Friday, February 28, 2014

JOHN PILGER'S 'UTOPIA': HEART-RENDING 'FIRST NATIONS' AUSTRALIAN SHOCKUMENTARY


 'GUN BRUTE' by WILLIAM RICKETTS
 'PITJANTJATJARA' YOUTHS by WILLIAM RICKETTS
'EARTH MOTHER' by WILLIAM RICKETTS



JOHN PILGERS' 'UTOPIA' (watch and/or down-load)
https://vimeo.com/167556065

John Pilger: 'Utopia is one of the most urgent films I have made'

The veteran journalist and film-maker is angry at the lack of progress in Indigenous affairs over the past 30 years
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/08/john-pilger-utopia-is-one-of-the-most-urgent-films-i-have-made

Journalist and film maker John Pilger has been making films on Indigenous Australia for nearly thirty years. His new film, Utopia, revisits many of the locations and people he has been visiting throughout that time and provides a “grim and powerful” assessment on the state of Indigenous affairs. As the film is set for a January release in Australia, Pilger talks about some of its themes.
Q: You've been making films about Indigenous Australia for decades and Utopia references much of your previous work on the subject. Why did you feel the need to return to the subject now?

A: Much of journalism is only credible when it pays respect to serious human rights issues by returning to them, and examining how lives have changed, or not, and why important voices are suppressed. This is especially true of indigenous Australia. Gaining the trust of Indigenous people often only happens when they see the work you do. The making of my films on Indigenous Australia has reflected the trust of those I have filmed. That’s why The Secret Country in 1985 has become such a valued resource for Indigenous communities, leading to the establishment of the first national Aboriginal memorial in the National Gallery in Canberra.

Utopia is long overdue. The so-called “intervention” in 2007 was one of the most devastating setbacks suffered by Aboriginal people. Do non-indigenous Australians understand the pain and trauma this cynical action by the Howard government caused? I doubt it. The national smearing and humiliation, the lies and consequent tragedies – the increase in suicides, for example – rank with the worst official behaviour towards the first people of Australia.

Utopia is one of the most urgent films I have made. That Australian governments believe they can manipulate and discriminate against Aboriginal communities in a manner that has been described in the UN as “permissively racist” is astonishing in the 21century. How ironic that as Nelson Mandela was buried and venerated, another form of the system he fought against was alive and well in Australia.

'OUR GENERATION'




JOHN PILGER INTERVIEW ON ABC RADIO

John Pilger discusses a treaty for Indigenous Australia on ABC Radio National on the day of the Australian premiere of his new film 'Utopia'

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/john-pilger-discusses-new-film-utopia/5204550 

'The Secret Country'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzjW6RjQQi4

'Hostility to John Pilger's film a denial of nation's brutal past'

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/hostility-to-john-pilgers-film-a-denial-of-nations-brutal-past-20140302-33ttx.html

INTERVIEW WITH ROONY, Indigenous Educator/Activist at Gariwerd National Park, Victoria

http://synthaissance.blogspot.com/2014/01/aruna-roony-interview-indigenous.html 

INTERVIEW WITH RICKY MAYNARD, Indigenous Activist and Internationally Recognized Photographer, Tasmania

http://synthaissance.blogspot.com/2013/12/ricky-maynard-tasmanian-photographer.html

Two teenage girls have been caught on camera allegedly racially abusing and assaulting an elderly indigenous man on a bus

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/two-teenage-girls-have-been-caught-on-camera-allegedly-racially-abusing-and-assaulting-an-elderly-indigenous-man-on-a-bus/story-fnj94idh-1226839855069 


Tears began to fall down Paul Buttigieg’s cheeks as he recalled the shock of being assaulted by two women on a bus

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/tears-began-to-fall-down-paul-buttigiegs-cheeks-as-he-recalled-the-shock-of-being-assaulted-by-two-women-on-a-bus/story-fnj94idh-1226841523397 

