Brilliant humanitarian Indian writer Arundhati Roy has commented powerfully on simultaneous First World holocaust commission and holocaust denial: “the ultimate privilege of the élite is not just their deluxe lifestyles, but deluxe lifestyles with a clear conscience” (see Arundhati Roy in “The Cheque-book and the Cruise Missile”). In the British TV comedy “ Fawlty Towers ”, hotelier Basil Fawlty (John Clease), faced with some German guests, famously told his staff “Don’t mention the war”. The look-the-other-way Mainstream media of Australia – and no doubt those of other Western Murdochracies and Lobbyocracies – have applied this dictum by ignoring the horrendous carnage in reviewing a blood-soaked 2011.
Thus the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH, Fairfax media empire) opined “We can sum up 2011 as a year when the foundations were shaken. Literally and tragically so in some instances: Christchurch, that most stable of cities, was devastated by an earthquake and still has aftershocks that liquefy the very ground; Japan’s Tohoku region was swept by a double tsunami, and confidence in its nuclear power industry shattered by the resulting Fukushima disaster; devastating floods took their toll on some of the world’s poorest people. For the rest of us, particularly in the wealthy countries, it was more a sudden shakiness in the pillars holding up the world’s financial system. The second wave of the global financial crisis struck….” but offered not a word about the war (see SMH editorial, National Times, “2012- hang together or hang separately”, SMH National Times, 31 December 2011: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/2012–hang-together-or-hang-separately-20111230-1pfhr.html ).
The SMH’s Melbourne sister Fairfax empire newspaper The Age reviewed 2011 but offered only the following about the war: “For the United States, which spent much of the year trying to define the terms of its withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan, the finding and killing of Osama bin Laden in May did not so much close a chapter as throw open a door onto the ghastly failings of the Pakistani state, an abyss into which even the most determined nation-builder would shudder to look ” (The Age editorial, National Times, “99% searching for a common cause in an upturned world”, The Age, National Times, 231 September 2011: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/99-searching-for-common-cause-in-an-upturned-world-20111230-1pfik.html ).
However Rory Cahill, a section editor for The Conversation, a novel academic-based web magazine for expert opinion, does offer a small glimpse of the war-related horrors of 2011: “The forces unleashed by the Arab Spring will continue to play out. 2011 drew to an ominous close in Libya and Egypt , with rival militia fighting for control of Tripoli ‘s airport while the Egyptian Army turned its guns on protestors in Tahrir Square . The dream of democracy could yet become a blood-soaked nightmare more reminiscent of post-invasion Iraq than the stable Muslim state of Turkey . Iran will continue to be the focus of much attention. Over the course of 2012 the world will come to understand that the much-anticipated war on Tehran is already underway, albeit not the kind of war we recognise. Instead of tanks crossing the border, war on Iran involves viruses like Stuxnext being planted on laptops” (Rory Cahill, “2011, the year that was: politics & society”, The Conversation, 30 December 2011: https://theconversation.edu.au/2011-the-year-that-was-politics-and-society-4828 ).
The Age published a review of 2011 by eminent but very conservative Australian historian Professor Geoffrey Blainey AC (he was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours list of 2000 for his service to academia, research and scholarship), who was formerly Professor History at the University of Melbourne. Professor Blainey’s article was entitled “Turbulent times but journeys to remember in 2011” (see The Age On-line National Times Section, 30 December 2011: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/turbulent-times-but-journeys-to-remember-in-2011-20111229-1pe6u.html ).
Professor Blainey’s summary of 2011 followed Basil Fawlty’s famous dictum of “don’t mention the war” and opined: “This was the year of the televised disaster. A host of present-day Australian children, when they grow old, will recall how in the year 2011 they saw on their screens the Japanese tsunami and nuclear nightmare, the earthquake in Christchurch , drought in north-east Africa and flood in Thailand . In eastern Australia the severe floods in successive years were a special surprise for those who, a few years previously, had been told by the more outspoken climate-scientists that Australians might never see floods again in their lifetime. Across the world a pervasive fear centred on debt. The hopes of a steady recovery from the globe’s financial crisis of 2008-09 were pricked this year by the realisation that Europe might be crippled by debt and, even more, by its own disagreements on how to handle debt. The European Union had been a notable achievement of the 20th century, and nations now sit together at a thousand conference tables and drink coffee rather than fight.”
