Anniversary - a review of an article on the outcomes of the Vietnam War

A North Vietnamese Tank rolls through the gates of the Presidential  Palace in Saigon on 30/4/1975*

 

 



Today, 30^th April, 2013, marks the 38^th anniversary of the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) to the North Vietnamese forces.

Hoi Trinh, a lawyer of South Vietnamese heritage, is not a war correspondent in the normally accepted sense of the word.  But he is an extremely capable reporter of the powerful but unseen controls operating in a seemingly “peaceful” country not far from our own doorstep.  As a member of “Voice”, a non-government organization committed to developing a civil society in Vietnam, Hoi Trinh has shown the power of words to convey to the public an understanding of the nature of the regime in his family’s original country.  

In a thoughtful article, “Even in peace Vietnam doesn’t enjoy freedom,” published in the The Age today, Hoi Trinh, states that the “peace” that came to Vietnam with the unification of the north and south brought with it an enormous loss of human rights and democratic freedoms.  For people like his own teacher father, life after the war involved removal to a re-education camp, lack of access to meaningful work and eviction of the family to a new economic zone.  It was perhaps not surprising that his father chose the hazards of escaping, with his family, to another country over the human costs attached to remaining in his own.

In submitting his story for publication, Hoi Trinh has shown great courage in staring down the leaders of a country in which he would be a citizen if it were not for the decision of his family to take their chances in the first wave of “boat people” leaving their country.  He has also squarely confronted Australians (many of whom have come to see Vietnam as a delightful holiday destination) with the reality that in this same country, all land is still held by the State, many dissidents remain in prison,   Facebook and pro-democracy blogs and websites are banned, independent media are disallowed, protests are banned, and civil rights defenders are harassed and persecuted.

Hoi Trinh has provided us with an interesting, and certainly disturbing, article in a very professional manner.  He has written with strong commitment, with intimate knowledge of his subject and with his lawyer’s awareness of his legal rights and responsibilities.  We need more journalists like him.

 

*Photo Acknowledgement.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/7652593

Reference List:

1.  Trinh, Hoi.  “Even in Peace Vietnam doesn’t enjoy Freedom.” The Age 30 April, 2013.  Web.
2. Website of Voice (Vietnam Overseas Initiative for Conscience Empowerment) 2008  Web  30 April  2013                                                                                                                                                    .

What Anzac Day means to me...

Anzac Day, the quintessential day of Australian remembrance, is marked by solemn services and by marches around the country.  It falls on 25^th April, the day of the disastrous landing at Gallipoli in 1915 and it honours not only those who fell on that particular day but those who have given their lives in other theatres of war and those who have returned (many with physical and psychological wounds) to their home country.

That all these men and women should be revered in our memory goes without question but there does seem to be a legitimate argument that our admiration and respect for these heroes might be having the effect of blinding us to other aspects of the reality of war. I have some awareness of the effects of war on many of my own relatives and I cannot help but wonder how their lives would have been different had they not felt the obligation to go away to fight.

My father E.D.Murray on Anzac Day 2007

 

My own late father was one such person.  He left Australia to fight as an idealistic new graduate in the early 1940's and he performed his duties as a young officer with great gallantry, earning a Military Cross in the process.  But the horror of his war time experiences both in Africa and later in New Guinea brought great psychological suffering from which he never fully recovered though he certainly achieved much in his post-war life.  He did not, however, speak of the war to his family, and it was only when he was very old and unable to keep his demons at bay that the realities of his war experience bubbled, inexorably, to the surface.

We should feel an enormous sense of gratitude that we in Australia live in a country where democracy and the rule of law have largely averted the horrors of civil war.  I find it worrying, however, that Australia continues to send its men and women to help fight other countries' wars.  Perhaps, in this new global world, we have no choice but to take sides in the interests of our own future protection but we should never forget that the human consequences for all involved in these dreadful conflicts are almost incalculable.
 

