February 25, 2011
Mr Paulo Flores is today’s guest poster on Blak and Black. Paulo is a European trained and qualified Psychologist, Lawyer, Mediator and Human Rights Activist. He is currently working in Australia as a mediator and investigator. Paulo was previously a case worker dealing with the victims of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. During many hours of heated discussions, fuelled by the odd bottle of red or two, we began ...
February 23, 2011
First, democracy implies processes of communication through which individuals come to know as individuals what they want or think is right. Individuals should be the owners of their beliefs and preferences, meaning that beliefs or preferences should not be the result of manipulation or received opinion but rather the result of considered adherence. Second, democracy implies processes of communication through which a collectivity comes to know what it wants or ...
February 21, 2011
On 16 May 2008, the United Nations Committee against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment issued its Concluding Observations on Australia. They included 27 recommendations concerning Australia’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Before I go into any specifics, it is worth considering for a moment what torture aims to achieve. Generally, states and ...
February 18, 2011
Detachment 88′s major facility at the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Co-operation was established in 2004 with almost $40 million of Australian funding. According to its website, most of the counter-terrorism seminars at the Centre are run by the AFP and according to The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2009/10 annual report, it is a major beneficiary of $16.3 million in annual funding allocated to the AFP to combat ...
February 17, 2011
The attached video shows very clearly what I mean by torture of West Papuan by Detachment 88. What this video shows is a clear violation of international law. Detachment 88 is equipped by Australia and trained by the AFP. Is this what you want your tax dollars spent on? Do you want to be associated with a police force, the Australian Federal Police that condones, even tacitly, this type of ...
February 16, 2011
Firstly let me apologise for my tardiness in responding to people who have contacted me over the last few weeks. Publication deadlines, travel and research have kept me on my toes and off the ‘Net”. Interestingly, while I have been off the air, the Commonwealth Ombudsman released his annual report into the activities of the Australian Federal Police, a requirement under Part V of the Australian Federal Police Act, 1979. It ...
February 9, 2011
When I started Blak and Black, on the advice of my good friend the Rev. Pat, my purpose was to bring to the attention of as wide an audience as I could the true nature and extent of racism in Australia. What I didn’t realise at the time was how far Australia’s neo-colonial racist concepts had spread beyond our borders. Over the last few months I have been contacted by ...
February 5, 2011
Australia Day 2011, a mere 223 years after the English invasion and occupation of Aboriginal Australia, an invasion in which white ‘Christian’ males brought with them all of the then, as now, prevailing attributes of ‘Christian’ society; racism, misogyny, a misguided sense of white ‘Christian’ superiority materialism, corruption, hypocrisy, environmental vandalism and god forbid the rule of law, that epitome of civilized men, a rule that stipulates that all stand ...
February 3, 2011
Most, if not all, of the discussions I post on Blak and Black have to do with abuse of official power, which is another way of saying corruption. In fact the incident at the Waldorf café which I discuss on my ‘About’ page is a classic example of the type of abuse of official power which constitutes corruption. The AFP refused to investigate an indecent assault on an Aboriginal female ...