"10 DARK SECRETS AUSTRALIA DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW"
http://wakeup-world.com/2014/09/25/10-dark-secrets-australia-doesnt-want-you-to-know/

COMMENTARY BY ALEX PADEMELON JOHNSON


Every year, Australia tries to wash away its hidden history with displays of overt nationalism. On 26 January, Australians plant their union jacks in parks and beaches across the country, or on the faces of small children who are taught nothing about what the symbol means to those people this nation believed it conquered. For the majority of them, there has only been one name for the date: Australia day.
But for the First Peoples, there have been several. Survival day, invasion day, sovereignty day – each word loaded with the pain of 200 years of dispossession that has left Aboriginal people impoverished but, against the odds, remarkably strong.
My preferred name for 26 January, however, was one of its earliest – the day of mourning. On this day, First Nations peoples mourn the loss of land, of their children, of their wages, of their remains. They mourn the loss of control over their own future. Australians may want us to "get over it", to stop being so "sensitive". But then, why do we still set aside a day of remembrance on ANZAC day to commemorate those who risked their lives at war? And why don’t we acknowledge the brave Aboriginal fighters who sacrificed everything in the frontier wars?
A couple of years ago, I visited a site of extreme significance to my nation – the Darumbal people, whose homeland takes in Rockhampton in Central Queensland. About a 30 minute drive from the town, there is a mountain which was for decades known as Mt Wheeler; coincidentally the same name as the man, sir Frederick Wheeler, who in the 19th century chased a mob of Darumbal people up to the top and herded them off like sheep.
As I gazed up at that sheer cliff face, I imagined the pleading faces of a people who would never get justice for those crimes, although the evidence of their spilled blood is passed down by stories and even in official documents at the time. Today, that site is unmarked. Scattered rubbish left by campers litter its base. The Darumbal people renamed this sacred initiation site – Gawula. Australians are blind to the crimes that occurred there and yet, it's one massacre site amongst thousands across Australia. Do you know the ground you walk on? Would we treat the massacre site of any other people this way? Would we forget so easily?
This month, veteran journalist John Pilger released his new film Utopia in Australia. What he uncovers is an ignored truth. Despite the magnificent wealth of this country, its First Peoples have inherited a legacy of disadvantage that has compounded since the very first days of invasion. It’s compounded by government neglect and apathy, by watered down promises replacing land rights with “reconciliation” and the failure to recognise the ability of Aboriginal people to control their own lives, to grant them true self-determination.
Australia is locking up Aboriginal people at horrific rates, and yet still cutting funding to Aboriginal legal aid services. It lets its media off for demonising Aboriginal people, and even gives them a Logie for it. It shamefully allows the 10-year extension of one of the most racist policies in Australia’s history – the Northern Territory intervention – and claims its for "their" own good. It will not have any evidence of the frontier wars in the Australian War Memorial, but is content to represent them as gargoyles alongside wildlife on the walls of the national monument.
This shameful history is laid bare in Utopia, but the film also showcases the strength and resilience of Aboriginal people. One of my favourite quotes from Utopia is made by Anmatyerr elder Rosalie Kunoth Monks:
What amazes me is there is not that hatred, because that’s beneath our dignity to hate people. We have not got that… but us old people have to start thinking about righting the wrong, the awful wrong that continues to happen to us an ours.