But not a word about the US Alliance wars in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya that have been associated with war-related deaths totalling 2.2 million, 4.6 million, 5.0 million and 50,000, respectively (see Muslim Holocaust, Muslim Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/muslimholocaustmuslimgenocide/ ).
Further, re Professor Blainey’s assertion about “floods” and “outspoken climate scientists”, CSIRO Australia’s premier scientific research organization in its 2011 report “Climate change: science and solutions for Australia” (see: http://www.publish.csiro.au/Books/download.cfm?ID=6558 ) shows decreased precipitation drought in southern and south eastern Australia [p7] and increasing precipitation in northern and central Australia [p7] and states “Climate models indicate that there is likely to be less rainfall in southern areas of Australia, especially in winter, and in southern and eastern areas in spring, caused by the contraction in the rainfall belt towards the higher (more southern) latitudes (Figure. 3.2). Future changes in summer tropical rainfall in northern Australia remain highly uncertain. It is also likely that the most intense rainfall events in most locations will become more extreme, driven by a warmer, wetter atmosphere [p38] … For Australia, heatwaves, fires, floods, and Southern Australian droughts are all expected to become more frequent and more intense in the coming decades [p46] … Water security, or reliability if water supply, in southern and eastern Australia is expected to decline in future as a result of reduced rainfall and higher rates of evaporation [p48]”.
Professor Blainey’s blinkered view of history as it is actually happening has nevertheless registered that others perceive reality otherwise. His essay on 2011 concludes with the following extraordinary non-sequitur: “This nation, so far, has had two Jewish governors-general; and one, Sir Zelman Cowen, long ago wrote the life of the other, Sir Isaac Isaacs. In his book of 1967, Sir Zelman wrote affectionately of Sir Isaac and singled out his ”mind of great strength, power and range” and his ”unflagging and almost inexhaustible energy”. Those were also among the qualities of Sir Zelman, who, at the age of 92, died this month. Some of those who write Australia ‘s history textbooks devote an indignant chapter or two to what they see as the unparalleled racism of this country. But the day will come when they realise that, more than probably any European nation, Australia has recognised and honoured the talent of its Jewish citizens”. Professor Blainey seems to be saying (a) that Australia cannot be racist, (b) because it (assertedly) treats Jews properly – and if so, he is wrong on both counts.
In reality Sir Isaac Isaacs, Australia’s first Australian-born Governor General was a decent man who, unlike the rabidly pro-Zionist Liberal Party-National Party Coalition Opposition and rabidly pro-Zionist Labor Party Government (the Lib-Labs who together account for 80% of the vote in Australia), strongly opposed Zionism as he articulated as follows: “The honour of Jews throughout the world demands the renunciation of political Zionism.” and “The Zionist movement as a whole…now places its own unwarranted interpretation on the Balfour Declaration, and makes demands that are arousing the antagonism of the Moslem world of nearly 400 millions, thereby menacing the safety of our Empire, endangering world peace and imperiling some of the most sacred associations of the Jewish, Christian, and Moslem faiths. Besides their inherent injustice to others these demands would, I believe, seriously and detrimentally affect the general position of Jews throughout the world” ( Sir Isaac Isaacs, quoted by Wikipedia, ”Isaac Isaacs”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Isaacs ).
