Manly Beach Riot Day

Following a long celebration period, during which adults modelled marathon drinking in sub-urbia, Australia Day or Invasion Day should be the final bang of the same thing.

To flee sub-urban misery, the oversized cars where packed with plonk, meat, dogs and kids. THE public space in which it all has to take place is of course the beach in Australia. Walkers invest their life racing no less than three dogs in harness (on average) along the beach to empty them there. Schoolies had settled on their towels with endless containers of alcohol and smokes. National flags covered the Corso, most bodies and their skin.

From beach to town the ubiquitous primal sound of "woo hoo" could be heard. The utterance of 'winners' borrowed from another culture and sphere has long replaced the endemic home-grown articulations of "cooee".

Public intoxication, violence, rage and glassing are not foreign to Manly. "Violent attacks have risen on the northern beaches by almost 10 per cent in the past two years." Violence is often said to be 'alcohol-fuelled' amongst mostly young men. Even businesses on the Corso are 'feuding' and 'brawling' diplaying violent behaviour in public.

Later in the day a group of 80 young Australians arrived (by public transport?) also clad in the national flag and said to be sedated by alcohol. Their utterances are claimed to have consisted of: "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’’, "Aussie Pride", "f*** the pigs’’ "f--k off we're full", "we’re celebrating we are Australian, f*** the ethnics", "lets go f--k with these Lebs" and "tits out for the boys" .
Their deeds were violence against people and vandalism towards objects."They jumped on top of cars and smashed windows as they ran up and down Manly's Corso." "An 18-year-old Asian female in one of the cars was showered with shattered glass, giving her numerous cuts to her arms... A taxi driven by a Sikh Indian was also targeted". Manly Police and the riot squad attempted to restore civic order.

"Australia Day became a scene of brawls and vandalism across the state - with anger spreading from Shellharbour in the south to Port Macquarie in the north." "Ambulance crews were called to a fight at Sutherland train station with reports of a 10-person brawl, with a glassing and a female with a fractured finger." "Police say about 1,000 people were involved in the fight at Burleigh Heads". Head injuries at Batemans Bay. A "massive brawl"erupted on the Queensland's Gold Coast.

The 2005 Cronulla riots in NSW also come to mind. District battles for the golden 'public' sands away from unsustainable hot sub-urbia.

Previous:
Sydney riots I, 05
Defending the turf II, 05
Sydney Riots, Beaches and Exclusionism, III, 05
Spooky for Australian Children, update: 040109 abc
Other:
Rebel Without a Cause
Riots With a Cause
Update:
Manly 'morons' rampage was racist: academic. SMH 270109, " racism dressed up as nationalism"

Bits - Australia, Biodiversity & Human Rights

Australia as champion in eradicating life of Earth
Life on Earth is being eradicated by human action. Winners in this 'hall of shame' are: Australia, Brazil, China and Mexico.
“ People, either directly or indirectly, are the main reason for most species’ decline. Habitat destruction and degradation continues to be the main cause of species’ decline, along with the all too familiar threats of introduced invasive species, unsustainable harvesting, over-hunting, pollution and disease. Climate change is increasingly recognized as a serious threat, which can magnify these dangers... Our lives are inextricably linked with biodiversity and ultimately its protection is essential for our very survival."
via Science Daily
2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species report
IUCN

Australia opposes human rights declaration
Indigenous people's rights to self-determination and human rights are guarded by the United Nations. “ Indigenous peoples say their lands and territories are being threatened by such things as mineral extraction, logging, environmental contamination, privatisation and development projects, classification of lands as protected areas or game reserves and use of genetically modified seeds and technology....Indigenous advocates note that most of the world's remaining natural resources - minerals, freshwater, potential energy sources - are found within Indigenous peoples' territories.“ (abc)Images: Weedy Sea Dragon, Manly sculpture and one of the dead ones at Manly Beach 2007

Australian culture and its refugees

Found this plaque at Circular Quay today. I looked into her reasons why she does not live in (Manly) Australia.

She claimed that: Australia is a sports-obsessed suburban wasteland devoid of cerebral stimulation

Suburbia:
"For the vast majority, life in Australia is neither urban nor rural, but suburban. The reality is not Uluru or the Sydney Opera House, but endless, ever-expanding replications of Ramsay Street that spread out as rapidly as oil stains on water, further and further from the tiny central business districts of the state capitals. Each street has a nature strip; each bungalow faces the same way, has a backyard and a front garden, all fenced, low at the front, high at the back. Somewhere nearby there’ll be a shopping centre with fast-food outlets and a supermarket.”

The country side:
"It’s different in the countryside - but nobody lives there except a few squatters and graziers, flitting hordes of British backpackers and some remnant populations of Aborigines.”

The CBD:
"Marooned in oceanic tracts of suburban doldrums, the downtown central business districts don’t expand at all. They still occupy the same tiny nucleus of streets that they did 100 years ago. Indeed, the Sydney commercial district has actually shrunk in the past 40 years.”Reasons for living o.s.:
“The pain of watching its relentless dilapidation by people too relaxed to give a damn is more than I can bear.”

All quotes via The Scotsman