, 2004
This letter has been sent to all ALP senators, and will also be sent to all members of the House of Representatives:
13 August 2004
The ALP's homophobia has reached new depths with this latest betrayal of the gay, lesbian and transgender communities over the Howard Marriage Amendment Bill.
Nicola Roxon attending a marriage forum organised by evangelical christian groups and then trying to defend the ALP's indefensible stand on equal legislative rights (sic) for all in her letters to the gay papers is just another example of the immorality of the ALP.
Roxon said Labor would support Howard's Marriage Amendment Bill and Senator Jacinta Collins said when the ALP attempted to divide same-sex marriage legislation from same-sex adoption legislation they would have voted to ban marriage then and there.
Many of us in the gay, lesbian and transgender communities have networks through the internet, and we will use these networks to inform as many people in these communities around Australia why they should not vote for the ALP in the forthcoming federal election.
This information will be particularly useful in those marginal seats where it will be possible to get someone elected from a party which supports equal rights for all in its political platform.
If the ALP is in any doubt that change can be achieved, maybe it should remember that Bob Carr dismissed Sydney and South Sydney Councils, amalgamated them as the Sydney City Council, and hoped to get Michael Lee elected as ALP Lord Mayor of Sydney. But Clover Moore won!
We will do our utmost to effect changes in Australian parliamentary representation which will allow our voices to be heard and where the current Howard-Latham homophobic alliance can be broken.
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne.PO Box 1675Preston SouthVic 3072Phone: (03) 9471 4878email: josken@zipworld.com.auweb: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
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13 August 2004
The ALP's homophobia has reached new depths with this latest betrayal of the gay, lesbian and transgender communities over the Howard Marriage Amendment Bill.
Nicola Roxon attending a marriage forum organised by evangelical christian groups and then trying to defend the ALP's indefensible stand on equal legislative rights (sic) for all in her letters to the gay papers is just another example of the immorality of the ALP.
Roxon said Labor would support Howard's Marriage Amendment Bill and Senator Jacinta Collins said when the ALP attempted to divide same-sex marriage legislation from same-sex adoption legislation they would have voted to ban marriage then and there.
Many of us in the gay, lesbian and transgender communities have networks through the internet, and we will use these networks to inform as many people in these communities around Australia why they should not vote for the ALP in the forthcoming federal election.
This information will be particularly useful in those marginal seats where it will be possible to get someone elected from a party which supports equal rights for all in its political platform.
If the ALP is in any doubt that change can be achieved, maybe it should remember that Bob Carr dismissed Sydney and South Sydney Councils, amalgamated them as the Sydney City Council, and hoped to get Michael Lee elected as ALP Lord Mayor of Sydney. But Clover Moore won!
We will do our utmost to effect changes in Australian parliamentary representation which will allow our voices to be heard and where the current Howard-Latham homophobic alliance can be broken.
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne.PO Box 1675Preston SouthVic 3072Phone: (03) 9471 4878email: josken@zipworld.com.auweb: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
Censorship yet again enters the debate in relation to the newspapers available in Sydney and Melbourne.
We have received reports that the Fairfax papers, the Sydney Morning Herald in Sydney, and The Age in Melbourne, either do not carry the same overseas stories, or, if they do, the ones in Melbourne are heavily edited, particularly those relating to the Middle East, either Iraq or Israel/Palestine.
Now we have evidence that the same thing is happening with the Asutralian Jewish News, where the Sydney edition carries letters from people living in Melbourne, but the Melbourne edition doesn't publish these letters.
Is there any connection between the fact that the editor of The Age is the ex-editor of the Melbourne edition of the Australian Jewish News, and therefore has set some sort of precedent for his successor at the Melbourne edition?
Only the most cynical would see a connection, or some would say those who believe in conspiracy theories, but when we look at the zionist records of the two Melbourne editors, then it all becomes believable!
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We have received reports that the Fairfax papers, the Sydney Morning Herald in Sydney, and The Age in Melbourne, either do not carry the same overseas stories, or, if they do, the ones in Melbourne are heavily edited, particularly those relating to the Middle East, either Iraq or Israel/Palestine.
Now we have evidence that the same thing is happening with the Asutralian Jewish News, where the Sydney edition carries letters from people living in Melbourne, but the Melbourne edition doesn't publish these letters.
Is there any connection between the fact that the editor of The Age is the ex-editor of the Melbourne edition of the Australian Jewish News, and therefore has set some sort of precedent for his successor at the Melbourne edition?
Only the most cynical would see a connection, or some would say those who believe in conspiracy theories, but when we look at the zionist records of the two Melbourne editors, then it all becomes believable!
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Australia is cursed at the moment by having a homophobic government which stoops to the lowest levels of behaviour by acts of gross indecency.