Further, Australia has a long history of anti-Jewish anti-Semitism that continues to this day. Indeed the current Lib-Lab anti-Jewish anti-Semitism is potentially far more dangerous than that in Australia in the past (for shocking details of past anti-Semitism see Chapter 17, “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History”: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) . Thus the pro-war, pro-Zionist, pro-US imperialism Lib-Labs are anti-Jewish anti-Semitic by remorselessly ignoring the decent views of outstanding anti-racist Australian Jews such as Sir Isaac Isaacs and many others (for the expert , humanitarian opinions numerous such outstanding anti-racist Jewish scholars and writers “Jews Against Racist Zionism”: https://sites.google.com/site/jewsagainstracistzionism/home ) and by falsely identifying decent, anti-racist Jews with the appalling, genocidal crimes of racist Zionist-run Apartheid Israel (0.1 million Palestinians killed, 1.4 million non-violent war-related deaths, 7 million refugees) and the racist Zionist-beholden US Alliance (12 million war-related deaths since 1990 in the racist Zionist-backed US War on Muslims).
For a glimpse of the extraordinary Australian Mainstream censorship of the humane views of anti-racist Jewish Australian intellectuals see “ Australian ABC censorship of top Jewish intellectuals against racist Zionism”, Bellaciao, 27 December 2011: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21532 and “ABC Censorship”: https://sites.google.com/site/abccensorship/home .
I sent a comment on Professor Blainey’s article and under my professional name (Dr Gideon Polya) to The Age but – in keeping with its regular practice of censoring informed, credentialled and non-anonymous professional comments – The Age completely censored my comments, presumably as containing material unfit for its readers to read, know or think about (see “Censorship by The Age”: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammediacensorship/censorship-by-the-age ) :
“Professor Blainey can praise the European countries for not attacking each other anymore (the NATO attacks on Serbia aside) but ignores 2 decades of US Alliance attacks on the Muslim World that have been associated with 12 million war-related deaths (violent deaths plus avoidable deaths from war-imposed deprivation), the breakdown being 4.6 million (Iraq, 1990-2011), 2.2 million (Somalia, 1992-2011), 5.0 million (Afghanistan, 2001-2011), these estimates being consonant with avoidable under-5 infant deaths totalling 1.8 million, 1.2 million and 2.6 million, respectively, and reflected in refugee numbers totalling 5-6 million, 2.0 million and 3-4 million, respectively.
Professor Blainey similarly failed to notice in his “A Short History of the World” and his “A Very Short History of the World” the 6-7 million Indians starved to death by the British (with Australian complicity) in the 1942-1945 WW2 Bengali Holocaust (although he does note “the loss of at least two million lives” there in his “The Great Seesaw. A new view of the Western world 1750-2000”).
Professor Blainey dismisses ongoing Australian racism (towards Asians and Aborigines) because he claims Jews have been treated properly – they have not been, they still are not and why shouldn’t they be?”
This, in brief, is what the Australia Mainstream media chose not to notice in looking back on 2011: Australia withdrew its last 33 soldiers from Iraq in August 2011 leaving a country that since 1990 has suffered 4.6 million war-related deaths, 1.7 million violent deaths, 2.9 million avoidable deaths from war-imposed deprivation, 2.0 million under-5 infant deaths, 1.8 million avoidable under-5 infant deaths and 5-6 million refugees (see “Iraqi Holocaust, Iraqi Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/iraqiholocaustiraqigenocide/ ) but Australia still has about 1,500 troops in Afghanistan that since the US Alliance invasion in 2001 has suffered 5.0 million war-related deaths, 1.2 million violent deaths, 3.8 million avoidable deaths from war-imposed deprivation, 2.7 million under-5 infant deaths, 2.4 million avoidable under-5 infant deaths and 3-4 million refugees (plus a further 2.5 million Pashtun refugees generated by US and US-backed violence in NW Pakistan) (see “Afghan Holocaust, Afghan Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/afghanholocaustafghangenocide/ ).
Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. We are obliged to inform everyone we can about horrendous crimes against humanity. A key resolution for everyone for 2012 is to do exactly that.
By Dr Gideon Polya
01 January 2012
@ Countercurrents.org
Dr Gideon Polya currently teaches science students at a major Australian university. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career.