Posted a thing about the Opposition's proposal to reject asylum seekers who lack ID over at dreamer_easy:

http://dreamer-easy.livejournal.com/41332.html

Out of Africa but not yet embraced by Australia: "While they are enormously grateful for the chance to become Australians, African-Australians routinely experience discrimination in their daily lives. They find it hard to get jobs fitting their qualifications gained in Australia. They encounter petty racism on a regular basis... What part will ( Read more... )

Had a little moment of hope and pride, reading this morning about practical responses to the Sydney race riot of 2005: Anglo women volunteered as English teachers, Muslim women volunteered as surf lifesavers.

Then Tony Abbot went and &*%*&%ed it up for me by characterising migrants as criminals. Thanks for that, mate. ("Migrants" here is code for ( Read more... )

I was flailing about trying to say something intelligent about the weekend murder of Indian student Nitan Garg when I came across an op-ed in the SMH by Gerard Henderson. It put what's bothering me into words better than I was managing:"The immediate response of Victoria Police to any suggestion that attacks on Indians are racially motivated is to ( Read more... )

While I'm here, I'll post some of my perpetually backed-up collection of links.

First some Doctor Who-related news. Firstly:

Doctor Who's Noel Clarke features in black actors photography exhibition

And secondly - if you'd like a peek at Captain Magambo's return, there are lots of photos from the Doctor Who Easter special, Planet of the Dead, ( Read more... )

beccaelizabeth has begun to do what I still haven't got around to: Counting the POC in Torchwood.

And now, some local news. In no particular order:

Lexicographers note the rise of Lebanese Australian English, amongst other "ethnolects".

What the-! Ku Klux Klan recruiting in New Zealand. (I still have to report on our New Zealand trip.)

The guvmint's Diverse ( Read more... )

I'm still reeling from the Federal Government's announcement that they'll be ending mandatory detention for asylum seekers. First introduced by the Labor government in 1992, but most successfully used by the Howard government to grab votes, the policy has cost Australian taxpayers more than a billion dollars, and has cost genuine refugees, ( Read more... )

This is a little book of short essays on place names no longer in use, and places which no longer exist. For someone like me, who knows next to nothing about history, every page is an education. Some stories are funny, others are pretty grim. Here are a couple of the latter:

Like most Australians, I only really know Nauru as a former dumping ( Read more... )

After a long legal battle to get any decision at all, Iraqi refugee Ali Al Jenabi has been refused a visa on the grounds that he helped other refugees reach Australia. However, he's been allowed to remain in Australia until Iraq is safe enough for him to return. You can read more about the case here: "Oskar Schindler and the people smuggler"The " ( Read more... )

26 January is Australia's national day, marking the foundation of the first British convict colony here. To Indigenous Australians, it's also known as "Invasion Day" or "Survival Day ( Read more... )