Wars are still being fought all over the world, some with enormous loss of life and compounding human tragedy as the weapons of destruction become more complex and deadly.  Not all of these conflicts find their ways into the Western media - look at the almost complete lack of coverage in the non-African press of the Second Congo War where it is calculated 3 to 5 million people have been lost since 1998 (Hawkins qtd. in Wikipedia) - but all inflict loss of life, subjugation of the conquered and great privation for the those who manage to escape the bloodshed to simply survive in desperate, over-crowded refugee camps.  

There is nothing romantic about what is, in actual fact, systematized violence.  Perhaps we, as human beings, need to be devoting our energies to finding solutions to the problems of this conflicted and unequal world rather than eulogizing the enormous sacrifices that wars exact from those who are killed and maimed and those who are left behind.
 

Hawkins, Virgil  Stealth Conflicts: How the World's Worst Violence Is Ignored Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008 quoted in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War#cite_note-8. Web.  

The Joys of Being a Grandmother

Miles (4) and Zoe (2)

 

In the past few years, as social patterns have changed, grandparents (and grandmothers in particular) have become very significant providers of child care.  Since moving to Townsville two years ago, I have joined their ranks and I now have two small grandchildren - Miles (4) and Zoe (2) - spending a good deal of their time with me.

During my lifetime I have performed a number of jobs that have carried a lot of responsibility (including, of course, the unpaid but vital jobs of being a wife and mother) but this particular task is up there amongst the most important.  The childcare I provide consumes two to three days of my week but I give this time willingly and with a strong conviction that it brings benefits to many.  

Firstly, I believe it is a significant part of my grandchildren’s lives, being based on a relationship quite separate from their immediate family connections and their more formal childcare and kindergarten arrangements.  I had a very close and loving relationship with both my grandmothers and I hope that my grandchildren will have the same affectionate and respectful ties with me.

Secondly, I know that my contribution makes a real difference in the lives of my daughter and her husband, both of whom are busy professionals.  They each  enjoy their work and they often tell me how much they appreciate being able to work in useful, satisfying jobs, knowing that their precious children have access to good childcare in a variety of settings, including with me.  Their acknowledgement of the importance of my role means everything to me.

Thirdly, my society benefits.  Here is a vital service given lovingly by a flexible, reliable  provider to two members of that vital part of out community - the young - who hold the long term future in their hands.  Childhood specialists have left us in no doubt that early nurturing is absolutely essential to the development of robust personalities in later life.  I like to think that my caring role will help to create two good citizens for tomorrow. 
 
And fourthly, I gain a great deal from this arrangement myself!   Here I am retired and in my late 60’s with time that would otherwise hang heavily now available to bring to my important new task.  Of course I enjoy other aspects of my retirement (including JN1001!) and I am glad to be sharing my twilight years with my much loved husband but I find that looking after my two little grandchildren and sharing their fleeting childhoods gives me enormous satisfaction and happiness.

Was she Great?

 

 

When Margaret Thatcher was buried with much pomp and circumstance at St Pauls in London on 17^th April, 2013, she took with her the respect, if not the love, of the British people.

She had been Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and her political demise came about because of her strong conviction that local government should be supported through a “Community Charge” or “Poll Tax”.  The Tax was widely unpopular but she remained immoveable leading to her unceremonious removal from office by her nervous Conservative colleagues.  It was a high price to pay for a strong and very determined woman.  But it was probably inevitable given her famous declaration that, when it came to tough decisions, she was definitely “not for turning”.

Perhaps we need more “conviction” politicians like Margaret Thatcher.  At least, with people like her, the populace know where they stand with those they have elected to high office.  And, they also know that, if their politicians displease them seriously enough, there is always the option of voting them out at the next election.  It is generally accepted that it was the only the more moderate policies of John Major’s Government (on top of the economic gains brought about by previous Thatcherite interventions) that stopped the Conservative Party being thrown out of power in the General Election of 1992.

But even so, Margaret Thatcher’s legacy can still be found in a Britain that is more economically secure than it was, more independent of Europe than it would otherwise have been, and more accepted in powerful international forums than it was when she took the helm.  Who else could have worked so well with the then President of the USA, Ronald Reagan, and the then President of the USSR, Mikhael Gorbachev?  Who else but Margaret could have helped to bring down the Berlin Wall?

