anne's dispatches from sydney

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i got back to sydney on saturday morning, and since then it's kinda been up and down.

it was good to tell family about the trip, but then the photos soon got tiring, and quite a two-dimensional way of communicating information, telling over and over the stories that entertain people, but you sometimes walk away from that kind of engagement feeling hollow, like there are elements in the story that they will never quite get... anyway.

today mum and i visited my grandma in the nursing home in Surry Hills. Ma's deep wrinkles and uncomprehending eyes were kind of picturesque there, with the sun streaming through the window. The elderly Brigidine nun in the seat next to her talked to me a lot about her teddy bears and the photos on the mantlepiece.

then i went to the src and said hi to people. it was very joyful to connect with some people again, and i was quite elated to be there.

Then i went to a meeting in burwood. Walking down parramatta road in the glaring sun really hit home to me the worst parts of sydney. i walked past the car dealerships, and tried to nod to the workers there, but they avoided my gaze. oh well- a city that is unsociable... anyway.

when in burwood i had a long conversation about racism with mahesh. i also gave him a pamphlet that a friend Ryan gave me in San Francisco, "Men Unlearning Rape". i soon realised that i was being so matter of fact about such a full on and traumatic topic- He  was the first male i gave the pamphlet to, and he got a little emotional, so i was a bit worried about the way that i was confronting him, seeing that the pamphlet sees all men to varying degrees implicated in the culture of rape.

(actually on another note i have been playing Ryan's music, from RiotFolk.org a lot- it is very empowering and extremely articulate and defiant. Also, he has a great piece about the divide between musicians and fans as a capitalist construct, which i agree with a lot- folk music is great in breaking down that divide more than other types of music)

Another thing that has been difficult for me has been readjusting to the disturbing  Australia that we have become. I read through the Sydney Morning Herald today, and there are at least six articles that i am quite moved, disturbed or angered by, sometimes due to the blatant propaganda of the article, sometimes due to the implications i can see for the future. For example here is an article about Tasers, with a single line reference to NSW police's intentions to use them on demonstrators or rioters...which freaks me out. Also, the way that the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) / Oil for food/ Saddam Hussein  scandal has rapidly been utilised as an argument against 'archaic single desk marketing boards'- SUCH IDEOLOGY me thinks!! Is this really a monopoly or just a collective bargaining tool??? not sure- but i remember that in the negotiations for the US Australia Free Trade Agreement, the US did NOT LIKE Australia's single desk agricultural boards, so i know it is part of a neoliberal agenda to dismantle them. how convenient it always is when a certain industry is not performing well (eg NSW railways, or Telstra) to call for neoliberal restructuring as 'progress' to deal with the problem!! And how convenient to use normative words such as 'archaic' to imply an inevitable sense of the march of 'progress' to unsuspecting readers!!

goodnight.

posted by: anneinchaosland at 11:13 | link | comments |

So when I was in Bogota, I met Jane at the hostel Platypus. We realised that we were both going to the World Social Forum in Caracas, so we decided to link up in Venezuela. so we met in Merida, a beautiful city in the Andes, full of adventurers (from the occidental countries).

For the next week, we would be trying to support eachother in Caracas- Neither of us had organised accomodation for the world social forum- and it was too late- all the hotels were booked out, so we were in the youth camp (without a tent). -what a crazy way to make friends!!

as we discovered, many people were willing to offer their hospitality or bit of tent, and most of them were boys who were overly affectionate (as i discovered walking in the dark camp when a random Colombian boy came out of the darkness wanting to kiss me) -

this ended up being the status quo for the week, and jane and I would laugh a lot when i would come back from walking in the city or the university, with another email, phone number or date, or story of some kiss that i randomly had!!! i just don't know how to deal with all the flirting! this is totally out of character i can assure you, as other people in australia who know me would attest to!!!

posted by: anneinchaosland at 22:49 | link | comments |