The Mask of Anarchy

Last year I was reminded of a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, titled The Mask of Anarchy. It sounded a lot about what I think, and have thought for my six decades. In the 1950s this world was only a decade away from WW2, and the feeling in New Zealand was that we were so pleased that the war was over! Except that Korea happened in the 50s, Vietnam happened in 60s and 70s, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Columbia, Falklands, New Guinea, Indonesia, Ireland, Rwanda, China and many, many more wars have been fought for decades. Why? Why are people killed in whatever the fighting is for is called a ‘war’? Which countries can you name which haven’t had any civil or political ‘war’ or protest going on? Do they use weapons?

The USA has been involved in too many wars. Australia follows them. An article written in for PRI in 2014 said that the USA thought that “we are engaged in a very significant global effort to curb terrorist activity... I don't think people need to get into war fever on this. I think they have to view it as a heightened level of counter terrorist activity…” (McGrath, 2014), but why was USA involved in 134 ‘counter terrorist activities’? Read that article. Another website, Our World of Data, is titled “War and Peace” (Max Roser, n.d.). Read it. And the website from EGO European History Online looks at wars which have affected Europe (Purdue, 2016). Read that too. IWM has a webpage titled “Timeline of 20^th and 21^st century wars” (IWM Staff, 2018). It’s a good read. And so many more which you can find by Googling something like “wars fought globally since world war two” or “list of wars after ww2”. (Just a point – any media that charges a subscription should be avoided. There are plenty available without paying what they want.)

In a 2014 Guardian, Steve Taylor’s article was titled “Why do human beings keep fighting wars?” His leader said “Warfare provides people with a semblance of psychological positivity in oppressed societies where other outlets are lacking”. Do you think the same thing? Are you thinking ‘psychologically positively’? That’s no negativity towards Taylor – I absolutely agree with what he said! You should read his last paragraph.

In an article for a website run by the Modern War Institute, writer Stoker quoted Carl von Clausewitz on why war happened: he said “the objective is to overthrow the enemy” and “merely to occupy some of his frontier-districts”. His quote ended with this: ““The political object—the original motive for the war—will thus determine both the military objective to be reached and the amount of effort it requires.” (Stoker, 2019)

So why are people killed in whatever the fighting is for is called a ‘war’? Why are the huge majority of soldiers men? Do women who rule ban wars?  According to Quartz women “must also battle against the assumption that they themselves are passive, weak, or peculiar.” Apparently less than 4% of the leaders of 188 countries were female. Why? The Guardian in July 2017 had an article with comments from women about where women are. These came up:

·         ‘Something’s not working at the moment’, Bridget Christie, comedian

·         ‘Men kill more people than women’, Shazia Mirza, comedian

·         ‘Historically, women in power out-men the men’, Louise Doughty, novelist

·         ‘Women are taking their rightful place as equals’, Caroline Lucas MP, co-leader of Green party

·         ‘Oppression will not cease to exist simply because a woman is in charge’, June Eric-Udorie, editor of intersectional feminism anthology

·         ‘In the peace movement, women are not interested in power over others’, Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

·         ‘Women tend to make more holistic decisions’, Maria Balshaw, director of Tate

·         ‘I can think of some vicious, cruel women who have been in power’, Jane Goodall, primatologist

So, will the world be more peaceful with women leaders?

FP writer Stephen Walt came up with 5 primary reasons that USA goes into war:

1. because we can;
2. the US has no serious enemies;
3. it’s the ‘all-volunteer’ force;
4. it’s the Establishment, Stupid; and
5. Congress has checked out. 

Maybe that’s exactly why Australia simply follows USA.

So how can this globe end war? The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation gave five very good suggestions. David Krieger, the president of this foundation wrote them, and good on him! Very briefly:

1.    Require the leaders who promote and support war to personally participate in the hostilities.

2.    Tell the stories of the children of the “enemy” until we can feel the pain of their deaths as though they were the deaths of our own children.

3.    Give full support to the establishment of an International Criminal Court so that national leaders can be tried for all egregious war crimes at the end of any hostilities.

4.    Impeach any elected leaders who promote or support illegal, preventive war  - an “aggressive” war

5.    Rise up as a people and demand that one’s government follow its Constitution, cut off funding for war and find a way to peace. 