Yes, Baronness Thatcher, you upset a lot of people but, on balance, you left your country (and indeed the world) a better place.  And when all’s said and done, isn’t that the true mark of greatness?

Thrills at the Museum

The Museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville is a must-see for locals and visitors alike. 

The holiday programs conducted during the school vacations are particularly popular with the younger fry.  Here are some glimpses of attractions at the Museum during the current school holidays.



The Museum of Tropical Queensland 

Come inside for a great experience!
 

Ranger Dan and his creepy crawlies

 



 

Blue Tongue lizards

 

Green tree python
 



                                                                           A bit scarey but they're not real!

 

Exciting plasticine creations

                             

 

                         Peaceful view from the Museum

The Museum has wonderful offerings that all children, as well as adults, enjoy.  What a wonderful place to give holidaying children adventure and the opportunity for learning. 

The eyes have it.

Brooke Eggerling

First impressions do not always give us the whole picture.   

For anyone meeting Brooke Egglerling for the first time, she impresses as the epitome of the confident, adventurous life traveller.  At only 19 years, she speaks enthusiastically of a future in which she will be able to travel overseas, armed with a great profession and free to discover whatever the world has to offer her.   

But for those who know her a little better, her lovely eyes betray a deeper side of her character – a sensitive, vulnerable side which has not always made her life easy.  She remembers, for example, her unhappy experience at the Rockhampton Grammar School where her life was made wretched by bullies.  This clearly had a profound effect upon her but, significantly, Brooke does not try to erase this painful memory.  “It is part of who I am,” she says.

For many, this experience would have entrenched a victim mind-set which would have made it very difficult to progress but this was not Brooke’s response.  Having moved to a smaller local school, St Ursula’s College in Yepoon, she set about completing the remainder of her high school years, and then took the plunge, in her “gap” year, into further schooling at Hak Judenberg in Austria.  Many of her subjects were delivered in German and she clearly returned to Australia at the end of that year with a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Brooke was to be one of the first in her family to take up studies at university level.  She enrolled in J.C.U. but here again she was to find two big challenges awaiting her:  the first, the discovery that the course she had undertaken was not really “right” for her; and the second, her feelings of discomfort when faced with some of the traditions of life in a university college (including the time-honoured initiation rites inflicted on new students).

Brooke could have given up but, typically, she did not.  Undaunted, she has re-enrolled in this, her second year of tertiary study, in a multi-media degree course that she feels is much more in keeping with her interests and abilities, and she has moved into a little town house where she resides happily with two other young people. 

For Brooke, her increased independence of spirit is helping her to forge a new, and stronger, sense of self.  She is tackling her university studies with gusto, working hard to gain her Certificate in Tourism through the Flight Centre Academy and embarking upon paid employment as a bar tender.  She has shown great courage and determination and these qualities are as important to an understanding of her character as the pain her earlier experiences imposed upon her.

Brooke’s eyes in fact reveal that she is a sensitive, gutsy, person whose grit  has been forged in the fire of some real adversity.  Now the girl who was once bullied by others is firmly setting her compass to a future of her own choosing - a life of adventure and discovery. 

  

A news story from a narrative tale...

Cardboard games arcade launched

A nine year old entrepreneur, Caine Monroy, is wowing East Los Angeles with his home-made  games arcade set up in the front room of his father’s used auto parts business.  The arcade, which was originally organized during the school holidays, is made entirely of cardboard boxes.  Caine is responsible for the management of his business – right down to the setting of the very modest playing fees and the provision of prizes.

On Sunday afternoon, 2nd October, 2012, Caine was thrilled to see an estimated crowd of a hundred enthusiastic gamers waiting outside his business.  They had been lured there by Caine’s first (and for some time, only) customer, Nirvan Mullick.  Unknown to Caine, Nirvan had issued an online invitation to the citizens of Los Angeles to visit the arcade.

Caine, who has the whole-hearted support of his businessman father, has charmed the world in the eight minute video, “Caine’s Arcade”.  The video, which has been produced by his fan Nirvan, can be viewed at http://vimeo.com/40000072.  It has now gone viral.