Hi there!It's been a minute.Few pesky things have been interrupting my ability to write these emails, but now we are here and we have reintroduced ourselves to each other, let's get stuck into it!(For the record - this is quite long and was going to be longer, but I have split it into two. Part B will arrive in a few days - and it's a goodie!)
1. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been reelected
Turkey has been under a state of emergency since the failed coup in 2016, which resulted in over 105,000 journalists, teachers, university lecturers, police and soldiers ending up in jail. Currently, Turkey has the highest incarceration rate of journalists in the world, and 50,000 people remain locked up for contentious reasons.On 25th June, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was voted in for another five-year term. Erdogan was PM for 11 years before becoming President in 2014, and this most recent election (as well as the previous ones) was surrounded by questionable practices.So - what does his re-election mean? Well - Turkey is on the precipice of the Middle East. It is an Arab nation, without being Arab. This has led to confusion over their stance on Syria, as their allies Russia and Iran want to see an Assad-led Syria, but Turkey stands to gain power and land from working with Kurdish troops to quell Assad.Before taking office, Erdogan passed a range of laws to centralise power and allow him to exert control with no checks. These include:
No more Prime Minister
Firmer control of the military (directly following the 2016 coup)
Erdogan to choose judges and top officials, as well as draft the budget
Erdogan to call the election without consulting parliament
Finally - Erdogan to select the Head of the Central Bank, Head of the National Security Office and Head of the Religious Affairs Directorate.
It is a concerning time to be in and around Turkey.
2. Australian Bipartisan Approach to Asylum Seekers
So - this headline has changed numerous times over the past few weeks as I have started and then abandoned this email. It was for some time 'Bullshit Things that Australia Does', but I thought I would end up breaking out the different bullshit things, as each is meaningful and important in their own right.What truly prompted me to focus on these next few topics (broken out over this and the next MM) is the recent outrage over the US performing similar acts. We as a nation seem to be broken-hearted and angry, but we seem to be apathetic about those things happening here.Here's a brief rundown of some recent events/actions against asylum seekers in Australia:
Last week marked the 5th anniversary for restarting offshore processing
Kevin Rudd, recently returning to PM in June 2013, implemented it in order to win votes before the September election.
The Labor Party lost the election, but Tony Abbott, then Malcolm Turnbull, kept the policy in place - regularly restating Rudd's hardline phrase: No asylum seeker who comes by boat will ever be resettled in Australia.
Bill Shorten and the Labor caucus agree with the policy.
Anthony Albanese has been a public critic, but will no longer comment on the topic, saying that he does not think it will be debated at the upcoming Labor Conference.
Asylum seekers who are found to be 'genuine refugees' are instead forced to settle in PNG or Cambodia. Others are forcibly returned to their country or remain in detention on Nauru or Manus Island indefinitely.
It has cost the Australian government $9B in the last 5 years, and 40 people have died, including at least 16 who are confirmed to have committed suicide.
Kicking asylum seekers out of the country, contravening the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Australian government has split up another family and sent Tamil asylum seeker Thileepan back to Sri Lanka, where he was arrested by Sinhalese police on his return. His wife and their 10-month-old Australian daughter have been granted Safe Haven Visas, but those do not allow for family reunification, so it is unlikely that Thileepan will ever see them again.
He arrived in Australia by boat in 2012 and has mostly been living in the community until his claim for asylum was rejected earlier this year. He was issued with a removal notice on Friday two weeks ago and forced onto a flight at midnight on the Monday.
The Australian government deported him in defiance of the United Nations, which urged the government to uphold international law and allow the family to stay together. A spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Australia’s removal contravened “the basic right of family unity, as well as the fundamental principle of the best interests of the child”.
Priya and her family lose their fight to remain in Australia
You may have heard of Nades, Priya and their two young girls. They are also Tamil refugees but were pulled from their home in Biloela, QLD, in March and sent to the Melbourne Detention Centre. They had been living and working in Biloela for three years.
The small town of Biloela fought back, raising awareness, putting ministers on the spot on Q&A and calling media and ministers. They asked the government to intervene in the deportation.
The final appeal for their refugee status was denied. They have now been in detention for over 100 days.Finally, I wanted to share this poem with you, written by Behrouz Boochani, who is a Kurdish journalist and writer from Ilam in Iran. He has been in detention on Manus Island for over five years. UntitledForgive me, my bird, as I am not able to embrace you.But here,in this corner,I know some immigrant birds. I smile at them at the crack of dawnand I embrace them with open arms,as open as the immensity of the sky.My beautiful love!Forgive me, as I am not able to quaff the aromatic scent of your breaths,but here, in this ruin,I know some wildflowers which grow every morning in my heart,and at the dead of the night, they drift into sleep with me, in my place.Forgive me, my angel!I am not able to caress your gentle skin with my fingertips.But I have a lifelong friendship with sea zephyrsand those zephyrs strum my nude skin here, in this green hell!Forgive me, as I am not able to climb the green mountains of your body,but here, at a depth of the darkness, in the middle of every night, I enjoy deep and utter seclusion with the tallest and more vain coconut trees.My beautiful! I sing you in the profundities of the oldest and the oddest songs,further away from the world of a man who loves you amongst the deepest oceans and the darkest forests.Inside a cage,the man loves you,inside the cage located between the vastest ocean and the greenest forests.Forgive me, my love.Forgive me, my love, as I am only able to love you from a remote island,inside the cage,from the corner of this small room.Forgive me, please, as the only portion of the world that belongs to me is these pieces.
If you are white and born in Australia - you did not
earn
that privilege, But you can justify your life of comparative luxury by speaking up for those who are marginalised in our society.I have created emails to send to the below regarding our treatment of asylum seekers, with a note on the recent demonisation of Australians of Sudanese and greater African descent (spoiler for Midweek Mull Part 2).
PM Malcolm Turnbull:
download this email (add your name to the bottom)
and send here
Minister of Home Affairs, Peter Dutton
click here for a direct email (add your name at the bottom)
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop
download this email (add your name to the bottom)
and send here
Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten
click here for a direct email (add your name at the bottom)
Your local member of government
download this email (a few highlighted changes to make)
and find your local MP here (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Recommendations
Now, onto a different note...Get ya mug into some of these!To read:Look, I'm going to outwardly spruik my own stuff here.A while ago - a long while ago - I wrote an article on Feminism and Sexism and Violence in 2018 and you should read it and let me know your thoughts.To listen: Most days I listen to The Daily podcast from the NYT (I have plenty of issues with their reporting and editorial pieces, but for the most part I find their podcasts informative and not too biased).They released The Caliphate on Saturdays over several months, but now you can find it in one series - all available for download. And it follows Rukmini Callimachi as she reports on The Islamic State - including speaking to a Canadian recruit and young, young Yazidi girls who have just returned to their homes after being used as sex slaves.Her reporting is empathetic and eye-opening and honest. As Molly would say - Do Yourself A Favour.To watch: A couple of oldies here that I recommend you watch.James Cordon & Paul McCarthyThis short, beautiful, documentary on returning elephant orphans to the wild in ZimbabweWhat white people do when they have too much time (and too many dogs)Also to read/look at: Shameless plug: I went on a road trip around the SouthWest USA last year, and my first stop was Zion National ParkAs of July 24th 2018, 37 women in Australia have been killed due to domestic violence.That is one death every five and a half days.