Mazuva akanaka shamwari
On 16th November 1920 the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited, in a manner of speaking, got off the ground. Eventually this was to evolve into Australia’s flagship airline Qantas which in 84 days time will celebrate its 100th anniversary. I wonder if Qantas will get a telegram from the Queen?
Talking about the Queen, I forgot to mention that in the last Queen’s Honours list a policeman who was put in charge of Yuendumu Police Station after the sub judice fatal shooting last November got a ‘commendation’. I’m not sure what exactly he was commended for but as I understand it it was for bravely and selflessly keeping the lid on the alleged highly volatile situation in Yuendumu. No mention was made of a number of Warlpiri Elders who I witnessed calmly and behind the scenes choreograph a sombre and dignified march on the police station in which virtually the whole allegedly volatile community of Yuendumu took part in the aftermath of the shooting.
Another non sequitur: Many years ago I was on a flight from Amsterdam to Dublin. It was a clear day and as I looked out of the window I counted seven passenger jet aircraft simultaneously flying in various directions, that is over a thousand passengers just within my limited field of vision. I read that at any moment worldwide there were, from memory, six million people in the air.
But, back to Qantas. In 2014 Qantas announced a $252M half year loss and the shedding of 5,000 jobs. CEO Alan Joyce bravely withstood a barrage of demands that he resign and subsequently presided over Qantas’ phoenix like recovery.
So along comes the virus which had the effect of virtually closing down the aviation industry. Qantas just lost $2 billion and Alan Joyce announced he would not be drawing a salary this year. He also announced that a further several thousand Qantas employees would be stood down.
Then in an emotional patriotic appeal Alan Joyce asked our leaders to open the state borders so Qantas could do a Lazarus on the back of a local tourism based economic revival.
Meanwhile California is once again being incinerated and our own bushfire season looms. We don’t hear much about coral bleaching these days nor anything about our dying mulga scrub as our news media obsesses about the virus and the economy and the latest not funny joke from Donald Trump. So what is the latest on the never-ending Yemeni genocide? Is the Amazon Basin ablaze again? And what is happening with that silver lining, the virus induced drop in world wide pollution.
In the Northern Territory we’ve just had a Tweedledee Tweedledum election, both major parties are hoping for a fracking-gas led economic recovery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9ARcLTcqoA Middle of the Road- Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum
As most of you know I’ve been writing a book about Yuendumu which is at a cross-cultural front line. I like to think this exercise has, albeit ever so slightly, enhanced my ability to look in the mirror and to walk in other’s shoes and to glimpse outside the squares of our ethnocentric and egocentric mental prisons. To peer out of Plato’s cave.
Thus it came to pass that my first reaction to Qantas’ two billion dollar loss was to think it was a great pity. The sooner we could once again spend a week in Paris or lounging on the beach in the Riviera on the other side of the world the better. Then I came to ponder how come Qantas had two billion to lose? How much carbon emissions did it take for Qantas to accumulate that two billion?
I admired Alan Joyce’s brave sacrifice of foregoing his income, until I learned that his personal 2018 earnings were almost $ 24M. Wiyarrpa (poor bugger, pobrecito, pauvre petit, arme stakker), how will he manage?
So what if those aircraft never take off again? What if the Global Economy with its perpetual growth imperative stops heading towards the cliff of irreversible climate change?
So what if we don’t get back to “normal”. Perhaps we’ll be forced to redefine what normal is.
All rather depressing n’est cest pas? Finish with some nice music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhXGyer-cIg(Oliver Tuku- Neria)
A pity ‘Tuku’ is no longer with us, but don’t despair, the following is by his daughter Selmor Mtukudzi with her sister and husband.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpZk5VyHf_s
Kusvikira panguva inotevera. Chengetedza
Frank
And if you can spare the time- appropriately titled ‘What does it matter?’- What indeed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es3CHhhxT1k Zvine Basa Rei (Zimbabwe’s Shona Language)