Lev Lafayette's journal

I have just completed a 1200-word essay, "The Road to Damascus", which covers the extraordinary events earlier this month when the Assad regime collapsed in a matter of days. This conflict, which had run for fourteen years and with over half a million civilian deaths (mostly by the regime and its foreign backers). Standing against the criticism of those who engaged in "campism" or denied the legitimate claims for civil rights and democracy by condemning all rebels as religious terrorists, I am pleased to have been associated with those who did not deny the right of Syrians to live with peace and justice. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to meet, interview, and correspond with a number of Syrian refugees and hear their stories directly, as well as spend a period teaching (remotely, of course) at Rojava University. There are, of course, a number of uncertainties with where the country will head now, but they've certainly turned a corner.

In the safety of our own liberal democracy, one of my small roles is that of the Returning Officer for the Albert Park branch of the Labor Party. Most of the time, this is relatively straightforward, as the number of candidates usually corresponds with the number of positions. But this year, due to no other reason than sheer enthusiasm among members, we had an election! Donning my UN Election Observer t-shirt from East Timor 2002 (which I keep under wraps for such special occasions), I conducted the election by the book, especially the requirement that photo identification had to be provided. This led to some amusement as I made the demand not only to the local MP, Nina Taylor, who I have known for several years but also to the former Deputy Premier, John Thwaites, who I have known for more than twenty years. But this is the point; one must follow such rules for purposes of transparency and equality, even if there is a strong personal connection. No matter whether it is as small as a local Party election or a geopolitical issue like the government of an entire country.

Finally, I wish to draw a little bit of attention to my Darwin friend, Lara D., who has been interviewed again on the plight of renters in the Northern Territory, specifically the lack of prevention of no-fault evictions. Lara's (second) story on these matters is both on the ABC website and with a video interview as well. The comments at the end of the latter by the NT government on the need to prevent anti-social behaviour rather than address renter's rights is quite telling; have they, with their small and poisoned minds, considered the possibility that anti-social behaviour might be the result of insecure tenancy? And is the evidence for this relationship somewhat overwhelming? I admit that I can seem a little obsessive about housing matters, but having a secure roof over one's head changes lives, which is one example of Lara's situation.

I have written a lengthy (3000 word) piece on the Isocracy website about the current situation in Syria, Peace without Justice in Syria, which follows on from a piece over five years ago, Peace with Justice in Syria. To give a summary form, I think that in the coming months we'll see an effective breakup of the country, in fact if not officially recognised. Turkey and the Turkish FSA will take control over Idlib and the north-west, Rojava will be backed by NATO forces and may even declare independence, and sporadic skirmishes will continue. The hopes of the revolution, at least in the short-term, have been dashed by actual facts, and the two most important facts have been the massive Russian intervention on the government's side, and Turkey acting as both the biggest supporter of the FSA, and the biggest opponent of the SDF - which effectively ends the revolution, for there is no way they could take the Assad regime down whilst the FSA and SDF were not working together.

It is the second piece on the Isocracy website this week, the first being a statement on guaranteed minimum income which was approved by the committee. Out of aesthetic and respectful reasons, I ensured that it was posted on 18:01, April 4, Memphis Time - exactly fifty years after Martin Luther King Jnr, was assassinated, and follows on from the address to the local Unitarian church I gave recently on Remembering Martin Luther King, Jnr. His is a message which I think is still highly relevant today; not only for matters of social justice (ending racial discrimination, opposition to imperialist wars, and the abolition of poverty), but also in terms of political strategy (use of non-violent direct action in liberal democracies). I confess to being highly moved by his speeches, and am a little disappointed that apart from a few articles, there wasn't the groundswell of interest on the fiftieth anniversary of his death. The past, I suppose, is another country.

I've been to a few social events this week, which is a little more out of character. It actually started last weekend with a lovely dinner with Holly and Luke in Richmond, with a decidedly Mexican orientation; I brought a bottle of mezcal to add to the style, quite a tasty smokey flavour. During the week also caught up with Damien and Jacqui at the pleasant Water Drop Restaurant in the city, who were taking caseopaya out for a belated birthday. On Friday went to Charmaine's birthday drinks at the Daddy Bar in Brunswick, and last night visited Brendan E., where we finished off the last season of the The New Legends of Monkey (I have, with some cultural appropriateness, just finished the first book of Dream of the Red Chamber). There was, of course, a gaming session as well among all this, specifically, our second playtest session of the Jane Austen inspired RPG, Good Society.

Today was a policy meeting for the Victorian Secular Lobby with a presentation on Section 116 of the Australian Constitution by saithkar. Not a heavily attended meeting but with a remarkable and genuine set of apologies which were graciously accepted. Secularism is, of course, one of my great loves - to develop public policy without a deliberate and willful non-consideration of metaphysical claims or applying special cases to religious institutions. Historically of course it has focussed on the separation of religious policy from public policy, and indeed there is plenty of work to be done there. But increasingly I am of the opinion that secularism should also mean use evidence-based research.

Case in point is this continuing conflict in Syria, which illustrates that secularism is necessary but not sufficient for a free and democratic society. The Baathist regime is more-or-less secular and even sometimes slips into fundamentalist atheism. When it comes to being responsible for causing the war crimes associated with civilian deaths, it is the secular fascists rather than the religious fascists (ISIL, Army of Conquest etc) that carry the overwhelming majority of the blame. Still, it should be clear by now that Russia and Syria are utterly indfferent to such things; they and their supporters have also been very indifferent to having a degree of veracity with two of their major public proponents, Bashar Jaafari lying to the UN, along with Lady Haw-Haw Eva Bartlett on war victims being "recycled". So whilst the Assadists are cheering on the carnage, Amnesty International has opened up for donations.

Other events of the week; Linux Users of Victoria on today with a report from the Internet Governance Forum, playtest sessions of Papers and Paycheckes on Wednesday night and Eclipse Phase on Friday night, along with sending interview questions to Rob Boyle for the next issue of RPG Review. Was supposed to go to txxxpxx's gala event tonight (and even made one of my amazing tiramisu for said occasion, but caseopaya has fallen ill, so we'll be missing that. In the work space, big events of the week included finally getting Gaussian and Julia installed, albeit the latter in not in the manner I would prefer. The great success (perhaps too successful) of Spartan apparently is reaching the ears of upper management who are open to the prospect of expansion - which would make sense for one of the world's top ranking universities (as they constantly remind us). Let us see what 2017 brings.