Homeless, Stateless - Refugee

[Bob Pacey]

Says it all really,

Bob

[David Campbell]

Right on the money as usual, Heather.

“A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.” ~Salman Rushdie

Poets have done this through the ages, from Chaucer lampooning his pilgrims (and institutions like the church) in “The Canterbury Tales” to C. J. Dennis, who made a career out of it at the Herald. Alexander Pope was famous for it…in “The Dunciad” he rubbished those literary critics who had attacked him. And here’s Henry Lawson doing exactly the same thing:

Australian Bards and Bush Reviewers by Henry Lawson

While you use your best endeavour to immortalise in verse
The gambling and the drink which are your country's greatest curse,
While you glorify the bully and take the spieler's part --
You're a clever southern writer, scarce inferior to Bret Harte.

If you sing of waving grasses when the plains are dry as bricks,
And discover shining rivers where there's only mud and sticks;
If you picture "mighty forests" where the mulga spoils the view --
You're superior to Kendall, and ahead of Gordon too.

If you swear there's not a country like the land that gave you birth,
And its sons are just the noblest and most glorious chaps on earth;
If in every girl a Venus your poetic eye discerns,
You are gracefully referred to as the "young Australian Burns".

But if you should find that bushmen -- spite of all the poets say --
Are just common brother-sinners, and you're quite as good as they --
You're a drunkard, and a liar, and a cynic, and a sneak,
Your grammar's simply awful and your intellect is weak.

Lawson also had a rip-roaring go at the monarchy and all it stood for in “Our Mistress and our Queen”, but it’s too long to post here. “The City Bushman”, another long poem (part of the debate with Paterson), is also relevant in this context.

Cheers
David

[keats]

and Manfred I admire what your father has done you see my step daughter is involved with immigration and what she tells me there are some boat people who are good and some not so good and are bludgers for want of a nicer sounding word. one day if we are lucky we may separate the wheat from the dross.

I'll tell ya what Bill, in all my years touring Australia, I have seen more Aussie bludgers than immigrant bludgers. Remember the Wogs? Horrible word, yet still some of our hardest working citizens. Also a group of them took the name as a term of endearment and made a fortune out of TV Stage and Movies such as Wog Boy, Wogs at Work etc etc etc. If we are going to weed out bludging immigrants then I hope we look at our own mob carefully as well.

Just my 2 cents worth

Neil

[Vic Jefferies]

I share your sense of frustration Gary!
I full remember a professor being interviewed on ABC television about five years ago who stated then that Australia was bound to become an Asian country, the process had commenced and is irreversible. Much like the USA is bound to become a country dominated by Spanish people, the wheels are in progress and it is inevitable. This is not a matter of politics or planning but simply numbers.
I believe the whole world is in a state of radical change. Where the people of the poor and underdeveloped countries were under colonial rule and/or lacked the means of leaving their respective countries modern means of transport and lack of regulation allows them to travel to what they see as the "promised lands" in the West.
Mass migration is causing havoc and social upheaval of the worst kind in Europe, especially Greece, France and Italy as well as in the USA.
I don't agree that those arriving or attempting to arrive in Australia by boat are legitimate refugees fleeing persecution and/or danger. They face no such threats in Indonesia or Malaysia which is where they are traveling from. I believe Senator Bob Carr was correct when he labelled them economic refugees because that is clearly what they are. I also believe they saw an opportunity to buy or force there way into our country and they grabbed the chance. I would probably do the same if I were in their shoes.
The overriding problem as I see it is not all cultures are equal and we better hurry up and decide if we want to preserve our way of life as opposed to those who do not share our laws and values.
There are some pretty dreadful beliefs, religions and practices in the world and unfortunately people tend to take those practices and ideologies with them, wherever they go.

[warooa]

There are some pretty dreadful beliefs, religions and practices in the world and unfortunately people tend to take those practices and ideologies with them, wherever they go.

Exactly what the Aussie Blackfellas would probably say in hindsight, and rightly so.

[Vic Jefferies]

Absolutely correct! On the other hand they don't have a lot to boast about either.

[Vic Jefferies]

An article printed in the Australian Newspaper on 20 July 2012 quotes the then Immigration Minister Chris Bowen as stating that Indians had become the largest group immigrating to this country making up 15.7% of the total, eclipsing both the UK and China, China being country of origin for 11% of the total new arrivals.

[william williams]

well Neil I gather you haven't worked in any shearing sheds or worked at mustering stock from the outback, marking ( castrating ) of stock drafting, ploughing, clearing paddocks, mowing hay and baling, clearing bales of hay from the paddocks and stacking them in the hay shed, you city slicker who live on the edge of the city in the so called country. I've dug many a sewerage trench laid pipes then back filled them all by hand no backhoes. I was a plumber when I moved back in the city and got married so I lived in the towns where I contracted my trade the Aussies I knew and the other races we knew hard work and worked with honest sweat on our bodies, but I will admit there were some slack arses around. but they starved or did not survive well. I mean no disrespect to you or anyone else.

bill the old battler

[manfredvijars]

Much of what you've asserted Vic, I respectfully disagree with.

Graham Fredriksen would often say, "If a picture paints a thousand words, that's 'Art'. But if a few words paint a thousand pictures - That's POETRY"!

I am bemused that my piece has generated such a wide and varied discussion.
Mission accomplished!
In that discussion you bring honour to the piece and to the poet.

Thank you.

Manfred.

Homeless, Stateless - Refugee
(c) 2014 Manfred Vijars

I'm at the threshold to tomorrow
Within reach of hopes and dreams
Letting go of tears and sorrow
But it's nothing what it seems.

I'm confused at where I'm going
it's been hell back where I've been
and my mind is going crazy
From the things that I have seen.

Is this THE land of milk and honey?
No, it's another crippling blow
more like a place of madness
in a horror movie show.

These shoes that I am wearing
have been through fields of death and fear;
and the terror of the oceans -
yet these shoes have brought me here.

I had a choice, comply and follow
but I wanted to be free.
Mukhabarat have shot my parents
Yes, because I chose to flee.

I've been gutted by my Country
so my country's dead to me.
My mind is numb, I'm feeling hopeless -
Homeless, Stateless - Refugee!
---

[manfredvijars]

Oh Vic, we may not agree on some things but I'd have no problems sharing a fox-hole with you ...