On accountability - and people power [Note: Content Warning - links to reports on oppression/bigotry/hate, violence/abuse/war. Reader discretion is advised]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

Note: in my “from the news” posts, quotes are shown italicised and blue, my comments are in a different shade of blue, and “good” items are (when I remember) shown in green.

 

A theme of accountability has been cropping up in my news feed of late, including: 

“UN Special Adviser urges States to hold perpetrators of genocide accountable”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1152856   “The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide is urging States hosting fugitives to prosecute or extradite them for international crimes in a statement released on Monday, which highlighted the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1995 Srebrenica genocide”   - and also note   “German colonialism in Africa has a chilling history – new book explores how it lives on”   https://theconversation.com/german-colonialism-in-africa-has-a-chilling-history-new-book-explores-how-it-lives-on-234729   “Germany was a significant – and often brutal – colonial power in Africa. But this colonial history is not told as often as that of other imperialist nations. A new book called The Long Shadow of German Colonialism: Amnesia, Denialism and Revisionism [Hurst, Amazon] aims to bring the past into the light. It explores not just the history of German colonialism, but also how its legacy has played out in German society, politics and the media. [The interviewer(s)] asked Henning Melber about his book.”      

“The New Humanitarian | 10 years into genocide, Yazidi survivors continue to demand their rights”   https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2024/08/05/10-years-genocide-yazidi-survivors-continue-demand-their-rights   and   “The New Humanitarian | ‘It’s on our shoulders’: Ten years after Yazidi genocide, survivors refuse to give up on the missing”   https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2024/08/05/its-our-shoulders-ten-years-after-yazidi-genocide-survivors-refuse-give       

“Former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty gives up Order of Australia honour six years after Ben Roberts-Smith tip-off | Australian federal police | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/10/ex-afp-commissioner-mick-keelty-oam-ben-roberts-smith-ntwnfb   “Federal court judge in last year’s defamation case found Roberts-Smith tried to evade surveillance after Keelty alerted him to pending war crimes investigation in 2018”   For tipping off a war criminal, I consider consideration of charges for being an accessory after the fact to war crimes and breach of professional duty obligation (particularly with regard to secrecy) should be, at the very least, considered     

“Israel: Amid reports of torture inside jails, rights experts call for end to impunity”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1152831   “Reports of alleged torture and sexual violence in Israel’s Sde Teiman prison represent “the tip of the iceberg”, UN independent human rights experts warned on Monday, calling for swift action to end impunity surrounding reports of violations against Palestinian detainees”   and   “Israel minister condemned for saying starvation of millions in Gaza might be ‘justified and moral’”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/08/israel-finance-minister-bezalel-smotrich-gaza-starve-2m-people-comments   “EU, UK and France urge Israel’s government to distance itself from comments by its finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich”       

and, in my nation: 

“Failure to learn from ‘African gangs’ furore puts community at risk, Victoria’s children’s commissioner says”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/08/failure-to-learn-from-african-gangs-furore-puts-community-at-risk-victorias-childrens-commissioner-says   “Amid claims of a growing crime wave, Liana Buchanan says the government must work harder to identify the causes of offending”      

“Mother of Cleveland Dodd wept after hearing her son's death in custody could have been averted”   https://nit.com.au/07-08-2024/12957/the-mother-of-cleveland-dodd-cried-after-hearing-her-sons-death-could-have-been-averted   “The former superintendent of the juvenile detention centre in which Cleveland Dodd took his own life has acknowledged he provided false information during a Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) investigation subsequent to the incident.”      

“NSW watchdog failed to act on contamination risk despite ‘damning’ asbestos findings”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/29/asbestos-nsw-findings-watchdog-epa-contaminated-soil-childcare-centres-schools-parks   “Exclusive: environmental regulator has known for more than a decade that contaminated soil fill might have been used in childcare centres, schools and parks”   Part of the response to that calamitous failure includes   “Victoria investigates waste facilities over cheap landscaping soil after asbestos found in NSW”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/09/epa-victoria-investigation-landscaping-soil-asbestos   “Exclusive: Victorian Environment Protection Authority launches ‘proactive program’ to investigate potential risks from recycled soil fill”      

“Corruption commissioner Paul Brereton removed himself from robodebt referrals due to ‘relationship’, documents show”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/08/corruption-commissioner-paul-brereton-removed-himself-from-robodebt-referrals-due-to-relationship-documents-show   While this was a good decision, continuing to receive unredacted copies of documents was not     

There is also at least one warning of potential future problems which should be heeded: 

“Biden ‘not confident at all’ in peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses race”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/07/biden-trump-presidential-election-transfer-of-power   “President says in CBS News clip that Trump ‘means what he says’ about ‘a bloodbath for the country’ if he loses election”     

But on a more positive note, mass anti-racism protests have combined with overt police preparations to prevent more racist thuggery and violence in the UK: 

“Yvette Cooper thanks police as major far-right riots fail to materialise”   https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/08/yvette-cooper-uk-riots-far-right-protests   “Thousands took to the streets to take part in anti-racism protests in London, Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield”   Non-violent counter protests are an important part of responding to such violence, but do not suit all people - and need police on side for best results, but that unfortunately depends on their conscious prejudices and unconscious biases.      See also   “The far right promised violence and mayhem last night – but decency took back the streets | Polly Toynbee | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/08/the-far-right-promised-violence-and-mayhem-last-night-but-decency-took-back-the-streets     

On those protests: 

“More than 150 people charged, and almost 600 arrested in UK riots”   https://youtu.be/8arwcu2xF2A   Those jailed include someone for incitement by social media, and two violent counter-protestors. The emphasis on quick justice and consequences is quite likely to - as intended - deter at least some from engaging in violent conduct     

And good, old-fashioned police work has foiled plans for more attacks of the type that triggered the violence in the UK: 

“Three Taylor Swift shows cancelled after Vienna police foil planned attack”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/07/two-arrested-suspected-of-planning-attack-on-taylor-swifts-vienna-concerts     

There has also been accountability for a corruption crisis: 

“Mozambique ex-minister guilty of one of Africa's biggest scandals”   https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23l8g849mvo   “A US court has convicted a Mozambican former finance minister over a 10-year-old conspiracy that triggered the worst economic crisis in his home country since independence”     

 

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

• this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

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Note that, as with my main blog [see here], I am cutting back on aspects of my posts.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/