In the last few years the prime minister, John Howard, has done his best to bring about the downfall of a homosexual judge, Michael Kirby, by trying to find evidence, trumped up by his accolytes, of actions deemed to be either paedophilic or corrupt by "finding" documents to make a spurious case, such docements being found to be forged and manufactured.
When that failed because the story was found to have been made from documents put together to discredit the judge, another attempt was made at the time the age of consent issue was being fought out in New South Wales during 2002 and 2003. That too failed, and stories are circulating now through Canberra that further scurrilous dirt is being tried out.
Having said all that, the Howard government is now busy with an amendment to the marriage act which will make it legal for a marriage between a male and a female only, which it already is, but in the process making it impossible for gay and lesbian marriages to occur in Australia and making sure, through this legislation, that such marriages, recognised in certain overseas countries, will not be recognised in Australia.
And guess what!! The Alternative Liberal Party - the ALP - is voting with the government to ensure the passage of the bill through the federal parliament.
This bill is due to be passed in the next few days - today is 11 August 2004 - and when it is finalised it will be time for us to contact every gay and lesbian contact and organisation of which we are aware in this country and advise them that they should not be voting for Howard or Latham in the forthcoming election.
It really is time for gay and lesbian groups around Australia to unite and let the major parties know, as far as possible through the ballot box, that their actions have been recognised for the homophobic attacks they continue to be, which is to deny equal human rights to all members of the community.
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In the last few years the prime minister, John Howard, has done his best to bring about the downfall of a homosexual judge, Michael Kirby, by trying to find evidence, trumped up by his accolytes, of actions deemed to be either paedophilic or corrupt by "finding" documents to make a spurious case, such docements being found to be forged and manufactured.
When that failed because the story was found to have been made from documents put together to discredit the judge, another attempt was made at the time the age of consent issue was being fought out in New South Wales during 2002 and 2003. That too failed, and stories are circulating now through Canberra that further scurrilous dirt is being tried out.
Having said all that, the Howard government is now busy with an amendment to the marriage act which will make it legal for a marriage between a male and a female only, which it already is, but in the process making it impossible for gay and lesbian marriages to occur in Australia and making sure, through this legislation, that such marriages, recognised in certain overseas countries, will not be recognised in Australia.
And guess what!! The Alternative Liberal Party - the ALP - is voting with the government to ensure the passage of the bill through the federal parliament.
This bill is due to be passed in the next few days - today is 11 August 2004 - and when it is finalised it will be time for us to contact every gay and lesbian contact and organisation of which we are aware in this country and advise them that they should not be voting for Howard or Latham in the forthcoming election.
It really is time for gay and lesbian groups around Australia to unite and let the major parties know, as far as possible through the ballot box, that their actions have been recognised for the homophobic attacks they continue to be, which is to deny equal human rights to all members of the community.
Friday, August 06, 2004
I wrote this letter to send to the Australian Jewish News. My partner edited it to make it shorter and more acceptable for publication, and the edited version is below this one.
Mannie De SaxePO Box 1675Preston SouthVic 3072Phone:(03) 9471 4878email: josken@zipworld.com.auweb: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
Letters editors publish what letters they and/or their proprietors decide suit their political ideologies.So it is a bit ingenuous of letter-writers to the AJN to state, categorically, that those of us who are ratbag, lefty, self-hating Jews are so few in number as to be able to be totally disregarded.Our views on Israel/Palestine, anti-semitism and the Ashrawi affair are the views of very few Jews in Australia and should be ignored.In that case, why are they so hot under the collar? The last three editions of the AJN have six letters attacking Antony Loewenstein for his article in the AJN (9 July 2004) and his chapter in Margo Kingston's book, “Not Happy, John”, and no letters of support.Somebody wrote (AJN 16 July 2004) that Lowenstein's sole defender in the AJN is his girlfriend.A few questions I would like answered: No letters in the AJN have been published supporting the Loewenstein arguments. Why?Why are those zionist Jews living in Australia still living here? Israel is desperately attempting to get diaspora Jews there to “fight the good fight”, especially from France because of the rise in anti-semitism. All the attacking letters have Australian addresses.How do people like Rubenstein and Danby know how many of the 100,000 Jews in Australia are zionists? Have they taken a vote? How dare they presume to attack us in this manner? Their presumption and arrogance is breathtaking!If the AJN was truly the Australian Jewish News, it would give those Jews - who are Jewish and not self-hating, as some of the zionist bigots call us - space in their columns to express our views.Our web sites and blogs get our views to a wider audience than the prejudiced, bigoted, zionist-orientated columns of the AJN. Censorship and apartheid are alive and well in Australia and Israel!
