Tuesday, 10 February 2026

Post No. 3,388 [CW - CSA, SA, abuses, trauma] - On knowing, responding to as a decent person, and stopping genocide and other oppressions (~1,530 words, ~10 minutes) [CW - CSA, SA, abuses, trauma]

I have a few ideas running round in my head for articles, but they’re interconnected, and no clear flow is developing, so I’m just going to start and see what I can get out.



The first is that, after having read “Albanese’s invitation to Herzog is a shift in his approach to Israel”   https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-07/isaac-herzog-visit-australia/106294858 , I have substantially changed my view of the PM’s flaws.

I used to think his ineptness (in my opinion) on human rights issues was a combination of his personal/life experience limitations plus receiving bad advice, but I now think it is - at least - partly his unflattering, but likely correct, view of the Australian electorate.

From that article:
“Anthony Albanese has long grounded his approach to the fraught issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the belief that the principal desire of the overwhelming number of Australian voters is that those tensions should not be brought here.”

The article continues to describe how the terrible events of 7th October, 2023   (see https://www.britannica.com/event/October-7-attack,  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=October_7_attacks&oldid=1335951055,  https://www.timesofisrael.com/human-rights-watch-details-hundreds-of-war-crimes-by-hamas-led-terrorists-on-oct-7/,  https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/17/october-7-crimes-against-humanity-war-crimes-hamas-led-groups,  and https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/MDE1588032024ENGLISH.pdf)   and the subsequent Israeli response   (see https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gaza_war&oldid=1337351430 - and, regarding proportional self defence, see  https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/calibrating-proportionality-and-self-defense-in-gaza,  https://theconversation.com/can-israel-still-claim-self-defence-to-justify-its-gaza-war-257822,  https://opiniojuris.org/2023/11/09/israels-war-in-gaza-is-not-a-valid-act-of-self-defence-in-international-law/,  https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2023/12/7-10-the-question-of-israels-right-to-self-defense-under-international-law/,  and  https://www.juancole.com/2024/03/dangerous-conflicts-geopolitics.html)   made it clear that that notion was utterly absurd.

However, by continuing to hold to that view, the PM has shown: 
  1. his shortcomings on human rights (also shown by his failings on transphobia ... and the Queensland state government is continuing to imperil the lives of trans kids without any intervention from the federal government - not even a critical comment that I can find);

    and 

  2. that he thinks
 
(b) that it is OK for those abhorrent views to continue.

As these sorts of flaws are, IMO, too common at senior levels of politics in Australia and have been throughout the history of the modern nation-state of Australia and the preceding colonial history, it is no wonder Australia has never come to terms with its past history of genocide against First Peoples and violent riots (pogroms?) against other races (see  https://theconversation.com/the-nine-race-riots-that-made-australia-for-better-and-worse-35814  and  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Racial_violence_in_Australia&oldid=1333252682).

Now, to be clear, the ICJ (which deals with matters between states [nations]):

In addition, the ICC, which addresses these matters at an individual, rather than a state, level, has issued warrants for the arrest of individuals from Israel and Palestine (the latter are now all dead, I understand) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity (NOT genocide - and the ICC has NOT issued any warrants against Israel’s President: see https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_people_indicted_in_the_International_Criminal_Court&oldid=1336585799).

There have been definitive findings on these matters by other, reputable organisations (e.g., https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds), and my honest personal opinion is that Israel, to the horror of some Jewish people within its borders and many outside, is committing genocide in Gaza, and, to a perhaps less strong or less widespread horror, committing apartheid in the Occupied West Bank - just as H___s and other organisations and individuals committed crimes against humanity in Israel (against people of many nations, not only Israelis) on 7th October, 2023.

And, in terms of definitive matters, taking action under the Genocide Convention is NOT optional ... although too many people, organisations, and nations have a terrible history of trying to weasel out of doing so, which leads us back to leadership.

By aligning himself with populism, rather than compliance with Australia’s obligations under international law, the PM is doing Australians no favours. To take a different stance, however, would require education of Australians on international legal matters - especially including relatable commentary on WHY that is a good thing.(This sort of change goes beyond that mentioned in the article I linked to at the start of this post.) 

As an example of the sort of comment that might be useful, what about: 
“Ensuring justice against those who commit human rights crimes elsewhere means other nations will become safe places sooner, and that will reduce the flow of refugees - from those places, as well as other places where despots may be thinking about committing human rights abuses - more assuredly and reliably than any other measure we could take.”

(Consider that LBJ’s war on poverty and civil rights actions in the 1960s may have been FAR more successful if the USA’s budget and political capital hadn’t been being bled dry by the war in Việt Nam. Also, the Rwandan genocide was part of a series of violent events/genocides: what if effectively stopping a previous genocide prevented it from happening? The eastern DRC wouldn’t have been destabilised, and hundreds of thousands of people would still be alive and the millions of internally displaced and refugee people would still be at home ... )

The problem is, education of this type requires time for reflection/absorption, and proper debate (including responding to points on both sides, followed by more reflection/absorption - plus whatever time is needed for any emotional adjustments to worldview, grieving of lost worldviews, etc) - it cannot be just started when a disaster has occurred, meaning it must be a part of the government’s ongoing, active agenda, and ongoing, regular communication, including responses to concerns, doubts, and differing views.

That requires leadership - sustained, principled leadership ... 
 
