Originally dispatched on 1 June 2014
‘That’s alright then’
доброе утро товарищи dobroye utro tovarishchi
From my dad’s anecdotes:
In Buenos Aires, dad befriended a Pilipino musician called Al Acosta. Al Acosta y su conjunto Hawaiiano had a weekly show on the radio. It was La hora de PalmoliveThe Palmolive Hour. Al Acosta and his band had even visited our home, and listening to his show was a must in the Baarda household. Those days most radio shows were live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxHPGuBhnrg No te vayas, no te vayas de Zamboanga (an Al Acosta regular)
One evening dad returned from the city and asked if we’d listened to Al Acosta that day. Of course we had. Had we noticed anything unusual? No, the show was as good as ever. Well it so happened that dad had gone to the studio, as he often did, and the lead singer was late, so dad jumped in and sang the first two songs, as if he’d been singing with the band all his life. No one listening (including his own family) was any the wiser. The songs were in English (‘Moon over Miami’ was one of them).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAiegL3J5KE Dad hadn’t yet learned English, he would have sung them in English gobbledygook
At parties dad would sometimes sing very convincing ‘Russian’ songs. Russian gobbledygook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3scgW-aghr4
One of the most memorable scenes in the film ‘A Fish called Wanda” is when Archie (John Cleese) does a ‘strip tease’ whilst waxing lyrical in Russian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSK3BpSfULo This clip was “cut off” at a most crucial point, when Archie exclaims “That’s alright then!”
We were in Spain just over a decade after Francisco Franco had died. Spaniards had barely stopped looking over their shoulders. We couldn’t find many people that had a kind word for their former leader. “Cuando estaba Franco no habia ladrones” (During Franco’s rule, there were no thieves) proclaimed one of the people I engaged in conversation. That’s alright then!
Many years later in conversation with a Chilean expatriate I was told that “Gracias a Pinochet, Chile no se hizo comunista” (Thanks to Pinochet Chile did not become communist). That’s alright then!
After the end of the Vietnam war, Australia, a signatory to the UN ‘Convention relating to the Status of Refugees’ (and a participant in that war), welcomed a large number of Vietnamese refugees to this land; many of whom came by boat.
Current Australian bipartisan policies applied to so called ‘boat people’ are less than welcoming. Bizarre non-sequiturs are pronounced (“We must disrupt the business plan of the people smugglers”) to justify the indefinite detention of human beings. The current Australian federal government fought the last election using the three word slogan “Stop the Boats”.
It is one of the few election promises they’ve kept. With great pride they boast about having stopped the boats. That’s alright then!
Iraq was alleged to posses weapons of mass destruction (WMD). An Intervention was planned. In March 2003 Iraq was invaded. The WMD failed to materialize. Saddam Hussein was deposed. That’s alright then!
In 2005 it was revealed that the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) had channeled millions of dollars to the Saddam Hussein regime in what became known as the ‘AWB oil-for-wheat scandal’. The then responsible Minister (one of my all time favorite Australian Ministers!) Alexander Downer denied all knowledge of the baksheesh رشوه That’s alright then!
In 2007 Mal Brough (another of my all time favorite Australian Ministers!) alleged that there were paedophile rings operating on remote Aboriginal communities. An Intervention was planned. In June 2007 the Northern Territory Emergency Response (The NTER) was launched. The paedophile rings failed to materialize. A propaganda blitz convinced the Australian voter belt that “something had to be done”. Something was done. That’s alright then!
The ABTA (Aboriginal Benefits Trust Account) was set up as a conduit for Royalty Equivalents derived from mineral exploitation on Aboriginal Land, as defined under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, to be allocated for the benefit of NT Aborigines. Quietly since, the ‘Trust’ has been dropped, and it is now the Aboriginal Benefits Account.
Trust in me baby … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SesWRweA4fM
The Intervention included the declaration of 73 ‘Prescribed Areas’. These areas had 5-year compulsorily acquired leases slapped on them. The NTER legislation made provision for ‘fair compensation’ to be paid to the Traditional Owners for these 5-year leases. When it came time to pay, Jenny Macklin (yet another of my all time favorite Australian Ministers!)’s Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) started paying this compensation from ABA funds. When objections to this sleight of hand were raised, Jenny Macklin declared that the ABA was for the benefit of Aborigines and that compensation payments benefited Aborigines. That’s alright then!
In the film Utopia, John Pilger asks the former Minister for Indigenous Health, Warren Snowdon (would it surprise you if I told you he is another of my all time favorite Australian Ministers?), why in the 23 years he represented the Northern Territory in the Federal Parliament, so little progress had been made in improving the health of his constituents. We are doing a lot at present, the next generation of Aborigines will be much healthier, he replied. That’s alright then!
…. Cause every little thing gonna be alright!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGYAAsHT4QE
Каждая мелочь будет все в порядке!
До свидания сейчас
Фрэнк
Kazhdaya meloch’ budet vse v poryadke!
Do svidaniya seychas
Frenk