That’s what we are fighting for.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

ARUNA 'ROONY' INTERVIEW: INDIGENOUS EDUCATOR & ACTIVIST, GARIWERD NATIONAL PARK VICTORIA AUSTRALIA


ROONY, CARLA with INDIGENOUS FLAG
ROONY and JEFF W/INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN FLAG
 ECHIDNA
 VIEW NORTH FROM PINNACLES LOOKOUT
 WHITE COCKATOO
 OUT MY BACK DOOR
 BEAUTIFUL WILD-FLOWERS
 'ROO ARE YOU?'
 SWEET CRIMSON ROSELLAS
 LOVE THE SUNFLOWER SEEDS
 SO DO THE COCKATOOS!
 WUDJUB-GUYUM, OR 'HOLLOW MOUNTAIN'
LATE SUMMER AT GARIWERD
INTERVIEW WITH ROONY, DECEMBER 2012

Aruna or 'Roony' is a fantastic person I met who works at the Brambuk Cultural Heritage Centre in Halls Gap, Victoria, in the heart of Gariwerd National Park (The Grampians), where I was very blessed to live for several months in 2012-13. In this excellent interview he shares the story of his people, the REAL indigenous people of Australia, as well as his own personal story. With emphasis on the importance of educating not only young people, but the adult population of Australia as a whole, Roony recounts various aspects of the horrific treatment his people have undergone at the hands of the European  'invaders.'

SEE ALSO MY INTERVIEWS WITH TASMANIAN PHOTOGRAPHER RICKY MAYNARD

'THE SECRET COUNTRY' by JOHN PILGER (1985)

'UTOPIA' COMING SOON FROM JOHN PILGER



'AMERICAN HOLOCAUST' DAVID STANNARD

Monday, January 06, 2014

MESSAGE TO HUMANITY FROM A LOVELY NEW FRIEND: 'WALKING IN BEAUTY' TOWARDS THE WITHIN :)

 THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY :)
 Two 'space mates' from the same galaxy :)
YOU ARE USING THIS RIGHT NOW!

The New Year has created a very lovely conjunction of two new friends who are from the same distant galaxy. The path of conscious spiritual development and responsibility that Bailey has embarked on is very powerful for her at the individual, as well as a guiding light for the path and inner work that the universe is calling on us ALL to do:  get in touch with, realize, become who and what we REALLY are as true human beings during this very sacred moment in time, that is, NOW.

This is a posting from Facebook yesterday. Bailey recently completed a 10-day Vipassana meditation course and shared her experience.

A BEAUTIFUL, POWERFUL and RELEVANT SHARING OF INSIGHT FROM A LOVELY NEW FRIEND. Read this and share Bailey's recent transformative inner work that has given her a

"...feeling of confidence [that] feels unwavering, and now through continued practice I feel I can truly be an instrument for peace, understanding, unconditional love and compassion. For only when we TRULY love and accept ourselves, can we love and accept others..."

What Bailey has just accomplished and embarked on is a TRUE spiritual path, of self-awareness, self-responsibility, the right use of creativity and the 'ultimate technology' that we each truly are. Through meditative practice of controlling her own mind she has begun to attain a level of self-mastery and awareness that we are in fact 'creating realities of our own.' Understanding oneself, going within, constantly re-creating who and what we are is the essence of a true SPIRITUAL path.

What is so powerful and significant about Bailey's experience and accomplishment is not only that is has helped her at the individual level, enabling her to be and become an ever-more-awesome expression of cosmic love and creativity, but also that by doing this in her own life, by exerting this effort AND having the motivation and insight to SHARE this with her fellow beings, is quite literally making it both possible and easier to OTHERS to do the same thing.

 

"I share my experiences with human beings in hopes that we can truly look at ourselves and how our actions and beliefs about ourselves may be crippling us and therefore the world."
SUCH a powerful message for humanity at this this critical cross-roads.

Bailey's message is precisely the same as my own: We are all being called on by the Great Spirit, by Mother Earth, by all the powers of love, truth and beauty, to ask more of ourselves, to be and become the highest expressions of the beautiful gift of life that we have been given. To become aware of and to honour our unique identity, our unique powers of creativity on a true spiritual path, to walk in beauty and compassion, to ask not our planet can do for us but what we can do for our planet.

THANK YOU BAILEY FOR SHARING THIS WITH US. YOU ROCK 

BAILEY'S MESSAGE 
Please take the time to read and listen to the words I write thoughtfully, and in them we may see, a part of ourselves yearning to be freed.