 
PS - on Israel and its neighbours, as I listened to “The Antony Loewenstein Podcast: Jeffrey Epstein, Israel, and the Ties the Media Won’t Touch” (which has some very good information and points of view worth considering), I looked up some information on Jordan, and found: 
  • Jordan occupied and later annexed the West Bank (I had known that Jordan and Egypt wanted to get as much of Palestinian land as they could), but later surrendered its much criticised annexation for a new Palestinian state; 
  • a peace treaty was agreed and enacted between Jordan and Israel, and, much as with the Oslo Accords, seemed to outsiders such as myself (read the link to see more information on the opposition/anger on all sides) to be going well - the King of Jordan was even working on a 30 year truce between H___s and Israel, when everything was undone by an Israeli assassination attempt. 
    In the course of trying to resolve that, apparently the then US President Bill Clinton     described Netanyahu as an “impossible man” (see the Wikipedia article note 22) - which extends the time he was a problem further back than I had known by around a decade. 
    In   “Is Violence Part of Resistance?: No River, No Flood” ,  public resistance historian Tad Stoermer says violence has been a part of historical resistance, and the only time the violence always failed was assassination ...       



This also applies in other areas as well - the Lemkin Institute has issued several warnings against the US and “Gender Critical” genocides against trans people   (see https://www.lemkininstitute.com/statements-new-page/statement-on-the-genocidal-nature-of-the-gender-critical-movement%E2%80%99s-ideology-and-practice,  https://www.lemkininstitute.com/red-flag-alerts/red-flag-alert-for-the-anti-trans-agenda-of-the-trump-administration-in-the-united-states,  and  https://www.lemkininstitute.com/single-post/experts-warn-u-s-in-early-stages-of-genocide-against-trans-americans),   and a couple of years ago there was a move to ensure that a proposed new convention on crimes against humanity also specifically included the oppression of women in Afghanistan (and elsewhere) (see  https://theconversation.com/gender-apartheid-oppression-of-women-should-be-made-a-crime-against-humanity-feminist-academic-explains-why-234410).

I’ve also read a suggestion that the acts being revealed by the testimony and formal complaints of victims of the E_st__n  network and, more recently, the released materials of the E_st__n  files, constitute genocide.


Article II

   In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

      (a) Killing members of the group;

      (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

      (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

      (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

      (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article III

   The following acts shall be punishable:

      (a) Genocide;

      (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;

      (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;

      (d) Attempt to commit genocide;

      (e) Complicity in genocide.

My view is that what has been revealed clearly shows that at least II(a), II(b), and likely other actions have been committed - and note that “intent to destroy, in whole or in part” (emphasis added) is crucial here.

This possibly has two parts:  
  1. to subjugate those being targeted - children especially - into a condition of sexual slavery, which it would be necessary to argue in court is emotional, mental, and spiritual destruction leaving behind a physical shell without the crucial essence that makes the human victims human; and 
  2. to kill those who they don't want for those abuses, or who cannot be broken to those perversions - which is very clearly destruction of a group "in part". 

I’m not a lawyer, and I would be interested in a suitably experienced legal expert’s opinions on this, but I would expect being able to successfully argue the first point above should be achievable (especially given the available victim testimonies), and the second is fairly clearly obvious, in my non-legal opinion.

It might have been easier to address this, though, had the proposed convention on crimes against humanity been in place, especially if it particularly included oppression of women and girls.

The other issue that possibly needs to be addressed that is of the term "group". The convention addresses acts against “a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” - which, I’ve read (too long ago to try to track the book down), apparently means that, strictly speaking, the Cambodian genocide wasn’t a genocide as it was members of “the group” (Cambodians) committing genocidal acts against other members of “the group” (Cambodians) - urban vs rural, being one characterisation I’ve read.

However, given the widespread use of the term Cambodian genocide, and the Lemkin Institute’s finding of a transgenocide, I consider that at least public opinion has gone beyond arbitrary limits on who the victims of a genocide could be, although I don’t know if the law has caught up with that.

From the point of view of genuine justice, I consider referring to the acts as a genocide likely to increase the emotional impact - especially if those trying to deflect blame/responsibility had to specifically consider their parts in acts listed in Article III (I’d like to see the response of some of these figures regarding conspiracy, incitement, and attempt), and might give some (corporate) journalists the motivation to grill abusers more effectively. 



This also leads in to the other idea I’ve thinking of writing about, which is the endemic misogyny shown in some workplaces. Of the many such incidents over the years, the one that particularly comes to mind of a senior male staff member (with a history of problematic behaviour in a range of gendered and other human rights areas, and a professed admiration for the Koch brothers) who strutted across the office floor loudly proclaiming it was "natural" and "normal" to him to refer work matters to other males. It was the sort of loud mouthed rant that silences quite a few women - particularly younger women. At the time, I was already fighting against a few other incidents of discrimination, so I didn't do anything - I was exhausted. 

But overwhelm and exhaustion was itself part of the problem. 

The world is a different place now - there are some laws that would have helped with that (especially the positive  duty  requirements), that organisation is now a better place (thanks to its DEI committee), and I am more capable than I was then, but the problem, I suspect, still exists - in far too many places, as shown by the testimony and formal complaints of victims of the E_st__n  network and, more recently, the released materials of the E_st__n  files. 


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.

 

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Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that 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” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).

#PsychicABetterWorld   and   may all that I do be of value and actively BPM used for and by the nonphysical  BPM  because   #KindnessIsThePoint   

Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here, and Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear   

Copyright © Kayleen White 2007-2025     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-ShareAlike basis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/  




 

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