Mastodawn

I'm listening to the ABC Rewind's Boycott series, and in 1986 John Howard called the (eventually successful) boycotts of apartheid South Africa by Australian unions "a futile exercise". He said it wouldn't help black South Africans, that it would backfire and that Australians were shooting themselves in the foot.

Of course he did. The script for conservative opposition to human rights activism never changes.

Boycotts are very successful against repressive regimes when done correctly. And they send an important message to people suffering under oppression that we're on their side.

A helpful reminder from the past.

#auspol #ABC #RadioNational #apartheid #podcasts #historypodcasts

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thermonuclear small claims Apr 4

Also never forget John Howard's legacy as Prime Minister:

- He refused to apologise to the Stolen Generations, and said even acknowledging it was "black armband history"
- He dragged Australia into America's illegal war, despite historic public opposition
- He oversaw the creation of a surveillance state in Australia
- He and his cronies enriched themselves while selling out Australia's natural resources (he's the reason our petrol and power prices are so high right now)
- he blocked any action on climate change
- he used Australia's relative strength to spy on, bully, and steal from smaller Pacific nations
- he imprisoned and demonised refugees and lied about it for political gain

For some reason the media still lionises him. Never forget that he's a racist little toad who set our country back decades. Always was, always will be.

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Whiskers 🇦🇺

@fullfathomfive 2003. Arrived as migrants with 100% optimism thinking we’d chosen the lucky and fair country with the brightest future. That little rat-cunning man was defying public protests and sending our defence forces off to fight someone else’s war as we touched down in Sydney.
Words cannot express my disappointment in #auspol in the ensuing 23 years
#Straya #Australia