Mannie De Saxe, Jews Against Oppression and Occupation
Mannie De Saxe
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03)9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
1 August 2004
The last three editions of the AJN have six letters attacking Antony
Loewenstein for his article in the AJN (9 July 2004) and his chapter in
Margo Kingston's book, "Not Happy, John". One wrote that Loewenstein's
sole defender in the AJN is his girl friend! No letters in the AJN have
been published supporting the Loewenstein arguments. All the attacking
letters have Australian addresses. Israel is desperately attempting to get
Diaspora Jews to "fight the good fight" there, especially from France
because of the rise in anti-Semitism. How do people like Rubenstein and
Danby know how many of the 100,000 Jews in Australia are zionists? They do
not speak for all of us. If the AJN was truly the Australian Jewish News,
it would give those Jews who are Jewish and not self-hating - as some
zionists call us - space in its letters columns to agree with Antony
Loewenstein and express our views on Israel/Palestine, anti- Semitism and
the Ashrawi affair. Otherwise censorship and apartheid are alive and well.
Mannie De Saxe,
Jews Against Oppression and Occupation
So, the Australian Jewish News did not publish the edited letter, and so far it has only been published in the NOT HAPPY, JOHN blog of Margo Kingston, Antony Loewenstein and others, on 3 August 2004.
There is no doubt that the paper needs to change its name to the Australian Zionist News, because that is its total political affiliation, and the Jews in Australia who are not zionists will just have to find vehicles of their own to publicise their views, such as blogs and web pages.
I will try and see whether the Australian Jewish Democratic Society - editor Sol Salbe - will publish my letters and it will be interesting to see what happens there!
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Mannie De SaxePO Box 1675Preston SouthVic 3072Phone:(03) 9471 4878email: josken@zipworld.com.auweb: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
Letters editors publish what letters they and/or their proprietors decide suit their political ideologies.So it is a bit ingenuous of letter-writers to the AJN to state, categorically, that those of us who are ratbag, lefty, self-hating Jews are so few in number as to be able to be totally disregarded.Our views on Israel/Palestine, anti-semitism and the Ashrawi affair are the views of very few Jews in Australia and should be ignored.In that case, why are they so hot under the collar? The last three editions of the AJN have six letters attacking Antony Loewenstein for his article in the AJN (9 July 2004) and his chapter in Margo Kingston's book, “Not Happy, John”, and no letters of support.Somebody wrote (AJN 16 July 2004) that Lowenstein's sole defender in the AJN is his girlfriend.A few questions I would like answered: No letters in the AJN have been published supporting the Loewenstein arguments. Why?Why are those zionist Jews living in Australia still living here? Israel is desperately attempting to get diaspora Jews there to “fight the good fight”, especially from France because of the rise in anti-semitism. All the attacking letters have Australian addresses.How do people like Rubenstein and Danby know how many of the 100,000 Jews in Australia are zionists? Have they taken a vote? How dare they presume to attack us in this manner? Their presumption and arrogance is breathtaking!If the AJN was truly the Australian Jewish News, it would give those Jews - who are Jewish and not self-hating, as some of the zionist bigots call us - space in their columns to express our views.Our web sites and blogs get our views to a wider audience than the prejudiced, bigoted, zionist-orientated columns of the AJN. Censorship and apartheid are alive and well in Australia and Israel!
Mannie De Saxe, Jews Against Oppression and Occupation
Mannie De Saxe
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03)9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
1 August 2004
The last three editions of the AJN have six letters attacking Antony
Loewenstein for his article in the AJN (9 July 2004) and his chapter in
Margo Kingston's book, "Not Happy, John". One wrote that Loewenstein's
sole defender in the AJN is his girl friend! No letters in the AJN have
been published supporting the Loewenstein arguments. All the attacking
letters have Australian addresses. Israel is desperately attempting to get
Diaspora Jews to "fight the good fight" there, especially from France
because of the rise in anti-Semitism. How do people like Rubenstein and
Danby know how many of the 100,000 Jews in Australia are zionists? They do
not speak for all of us. If the AJN was truly the Australian Jewish News,
it would give those Jews who are Jewish and not self-hating - as some
zionists call us - space in its letters columns to agree with Antony
Loewenstein and express our views on Israel/Palestine, anti- Semitism and
the Ashrawi affair. Otherwise censorship and apartheid are alive and well.
Mannie De Saxe,
Jews Against Oppression and Occupation
So, the Australian Jewish News did not publish the edited letter, and so far it has only been published in the NOT HAPPY, JOHN blog of Margo Kingston, Antony Loewenstein and others, on 3 August 2004.
There is no doubt that the paper needs to change its name to the Australian Zionist News, because that is its total political affiliation, and the Jews in Australia who are not zionists will just have to find vehicles of their own to publicise their views, such as blogs and web pages.
I will try and see whether the Australian Jewish Democratic Society - editor Sol Salbe - will publish my letters and it will be interesting to see what happens there!