I would like to share insights from my experience of a ten day Vipassana meditation practice that helped to shape the view of the world as I see it now, an experience that allowed me to see what pain kept out, an experience that eradicated many self defeating beliefs, doubts, and fears that dwelled deep below the surface level of mind. During a ten day vipassana course, one practices mediation for ten hours a day and totaling a little over 100 hours in the week. 


One practices sitting, breathing, and being with the Self. Sitting through the discomfort of physical and emotional pain, sitting and breathing through it,not moving to react or flee from discomfort, anxiety, anger, sadness, etc...One truly sits and looks deep within themselves...where the source is... the source of our capacity for unconditional love and the compassion...these qualities dwell deep within, and to bring about and live in these qualities one must eradicate self defeating thoughts and behaviours, desires, cravings and aversions. So what came up for me? 

The heavy weight I was carrying of attachment, fear, greed, and sadness. I saw within myself all of the times I had felt hurt...hurt by the violence of another's words, hurt by another's actions in which I felt anger and resentment. Then I realized they did not hurt me, I hurt myself, all of these actions had to do with the pain I inflicted on the Self, sorrow and self-pity is self created; may I ask, when we shed tears for ourselves or another, is it love? Crying because we feel lonely, because we have been left, because we are no longer powerful, complaining of our lot or environment, always 'us' in tears? If we see this we understand that sorrow and Self-pity are Self created by thought and the outcome of time.“ He left me, now I am lonely, I am aching, there is no one whom I can look to for comfort or companionship, and it brings tears to my eyes” Tears of Self-pity. We can see this happening inside of ourselves only if we look within, watch closely. We can see that the whole structure of 'me', my tears, my family, my nation, my belief, my religion-is all inside us, and this separates us, causing violence, hate, and wars. When we see this with the heart, not the mind to be intellectualized, we then see the ugliness in it all, the key to end our own sorrow, and that no one else can hurt us but ourselves. 

For example, a loved one of mine tried to commit suicide, at first I felt angry “ How could you do this to ME”, then I felt shame and guilt “ Did I do something wrong” then self-pity “What did I do to deserve seeing another in misery” then I looked within, my sadness was about me...i looker deeper and found a profound depth of compassion “Ah, it is not just about you and your misery, I see now the whole world is suffering and in misery..this is no longer about me”. I have came to realize all of the selfishness and greed I had been living, the desires I had, desires that are still to be mindful of to not let arise. For desire leads to craving, craving leads to attachment, and attachment leads to hurt. Whatever we are desiring is not the actual object..not a person or place to travel, it is the feeling of satisfaction we get when we attain that desire, and when we dont we feel dissatisfied and hurt. May I ask you what is your ultimate goal in life? Some may say to help the world, to raise a family, to be successful..whatever it may be whether you believe it is selfless or not, is for your own satisfaction...even the goal to help the world is for the satisfaction one feels from helping others. We are selfish beings by nature, this is neither wrong nor right, no condemning or justifying, it just is. 

I realized during the course where my desires stemmed from, from need of acceptance, attention, and loss. Three years ago I decided to have an abortion, out of this decision I then created sorrow for myself, I felt empty and didn't believe I deserved to ever be truly loved or happy again ( might I add this is all deep within, rooted beliefs, one as myself may think on the surface level of the mind that all is well, intellectually I did not believe this about myself, I was ignorant to my own dysfunctional thinking ) this reflected in the relationships I sabotaged, always thinking the other did not truly love me or was capable of doing so. 

Realizing that these were my own self sabotaging beliefs! And how could anyone ever be capable of truly loving me if I didn't let them or allow them in!? Unconditional love and compassion then came flooding in, a true understanding and unapologetic acceptance for myself, this is security, this is confidence. Being able to look at oneself without fear and judgement, being able to sit through the pain, accept the reality for as it is, not as I wish it to be, accepting me for who I am, not who I wish to be or who I wish to look like. 