Which country are you living in? Is it a democracy? What do you know about the government? How was it set up? A democratic government works for the people. S/he manages the populations’ funds, properties, land, sea, transport, business, health, employed people, unemployed people… and children. S/he doesn’t endure war. S/he should never be involved in any crime – which is what ‘war’ is. Trade is good, but trade war is not. Encouraging rich people in 10% of the population is against 90% of the population, and s/he should not be in that stance. Economy is good, but economy war is not. No person is a slave. Every person has rights. Look them up!

Brainy Quote has a quote from George Washington, from USA. He said

My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, 

banished from the earth.

It would have been so good if anyone took notice of that.

The Mask of Anarchy 
(part of the poem)

Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1819

Stand ye calm and resolute,

Like a forest close and mute,

With folded arms and looks which are

Weapons of unvanquished war.

And if then the tyrants dare,

Let them ride among you there;

Slash, and stab, and maim and hew;

What they like, that let them do.

With folded arms and steady eyes,

And little fear, and less surprise,

Look upon them as they slay,

Till their rage has died away:

Then they will return with shame,

To the place from which they came,

And the blood thus shed will speak

In hot blushes on their cheek:

Rise, like lions after slumber

In unvanquishable number!

Shake your chains to earth like dew

Which in sleep had fallen on you:

Ye are many—they are few!

Men of England, heirs of Glory,

Heroes of unwritten story,

Nurslings of one mighty Mother,

Hopes of her, and one another!

What is Freedom? Ye can tell

That which Slavery is too well,

For its very name has grown

To an echo of your own

Let a vast assembly be,

And with great solemnity

Declare with measured words, that ye

Are, as God has made ye, free.

The old laws of England—they

Whose reverend heads with age are grey,

Children of a wiser day;

And whose solemn voice must be

Thine own echo—Liberty!

Rise, like lions after slumber

In unvanquishable number!

Shake your chains to earth, like dew

Which in sleep had fallen on you:

Ye are many—they are few!

Religion: Do or Don’t

Do you know any of these?

 

Armenian Apostolic

Assyrian Apostolic
Baptist
Brethren
Catholic
Christadelphian
Church of Christ (Mormons)
Dominion Theology
Eastern Orthodox
Five-fold Ministry
Greek Orthodox
Jehovah Witnesses
Kingdom Now Theology
Lutheran
Macedonian Orthodox

Maronite Catholic
Methodist
New Apostolic Reformation
Open Church
Oriental Orthodox

Pentecostal

Presbyterian
Range Christian Fellowship
Revivalism
Roman Catholic
Russian Orthodox
Salvation Army
Serbian Orthodox
Seventh Day Adventist
Spiritual Warfare Christianity
Uniting Church

31 churches? More? Less? Christian? Are they real? Maybe I should take some of them out of this list – like Dominion Theology, Five-fold Ministry, Kingdom Now Theology, Open Church… Do you know any of them?

Christianity has gone downhill for decades – from 88% in 1966, to 74% in 1974, 61% in 2011 (blogwriter, Glen ‘The Census Expert’, said that 61.6% of all population in 2011 identified themselves as ‘christian’) and on down to 52% in 2016. ABS acknowledged that Catholicism, the largest christianity sub-religion, dropped from 25.3% in 2011 to 22.6% in 2016; they said that ‘no religion’ is rising very quickly: non-religious people went up to 30.1% in 2016.

How does 52% (2016) still run our country? Is it run by 22.6% (2016) of Catholics? Or 1.1% (2016) Pentecostal?

https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/7E65A144540551D7CA258148000E2B85

ABC’s Religious & Ethics site talks about religion. Rodney Smith, in 2010, wrote an article about how Christianity Right had moved into Australian politics. This seemed to stand out since Howard, and our newest PM is one of those too.

Howard (LNP) was Anglican and was supposed to be devout of that religion. In 1998 he said that he was a mix of Protestant/Catholic/Anglican. In 2004, before he was voted out, he said that his religion was “in the background”, even though he saw religion as a requirement for PMship.

ALP took over from 2007 to 2013.

Rudd (ALP) was raised Catholic but attended the Anglican church in his electorate, Bulimba. The Australian wrote that he had not renounced his Catholic religion. I wonder why any sub-religion (“a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects”) wants the person to renounce which sub-religion they were brought up in?

Julia Gillard (ALP) was atheist and acknowledged it in a public forum. The media wrote heaps about her. Politics, unfortunately, worked against her as an atheist.

LNP took over in 2013 and still is in the seat.

Abbott (LNP) had “conservative Catholic views” and was originally not even considered for election as the PM. Unfortunately, the LNP did choose him.

Turnbull (LNP) has described himself as “a very imperfect Catholic”.

Morrison (LNP) was raised in the Uniting Church, but later became a follower of Pentecostalism. He now attends the Horizon Church (Hillsong), which is affiliated with the Australian Christian Churches and the Assemblies of God. 

An ABC article dated 10 November 2011 compared Gillard (atheist) and Howard (christian). It’s a long article, but worth the read.

This country is secular, regardless of Howard, Rudd, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison. The Constitution only writes s116 about religion. Religion is defined as “a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith”.

I have so many questions to ask the politicians, but I know they’ll never answer. They are still on here. Read them and comment if you think you have a definitive answer.

• The state laws do not write about religion. So why is Morrison trying to make a federal law about religion?
• Folau thought he could spiel bad stuff about LBGTI. He thinks he was blocked and fired. I think he was wrong. What do you think? (Read s116 and comments.) 
• What does ‘secular’ mean to you?
• Is ‘christianity’ all inclusive of all christian religions? Why so, or why not? 
• If sub-religion is separate – i.e., Catholicism is 22.6% - why is christianity considered to have more numbers than atheism who have 30.1% (2016)?
• How would you see a similar question in terms of race rather than religion: are all dark-skinned people African; are all white skinned people European?
• In politics, Christian Rights are all in LNP or independent: why?

I could go on…. and on. But I will leave it here and maybe I’ll look it up again after the next ABS. That will be interesting!

My own history

In the last two decades I have spent so much time on my computer – writing, creating websites, adding to my blogs, saving my photos. I started, recently, writing “My History”, from the date I was born (and even a bit before that, because my older family certainly count!).

I was born in 1956. We lived in a house that my dad had designed and built for us. I learned to ride a bike. I rode horses. We went on holidays in Kawhia and Mt Maunganui. He built a fourth bedroom on when the youngest was born. We moved into a larger home that he built for us, for reasons our old property was sold by the council when they built a new road. Dad then started to build wedding gifts for three sisters – the other sister and our brother got the cost of that in their wills when dad died. (This pic is my marriage present.)

I started looking at photos from 1956 right up to now, and started adding some of them into “My History” (that’ll have a better name when I have written much more) – my parents’ families before I was born; me as a kid; where I went when I left home; the Drury Lane theatre I was involved with for 18 years; the NZ Seniors Swimmers which I joined with and went to Auckland and Napier for competitions; what I used to do and do now; the motorbikes I have owned; the Ulysses group in Hamilton and, when I moved to Brisbane, the one in Brisbane – Mt Lindsay; the shows I went to see; where I used to work; where I used to live... So much stuff!

I wondered how many other people do as much stuff as I have done – and why do they do that? What was their education? Are they degree-educated? Graduate Diploma educated? PhD? When did they do their university study, if they did? I left school to work before I started University of Waikato – twice. It didn’t mean anything to me way back then, but there were some issues – not started by Waikato – which involved day cares which Waikato also had. Six years ago, before my surgery and stroke, I got my Graduate Diploma of OHS. I felt I’d made my name! These days I am doing a BA through OUA and Griffith – my recovery for my stroke. I was so damned old when that happened, but I know I can do the BA.

I rode so much for the Mt Lindesay Ulysses group when I moved to Brisbane – we went north, south, west... all over! I used to ride a Yamaha 800 Diversion partly with my ex, but then I wanted my own. So I bought a Yamaha 700 Virago, then a Suzuki 800 Marauder, and then a Yamaha 1100 V-Star – which I loved so much and still would own another of those! After my stroke I thought I’d never ride again, but a friend in Redcliffe took me as a pillion out to her sons home where he loaned me his Indian! I was in heaven as I rode that!!

My present car I bought 8 years ago – it was 5 years old then, a 2006 PT Cruiser which I have held onto and love it! It has a present problem with a noise in the front, but I will get that fixed when I can afford to from my DSP. I had that car when my dogs and I moved out from the home I had shared with my ex, and we moved into a lovely little property in Inala. That community pleased me, and I was a short walk away from the main shopping centre so went there often. So many people I met there, so many different cultures. That suburb may have been one of the best I have been in.

My only problem now is that I can’t work any more because of the aphasia I suffer from my stroke. Oh, I had tried to, with assistance from CPL in Beenleigh, but I only worked 10 hours a week because I got so fatigued, and eventually, after 10 months I was made redundant. Yes, that had already happened to me three times in New Zealand.

And yet I am now 63 years old, I should still be working up to retirement but I am now studying, not reading as I used to before my stroke, will not ride a motorbike again unless I could afford to, and I feel okay, isolated in my duplex in Bellbird Park. Perhaps all people like you should read this and wonder what they do... is it something like I’ve done for the last 63 years?