This feeling of confidence feels unwavering, and now through continued practice I feel I can truly be an instrument for peace, understanding, unconditional love and compassion. For only when we TRULY love and accept ourselves, can we love and accept others. Only when we can admit to ourselves and others, not hiding any part of us for fear of being accepted or not. I share my experiences with human beings in hopes that we can truly look at ourselves and how our actions and beliefs about ourselves may be crippling us and therefore the world. All of the change in the world starts and ends within. I share to let all know that we are not alone through these trials, yet will always be alone inside and must make peace within. 

This is the real me, not some illusion, facade, or false identity.


I share ME, pains, sufferings, and experiences fearfully.


This Facebook page is not one of superficiality..take a long hard look at me and see you, see we.


See what we are and what we can do.


This is the only moment and love is always we can do.


This is the reality.


Flowing straight from the heart for all to wake up and see.


MEDITATION IS AN A.R.T

Thursday, January 02, 2014

A PHOTOGRAPHIC 'ALOHA' FROM JEFF ON BIG ISLAND of HAWAI'I: MOTHER PELE IS LOVELY :)

MERMAID POOLS, WA'A WA'A
TROPICAL VINE
LAVA BEACH, OLD GOVT ROAD
OLD GOVT. ROAD, WA'A WA'A
EUCALYPTUS TREE
VENUS with PLEIADES and HYADES in TAURUS
(35 sec @f/3.5, ISO 3200, Nikkor 28-70mm f/3.5 @ 28mm)

RAINBOW FALLS NEAR HILO

ASCENDING MAUNA KEA (south-east view)
OBSERVATORY COMPLEX, MAUNA KEA SUMMIT
RAINBOW EUCALYPTUS
BEACH-SIDE PARK, HAMAKUA COAST
JANNAH'S HUMMINGBIRD ROCK
LAVA BEACH NEAR SEAVIEW
BACK YARD VEGETATION,  LEILANI ESTATES
BUSH ON SLOPES OF KILAUEA VOLCANO
TEXTURES OF LAVA, KALAPANA
BEACH AT KALAPANA
SUNRISE PHOTOSYNTHESIS
MORNING FERN
INDIGENOUS OHI'A TREES
(A FLOWERING EVERGREEN SACRED TO PELE)
[metrosideros polymorpha]
SIRIUS AND ORION FROM LEILANI ESTATES
(40 sec @f/3.5, ISO 3200, Nikkor 28-70mm @28mm)
CUMULO-NIMBUS THUNDER HEAD
THUNDER BEINGS RETURNING

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM BIG ISLAND HAWAII!

Here are some photos from my first 6 weeks on the Big Island.

Compared to how much there is to see of Hawai'i, not to mention Maui and Kauai (both of whom I plan to visit before I return down under), I've seen very little so far.

Adventure is calling, and I will share new images as they are experienced.

EXTENDING A HUGE 'MAHALO' AND SENSE OF GRATITUDE TO MOTHER PELE AND ALL THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO ARE MAKING MY VISIT HERE SO LOVELY :)





 A 40 MINUTE 'CONCERT' OF ME PLAYING MY F# NATIVE AMERICAN CEDAR FLUTE WITH RECEDING THUNDER-BEINGS AFTER A MASSIVE STORM


A POSTING ABOUT THE THUNDER-STORM WITH AWESOME VIDEO

http://synthaissance.blogspot.com/2013/12/awesome-display-from-thunder-lightning.html 

HERE IS A LINK TO SEE SOME PRETTY MIND-BLOWING PHOTOS OF HAWAI'I
(another slide show at bottom has many great photos, too, if you can weed out the food, beverages and superfluous people stuff :)

'Gorgeous Aerial Photos Of Hawaii Taunt The Rest Of Us'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/06/aerial-photos-hawaii_n_4552354.html