I feel pretty damned good about my life. Even though it could be better.

The best place to live is...

With the climate change working globally, taking this world underwater or almost dead, where can we live – or where can’t we? I did some research to find out what place won’t be underwater – and where that would be the best place or the worst place to live in the next decade.

On 20 April 2018 Conde Nast Traveler listed those places already affected by climate change, including:

• The Great Barrier reef, Australia, which scientists have said has seen “coral mortality rates in the range of 50 percent, meaning half the living corals have died from bleaching.” 
• Venice, Italy, where “Lorenzo Quinn created a massive sculpture of hands reaching out of the Grand Canal in an effort to draw attention to the sinking city." 
• Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, where “since 1966, a warming climate has significantly reduced the size of 39 different glaciers in the park—the worst of which have seen reductions up to 85 percent.” 
• Middle East’s the Dead Sea which is “shrinking at a rate of around four feet a year.” 
• The Amazon has been reported on by NASA as “trees will start to die if the area's dry season lasts longer than 5-7 months—right now, the dry season clocks in at just a few weeks shy of that threshold.” 
• Yamal Peninsula, Russia, is heading towards loss of reindeer herds “as earth continues to warm—a dangerous premonition for Russia's reindeer herds.” 
• The Maldives in the Indian Ocean “risks vanishing entirely as climbing tides are already displacing locals.” 
• Key West Florida which “The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that the sea level in the Florida Keys will rise 15 inches over the next 30-odd years.” 
• The Rhône Valley, France, where “production will shrivel (... an 85 percent decrease). 
• Mumbai, India, where the home of 18 million people will not exist as it does as “as a mere two-inch rise in water by 2050 would leave the city prone to frequent flooding.” 
• Rio de Janieiro, Brazil, will see “the sea level around Rio will rise up to 32 inches by the year 2100—enough to cover the city's famous beaches, airport, and even some inland neighborhoods.” 
• Alaska wilderness is facing “the state’s many ice caps... receding at extraordinary rates, triggering landslides so intense they register on the Richter scale.”

https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/10-places-to-visit-before-theyre-lost-to-climate-change 

On 5 June that same year the World Bank had some photograph awards for pictures which showed more about “The Challenging Face of Climate Change in Central Asia”. They received 300 entries, and posted some to three categories: 

• Category: "The role of woman in the sustainable use of natural resources in changing climate conditions"
• Category: "The effects of climate change on the state of glaciers and water resources in Central Asia"
• Category: "The impact of climate change on the welfare of the rural population of Central Asia"

Have a look at https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2018/06/05/the-challenging-face-of-climate-change-in-central-asia

 

The NaturaI International Journal of Science wrote its article on 20 April 2018 titled “Clear signs of global warming will hit poorer countries first”. It said that Bangalesh and Egypt already knew their countries were facing future hits. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04854-2 

Foreign Affairs wrote their article on 29 November 2018 and called it “Climate Shocks and Humanitarian Crises: Which Countries Are Most at Risk?” and said that “throughout 2018, weather events also had devastating humanitarian consequences in developing countries, from immense floods in the Indian state of Kerala to an intense drought in Afghanistan that affected millions.” https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2018-11-29/climate-shocks-and-humanitarian-crises

 

The US News’ article, dated 24 January 2018 and titled “That Sinking Feeling”, said “Most nations think other issues are more pressing, but climate change takes center stage in these five.” Those 5 were Vietnam, Chile, China, Colombia and Mexico.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-01-24/why-climate-change-worries-these-countries-most

Have a look at https://www.facingthefuture.org/blogs/news/the-issue-of-global-climate-change, or https://www.bcg.com/en-au/publications/2018/economic-case-combating-climate-change.aspx or https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/27/extreme-global-weather-climate-change-michael-mann ...

Or https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/climate-science-data/climate-science/impacts... yes, that one is Australia. The Australian government department, for a government which does not even believe in climate change! Read that one – it talks about coasts affected by sea fluctuations, it talks about how climate change and natural disasters “impact[s] the location and design of our cities and the built environment”, it talks about how extreme heatwaves can result in greatest health threats. Do we, the public, know about that? If so, why don’t we believe that?

Where would you live in a decade? Two decades? Five decades... if you’re not already old? I don’t know where I would be, but I’ve been looking at other places (maybe)... but not islands already sinking into the ocean. Maybe not even Australia.